6 June
1. Gedilam river
Tamil Nadu
Course- Cuddalore district, Villupuram district
2. Ethanol blending in petrol
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
Target: 20% ethanol blending by 2025-26
Benefits:
1. Saves 30,000 crore of foreign exchange per year
2. Increases energy security
3. Lowers carbon emissions
4. Better air quality
5. Self reliance
6. Better use of damaged food grains
7. Incomes and investment opportunities
3. World's first fishing cat census - Chilika
- Chilika lake-Asia's largest brackish water lagoon
- Fishing cats census done by Chilika Development Authority (CDA) and The Fishing Cat Project (TFCP)
- 176 fishing cats found
- Fishing cats are found in 10 Asian countries (undetected in Vietnam and Java since the last decade)
- World's first fishing cats population estimation conducted outside the protected area network
- Spatially explicit capture recapture (SECR) method used to analyze the data
4. Mound excavation outside Robert Clive House
- Location- Dum Dum, Kolkata
- Clive House stands on a mound on Rastraguru Avenue
- Robert Clive- First British Governor of Bengal Presidency
- Found antiquities, pottery, charcoal and 12 different layers of habitations- sent for dating
- Chandraketugarh- North 24 Parganas
- Excavations done in 1950s and 1960s
- Evidences of 6 periods from the pre-Mauryan to the Pala period found
5. Norovirus infection
- Causes acute diarrhoeal gastroenteritis
- Infection breaks out in Kerala- Kayamkulam, Kottarakara, Vizhinjam
6. Cashew cultivation
- Kerala- Kannur and Kasaragod
- Climate change impact on flowering and fruiting - harsh summer and unseasonal rain
7. Supreme Court order- to maintain a minimum Ecologically Sensitive Zone of 1 km for all protected forests
- Impact on Kerala
-Wild life sanctuaries (internet)
1. Idukki
2. Malabar
3. Kottiyoor
4. Wayanad
5. Neyyar-Peppara
6. Peechi-Vazhani
- Perambikulam tiger reserve
- Periyar tiger reserve
- Chulannur peafowl sanctuary
- Thattekkad bird sanctuary
- Periyar tiger reserve's north and North-east region shared boundaries with the following of Tamil Nadu:
1. Meghamalai wildlife sanctuary
2. Srivilliputhur giant squirrel sanctuary
3. Tirunelveli Forest Division
8. Article 25(1)
- Subject to public order, morality and health all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to profess, practise and propagate religion
- 1977 judgement
Rev. Stainislaus versus State of Madhya Pradesh- the word 'propagate' in Article 25 does not give 'the right to convert another person to one's own religion, but to spread one's religion by an exposition of its tenets'. (Does not address - The right to get converted)
9. IUU- illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
- 2 regulations on IUU globally:
1. CTA- the Cape Town Agreement
2. PSMA- the Agreement on Ports State Measures
- India- Not a Signatory to both
VMS - Vehicle Monitoring System
- for small fishing vessels- less than 20 metres
- a proprietary system and one cannot receive unless the data is given
- transponder relaying data via satellite
-difficulty in implementing it as Fishing is a State subject
AIS- Automatic Identification System
- for bigger ships- vessels above 20 metres
- made compulsory for all vessels above 20 metres after 26/11 by National Committee on Strengthening Maritime and Coastal Security (NCSMCS)
- broadcast- anyone can receive
10. State of Environment Report, 2022
By Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)- an environmental NGO
11. Ocean Health Index- a measure to see how sustainably humans are exploiting ocean resources
India's score has declined for a period between 2012 and 2021, while global average has improved
12. Forest cover India
- 77.53 million hectares
Out of this:
Recorded forests- the area under the forest department- only 51.66 million hectares
Unaccounted- 25.87 million hectares
13. River quality monitoring stations across 28 states - 764
- Central Water Commission tests water samples
- 3 of every 4 river monitoring stations in India show alarming levels of heavy toxic metals- lead, iron, nickel, cadmium, arsenic, chromium and copper.
14. Tamil Nadu's first Tiger Rewilding programme
- Anamalai Tiger Reserve
- The Tiger shifted to open enclosure of 10,000 sq feet at Manthirimattam in the core area of the ATR within the Manambolly forest range
15. Tiangong station
- means heavenly palace
- China's space station to get completed by the years end- will be similar to Soviet's Mir station (1980s-2001)
- Shenzhou-14 crew successfully docked at the Tiangong station
- using Long March-2F rocket from Jiuquan launch centre (northwestern China's Gobi desert)
16. IPEF - Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity
1. Australia
2. Brunei
3. India
4. Indonesia
5. Japan
6. The Republic of Korea
7. Malaysia
8. New Zealand
9. The Philippines
10. Singapore
11. Thailand
12. Vietnam
13. The U.S.
7June
1. Jan Samarth portal
- National Portal for Credit-Linked Government Schemes
2. KFON- Kerala Fibre Optic Network
- to provide internet connection to 14,000 BPL families and 30,000 government offices in Kerala
- Internet Service Provider (ISP) license applied to Department of Telecommunications
- offices will be linked to the Network Operation Centre in Kalamassery through 375 Points of Presence (POPs)
- Points of Presence are full fledged nodal IT infrastructure installed within the Kerala State Electricity Board substations
3. Organization of Islamic Cooperation- 57 members
Gulf Cooperation Council- 6 members
1. Saudi Arabia
2. the UAE
3. Qatar
4. Bahrain
5. Kuwait
6. Oman
Importance of Gulf:
1. region accounts for 16% of India's total imports
2. about 40% of India's fuel is from the GCC and Iran
3. about 90 lakh Indians (28% of overseas Indians) reside in the Gulf region accounting for 55% of India's remittance inflows.
4. Bangkok declaration- 6June 1997 -BIST-EC ( Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand Economic Cooperation) formed- Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand
BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) 1997- Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar joined
Total- 7 countries ( 5 from South Asia and 2 from South East Asia
Amongst 7:
The host of BIMSTEC Secretariat: Bangladesh
Representative of Southeast Asia- Thailand
Largest state in South Asia- India
Uses alphabetical order for the Chairmanship
BOBC- Bay of Bengal Community
2018- Kathmandu summit
2022- Colombo summit (March)
5. IORA- Indian Ocean Rim Association - formed in 1997 (same year as Bangkok declaration)
6. Budhadev Karmaskar v. State of West Bengal & Ors
Supreme court re-asserted- sex workers and their children cannot be deprived of their right to live with dignity and human decency.
Supreme court constituted a panel in 2011, headed by senior advocate Pradip Ghosh-
10 recommendations of the panel:
1. to provide immediate medical medical assistance to sex workers who are victims of sexual assault
2. to release adult sex workers detained in ITPA protective homes against their will
3. to sensitise the police and other law-enforcement agencies about the rights of sex workers to live with dignity
4. to ask the Press Council of India to issue guidelines to the media so that they don't reveal the identities of sex workers while reporting on arrest, raid and rescue operations
5. to not consider health measures that sex workers employ for their safety (such as condoms) as evidence of commission of an offence
6. to ensure that the legal service authorities of the Central and State governments educate sex workers about their rights vis-a-vis the legality of sex work
Government has reservations with the following:
7. police not to take any criminal action against a sex worker who is an adult and is participating with consent
8. Since voluntary sex work is not illegal and only running a brothel is unlawful, sex workers should not be arrested or victimised during any raid in brothel
9. no child of a sex worker should be separated from the mother merely on the ground that the mother is in sex trade. If a child or a minor is rescued from a brothel, the magistrate may place him or her with any child care institute recognised under the Juvenile Justice Act
10. the government to involve sex workers or their representatives in the process of decison-making or in the process of drafting reforms in laws relating to sex work.
The expression 'sex-worker' is not defined in Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 or any other law
ITPA (amended in 1987) - defines 'prostitution' as the sexual exploitation or abuse of persons for commercial purposes.
Gaurav Jain v. Union of India (1997)- SC
- the children of sex workers ought not be allowed to live in brothels, and reformatory homes should be made accessible to them. (compare with point 9 of the panel recommendations)
7. Local universities' collaboration with international counterparts
Eligibility:
Any Indian Higher Education Institution (HEI) accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council with
1. minimum score of 3.01 on a 4 point scale or
2. featuring in the top 1000 of the Times Higher Education or QS World University Rankings
3. being in top 100 list of the National Institute Ranking Framework is also acceptable for Indian institutes.
8. MOOC-Massive open online course
NPTEL- National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning
RUSA- Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan
TEQIP-3- Technical Education Quality Improvement Program- 3rd phase
AISHE - All India Survey on Higher Education
9. NGC- Next Generation Corvettes
Dornier aircraft
Su-30 MKI aero-engines
10. SAGAR- Security and Growth for all in the Region
Announced on 12 March 2015
11.IPC Sections:
153 A- promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, language and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony
500- punishment for defamation
504- intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace
506- punishment for criminal intimidation
505- statements conducting public mischief
501- printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory
12. National Infrastructure pipeline
13. National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd. (NARCL)
-announced in Budget 2021-22
- to resolve stressed loans of 2 lakh crores (90,000 crores in phase 1)
-set to acquire large bad loans (>500 crores) from banks
India Debt Resolution Company Ltd - will then manage these assets and seek to enhance their value.
14. Power cuts
Thermal capacity addition lagged behind power demand which grew by 5% when capacity addition fell to 2% between FY19 to FY22
According to Bank of America Securities (BofA) report -Reasons:
1. Multiple stressed projects
2. Focus on renewable energy
15. WITA- Washington International Trade Association
Non-profit, non-partisan organization
Founded in 1982
Blog- America's Trade Policy
ASPI- Asia Society Policy Institute
Founded- 1956
A think and do tank
Works on major policy challenges confronting the Asia-Pacific region
Leaders and staff in New York and Washington
WTO (World Trade Organization)
Top decision-making body- the Ministerial Conference
General Council- day to day decision-making body- meets in Geneva
Ministerial Conferences- usually take place every 2 years
Members- 160
Director-General 2021- Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala - 7th DG of WTO (term expiry in 2025)
Building- Centre William Rappard building
Report- Annual Report
TRIPS - Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights
as a part of Agreement Establishing WTO in 1995
Builds on
1. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)- primary intellectual property agreements
2. Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
3. Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
9 June
1. Sections
1. 295 A - deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs
2. 153 A- promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, language and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony
2. State Food Safety Index
- on the basis of 5 parameters set by the Health Ministry.
-rating is done by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
1. Tamil Nadu
2. Gujarat
3. Maharashtra
Among small states
1. Goa
2. Manipur
3. Sikkim
Among UTs
1. Jammu and Kashmir
2. Delhi
3. Chandigarh
New initiatives by FSSAI
1. Eat Right Research Awards and Grants- Phase 2
World Food Safety Day- 7 June (Tuesday this year)
3.Service Rules of Army, Navy and Air Force amended
CDS (Chief of Defence Staff) appointment:
also eligible are:
1. retired Service Chiefs
2. three-star officers retired in last 2 years ( Lieutenant Generals (Army), Vice- Admirals (Navy) and Air Marshals (Air Force) retire at the age of 60)
-age limit - retired officer should not have attained 62 years on the date of appointment
Age limit for the CDS post is 65 years with no fixed tenure defined.
4. Kesar mango
- Gir Somnath District, Gujarat (Kathiawar region)
5. Van Vihar National Park- Bhopal
6. Governor's constitutional role and the statutory role:
Justice R.S Sarkaria Commission
Justice M.M Punchi Commission
7. World Economic Outlook- IMF
8. India is member of:
1. MTCR- Missile Technology Control Regime
2. Australia Group
3. Wassenaar Arrangement
India wants to become a member of NSG- Nuclear Suppliers Group
NSG- 48 members - deals with the trade in nuclear technology and fissile materials besides contributing to the non- proliferation of nuclear weapons
NPT- Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: India is not a signatory to it.
9. Section 8 (1) e of RTI Act 2005
- Information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public warrants the disclosure of such information.
June 9
1.
Repo Rate raised by 50 basis points to 4.90%
RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
Raised to slow the inflation to 7.5% average for April-June Quarter this year
This will increase borrowing costs (getting loans to buy cars & homes, MSME loans)
Retail inflation projected for 2022-23- 6.7% based on the assumption that monsoon would be normal in 2022 and the average crude oil price (Indian basket) would be at dollar 105 per barrel.
75% of the increase in inflation projections has been attributed to the food inflation (rising tomato prices)
Repo rate- the rate at which RBI lends to commercial banks
increase in Repo rate -- commercial banks will have tough time borrowing (short-term funds) from the RBI at this rate --- once they borrow at high rate, they will make it tough for customers trying to get loan for car or house by increasing the interest rate on loans-- so customers will refrain from borrowing from banks at high interest rates -- so public will hold less money in circulation (low liquidity) and will refrain from spending money (consumer purchasing powers will decrease) and investing --overall demand will decrease (when the demand for some product is more that what that economy can produce, the price for that product rises- demand-pull inflation) -- inflation will get controlled but consumption, production will also decrease due to less money supply (low economic development and GDP), therefore the Repo rate is revised time to time to balance inflation and economic growth.
2. Sections in news
1. Section 353 IPC - assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty
2. Section 34 IPC- Common intention
3. Section 124A IPC- sedition
3. National Highways Authority of India in Guinness World Records
- for longest continuously laid bituminous lane of 75 km in 105 hours 33 minutes (around 4.397 days)
- location- National Highway between Amravati and Akola districts in Maharashtra
Previous record-
-Doha, Qatar for building 25.275 km of road in 10 days in 2019
4. Environmental Performance Index
- by Yale and Columbia universities
- India is last on the list of 180 countries
5. Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030
-signed by the Defence Ministers of both countries
-simplifying logistic support
10 June
1. Presidential polls-16th presidential elections
-electoral college of poll-
1. Rajya Sabha -233
2. Lok Sabha- 543
3. MLAs of the Assemblies of the States and the UT of Delhi and Puducherry
-Total members- 4809
-Total value of votes- 10,86,431 - 5,43,200 for MPs or 700 votes each and 5,43,231 for MLAs - based on 1971 Census population figures
-MLAs of J&K- no longer part of the electoral college- in 2017, 87 MLAs had 72 votes each with total value of their votes- 6,264 out of the total of 10,98,903 votes
-Candidates- each would require a that 50 members of the electoral college should propose their names and another 50 to second it.
-polling done at:
1. Parliament House for MPs
2. State Assemblies for MLAs
- Returning Officer- Rajya Sabha Secretary General
- Casting of ballot- using the pen given by the EC (norm)
- Political parties cannot issue a whip to their members at this time
- Electors in preventive detention would be allowed to vote
- Electors in jail would have to seek parole in order to caste their ballots.
2.Trying minors as majors under Juvenile Justice Act
3. Augmentation of Suhelewala minor canal
- 15 km long expansion in Fazilka district along IB
-from village Suhelewala to Chakk Bahmani Wala
-will provide irrigation to 5000 acres of land in Jalalabad block, Punjab
Another initiative in Fazilka district
- My Village-My Forest project
- mini forest development using Miyawaki technique of growing forests
- Miyawaki technique- young native plant species - trees, shrubs, grasses are planted in dense grooves aimed to restore degraded land
4. Indus Water Treaty
- signed in Karachi, 19th September 1960
- by Indian PM - Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistani President Ayub Khan
-negotiated by World Bank
- Western rivers- Indus, Jhelum, Chenab- allocated to Pakistan
- Eastern rivers- Ravi, Beas, Sutlej - allocated to India
- but either country can use the rivers allocated to the other for certain purposes like irrigation and hydroelectricity
- Permanent Indus Commission- has commissioner from each country- meets annually- to develop cooperative mechanism
- Under Articles 3 and 7 of the treaty- India is permitted to construct hydroelectric power facilities on western rivers
-Article 9 clause 5- court of arbitration
- Article 9 clause 2.1- Neutral expert
- Article 9 clause 6- arbitration shall not apply to any difference while it is being dealt with by a Neutral Expert ( neutral expert appointment has precedence)
5. QS World University Rankings, 2023
- Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, 2023- 155th global rank- national leader & global leader in the citations per faculty (CpF) indicator
- IIT Bombay- 172 global rank- 2nd national institute
- IIT Delhi- 3rd
- O.P Jindal Global University - top ranked private institute in India, followed by Manipal Academy of Higher Education and Amity University
6. Thailand- first Asian country to legalise growing of and consumption in food and drinks of marijuana.
- the possession and sale of cannabis extracts containing > 0.2% of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is not allowed.
7. Moody's Investors Service
- rupee has depreciated about 4.5% in 2022
- reasons for pressure on rupee-
Higher energy prices and interest rates in developed economies---it let to capital outflows and raised commodity prices
-however most rated companies have protections to limit the effect of fluctuations in currency such as natural hedges in the form of revenue and costs linked to dollar, some dollar revenue and financial hedges or combination of these
-when rupee depreciates -our services and products become cheaper for foreigners and exporters will benefit (at the same time, imported things become expensive for us to buy, so imports decrease) but global demand is weak and inflation is high--so not much benefit for exporters
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