Antarctica's Ross Sea declared as world’s largest Marine Protected Area

• The world’s largest marine protected area (MPA) has been established in Antarctica’s Ross Sea.

• A 1.55 million km area of the Ross Sea will have special protection from human activities such as commercial fishing.

Electroactive Bandage

• The NASA has developed a new high-tech electroactive bandage that uses electricity to significantly promote healing of injured wounds. 
• The high-tech bandage creates an electric charge to promote the healing process of wounds in space especially in conditions of non-Earth gravity. Need In conditions of non-Earth gravity, human blood displays quite different behaviour from that on Earth. 

Nuclear Suppliers Group

• The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is a group of nuclear supplier countries that seeks to contribute to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons through the implementation of two sets of Guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear-related exports.

The Wassenaar Arrangement

• The Wassenaar Arrangement has been established in order to contribute to regional and international security and stability, by promoting transparency and greater responsibility in transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies, thus preventing destabilising accumulations. The aim is also to prevent the acquisition of these items by terrorists.

• Participating States seek, through their national policies, to ensure that transfers of these items do not contribute to the development or enhancement of military capabilities which undermine these goals, and are not diverted to support such capabilities.

Tropical Cyclone Naming

Historical Background

• The practice of naming storms (tropical cyclones) began years ago in order to help in the quick identification of storms in warning messages because names are presumed to be far easier to remember than numbers and technical terms. Many agree that appending names to storms makes it easier for the media to report on tropical cyclones, heightens interest in warnings and increases community preparedness.

• Experience shows that the use of short, distinctive given names in written as well as spoken communications is quicker and less subject to error than the older more cumbersome latitude-longitude identification methods. These advantages are especially important in exchanging detailed storm information between hundreds of widely scattered stations, coastal bases, and ships at sea.

UDAY

• Min. of Power has launched Ujwal Discom Assurance Scheme (UDAY)
• India generates surplus power but the practical experience of Indians is that scheduled and unscheduled power cuts are the norm in cities, and the situation in most rural areas is worse.India lags far behind other countries in per capita consumption of power

• The explanation for this situation lies in the state of the state-owned power distribution companies, or discoms, which are responsible for buying electricity from the generation companies and selling them to consumers. The discoms suffer massive transmission and distribution (T&D) losses. Almost 25 per cent of the power is lost, and never gets billed for — double the global average of about 12 per cent.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015

Highlights of the Code

• The Code creates time-bound processes for insolvency resolution of companies and individuals. These processes will be completed within 180 days. If insolvency cannot be resolved, the assets of the borrowers may be sold to repay creditors.

• The resolution processes will be conducted by licensed insolvency professionals (IPs). These IPs will be members of insolvency professional agencies (IPAs). IPAs will also furnish performance bonds equal to the assets of a company under insolvency resolution.

• Information utilities (IUs) will be established to collect, collate and disseminate financial information to facilitate insolvency resolution.

World Radio Day: 13th February

World Radio Day (WRD) is observed globally on 13th February to remember the unique power of radio that touches lives and bring people together across every corner of the globe.

Significance of Day: It marks global celebration of radio as a forum for information and entertainment that helps to bridge communication gap for remote communities and empowering people.

Gravitational Waves

Great excitement rippled through the physics world as astronomers announced that their new US observatory has detected a gravitational wave, a phenomenon Albert Einstein predicted a century ago in his theory of general relativity.

 

What are gravitational waves?

• Gravitational waves are extremely faint ripples in the fabric of space and time that come from some of the most violent events in the universe. In this case, it is from the merger of two black holes 1.3 billion light-years away. The way to think of this is to imagine a mesh net and visualize pulling on its ends. Those kinks are sort of like what a gravitational wave does.

International Solar Aliiance

India and France have launched International Solar Alliance (ISA) at the Conference of Parties (CoP21) Climate Conference in Paris, France. It was jointly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande in presence UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon.

This alliance includes about 121 countries that supported the declaration on Solar Alliance.

It would play important role in achieving the objective of keeping global warming below 2 degree Celsius.

Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015

The Amendment Act replaces the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Ordinance, 2014.

The New act seeks to amend the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. 

The Act prohibits the commission of offences against members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs and STs) and establishes special courts for the trial of such offences and the rehabilitation of victims.

Tableau of Republic Day Parade

Study of this tableau is helpful in solving questions of art and culture in preliminary exam.

Click on the Images For Clear and Readable content.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

20 Smart Cities

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Indian Honours : Gallantry & Service Awards

Gallantry awards are those kinds of awards which are presented for exceptional courage, valor and dignity. In India gallantry awards are presented to the personnel’s of the forces for their exceptional bravery. 

War Time Gallantry Awards: They are given during wars or battles. These awards are given for the valor shown in the battlefield in the face of the enemy.

1. Param Veer Chakra: It is the highest war-time gallantry award,

IRNSS

What is the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS)?
It’s a GPS-like regional satellite-based navigation system being developed by India. But unlike the US-operated Global Positioning System (GPS), or the Russian GLONASS, the EU’s Galileo or China’s Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), which have global coverage, IRNSS will focus on the region —

National Voters' Day

In order to encourage more young voters to take part in the political process, Government of India has decided to celebrate January 25 every year as 'National Voters' Day'. It started from January 25th 2011 to mark Commission's foundation day (25th January 1950).

Saransh

 

• Saransh is an online platform for a comprehensive self review and analysis of student's performance and progress. It is a digital interface portal offering a one-to-one interaction platform between teacher and the parents and their students.
• It works on a data-driven decision support system to help parents in evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of their children and make them better informed

India's Joint Defence Exercise - List

Indian Navy Joint Exercises

• Varuna naval exercise is joint exercise of navies of France and India. They are held either in Indian Ocean or Mediterranean Sea.
• SLINEX.-Sri Lanka India Naval Exercise

Naseem Al Bahr

• The 9th edition of the bilateral Indian Navy-Royal Omani Navy biennial exercise began on 23 Sep 13 off the coast of Oman, in the North Arabian Sea.

Bharat Emission Standards

Recently government announced to bring forward the nationwide rollout of BS-VI vehicular emission norms, in line with promises made by India at the Climate Change Conference in Paris, and the broad public sentiment against the dangerously high levels of air pollution in major Indian cities.

BS Emission

·         The BS — or Bharat Stage — emission standards are norms instituted by the government to regulate the output of air pollutants from internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles. It defines the maximum limit of pollutant that a vehicle can emit.

Millennium Development Goal

This lesson is made by Dr. Roman Saini and it deals with the description of millennium development goals, introduction, tricks to remember them, why is it essential to go through them in a post-2015 era, criticism and India's progress. It will be followed a lesson on sustainable development goals (SDGs).

For this awesome lecture Click Here
For Post 2015 Development Agenda lessons Click Here

Project Green Port

• Weighing in the environmental perspective for sustained growth, the Ministry of Shipping has started ‘Project Green Ports’ which will help in making the Major Ports across India cleaner and greener.

Results from 1st phase of NFHS-4 survey

• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released the results from the first phase of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), 2015-16. Findings for the 13 States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and two Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Puducherry show promising improvements in maternal and child health and nutrition.

Dark matter

• Dark matter is a hypothetical kind of matter that cannot be seen with telescopes but accounts for most of the matter in the universe.
• The existence and properties of dark matter are inferred from its gravitational effects on visible matter, on radiation,

Dark Energy

• Dark energy is some kind of energy which is said to exist but scientists know very little details of it. About 14 to 15 billion years ago, when the Big Bang happened, the universe came into existence. The matter formed from huge energy started expanding due to outward force of the Big bang. From the theory of gravity postulated by Einstein, the particles having mass should attract each other and the expansion of the Universe should stop at one point of time.

GAGAN and SIMRAN navigation system

 

• GAGAN is GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation which improves the accuracy of Global Satellite Navigation System (GNSS) receivers. The normal GPS system does not provide the necessary accuracy, integrity etc. required for civil aviation. The GPS system is to be augmented for this.
• Various countries have different Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) and India is having GAGAN.

The Most Film Friendly State/UT

• As a part of the Government’s effort to promote the Indian film industry and India’s “Soft Power” it has been decided to institute a new award category under the National Film Awards titled “The Most Film Friendly State/UT”. This award will be conferred for the first time at the 63rd National Film Awards to be held on 3rd May 2016.

Sanitation: Issue & Reforms

Click Here For Complete Article on Sanitation: Issue and Reforms

BHARAT INNOVATION FUND

• The Bharat Fund is a public-private-academia partnership set up by Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE).

IR: SYRIA CRISIS

SYRIA CRISIS

About Syria

  

• Battle between loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad and those who oppose him.
• Syria became an independent republic in 1946, After that it suffered from series of coups.
• General Hafez al-Assad, father of current prez. seized power in 1970 and declared himself President, a position that he held until his death in 2000.
• Syria was hit by an economic crisis in 1980 and it was clear that economic reforms were crucial to resolve the situation.
• Bashar al-Assad took over as President of Syria from his father Hafez al-Assad
• Al-Assad family is Alawite, a small branch of Shia Muslims.
• But nearly 75% of Syria’s population is Sunni Muslims.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)

• The Union Cabinet has approved Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, a new crop insurance scheme to boost farming sector in the country.
•  In which the premium rates to be paid by the farmers have been brought down substantially so as to enable more farmers avail insurance cover against crop loss on account of natural calamities.
•  The scheme will come into effect from the upcoming kharif season.

ENVIRONMENT

Environment Material