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.