8.76 T-Dec 2017

Question 1

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE
GOVT SCHEMES AND PROGRAMMES
1. SCHEME FOR CAPACITY BUILDING IN TEXTILES SECTOR (SCBTS)

Answer 1

 The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved SCBTS in order to ensure
steady supply of skilled manpower in the labour-intensive textile sector
ABOUT
 SCBTS is a new skill development scheme covering the entire value chain of textile sector
excluding Spinning & Weaving in organized Sector
 It will remain operational for three years ending in 2019-20 with an outlay of Rs.1300 crore
 It provide placement oriented skilling programme, for organised sector and skill-up gradation for
traditional sector
 It will be implemented through textile industry and recognised public and private training
institutes of textile sector.
 The scheme will have National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) training courses.
 Skilling requirement in the traditional sectors will be considered as special projects and will be
supported further for entrepreneurial development through provision of MUDRA loans.
 Successful trainees will be assessed and certified by an accredited Assessment Agency
 At least 70% of the certified trainees are to be placed in the wage employment and post
placement tracking will be mandatory under the scheme
 Funding to the institution will be available only when the Internal Complaints Committee to be
constitute under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013, is in place

Question 2

2. BACKWARD DISTRICT PROGRAMME

Answer 2

 Recently, the Union Government has drawn up action plans for backward district programme
ABOUT
 The programme is to improve socio-economic profiles of 115 identified “most-backward”
districts including 35 affected by left-wing extremism
 The action plans aims at providing these districts basic services like healthcare, sanitation and
education and physical infrastructure in a time-bound manner
 At least one district has been included from each state under the programme
 Jharkhand, with 19, has highest number of districts under this programme
 These 115 districts were selected on parameters like health & nutrition, deprivation, education
and infrastructure
 The district collector is nodal chief executors of action programmes in districts, which will be
ranked annually based on their performance
 Prabhari is an officer appointed by the centre to work in collaborative manner with state and
district teams to bring convergence between central and state schemes

Question 3

3. NORTH EAST SPECIAL INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT SCHEME (NESIDS)

Answer 3

 The Union Cabinet approved new Central Sector Scheme of North East Special Infrastructure
Development Scheme” (NESIDS) from 2017-18
 It will be 100%funded by Central Government to fill up gaps in creation of infrastructure in
specified sectors in North east till March, 2020
 The new scheme will broadly cover creation of infrastructure under following sectors
i. Physical infrastructure relating to water supply, power, connectivity and specially the
projects promoting tourism;
ii. Infrastructure of social sectors of education and health
NON LAPSABLE CENTRAL POOL OF RESOURCES (NLCPR) SCHEME
 The Union Cabinet also approved continuation of existing Non Lapsable Central Pool of
Resources (NLCPR) scheme till March, 2020 with funding pattern of 90:10
 Its broad objective is to ensure speedy development of infrastructure in the North Eastern Region
and Sikkim

Question 4

4. GANGA GRAM PROJECT

Answer 4

 Launched by Union Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation
 It is launched under the Clean Ganga mission-Namami Gange Programme
 It is an integrated approach for holistic development of villages situated on the banks of the
River Ganga with active participation of villagers
 The objectives of project include solid and liquid waste management, water conservation
projects, renovation of ponds and water resources, organic farming, horticulture, and promotion
of medicinal plants.

Question 5

5. NATIONAL STRATEGIC PLAN AND MISSION SAMPARK

Answer 5

 The Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare on World AIDS Day (1st December) launched
National Strategic Plan 2017-24 & Mission SAMPARK
 National Strategic Plan 2017-24 aimed at eradicating HIV/AIDS by 2030
o It will pave a roadmap for achieving the target of 90:90:90 Strategy
 Mission SAMPARK was launched to trace those who are Left to Follow Up and are to be brought
under Antiretroviral therapy (ART) services
o “Community Based Testing” will be taken up for fast-tracking the identification of all who
are HIV positive
90:90:90 STRATEGY
 It is a new HIV treatment narrative of UNAIDS programme
 The strategy calls for 90% of HIV-infected individuals to be diagnosed by 2020, 90% of whom will
be on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and 90% of whom will achieve sustained Virology suppression

Question 6

6. SCHEME FOR INTER-CASTE MARRIAGES

Answer 6

 Government lifted the income ceiling for receiving benefits under the ‘Dr Ambedkar Scheme for
Social Integration
 So far, only couples with a total annual income of Rs.5 Lakh or lower could avail benefits under
this scheme
ABOUT
 It was launched in 2013 by the Union Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment
 To promote at least 500 inter-caste marriages per year by providing 2.5 lakh cash incentive to
every such marriage
 The scheme is administered by the Dr Ambedkar Foundation
 One of the spouses should belong to Scheduled Caste and the other should belong to a NonScheduled Caste to get eligible
 The marriage should have to be duly registered under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
 It is required that it should be the first marriage for both spouses and they should have
submitted the proposals within a year of marriage
 It mandatory for the couples to share their Aadhaar numbers and details of their Aadhaar-linked
joint bank account

Question 7

7. ECO-NIWAS PORTAL

Answer 7

 Recently, Energy Conservation–New Indian Way for Affordable & Sustainable homes (ECONIWAS) portal launched by the government
 To increase the awareness about sustainable building and energy efficient homes in the country
 It is developed by Bureau of Energy Efficiency.

Question 8

8. LAQSHYA - LABOUR ROOM QUALITY IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVE

Answer 8

 It is a Safe Delivery Mobile Application for health workers
 Launched on the occasion of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) day on 12th December
 This initiative will be implemented in Government Medical Colleges, District Hospitals, high
delivery load Sub- District Hospitals, and Community Health Centres

Question 9

9. MSME SAMBANDH

Answer 9

 Recently, government has launched MSME Sambandh- a Public Procurement portal for Micro
Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)
 Objective: To monitor the implementation of the Public Procurement from MSEs by Central
Public Sector Enterprises
It is in accordance with the Procurement Policy launched in 2012 that mandates 20% of the total annual
purchases of the Central Government Departments, CPSEs to procure necessarily from MSEs.

Question 10

10. DARPAN PROJECT

Answer 10

 Launched by the Ministry of Communications
 DARPAN stands for Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for A New India
 It is an IT modernization project, aims at realising financial inclusion of un-banked rural
population.
 It offers core banking services to the account holders
 The project is targeted to be completed by March2018with an outlay of Rs.1400 crore
 The project intends to provide low power technology solution to each branch postmaster (BPM)
that will improve service delivery.
 It aims to increase rural reach of Department of Posts (DoP) and enable Branch Post Offices
(BOs) to increase traffic of all financial remittances, savings accounts, Rural Postal Life
Insurance and Cash Certificates
 It also aims to improve mail operations processes by allowing for automatedbooking and
delivery of accountable article.
 It will also increase revenue using retail post business and provide third party applications and
make disbursements for social security schemes such as MGNREGS
DARPAN WEB PORTAL
 Launched by Manipur to check the corruption
 It stands for Digital Application for Review by Public And Nation
 The purpose of the web portal is to inform the people about various projects being taken up by
the government and current status of the projects and check dissemination of fake or incorrect
status report by using GPS location verification.

Question 11

11. SAMEEP

Answer 11

 Launched by the Ministry of External Affairs
 It stands for Students and MEA Engagement Programme
 It is an outreach mission that aims to take Indian foreign policy and its global engagements to
students across country and also to look at diplomacy as a career option.
 Under this, MEA officials will talk to students in their home towns, particularly their alma matter,
to help them better understand foreign policy
 It is a voluntary programme for all the ministry officers - under-secretary and above ranks

Question 12

12. E-HRMS

Answer 12

 The electronic-Human Resource Management System (e-HRMS) was launched by the Ministry
of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
 On the occasion of Good Governance Day (25 December).
 It is an online platform for central government employees to apply for leave and access their
service-related information.
 It will enable these employees to see all their details with respect to service book, leave, salary,
GPF, etc.
 The employees can also apply for different kind of claims and reimbursements, loan and
advances, leave, leave encashment, LTC advances, tour etc. on a single platform
 It will enable senior authorities to check all pendency of data updating as well as claims
NATIONAL GOOD GOVERNANCE DAY (NGGD)
 It is celebrated every year in India on December 25
 To mark the birthday anniversary of former Prime Minister AtalBihariVajpayee.
 Started in 2014 to honour Vajpayee by fostering awareness among the people of accountability
in government

Question 13

13. MISSION ANTYODAYA

Answer 13

 An exercise to rank gram panchayats on the parameters of physical infrastructure, human
development and economic activities have been completed recently.
 It is part of the Mission Antyodaya, under which the Centre has set a target of bringing onecrore
households out of poverty and making 50,000grampanchayats poverty free by 2019
 Implemented by the Rural Development Ministry.
 The ranking will help in identification of gaps in the quest for making these gram panchayats
poverty free
 The 50,000 gram panchayats have been selected in about 5,000clusters
 These gram panchayats were selected by the state governments on the basis of social capital
 Public and private institutions are being involved in the mission for successful implementation
 Through convergence of all government programmes across ministries and departments, an
effort is being made under the mission to diversify livelihood and to eradicate poverty of
households

Question 14

14. E-COURTS PROJECT

Answer 14

 Recently, a two day National Conference on e-court project held bye-Committee of the Supreme
Court of India, in association with the Department of Justice
 The Conference focused on the progress, sharing of best practices, experiences, important
issues and emerging challenges under the project
 During the conference, e-Filing facility was launched
 Through e-Filing software, registered advocates and registered parties or persons will be able to
file their cases in the district courts
ABOUT
 The e-Courts Mission Mode Project (Phase I 2010-15; Phase II 2015-19) is a national eGovernance project for ICT enablement of district and subordinate courts of the country.
 It aims to create a robust Court Management System through digitization, document
management, judicial knowledge management and learning tools.
 The project envisages deployment of hardware, software and networking to assist district and
taluka courts in streamlining their day to day functioning
 National Informatics Centre is the implementing agency for the project.

Question 15

BILLS, ACTS and BODIES

15. THE PREVENTION OF TORTURE BILL, 2017

Answer 15

 Recently, it was introduced in the Parliament as a private member bill
 The proposed bill states that a public servant who intentionally does any act to cause grievous
harm to somebody, even if in police custody, should be punished
 It directly makes State responsible for any injury inflicted by its agents on citizens
 It proposes minimum three years of imprisonment and maximum ten years and a fine, for a
public servant who inflicts torture on anybody for a confession or even for information that may
lead to the detection of an offence.
 It provides a wide definition to torture including inflicting physical, mental or psychological
injury
 Under it, courts are empowered to award justiciable compensation to the victims of torture
UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE (UNCAT)
 Recently, Law Commission of India has recommended the Centre to ratify the United Nations
Convention Against Torture
 It also proposed standalone anti-torture draft law - Prevention of Torture Bill 2017
 India had signed the UNCAT in 1997 but not yet ratified it.
 Besides India, there are other 8 countries which are not part of the convention
ABOUT
 The UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (UNCAT) is an international human rights instrument aimed to prevent torture and
cruel, inhuman degrading treatment or punishment around the world.
 This convention adopted on December 10, 1984 by UNGA and is in force since 1987
 It requires states to take effective measures to prevent torture in any territory under their
jurisdiction and forbids states to transport people to any country where there is reason to believe
they will be tortured
OTHER SIMILAR CONVENTIONS
 The Geneva Conventions
 The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
 Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment– 1975

Question 16

16. TRIPLE TALAQ BILL, 2017

Answer 16

 Recently, the Lok Sabha passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriages) Bill
2017
 It declared pronouncing instant triple talaq any form illegal
 The law made pronouncing talaq cognizable and non-bailable offence and criminalises it with up
to three years in jail for the husband with a fine
 In such cases, the law allows Muslim women to seek subsistence allowance from her husband
for her and her children
 The Muslim women are also entitled to seek the custody of their minor children in such cases
SUPREME COURT VERDICT
 In Shayara Bano vs. Union of India case, the SC in August, 2017 had declared practice of instant
divorce through triple talaq as unconstitutional, illegal and void and not protected by Article 25
(freedom of religion) of the Constitution.
 It held that triple talaq is manifestly arbitrary and violation of the constitution and fundamental
right under Article 14 (equality before law)
OTHER FACTS
 Private matters of Muslims in India are governed by the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat)
Application Act, 1937
 Inter-caste and Inter-religious marriages are covered under the Special Marriage Act of 1954
 Sikh marriages are registered under the Anand Marriage Act, 1909
 Hindus, Jains, Buddhist marriages are registered under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, however
this act is not applicable to Scheduled Tribes unless notified by the central government
 The Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872 covers various aspects of Christian marriage
 Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act of 1936 covers various aspects of Parsi marriage

Question 17

17. THE REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2017

Answer 17

 Introduced in Lok Sabha.
 The Bill seeks to amend the Representation of People Act, 1950 and the Representation of
People Act, 1951 to allow for proxy voting and to make certain provisions of the Acts genderneutral.
 The 1950 Act provides for allocation of seats and delimitation of constituencies for elections,
qualifications of voters, and preparation of electoral rolls.
 The 1951 Act provides for the conduct of elections and offences and disputes related to
elections
 The 1950 Act permits the registration of, inter alia, persons holding a service qualification in
electoral rolls who are ordinarily resident in a constituency and wives of such persons are also
deemed to be ordinarily residing in India
 The Bill replaces the term ‘wife’ with ‘spouse’.
 Since the 1951 Act permits an overseas voter to vote only in person, the Bill seeks to permit
them to cast their vote in person or by proxy
 The 1951 Act provides for the wife of a person holding a service qualification mentioned the
1950 Act to vote.
 The Bill replaces the term ‘wife’ with ‘spouse’.

Question 18

18. SPECIAL COURTS TO TRY POLITICIANS

Answer 18

 The Supreme Court accepted Centre’s scheme to set up 12 fast track courts to exclusively
prosecute and dispose 1,581 criminal cases pending against MPs & MLAs within a year

Question 19

19. SECTION 29A OF RPA 1951

Answer 19

 Section 29A of Representation of People’s Act, 1951, lays down various provisions in regards to
the registration and recognition of political parties in India.

Question 20

20. NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL (NGT)

Answer 20

 Recently, the MoEFCC has amended the National Green Tribunal (Practices and Procedure)
Rules, 2011 to allow NGT Chairperson to “constitute a single-member bench” in “exceptional
circumstances”
 According to earlier rules, NGT bench consisted of “two or more members” with at least one
judicial member and another expert.
ABOUT NGT
 The NGT was established in 2010 under National Green Tribunal Act, 2010
 The act was enacted for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental
protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources.
 It was passed in consonance with the Right to healthy environment, construed as a part of Right
to life under Article 21 of the constitution
COMPOSITION OF TRIBUNAL
 It has a full time chairperson and following members:
o At least 10 and maximum 20 Full time Judicial members
o At least 10 and maximum 20 Full time Expert Members
ELIGIBILITY OF CHAIRPERSON AND MEMBERS
 Chairperson: A serving or retired Judge of the Supreme Court or Chief Justice of a High Court.
 Judicial member: A serving or retired Judge of the Supreme Court or Chief Justice of a high
Court or Judge of High Court
 Expert Members:
o Either a degree in Master of Science (in physical sciences or life sciences) with a
Doctorate degree or Master of Engineering or Master of Technology Or
o An experience of fifteen years in the relevant field and administrative experience of
fifteen years in Central or a State Government or in a reputed National or State level
institution
 The Chairperson and other members are barred from taking any employment connected with the
tribunal for at least 2years from the date of their retirement
JURISDICTION
 It adjudicates matters relating to the following laws listed in theScheduleI of the act,
o Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974;
o Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974;
o Environment (Protection) Act, 1986;
o Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991;
o Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and
o Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
 It is guided by principles of natural justice and not bound by procedure laid down underCode of
Civil Procedure, 1908
 It has the power to impose fines and penalties and order compensation for damages to persons
or property
 It is mandated to make and endeavour for disposal of applications or appeals finally within 6
months of filing
APPOINTMENTS
 Appointment of members is done by Central Government
 Chairperson of NGT is appointed by the Central Government in consultation with the Chief
Justice of India.
 Judicial Members and Expert Members of the Tribunal are appointed on the recommendations of
a Selection Committee
TENURE
 Chairperson, Judicial Member and Expert Member hold office for 5 years.
 Maximum age of the chairman 70years if he has been a Supreme Court Judge and 67years, if he
has been a high court judge
REMOVAL
 Chairperson can be removed from his office via an order made by the Central Government after
an inquiry made by a Judge of the Supreme Court in which such Chairperson or Judicial Member
has been informed of the charges against him and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard
in respect of those charges
OTHER FACTS
 Principle bench of NGT: New Delhi
 Regional benches: Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai
 The tribunal enjoys original and appellate jurisdiction under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010
and acts specified in the Schedule I of the NGT act.
 Appeals from NGT can only go to the Supreme Court

Question 21

21. SECTION 497 OF IPC

Answer 21

 Recently, the Supreme Court has admitted a petition that seeks to re-examine the constitutional
validity of adultery as a criminal offence under Section 497 of IPC

Question 22

22. FIRST SOCIAL AUDIT LAW

Answer 22

 Recently Meghalaya became the first state in India to operationalize a social audit law
 It has operationalized ‘The Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Services Social
Audit Act, 2017’ that will allow citizens’ participation in the planning of development, selection of
beneficiaries, concurrent monitoring of programmes, redress of grievances and audit of works,
services and programmes on an annual basis

Question 23

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

23. WORLD MIGRATION REPORT – 2018

Answer 23

 Released by International Organisation for Migration
 According to the report, Indian diaspora is world’s largest followed by, Mexico, Russia, China,
Bangladesh, and Pakistan
 Top destination nations for global diaspora are – the USA, Germany, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the
UK, UAE, Canada
 Largest share of Indian diaspora in UAE – 22%, followed by US (12.8%), Saudi Arabia (12.1%)
 There is 10% of rise in number of global migrants over 2010 but as a percentage of total world
population it remained largely static in 2015 (3.3%) over 2010 (3.2%)
 People in working age group, between 20 to 64 years, account for nearly 72% of total migration
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR MIGRATION (IOM)
 It is an intergovernmental organization
 Established in 195
 Headquarter: Geneva, Switzerland
 It provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including
refugees, internally displaced persons and migrant workers.
 It enjoys Permanent Observer status to UNGA
 IOM works in four broad areas of migration management:
o Migration and development,
o Facilitating migration,
o Regulating migration and
o Forced migration.
 It has 166 member states
 India became member state in 2008
 International Migrants Day: 18 December
o Started by UNGA
o Theme 2017: Safe Migration in a World on the Move

Question 24

24. UN GLOBAL COMPACT ON MIGRATION

Answer 24

 Recently, the US has pulled out of UN Global Compact on Migration.
ABOUT
 It will be first inter-governmentally negotiated agreement, when adopted in 2018, under
auspices of UN to cover all dimensions of international migration in holistic and comprehensive
manner.
 The genesis of this compact is in New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants adopted in
September 2016 by UNGA
 The declaration called for negotiations on a Global Compact for Migration, aimed at protecting
the rights of refugees and migrants and helping them resettle
 The purpose of this compact is to provide significant opportunity to improve governance on
migration, address challenges associated with today’s migration, and strengthen contribution of
migrants and migration to sustainable development

Question 25

25. WASSENAAR ARRANGEMENT (WA)

Answer 25

 India admitted as 42nd member of the Wassenaar Arrangement
ABOUT
 The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and
Technologies, is commonly known as the Wassenaar Arrangement
 It is a multilateral export control regime (MECR)
 It was established in 1996
 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
 Headquarter: Vienna, Austria
 All permanent members of UNSC except China are its members
WASSENAAR AGREEMENT
 It was an agreement reached in 1982 between employers’ organisations and labour unions in
the Netherlands to restrain wage growth in return for the adoption of policies to
combat unemployment and inflation, such as reductions in working hours and the expansion
of part-time employment.
 The agreement has been credited with ending the wage-price spiral of the 1970s, greatly
reducing unemployment and producing strong growth in output and employment
OTHER EXPORT CONTROL REGIMES
AUSTRALIA GROUP
 It is multilateral export control regime (MECR) and informal group that works to reduce the
spread of chemical and biological weapons
 It was established in 1985, in response to use of chemical weapons by Iraq in 1984
 It has total 43 members
 India became member very recently
 China, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea are not its members.
NUCLEAR SUPPLIERS GROUP
 Also called London Club or London Group because of its first meeting in London
 It is a group of 48 nuclear supplier countries to frame and implements rules for exporting nuclear
equipment, with a view to control the spread of nuclear weapons.
 Formed by seven countries viz. Canada, West Germany, France, Japan, the USSR, the UK, and
the USA in response to the nuclear tests of India in 1974
 Objective: reduce nuclear proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of materials that
may be applicable to nuclear weapon development and by improving safeguards and protection
on existing materials
 Decisions of the group are made on the basis of consensus
 India, Pakistan are not members of this group while China is a member
MISSILE TECHNOLOGY CONTROL REGIME
 It is a voluntary and informal partnership among 35 countries
 Setup in 1987 by the G7 countries
 To prevent the proliferation of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology capable of
carrying above 500kg payload for more than 300 km
 It does not impose legally binding obligations over its member countries.
 Decisions of the group are made on the basis of consensus
 India is a member of this group but China, Pakistan are not its members
THE HAGUE CODE OF CONDUCT (HCOC)
 Also known as International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation
 It is a voluntary, legally non-binding international measure that seeks to prevent the proliferation
of ballistic missiles that are capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
 It was established in 2002
 The HCoC does not ban ballistic missiles, but it calls for restraining their production, testing, and
export
 Executive Secretariat: Austria
 As of now 138 nations are signatories to the HCoC.
 India is the latest signatory to the HCoC
 China, Pakistan are not signatories to HCoC

Question 26

26. ISREAL

Answer 26

 Recently Jerusalem has been recognised as Israel capital by the USA
ABOUT
 The city is sacred to Christians, Jews, and Muslims as it houses their respective religious sites
viz., the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Western Wall, and the Aqsa Mosque
 In the Six Day War (1967), Israel occupied the eastern half of Jerusalem
JORDAN RIVER
 It is a 251 km long river in the Middle East that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of
Galilee and on to the Dead Sea
 Israel and the West Bank border the river to the west, while the Golan Heights and Jordan lie to
its east.
 Both Jordan and the West Bank take their names from the river

Question 27

27. INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANISATION (IMO)

Answer 27

 Recently, India has been re-elected to the Council of the International Maritime Organization
(IMO).
 India has been elected to the Council of the IMO ever since it started functioning, except for a
two-year hiatus during 1983-1984
ABOUT
 IMO is a specialised agency of the United Nations with responsibility for the safety and security
of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships
 The IMO Convention entered into force in 1958 and the IMO formed in 1959
 Headquarters: London
 It has 173member states and 3associate members.
 India was one of earliest members (acceded in 1959) of the IMO
 IMO is governed by an assembly of members and is financially administered by a council of
members elected from the assembly.
 IMO Council consists of 40 member countries who are elected by IMO Assembly
WORLD MARITIME DAY
 It observed every year on September28
 Theme 2017: ‘Connecting Ships, Ports and People’
 This day marks date of adaptation of International Maritime Organization (IMO) Convention in
1958

Question 28

28. PERMANENT STRUCTURED COOPERATION ON DEFENCE (PESCO)

Answer 28

 European Union adopted the decision to establish a European Union defence pact named PESCO

Question 29

ECONOMY

29. WTO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 11 (MC 11)

Answer 29

Recently, the MC 11 took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina
 However, the members failed to agree to a ministerial declaration at the end of MC11
OUTCOME
 Fishery subsidies
o Agreed to secure a deal on subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing
by the end of 2019
 Public Stockholding
o There was no outcome on permanent solution to public stockholding for food security
purposes or on other agriculture issues
 Developed countries along with the US also had refused to re-affirm the multilateralism and the
Doha development mandate in MC11
 E-Commerce
o Agreed to continue the 1998 work programme on e-commerce in a non-negotiating mode
as per India’s stand
 Non-trade issues
o Developed nations strived to bring into the discussions a stream of issues from rules for
small and medium enterprises to gender rights in global trade, which India has
categorized as nontrade issues.
 Creation of working party on accession for SouthSudan
 Other issues where no agreement was reached include:
o The work programme on special safeguard mechanism (SSM)
o The work programme on 10 agreement-specific proposals for improvements in special
and differential treatment of developing countries
o long-standing cotton issue, calling for elimination of export subsidies, since the 2005
Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.
BUENOS AIRES DECLARATION ON WOMEN AND TRADE
 It is non-binding declaration that sought women’s economic empowerment by speedily removing
barriers to their participation in trade
 India voted against the declaration by insisting that it is nontrade related issue
 119 of 164 members backed the proposal
 The declaration provides framework for members of trade body to adopt “gender responsive”
trade policies
WTO
 It is an inter-governmental organization for governments to negotiate global trade agreements
and progressively liberalizing trade.
 It was established in 1995
 It has 164 members.
 HQ: Geneva, Switzerland
 Ministerial Conference of WTO is the highest decision making body which usually meets once in
every 2 years.

Question 30

30. FOREIGN TRADE POLICY – MID-TERM REVIEW

Answer 30

 Recently, government has introduced the Mid-term review of Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-
20
 It also unveiled several initiatives to improve the ease of doing business, more incentives to
boost labour-intensive and employment oriented merchandise and services exports
MEASURES
 Increase in the Merchandise Exports from India scheme (MEIS) incentives for two sub sectors of
textiles i.e. readymade garments and made ups
 The Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) incentives have also been increased
 Abolished the GST for transfer and sale of duty credit scrips to zero from 12 per cent and
increased the validity period for these tradable papers
 Trust-based self-ratification scheme has been introduced to allow duty free import of inputs for
exports production after a self-declaration
 Round the clock customs clearance facility has been extended at 19 seaports and 17 air cargo
complexes.
 Creation of professional teams for ease of trading
 A National Trade Facilitation Committee will be set up which will cover issues such as
simplification of procedures, infrastructure and risk-based assessment.
 An Export Promotion Mission to be setup to provide an institutional framework to work with
state governments to boost India’s exports.
 A new Logistics Division has been created in Department of Commerce to develop and
coordinate integrated development of the logistics sector.
TOWNS OF EXPORT EXCELLENCE (TEE)
 Foreign Trade policy contains provisions for TEE
 Towns producing goods of Rs.750 crore or more will be notified as Towns of Export Excellence
based on potential for growth in exports.
 For Towns of Export Excellence in Handloom, Handicraft, Agriculture and Fisheries sector,
threshold limit would be Rs.150 crore.
TEE
S.NO TOWN OF EXPORT
EXCELLENCE
STATE PRODUCT
CATEGORY
1 Tirupur Tamil Nadu Hosiery
2 Ludhiana Punjab Woollen Knitwear
3 Panipat Haryana Woollen Blanket
4 Kanoor Kerala Handlooms
5 Karur Tamil Nadu Handlooms
6 Madurai Tamil Nadu Handlooms
7 AEKK (Aroor, Ezhupunna,
Kodanthuruthu&Kuthiathodu)
Kerala Seafood
8 Jodhpur Rajasthan Handicraft
9 Kekhra Uttar Pradesh Handlooms
10 Dewas Madhya Pradesh Pharmaceuticals
11 Alleppey Kerala Coir Products
12 Kollam (Quilon) Kerala Cashew Products
13 Indore Madhya Pradesh Soya Meal and
Soya Products
14 Bhilwara Rajasthan Textiles
15 Surat Gujarat Gems and
Jewellery
16 Malihabad Uttar Pradesh Horticulture
Products
17 Kanpur Uttar Pradesh Leather Products
18 Ambur Tamil Nadu Leather Products
19 Jaipur Rajasthan Handicrafts
20 Srinagar Jammu & Kashmir Handicrafts
21 Anantnag Jammu & Kashmir Handicrafts
22 Barmer Rajasthan Handicrafts
23 Bhiwandi Maharashtra Textiles
24 Agra Uttar Pradesh Leather Products
25 Firozabad Uttar Pradesh Glass Art wares
26 Bhubaneshwar Orissa Marine Products
27 Agartala Tripura Bamboo Cane &
Other Handicrafts
28 Ahmedabad Gujarat Textiles
29 Kolhapur Maharashtra Textiles
30 Saharanpur Uttar Pradesh Handicrafts
31 Morbi Gujarat Ceramic Tiles
&Sanitary ware
32 Gurgaon Haryana Apparel
33 Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) Tamil Nadu Marine
34 Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh Seafood
35 Bhimavaram Andhra Pradesh Seafood

Question 31

31. FINANCIAL RESOLUTION AND DEPOSIT INSURANCE (FRDI) BILL 2017

Answer 31

 Recently tabled in the parliament
 The bill is to systematic resolution of all financial firms — banks, insurance companies and other
financial intermediaries.
 The Bill comes together with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code to spell out the procedure for
the winding up or revival of an ailing company
PROVISIONS
 Setting up of a Resolution Corporation to replace the existing Deposit Insurance and Credit
Guarantee Corporation
 It will be tasked with monitoring financial firms, anticipating their risk of failure, taking corrective
action and resolving them in case of failure.
 It is also tasked with providing deposit insurance up to a certain limit yet to be specified, in the
event of a bank failure.
 It will also be tasked with classifying financial firms on their risk of failure — low, moderate,
material, imminent, or critical.
 It will take over the management of a company once it is deemed critical
 The FRDI Bill also empowers the Corporation to bail-in the company which can be done either by
cancelling the bank’s liabilities, or converting them into other forms, such as equity

Question 32

32. FINANCIAL STABILITY REPORT

Answer 32

 Released by RBI bi-annually.
According to the report, the gross nonperforming advances (GNPA) ratio has grown to 10.2
percent in September 2017 from 9.6 percent in June 2017

Question 33

33. CONSUMER PROTECTION BILL 2018

Answer 33

 It was introduced in the Lok Sabha.
 It seeks to replace Consumer Protection Act, 1986
SALIENT FEATURES
 It has provisions to sue a manufacturer for not giving adequate instructions of correct usage to
prevent any harm or any warning regarding improper or incorrect usage.
 It has provisions for Product Liability
 The consumer can lodge a complaint from anywhere unlike the existing law
 Unlike the 1986 law, the complainant need not be accompanied by a lawyer
 Allows mediation process at any point, if the manufacturer and the complainant arrive at
compromise
 The Bill proposes an investigative body, the Central Consumer Protection Authority, on the lines
of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission
 Offences and Punishment for false or misleading advertisement, selling or distributing or
importing adulterated and spurious products

Question 34

34. WORLD ENERGY OUTLOOK 2017 (WEO)

Answer 34

 Released by International Energy Agency (IEA)
 The WEO 2017 series also include special reports viz., Energy Access Outlook, Southeast Asia
Energy Outlook
 According to the report by 2040, global energy demand will be 30% higher than today and global
energy-related carbon emissions will increase by 5%
 Renewables will make up 40% of total power generation by 2040
 India’s share in global energy use will be 11% by 2040
 In India, share of coal in the power mix will decrease to less than 50% by 2040.
 India’s Universal Access to electricity by 2020s from current level of 82% of electrification
 India’s refining capacity would grows by around two thirds by 2040, becoming third-largest
refining centre behind the US and China
INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY (IEA)
 It is an inter-governmental organization established in 1974 as per framework of the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
 It was established in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis
 Members: 29 countries
 India is lone associate member of IAE since 2017
 Secretariat: Paris, France
 Mandate: Its mission guided by four main areas of focus: energy security, economic
development, environmental protection, and engagement worldwide
 It also seeks to promote alternate energy sources (including renewable energy), rational energy
policies and multinational energy technology co-operation
 It acts as energy policy advisor to 29 member countries and also non-member countries like
China, India and Russia
 Publications: World Energy Outlook report

Question 35

35. METHANOL ECONOMY FUND

Answer 35

 NITI Aayog is planning to set up Methanol Economy Fund worth Rs.4,000-5,000 crore to promote
production and use of the clean methanol fuel by converting high ash content coal and stranded
gas assets into methanol
 The first coal-based methanol plant will be set up in West Bengal by Coal India Ltd
METHANOL
 It is also known as methyl alcohol and wood alcohol
 It is colourless, obtained both naturally and artificially
 It is biodegradable, flammable, poisonous, and renewable source of energy
 It used as energy producing fuel, transportation fuel and cooking fuel
 It is simplest alcohol and does not have carbon-carbon bond and therefore does not emit
particulate matter (PM)
 It is a single carbon compound made from the destructive distillation of wood and also produced
from coal, natural gas, biomass
 Use: in organic synthesis, as a fuel, solvent, and antifreeze
 Certified as fuel by Bureau of India Standards 2016
 The gaseous version of Methanol – DME (Dimethyl ether)has replaced chlorofluorocarbons as
an aerosol spray propellant and can be blended with LPG

Question 36

36. SRISTI

Answer 36

 Sustainable Rooftop Implementation for Solar Transfiguration of India (SRISTI) is a concept
note
 Prepared by MoNRE to accelerate the deployment of rooftop solar power in the country
 According to the note, DISCOMS will act as the nodal points for implementation of the Grid
Connected Rooftop Solar (RTS) Power programme
 Performance based financial support to DISCOMS to accelerate deployment of RTS plants within
their distribution
 Central Financial Assistance will be provided only for installation of roof top solar plants in
residential sectors

Question 37

37. NATIONAL HIGHWAY INVESTMENT PROMOTION CELL

Answer 37

 Created by National Highways Authority of India
 To attract domestic and foreign investment for highways projects
 The cell will focus on engaging with global institution investors, developers, construction
companies and fund managers for building investor participation in road infrastructure projects
 It will work in close co-ordination with various connected Ministries and Departments of Central
Government, State Governments, Apex Business Chambers like FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM, and
Invest India etc.
 It will also work in close co-ordination with Foreign Embassies and Missions in India and Indian
Embassies and Missions situated in foreign countries
NATIONAL HIGHWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA (NHAI)
 It is an autonomous agency
 It was established through National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988
 It is a nodal agency of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
 It is responsible for the development, management, operation and maintenance of National
Highways
 It is implementing the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP), which was
launched in 1998 with the objective of developing roads of international standards

Question 38

38. FINANCIAL SYSTEM STABILITY ASSESSMENT REPORT (FSSA)

Answer 38

 Jointly released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB)
 Also released Financial Sector Assessment (FSA) simultaneously
 These are part of Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP)
 The FSAP assessment acknowledges India’s strong growth in recent years in both economic
activity and financial assets.
 It also acknowledges many efforts undertaken by India
o Tackling Non-Performing Assets (NPAs)
o Recapitalization measures for banks
o Introduction of special resolution regime
o Formalization of National Pension System (NPS) and making the pension sector
regulator statutory
o Passing of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code
o Jan Dhan Yojana
o AADHAR
o RBI’s Supervisory Program for Assessment of Risk and Capital (SPARC) and Asset
Quality Review (AQR)
o RBI’s Basel III framework
o RBI’s move of establishing new Enforcement Department
o Revising Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework that incorporates more prudent risktolerance thresholds.
FINANCIAL SECTOR ASSESSMENT PROGRAMME (FSAP)
 It is joint program of IMF and WB involved in developing countries and region only.
 It undertakes a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of a country’s financial sector.
 It is conducted every five years
 Last FSAP for India was conducted in 2011-12

Question 39

39. PETRO

Answer 39

 It is a virtual currency(crypto currency) launched by Venezuela
 It is backed by Venezuela’s oil, gas, gold and diamond wealth

Question 40

SECURITY AND DEFENCE

40. NIC-CERT

Answer 40

 The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) launched first National
Information Centre-Computer Emergency Response Team (NIC-CERT) to prevent and predict
cyber-attacks on government utilities.
 It is a setup of National Informatics Centre (NIC).
ABOUT
 The NIC-CERT will monitor and help in early detection and mitigation of cyberattacks on
government networks.
 It will operate in close co-ordination and collaboration with other sectoral CERTs and more so
with CERT-In
 Using advance tools, NIC-CERT team will correlate events that would help in generating canvas of
attack surface and identify vulnerabilities and possible exploits
NATIONAL INFORMATICS CENTRE (NIC)
 The NIC is premier science & technology organisation of Government in informatics services and
information and communication technology applications
 It is a part of MeitY’s Department of Electronics & Information Technology.
 It was established in 1976
 It plays a pivotal role in steering e-governance applications in governmental departments at
national, state and district levels
 Almost all Indian-government websites are developed and managed by NIC
INDIAN COMPUTER EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM (CERT-IN)
 CERT-In is nodal agency for information technology security under aegis of Department of
Information Technology, Ministry of Electronics and IT.
 It was established in 2004.
 Mandate: protect Indian cyberspace and software infrastructure against destructive and hacking
activities
 It also responds to computer security incidents, report on vulnerabilities and promote effective IT
security practices throughout country.
 It also issue guidelines, vulnerability notes, advisories, and whitepapers regarding to information
security practices, prevention.

Question 41

41. BORDER PROTECTION GRID

Answer 41

 Government has announced the establishment of Boarder Protection Grid with Indo-Bangladesh
Border (IBB) States
 The system will comprise of physical barriers, non-physical barriers, surveillance system,
Intelligence agencies, State Police, BSF
 It will be supervised by a State level Standing Committee under the Chairmanship of respective
Chief Secretaries and will ensure greater help for the States in the overall border security

Question 42

42. PRITHVI AAD INTERCEPTOR MISSILE

Answer 42

 Recently, Indigenously developed Prithvi Advanced Air Defence (AAD) supersonic interceptor
missile was successfully test-fired
ABOUT
 It is a 7.5-meter long single stage solid rocket propelled guided missile
 It is equipped with a navigation system, a hi-tech computer and electro-mechanical activator
 It can destroy the incoming hostile ballistic missile in endo-atmospheric regioni.e., less than 30
km altitude.
BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENCE SYSTEM (BMD)
 It is being developed by DRDO in order to develop doubled-layered ballistic missile defence
system
 The system is capable of tracking and destroying hostile missiles both outside (Exo) and inside
(Endo) the earth’s atmosphere
 Exo-atmospheric Missile system is capable of intercepting missiles at an altitude of 50-80 Km
 Endo-atmospheric system is capable of intercepting missiles up to an altitude of 30 km
 The first phase BMD system, capable of intercepting enemy missiles fired from 2,000 km away, is
expected to be inducted in the armed forces soon
 The second phase BMD system, capable of destroying enemy missiles fired from 5,000 km away
is still under development
 India will be fourth country in the world after the US, Russia and Israel to successfully built
effective anti-ballistic missile system when BMD operationalises in 2022.

Question 43

43. AKASH MISSILE

Answer 43

 Recently, the Surface to Air Missile (SAM) AKASH was successfully tested with indigenous radio
frequency seeker against target UAV Banshee.
 It was successfully launched from Launch Complex-III at ITR Chandipur.
ABOUT
 Akash is a mid-range surface-to-air missile (SAM)
 It is indigenously developed by DRDO under the Integrated Guided-Missile Development
Programme (IGMDP)
 Speed: Mach 2.8 to 3.5
 Payload: 60 kg
 Range: 25 km
 It is powered by Ramjet-rocket propulsion system (RRPS)
 It is capable of neutralising aerial targets like cruise missiles, fighter jets and air-to-surface
missiles.
 The missile was formally inducted into the IAF in July 2015

Question 44

44. INS KALVARI

Answer 44

 Recently, India’s first Scorpene-class submarine, INS Kalvari inducted into the Indian Navy in
Mumbai, Maharashtra.
 It is first of the six Scorpene-class submarines built under the strategic Project 75
 It built by Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) with assistance and technology transfer from France’s
DCNS
 Its silent diesel-electric engines makes it very difficult to detect underwater
PROJECT 75
 Under Project 75 India aimed to construct 6 next generation diesel submarines with Air
Independent Propulsion System (AIP) technology for the Indian Navy by 2022
 The project is built with assistance and technology transfer from DCNS of France
 As INS KALAVARI already inducted into the Navy, INS KHANDERI, and INS KARANJ are started
sea trials.
 The other three submarines - VELA, VAGIR AND VAGSHEER - are being constructed at the MDL

Question 45

45. MILITARY EXERCISES

Answer 45

AJEYA WARRIOR
 It is Indo-UK joint military exercise recently held at Mahajan Field Firing Range, Rajasthan
 This is the 3rd joint military exercise between the two countries.
 The Exercise is held once in two years alternatively in India and the UK
EKUVERIN
 It is a joint military exercise between Indian Army and Maldives National Defence Force,annually
conducting since 2009
 It is conducted at Maratha Centre in Belgavi, Karnataka
 It is held alternatively in India and Maldives.
 This is the 8th exercise of the joint annual training and focuses to enhance interoperability
between the two forces for counter-terrorist operations in semi urban environment
NASEEM-AL-BAHR
 It is a joint naval exercise of the Indian Navy and Royal Navy of Oman
 It also known as Sea Breeze
 This year’s exercise is the 11th edition and has been a biennial feature since 1993
BLUE FLAG
 It is a bi-annual multilateral exercise conducted in Israel
 Recently for the first time, Indian Air force participated in 3rd edition of Blue Flag

Question 46

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

46. INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE (ISA)

Answer 46

 Recently, the ISA has become a treaty-based inter-governmental organisation, with 19 countries
ratifying its framework agreement
 The day (6th December) was marked as Universal Energy Access Day
 It is first treaty-based intergovernmental organisation to be based in India
ABOUT
 The ISA was jointly launched by India and France in November 2015 in Paris on side-lines of
COP-21 of UNFCC
 Secretariat: at National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), Gurgaon
 It aims at addressing obstacles to deployment at scale of solar energy through better
harmonization and aggregation of demand from solar rich countries
 Under this alliance, 121 countries that fall within tropics i.e. between Tropic of Cancer and Tropic
of Capricorn have been invited to make collaborative efforts to harness solar energy to generate
the electricity.
 The institutional structure of ISA consists of an Assembly, a Council and a Secretariat
 Its major objectives include global deployment of over 1,000GW of solar generation capacity and
mobilisation of investment of over US $1000 billion into solar energy by 2030

Question 47

47. CERTIFICATE OF COMMENDATION BY CITES

Answer 47

 It was awarded to Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB)
 By Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
 For its efforts in conducting and coordinating species-specific wildlife enforcement operation -
Operation Save Kurma.
OPERATION SAVE KURMA
 It was conducted to combat the proliferating illegal trade of live turtles and its parts
 Approximately 16,000 live turtles and tortoises were seized and released back into the wild
during the operation period from December 15, 2016 to January 30, 2017
CITES
 It is an international agreement to regulate worldwide commercial trade in wild animal and plant
species
 It was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of the
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
 It entered into force in July 1975.
 It is administered through United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
 Secretariat: Geneva (Switzerland)
 It is a legally binding agreement
 Members: 183
 It classifies plants and animals according to three categories, or appendices, based on how
threatened.
o Appendix-1: International trade of animals listed in this list is banned worldwide.
o Appendix-2: The international trade of these species is strictly regulated.
o Appendix-3: lists some 170 species which one country asked to others for help to
control its trade
 In addition CITES also restricts trade in items made from such plants and animals, such as food,
clothing, medicine, and souvenirs
WCCD
 It is statutory multi-disciplinary body under the MoEFCC to combat organized wildlife crime in
the country
 It was established in 2007 by amending the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
 Headquarter: New Delhi
OPERATION THUNDERBIRD
 It is code-name of INTERPOL’s multi-national and multi-species enforcement operation for
wildlife protection from January 30 to February 19, 2017
 In India the WCCB, successfully coordinated the operation with INTERPOL

Question 48

48. GLOBAL E-WASTE MONITOR REPORT 2017

Answer 48

 Released by United Nations University (UNU), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU),
and the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA)
 The report ranked the Continents in terms of e-waste production
i. Asia > Europe > the Americas > Africa > Oceania
 According to the report, e-waste has been increased by 8% from 2014 to 2016
 Only 20% of 2016’s e-waste is documented to have been collected and recycled
 The highest per capita e-waste generators were Australia and New Zealand

Question 49

49. INVASIVE ALIEN SPECIES

Answer 49

 Recently, National Conference on the Status of Invasive Species in India was organised by
Zoological Survey of India and the Botanical Survey of India
 ZSI announced a list of alien invasive animal species in the conference
 Common Alien Animal Species found in India are:
o African Apple Snail – found in Andaman and Nicobar Island, now spread across the
whole country
o Papaya Mealy Bug – massively affected papaya crop in Assam, West Bengal and Tamil
Nadu
o Cotton Mealy Bug – threat to cotton crops in Deccan
o Amazon sail fin catfish – responsible for destroying fish population in wetlands
o Orange Cup-Coral – originated in Indo- East Pacific, now also found in Andaman and
Nicobar Island, Gulf of Kutch, Kerala and Lakshadweep

Question 50

50. TIGER CENSUS

Answer 50

 India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh have agreed to conduct a joint census of Tiger population

Question 51

51. SCHEME FOR PROTECTION OF MAJULI ISLAND

Answer 51

 The Union Government has launched new scheme for protection of Majuli Island in Assam from
flood and erosion
 Funding for it will be from Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER)
 The scheme has been framed by Brahmaputra Board
COMPONENTS OF THE SCHEME
 Bank revetment with geo bags filled with earth/sand for a reach length of 27 km in 14 locations
 RCC porcupine works in 41 locations
 Construction of a sluice and
 Construction of a Pilot channel of length of 3.50 km

Question 52

52. CYCLONE OCKHI

Answer 52

 Recently, a powerful cyclone named Ockhi has caused extensive damage to the lives of the
people living along west coast
 It originated in the Bay of Bengal and intensified as it moved through the Arabian Sea, resulting
into a cyclonic storm.
NAMING OF CYCLONE IN INDIAN OCEAN
 World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) started the tropical cyclone naming system in
2000
 Eight north Indian Ocean countries — Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka and Thailand, gave eight names each which was combined into a list of 64 names
 The next cyclone will be named by India and it will be called ‘Sagar

Question 53

53. PETCOKE

Answer 53

 The Union government favoured the banning of Petroleum Coke (PETCOKE) to be used as fuel
 India is the world’s biggest consumer of petroleum coke
 It emits 11 percent more greenhouse gases than coal
 Burning it also emits several times more sulphur dioxide, which causes lung diseases and acid
rain

Question 54

54. PROJECT BLUE FLAG

Answer 54

 Launched by Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
 It is a pilot project to develop and enhance standards of cleanliness on beaches
 Under the project, each state or union territory has been asked to nominate a beach which will be
funded through the on-going Integrated Coastal Management Programme
 The ‘Blue Flag’ is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) that a
beach or sustainable boating tourism operator, meets its stringent standards
FOUNDATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION (FEE)
 The FEE is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation promoting sustainable development
through environmental education.
 It was established in 198
 Headquarters: Copenhagen, Denmark
 It is active through five programmes; Eco Schools, Blue Flag, Young Reporters for Environment
(YRE), Green Key and Learning about Forests (LEAF)
 It has established the Global Forest Fund to offset CO2 emissions from travel
 India is represented by Centre for Environment Education, Gujarat, at FEE

Question 55

55. 7th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GROUND WATER

Answer 55

 Organized by the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee and Central Ground Water
Board (CGWB)from December 11 to 13, 2017
 At New Delhi
 Theme: Ground water Vision 2030- Water Security, Challenges and Climate Change Adaptation

Question 56

56. SCHALLER’S WOOD SCORPION

Answer 56

 It is a new scorpion species discovered from at Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary, Tripura
 India is home to more than 125 species of scorpions.
 Nine of India’s 11 wood scorpions are endemic to the country

Question 57

57. REGIONAL PROJECT TO TACKLE STUBBLE BURNING

Answer 57

 The MoEFCC has approved a regional project on ‘Climate Resilience Building among Farmers
through Crop Residue Management’ under the National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change
(NAFCC)
 to mitigate climate change impacts and enhance adaptive capacity and counter adverse
environmental impacts arising from stubble burning
 It will be implemented in phased manner
NATIONAL ADAPTATION FUND FOR CLIMATE CHANGE (NAFCC)
 It is a flagship Scheme to provide 100% central grant to the State Governments for implementing
climate change adaptation projects
 Launched in 2015
 The Scheme has been designed to fulfil objectives of National Action Plan on Climate Change
(NAPCC) and operationalize State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs)
 Nodal agency: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)

Question 58

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

58. FREE SPACE OPTICAL COMMUNICATION (FSOC)

Answer 58

 Recently, Andhra Pradesh government has signed MoU with Alphabet Inc. X (Google X) to bring
Free Space Optical Communication (FSOC) technology to India.
 The purpose of the FSOC project is to provide high quality & affordable digital services through
internet under state government’s Fibre grid project
ABOUT
 It is an optical communication technology in which data is transmitted by propagation of light in
free space allowing optical connectivity
 It is a Line of Sight (LOS) technology
 Unlike in optical fibre cable, optical beams are sent through free air or vacuum instead of glass
fibre in FSOC
 It is capable of sending up to 1.25 GBPS of data, voice, and video communications
simultaneously

Question 59

59. EXCITONIUM

Answer 59

 Researchers at the University of Illinois have announced discovery of new form of matter called
Excitonium
 It first theorized in1960s and the term Excitonium was theoretically coined by Bert Halper
ABOUT
 Excitonium is a condensate made up of excitons and exhibits macroscopic quantum phenomena
just like a superconductor
 Excitons are particles that are formed in a very strange quantum mechanical pairing.
 They are obtained by combining escaped electrons and “holes”.
 This quirky quantum-mechanical pairing is possible because, in semiconductors, electrons on
edge of one energy level in atom are able to jump into the next energy level when excited, leaving
behind a “hole” in previous level.
 This hole acts like a positively charged particle, attracting the negatively charged electron that
escaped
 As a superconductor and superfluid, this material can be used to further existing technologies

Question 60

60. SENTINEL-5P SATELLITE

Answer 60

 It is a European satellite tracking the levels of air pollutants around the world
 Recently, it has beamed back new views of the Earth’s atmosphere, including images of pollution
drifting away from power plants in India
ABOUT
 It is the latest spacecraft in a fleet of Earth observers being commissioned by the European
Union and the European Space Agency
 It was launched in 2017
 The Sentinel-5P satellite is designed to make daily global maps of the gases and particles that
pollute the air

Question 61

61. SOFIA MISSION

Answer 61

 NASA’s SOFIA is geared up to study celestial magnetic fields, star forming regions, comets and
Saturn’s giant moon Titan in 2018.
ABOUT
 The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a Boeing 747SP jetliner
modified to carry a 100-inch diameter telescope
 It is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Centre
 It is the world’s largest airborne astronomical observatory
 Its 2.5 diameter telescope allows astronomers to access the visible, infrared and sub-millimetre
spectrum.
 It has the ability to produce a higher resolution image, three times higher in quality than those
captured by other observatories

Question 62

62. GEMINIDS METEOR SHOWER

Answer 62

Geminids meteor shower is an annual event that fell on Earth on December 12

Question 63

63. GABON - A POLIO-FREE COUNTRY

Answer 63

 The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Gabon a polio-free country
 Now the disease is endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Question 64

64. INTERNATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE FOR OPERATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHY

Answer 64

 The Union Cabinet has approved the establishment of International Training Centre for
Operational Oceanography, as a Category-2 Centre (C2C) of UNESCO, in Hyderabad.
 The operational oceanography is an activity of conducting systematic oceanographic studies
towards providing information services to various sectors such as fisherman, disaster
management, shipping, ports etc.
 Category 2 centres under the auspices of UNESCO are established and funded by Member
States to contribute to the achievement of UNESCO’s objectives
o They are not legally a part of the Organization, but are associated with it through
formal agreements between UNESCO and the Member State hosting the centre

Question 65

65. KEPLER-90i

Answer 65

 NASA has discovered eighth planet circling Kepler-90 and named it as Kepler-90i
 Kepler-90 is a Sun-like star which is 2545 light-years far from Earth
 The eighth planet was discovered by applying Google’s machine-learning technology to data
collected by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope
 Kepler-90i is outermost and eighth planet in Kepler-90 system.
 It is roughly the same distance from its star as Earth is from Sun
 It orbits its star once every 14.4 days.
 It is around 30% larger than Earth.
 Its expected average surface temperature: 425 degrees Celsius

Question 66

66. NISAR

Answer 66

 ISRO and NASA are jointly working on the development of NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar
(NISAR)
FEATURES
 It will be the first dual frequency (L & S Band) Radar Imaging Satellite
 NISAR, the world’s most expensive earth-imaging satellite till date, aims to study global
environmental change and natural disasters
 The L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar is being developed by JPL, while ISRO is developing S-band
Synthetic Aperture Radar
 ISRO will be also responsible for design and development Spacecraft Bus data transmission
system, spacecraft integration & testing.
 It will be launched using GSLV in year 2021 with a mission life of 3 years
 It is planned to be launched into a Sun-synchronous dawn to dusk orbit

Question 67

SOCIAL ISSUES

67. INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

Answer 67

 Observed annually on 3rd December
 Theme 2017: “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient society for all”
 It was proclaimed in a 1992 resolution by UNGA

Question 68

68. THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN REPORT 2017

Answer 68

 Released by UNICEF
 Theme: Children in a digital world.
 According to it, India’s girls and women are at risk of becoming further marginalised in society
and at home if they remain digitally illiterate
 Globally, 12% more men than women used internet in 2017
 In India, less than one-third internet users are females
 Only 29% of all internet users are female in India

Question 69

69. WORLD’S AIDS DAY

Answer 69

 Held on 1st December
 Theme 2017: Right to Health
 Slogan: Everybody Counts

Question 70

70. NATIONAL NUTRITION MISSION

Answer 70

 The Union Cabinet approves setting up of National Nutrition Mission (NNM)
 The NNM, as an apex body under Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) will
monitor, supervise, fix targets and guide nutrition related interventions across the Ministries
 It would be executed with the MoWCD as the nodal ministry along with Ministry of Drinking Water
and Sanitation and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
FEATURES
 NNM as an apex body will monitor, supervise, fix targets and guide the nutrition related
interventions
 Mapping of various schemes contributing under malnutrition
 ICT based real time monitoring system
 Incentivising states/UTs for meeting targets
 Incentivising Anganwadi Workers (AWW) for using IT based tools and eliminating the need for
registers
 Measurement of height of children at Anganwadi Centres
 Social Audits to track the health progress of the children
 Setting-up Nutrition Resource Centres
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY AND TARGETS
 It will be rolled out in three phases from 2017-18 to 2019-20
 It will set targets to reduce stunting, under-nutrition, anaemia among young children, women and
adolescent girls and reduce low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively
 Its implementation strategy will be based on intense monitoring and Convergence Action Plan
right upto grass root level
 Though NMM has set target to reduce stunting is at least 2% per annum, but it will strive to
achieve reduction in stunting to 25% by 2022 (Mission 25 by 2022) from 38.4% (NFHS-4)

Question 71

71. NATIONAL TRACHOMA SURVEY REPORT (2014-17)

Answer 71

 Released by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
 It declared India Trachoma free
 Trachoma is a contagious bacterial infection of the eye that causes inflamed granulation on the
inner surface of the lids.
 With this, India met goal of trachoma elimination as specified by WHO under its GET2020 (Global
Elimination of Trachoma by the year 2020) program

Question 72

72. UTKRISHT IMPACT BOND

Answer 72

 Recently, the USAID has launched a Rajasthan Development Impact Bond (Utkrisht Impact Bond)
at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad
 It is to reduce maternal and neo-natal deaths in Rajasthan
 It is world’s first Development Impact Bond (DIB) in healthcare
 It has been developed in a public-private partnership and will provide financial assistance to 440
small healthcare organisations

Question 73

73. UNESCO INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF HUMANITY

Answer 73

 UNESCO has inscribed Kumbh Mela on its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of
Humanity
 It is the 13th intangible cultural heritage from India to be listed in UNESCO’s list
KUMBH MELA
 It is the largest peaceful congregation of pilgrims on earth.
 It is a Hindu festival which is observed for every 12 years on the banks of a holy river to take dip
and perform various rituals
 It is held every four years by rotation at – Haridwar, Allahabad, Yamuna, Nashik, Ujjain
UNESCO’S LISTS OF INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE
 The list is made up of those intangible heritage elements that help demonstrate diversity of
cultural heritage and raise awareness about its importance.
 The list was established in 2008
 It includes important intangible cultural heritages worldwide.
 It has two parts viz. Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and List of
Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of urgent Safeguarding.
UNESCO’S LIST OF INTANGIBLE HERITAGE SITES - INDIA
 Koodiyattam: Sanskrit Theatre of Kerala
 Mudiyattam: theatre ritual of Kerala.
 Tradition of Vedic Chanting
 Nowrouz: Persian new year
 Kalbelia: folk songs and dances of Rajasthan.
 Ramlila: Traditional Performance of the Ramayana.
 Sankirtana: singing, drumming and dancing ritual of Manipur.
 Ramman: religious festival and ritual theatre of Garhwal Himalayas.
 Traditional brass and copper craft of utensil of Thatheras: Punjab.
 Chhaudance: classical Indian dance originated in the eastern Indian states.
 Buddhist chanting of Ladakh: recitation of sacred Buddhist texts in Ladakh region of Jammu and
Kashmir.
 Yoga
 Kumbh Mela

Question 74

74. HORNBILL FESTIVAL

Answer 74

 It is celebrated in Nagaland every year in the first week of December
 The festival coincides with the Statehood Day of Nagaland which is observed on December 1
 The festival is a tribute to Hornbill, the most admired and revered bird for the Nagas for its
qualities of alertness and grandeur
 It is organized by the State Tourism and Art & Culture Departments and supported by the Union
Government.
 The Hornbill Festival provides a colourful mixture of dances, performances, crafts, parades,
games, sports, food fairs and religious ceremonies

Question 75

75. KATHAKAR

Answer 75

 It is an international storytellers festival

 The 7th edition of it held recently in New Delhi

Question 76

76. BODHI PARVA: BIMSTEC FESTIVAL OF BUDDHIST HERITAGE

Answer 76

 It was inaugurated in New Delhi on December 08, 2017
 India is hosting the “Bodhi Parva” as a part of celebrations of 20th anniversary of BIMSTEC
 ‘Bodhi Parva’ has entwined various threads of the Buddhist heritage into a beautiful melange
BIMSTEC
 It is international organisation comprising of India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka,
Nepal and Bhutan
 It has a deep connect with Buddhism, which originated in South Asia and then travelled and
rooted itself in South East Asia