August Prelim Booster 2018 InsightsonIndia

01 August 2018

 Ayushman Bharat Scheme;-

↪Is a National Health Protection Scheme
↪which will cover over 10 crore poor vulnerable families (around 50 crore beneficiaries)
↪providing coverage of up to ₹5 lakh (per family per year) for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.
↪It will subsume "Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY)" & "Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme
(SCHIS)"
•Common Service Center (CSC)&NHA have signed a MoU to implement Ayushman Bharat scheme
through 3 lakh CSCs across the country
• different categories are entitled under the scheme like -
↪families having no adult member(age 16-59),female headed households with no adult male,SC/ST
household etc.&
↪defined 11 occupational categories in urban areas
●Homoeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill 2018.
↪It seeks to replace the Central Council of Homoeopathy (CCH)
↪with an aims to bringing accountability & quality in homeopathy education system
•Board of Governors will consist of up to 7- members including
↪ persons of eminence in the field of homoeopathy education & eminent administrators
●Strategic Trade Authorisation (STA);-
↪US govt. authorisation allows a certain item to be exported under defined conditions without a
transaction-specific license
•US has given STA-1 status to India
↪STA-1 has 36 countries(Other Asian countries are Japan & South Korea)
•Items eligible for export under STA-1 ↪ chemical or biological weapons,navigation,
telecommunications etc.
•India also has STA-2 status along with 7 countries

National Policy on biofuels;-

↪ The Policy categorises biofuels as “Basic Biofuels” like 1G,2G,3G, bio-CNG etc. to enable extension of
appropriate financial and fiscal incentives under each category.
♀Biofuels;-
•First Generation(1G)↪produced directly from food crops(wheat, sugar etc.)
•2G↪produced from non-food crops(wood, organic waste etc.)
•3G↪Specially engineered energy crops such as algae
•4G↪created using petroleum-like hydroprocessing, advanced bio-chemistry
↪Rajasthan has become the first State in the country to implement the national policy on biofuels
●Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)↪Is a NASA mission that will look for planets orbiting the
brightest stars in Earth’s sky
↪also provide insights into how our own solar system formed
●Scutoid(a new shape discovered);-
↪A scutoid is a solid geometric shape, like a cube or a pyramid
identified while studying epithelial cells
•Epithelial cells↪are cells that come from surfaces of our body( your skin, blood vessels, urinary tract, or
organs)

02 August 2018

SC/ST(Prevention of Atrocities)Act,1989;-
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↪to prevent atrocities against SC/ST. like exploitation and abuse of the legal process etc.(lists 22
offences)
•Amendment Bill(2018) seeks to insert three new clauses;-
1↪No preliminary enquiry for FIR
2↪Arrest of accused person not require any approval
3↪Sec-438 of CrPC(deals anticipatory bail)will not apply to a case under this Act.
●Seva Bhoj Yojana( Union Mo Culture);-
↪to lessen the financial burden of Charitable religious institutions(CRI)
->CRI (which serve free food to at least 5000 people/month for 5 years)
●Concessional Financing Scheme (CFS);-
↪to provide counter guarantee & interest equalization of 2 % to EXIM Bank to offer concessional finance
to any foreign govt.
↪GoI has approved the first extension of CFS to support Indian Entities bidding for strategically important
infrastructure projects abroad.
●Oxytocin;-(also called "love hormone")
↪Is a hormone that is made in the brain(produced by hypothalamus)
↪It plays a role in social bonding,sexual reproduction in both sexes, and during and after childbirth
•Why banned?
↪due to misuse of hormone in dairy industry
●Unconventional hydrocarbons;-
↪like Shale oil/gas, Coal Bed Methane (CBM)
↪govt. approved policy to permit exploration & exploitation Unconventional hydrocarbons
•Shale gas;-
↪Is natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations
•Coal Bed Methane (CBM)↪Is a form of natural gas found in coal deposits or coal seams.(during the
process of coalification↪transformation of plant material into coal)
●"State Energy Efficiency Preparedness Index" ;-
↪help in implementing national energy efficiency initiatives in states
↪released by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) & Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE)
•categorised based on their efforts
°Front Runner(best)↪AP,Kerala,MH etc.
°Achiever(2nd best)↪GJ,KN,TN etc.
&°‘Contender’ and ‘Aspirant’.
●India unveils geographical indication logo & tagline;-

•Karnataka(38) has highest GI products followed by MH(32),TN(25)

●Gaofen-11;-{launched by China}
↪It is an optical remote sensing satellite.
03 August 2018

●Pingali Venkayya;-
↪was a freedom fighter and the designer of the Indian National Flag(Tricolour)
↪The flag was officially adopted by INC in 1931
•Spinning Wheel↪Showing the independent indians who can spin their own clothing from local fibres
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●123rd Constitutional Amendment Bill(NCBC);-
↪provides grant of constitutional status to National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC)
•Indira Sawhney (Mandal Commission) case;-(1993)
↪Supreme Court had directed to establishment of NCBC as a 'statutory body'
●Benami Transactions (Prohibition)Act,1988;-
↪designed to curb black money by prohibit benami transactions
•Benami transaction↪means any transaction in which property is transferred to one person for a
consideration paid or provided by another person
↪law provides for up to 7 years imprisonment & fine
●World Breastfeeding Week (August 1 to 7);-{Organized by "World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action
(WABA), WHO & UNICEF}
↪To promote exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of newborn child
•"MAA-Mother’s Absolute Affection"programme;-{nation- wide}
↪awareness generation, promotion of breastfeeding & inter personal counselling at community level
●Mukhya Mantri-Yuva Nestham;-{launched by AP govt.}
↪will provide an allowance of ₹1000/month to unemployed youth in the state. {age group of 22-35 years}
↪also provide training and help them develop their skills.(there may be more than one beneficiary in a
family)
●Ballistic Missile Interceptor AAD;-
↪It is an endo-atmospheric missile
•Advanced Air Defence (AAD) Missile↪for lower altitude interception{at an altitude of 15 to 25 kms}
•Indian Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) Programme↪is an initiative to develop & deploy a multi-layered
ballistic missile defence system to protect from ballistic missile attacks
●Move Hack;-{launched by NITI Aayog}
↪a global mobility hackathon to crowdsource solutions
•"Just Solve It"↪ innovative business ideas or sustainable solutions(like zero emission vehicles)
•"Just Code It"↪aimed at solutions through innovations in technology/data analysis etc.
↪top 10 winners get more than ₹2 Cr

04 August 2018

●Anganwadi Centres (AWCs);-

↪to combat child hunger & malnutrition
↪started in 1975 as part of ICDS program
↪About 1/3rd of total 13.6 lakh AWCs have neither toilets nor drinking water facilities
●Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS);-
↪seeks to provide an integrated package of services such as supplementary nutrition,health care & pre-
school education.(under age 6yrs &their mothers)
●SBM- Gramin:(launched on 2/10/2014);-↪is the largest behaviour change campaign ever attempted in
the field of sanitation in the world
↪It aims to build an ODF & Swachh Bharat by 2/10/2019 as a tribute to Gandhi ji on his 150th birth
anniversary
•WHO's progress report;-
↪India’s rural sanitation coverage has escalated to 89.07% (till August 2). ↪Under SBM-G, 19 States/UTs
were declared ODF
●Vidya-lakshmi Portal;-{by Govt. of India}
↪Is a first of its kind portal for students seeking Education Loan
●National Sports University Bill,2018;-
↪to set up the country’s first National Sports University in Imphal, Manipur
↪give training to talented athletes for international level & degree/Diploma in sports..
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●PM Ujjwala Yojana;-
↪5 crore BPL households were targeted(initially)for providing deposit free LPG connections to BPL
households by 31/03/2019{ACHIEVED}
●Social media hub plan(dropped);-
↪Aim of the project was to enable the government to understand the impact of social media campaigns on
welfare schemes
↪because this may transform the country into a surveillance state(Court)
●Strategic Investment Fund;-{under NIIF}
↪Strategic Fund will focus on green field(investment in new plants) & brown field(investment in an existing
plant)investments in the core infrastructure sectors.
•NIIF ;-(was set up in 2015)
↪Is an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable greenfield, brownfield & stalled projects in
infrastructure sector
●Kadaknath or Kali Masi;-
↪is an Indian breed of chicken{Murga}
•Kadaknath chicken meat(from Jhabua district of MP} ↪ got GI- tag
↪Is used for treatment of many diseases(contain low cholesterol).
●Fields Medal;-
↪"Akshay Venkatesh"(renowned Indian-Australian mathematician), is one of four winners
↪awarded every four years to the most promising mathematicians (U-40 age)

06 August 2018

Bhoomi Rashi;-
↪Is one of the key functionalities to facilitate payment related to compensation for land acquisition to all the
beneficiaries directly through the Bhoomi Rashi system
●Public Financial Management System (PFMS);-
↪timely transfer of benefit to the citizen by bringing efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and
accountability in the Government system(also use DBT under MANREGA)
•Govt. has proposed to integrate Bhoomi Rashi with "PFMS"
●Digital Literacy Library:
↪ Library aims to help young people build the skills(they need to safely enjoy online technology)
•Facebook Launches Digital Literacy Library
●Defence India Startup Challenge:
↪Is a part of iDEX (Innovation for Defence Excellence) scheme
↪for finding solutions to critical needs of the three Armed Forces.
•iDEX Scheme;-↪ meant to build an eco-system of innovation and entrepreneurship in India for the
defence sector to make India self-reliant.
●Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD);-{was established in 1977 under UNESCO}
↪It is a unique regional inter-governmental organisation servicing countries of (UN-ESCAP) in the field of
electronic media development
•India has been elected as the president of 'AIBD'↪
●India’s first Blockchain district in Telangana;-
•Blockchain District ↪that supports innovation in Blockchain technology in the country
↪Blockchain has the potential to fight against corruption,& create considerable value for its citizens
●IMPacting Research, INnovation and Technology (IMPRINT);-{under MoHRD}
↪to address the major science & engineering challenges that India must address to enable, empower and
embolden the nation for inclusive growth and self-reliance
•IMPRINT-2;-↪For advancing research in the high education institutions, govt.has approved 122 new
research projects(like Energy, Security, Healthcare, Advanced Materials, ICT and Security/Defence
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domains.)
●Jal Marg Vikas Project;-{supported by World Bank}
↪Project entails development of fairway with 3 meters depth b/w Varanasi & Haldia
●Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI);-
↪Is the statutory authority in charge of the waterways in India. •HQ↪Noida,UP
●Mosquito Terminator;-
↪ It is a special train which will help in preventing mosquito breeding along the railway tracks in Delhi

07 Aug 2018

●Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2018;-

↪seeks to amend IPC,CrPC,the Evidence Act, & Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO)
Act
↪to introduce a new provision of crimes punishment of death.
•New Punishment;-↪
° Rape(below 12yr)-> 20yr to life Imprisonment【LI】{RJ &MP have passed a Bill providing for death
penalty}
°Gang Rape(below 12yr)-> LI or death
°Rape(below 16yr)->20yr to LI
°Gang Rape(below 16 yr)->LI
°Rape(women)->10yr(from 7yr)
●Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA);-{ Centrally Sponsored Scheme launched in 2013}
↪aims at providing strategic funding to eligible state higher educational institutions.
•Funding;-
60:40↪Central:states
90:10↪Central:states(special category)
100:00↪Central:UTs
•NITI Aayog has identified 117 districts as ‘Aspirational Districts’ for RUSA
●Academia Alliance programme;{launched by Startup India}
↪aims to reduce gap b/w scientific research & its industrial applications in order to increase the efficacy
↪will be implemented in partnership with Regional Centre for Biotechnology, The Energy and Resources
Institute (TERI)..etc.
●‘8888’ uprising;-
↪It was a series of nationwide protests that challenged the then ruling 'Burma Socialist Programme Party’
in Burma (Myanmar)
↪that peaked in 8 August 1988(therefore it is known as the 8888 Uprising)
●RISECREEK;-
↪IIT,Madras have developed first of family of six industry-standard microprocessors under Project
Shakti.(The initial batch of 300 "chips" have been named RISECREEK)
•RISECREEK microprocessors↪They optimise power use & compete with international units such as
Cortex A5
•SHAKTI Processor Project;-{started in 2014 as an IIT-M initiative}↪aims to build 6 variants of processors
based on the RISC-V ISA
●Chandrayaan-2;-
↪mission was envisioned in November 2007, as a joint mission b/w India &Russia
↪it had faced a series of setbacks(India then decided to make Chandrayaan mission completely
indigenous)
↪Chandrayaan-2 includes soft-landing on Moon & moving a rover on its surface.(It consists of an orbiter,
lander and rover configuration)
●Uakitite;-
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↪It is a new mineral has been discovered in a meteorite in Eastern Russia
↪It is named “uakitite” after the Uakit region of Siberia(where the meteorite was discovered)
↪98% of the Uakit meteorite is an iron alloy called "kamacite"
●Maitree 2018;-{held in Thailand}
↪It is an annual joint military training exercise between India & Thailand.
↪aim to build and promote closer relations b/w two armies
●Xingkong-2;-{also called "Starry Sky-2"}
↪ It is China’s hypersonic “waverider” flight vehicle.
↪Is capable of flying independently & of carrying nuclear warheads

08 Aug 2018

●Women Everest expedition;-{launched by Indian Mountaineering foundation in 1993}

↪It was funded by Mo Youth Affairs & Sports.
↪ 21-member team was led by Ms. Bachendri Pal.
•Santosh Yadav(team member)↪became the first woman in the world to climb Mount Everest
•Mt. Manirang↪Himachal Pradesh
●Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH);-{founded in 1984}
↪Is a non-profit charitable organisation registered(under Societies’ Registration Act-1860
↪With an aim to create a membership organisation to stimulate & spearhead heritage awareness &
conservation in India
●Scrub typhus;-(or 'bush typhus')
↪Is an infectious disease with symptoms similar to any viral fever(caused by a bacteria called Orientia
tsutsugamushi)
●Restricted Area Permit (RAP) regime;-{notified under the Foreigners (Restricted Areas) Order, 1963}
↪Under it, foreign nationals(except citizen of Bhutan)are not normally allowed to visit protected or
restricted area
●UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance)app;-{developed by MeitY}
↪Is a common platform for various government services such as gas booking, Aadhaar, crop insurance,
EPF & also like JEE results,E-pathshala,weather report etc.
●Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY);-
↪to achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level, expand cultivable area under
assured irrigation, improve on-farm water use efficiency to reduce wastage of water etc.
•Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF) in NABARD↪ aims to bridge the resource gap and facilitate completion
of these projects
●Thermal battery;-
↪battery dissipates energy when the Lithium atoms are turned into ions by the transfer of charge when
energy is added to the electrodes the reaction is reversed(is used for storing and releasing thermal
energy)
↪it consists of two parts↪a cool zone known as sink,& a hot source called source
•India became home to the world’s first-ever thermal battery plant(inaugurated in Andhra pradesh)

09 Aug 2018

●Deputy Chairman;-
•Article 89↪specifies that Rajya Sabha shall choose one of its MPs to be the Deputy Chairman
•New Deputy Chairman↪"Harivansh Narayan Singh"
●NHRC figures on prisoners;-
↪average suicide rate in prisons is over 50% more than in normal conditions

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↪33% of the total requirement of prison officials still lies vacant(36% supervising officers)
•SC to constitute panel to look into issues in prisons across country
●Niryat Mitra – mobile App;-(launched by Ministry of Commerce & Industry)
↪It provides wide range of information required to undertake international trade right
•Indian Trade Clarification (ITC) code;-(
↪Indian custom uses an eight digit ITC (HS) code to suit the national trade requirements(for import-export
operations)
●Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP);-
↪RCEP is proposed b/w ASEAN+6
↪six states with which ASEAN has existing FTAs (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New
Zealand)
↪RCEP aims to boost goods trade by eliminating most tariff and non-tariff barriers
●World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR);-
↪covers internationally designated protected areas, each known as biosphere reserves
•Biosphere reserves;-
↪Is a unique and representative ecosystem of terrestrial and coastal areas which are internationally
recognized,
•Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve;-(sikkim)↪ has become the 11th Biosphere Reserve from India to be
included in the UNESCO designated WNBR
↪first of India’s reserves to make it to UNESCO’s list was Tamil Nadu’s Niligiri Biosphere Reserve in 2000
•India has 18 Biosphere Reserves
●International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples{9 August};-
↪aim to strengthen international cooperation for solving problems faced by indigenous peoples in areas such
as human rights, the environment, education etc.
•Theme↪"Indigenous peoples’ migration and movement

10 Aug 2018
●Quit India Movement;-
↪Mahatma Gandhi made a Do or Die call through the Quit India movement on 8 August 1942,after the Cripps
Mission had failed
↪demanding an end to British Rule of India
●One District One Product (Ek Zila – Ek Ut padan) Scheme;-{ UP govt.}
↪to promote traditional industries in every district of the state.(75 districts)
•Meerut↪sports goods{Surajkund↪)
•Varanasi ↪Banarasi sari
•Lucknow ↪chikan
•Kanpur↪leather goods
•Agra ↪leather footwear
•Aligarh↪locks
•Moradabad ↪brassware
•Saharanpur↪wooden products
•Rampur↪rampuri chhuree(knife)
•Bhadohi ↪carpet
●World Biofuel day;-{10 August}
↪to create awareness about non fossil-fuels (Green Fuels)
•Rudolph Diesel↪inventor of diesel engine
●Global Innovation Index;-{jointly released by Cornell University, INSEAD &WIPO}
↪Its explore a broad vision of innovation, including political environment, education, infrastructure & business
sophistication etc.(80 indicators)
•India’s performance↪ 57th(2018)& 60th(2017)
↪Switzerland is at the top since 2011
●National Energy Storage Mission;-

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↪draft NESM expects to strive for leadership in energy storage sector by creating an enabling policy &
regulatory framework that encourages manufacturing, deployment, innovation and further cost reduction
•realistic target↪ 15-20 gigawatt hours (GWh) of grid-connected storage within the next five years
●National Disaster Response Force;-
↪for the purpose of specialized response to natural and man-made disasters(under Disaster Management Act,
2005)
↪govt. raising of four additional battalions of NDRC
●Train Captain Service;-
↪Train Superintendent (TS) shall be nominated as “Train Captain” (or senior most ticket checking staff )
↪made responsible for all the facilities on train.(concept of a single person/leader responsible for all service)
●Postage stamp b/w India & South Africa(2018);-
↪depicts the images of RSS thinker Deendayal Upadhyaya & Oliver Reginald Tambo of South Africa
•theme↪“20 Years of Strategic Partnership between India and South Africa”

11 Aug 2018
●Indecent Representation of the Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986;-
↪to cover the audio-visual media and content in electronic form(hoardings, or through SMS, MMS etc.)
↪was enacted to prohibit indecent representation of women through advertisement or in publications, writings,
paintings, figures or in any other manner
●Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2017;-
↪to extend the facility of ‘proxy voting’ to overseas Indians(on the lines of service voters)
↪If the Bill is passed, overseas voters can appoint a proxy to cast their votes on their behalf{till now was only
available to service personnel}
●PARIVESH;-
↪It is an environmental single window hub for Environment, Forest, Wildlife and CRZ clearances
↪to generate economic growth & strengthens Sustainable Development through e- Governance
●Zero Budget Natural Farming?
↪Is a method of farming where the cost of growing and harvesting plants is zero(farmers need not purchase
fertilizers)
↪Evaluation of zero budget farming practices in basmati rice-wheat system” at Modipuram (UP), Ludhiana
(Punjab), Pantnagar (UK) & Kurukshetra (Haryana)from rabi 2017 for experiment
●Central Silk Board (CSB);- {Is a Statutory body established in 1948}
↪It is working under the administrative control of Ministry of Textiles,GoI
↪recently developed 'mulberry & Vanya silk for increasing the productivity of cocoons and to increase the
income of the farmers engaged in sericulture
●Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana;-{launched in 2000},
↪aims to provide single all-weather road connectivity to all eligible unconnected habitations in rural areas with
population of 500 persons & above (in plain areas) and 250 persons & above (in hilly states/areas)
•funding pattern
° 60:40↪Centre:State{for all States except for 8 North Eastern and 3 Himalayan States (Jammu & Kashmir,
Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand) for which it is 90:10.
●PENCIL’ Portal;-
↪for effective implementation of the National Child Labour Project
●Colour for Registration Mark of Battery Operated Vehicles;-
↪registration mark in Yellow colour on Green background for transport vehicles(in White colour on Green
background for all other cases)
●Operation ‘Madad;-
↪for assisting the state administration& undertaking disaster relief operations due to the unprecedented
flooding experienced in many parts of Kerala
13 Aug 2018

●Triple talaq bill;-(New amendments↪)

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1)↪allow the magistrate to grant bail ‘after hearing the wife’(offence remains non-bailable)
2)↪police would lodge FIR only if approached by the victim (wife),her blood relations or relatives by virtue of
her marriage
3)↪Now, a magistrate can use his powers to settle the dispute b/w a husband & his wife
↪There are three forms of talaq (divorce) in Islam
•Ahsan,Hasan↪revocable
•Talaq-e-Biddat(triple or instant talaq) ↪irrevocable
●India’s first all-women SWAT team;-{all 36 commandos from northeast}
↪Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team for anti-terrorist operations
↪Delhi will be the first police force in the country to have an all-women SWAT team
●Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2018 ;-
↪It will amend the Arbitration&Conciliation Act,1996.(Act contains provisions to deal with domestic &
international arbitration)
•Arbitration(resolving disputes between the organisation & its employees)↪an independent third party analyses
& make recommendations which are binding on the parties concerned.
•Conciliation↪arrive at a decision by agreement between them
●Uighurs↪ are a Muslim ethnic minority mostly based in China’s Xinjiang province.
•Uighur groups want to establish an independent state & China ↪
•Xinjiang shares borders with Mongolia, Russia,Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan,
Afghanistan,Pak & India
●Iris Scan Authentication technology;-
↪Is an automated method of biometric identification that uses mathematical pattern-recognition techniques on
an individual's eyes
↪offers an edge over other prevalent biometric modes
•Axis Bank has become the first bank in the country to introduce Iris Scan Authentication feature for Aadhaar-
based transactions through its micro ATM tablets
●India’s first genetic bank for wildlife conservation;-{located in Hyderabad}
↪In a step that would further the cause of conservation of endangered & protected animals
•Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES);-
↪It is India’s only research facility engaged in conservation and preservation of wildlife and its
resources.{established in 1998}
●Parker Solar Probe;-{launched by NASA}
↪space agency’s first mission to the sun – that will explore the sun’s atmosphere and its outermost
atmosphere,the corona
↪aim to trace how energy & heat move through the solar corona and to explore what accelerates the solar wind
as well as solar energetic particles
●Mughal Administration;-
•Farman↪order of the emperor.
•'Rozna'mcha-i-waqai↪daily news report
•Daftar-i-Diwani↪administrative wing of Hyderabad State
•Nishan↪order of a member of the royal family
•Parwana↪orders issued by higher authorities
•Qabzul wasil↪bill payments. ...

14 Aug 2018
●Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act,2013;-
↪The Act seeks to cover all women, irrespective of their age or employment status & protect them against
sexual harassment at all workplaces both in public & private sector(whether organized or unorganized)
↪Directors of every company are required to comply with in the Annual Reports
●Ease of Living index;-{released by M/o Housing & Urban Affairs}
↪developed to allow city managers to get a grip on the city’s baseline & performance {covers 111 cities(smart
cities,capital,1M+ population}

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•Four parameters;-
°institutional (governance)↪25 points
°social (education,health..)↪25 points
°economic(employment..)↪ 5 points
°physical factors(pollution..)↪45 points
•1st↪Pune, 2nd↪Navi Mumbai and 3rd↪Greater Mumbai
•Rampur(UP)↪ranked worst And Kolkata is excluded from the index
●Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL);
↪Is a statutory body constituted for the purpose of hearing cases against the orders of the Regulatory
Commissions & the Adjudicating officer
•consist of a Chairperson & 3 Members ↪at least one Judicial Member and one Technical Member
●Swadesh Darshan Scheme;-{Mo Tourism}
↪with an objective to develop theme-based tourist circuits in the country
↪100% centrally funded for public projects
•North East Circuit:Imphal &Khongjom(1st project(in Manipur)
↪project covers two sites i.e. Kangla Fort and Khongjom
•Kangla Fort↪Is historic & archaeological site of Manipur near Imphal city
●Compensatory Afforestation Fund;-(or CAMPA act)
↪seeks to provide an appropriate institutional mechanism for both at Centre & each State/UT
↪to ensure expeditious utilization in efficient & transparent manner of amounts released in lieu of forest land
diverted for non-forest purpose(to promote the green cover in the country)
●Mt. Makalu↪Is the fourth tallest in Nepal & fifth highest Peak on the Earth with its height 8,463m
↪It's just 19Km southeast of the giant Mt. Everest
●Mt. Kamet↪is the second highest mountain in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, after Nanda Devi
•Indian Army Mountaineering Expedition to Mt. Kamet and Mt. Makalu

15 Aug 2018

●parens patriae;-
↪Is a doctrine that grants the court inherent power & authority to act as guardian for those who are unable to
take care for themselves
•Uttarakhand HC has had invoked the ‘parens patriae’ doctrine for cow protection (first time in India)
●Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal;-
↪hearing the tussle over sharing of the Mahadayi river b/w Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra •Final verdict↪
°Karnataka↪13.4 tmc of water
°Goa ↪ 24 tmc &°Maharashtra↪1.33 tmc
•The Mahadayi river basin↪ drains an area of 2032 sq km
°Goa↪1580 sq km
°Karnataka↪375 sq km
°Maharashtra↪77 sq km
●Pitch to MOVE;-{launched by NITI Aayog}
↪objective is to harness the latest disruption for generating employment and growth in our country
↪competition aims to identify & reward the start-ups offering innovative solutions (provide budding
entrepreneurs of India a unique opportunity to pitch their business ideas)
●Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA);-{Is a statutory body of MoW&CD} ↪for adoption of Indian
children & is mandated to monitor & regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions
●Hague Convention,1993;-
↪protects children & their families against the risks of illegal,irregular,premature or ill-prepared adoptions
abroad
◆ Australia has decided to recommence the Adoption Programme with India
●Aerogel (Super-insulating gel);-

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↪gel is cheaper to produce because it comes from "beer waste".{good insulators}
↪Aerogels are at least 90% gas by weight
●Space force;-
↪Is a military branch that conducts space warfare
•US is planning to create “space force” or a sixth branch of the American armed forces
•Outer Space Treaty -1967;-
↪pact says that nothing in space can be claimed as a single country’s territory(All major space powers
including US,Russia & China have signed treaty.
●New Horizons mission;-{by NASA}
↪to understand the formation of the Pluto system, the Kuiper belt, and the transformation of the early Solar
System
•suggests that there could be a hydrogen wall at the end of our solar system
•hydrogen wall↪is a “signature of the furthest reaches of sun’s energy”(believed)
●Third Party Survey Report on Station Cleanliness;-{by Quality Council of India}
↪It ranks 407 railway stations
•A1-category(out of 75)↪Jodhpur (1st), Jaipur (2nd), Tirupati (3rd)
•A-category(out of 332)↪Marwar (1st), Phulera (2nd), Warangal (3rd)

16 Aug 2018

●Kanyashree scheme;-
↪Is a conditional cash transfer scheme aiming at improving status &well being of girl child
•UN Public Service Awards;-
↪are given for their innovation&excellence in providing public services
°Kanyashree scheme won this award-2017
●Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana;-{launched by Odisha govt.}..like Ayushman Bharat
↪will provide ₹ 5 lakh per family/yr for all Secondary & Tertiary Cashless Health Care Assistance to 70 lakh
families(3.5 cr)
↪Odisha spends around 4.5% GDP on healthcare (only 1.05% is by govt.)  
●Postal Highway project or Hulaki Rajmarg
↪runs across the Terai region of Nepal, from Bhadrapur(east) to Dodhara(west) cutting across entire width of
the country
↪India releases additional ₹ 470 million
●Human space flight Programme;{by ISRO}
↪to develop & launch a two-person crew to low Earth orbit on a vehicle called 'Gaganyaan'
•Pad abort test;-(or Crew Escape System)
↪Is designed to quickly get the crew and spacecraft away from the rocket in the event of a potential failure
•PM Modi announced that India will send an astronaut to space in the year 2022
●RUCO (Repurpose Used Cooking Oil);-
↪Is an ecosystem that will enable the collection & conversion of used cooking oil to biodiesel,°RUCO in Hindi
means "Stop"
•Total Polar Compounds (TPC);-
↪TPC is used to measure the quality of oil
●Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI);-{established under Food Safety and Standards Act,
2006}
↪created for laying down science based standards for articles of food & to regulate their manufacture,storage
etc.
●National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI);-↪Is an umbrella organization for all retail payments system in
India
♀Malware↪a software designed to perform an unwanted illegal act via the computer network ↪
•Virus↪is a program that can infect other programs by modifying them
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•computer worm↪is a type of malware that spreads copies of itself from computer to computer
♀Trojans( is another form of Malware);-
↪Unlike viruses, Trojan horses do not replicate themselves but they can be just as destructive ↪
•Hoax↪is an e-mail that warns the user
•Spyware↪monitors a user’s activities without consent
●Maharshi Badrayan "Vyas" Samman Award;-↪for substantial contribution in the field of
Sanskrit,Persian,Arabic,Pali,Prakrit, Classical(Kannada,Telugu & Malayalam, Oriya){age group of 30 to 45
years)
●World Congress of Philosophy;-{held in Beijing}↪is a global meeting of philosophers held every 5 yrs by the
International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)
↪

17 Aug 2018

●Global Liveability Index;-{released by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)}

↪index ranks 140 global cities based on their living conditions(on Stability,Health care,Culture &
environment,Education,
Infrastructure etc.)... Ranks⤵
1st)↪Vienna,Austria’s capital
2nd)↪Melbourne,Australia
3rd)↪Osaka,Is a large port city in JAPAN
NO city from US in top 10
137th)↪Karachi,PAK ↪
139th)↪Dhaka,Bangladesh
ONLY 2 from INDIA↪
112th)↪Delhi. & 117th)↪Mumbai
●BHIM UPI 2.0;-{launched by NPCI}
↪Unified Payments Interface(UPI) is a system to aid instant transfer of money using a cashless system
↪least version has four new features⤵
1)Linking of overdraft account
2)one-time mandates(transaction can be later after commitment)
3)Invoice in the inbox(to check whether money coming from the right merchant)
4)Signed intent & QR(this feature is for customers to check authenticity of merchants)
●International Nitrogen Initiative(INI);-
↪aims to optimise nitrogen’s beneficial role in sustainable food production and minimise nitrogen’s negative
effects on human health{setup in 2004}
↪"Nandula Raghuram" Is the first Indian & Asian to be elected to the Chair of INI
●International year of millets;-
↪India has written to Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO)of UN proposing declaration "International year of
millets"
•Millets are Smart Food as ⤵
"Good for You(health), Good for the Farmer and Good for the Planet"
●Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) project;-
↪Is a massive observatory for detecting cosmic gravitational waves & for carrying out experiments
•LIGO-India project;-↪it is piloted by Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) & Department of Science &
Technology(DST)
•Gravitational Waves;-
↪are the disturbance in the fabric of spacetime generated by speed of light
●Odisha to showcase its biodiversity;-
↪by setting up a world-class interpretation centre at Dangamal near 'Bhitarkanika National Park'

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•BAULA’ project at Dangamal;-
°Baula(Oriya)means↪ Saltwater Crocodile
↪to increase crocodile population
•Gharial;-{Gavial or fish eating crocodile}
° IUCN Red List↪Critically Endangered↪

18 Aug 2018

●11th World Hindi Conference;-{held at Mauritius}

↪It sees participation from Hindi scholars, writers & laureates(held once in three years)to promote Hindi as an
international language
10th↪held at Bhopal(2015)
1st↪held at Nagpur,MH(1975)
•Theme “Vaishvik Hindi Aur Bharatiy Sanskriti“.
•World Hindi Secretariat in Mauritius;-
↪for promote & recognition Hindi at the United Nations as an Official Language
●Prompt Corrective Action (PCA);-
↪RBI has issued PCA framework to maintain sound financial health of banks.
↪It facilitates banks in breach of risk thresholds for identified areas of monitoring(capital, asset quality etc.)
●Caspian Sea Agreement;-
↪Russia & TIKA↪(countries share border with Caspian sea)agree to share the resource-rich Caspian Sea after
more than two decades of dispute
↪significant energy resources,including over 50 billion barrels of oil and 9 trillion cubic meters of natural gas
●International Conference on Recent Advances in Food Processing Technology (iCRAFPT)2018;-
↪important platform for inspiring international & interdisciplinary exchange at the forefront of food research
↪held at Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology,Thanjavur in TN
•Theme: "Doubling farmers’ income through food processing"
●Participatory notes;-{or P-Notes}
↪are instruments issued by registered foreign institutional investors(FII) to overseas investors
↪who wish to invest in the Indian stock markets without registering themselves with market regulator,under
SEBI
●18th edition of Asian Games;-{or Asiad}
↪eSports(competition using video games) & "canoe polo" will be contested as demonstration sports
↪first time that the Asian Games will be held in two cities – "Jakarta & Palembang"(2nd time in Indonesia)
↪held every 4- years between athletes from all over Asia
●Coloured stickers to indicate nature of fuel;-
•Hologram-based sticker ( light-blue colour)↪for petrol & CNG-run vehicles.

•Sticker(orange colour)↪ for diesel-driven vehicles

13
20 Aug 2018

●The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 ;-

↪it"s mandatory to provide "medical insurance for treatment of mental illness on the same basis as is available
for treatment of physical illness"
●The Brus Tribes;-{also known 'Reangs'}
↪Community spread across N-E states of Tripura,Assam,Manipur & Mizoram
↪A bout of ethnic violence forced thousands of people(Bru tribe) to leave Mizoram & now are living in refugee
camps in Jampui Hills of Tripura
•Union Home Ministry has agreed to relax conditions laid down in ‘four-corner agreement’ signed with Bru
migrants
●NABARD report on farm household;-
•Agricultural households↪which have at least one member self-employed in agriculture & received ₹5,000+ in
past year
↪60% of households are in debt,those owning more than two hectares of land
↪Only 46% of loans were taken from commercial banks
●Microcystallites;-{a new type of gold}
↪were synthesised by decomposing an organic complex containing gold
↪Microcystallites are also more stable than normal gold
↪Gold in itself is not a catalyst but Microcystallites is
●petcoke;-{Petroleum coke}
↪Is a final carbon-rich solid material that derives from oil refining
↪India has banned import of petcoke for use as fuel(allowed for only cement,lime kiln,Ca carbide &
gasification,industries)
↪It contains 17 times more sulfur than the limit set for coal
●Telangana govt launches own Disaster Response Force;-
↪aim to start this DRF is that a state should have its own Disaster force
●Data localization;-
↪Is the act of storing data on any device that is physically present within the borders of a specific country
where the data was generated
•Srikrishna panel report;-
↪Companies processing huge amounts of personal & sensitive data will have to register themselves as
significant data fiduciaries
●Exercise Maitree 2018;-{ held in Thailand}
↪annual event b/w Royal Thai Army & Indian Army
●Exercise Pitch Black;-
↪It is a biennial multi-national large force employment warfare exercise hosted by Royal Australian Air Force
(RAAF)
↪Indian Air Force participated(1st time)
●HELINA↪Is one of the most advanced Anti-Tank Weapons in the world
↪successfully tested by the Indian Army
●Researchers Decoding complex wheat genome;-
↪will help to yield,grain quality as well as tolerance to drought, salinity etc.
●Panini Language lab in Mauritius;-
↪set up at Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGI) in Mauritius
↪aims to promote reading & writing Hindi

21 Aug 2018

●Interlinking project;-
↪aims to link India’s rivers by a network of reservoirs & canals
•five interlinking projects finalised⤵
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1)Ken-Betwa link project,2)Damanganga-Pinjal link project,3)Par-Tapi-Narmada link project,4)Godavari-
Cauvery link project & 5) -Chambal link. Parvati-Kali Sindhu
●falling Indian rupee against $US
↪amid fears that Turkish currency turmoil could turn out into global financial crisis
↪this has triggered a dollar flight from many emerging economies.(Chinese yuan has fallen sharply)
●Chandrayaan-1{launched by ISRO in 2008}
↪was India's first lunar probe
↪One of the objectives was to prepare a three-dimensional atlas of both near & far side of the moon
↪Scientists have found frozen water deposits in the darkest & coldest parts of the Moon’s polar regions using
data from the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft
●NASA’s InSight spacecraft;-
↪Is part of NASA’s Discovery Program
↪InSight is a robotic lander designed to study the interior of the planet Mars
↪It will be the first mission to peer deep beneath the Martian surface
↪InSight seeks to answer one of science’s most fundamental questions: How did the terrestrial planets form?
↪It will surely promote Insightsonindia↪
●OSIRIS-REx spacecraft;{launched in 2016}
↪Is a NASA asteroid study & sample-return mission.
↪ its mission is to study asteroid 101955 Bennu,a carbonaceous asteroid,& return a sample to Earth by 2023
•Bennu(Asteroid)↪Every 6 years,Bennu’s orbit brings it within 200,000 miles of the Earth,which means it has a
high probability of impacting Earth in the late 22nd Century
●World’s largest 3D-printed reef installed in Maldives;-
↪a new technology-driven method to help coral reefs survive a warming climate
↪Maldives is one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations.(Rising sea temperatures)
●National disaster;-{a national calamity of rarest severity}
↪if it affects one-third of the population of a state.(A Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) is set up,with the corpus
shared 3:1 b/w Centre & state)
•natural disaster↪includes earthquake, flood,landslide,cyclone,tsunami,heatwave etc. a man-made disaster
can be↪ nuclear, biological & chemical.
●lemons problem;-{ in economics}
↪degradation in the quality of products sold in the marketplace due to asymmetry in the amount of information
available to buyers & sellers.

22 Aug 2018

●National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB);-

↪Is designated nodal agency for monitoring & curb “sexual violence” videos involving women & children
↪NCRB is only a crime record agency.(under IT Act, 2000 it can take action against such videos)
●SC scrapped use of NOTA in Rajya Sabha;-
•SC↪NOTA option is meant only for universal adult suffrage & direct elections and not polls held by the system
of proportional representation
•NOTA in L S & assembly elections{2013}
•NOTA in Rajya Sabha polls{2014}
•India became 14th country to institute negative voting
●Criminalization of Politics;-
↪to ban persons charged with heinous criminal charges(like murder,dacoity,rape etc.)from contesting elections
•Court↪declare in an affidavit their criminal antecedents & publish them so that the “entire country knows how
many criminals there are in a party.”
●SC/ST act(2018;{passed by both Houses}
↪to prevent atrocities against SC/ST. like exploitation & abuse of the legal process etc.(lists 22 offences)
•Amendment Bill(2018) inserted three new clauses;-
1↪No preliminary enquiry for FIR
15
2↪Arrest of accused person not require any approval
3↪Sec-438 of CrPC(deals anticipatory bail)will not apply to a case under this Act.
◆Plea challenges changes in SC/ST law
●India Wage Report;-{by International Labour Organization}
↪Real average daily wages(₹247)in India almost doubled in the last two decades (₹128 in1993-94)
↪Daily wages in urban areas (₹384) also remain twice as rural areas (₹175)
↪Gender wage gap decreased from 48%(in 1993-94) to 34%(in 2011-12) but still remains high by international
standards
●UDAN scheme for international routes;-
↪centre has unveiled draft International Air Connectivity (IAC) scheme
•Target↪scheme envisages to increase international ticketing to 20 crore by 2027

23 Aug 2018

●President appoints Governors of seven states[August 2018]

°Satya Pal Malik↪J&K
°Baby Rani Maurya{female↪Uttarakhand..
•Governor is the nominal head of a state {CM is real head} • Term↪5 years
•Can be dismissal by the President on the advice of PM,at whose pleasure governor holds office
•Governor does not have any diplomatic or military powers(like President)
●FSSAI notifies food safety standards for honey;-
↪On 18 parameters like sucrose content, glucose ratio,pollen count,foreign oligosaccharides etc.
↪It will help fetch farmers better prices for their products
•Bees wax↪Is obtained from the honeycombs of bees

•yellow bees wax↪combs are melted with hot water & filtered
•White bees wax↪Is obtained by bleaching the yellow bees wax
●Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or 'Quad';-
↪Is an informal strategic dialogue b/w US, Japan, Australia & India
↪being all democratic nations have common interests of unhindered maritime trade & security.
●International Council on Monuments & Sites (ICOMOS);-{ is a prestigious NGO}
↪It promotes conservation of architectural & archaeological heritage across the world(is also an advisory body
of UNESCO)
↪It launched an initiative to assess the damage to the rich cultural & built heritage in flood-devastated Kerala
●TReDS platform;-
↪Is an online electronic institutional mechanism for facilitating the financing of trade receivables of MSMEs (like
Easy Access to Funds,Transact Online etc.)
↪TReDs settle the trade by debiting the financier & paying the seller
●CERT-In report on cyber attacks;-
↪cyber attacks from China made up 35% followed by US (17%),Russia(15%),PAK(9%)
•CERT-In(the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team);-
↪Is a government-mandated IT security organization to respond computer security incidents
●Kowsar;-
↪Is described as a fourth-generation fighter jet unveiled recently by Iran
●International Buddhist Conclave 2018;-
↪With an aim to encourage the prominent Buddhist heritage & pilgrim sites in the state of Maharashtra
•Theme↪ ‘Buddha Path – The Living Heritage”

24 Aug 2018

●Article 35A;-
↪Is an article that empowers J&K state's legislature to define “permanent residents” of the state and provide
special rights & privileges to those permanent residents (like public sector jobs, acquisition of property in the
State, scholarships etc.)
16
●Poshan Maah(National Nutrition Month);-
↪It seeks to synergise all efforts by leveraging technology & intends to take nutrition awareness at grass root
level by Jan Andolan
↪being celebrated during the month of September across the Country{by MoWCD}
•POSHAN Abhiyaan↪aims to ensure service delivery & interventions by use of technology
●National Logistics Portal;-
{developed by Mo Commerce & Industry}↪to ensure ease of trading in the international & domestic markets
↪Indian logistics sector provides livelihood to more than 22 million people
●CJI Launches Applications;-
°e-Filing app;-
↪one can file cases from any part of India to any court on registration
°e-Pay app;-
↪It is a unified portal wherein facility to pay online court fees is provided
•National Service & Tracking of Electronic Processes (NSTEP);-
↪It is a transparent & secure system for transmission of process from one location to another(under eCourts
Project)
•eCourts Project↪ is a national eGovernance project for ICT enablement of district & subordinate courts of the
country
●5 Thematic Reports on Sustainable Development in Indian Himalayan Region;-
↪will discuss the significance,challenges, ongoing actions & future roadmap(on data, Shifting
Cultivation,Landscape,Water Security,Tourism){by NITI Aayog}
●world-first blockchain bond;-{by World Bank} named bond-I
•Bond-I ↪Is Ethereum blockchain bond denominated in Australian dollars
↪Bondi is a popular beach in Australia
•Blockchain technology↪Is a digitized, decentralized,public ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions
●ICESat-2 satellite;-
↪Is a part of NASA's Earth Observing System
↪will measure the average annual elevation change of land ice covering Greenland & Antarctica(and
understand what is causing ice sheets to melt fast)
●Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL);-
↪becomes the first Indian company to cross ₹ 8 trillion market capitalization

25 Aug 2018

●International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition;-{23 August}
↪to remind people of the tragedy of the transatlantic slave trade,the largest deportation in history.
•The Haitian revolution;-
↪was a successful anti-slavery & anti-colonial insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule
in Saint-Domingue,(now sovereign nation of Haiti)
●Sweden launches ‘feminist foreign policy’;-
↪showcasing lessons from the Scandinavian nation’s flagship approach to promoting women’s rights globally
●Odisha proposal for legislative council;-
•Article 169 ↪Parliament may by law create or abolish 2nd chamber in a state if Legislative Assembly passes a
resolution by a special majority.
↪total number of members in the legislative council of a state shall not exceed 1/3rd of the total number of the
members in legislative Assembly(NOT
less than 40){exception is J&K↪36}
●Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna;-{launched by Mo Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation
↪In Mission mode envisions provision of Housing for All by 2022, when the Nation completes 75 years of its
Independence
●SCO Peace Mission Exercise-2018;-{held in Russia}
↪Is conducted biennially for the SCO member states
↪exercise will be the first for India & Pakistan since becoming full members of SCO in 2017
●Report-"The Urban Commute & How it Contributes to Pollution & Energy"
↪released by the "Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)"
↪report is an analysis of 14 cities in India on how they fare when it comes to pollution and energy consumption
from urban commuting
•Kolkata↪ top-performing megacity.

17
•Bhopal leads the list on the lowest overall emissions
•Delhi & Hyderabad are the two cities that fare at the bottom of the table in terms of pollution and energy use.

27 Aug 2018

●Fahrenheit(°F )↪ Celsius(℃)
32°F =0℃ [now every 18°F will be equal to 10℃]
(32°F+18°F)↪10℃
(32°F+36°F=68°F)↪20℃.....↪
●Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS);-
↪Is one of the largest NGO in India engaged in conservation & biodiversity research(founded in 1883)
↪started operating its first regional centre on the campus of Wetland Research & Training Centre near Chilika
Lake.
•Logo↪the great hornbill.
•Chilika Lagoon↪It is the largest coastal lagoon in India & 2nd largest lagoon in the world after The New
Caledonian barrier reef in New Caledonia.
↪Chilika was designated as the 1st “Ramsar Site” of India
●Strategic Partnership(SP) model;-
↪aims to revitalise defence industrial ecosystem & progressively build indigenous capabilities in private sector
to design,develop & manufacture complex weapon systems for Armed Forces.
↪first project under Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has approved procurement of 111 Utility Helicopters for
Indian Navy
●G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting;-{held in Argentina}
↪members agreed to promote digital government & digital infrastructure, strengthen digital skills of workforce
etc.
•Theme↪ ‘Building consensus for fair and sustainable development
°G20 is made up of European Union(28) &19 countries
•Digital Economy Task Force;-
↪discuss issues related to digital transformation & prepare recommendations on inclusive development
●Indian Ocean Conference-2018;-{held in Vietnam}
↪will emphasise on better cooperation, strategic collaboration & governance architectures
•Theme↪“Building Regional Architectures”
●BIS to set new standards to measure quality of services;-
↪process was initiated after concerns over lack of standardisation
↪a majority of consumers were not happy with after-sales services
•Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS);-
↪Is national Standards Body of India working under Mo Consumer Affairs
↪One of the major function of BIS is to promotion of Indian Standards etc.
●Cheetah reintroduction project;-{in Nauradehi sanctuary,MP}
↪Nauradehi was found to be the most suitable area for the cheetahs as its forests are not very dense
●India’s first biofuel-powered plane;-
↪India has now joined small league of nations with US & Australia to have flown a biofuel-powered aircraft
↪Biofuel flights could make air travel cleaner and more efficient

28 Aug 2018

●Swadesh Darshan Scheme;-{Mo Tourism}

↪with an objective to develop theme-based tourist circuits in the country
•Heritage Circuit in Punjab;-
↪project covers sites of Anandpur Sahib – Fatehgarh Sahib, Amritsar etc.
↪project includes development of Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar
↪purpose of heritage circuits is to ensure a tourist spends atleast a day in each city
•North East Circuit in Tripura;-
↪project envisaged infrastructural development of the sites(Jampui Hills, Boxanagar,Chotta khola etc.)
●China may scrap two- child policies;-
↪One-child policy enforcing began in 1979 to slow population growth,limit was raised to two children in 2016
•Malthusian theory;-
↪he argued that if left unchecked,a population will outgrow its resources, leading to a host of problems
●Odisha Land & Revenue Code;-

18
↪Odisha govt. has proposed a single revenue act by merging various revenue laws enacted at different point in
times
•WHY↪there are many revenue Acts,which were enacted years back & are unable to meet the changing
needs.
●North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA);-
↪an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, & United States that reduced or eliminated trade barriers in North
America
↪providing a way to allow exchange of goods & services to flow more freely across national borders without the
artificial restrictions(single market)
●Aeolus satellite;-{launched by "European Space Agency"}
↪that will measure winds around the globe & help improve weather forecasting
•Aeolus is the fifth in the family of ESA’s Earth Explorer missions
↪and Aeolus is the first satellite mission to acquire profiles of Earth’s wind on a global scale)
●Drone Regulations 1.0;-
↪govt. announced guidelines for remotely piloted aircraft(or drones as they are more commonly known)
↪aiming to open up an array of opportunities in the Indian civil aviation sector
•Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) ↪(commonly known as drones) are a fast-growing sector in
aviation, being used for both commercial & recreational purposes
↪regulation defines “No Drone Zones” around airports,near international border..
●₹79 Cr proposal to study the impact of climate change on Kerala;-
↪Kerala project will analyse the trends in climatic elements, their spatial pattern & its relationship with extreme
events such as El Nino,cyclones etc.
●Lakhwar Multipurpose Project;-
↪is a multipurpose scheme, primarily a peaking power station,on river Yamuna in the district of
Dehradun(construction of 204 m high concrete dam)

29 Aug 2018

●E-cigarettes;-{Centre asks states to ban}

↪Is a handheld electronic device that simulates the feeling of tobacco smoking.
↪liquid in E-cigarette called "e-juice" is usually made of nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerine & flavorings
↪ It works by heating a liquid to generate an aerosol, commonly called a "vapor", that user inhales
↪e-cigarette has cancer-causing properties,are highly addictive & is dangerous for a country like India where
the number of smokers is on the decline (WHO Global Report, 2015)
●Venezuela crisis;-
↪Hyperinflation is the biggest problem faced by Venezuela.Inflation rate there is expected to reach a stunning
one million per cent this year↪
↪plummeting oil prices since 2014 is one of the main reasons why Venezuela’s currency has weakened
sharply
•A survey from February this year found that almost 90% of Venezuelans live in poverty
●4th Asian Electoral Stakeholder Forum;-
↪first time AESF was held in South Asia(Sri lanka).
•Theme↪ "Advancing Election Transparency and Integrity: Promoting and Defending Democracy Together"
•Bangkok Declaration↪ to promote democratic,transparent elections on the world’s most populous
continent(asia)
●Satya S Tripathi(Indian) ↪has been appointed assistant secretary general of the United Nations & will head
the New York office of UNEP
•United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP);-
↪is an agency of United Nations & coordinates its environmental activities, assisting developing countries
•HQ↪Gigiri (near Nairobi, Kenya)
●Higgs boson;-
↪is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics
↪is responsible for all the mass in the universe,perhaps we're simply excited to learn more about our world
↪if the Higgs boson does exist, we'll unravel the mystery a little more
•Large Hadron Collider (LHC)↪is the world's largest & most powerful particle accelerator
↪Built by "European Organization for Nuclear Research(CERN)"
●Horizon 2020;-
↪Is the biggest EU Research & Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding & running from
2014 to 2020.

19
↪aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness by driving economic growth & creating jobs.
•European Union & India will collaborate in research & innovation for developing a next generation influenza
vaccine to protect people worldwide
● Spitzer Space Telescope;-
↪is an infrared space telescope launched in 2003 & still operating as of 2018. It is fourth & final of NASA Great
Observatories program.
↪Spitzer’s discoveries extend to planets around other stars, to far reaches of the universe
●Corbett National Park;-{Nainital,Uttarakhand}
↪Corbett has the glory of being India’s oldest & most prestigious National Park.
↪It is also being honored as the place where Project Tiger was first launched in 1973
↪also declared as an ‘Important Bird Area’ (IBA) by Birdlife International
•National Tiger Conservation Authority(NTCA);-
↪Is a statutory body for strengthening tiger conservation
↪Court asked if NTCA could take over the management of Corbett Tiger Reserve “as an interim measure”
●Vostok-2018 ↪is a large-scale Russian military exercise
↪China & Mongolia plan to participate in Vostok 2018 to improve military relations

30 Aug 2018

●Project Navlekha;-{by Google}

•Navlekha in Sanskrit means “a new way to write”
↪aims to bring 135,000 local language publishers online by making web hosting smooth & simple
↪it will quickly render any PDF with Indian language content into editable text by using AI
●Marriage certificate mandatory for official work in Meghalaya;-
↪due to increasing cases of broken marriages & women being forced to fend for themselves & their children
●Anti-lynching measures;-
•Lynching↪Is the practice of murder by a group by extrajudicial action
↪A panel headed by Union Home Secretary deliberated on measures to check incidents of lynching & make a
“separate offence”
↪At present there is no law that criminalises mob killings
•Police’ & ‘Public Order’↪State subjects
●RBI's 2nd annual report;-
↪after demonetization,about 99.3% of notes sucked out of circulation has been returned
↪value of bank notes in circulation has increased by 37.7% over the year
●O-SMART scheme;-
↪addressing ocean development activities such as Services, Technology, Resources, Observations & Science
↪will provide economic benefits to a number of user communities in coastal & ocean sectors, namely
fisheries,offshore industry,Shipping etc.
↪will also help in addressing issues relating to SDG-14, which aims to conserve use of oceans,marine
resources for sustainable development
●Prime Minister’s STIAC (Science, Technology & Innovation Advisory Council)
↪It will be headed by Principal Scientific Advisor of GoI
↪Advise PM on science,technology as well as innovation & developing ‘Clusters of Excellence’ in science
including city-based R&D clusters etc.

31 Aug 2018

●Members of Parliament Local Area

Development Scheme (MPLADS);-{launched in 1993}
↪to provide a mechanism for the MPs to recommend works of developmental nature(like public health,
education etc.)
•Elected MPs(Lok Sabha)↪can recommend works in their respective constituencies
•Elected MPs(Rajya Sabha)↪can recommend works anywhere in the state from which they are elected
•Nominated MPs(LS & RS)↪may select works for implementation anywhere in the country
●Report on“Worngful Prosecution;-{by Law Commission}
•Worngful Prosecution↪a person has been wrongfully convicted but is later found to be factually innocent basis
a new fact / proof coming to light
↪Commission recommends to provide relief to victims of wrongful prosecution in terms of monetary & non-
monetary compensation

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◆International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights (‘ICCPR’, ratified by India) also creates an obligation to
compensate victims of such miscarriage of justice
●Innovation Cell;-{launched by MoHRD}
↪purpose to systematically foster the culture of Innovation in all Higher Education Institutions(HEIs) across the
country.(by encourage,inspire & nurture young students)
●Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA);-{launched by MoHRD}
↪to systematically rank education institutions & universities primarily on innovation related indicators
•Idea to Entrepreneurship(Indicator) having 54% Weightage
●Enhancing Innovation for Clean Energy Transition;-
↪MoU have signed b/w Do Biotechnology ,Mo Science & Technology, & International Energy Agency (IEA)
↪MoU seeks to deepen co-operation in support of clean energy innovations to accelerate
research,development & demonstration (RD&D) of clean energy technologies in India
•International Energy Agency;-{Founded in 1974}
↪IEA examines full spectrum of energy issues including oil, gas & coal supply and demand, renewable energy
technologies etc.
↪Published "World Energy Outlook"
●Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP);-
↪aims to boost goods trade by eliminating most tariff and non-tariff barriers
↪Is a proposed free trade agreement b/w
ASEAN+6 total 16 member states
↪six states with which ASEAN has existing FTAs (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea & New Zealand)
1st SAARC Agri Cooperative Business Forum;-{held in Nepal}
↪Aim to provide platform to bring together representatives both from government and non-governmental
entities from member states of SAARC
•Theme↪ ‘Organizing & Strengthening Family Farmers’ Cooperatives to attain the SDG 1 & 2 in South Asia'
●National REDD+ Strategy↪builds upon existing national circumstances which have been updated in line with
India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change
•REDD+ means “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation & forest Degradation” ↪conservation of forest carbon
stocks, sustainable management of forests,& enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries
●Nilgiri tahr;-{an endangered mountain goat}


•IUCN status- Endangered
•It is the State animal of Tamil Nadu.
●‘Call for Code’ initiative;-{launched by Global IT giant IBM}
↪With an aim to build global solutions for disaster management

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