#MainsFodder #PT2021
South African variant of Coronavirus.
News: Recently WHO has raised a concern over the South African variant of Coronavirus.
Key Points
1. Named the variant 501Y.V2.
2. Also found in the new strain that the UK.
3. Phylogenetic analysis has shown that 501Y.V2 from South Africa are different virus variants.
- Concerns: Monoclonal antibodies that were effective against SARS-CoV2 are less effective against the South Africa variant.
In India:
- India reported a total of 82 persons with new UK mutant strain
- There are no reports on the South African mutant.
Other Mutation:
1.D614G Mutation
2.N501Y mutant
South African variant of Coronavirus.
News: Recently WHO has raised a concern over the South African variant of Coronavirus.
Key Points
1. Named the variant 501Y.V2.
2. Also found in the new strain that the UK.
3. Phylogenetic analysis has shown that 501Y.V2 from South Africa are different virus variants.
- Concerns: Monoclonal antibodies that were effective against SARS-CoV2 are less effective against the South Africa variant.
In India:
- India reported a total of 82 persons with new UK mutant strain
- There are no reports on the South African mutant.
Other Mutation:
1.D614G Mutation
2.N501Y mutant
#MainsFodder #PT2021
Autonomous State in Assam
News: Demand for implementation of article 244A within Assam.
- Autonomous State for the Karbi Anglong region.
- Background: This has been a demand since 1986.
- Current position: The districts are currently governed by two autonomous councils Karbi Anglong and North Cachar hills.
Article 244A: Formation of an autonomous state comprising certain tribal areas in Assam and creation of local legislature or Council of Ministers or both therefore.
Autonomous State in Assam
News: Demand for implementation of article 244A within Assam.
- Autonomous State for the Karbi Anglong region.
- Background: This has been a demand since 1986.
- Current position: The districts are currently governed by two autonomous councils Karbi Anglong and North Cachar hills.
Article 244A: Formation of an autonomous state comprising certain tribal areas in Assam and creation of local legislature or Council of Ministers or both therefore.
Digicate IAS
Surprise Offer only for Channel Members Strive Prelims Test Series only @Rs 999 (Savings Rs 2999) (Offer Validity - 24 Hours only) Total Tests 52 Know more and Subscribe www.digicate.in/ias/test-series
Last 4 Hours to avail the Offer
Price will never ever be this in future...
Join Now
www.digicate.in/ias/test-series
Price will never ever be this in future...
Join Now
www.digicate.in/ias/test-series
Digicate IAS
Digicate IAS | By V V Ronge Patil
Digicate IAS is an online learning platform for India’s elite civil services examination conducted by UPSC. We aspire to bring more equitable and fair competition in the UPSC CSE examination by reaching out to remotest corners of the country.
#MainsFodder #PT2021
Thousand Islands
- Also known as Kepulauan Seribu
- Location: Chain of islands north of Jakarta’s coast, Indonesia.
Key points:
- There are exactly 110 islands that together form a District.
- It encompasses the Pulau Seribu National Marine Park.
- These islands are initially caused by the volcanoes.
- Later, the shifting of tectonic plates results in group of small islands.
Thousand Islands
- Also known as Kepulauan Seribu
- Location: Chain of islands north of Jakarta’s coast, Indonesia.
Key points:
- There are exactly 110 islands that together form a District.
- It encompasses the Pulau Seribu National Marine Park.
- These islands are initially caused by the volcanoes.
- Later, the shifting of tectonic plates results in group of small islands.
#MainsFodder #PT2021
Saguna Rice Technique (SRT)
- This technique will help stop the stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana.
- This zerotill technique is a unique Conservation Agriculture type of cultivation method.
Useful:
- This method is used to cultivate rice.
- It related with rotation crops without ploughing, puddling and transplanting rice.
- Facilitates planting of crop in predetermined distances enabling precise plant population per unit area.
Saguna Rice Technique (SRT)
- This technique will help stop the stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana.
- This zerotill technique is a unique Conservation Agriculture type of cultivation method.
Useful:
- This method is used to cultivate rice.
- It related with rotation crops without ploughing, puddling and transplanting rice.
- Facilitates planting of crop in predetermined distances enabling precise plant population per unit area.
#MainsFodder #PT2021
India’s GDP 2020-2021
- Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released the First Advance Estimates for the financial year 2020-2021.
Key points
- India’s GDP will contract by 7.7% in 2020-21.
- Gross Fixed Capital Formation accounts for close to 28% of India’s GDP.
- Private demand and business demand account for almost 85% of all GDP.
- Private Final Consumption Expenditure constitutes over 56% of the total GDP.
India’s GDP 2020-2021
- Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released the First Advance Estimates for the financial year 2020-2021.
Key points
- India’s GDP will contract by 7.7% in 2020-21.
- Gross Fixed Capital Formation accounts for close to 28% of India’s GDP.
- Private demand and business demand account for almost 85% of all GDP.
- Private Final Consumption Expenditure constitutes over 56% of the total GDP.
#Essay #Ethics
Quotes by Swami Vivekananda
1. We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.
2. Arise,awake and donot stop until the goal is reached.
3. You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.
4. The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.
5. Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.
6. External nature is only internal nature writ large.
Quotes by Swami Vivekananda
1. We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.
2. Arise,awake and donot stop until the goal is reached.
3. You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.
4. The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.
5. Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.
6. External nature is only internal nature writ large.
In Students Interest
Surprise Offer extended for 1 Day
Strive Prelims Test Series only @Rs 999
(Savings Rs 2999)
( Offer Ends Tonight )
Total Tests 52
Know more and Subscribe
www.digicate.in/ias/test-series
Surprise Offer extended for 1 Day
Strive Prelims Test Series only @Rs 999
(Savings Rs 2999)
( Offer Ends Tonight )
Total Tests 52
Know more and Subscribe
www.digicate.in/ias/test-series
#MainsFodder #PT2021
Virunga National Park
- Location: Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
- In News: Six rangers have been killed here
- Established in 1925
- Africa’s first national park
Famous for its mountain gorillas.
- It borders Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Rwenzori Mountains National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.
- UNESCO designated World Heritage Site since 1979.
Virunga National Park
- Location: Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
- In News: Six rangers have been killed here
- Established in 1925
- Africa’s first national park
Famous for its mountain gorillas.
- It borders Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Rwenzori Mountains National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.
- UNESCO designated World Heritage Site since 1979.
#MainsFodder #PT2021
Cherry Blossom Mao Festival
- In Manipur StateHeld at Mao area of Senapati district.
- Marking the beginning of pink season in the district.
- The Mao area is known for Cherry Blossom plant.
- Manipur government started organizing the festival from 2017.
- The festival featured the picturesque landscape of Mao town adorned with Cherry Blossom flowers.
Cherry Blossom Mao Festival
- In Manipur StateHeld at Mao area of Senapati district.
- Marking the beginning of pink season in the district.
- The Mao area is known for Cherry Blossom plant.
- Manipur government started organizing the festival from 2017.
- The festival featured the picturesque landscape of Mao town adorned with Cherry Blossom flowers.
#MainsFodder #PT2021
Culling
- It is the mass slaughter of domestic poultry birds to contain the spread of bird flu.
- Aim: Protecting humans, ever since the first transmission to humans in 1997.
- All domestic birds in an infected area are slaughtered and their remains buried.
In India.
- It is done in a radius one km from the site of infection.
- Cervical dislocation or neck-wringing method is to be used for culling.
Culling
- It is the mass slaughter of domestic poultry birds to contain the spread of bird flu.
- Aim: Protecting humans, ever since the first transmission to humans in 1997.
- All domestic birds in an infected area are slaughtered and their remains buried.
In India.
- It is done in a radius one km from the site of infection.
- Cervical dislocation or neck-wringing method is to be used for culling.
#MainsFodder #PT2021
Heliophysics Missions
- News: NASA has approved two heliophysics missions recently
- Aim: To explore the Sun and the system that drives space weather near Earth.
- Function: Understanding the physics that drive the solar wind and solar explosions.
- 2 heliophysics Missions are:
1. Extreme Ultraviolet High-Throughput Spectroscopic Telescope Epsilon Mission (EUVST)
2. Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE)
- Fund: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Heliophysics Missions
- News: NASA has approved two heliophysics missions recently
- Aim: To explore the Sun and the system that drives space weather near Earth.
- Function: Understanding the physics that drive the solar wind and solar explosions.
- 2 heliophysics Missions are:
1. Extreme Ultraviolet High-Throughput Spectroscopic Telescope Epsilon Mission (EUVST)
2. Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE)
- Fund: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
#MainsFodder #PT2021
Double-stack Container Train
- News: The world’s first double-stack long-haul container train.
- It was flagged off from New Ateli, Haryana to New Kishanganj, Rajasthan.
Key points:
- Operated in 306-km Rewari-Madar section of the Western dedicated freight corridor.
- One train carries 360 10-feet container equivalent units.
- The speed of freight trains is expected to be increased to a maximum of 100 kmph.
- Current maximum speed of 75 kmph.
- The DFC Corporation of India constructing the Western DFC (1,506 km) and Eastern DFC (1,875 km).
Double-stack Container Train
- News: The world’s first double-stack long-haul container train.
- It was flagged off from New Ateli, Haryana to New Kishanganj, Rajasthan.
Key points:
- Operated in 306-km Rewari-Madar section of the Western dedicated freight corridor.
- One train carries 360 10-feet container equivalent units.
- The speed of freight trains is expected to be increased to a maximum of 100 kmph.
- Current maximum speed of 75 kmph.
- The DFC Corporation of India constructing the Western DFC (1,506 km) and Eastern DFC (1,875 km).
#MainsFodder #PT2021
World’s oldest known cave art
- News: It is a life-sized picture of a wild pig that was painted at least 45,500 years ago.
- Location: Leang Tedongnge cave in a valley on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Key points:
1. It shows a pig with a short crest of upright hairs and a pair of horn-like facial warts in front of the eyes.
2. Characteristic feature of adult male Sulawesi warty pigs.
3. Most commonly portrayed animal in the ice age rock art of the island.
4. Painted using red ochre pigment.
5. Pig appears to be observing a fight or social interaction between two other warty pigs.
World’s oldest known cave art
- News: It is a life-sized picture of a wild pig that was painted at least 45,500 years ago.
- Location: Leang Tedongnge cave in a valley on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Key points:
1. It shows a pig with a short crest of upright hairs and a pair of horn-like facial warts in front of the eyes.
2. Characteristic feature of adult male Sulawesi warty pigs.
3. Most commonly portrayed animal in the ice age rock art of the island.
4. Painted using red ochre pigment.
5. Pig appears to be observing a fight or social interaction between two other warty pigs.
#MainsFodder #PT2021
Henley Passport Index 2021
’
- News: India has been ranked 85th in this most powerful passport repor
- launched in 2006
Includes 199 different passports.
- Created by Dr. Christian H. Kaelin (chairman of Henley & Partners)
- About the Index:
1. It is the original ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations.
2. Their holders can access without a prior visa.
3. Ranking is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA)
4. IATA maintains the world’s largest and most accurate database of travel information.
Henley Passport Index 2021
’
- News: India has been ranked 85th in this most powerful passport repor
- launched in 2006
Includes 199 different passports.
- Created by Dr. Christian H. Kaelin (chairman of Henley & Partners)
- About the Index:
1. It is the original ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations.
2. Their holders can access without a prior visa.
3. Ranking is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA)
4. IATA maintains the world’s largest and most accurate database of travel information.
#MainsFodder #PT2021
Impeachment of Trump
- News: Donald Trump has become the first President of the USA in history to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives.
- He was charged for inciting an insurrection.
Impeachment of Trump
- News: Donald Trump has become the first President of the USA in history to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives.
- He was charged for inciting an insurrection.
#MainsFodder #PT2021
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 3
- Launched by The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
- Aim: To empower India’s youth with employable skills by making over 300 skill courses available to them.
Background: Skill India Mission was launched by the government in 2015 under which this scheme run.
Key points:
1. Step towards Atmanirbhar Bharat
2. Launched in 717 districts,28 states and 8 UTs.
3. It will be implemented in a more decentralized structure
4. Key role: District Skill Committees, State Skill Development Missions.
5. 729 PMK Kendra
6. Trainee-and learner centric.
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 3
- Launched by The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
- Aim: To empower India’s youth with employable skills by making over 300 skill courses available to them.
Background: Skill India Mission was launched by the government in 2015 under which this scheme run.
Key points:
1. Step towards Atmanirbhar Bharat
2. Launched in 717 districts,28 states and 8 UTs.
3. It will be implemented in a more decentralized structure
4. Key role: District Skill Committees, State Skill Development Missions.
5. 729 PMK Kendra
6. Trainee-and learner centric.
#MainsFodder #PT2021
1st Generation ethanol
- Notified by Department of Food & Public Distribution
- It is a modified
scheme for extending financial assistance.
- Aim: To achieve blending targets of ethanol with petrol (Ethanol Blending Programme).
Ethanol Blending Programme:
1. Blending ethanol with petrol, thereby bringing it under the category of biofuels
2. Saving millions of dollars by cutting fuel imports
3. Decreasing carbon emissions.
4. Achieve 20% blending of ethanol by 2025.
Ethanol Extraction from Foodgrains:
- Launched in 2018
- Extract the fuel from surplus quantities of food grains such as maize, jawar, bajra fruit etc.
1st Generation ethanol
- Notified by Department of Food & Public Distribution
- It is a modified
scheme for extending financial assistance.
- Aim: To achieve blending targets of ethanol with petrol (Ethanol Blending Programme).
Ethanol Blending Programme:
1. Blending ethanol with petrol, thereby bringing it under the category of biofuels
2. Saving millions of dollars by cutting fuel imports
3. Decreasing carbon emissions.
4. Achieve 20% blending of ethanol by 2025.
Ethanol Extraction from Foodgrains:
- Launched in 2018
- Extract the fuel from surplus quantities of food grains such as maize, jawar, bajra fruit etc.
#MainsFodder #PT2021
X-Band Doppler Weather Radars
- News: Union Minister for Earth Sciences commissioned two of the ten indigenously built X-Band Doppler Weather Radars
- Aim: It will closely monitor the weather changes over the Himalayas.
- Developed by ISRO
- Manufactured by Bharat - Electronics Limited
Key points:
1. It will gather atmospheric variations
2. Pick signals of extreme weather events.
3. Highly prone to cloud bursts, landslides, heavy rain and snowfall.
4.Timely weather forecasts and warnings
5.Make advance plans and initiate rescue measures.
X-Band Doppler Weather Radars
- News: Union Minister for Earth Sciences commissioned two of the ten indigenously built X-Band Doppler Weather Radars
- Aim: It will closely monitor the weather changes over the Himalayas.
- Developed by ISRO
- Manufactured by Bharat - Electronics Limited
Key points:
1. It will gather atmospheric variations
2. Pick signals of extreme weather events.
3. Highly prone to cloud bursts, landslides, heavy rain and snowfall.
4.Timely weather forecasts and warnings
5.Make advance plans and initiate rescue measures.