THOUGHT OF THE DAY 🎁

Sorrow looks back,
Worry looks around,
Faith looks up.
In whatever facet of life you are, always remember to look up and never give up.

Competition Commission of India

In news: CCI had imposed a penalty of Rs 936.44 cr on Google for abusing its dominant position with respect to its Play Store policies

■ CCI

✅ Statutory body est. in 2009
✅ Objectives: Eliminate practices having adverse effect on competition
Promote & sustain competition
Protect the interests of consumers
Ensure freedom of trade in the market
✅Composition: The Commission consists of 1 Chairperson and 6 members who shall be appointed by the Union gov

▪️Functions:

✅ Commission is a quasi-judicial body
✅ Mandated to undertake competition advocacy, create public awareness & impart training on competition issues

▪️Powers:

✅ To inquire into a certain agreement as well as the dominant position of enterprises
✅ Inquire into any acquisition or combination if it determines that such acquisition may adversely affect competition in the Indian market
✅ Regulate its own procedures
✅ Impose monetary penalties upon violation of the Competition Act, 2002

#Gs2

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Kalanamak rice

In News: Indian Agriculture Research Institute has successfully tested 2 new dwarf varieties that doubles the yield and solves lodging problem.

About Kalanamak Rice 🌾

✅ Kalanamak, a traditional variety of paddy with black husk and strong fragrance.

✅ It is considered as a gift from Lord Buddha to the people of Sravasti when he visited the region after enlightenment.

✅ Grown in 11 districts of the Terai region of northeastern UP and in Nepal.

✅ The traditional Kalanamak rice is protected under the GI tag.

✅ The traditional variety has been prone to ‘lodging’, a reason for its low yield.

What is Lodging? 👇🏼👇🏼
The plant head become heavy due to Grain formation (rice) as a result the long stem of plant cannot support it & the plant falls on ground.

#agriculture
#prelims

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🔆 Participatory Notes (P-notes):

✅ issued by registered FPIs to overseas investors who wish to be a part of Indian stock market without registering themselves directly. They, however, need to go through a due diligence process.

✅ Investment via P-notes normally moves in trend with FPI investment. When there is a global risk to the environment, investment through P-notes increases and vice versa.

#Economy
#Gs3

An invasive alien species, Senna spectabilis is spreading in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR).

About Senna spectabilis🌿🌿
- Introduced as an ornamental species and for use as firewood from South and Central America in the Nilgiris region.
- The species has quickly spread in both the core and buffer zones of the MTR.

What are Invasive alien species (IAS)?
They are any organisms that are non-native to an ecosystem, & which may adversely affect the environment

How is it a threat? 🤔🤔
Conservationists say the invasive weed has a negative effect on local biodiversity, crowding out native species & limiting food availability for wildlife.

Other Invasive Species in MTR:
-Lantana camara
-Eucalyptus
-Pine
-Wattle or Acacia pycnantha

💡 Steps to control IAS
-Prevent introduction of alien species
-Strengthening domestic quarantine measures
-Developing early warning systems in response to new sightings of IAS
-Providing funding to research on managing invasive species

#Prelims
#environment
#Gs3

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Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) has approved environmental release of indigenously developed Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11)🔥🔥

About DMH-11
-It is a transgenic crop because it uses foreign genes from a different species.
-DMH-11 is a result of a cross between two varieties: Varuna & Early Heera-2
-The cross was done by introducing genes from two soil bacterium called barnase & barstar
-Barnase in Varuna induces a temporary sterility because of which it can’t naturally self-pollinate
-Barstar in Heera blocks the effect of barnase allowing seeds to be produced

Mustard (Brassica juncea) 🌿
-It is a self-pollinating plant.
-Cultivated in 6-7 million hectares during the Rabi winter season predominantly in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab & Madhya Pradesh

Why do we need GM Mustard?
India imports anywhere from 55-60% of its domestic edible-oil requirement. This is primarily due to low productivity & GM mustard will help to boost productivity.


#Prelims
#agriculture
#Gs3

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S. Jaishankar on PLI Scheme - This is another chance to board a bus that we had unfortunately missed a few times before.

On lighter note 😂

NRI voting

✅ ECI formed a Committee in 2014 on the direction of the Supreme court to explore the options for overseas electors, which narrowed it down to 2 remote voting options: e-postal ballot & proxy voting.

✅ What is Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System?
It involves NRI voter sending application to the returning officer(RO). RO will send the ballot electronically. Voter will register their mandate on the ballot printout, & then send ballot by ordinary post or drop it at Indian Embassy.

✅ Proxy voting, meanwhile, enables voters to appoint proxies to vote on their behalf.

✅ Both ETPBS and proxy voting are currently available to only service voters, like those in the armed forces or diplomatic missions.


✅ Efforts so far:
In 2017, gov. introduced a Bill to amend RPA to remove the condition of in-person voting for NRIs & enable them to vote through proxies but the Bill lapsed with the 16th Lok Sabha

#GS2
#RPA

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Apis karinjodian

✅ A new species of endemic honeybee common name Indian black honeybee has been discovered in the Western Ghats

✅ The last honeybee described from India was Apis indica in 1798 by Fabricius but it was not considered a valid species till now. The research team restored the status of Apis indica based on a new measure for species discrimination in honeybees termed ‘Radio-Medial Index (RMI).’

✅ Apis karinjodian has evolved from Apis cerana morphotypes that got acclimatised to the hot and humid environment of the Western Ghats.

✅ The distribution of Apis karinjodian ranges from the central Western Ghats & Nilgiris to the southern Western Ghats, covering the States of Goa, Karnataka, Kerala & Tamil Nadu.

#species_in_news
#environment
#Prelims

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Why you should solve questions asked in other exams of UPSC ? 🤔

This question was asked UPSC NDA exam in 2018.

They repeated the same question in UPSC CSE 2020. 🔥🔥
check the comment section below 👇

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🔥 D.Y. Chandrachud takes oath as the 50th Chief Justice of India

🔆Constitution on appointment of CJI:
✅ The Constitution does not have any specific provision for criteria & procedure for appointing the CJI
✅ The closest mention is in Article 126. It deals with appointment of acting CJI

🔆Convention for appointment of CJI
✅ When incumbent CJI retires, the senior-most judge in the SC becomes the CJI
✅ Remember, Seniority is not defined by age but by number of years an individual has been serving as a judge of the apex court

🔆Procedure of appointment of CJI
✅ The procedure to appoint next CJI is laid out in Memorandum of Procedure between government & judiciary
✅ The procedure of appointment is initiated by Law Minister. He shall seek the recommendation of the outgoing CJI
✅ The CJI sends his recommendation to Law Ministry
✅ After receiving a recommendation from CJI law minister forwards it to the PM
✅ PM will then advise the same to President, who will administer the oath to new CJI

#gs2

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"There is nothing in the religious sphere which is private."
_D.Y. Chandrachud (CJI)_
on sabrimala judgement
At haward law school event.

#gs2
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