IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 1

IASbaba’s Prelims Current Affairs 7th to 20th November 2015

Though the weightage of Current Affairs vary from year to year-it becomes imperative for us to

strategize our preparation in such a manner that this unpredictability gets tamed at the right

time, from our end. Right from the burning issues to the static part of the portion, a Civil

Servant is supposed to understand the subjective realities of the country to which he belongs

to- very well.

Current Events plays a key role in all the three stages of UPSC preparation, especially in the

Mains and Interview. It covers a wide range of topics which overlaps with the CORE subjects like

Geography, Polity, Economics, History and dynamic subjects like Environment, Science and

Technology- making the section of ‘Current Affairs’ unputdownable for a serious aspirant.

Hence, the key here is substantiating the Core subjects with regular readings of the events

taking place/in news. To make this process an easy one, we will be coming up with capsules of

Pre-centric Coverage of the important events. We are sure that this will complement your

preparation and push you towards your goals.

Best

IASbaba

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 2

Now, 0.5% cess on services to support Swachh Bharat

0.5% Cess of All taxable services.

2% regional connectivity cess on international air travel and flights between metros and big

cities.

Further Reading: https://www.taxmann.com/file/t99/rate-of-service-tax-and-swachh-bharat-

cess-applicability-in-various-situations.aspx

Think

What is the difference between Cess and Surcharge?

What all cess are levied in India from the beginning?

Indian Army successfully test-fires Brahmos land attack missile

Army on Saturday successfully test fired the nearly 300-km-range Brahmos supersonic land

attack cruise missile

BrahMos is a joint venture between DRDO of India and NPOM of Russia.

The missile, having a range of 290-km and a Mach 2.8 speed, is capable of being launched from

land, sea, sub-sea and air against sea and land targets.

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 3

Think

Important for Prelims

Different variants of BrahMos?

BrahMos-II

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 4

In India, unemployment rate still high

Ten million Indians with graduate, post-graduate and technical degrees were looking for work.

Kerala had India’s highest graduate unemployment rate at over 30 per cent.

Among literates, unemployment rates were higher among the better qualified, highest of all

among the 7.2 million people with a technical diploma or certificate other than a degree.

Think

Reasons for Unemployment in India?

Different types of unemployment?

Terms associated with it. Do refer to Economic Survey 2015

"Among literates, unemployment rates were higher among the better qualified, highest of all

among the 7.2 million people with a technical diploma or certificate other than a degree."

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 5

TPP trade agreement text triggers fresh debate in U.S.

Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, has 30 chapters and numerous annexure and

related instruments.

TPP will cover 40 per cent of the global commerce, and will ease trade among the participant

countries — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru,

Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam.

Further Reading Article 1 & Article 2

Think

Significance of TPP for India

Can India afford not to be a member of TPP?

7 South Asian nations team up to tackle black money

Seven countries in the South-Asian region may come together to set up a regional intelligence

and coordination centre — to be called SARICC — to tackle the menace of money laundering

and illicit financial flows.

Besides India, the countries that are part of the initiative of setting up of the South Asian

Regional Intelligence and Coordination Centre (SARICC) are Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh,

Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

Think

What is Money Laundering?

Critically analyze, Steps taken to tackle the problems of Money laundering, Hawala and Black

money?

Laws for Control of Black money and Money laundering

Effect of Black Money on economy

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 6

State Power and Renewable Energy Ministers' Conference gets underway in Kochi.

Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana will wipe out losses of discoms by 2019.

Referring to India's announced renewable energy plan whereby the target for installed solar

power capacity has been set at 100 GW by 2022

Expresses hope that India would achieve renewable energy targets in four and a half years from

now

In its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) submitted to the UNFCCC last

month, India has pledged to improve emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35 per cent by 2030

below 2005 levels

Think

Emerging New and Renewable energy technologies

Intended Nationally Determined Contributions

Ballistic missile Agni-IV test-fired as part of user trial off Odisha coast

India on 9th November, 2015 test-fired its nuclear-capable strategic ballistic missile Agni-IV,

capable of hitting a target at a distance of 4,000 kms, from a test range off the Odisha coast.

The sleek missile was flight tested from the launch complex-4 of Integrated Test Range (ITR)

at Abdul Kalam Island, formerly known as Wheeler Island.

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 7

Think

Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha

Agni series of missiles

Nuclear deterrence and India's Nuclear Policy

Further Reading EVOLUTION OF INDIA'S NUCLEAR POLICY

HRD ministry launches several mobile apps, web-based platforms

e-pathshala, saaransh, and national programme on school standards and evaluation Framework

(Shala Siddhi)

E-pathshala, a web portal which hosts educational resources for students, teachers, parents,

researchers and educators, is available through especially developed mobile app interface on

Android, IOS and windows platforms for wider access and contains textbooks and other e-books

as e-Pub 3.0 and flipbooks in English, Hindi and Urdu.

Think

Significance of Digital India

Role of Technology in Education and Poverty Alleviation

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 8

Indra 2015: Russian Army contingent arrives for Indo-Russia joint exercise

The joint exercise between the two nations is one of the major bilateral defence cooperation

activities and is the seventh in the series which commenced in 2003.

Further Reading Article 1

Think

India-Russia relationship

Russia and India: A 21st Century Decline

Avia-Indra

WHO declares end to Ebola transmission in Sierra Leone

Nearly 18 months after Sierra Leone reported its first Ebola case, the World Health Organization

(WHO) on Nov 7 declared that the country has stopped transmission of the disease, with the

passage of two incubation periods with no positive tests.

Think

Important for prelims

Countries affected by Ebola (Epidemics)

Hosts, treatment and symptoms of Ebola

Learn about the virus and related viral diseases

Ebola Virus and its Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, Prevention and Managment

Ebola outbreak: A system that failed

Pakistan invites India for key Afghan conference

Pakistan has invited External Affairs Minister for a crucial regional conference here on

Afghanistan, a move that could provide an opportunity for the two neighbors to mend their

frosty ties.

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 9

The ‘Heart of Asia’ conference will be held on December 7 and 8, where representatives from

Azerbaijan, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey,

Turkmenistan and the UAE are expected to attend.

Think

India-Pakistan relationship for Mains

India-Afghanistan relationship for Mains

Role of China and Pakistan in India-Afghanistan relationship

Defence Minister Launches Army Cloud, Data Centre & Digi-Locker for the Indian Army

A highly encrypted cloud system of the Indian Army that will store personnel as well operational

data, was on Monday inaugurated by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in line with the force's

plan to be a "digital army".

The infrastructure and platforms being made available for automation and digitization will

catalyze the pace of digitization in all branches of the army and is a landmark towards

transforming Indian Army from a platform-centric to network-centric force, which would

leverage the technology as a force multiplier.

Think

Need for Digitization in all branches?

Important for Prelims:

"Meghraj"

National Cyber security policy, 2013

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 10

BIS elects Raghuram Rajan as its vice-chairman

Raghuram Rajan, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, who has been a vocal votary for

increased co-ordination among central banks, has been elected vice-chairman of the Bank of

International Settlement (BIS).

Mr. Rajan is the first Indian central bank Governor to become the vice-chairman of BIS.

BIS is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, and acts as a coordinating body among central banks

to ensure global monetary and financial stability.

Think

Significance and Role of Bank of International Settlement (BIS)

International Monetary Fund

Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS)

Govt eases FDI norms in 15 major sectors, including defence, civil aviation

The government opened up several key sectors including defence, construction, civil aviation

and media to foreign investment, eased norms for businesses such as single-brand retail and

private banking and allowed the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to clear proposals

up to Rs 5,000 crore from Rs 3,000 crore earlier.

Govt relaxes norms for FDI in defence sector

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 11

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 12

Think

Portfolio investment

FVCIs

Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB)

Advantages and Disadvantages of easing of FDI norms.

AIDS preventive medicine available from December in Sonagachi

One of Asia’s largest red light districts, Sonagachi will roll out an experimental project for

providing HIV-preventive medicine to sex workers from next month. It will be the first such

initiative in the country.

Under the project, ‘Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis’ (PrEP), regular medicine would be given to an HIV-

negative sex worker who engages sexually with an HIV-positive person.

Think

Need for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis

One should know that there is preventative medicine available for AIDS and if possible what is

the mode of action of that medicine.

IISc Bangalore makes Indian debut in top 100 world university ranking.

IISc made its entry at 99th spot in a list that remains dominated by US institutions with Stanford,

CalTech and MIT in the top three positions in the 'Times Higher Education (THE) Ranking for

Engineering & Technology'.

Asian universities occupied six positions in the Top 30 this year, with Japan, China, Korea,

Taiwan and India all improving their representation, while Singapore and Hong Kong maintained

theirs.

“Asia’s success mounts serious pressure on universities in North America and Europe, which will

have to run fast just to stand still in this table,” Baty said.

Further reading: Article 1

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 13

Think

Need for quality higher education in India for Mains

Read some statistics about Higher education in India (MHRD)

Constitutional Provisions for Education in India (MHRD)

NGT directs collection of ‘green tax’

In a bid to curb health hazards originating from bursting of firecrackers this Diwali, the Pune

Bench of the National Green Tribunal has directed civic bodies to levy Rs. 3,000 as ‘green tax’

from sellers.

The corpus collected from the tax will be used to clean solid waste generated from firecrackers

at public places

Think

Question for prelims can be asked from

Role of NGT, Members of NGT and its Jurisdiction.

"Green Tax"

Subir Gokarn appointed Executive Director at IMF

Former RBI Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn was today appointed as an Executive Director on the

board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Gokarn will represent India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan on the Washington-based IMF's

Executive Board, which is responsible for conducting the day-to-day business of the multilateral

institution.

Rated as one of the finest economists, Gokarn has in past served as Deputy Governor of the

Reserve Bank of India, Chief Economist of global rating agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) and

head of CRISIL's Research and Information business and also a nominee Board Member of the

State Bank of India.

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 14

Think

One should know the role and significance of Standard and Poor (S&P)

CRISIL

IMF and its role

Learn about the reports published by IMF

Green Climate Fund faces uncertainty

The US informed that it would not be able to provide the pledged $3 billion by December to the

Green Climate Fund.

The EU finance ministers concluded their meeting without committing to a clear road-map for

delivery of their fair share towards the annual $100 billion corpus target, which is to be

delivered by 2020.

The Green Climate Fund has been set up along the lines of a bank to use public funds from

developed countries to finance reduction of emissions and adaptation to climate change in

developing countries. It reports back to the collective of 196 countries that are party to the

climate convention, called the Conference of Parties.

Think

What is Green Climate Fund?

Green Climate Fund

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) aims ‘to make a significant and ambitious contribution to the

global efforts towards attaining the goals set by the international community to combat climate

change.’ It was formally established by a UNFCCC decision in Durban, South Africa in December

2011, although the groundwork was laid in the earlier, non-binding ‘Copenhagen Accord’ of

2009.

It is widely claimed that the objective of the GCF is to raise $100 billion per year in climate

financing by 2020. This is not an official figure, however, and disputes remain as to whether the

funding target will be based on public sources, or whether leveraged private finance will be

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 15

counted towards the total. Only a fraction of this sum has been pledged so far, mostly to cover

start-up costs.

The GCF is overseen by a 24-strong Board, composed of equal number of members from

developing and developed countries, and will be headquartered in Songdo (Incheon), South

Korea. The World Bank serves as the interim trustee, meaning that it is tasked with

administering any money currently raised.

Many of the rules according to which the GCF will operate remain to be discussed. To start with,

however, it will have ‘thematic funding windows’ for adaptation and mitigation, as well as a

separate ‘private sector facility’.

Indian Navy Receives Indigenous decoy System To Protect Subs, Ships

India has commissioned a Torpedo Defence System known as Mareech that can divert under-

water torpedo attacks on ships and submarines.

Highlights of Maareech

Maareech is a joint project of Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), Kochi and

NSTL, Visakhapatnam.

It is a state-of-the-art indigenous system for torpedo detection and countermeasures.

The system provides a complete solution to detect and locate the incoming torpedo and to

apply countermeasures to protect naval platform against torpedo attack.

The system is capable of detecting, confusing, diverting and decoying the incoming torpedoes.

Two production grade Maareech systems have been developed and user evaluation trials

Think:

Torpedo is a self-propelled weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the

water surface

The decoy system has been developed by Vishakapatnam-based Naval Science and

Technological Laboratory (NSTL). The Advanced Torpedo Defence System (ATDS)

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 16

Torpedoes are self-propelled weapon with a warhead and can be used under or on the water

surface. They are one of the mainstays of sea-warfare attack systems.

Kavach

Must Know terms like : Blue Water Navy, Green Water Navy and Brown Water Navy

Why India’s ‘Blue Water’ Ambitions Matter

Maritime boundary

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 17

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 18

Syed Akbaruddin is India’s next Permanent Representative to UN

Senior diplomat and former high-profile spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry Syed

Akbaruddin has been appointed as India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations,

succeeding Asoke Mukerji.

As India’s Permanent Representative to the global body in New York, Mr. Akbaruddin’s main

task would be to push for India’s bid to gain permanent membership of the UN Security Council

as well as to strongly advocate its position on key issues.

Mr. Akbaruddin was Chief Coordinator of the recently-held Indo-Africa Summit here which was

participated by heads of state and government of 41 countries from African continent.

He had served at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Geneva and is considered an

“expert” on the West Asia where he had served in various capacities.

Think

United Nations

IAEA

Centre to develop Nagaland’s Doyang lake for birdwatchers

The Centre will develop the Doyang lake in Nagaland, famous for the world's longest travelling

raptors — Amur falcons, as an eco-tourism spot.

Amur falcons come to Doyang every year in huge numbers. They come to roost here during their

flight from Mongolia to South Africa, making this scenic part of India's northeast a bird-

watchers' paradise.

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 19

Think

Amur Falcon

Amur Falcons tagged with tracking chips return to Doyang lake, Nagaland

Next generation missile to be test-fired

The Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR-SAM), which can intercept incoming targets at a range of 80

km, is all set to be test-fired from a naval warship this month.

LR-SAM, also known as Barak NG (next generation), is being co-developed by the Defence Research

and Development Organisation (DRDO) from India and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) of Israel. The

missile has been successfully test-fired against a flying target in Israel in November 2014.

The project, however, is running behind schedule. It was approved in 2005 with an initial funding of Rs.

2,606 crore and was to be inducted in 2011 but has been delayed due to technical difficulties.

The Navy intends to replace the Barak-Is and the Defence Ministry has in March given approval for the

co-development of a Short Range Surface-to-Air Missile (SR-SAM), Maitri, by the DRDO with MBDA of

France. Under this, nine SR-SAMs with 40 missiles each are to be initially developed.

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 20

Think

India-Israel relationship for Mains

India & Israel’s Barak-8 SAM Development Project(s)

Demystifying the Constitution for students

It’s been more than six and a half decades since the Constitution came into force, yet many students

may not be aware of the aspects of its making and evolution -- how many Articles and schedules the

Indian Constitution contains? How many members were there in the Constituent Assembly and how

many times has the Constitution been amended?

This November 26, students across the country will find answers to these questions and much more

on the Constitution as for the first time all schools in the country will be observing Constitution Day.

It was on November 26, 1949 that the Constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly

following which the Constitution came into force on January 26, 1950.

Think

Need for Demystifying the Constitution of India.

Questions can be asked on important persons related to The Making of The Indian Constitution.

General statistics of Indian constitution and its basic provisions.

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 21

G20 summit: terror, climate change to top Modi’s agenda

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to raise issues related to terrorism, climate change and global

cooperation to unearth black money, among others, during the two-day G-20 summit beginning on

Sunday, where talks would be dominated by attacks in Paris and war in Syria.

The Summit of leaders from 20 top economies of the world, being held at a time when the global

economic growth is slowing down, is expected to be attended by U.S. President Barack Obama,

Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela

Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping, among others.

As world leaders congregate in this Turkish resort town, Friday night’s ghastly terror attacks in Paris,

ongoing war in nearby Syria, the migrant crisis in the region and the need for strengthening the

crackdown against terrorism will take the centre stage.

The G20 countries account for 85 per cent of the world economy, 75 per cent of the global trade and

two—third of the world’s population.

Think

Significance of G20 and its priorities

Outcome of G20 summit 2015 at Antalya, Turkey

G5 forum

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 22

G8 forum

The sun shines on India's Aditya

After a seven year long wait, Aditya, India’s first dedicated scientific mission to study the sun is likely

to get a go-ahead from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) this week. The ambitious solar mission will

study the sun’s outer most layers, the corona and the chromosphere, collect data about coronal mass

ejection and more, which will also yield information for space weather prediction.

It now aims to put a heavy satellite into what is called a halo orbit around the L1 point between the

Sun and the Earth. This point is at a distance of about 1.5 million km from the earth. With the

excitement about the Mars Orbiter Mission yet to settle down, this could be the next most

complicated feat that ISRO has carried out till date.

In a three-body problem such as this – with the earth and sun engaged in an elliptical orbit and a

relatively very light, call it mass less in comparison, satellite being placed in between – there are five

so-called lagrangian points in space where the light, third body — in our case, the satellite — may be

placed so that it can maintain its position with respect to the two others. One of these is the L1 point,

which is about 1.5 million km from the earth.

A halo orbit would be a circular orbit around the L1 point. The satellite will have to use its own power

(spend energy) to remain in position within in this orbit without losing its way. Such orbits have not

been attempted too often.

The corona is the outermost layer of the Sun and the chromosphere is the second inner layer. Data

such as this can help us understand the corona and solar wind, which is a spewing of charged particles

into space, at speeds as high as 900 km/s and at about 1 million degrees Celsius temperature,

affecting the environment there.

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 23

Think

Pioneer, helious, Ulysses, Wind, Soho, ACE, and Stereo are some of the solar missions sent to

study sun by NASA.

Other projects related to Sun, like the NASA's SOHO

Facts about the Sun

Corona, Chromospheres, photosphere, and core are the layers of sun.

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 24

IEA released World Energy Outlook 2015

The report, in light of low energy prices, calls for no complacency on energy security front and

sees clear signs that the energy transition is underway, that is, from fossils to renewable.

The WEO-2015 presents updated projections for the evolution of the global energy system to

2040 as well as detailed insights on the prospects for fossil fuels, renewable, and the power

sector and energy efficiency.

It also presents an analysis on trends in CO2 emissions and fossil-fuel and renewable energy

subsidies.

India, which will move to the centre stage of global energy, is the subject of an in-depth focus in

WEO-2015.

The International Energy Association is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental

organization established in the framework of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and

Development (OECD) in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis.

Mars' moon Phobos is slowly falling apart

Why-due to gravity of mars

The long, shallow grooves lining the surface of Phobos are likely early signs of the structural

failure that will ultimately destroy this moon of Mars.

Scientists expect the moon to be pulled apart in 30 to 50 million years

Orbiting a mere 6,000 km above the surface of Mars, Phobos is closer to its planet than any

other moon in the solar system.

The same fate may await Neptune’s moon Triton, which is also slowly falling inward and has a

similarly fractured surface.

Think:

Mercury, Venus has no moon.

Mars has two natural satellites called Phobos and Deimos.

Jupiter has highest number of Moons, followed by Saturn

Titan is second largest moon in solar system. This belongs to Saturn.

Uranus has 27 moons, Neptune 14 ,Pluto 5,plutos largest moon is called charon

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 25

Philae: one year on comet 67P

It was a year since Philae made its historic landing on the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Rosetta arrived at the Comet 67P on August 6 and Philae was delivered to the surface on

November 12.

Philae is a comet, originally from the Kuiper belt, with a current orbital period of 6.45 years, a

rotation period of approximately 12.4 hours and a maximum velocity of 135,000 km/h

Rosetta 's Lander, Philae, touched down on its surface on 12 November 2014, becoming the first

spacecraft to land on a comet nucleus.

Think:

A comet is an icy small Solar System body.

Learn about various Comet Mission like ROSETTA

Asteroids are small rocky body orbiting the sun. Large numbers of these, ranging enormously in

size, are found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, though some have more eccentric orbits

Defence Minister commissioned India’s Coast Guard offshore patrol vessel ‘Samarth’

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on 10 November 2015 commissioned the India Coast Guard

Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV), ‘Samarth’ at Vasco in Goa. It is Coast Guard’s largest OPV.

The 105m OPV is fitted with most advance technology, navigation and communication

equipment, sensors and machinery. It has a maximum speed of 23 knots and has an endurance

of 6000 nautical miles at economical speed.

Samarth that will be based in Goa is also capable of carrying pollution response equipment to

contain any oil spill at sea. The vessel will also carry one twin-engine helicopter and five high-

speed boats.

Think:

Vishwast, Samar, Vikram are other offshore patrol vehicle that are currently under coast guard

fleet.

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 26

Waste fly ash can make concrete stronger:

The study by the civil engineering department of IIT-M showed that a proportion of by-products

like fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) added to the concrete mix can give

durability and life to reinforced structures including buildings and bridges.

Fly ash, also known as "pulverised fuel ash", is one of the residues generated by coal combustion,

and is composed of the fine particles that are driven out of the boiler with the flue gases.

Fly ash includes substantial amounts of silicon dioxide (SiO2)-both

amorphous and crystalline), aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and calcium oxide (CaO), the main mineral

compounds in coal-bearing rock strata.

Think:

Cement consists essentially of compounds of lime (calcium oxide, CaO) mixed with silica (silicon

dioxide, SiO2) and alumina (aluminum oxide, Al2O3).

Annual Hundred Drums Wangala Festival begins in Meghalaya

Annual Hundred Drums Wangala Festival has begun on a cultural fervor at Asanang near Tura

town in Meghalaya.

Significance of Wangala Festival: Wangala Festival is an annual post-harvest festival of the Garos

tribes of North east India.

Think:

Hornbill festival-Nagaland, Bihu-Assam, Chapchar Kut-Mizoram, Nongkrem Dance Festival-

Meghalaya are some of the other harvest festivals of northeast India.

Learn important tribal festival of India.

Northeast India’s first elephant hospital established at Kaziranga National Park

About Kaziranga National Park

It is located in the Golaghat and Nagaon districts of Assam and is circumscribed by the

Brahmaputra River.

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 27

It was designated with National Park status in 1968 and was declared UNESCO World Heritage

Site in 1985 for its unique natural environment.

The park hosts two-thirds of the world’s great one-horned rhinoceroses which are listed as

vulnerable on the IUCN Red list of Threatened Species.

It is also home to large breeding populations of tigers, elephants, wild water buffalo, and swamp

deer.

Kaziranga is also recognized as an Important Bird Area by Birdlife International for conservation

of avifaunal species.

Think

Project Elephant (PE) was launched by the Government of India in the year 1992 as a Centrally

Sponsored Scheme with following objectives :

To protect elephants, their habitat & corridors

To address issues of man-animal conflict

Welfare of captive elephants

India, Australia seal N-deal procedures

Following the conclusion of the agreement, India has become the first country to buy Uranium

from Australia without being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Australia has about a 40 percent of world’s recoverable uranium resource and annually exports

around 7,000 tonnes of it.

In India, nuclear energy contributes just 3% of its electricity generation and it has currently

signed nuclear energy agreements with 11 countries.

Presently, India imports uranium from France, Russia and Kazakhstan to supply fuel to its two

dozen small reactors at six sites with a total capacity of 4,780 MW which accounts for 2% of its

total power capacity.

Think:

India has one of the largest thorium deposits in the world. Identify the places in the map which

consists of nuclear deposits in India.

Pressurized heavy water reactor, Boiling water reactor, water-water energy reactor, Fast

breeder reactor are some of the types of N reactors used in India.

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 28

Philippines to host 2015 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit

Theme of 2015 APEC Summit: “Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World”.

Two key road maps will be endorsed in 2015 APEC Summit they are:

The Cebu Action Plan for financial integration: Aims to protect the APEC member countries from

financial crises.

Boracay Action Agenda: It is meant to help micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to

access the regional and global market.

APEC: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation APEC is regional economic forum comprising of 21

member countries.

It was established in 1989 in order to leverage the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific

region’s economies and promote free trade in the region.

Headquarter: Hong Kong.

21 Members are: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia,

New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Mexico,

Papua New Guinea, Chile, Peru, Russian and Vietnam. India is observer of APEC since 2011 and

has applied for membership.

Think:

AU, SAARC, ASEAN, AL, CARICOM, USAN, are some of the regional organizations.

Health Ministry inaugurates country’s first AMRIT outlet at AIIMS in New Delhi

Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has opened country’s first Affordable Medicines and

Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) outlet at AIIMS in New Delhi to sell drugs at highly

discounted rates.

Key facts

The pilot AMRIT outlet will provide drugs for cancer and cardiovascular diseases at highly

discounted rates. At this outlet the prices of 202 cancer and 186 cardio-vascular drugs will

reduced on an average by 60 to 90 per cent.

The pilot AMRIT outlet will be managed by the government-owned HLL Life care Ltd (HLL),

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 29

Provide drugs at affordable prices only on the prescription of a doctor for AIIMS patients and

also other hospitals

Think:

AMRUT(Atal mission for rejunevation and urban transformation is a programme that aims at

Providing basic services (e.g. water supply, sewerage, urban transport) to households and build

amenities in cities which will improve the quality of life for all, especially the poor and the

disadvantaged

HRIDAY (Heritage city development and augumentation yojana) aims to preserve and revitalise

soul of the heritage city to reflect the city’s unique character by encouraging aesthetically

appealing, accessible, informative & secured environment.

PM Narendra Modi inaugurates Basaveshwara statue in London

Basaveshwara (1105-1167 AD) was a great philosopher and social reformer who had fought

against social evils of his time, and worked for the strengthening of democracy at the grassroots.

Basaveshwara’s life and ideas are narrated in the sacred text Basava purana of the south Indian

Hindu Lingayat community. He was known for Bhakti movement in south India in 12th century

AD.

Think:

learn about social reformers in south India like Tukaram, Shankaracharya, Madvacharya,

Vallabacharya, Akka mahadevi,Nimbarka,Allama prabu,Namdeva,

The Bhakti movement of Hinduism saw two ways of imaging the nature of the divine (Brahman)

– Nirguna and Saguna.

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 30

PRASAD and Swadesh Darshan schemes of Ministry of Tourism

Features of PRASAD

Its objective is to augment religious and spiritual tourism in the country as India is a land of

many religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism and Sufism.

As part of mission strategy, religious destinations that have potential to be show-cased as world-

class tourism products are identified and infrastructure is developed on a priority basis.

In the initial phase, 12 cities, that are part of HRIDAY scheme, namely Amritsar, Ajmer,

Amaravati, Dwaraka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Kedarnath, Kamakhya, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi and

Vellankani have been identified for development.

Features of Swadesh Darshan

As part of the scheme, theme based tourism circuits are identified for infrastructure

development across the country.

Theme Based Tourist Circuit (TBTC) is defined as a tourist circuit around specific themes such as

religion, culture, ethnicity, niche, etc.

A TBTC could be confined to a state or could be a regional circuit covering more than a state or

union territory (UT).

H1N1: Battle gets bigger

What is H1N1?

The ‘H’ stands for hemagglutinin. And ‘N’ for neuraminidase- both proteins on the outer layer of

the virus.

What makes them dangerous?

It is a master mutator and is also famously licentious – infecting birds, pigs, humans and horses

at the same time.

Antigenic shift and antigenic drift.

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 31

The flu viruses changes from season to season, sometimes during the course of a single season.

The ‘drift’ is when small changes in the viruses’ genes occur over time and produce a ‘newer’

virus. Sometimes, the body cannot identify this new version and we get sick again

The ‘shift’’ is the more dangerous one- when there is an abrupt, significant change in the viruses,

resulting in new H & N proteins. This is what caused the 2009 pandemic.

IASbaba’s Prelims Capsule-2

iasbaba.com Page 32

For saving Asian vulture from fatal drugs

After successfully campaigning for the ban on multi-dose vials of painkiller drug diclofenac in

veterinary use, conservationists have stepped up pressure for withdrawing two more drugs,

which they say, are fatal for Asian vultures.

Besides other conservation programmes, steps for banning the veterinary use of Ketoprofen and

Aceclofenac have to be achieved.

The “three species of Gyps vultures endemic to South and Southeast Asia, oriental white-backed

vulture (Gyps bengalensis), long-billed vulture (G. indicus) and slender-billed vulture (G.

tenuirostris), are the worst affected and are threatened with global extinction

They are listed by IUCN as Critically Endangered,

It has been pointed out that the veterinary use of diclofenac was the major cause of the decline

of vulture population. When vultures which feed on carcass of animals treated with the drug,

“severe kidney damage and extensive visceral gout” were observed.

Think:

Learn what is Bio magnification and Bio remediation in an ecosystem