(Update: March 06, 2019) This is a 'follow-up update' to the previously written article on GSP. This will keep our readers updated with recent events and at the same time provide them with an opportunity for revision.  U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that he intends to end preferential trade terms for India under the … Continue reading GENERALISED SYSTEM OF PREFERENCES

NASA’s Opportunity rover recently completed 15 years on the surface of Mars. The Chin people are one of the major ethnic nationalities in Burma. There are an estimated 100,000 Chins in Mizoram, which is 20% of the total Chin population in Myanmar. Manipur too has an unspecified number of Chins, who are ethnically related to the … Continue reading Prelims Primer

Almost 16,000 desalination plants worldwide produce bigger-than-expected flows of highly salty waste water and toxic chemicals that are damaging the environment, a U.N.-backed study said. Desalination plants pump out 142 million cubic meters (5 billion cubic feet) of salty brine every day, 50 percent more than previous estimates, to produce 95 million cubic meters of … Continue reading Desalination – Challenges

Outbreak of Kyasanur Forest Disease, or Monkey Fever, in Karnataka - The virus causing the disease belongs to the Flaviviridae family, whose other members are responsible for causing Yellow Fever, Zika and Dengue. Multiple species of ticks of the genus Haemaphysalis are the principal vectors. The Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest civilian honour, was recently … Continue reading Prelims Primer

1 Relationship between employment and housing: Based on an interview of Mr. Srinivas Acharya, managing director of Sundaram BNP Paribas Home Finance. Growth in stable employment opportunities and addressing local infrastructure concerns are key for housing demand to go up in established cities. The affordable and above affordable sector of housing do see a definite … Continue reading Urban Housing

Keibul Lamjao National Park, Manipur is the natural habitat of the endangered brow-Antlered deer. As per the first-ever ‘Total Cleanliness Survey’ of the Railways the winners are North Western Railway (NWR), which topped the zonal rankings in the ‘Premium’ category trains, and Southern Railway, which came out on top in the ‘Other than Premium’ category’ … Continue reading Prelims Primer

Advantages of ''proton therapy' over conventional cancer treatment methods: The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has issued licence to Apollo Hospitals in Chennai to operate the proton therapy facility for treating cancer patients. The proton therapy facility, Proteus 235, is the first of its kind in India and South-East Asia. The license is issued by … Continue reading Proton Therapy

A ready supply of safe blood in sufficient quantities is a vital component of modern health care. In 2015-16, India was 1.1 million units short of its blood requirements. Here too, there were considerable regional disparities, with 81 districts in the country not having a blood bank at all. On the other hand, it must … Continue reading Blood Banks in India.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to allow card payment providers to offer tokenisation services will ensure the safety of digital transactions and reduce chances of fraud. Tokenisation involves a process in which a unique token masks sensitive card details like card and CVV number. The token is used to perform card transactions in … Continue reading Tokenisation.