VISION

1)  India launches BHIM-UPI services in Bhutan

•Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has launched BHIM-UPI QR-based payments in Bhutan will further strengthen the cooperation between the two neighbouring nations. With the launch in Bhutan, the payment infrastructures of the two countries are seamlessly connected and will benefit tourists and businessmen from India who travel to Bhutan. This will enhance the ease of living and travelling through cashless transactions.

•The services have started in Bhutan under India’s “Neighbourhood First” policy. She described BHIM UPI as one of the brightest in facilitating digital transactions in India during the pandemic.

2)  India’s first national dolphin research centre to come up in Patna

•India’s and Asia’s first National Dolphin Research Centre (NDRC) will come upon the bank of the Ganges in the premises of Patna University. Around 1,455 dolphins have been sighted during a survey conducted in 2018-19 in the river Ganga by the teams of experts. The Gangetic dolphin is India’s national aquatic animal but frequently falls prey to illegal poaching. The presence of dolphins in the Ganga gives a sign of a healthy ecosystem because dolphins live at least in 5 ft to 8 ft deep water.

3)  Indian Navy receives 10th Anti-Submarine Warfare Aircraft ‘P-8I’

•Indian Navy received the 10th anti-submarine warfare aircraft P-8I from the US-based aerospace company Boeing. The Defence Ministry had signed a contract for eight P-8I aircraft in 2009. However, later in 2016, it signed a contract for four additional P-8I aircraft. The remaining two aircrafts are expected to be delivered in the last quarter of 2021.

4)  Nepal Inks USD 1.3 billion mega-deal with India to develop Hydropower project

•Nepal has signed a USD 1.3 billion deal with India, to develop a 679-megawatt Lower Arun Hydropower project, located between Sankhuwasabha and Bhojpur districts in eastern Nepal. As per the deal, India’s state-owned Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN), will develop the 679-megawatt hydropower project in the neighbouring Himalayan nation.

5)  Sher Bahadur Deuba becomes Nepal’s Prime Minister for 5th time

•Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba on 13th July became the country’s Prime Minister for the fifth time. His appointment is in line with the ruling issued by the Supreme Court on 12th July to make way for his claim to the premiership, replacing incumbent K P Sharma Oli.

•Previously, Deuba served as Nepal’s Prime Minister four times from June 2017 to February 2018, June 2004 to February 2005, July 2001 to October 2002 and September 1995 to March 1997.

6)  EAM Jaishankar unveils statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Georgia

•External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has unveiled a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Georgia at a prominent Tbilisi park. During his two-day visit to Georgia, a strategically important country situated at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, Jaishankar held talks with the country’s top leadership & also handed over the relics of 17th century St. Queen Keteva.

•St. Queen Ketevan was a 17th century Georgian Queen who attained martyrdom. Her relics were found in 2005 at the St. Augustine Convent in Old Goa, India, on the basis of medieval Portuguese records.

7)  Amit Shah inaugurates centre of excellence at National Forensic Science University

•Home Minister Amit Shah has inaugurated a research-based centre of excellence at National Forensic Science University in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The research-based centre of excellence at the National Forensic Science University in Gandhinagar will help our youths to become free from the addiction of drugs and narcotics.

•This centre will help in research and analysis of drugs and narcotics seized in the different parts of the country and its routes. Home Minister Amit Shah also inaugurated the virtual training model on Investigation of Crime against women for Indian Police.

8)  ISRO plans to launch geo imaging satellite on August

•The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is getting back into launch activity fully at Sriharikota spaceport with the planned orbiting of geo imaging satellite GISAT-1 onboard GSLV-F10 rocket on August 12. GISAT-1 will be placed in a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit by GSLV-F10 and, subsequently, it will be positioned in the final geostationary orbit, about 36,000 km above earth’s equator, using its onboard propulsion system.

9)  A book titled “The Great Big Lion” written by child prodigy Knight

•A book titled “The Great Big Lion” drawn and written by child prodigy Chryseis Knight.  This book is a story about a lion and two children. It talks about friendship, inclusivity, wildlife conservation and the world of imagination. The book was published by Penguin Random House India’s “Puffin” imprint.

•Knight, who is currently residing in Canada, learnt how to read at the age of one, started writing the story of “The Great Big Lion” in her notebook when she was three years old. She then shared it with her family and became determined to do the artwork with the motivation of getting the book published.

10)  Deepak Kabra becomes first Indian gymnastics judge at Olympics

•Deepak Kabra has become the first Indian to be selected for judging the gymnastics competition of the Olympic Games, a life goal achieved for the man who knew he wouldn’t have made it there as an active gymnast because of his not-so-strong fundamentals. He will be seen officiating the men’s artistic gymnasts at the Tokyo Games, which gets underway on July 23.

11)  India to host 2026 World Badminton Championships

•The Badminton World Federation has allotted the BWF World Championships to India for 2026. This will be the second time that India will host the premier tournament, which is held every year except for the Olympic year. India had hosted the BWF World Championships in Hyderabad in 2009.

•Since then, India has played host to various major badminton tournaments including the 2014 Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, the Asian Championships apart from the annual BWF Super 500 event, the Yonex-Sunrise India Open.

SSC CGL Polity Notes – What is Emergency?

The Indian Constitution has defined Emergency as “the circumstances which may arise suddenly such that it calls for immediate action by the public authorities under the powers which are specially granted to them”. This means the Government Authorities (Central Government) and institutions get special powers to handle a particular situation.

Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar had noted that In case of an Emergency India could acquire the characteristics of a completely unitary system of Government. The Federal principles of Indian Consitution would be overshadowed by the Unitary Features to handle the Emergency Situations.

SSC CGL Polity Notes – Types of Emergency

SSC Notes Economics – Theory of Demand and Supply

Demand and Supply is the most fundamental concept of economics and the backbone of the market economy.

Demand – Demand is an economic term that refers to the quantity of products or services that consumers wish to purchase at any given price level. 

Supply – Supply is an economic term that refers to the total quantity of products whether goods or services available for purchase at any specified price.

Demand Relationship – The relationship between price and quantity demanded is known as the demand relationship. 

Supply Relationship – The correlation between price and how much of a good or service is supplied to the market is known as the supply relationship. Price, therefore, reflects supply and demand.

The relationship between supply and demand underlies the forces behind the resources allocation. In market economy theories, demand and supply theory will allocate resources in the most efficient way possible.

The Law of Demand

📰 India to display relics of St. Ketevan

 Insights IAS Editorial June 2021 PDF

 Insight IAS Prelims 2021 Textbook Test 25 with Solution PDF

1)  UP population draft bill proposes two-child policy

•Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has launched a population policy that aims to incentivise couples who do not have more than two babies. Stating that population control is related to awareness among masses and poverty, Adityanath said every community has been taken care of in Population Policy 2021-2030. The health minister Jai Pratap Singh said Uttar Pradesh is aiming for stability by 2050 and the government is trying to reduce the population growth rate to 2.1 per cent.

2)  Assam to create new department for indigenous faith and culture

•The Assam Cabinet has announced the creation of an independent department to protect and preserve the “faith, culture and traditions of tribes and indigenous communities” of the state. The new department would ensure that the state’s indigenous population gets to preserve their faith and traditions, while also providing requisite support to them.

•Indigenous tribes such as the Bodos, Rabhas, Mishings, along with others have their own religious beliefs and unique traditions, which so far have not received the support necessary for their preservation. The cabinet, during the meeting, agreed that financial and administrative reforms were necessary to ensure speedy implementation of various schemes floated by the government. It decided that departmental committees, headed by commissioners, will be entitled to give its nod for projects worth ₹ 2 crores and below.

3)  Rail Cargo movement between India and Nepal gets a big boost

•India and Nepal have signed a Letter of Exchange(LoE) to revise the 2004 India-Nepal Rail Services Agreement (RSA). The revised agreement allows all authorized cargo train operators to utilize the Indian railway network to carry Nepal’s container and other freight – both bilateral between Indian and Nepal or third countries from Indian ports to Nepal.

•The authorized cargo train operators include public and private container trains Operators, automobile freight train operators, special freight train operators, or any other operator authorized by Indian Railways.

4)  In a first, Himalayan yaks to be insured

•National Research Centre on Yak (NRCY) in West Kameng district, Arunachal Pradesh has tied up with the National Insurance Company Ltd. for insuring Himalayan Yak. The insurance policy would shield the yak owners against the risks posed by weather calamities, diseases, in-transit mishaps, surgical operations and strikes or riots. The owners of the Yaks would have to get their yaks ear-tagged and provide a proper description in order to get their animals insured.

5)  SAMVEDAN 2021: IIT Madras and Sony India team up to host

•IIT Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation (IITM-PTF) and Sony India Software Centre Pvt Ltd have joined hands to organise a national-level hackathon named ‘SAMVEDAN 2021 – Sensing Solutions for Bharat’. With this hackathon, the foundation aims to inspire citizens to use IoT Sensor Board in order to solve India-specific problems of societal interest.

•It is based on the Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation’s SPRESENSE™ Board, which participants can use for this challenge. A team with a maximum of three members can register for the grand challenge, which will be held in three stages.

6)  A book titled “The Art of Conjuring Alternate Realities”

•A new book titled ‘The Art of Conjuring Alternate Realities: How Information Warfare Shapes Your World’, authored by Shivam Shankar Singh and Anand Venkatanarayanan. The Book is Published by HarperCollins.

•The Book deals with human history, societal control was determined by various hierarchies like military, colonialism, mega-corporations and now by information. This book widely talks about how information warfare is shaping your life and world. Parallelly it deals with the operations of political parties, cybercriminals, godmen, national states in manipulating the thoughts.

7)  The Struggle Within: A Memoir of the Emergency authored by Ashok Chakravarti

•A book titled “The Struggle Within: A Memoir of the Emergency” authored by Ashok Chakravarti. He is an economist who has been providing policy advice to countries, mainly in the African region, for the past forty years. He is currently Senior Economic Advisor to the Government of Zimbabwe, based in Harare.

•The Book is Published By Harpercollins India. The Struggle Within: A Memoir of the Emergency book deals with one of independent India’s darkest hours during the emergency period. The Emergency (1975-1977) was one of independent India’s darkest hours. In that period, Over 150,000 people were imprisoned without trial; as many as eleven million forcibly sterilized, and countless killed in police firings or otherwise eliminated.

8)  Euro 2020 Final: Italy beat England on penalties

•The European Championship final pits England and Italy against each other. Italy won 3-2 on penalties. Italy, one of the most decorated teams in the world, have ended a few years of trophy drought. England, on the other hand, we’re in uncharted territory. They haven’t even reached a final since 1966. Italy has already reached the final twice in recent years — in 2000 and 2012 — whereas England hasn’t got close until now. Italy’s Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma named player of UEFA EURO 2020

9)  Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo wins Golden Boot in EURO 2020

•Portugal captain and modern-day great Cristiano Ronaldo won the Euro 2020 Golden Boot after finishing as the top-scorer in the tournament. Despite playing just four games, Ronaldo clinched the top honours as he scored five goals. Czech Republic’s Patrik Schick also ended the tournament with five goals but the award went to Ronaldo via the tie-breaker of assists.

10)  2022 Khelo India Youth Games to be held in Haryana

•The state government of Haryana will organise the Khelo India Youth Games 2021 in February 2022. Earlier the sports show was scheduled to be held from November 21 to December 5, 2021, but has been shifted due to the possible third wave of Covid-19 pandemic and keeping in mind that Khelo India Youth Games 2021 are to be held in the Under-18 category.

•Around 8,500 players will participate in the event of which 5,072 will be athletes, including 2,400 females and 2,672 males.