Guru Padbmasambhava

• Odisha Chief Minister unveiled a 19-foot-high statue of Guru Padmasambhava at Gajapati district recently
• He is the founder of Tibetan Buddhism.
• He is also known as second Buddha
• Historians claim that Guru Padmasambhava was born and brought up in Odisha before he left for Tibet.
• In Tibetan, Guru Padmasambhava is generally referred to as Guru Rinpoche, which means “precious master.”

Ratoon Cropping

• Ratoon cropping is a form of cultivation in which a second crop is allowed to grow from the remains of one already harvested.
• It is also called stubble cropping as the new plants grow from the stubble of the harvested crop.
• Sugarcane, pineapple and banana are crops in which this method is practiced.
• Ratooning cannot be used endlessly as the yield and quality decrease after each cycle.
• In sugarcane, for example, two or three ratooning crops are possible, after which fresh planting has to be done.

Convention on Biological Diversity

• The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty.
• The Convention has three main goals including: the conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity); the sustainable use of its components; and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.
• Its objective is to develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.
• The Convention was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 5 June 1992 and entered into force on 29 December 1993.
• CBD has two supplementary agreements – Cartagena Protocol and Nagoya Protocol.

Registration of Marriage of Non-Resident Indian Bill, 2019

1. According to the new Bill, a marriage between an NRI and an Indian citizen will have to be registered within 30 days from the date of marriage.
2. Necessary legal provisions have been created in the criminal code and the Passports Act, 1967, to initiate action against erring NRI spouses.
3. If an NRI man fails to register his marriage within 30 days of date of marriage, his passport can be impounded or revoked.
4. Also, it allows courts to attach properties, movable and immovable, of “proclaimed offenders” or people who fail to appear before courts despite warrants being issued against them.
5. The bill empowers passport authorities to impound or revoke passport or travel documents of NRIs who fail to register their marriage within 30 days of getting married.
6. The proposed law will be applicable to NRIs marrying Indian women within or even outside India, the bill states.

HELINA Missile

• India recently test-fired its helicopter-launched version of NAG anti-tank guided missile, HELINA.
• It is indigenously designed and built by DRDO.
• Helina has a hit range of 7-8 km can be launched from army chopper.
• It is guided by an infrared imaging seeker (IIR) operating in the lock-on before-launch mode and helps in further strengthening the defense capabilities of the country.

Golden Langur

• The golden langur is found only in western Assam and along the adjoining Indo-Bhutan border.
• The coat of the adult golden langur ranges from cream to golden, on its flanks and chest the hairs are darker and often rust colored.
• It is one of the most endangered primate species of India
• The ‘Golden Langur Habitat Conservation’ has been taken up in Manas National Park in Assam.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

• The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) said that its 29 members cleared the way for Macedonia to become the alliance’s 30th member, following its historic name change.
• Macedonia has been at odds with Greece since 1991 when the former broke away from Yugoslavia.
• For the Greeks, the name Macedonia has a powerful historical significance.
• It is the name of a region within Greece, and this name harks back to the ancient kingdom once ruled by Alexander the Great.
• The Greeks consider this period to be one of the highest points in their history, and have accused the neighbouring country of “cultural theft” in their choice of name.
• Macedonian PM agreed getting the country into the EU and NATO.
• Consequently it reached an agreement with Greece when Greece promised to drop its objections against their entry into the EU and the NATO.

KISAN Project

1. The Department has launched KISAN [C(K)rop Insurance using Space technology And geoiNformatcs] project during October 2015.
2. The project envisaged use of high-resolution remote sensing data for optimum crop cutting experiment planning and improving yield estimation.
3. Under this  project, pilot studies were conducted in 4 districts of 4 States viz. Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
4. The study provided many useful inputs [for smart sampling, yield estimation, optimum number of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) etc.
5. These were used to define Standard Operating Procedures  for use of satellite data in the revised guidelines of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY).

National Productivity Council

1. National Productivity Council (NPC) is an autonomous registered society under DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
2. It is national level organization to promote productivity culture in India.
3. Established by the Ministry of Industry, Government of India in 1958, it is an autonomous, multipartite, non-profit organization with equal representation from employers’ & workers’ organizations and Government.
4. NPC is a constituent of the Tokyo-based Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an Inter Governmental Body, of which the Government of India is a founder member.

Gross Domestic Knowledge Product (GDKP)

• The Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation in collaboration with Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) held a one-day workshop on the emerging concept  Gross Domestic Knowledge Product (GDKP).
• GDKP provides a fundamental measure of growth by including a wide range of factors that involve the creation and accumulation of knowledge.
• GDKP creates a comparable measure of the production of individual wealth based on knowledge.
• GDKP creates a optimal capital investment measure for private companies in knowledge rather then in other forms of capital investments.
• GDKP is based on four basic pillars

1. Knowledge items (Ki)
2. Country’s Knowledge Producing Matrix (CKPM)
3. Country’s Knowledge User Matrix (CKUM)
4. Cost of Individual Learning, compared to the Cost of Living

Kattaikuthu

• It is a Tamil-language based, physical and vocal form of rural, open-air ensemble theatre.
• It is widespread in the northern and central parts of the state of Tamil Nadu in South India.
• Kattaikkuttu uses different kinds of song, music, articulated prose, acting, movement, make-up and elaborate costumes.
• It produces all-night narrative events most of which are based on the pan-Indian epic, the Mahabharata.
• The performers – by tradition only men – sing, act and dance and the musicians accompany them on the harmonium, the mridangam and the mukavinai.
• It uses a wide range of media that require multiple skills, including a strong voice, versatile acting and movement skills and a talent for spontaneous comedy.

Kelp forest

• Kelp Forests are underwater ecosystems formed in shallow water by the dense growth of several different species known as kelps.
• Kelps are actually extremely large brown algae, although they look like plants.
• They thrive in cold, nutrient-rich waters.
• Kelp attaches to the seafloor and eventually grows to the water’s surface and relies on sunlight to generate food and energy.
• Kelps live further from the tropics than coral reefs, mangrove forests, and warm-water seagrass beds, so kelp forests do not overlap with those systems.

Adjournment, Adjournment Sine Die, Prorogation, Dissolution

• Adjournment: An adjournment suspends the work in a sitting for a specified time, which may be hours, days or weeks. In this case, the time of reassembly is specified. An adjournment only terminates a sitting and not a session of the House. The power of adjournment lies with the presiding officer of the House.
• Adjournment Sine Die: Adjournment sine die means terminating a sitting of Parliament for an indefinite period. In other words, when the House is adjourned without naming a day for reassembly, it is called adjournment sine die. The power of adjournment sine die lies with the presiding officer of the House.
• Prorogation: Prorogation means the termination of a session of the House by an order made by the President under article 85(2)(a) of the Constitution. Prorogation terminates both the sitting and session of the House. Usually, within a few days after the House is adjourned sine die by the presiding officer, the President issues a notification for the prorogation of the session. However, the President can also prorogue the House while in session.
• Dissolution: A dissolution ends the very life of the existing House, and a new House is constituted after general elections are held.  Rajya Sabha, being a permanent House, is not subject to dissolution. Only the Lok Sabha is subject to dissolution.

National Board for Wildlife (NBWL)

• The NBWL is a “Statutory Organization” constituted under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
• Theoretically, the board is “advisory” in nature and advises the Central Government on framing policies and measures for conservation of wildlife in the country.
• However, it is a very important body because it serves as apex body to review all wildlife-related matters and approve projects in and around national parks and sanctuaries.
• Primary function of the Board is to promote the conservation and development of wildlife and forests.
• It has power to review all wildlife-related matters and approve projects in and around national parks and sanctuaries.
• No alternation of boundaries in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries can be done without approval of the NBWL.
• The NBWL, formally headed by the Prime Minister, adjudicates on industrial projects, road diversions or the like that could encroach into Protected Areas or eco-sensitive zones of forests.
• The environment ministry has delegated all powers of the NBWL to a compliant Standing Committee which regularly meets and clears projects in Protected Areas with due diligence.
• A smaller Standing Committee of the NBWL is charged with deliberating on the merits of projects that come to it for scrutiny.
• The committee comprises scientists and government officials and is chaired by Union Environment Minister.

Forest Produce

1. The essential condition to be qualified as a forest produce is that the products should be either found in or be brought from forest.
2. Section 2(4) of the Indian Forest Act 1927 defines only “forest-produce” and this term connotes to those products whether found in, or brought from a forest such as

• timber, charcoal, caoutchouc, catechu, wood-oil, resin, natural varnish, bark, lac, mahua flowers, mahua seeds, kuth and myrabolams,
• trees and leaves, flowers and fruits, and all other parts or produce of trees,
• plants not being trees (including grass, creepers, reeds and moss), and all parts or produce of such plants,
• wild animals and skins, tusks, horns, bones, silk, cocoons, honey and wax, and all other parts or produce of animals, and
• peat, surface soil, rock and minerals (including lime-stone, laterite, mineral oils), and all products of mines or quarries;

Minor Forest Produce

• Minor Forest Produce (MFP) is a subset of forest produce and got a definition only in 2007 when the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, was enacted.
• Section 2(i) of the said Act defines a Minor Forest Produce (MFP) as all non-timber forest produce of plant origin and includes bamboo, brushwood, stumps, canes, Tusser, cocoon, honey, waxes, Lac, tendu/kendu leaves, medicinal plants and herbs, roots, tuber and the like.
• Thus, the definition of “minor forest produce” included bamboo and cane, thereby changing the categorization of bamboo and cane as “trees” under the Indian Forest Act 1927.
• Now, Bamboo is taxonomically a grass now ceases to be a tree as per the ordinance promulgated by the President in 2017.

Kawal Tiger Reserve

• Kawal tiger reserve is situated in Northern part of the Telegana state.
• The wildlife sanctuary in Kawal is the catchment area of river Godavari and Kadam.
• The indiactor species of the sanctuary are Tiger and Nilgai.
• The reserve forms the southern end of the central Indian Tiger Reserve Landscpe.
• It is also linked to the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharastra to it north and Indrvathi Tiger reerve to its east
• The forest area found here is the southern tropical mixed dry deciduous forest and dry teak forest.

e-AUSHADHI Portal

• Ministry of AYUSH has launched the e-AUSHADHI portal, for online licensing of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy drugs.
• The portal is intended for increased transparency, improved information management facility, improved data usability and increased accountability. T
• In this direction, this new e-portal is an acronym for Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy Automated Drug Help Initiative. He further added that
• This portal will aid the licensing authority, manufactures and consumers.
• It will also provide real time information of the licensed manufactures and their products, cancelled and spurious drugs, contact details of the concerned authority for specific grievances.