National Investment & Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs)

• Recently, information about (NIMZs) was given by the Minister of State of Commerce and Industry in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
• NIMZs are one of the important instruments of National Manufacturing Policy, 2011.
• NIMZs are envisaged as large areas of developed land with the requisite eco-system for promoting world-class manufacturing activity.
• So far, three NIMZs namely Prakasam (Andhra Pradesh), Sangareddy (Telangana) and Kalinganagar (Odisha) have been accorded final approval and 13 NIMZs have been accorded in-principle approval.
• Besides these, eight Investment Regions along the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project have also been declared as NIMZs.
• The main objective of Special Economic Zones is the promotion of exports, while NIMZs are based on the principle of industrial growth in partnership with States and focuses on manufacturing growth and employment generation.
• NIMZs are also different from SEZs in terms of size, level of infrastructure planning, governance structures related to regulatory procedures, and exit policies.

Economic capital framework

• Economic capital framework refers to the risk capital required by the central bank while taking into account different risks.
• The economic capital framework reflects the capital that an institution requires or needs to hold as a counter against unforeseen risks or events or losses in the future.

‘Dwijing Festival’

• 3rd ‘Dwijing Festival’ celebrations commenced in the on the banks of the Aie river in Chirang district of Assam.
• It will be organized by Assam Tourism and Bodoland Tourism.
• The festival started as Aie River Festival in 2016-17 to promote river tourism in the rural areas under the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC).
• It started under the name of ‘AIE RIVER WINTER FESTIVAL’.
• The association of the Hagrama Bridge, the longest rural river bridge of the state, with the festival increased its popularity.

Automated Train Examination System

• Central Railways introduces ‘ATES’ technology to eliminate manual examination of trains.
• The mechanical branch of Central Railways’ Nagpur division has introduced a new state-of-the-art technology called Automated Train Examination System (ATES) for the enhancement of train safety.
• ATES will checks every train passing through the track on which it is installed and immediately warns about hot axle and brake binding cases.
• In the first phase, this system has been installed in Ajni where total two units have been installed one covering all down direction trains coming from Chennai and Mumbai to Nagpur and the other covering up direction freight trains.
• The sensors record the temperature of the axle box bearings of the train and the wheel. As soon as the temperature exceeds its threshold limit, alert messages are generated by the system indicating the excessive temperature of bearings and/or brake binding.
• After the alert message is received, the Railway engineers examine the train in the yard and attend the fault, thus avoiding potential danger.

International Rice Research Institute

• The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is an international agricultural research and training organization.
• It is headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna in the Philippines.
• IRRI is well known for its contribution to the “Green Revolution” movement in Asia during the late 1960s and 1970s, which involved the breeding of “semi dwarf” varieties of rice that were less likely to lodge (fall over).
• IRRI’s semi-dwarf varieties, including the famous IR8, saved India from famine in the 1960s.
• It is also the largest non-profit agricultural research center in Asia.

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
  • 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.
• The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty governing the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology from one country to another.
• The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) to the Convention on Biological Diversity is a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
• It provides a transparent legal framework for the effective implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD.

Great Indian Bustard

• The great Indian bustard (or simply Indian bustard), a large, white-and-brown bird with wing markings, is native to India and Pakistan.
• India effectively the only home of the bustards, now harbours less than 150 individuals in five States.
• It is listed in Schedule I of India’s Wildlife Protection Act.
• It has almost lost its 90% of its original habitat.
• Hunting was one of the first factors that caused the decline of its population.
• Recently, several threats are including power lines are decimating its populations.
• The arid grassland that bustards thrive in are being made productive by increasing water availability and expansion of agricultural lands.
• More recently, their grassland homes are now sites of renewable power projects (wind turbines).
• Poor frontal vision and heavy bodies of bustards cannot manoeuvre away from cables in time.

National Supercomputing Mission

• India has recently granted contract to French technology firm to build 70 supercomputers under the National Supercomputing Mission.
• The mission aims to connect national academic and R&D institutions with a supercomputing grid of over 70 high-performance computing facilities.
• Supercomputers will be installed across the country and will be networked on the National Supercomputing grid over the National Knowledge Network (NKN).
• It will be implemented by the Department of Science and Technology and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) through Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and IISc, Bangalore.
• The Mission also includes development of highly professional High Performance Computing (HPC) aware human resource for meeting challenges of development of these applications.
• The NKN is another programme of the government which connects academic institutions and R&D labs over a high speed network.

Farout

• Astronomers have reported the discovery of the most distant body ever observed in the Solar System, at 120 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun.
• This has led to the nickname “Farout” for the object, provisionally titled 2018 VG18.
• Farout is also the first known Solar System object that has been detected at a distance that is more than 100 times farther than Earth is from the Sun.
• For context, the second-most distant observed Solar System object is Eris, at about 96 AU. Pluto is currently at about 34 AU.
• 1 AU is defined as the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

Pralay

• It is a newly developed surface-to-surface tactical missile.
• The trial of the missile was recently deferred by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) due to the cyclone Phethai.
• It is a derivative of Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV) exo-atmospheric interceptor which can destroy enemy weapons at high altitudes.
• It has a payload of 1 tonne and it has the capacity to strike targets 350 km away.
• It can travel up to 500 km if the payload is halved.
• It is propelled by solid-fuel rocket.
• It can fly faster than the conventional missiles in its class and can evade ballistic missile defence system.
• It will be launched from its own canister-based transport erector launcher.

Paika Rebellion

• Prime Minister has recently released the commemorative stamp and coin on Paika Rebellion.
• The setting up of a Chair on the Paika Rebellion, in Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, was also announced.
• It was an armed rebellion against the British East India Company’s rule in Odisha in 1817.
• The Paiks were the traditional landed militia of Khurda, Odisha.
• Rulers of Khurda were traditionally the custodians of Jagannath Temple and ruled as the deputy of Lord Jagannath on earth.
• The British, having established their sway over Bengal Province occupied the Khurda’s land in 1803 and took over the hereditary rent-free lands granted to Paikas.
• The Paikas rose in armed rebellion in 1817 under the leadership of Baxi Jagabandhu.
• The tribals of Ghumusar and other sections of the population actively took part in it.
• Many scholars, researchers and historians have opined that the Paika Rebellion was India’s first organized armed rebellion against British Raj.