Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005

• It is an act to provide for more effective protection of the rights of Women guaranteed under the Constitution who are victims of violence of any kind occurring within the family and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
• Domestic Violence Act 2005 is the first significant attempt in India to recognise domestic abuse as a punishable offence, to extend its provisions to those in live-in relationships, and to provide for emergency relief for the victims, in addition to legal recourse. It extends to the whole of India except the State Jammu & Kashmir.
• It aims to protect women from physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and economic abuse at home.

Global Multidimensional Poverty Index

• MPI was developed in 2010 by the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the United Nations Development Programme.
• It replaced the previous Human Poverty Index.
• The global MPI is released annually by OPHI and the results published on its website.
• The index uses the same three dimensions as the Human Development Index: health, education, and standard of living.

International Fund for Agricultural Development 

• It is an international financial institution and a specialised agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries.
• It was established as an international financial institution in 1977 as one of the major outcomes of the 1974 World Food Conference.
• Its headquarters is in Rome, Italy, and is a member of the United Nations Development Group.
• Through loans and grants, IFAD works with governments to develop and finance programmes and projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves.
• Membership in IFAD is open to all member states of the United Nations or its specialised agencies or the International Atomic Energy Agency.
• The Governing Council is IFAD’s highest decision-making authority, with the Member States each represented by a governor and alternate governor.
• The report ‘RemitSCOPE’ is released by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System

• It’s a GPS-like regional satellite-based navigation system being developed by India. But unlike the US-operated Global Positioning System (GPS), or the Russian GLONASS, the EU’s Galileo or China’s Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), which have global coverage, IRNSS will focus on the region— up to 1,500 km beyond India’s boundaries, between longitude 40° E and 140° E, and latitude ± 40°. 
• IRNSS is planned as a constellation of seven satellites.
• Three will be placed in geostationary orbit located at 34° E, 83° E and 131.5° E; the other four in geosynchronous orbit at an inclination angle of 29°, two each with the equator crossing at 55° E and 111° E.
• The three geostationary satellites will appear fixed in the sky, while the four geosynchronous satellites will appear to move in the figure of ‘8’ when observed from the ground. IRNSS 1D, is the fourth in the series.
• Work to augment the IRNSS system with four additional satellites will begin after the system becomes operational. That will bring the IRNSS to 11 satellites — still be small compared to the Chinese BDS, which will consist of 35. 

Applications of IRNSS

• Terrestrial
• Aerial and marine navigation
• Disaster management
• Vehicle tracking and fleet management
• Integration with mobile phones, mapping and geodetic data capture.

• Also, terrestrial navigation aid for hikers; visual and voice navigation for drivers. But the crucial use will be for Indian armed forces, who can rely on assured positional data during hostilities. Most modern weapon systems like guided missiles and bombs use navigation systems for targeting. An indigenous system like the IRNSS will ensure reliable development and execution of such capabilities. 

Monopropellant

• It is a chemical propulsion fuel which does not require a separate oxidizer.
• It is used extensively in satellite thrusters for orbital correction and orientation control.

Stalagmite

• Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmadabad analyzed bits of a stalagmite from Kotumsar cave in Central India.
• The analysis has revealed variations of the Indian summer monsoon over some 3,000 years, starting from 8,500 years ago to 5,600 years ago.
• The Kotumsar cave is 35 metres below ground level and located in the Kanger Valley National Park of Chhattisgarh.
• The stalagmite in this region is formed by slow dissolution of the Kanger limestone by water from the Indian summer monsoon.
• Stalagmite and Stalactite are elongated forms of various minerals deposited from solution by slowly dripping water.
• The analysis also studied the Speleothems which are rocks that were formed in caves over several years by the deposition of water from monsoon.
• They hold records of seasonal variation and help in understanding Paleoclimate.

Trans Fats

• There are two broad types of trans fats found in foods: naturally-occurring and artificial trans fats.
• Naturally-occurring trans fats are produced in the gut of some animals and foods made from these animals (e.g., milk and meat products) may contain small quantities of these fats.
• Artificial trans fats (or trans fatty acids) are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid.

REPLACE

• The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a comprehensive plan to eliminate industrially-produced artificial trans fats from the global food supply by 2023.
• The UN body has released a step by step guide for the industry to eliminate trans fats from the food.

The guide, called REPLACE, has six actions, which include-
(a) REview of dietary sources of trans fats
(b) Promoting replacement with healthier fats
(c) Setting up a regulatory framework
(d) Assessing and monitoring trans fats content in food
(e) Creating awareness and enforcing the regulation
(f) Enforce compliance with policies and regulations.

Samarth Scheme

• Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the scheme on December 20, 2017.
• The scheme is intended to provide demand-driven, placement oriented National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) compliant skilling programmes to incentivize and supplement the efforts of the industry in creating jobs in the textiles sectors.
• The broad objective of the new scheme is to skill the youth for gainful and sustainable employment in the textile sector covering the entire value chain of textiles, excluding spinning and weaving.

South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network 

• South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) is an inter-governmental wildlife law enforcement support body of South Asian countries namely – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
• SAWEN was launched in Bhutan in 2011 and in 2016 the Union Cabinet gave permission to adopt the statute of SAWEN.
• It focuses on policy harmonization; institutional capacity strengthening through knowledge and intelligence sharing, and collaboration with regional and international partners to enhance wildlife law enforcement in the member countries.
• Its Secretariat is located in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Bhagirathi-II & Garhwal Himalayas

• Bhagirathi-II is located in the Garhwal Himalayas in Gangotri National Park (Uttarakhand).
• The Garhwal Himalayas are mountain ranges located in the state of Uttarakhand, India.
• The mountain ranges cross two regions: Garhwal division and Kumaon division.
• This range is also a part of Himalaya Shivalik Hills, the outer most hills of the Himalaya located in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Merchandise Exports from India Scheme 

• Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) under Foreign Trade Policy of India (FTP 2015-20) is one of the two schemes introduced in Foreign Trade Policy of India 2015-20, as a part of Exports from India Scheme.
• Objective of Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) as per Indian Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 (FTP 2015-20) is to offset infrastructural inefficiencies and associated costs involved in export of goods/products, which are produced/manufactured in India, especially those having high export intensity, employment potential and thereby enhancing India’s export competitiveness.

Section 39(1) (c) of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972

• The Supreme Court, in Wild Life Warden v Komarrikkal Elias case, has held that elephant tusk is a property of the Government.
• The Supreme Court observed that there is a clear “declaration” in the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 on elephant tusks being government property.
• Section 39(1) (c) of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 says that an ivory imported into India and an article made from such ivory in respect of which any offence against this Act or any rule or order made thereunder has been committed, shall be deemed to be the property of the state government, and where such animal is hunted in a sanctuary or national park declared by the Central Government, such animal or any animal article, trophy, uncured trophy or meat derived from such animal shall be the property of the Central Government.

Thalaseemia

• Thalaseemia is a chronic blood disorder.
• It is a genetic disorder due to which a patient cannot make enough hemoglobin found in Red Blood Cells (RBC’s).
• This leads to anemia and patients also require blood transfusions every two to three weeks to survive.
• Thalassemias are inherited disorders passed from parents to children through genes.
• Each red blood cell can contain between 240 and 300 million molecules of haemoglobin. The severity of the disease depends on the mutations involved in the genes, and their interplay.
• India is the thalassaemia capital of the world with 40 million carriers and over 1,00,000 thalassaemia majors under blood transfusion every month.