Prelims in Focus, an IAS Abhiyan Initiative to quickly navigate through the important facts, current affairs, static portion to enrich aspirant’s knowledge base along with conceptual clarity. Our Prelims in Focus initiative will surely be an added advantage for UPSC Prelims Examinations. This initiative will help the aspirants to focus to the main points of a topic quickly at the same time. In this initiative, we will cover 10-15 important facts on a daily basis. You can also join our Telegram Channel too to read these articles. Click here to Join. We will continue our Monthly Pre-Bits Flash Liner along with this initiative. 

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Prelims in Focus-Part-06

1. Many years after Chanakya came Sun Tzu who had said, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”Chanakya had said, “If the enemy is more powerful then he can be defeated by behaving like him”.
2. Kerala will set up India’s first international women’s trade centre (WTC), in consonance with the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs), at Angamaly. This initiative aims to accelerate women entrepreneurship and secure gender parity while providing women with a safe place away from home to start new businesses, set up or expand, and get their products marketed globally.
3. The Under2 Coalition
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   ➖Global community of state and regional governments committed to ambitious climate action in line with the Paris Agreement.➖ There are 118 individual states and regions who have signed the Under2 MOU and are currently active members of the Under2 Coalition.➖ Signatories commit to keeping global temperature rises to well below 2°C with efforts to reach 1.5°C.➖India’s Signatories as per source (https://www.under2coalition.org/members) are Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana and West Bengal
4. Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs)
   ➖An umbrella term commonly used to include areas that contribute to the global persistence of biodiversity, including vital habitat for threatened plant and animal species in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.➖The criteria for designating a site as KBA have been described in the document “The Global Standard for the Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas (2016)” by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).Globally KBAs are designated based on 11 criteria defined under five broad categories of-

   1 . Threatened biodiversity.
   2 . Geographically restricted biodiversity.
   3 . Ecological integrity.
   4 . Biological processes.
   5 . Irreplaceability.

5. The Nairobi Convention
   ➖Signed by Comoros, France, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, and Tanzania
   ➖Aims to promote a prosperous Western Indian Ocean region with healthy rivers, coasts, and oceans
   ➖1st signed in 1985 and entered into force in 1996, is part of UNEP’s Regional Seas Programme
   ➖Does this by engaging countries that share the western Indian Ocean in actions
   ➖India is not a party to the convention
6. According to the Global Mangroves Alliance, 67 per cent of mangroves have been lost or degraded to date, and an additional one per cent being lost each year. Without mangroves, 39 per cent more people would face threat of floods annually and flood damage would increase by more than 16 per cent.
7. Boreal Summer Intra Seasonal Oscillation or BSISO induce high wave activity in north Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. BSISO is the movement of convection (heat) from Indian Ocean to western Pacific Ocean roughly every 10-50 days during the monsoon (June-September). They represent the monsoon’s ‘active’ and ‘break’ periods, in which weeks of heavy rainfall give way to brilliant sunshine before starting all over again. The active phase also enhances monsoon winds and hence the surface waves. Wave forecast advisories based on the BSISO would be more useful for efficient coastal and marine management.
8. The Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats are the two different biogeographic zones, with unique histories. While the Western Ghats are considered as a biodiversity hotspot, that is not the case with its eastern counterpart.➖Geologically, the Western Ghats are ancient, having Gondwanaland relict forests in the south, while the formation of the Eastern Ghats is recent.
9. Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited (HOCL)
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   ➖PSU under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers
   ➖Granted Bureau of Indian Standards – BIS certification for all its products.
   ➖Leader in chemical industry has manufacturing unit at Kochi in Kerala
   ➖Provides basic organic chemicals essential for vital industries like Drugs and pharmaceuticals
   ➖Incorporated in 1960 as the first endeavor to indigenize manufacture of basic chemical, attaining self-reliance and reduce country’s dependence on imports of vital organic chemicals.
10. Popular Tribes-

• Odisha➖Juang, Kisan, Koya, Oram, Saora
• Madhya Pradesh➖Halbi, Korku, Bhili, Gondi
• Jharkhand➖Khadia and Khorat