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. Click here to Join our Telegram Channel to read these articles. We will continue our Monthly Pre-Bits Flash Liner along with this initiative.
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Prelims in Focus-Part-19
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🔹Eight beaches in India have been awarded the coveted ‘Blue Flag’ certification.
➖The beaches selected for the certification are: Kappad (Kerala), Shivrajpur (Gujarat), Ghoghla (Diu), Kasarkod and Padubidri (Karnataka), Rushikonda (Andhra Pradesh), Golden (Odisha) and Radhanagar (Andaman & Nicobar Islands).
➖The certification is awarded by the Denmark-based non-profit Foundation for Environmental Education
- 🔹What activities are permitted in the Coastal Regulation Zone of certain beaches?
The following activities and facilities would be permitted in the CRZ of the beaches, including islands, subject to maintaining a minimum distance of 10 meters from the High Tide Line (HTL):
(a) Portable toilet blocks, change rooms and shower panels;
(b) Grey water treatment plant;
(c) Solid waste management plant;
(e) Purified drinking water facility;
(f) Beach access pathways;
(g) Landscaping lighting;
(h) Seating benches and sit-out umbrellas;
(i) Outdoor play / fitness equipment;
(j) CCTV surveillance and control room;
(l) Cloak room facility;
(m) Safety watch towers and beach safety equipment;
(n) Beach layout, environment information boards and other signages;
(o) Fencing, preferably vegetative;
(p) Parking facilities;
(q) Entry gate, tourist facilitation centre; and
(r) Other associated facilities or infrastructure, as per requirements of Blue Flag Certification. - Polling booth in Gir forest for one person
📌 The Banej Polling Booth (1 vote Booth) was set up for Mahant Bharatdas Bapu, who resides inside Gir Forest. Situated in Somanth district, Banej is part of Junagadh Lok Sabha constituency
➖This booths was set up 70 kilometers inside the dense forest of Gir sanctuary
➖Booth has a distinction of registering 100 per cent voter percentage
- 🔹 The Thattekkad sanctuary is also the first bird sanctuary in Kerala
➖Rare bird species such as three-toed forest Kingfisher, Ceylon frogmouth, crimson-throated Barbet, bee-eater, sunbird, and Malabar grey hornbill are seen
➖On the foothills of the Western Ghats and is part of a large ecological unit comprising Malayattoor, Sholayar, Parambikulam hill ranges on the one side and Munnar, Eravikulam and Chinnar on the other side, which support diverse vegetation types from evergreen to scrub forests
- The Gupta king collected taxes varying from one-fourth to one-sixth of the produce.
Agricultural taxes that appear in Gupta inscriptions are:
➖Uparikara (probably a tax imposed on temporary tenants)
➖Udranga (its exact nature is not clear, but might be water tax or a sort of police tax).
➖Vata-bhuta tax, which probably refers to cesses for the maintenance of rites performed for the winds and spirits, and
➖Halirakara, probably plough tax.
➖Vakataka inscriptions mention of klipta (purchase tax or sales tax)
➖Upaklipta (additional minor tax)
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Note: In addition to these taxes, peasants were also subjected to vishti (forced labour) for serving the royal army and officials. - Femto-satellites
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➖Satellites with a mass lower than 100 grams.➖By concept, these are low cost devices if they are based on Commercial-of-the-Shelf (COTS) components.
➖Applications are related to low-cost missions with a short time of development.
- 🔹Livestock economy sustains nearly 73 million households in rural areas.
🔹Even though, India is the largest producer of milk, the average milk yield in India is only 50% of the world average.
- The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership
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➖Develops innovative, efficient financing mechanisms to advance market readiness for clean energy services in low- and middle-income countries.➖REEEP’s work contributes to global efforts under the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
➖The 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change remains the second major guiding force in REEEP’s work.
- 📌 India is the largest producer of milk — 187 million tonnes annually — way ahead of the second-ranked US which produces around 100 million tonnes every year.
- 📌 India is the largest exporter of rice in the world and the second-largest producer of both wheat and rice, after China.
- 📌 India is the largest manufacturer of tractors (excluding sub 20 horsepower (hp) belt-driven tractors used in China), followed by the US and China.
- 🔹 Gross Value Added (GVA) is basically GDP net of all indirect taxes and subsidies on goods and services.
➖GVA is the value of output less the cost of all inputs and raw materials that go into the production of any good.
- 🔹 At the time of Independence, about 70% of India’s workforce (a little less than 100 million) was employed in the agriculture sector. Even at that time, agriculture and allied activities accounted for around 54% of India’s national income. Over the years, agriculture’s contribution to national output declined sharply.
➖As of 2019-20, it was less than 17% (in gross value added terms).
- 🔹India’s Cold Wave Zone
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➖The zone covers the north Indian states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and also other states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar
➖India’s cold-wave regions to have warm winter this year as per IMD - 🔹Legally, sale, storage, transportation and usage of unapproved GM seeds is a punishable offence under the Rules of Environmental Protection Act 1989 also, sale of unapproved seeds can attract action under the Seed Act of 1966 and the Cotton Act of 1957.