World Water Week

• from August 24 till September 1
• Organised by Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI)
• Theme is- “Seeing the Unseen: The Value of Water”.

World Water Day

• March 22 
• Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030.
• Theme of 2022 “Groundwater: making the invisible visible.”
• The theme was decided by UN-water at its 30th meeting in Rome. It was proposed by the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC).

Government Initiatives

• Catch the Rain campaign 2022
• Jal Andolan a Jan Andolan
• Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’
• Atal Bhujal Yojana, a Central Sector Scheme
• National Water Mission
• Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has instituted National Water Awards and “Water Heroes – Share your stories” 
• Har Khet Ko Pani (HKKP)
• Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)

Hayabusa-2 mission

• was launched in December 2014
• Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) 
• To study the asteroid Ryugu
• Ryugu is also classified as potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs). and was discovered in 1999.
• The Hayabusa mission-1 brought samples from the asteroid Itokawa in 2010.

Asteroids

• Asteroids are rocky objects that orbit the Sun, much smaller than planets
• called minor planets

NASA

• NASA’s OSIRIS-REX mission collected samples from the asteroid Bennu in October 2020, which will be brought to Earth in 2023.

Source: The Indian Express

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

• a permanent intergovernmental international organization. 
• It meets once every year 
• The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the highest decision-making body in the SCO
• The Secretariat in Beijing (China) and the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent(Uzbekistan).
• Russian and Chinese are the official working languages of the SCO.
• SCO Business Council’s Permanent Secretariat is headquartered in Moscow.

History

• Before creation of SCO in 2001,Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan were members of the Shanghai Five
• It was after the accession of Uzbekistan to the organization in 2001, the Shanghai Five was renamed the SCO.
• India and Pakistan became members in 2017.
• 17^th September, 2021, it was announced that Iran would become a full member of the SCO.

SCO full members

•  India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Drought

Drought is a rainfall-scarce period, affecting the availability of water for irrigation, drinking,etc 

They are classified into three types:

• METEOROLOGICAL drought is a prolonged dry spell in periods when rainfall is expected 
• HYDROLOGICAL drought is when scarcity of water begins to hit normal supplies in the system 
• AGRICULTURAL drought is when scarcity of water begins to affect the agricultural production

Source: The Indian Express

Number of women scientists goes up

 

Source: The Indian Express

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

• Statutory authority
• Under the Jurisdiction of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
• Aadhar Act 2016
• 12 digit 

National Investigation Agency (NIA)

• Central Agency
• It is empowered to deal with terror-related crimes across states w/o special permission from the states.
• NIA Act, 2008
• Works Under Ministry Of Home Affairs

Curzon

• Appointed Viceroy of India In 1899
• Partition Bengal 1905
• "We could lose all our dominions and still survive, but if we lost India, Our sun would sink its settings."

Reforms

• Universities Act of 1904: brought all the universities in India under the control of the government.
• The Agriculture Research Institute In Pusa(Bihar)
• Police Commission 1902: Chairman: Andew Frazer
• Northwest Frontier Province(NWFP)
• Imperial cadet Corps
• Ancient Monuments Act, 1904

PYQs

• 2014

Compassion towards the weaker section of society

• to suffer with another person.

Venkatesham Burra (IAS)

• Self-Help Groups: Aasara
• NGOs:  Ashraya

Prasanth Nair IAS

• Compassionate Kozhikode and Operation Sulimani 

Question

“Public service is recognized on the basis of tolerance and compassion towards the weaker section of the society.” Explain the values of tolerance and compassion in this context. (UPPSC 2019)

Source: The Indian Express

Essay

 “Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.” 

                                                                                                      - Fredrick Buechner

SA8000 certificate

• By Social Accountability International
• social certifications for decent workplaces across all industrial sectors

Facts

• In 2007, Medak district administration became the first government agency in Asia to receive SA8000 certificate
• It was one of the world’s first auditable social certifications for decent workplaces across all industrial sectors

Reference:

• Social Accountability International

Police System

• Ideal Police System
• Numerous Tasks Of Police Stations: The Bureau of Police Research& Development (BPR&D): Identified 45 Tasks
• Time Bound Service Delivery: India Justice Report (IJR) 2020: Tata Trusts
• Modernisation of Police: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA): 20000 Crore for the modernization of police (2017-2020)

Technology-driven service delivery

National Crime Records Bureau

Report: Crime in India 2019

• As per the report, 25,023 cases of assault on women, 11,966 rape cases, and 4,197 “dowry deaths” have been pending trial for five to 10 years.

Source: The Indian Express

Gabon: African country

Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)

Bilkis Bano gang rape case

**For the Exam

• Remission

Afghanistan

PYQs

Consider the following countries: 

1. Azerbaijan 

2. Kyrgyzstan 

3. Tajikistan 

4. Turkmenistan 

5. Uzbekistan 

Which of the above have borders with Afghanistan? [2022]

(a) 1, 2 and 5 only 

(b) 1, 2, 3 and 4 only 

(c) 3, 4 and 5 only 

(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

👉For Answer: Click Here

Khongjom Day: 23 March

• Paid Homage to the martyrs of 1891 War
• Anglo - Manipur War
• The Kingdom of Manipur and the British Empire

Paona Brajabasi

• A military officer

Facts Related to the 15 August and 26 January

Purna Swaraj

• Lahore Session
• 1929

January 26, 1930

• Choose the 1st Independence Day

December 29, 1929

• Hoisted the national flag 
• River Ravi
• Lahore

Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant: Ukraine

• Southern Ukraine
• Beside the Kakhovka reservoir on the Dnipro river
• Largest nuclear plant in Europe
• 10th Biggest in the world

**Under control of Russia

Italy

• Lake Garda: country’s largest lake
• lake shrinks

**Also in News

• Po River

World's Largest Floating Solar Plant

• Madhya Pradesh
• On Narmada
• Omkareshwar Dam
• 600 MW 

iDEX

 Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX)

• Launched in 2018
• innovation ecosystem for Defence

Funded and Managed by Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO)

 Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO)

• not-for-profit organisation
• formed under section 8 of the Companies Act 2013
• funded by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL)

Objective

• indigenization
• innovation

Source

• The Indian Express

PESA Act

The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA  Act), 1996

• Fifth Schedule Areas
• Except for these States: Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram
• Bhuria Committee recommendations

 Types of powers have been given to a Gram Sabha under PESA:

• Developmental
• Dispute resolution
• Ownership and management of natural resources

State governments are expected to amend their respective Panchayati Raj Acts without making any law that would be inconsistent with the mandate of PESA.

Source

• The Indian express

Henipavirus

• Visit

What is the Fifth Amendment? (USA)

• constitutional right against self-incrimination

In the context Of India:

• Article 20(3): right against self-incrimination.

**News 

Trump refuses to answer questions in NY deposition, invokes Fifth Amendment shield

Source:

• The Indian Express

Lumpy skin disease

• Cattle
• Vaccine: Lumpi-ProVacInd 
• Development: IndianVeterinary Research Institute, Izzatnagar (Bareilly) and -National Equine Research Center, Hisar (Haryana)

**News

12/08/2022

Corbevax vaccine

• To protect against COVID-19.
• Manufacturer: Biological E. Limited
• Vaccine type: Protein subunit
• Administration method: Intramuscular injection

Source:

•  who.int

Montenegro

Inflation

 Causes of the current Inflation

• Fiscal Deficit
• Current Account Deficit
• Interest Rate
• Monetary Policy
• Supply Side
• Tax Policy

Vocabulary

1. Cynicism: सनक
2. Abomination: घृणा
3. cumbersome: भारी-भरकम
4. clogged: भरा हुआ
5. ostensible:दिखावटी
6. indomitable: न बदनेवाला

Muga Silk

• GI Tag
• Assam
• Golden Silk
• GAMOCHA: The Pride Of  Assam
• National Handloom Day: 7 August

Flag Code of India 2022

 The Constituent Assembly of India adopted the National Flag on July 22, 1947.

For Essay

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

Taiwan

 Taiwan

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna Gramin

Nodal Ministry

• Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD)

Centre State Ratio

• The Centre and states share the expenditure in the ratio of 60:10.
• In the case of Himalayan states, Union Territories, and states in the North-East, the ratio is 90:10.

Supreme Court

• Articles 124 to 147
• Part V