About:

• Lymphatic filariasis (LF), commonly known as elephantiasis or Hathipaon, is a neglected tropical disease.
  
  
• Cause: LF disease is caused mainly by Wuchereria Bancrofti and spread by Culex mosquito. This mosquito grows in dirty accumulated water. Infection occurs when filarial parasites are transmitted to humans through mosquitoes. The infection is usually acquired in childhood, causing hidden damage to the lymphatic system.
  
  
• Effect: LF does not kill the affected people, but may cause permanent disfigurement, reduced productivity and social stigma.
  
  
• Vulnerable groups: The disease affects the poorest population in society, particularly those living in areas with poor water, sanitation and hygiene.
  
  
• Global scenario: It is one of the oldest and most debilitating neglected disease, which is currently endemic in 73 countries of the world, including India.
  
  
• The Global Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) was launched by the World Health Organization in 2000.
  
  
• Government of India launched the Accelerated Plan for Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis (APELF) in 2018. By the end of February 2019, India successfully rolled out IDA treatment across 4 districts including Arwal in Bihar, Simdega in Jharkhand, Nagpur in Maharashtra and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. 
  
  

About:

• An OCI may subscribe to the National Pension System governed and administered by PFRDA, provided such person is eligible to invest as per the provisions of the PFRDA Act and the annuity/accumulated saving will be repatriable, subject to FEMA guidelines.
  
  
• Contributions made towards NPS are eligible for an additional tax deduction under section 80CCD(1B) upto Rs. 50,000 which is over and above the Rs 1,50,000 limit of deduction available under sec 80CCD(1). 
  
  

About:

• The NHP is prepared by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI).
  
  
• This 14th edition of NHP is the continuation of the publication since 2005.
  
  
• It covers comprehensive information on demographic, socio-economic health status, health finance indicators, health infrastructure and health of human resources in the country.
  
  
• The NHP highlights substantial health information under major indicators viz.
  • demographic indicators (population and vital statistics),
    
    
  • socio-economic indicators (education, employment, housing and amenities, drinking water and sanitation) and
    
    
  • health status indicators (incidence and prevalence of common communicable and non-communicable diseases and RCH) etc.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Researchers of Climate Central, an independent organisation of climate scientists, have developed a new tool that measures elevation of land from mean sea levels with much greater accuracy than earlier models.
  
  
• Their new tool, called CoastalDEM (or Coastal Digital Elevation Model), which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning on 51 million data samples, brought down this error to less than 2.5 inches on an average.
  
  

Key findings:

• Around 300 million people, and not 80 million as estimated earlier, across the globe were currently living in areas that were below the annual coastal flood line.
  
  
• Almost 80 per cent of these 300 million people live in China, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. China alone accounted for 43 million.
  
  
• Around 36 million people along the Indian coastlines currently live on land that will fall below the annual flood level by 2050, exposing them to risks of flooding, damage to infrastructure, loss of livelihood, or permanent displacement. The previous estimate was of 5 million people.
  
  
• West Bengal and coastal Odisha are projected to be particularly vulnerable, as is the eastern city of Kolkata.
  
  
• Except for some areas near Kakinada, the threats to the coastlines of the southern states have not been affected by the new measurements. 
  
  

About:

• Since 2015, HBR’s ranking has been based not only on financial performance but also on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings.
  
  
• The HBR took into account three metrics for each CEO's tenure - the total shareholder return (including dividends reinvested) adjusted by country and by industry and change in market capitalisation (adjusted for dividends, share issues, and share repurchases), measured in inflation-adjusted USD.
  
  

Key Findings:

• the list has been topped by American technology company NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Huang.
  
  
• Among the top 10 chief executives on the list, three spots have been occupied by the Indian-origin CEOs. On the 6th spot is Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, followed by MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga, ranked 7th and Microsoft chief Satya Nadella on the 9th spot.
  
  
• The list also features India-born CEO of DBS Bank Piyush Gupta on the 89th spot.
  
  
• Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who has been the top CEO every year since 2014 on the basis of financial performance alone, failed to make this year's list owing to Amazon's relatively low ESG scores.
  
  

About:

• The new policy, details of which will be unveiled next month, would ban ads on political issues as well as from candidates.
  
  
• This is in response to growing criticism over misinformation from politicians on social media.
  
  
• Explaining the ban, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted that while internet advertising is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics. he said the reach of political messages should be earned, not bought.
  
  
• News of the ban has divided America's political camps for the 2020 election.
  
  
• Twitter's rival Facebook recently ruled out a ban on political ads. 
  
  

About: 

• The Future Investment Initiative (FII) is an annual investment forum held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  
  
• It is held to discuss trends in the world economy and investment environment in the context of the Saudi Vision 2030 program of economic and social reform to diversify the kingdom’s economy and reduce its dependence on petroleum products.
  
  
• The Future Investment Initiative (FII) is widely described as “Davos in the desert”. The informal name derives from the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting that is held in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders discuss agendas for pressing international issues.
  
  
• It is hosted by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), Saudi Arabia's main sovereign wealth fund.
  
  
• The first event was in October 2017 and featured the announcements of the launch of NEOM, a proposed $500bn independent economic zone in the northwest of Saudi Arabia. The second event was in October 2018. The third event is being held on 29-31 October 2019.
  
  

About:

• The Council will be an all encompassing bilateral mechanism which will cover an entire spectrum of relationship between the two countries.
  
  
• It will be headed by the top leadership on either side.
  
  
• The two sides re-affirmed their deep commitment to strengthen the strategic partnership envisaged in the ‘Riyadh Declaration’ of 2010.
  
  

List of MoUs/Agreements signed during the visit of Prime Minister to Saudi Arabia

1. Strategic Partnership Council Agreement
   
   
2. MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Renewable Energy
   
   
3. Agreement on Security Cooperation
   
   
4. MoU for Cooperation in the field of combating illicit trafficking and smuggling of narcotic drugs.
   
   
5. MoU for collaboration in military acquisition, industries, research, development and technology
   
   
6. MoU for Cooperation in the field of Civil Aviation
   
   
7. MoU for Cooperation in the field of medical products regulations
   
   
8. Letter of Intent between Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (Monshaat) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, of the Republic of India
   
   
9. Cooperation Programme between Foreign Service Institute, MEA and Prince Saud Al Faisal Institute of Diplomatic Studies (IDS) of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia
   
   
10. MoU between Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) and Saudi Aramco.
    
    
11. MoU for Cooperation between National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul)
    
    
12. MoU between National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Saudi Payments
    
    

About:

• Edge computing enables data to be analysed, processed, and transferred at the edge of a network.
  
  
• The idea is to analyse data locally, closer to where it is stored, in real-time without latency, rather than send it far away to a centralised data centre.
  
  
• Experts believe the true potential of edge computing will become apparent when 5G networks go mainstream in a year from now. Users will be able to enjoy consistent connectivity without even realising it. 
  
  

About:

• A key feature of this study is that instead of focusing on unemployment, it focuses only on the “employment” data.
  
  
• It does so by looking at three comparable surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) — the Employment-Unemployment Surveys (EUS) of 2004-05 and 2011-12, and the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) of 2017-18.
  
  

Main findings of the study:

• The total employment in the country grew by 4.5 crore in the 13 years between EUS 2004-05 and PLFS 2017-18. This represents a growth of just 0.8 per cent — less than half the rate at which the overall population grew, which was 1.7 per cent.
  
  
• Of the 4.5 crore increase in employment, 4.2 crore happened in the urban areas while rural employment either contracted (by 0.01 per cent between 2004 and 2011) or was stagnant (grew by 0.18 per cent between 2011 and 2017).
  
  
• Male employment grew by 6 crore but female employment fell by 1.5 crore.
  
  
• Youth employment (those between the ages of 15 and 24) has fallen from 8.14 crore in 2004 to 5.34 crore in 2017. However, employment in the 25-59 age group and the 60 years and above group has gone up.
  
  
• The share of organised sector in the total employed has risen from 8.9 per cent in 2004 to 14 per cent in 2017. The share of unorganised sector in the total employed has gone up from 37.1 per cent in 2004 to 47.7 per cent in 2017.
  
  
• Both these sectors – Organised and Unorganised – have grown at the expense of the agri-cropping sector, where employment has fallen from 21.9 per cent in 2004 to 17.4 per cent in 2017. In essence, those who are poor, illiterate, and unskilled are increasingly losing out on jobs. 
  
  

About: 

• According to Gill-Oxygen Limitation Theory (GOLT), warming waters have less oxygen. Therefore, fish have difficulties breathing in such environments. Additionally, such warming, low-oxygen waters also increase fish’s oxygen demands because their metabolism speeds up.
  
  
• This is because, as fish grow, their demand for oxygen increases. However, the surface area of the gills (two-dimensional) does not grow at the same pace as the rest of the body (three-dimensional). The larger the fish, the smaller its surface area relative to the volume of its body.
  
  
• So, the fish move to waters whose temperatures resemble those of their original habitats and that satisfy their oxygen needs.
  
  
• As the global sea surface temperature has increased by approximately 0.13°C per decade over the past 100 years, “suitable” waters are more and more found towards the poles and at greater depths.
  
  

About the prototype

• Sentinel-3 is an Earth observation satellite constellation developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of the Copernicus Programme.
  
  
• The Sentinel-3 World Fires Atlas Prototype product has been developed by ESA over the southern countries of the ESA member states.
  
  
• it aims to provide continuity to ESA ATSR World Fire Atlas (operating from June 1995 to March 2012) taking on board all the improvements of Sentinel-3 SLSTR instrument.
  
  

Key findings:

• The ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission recorded 79,000 fires in August this year, compared to just over 16,000 fires detected during the same period last year.
  
  
• The data revealed that 49% of the fires were detected in Asia, around 28% were detected in South America, 16% in Africa, and the remaining were recorded in North America, Europe and Oceania. 
  
  

About:

• Organoids are a group of cells grown in laboratories into three-dimensional, miniature structures that mimic the cell arrangement of a fully-grown organ.
  
  
• They are tiny (typically the size of a pea) organ-like structures that do not achieve all the functional maturity of human organs but often resemble the early stages of a developing tissue.
  
  
• Organoids are grown in the laboratory using stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). Stem cells are provided with nutrients and other specific molecules to grow and become cells resembling a specific organ.
  
  
• Present status: Organoids of the brain, small intestine, kidney, heart, stomach, eyes, liver, pancreas, prostate, salivary glands, and inner ear to name a few have already been developed in the laboratory.
  
  
• Benefits: Since the organoids closely resemble mature tissues, they can be used for studying the complex arrangements of cells in three-dimension and their function in detail, and understanding how cells assemble into organs. Organoids can be used to study the safety and efficacy of new drugs
  
  
• Arguments against: Organoids do not have sensory inputs and sensory connections from the brain are limited. Isolated regions of the brain cannot communicate with other brain regions or generate motor signals. Thus, the possibility of consciousness or other higher-order perceptive properties emerging seems extremely remote. 
  
  

About:

• The MMGPI, which covers 37 countries, is based on how they fare on providing pension and retirement benefits to citizens across different income groups.
  
  
• India stood at 32nd position in 2019 out of 37 countries, while it was ranked at 33rd place in 2018 out of 34 countries in the list. The country’s score in the MMGPI 2019 rose to 45.8 from 44.6 last year. India’s index value increased largely due to the improvement in all three sub-indices of adequacy, sustainability and integrity.
  
  
• In the overall list, the Netherlands had the highest index value (81.0), while Thailand had the lowest value (39.4).
  
  
• Sub-index wise, Ireland had the highest score for adequacy (81.5), Denmark for sustainability (82.0) and Finland for integrity (92.3). Thailand scored the lowest for adequacy (35.8), Italy for sustainability (19.0) and Philippines for integrity (34.7). 
  
  

Key findings: 

• The international study led by Switzerland-based research institute École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has been published in the journal Nature Communications.
  
  
• Mountain streams have a higher average carbon dioxide emission rate per square metre than streams at lower altitudes, due in part to the additional turbulence caused as water flows down slopes.
  
  
• Mountain streams account for 5% in the global surface area of fluvial networks. 10%-30% is the share of mountain streams in carbon dioxide emissions from all fluvial networks.
  
  
• The findings indicate that the carbon dioxide comes from geological sources. The result shows importance of including mountain streams in assessments of the global carbon cycle.
  
  

National Panchayat Awards 2019 were given under the following categories:

1. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar (DDUPSP): given to best performing Panchayats (District, Intermediate and Gram) in recognition of the good work done for improving delivery of services and public goods such as Sanitation, Social Sector Performance, Disaster Management, Innovation in revenue generation, e-Governance etc.
   
   
2. Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar (NDRGGSP): Given to Gram Panchayats (GPs) for their outstanding contribution to the socio-economic development by involving Gram Sabhas.
   
   
3. Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) Award: It is conferred to best performing Gram Panchayats (GPs) across the country which have developed their GPDPs according to the State/UT specific guidelines.
   
   
4. Child-friendly Gram Panchayat Award: This award is given for best performing GPs/Village Councils (VCs) (one in each State/UT) for adopting child-friendly practices.
   
   
5. e-Panchayat Puraskar: The main aim of this award is to incentivize those States/UTs, which have made dedicated efforts in adopting and implementing the e-Panchayat Applications and enabling electronic delivery of services through Panchayats & equivalent rural bodies.
   
   

Gram Manchitra:

• The Minister also launched a Spatial Planning Application called ‘Gram Manchitra’ which is a Geo Spatial based decision support system for the panchayats.
  
  
• The panchayats can utilize this App to plan, develop and monitor developmental activities on real time basis. 
  
  

National Ayurveda Day: 

• Objectives of Ayurveda Day: Create a sense of awareness about Ayurvedic principles of healing in society in today's generation.
  
  
• Date of Celebration: It is celebrated every year on the occasion of Dhanwantari Jayanti (Dhanteras) since 2016.
  • Lord Dhanvantari is considered as divine propagator of Ayurveda.
    
    
  • He is conferred with the virtues of granting health and wealth. Therefore, Dhanvantari Jayanti was preferred for celebration of Ayurveda Day.
    
    
  
  
  

National Dhanwantari Ayurveda Award:

• The award instituted by Ministry of AYUSH is conferred every year on the Ayurveda Day.
  
  
• It is conferred on Ayurveda experts possessing qualifications included in II, III, IV schedule of IMCC Act, 1970 and having profound contribution to the field of Ayurveda.
  
  
• A cash prize of Rs. 5 lacs along with citation are given to the awardees.
  
  

About: 

• Type: The Universal Postal Union (UPU) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN). 
  
  
• Functions: It coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to the worldwide postal system. It frames rules for international mail exchange, and fixes rates for international postal services. It regulates 6.40 lakh postal outlets worldwide. 
  
  
• Membership: The UPU has 192 member-countries. 
  
  
• Headquarters: Bern, Switzerland. 
  
  
• Timeline: it was established by the Treaty of Bern in India joined the UPU on July 1, 1876 and Pakistan on November 10, 1947. 
  
  
• The UPU has four units: the Congress, the Council of Administration (CA), the Postal Operations Council (POC) and the International Bureau (IB). 
  
  
• Under UPU rules, when a country decides to suspend exchange with a country, it must notify the operator of the other country (in India’s case, India Post) and, if possible, the duration for which services are being stopped. The UPU’s International Bureau too has to be notified. 
  
  

About:

• Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (1971 – 2019) was the leader of the Islamic State (ISIS) militant terrorist organisation.
  
  
• In 2014, the ISIS announced the establishment of a worldwide caliphate. Al-Baghdadi was named its caliph, to be known as "Caliph Ibrahim".
  
  
• He was designated by the United States Department of State as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
  
  

Operation Kayla Mueller / Barisha raid

• The Barisha raid was a United States military operation in Barisha, Idlib Governorate, in northwestern Syria targeting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) leadership, notably its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, on October 26-27, 2019.
  
  
• The special forces raid was officially code-named Operation Kayla Mueller after the American humanitarian worker who was held captive, tortured, and sexually abused by Baghdadi before her death in 2015.
  
  
• According to U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump, Baghdadi killed himself when he detonated a suicide belt. 
  
  

About: 

• Ik Onkar is the symbol that represents the unity of God in Sikhism, meaning God is One or One God. 
  
  
• It is a central tenet of Sikh religious philosophy. It is the opening phrase of the Mul Mantar and the opening words of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib. It is consequently also part of the Sikh morning prayer, Japji Sahib. 
  
  
• It is found in the Gurmukhi script and is found in all religious scriptures and places such as gurdwaras. 
  
  
• It is a combination of two characters, the numeral ੧, Ikk (one) and the first letter of the word Onkar (Constant taken to mean God). 
  
  

Working: 

• While most methods of removing carbon dioxide from a stream of gas required higher concentrations such as those found in the flue emissions from fossil fuel-based power plants, the new method could take out the gas even when it was present in very low concentrations.
  
  
• The device is a large, specialized battery with a stack of electrodes that absorbs carbon dioxide from the air passing over its surface as it was being charged up, and then released the gas as it was being discharged.
  
  
• A chemical reaction takes place at the surface of each of a stack of electrodes as the battery charges. Electrodes are coated with a compound called polyanthraquinone compounded with carbon nanotubes.
  
  
• The electrodes have a natural affinity for carbon dioxide and readily reacted with its molecules in the airstream or feed gas. The device operates at room temperature and normal air pressure.
  
  

Salient features of these amendments are as follows:

• A concept of ‘absentee voter’ has been introduced and defined for the elections;
  
  
• ‘Absentee voter’ means a person belonging to such class of persons as may be notified, under clause (c) of section 60 of the Act, and who is employed in essential services as mentioned in the said notification, and includes an elector belonging to the class of senior citizen or persons with disability [rule 27 A (aa)];
  
  
• ‘Person with Disability’ means a person flagged as person with disability in the data base for the electoral roll;
  
  
• ‘Senior Citizen’ for the purpose of this Part means an elector belonging to the class of absentee voters and is above 80 years of age;
  
  
• In case of an absentee voter, the application shall be made in Form 12D, and shall contain such particulars as specified therein, and shall be duly verified by the Nodal Officer for the absentee voter, other than senior citizen or persons with disability, which shall reach the Returning Officer within five days following the date of notification of election;
  
  
• In the case of absentee voter, postal ballot paper shall be returned to the centre provided for recording of vote under sub-rule(3) of rule 27F, subject to any direction that may be issued by the Election Commission in this behalf.
  
  

About: 

• Series of  'Exercise SHAKTI' between Indian and France commenced in year 2011.
  
  
• It’s a biennial exercise and  is conducted alternately in India and France.
  
  
• As part of Exercise SHAKTI – 2019, a contingent of the Sikh Regiment of Sapta Shakti Command will represent Indian Army in this exercise. The French Army delegation will be represented by troops of 21st Marine Infantry Regiment  of 6th Armoured Brigade.
  
  
• The joint exercise will focus on Counter Terrorism operations in backdrop of semi-desert terrain under United Nations Mandate. The training will focus primarily on high degree of physical fitness, sharing of drill at tactical level and learning of best practices from each other.
  
  

About:

• Scientists at the Natural History Museum in London have officially called the insect Nelloptodes gretae to honour the 16-year-old Swedish activist’s “outstanding contribution” in raising global awareness of climate change.
  
  
• The arthropod, which has no eyes or wings, is less than 1mm long and belongs to the Ptiliidae family, which is made up of some of the world’s smallest beetles.
  
  
• The beetle was first found in 1965 by British naturalist Dr William C Block in Nairobi, Kenya.
  
  
• Biological names comprise two words, one for the genus and the second for the species. Traditionally, it is the species name that scientists coin to honour a prominent personality.
  
  
• While the species name gretae derives from Greta, the genus Nelloptodes too is a new genus. 
  
  

About: 

• Doxxing (also spelt as ‘doxing’) means to publicly identify or publish private information about someone, especially with the intention of punishing or taking revenge.
  
  
• Doxxing first emerged as hacker slang for obtaining and posting private documents about an individual, usually a rival or enemy. To hackers, who prized their anonymity, doxxing was considered a cruel attack.
  
  
• In Hong Kong, protesters have been releasing information about police officers and their families, thereby opening them up to targeted violence or harassment and abuse, either physically or online.
  
  
• Doxxing has emerged as one of the major tactics employed by pro-democracy protesters who have been carrying out relentless, sometimes violent, demonstrations that the administration has found impossible to suppress for over four months now.
  
  

About: 

• Uluru is also known as Ayers Rock.
  
  
• It is a large sandstone rock formation. It is dominantly composed of coarse-grained arkose (a type of sandstone characterised by an abundance of feldspar) and some conglomerate. Average composition is 50% feldspar, 25–35% quartz and up to 25% rock fragments.
  
  
• It is located in central Australia.
  
  
• It is sacred to the Anangu people, the Aboriginal people of the area.
  
  
• It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  
  
• It is notable for appearing to change colour at different times of the day and year, most notably when it glows red at dawn and sunset.
  
  
• Uluru is an inselberg, literally "island mountain". An inselberg is a prominent isolated residual knob or hill that rises abruptly from and is surrounded by extensive and relatively flat erosion lowlands in a hot, dry region.
  
  
• The remarkable feature of Uluru is its homogeneity and lack of jointing and parting at bedding surfaces, leading to the lack of development of scree slopes and soil. These characteristics led to its survival, while the surrounding rocks were eroded.
  
  

About: 

• The Indian Naval Ship (INS) ‘Baaz’ was commissioned in July 2012.
  
  
• It is the southernmost air station of the Indian Armed Forces. INS Baaz is located at Campbell Bay on the Great Nicobar island, the southernmost and largest island of the Nicobar islands, in the UT of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This island is also the location of the Indira Point.
  
  
• The primary functions of the INS Baaz include helping build Maritime Domain Awareness by providing information via airborne surveillance using aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
  
  
• Significance: The location has been described as India’s “window into East and Southeast Asia”, and is in close vicinity of the Six Degree Channel, one of the Indian Ocean’s busiest shipping lines, carrying strategic cargo to East Asian countries. It is also close to the Strait of Malacca.
  
  
• It is a part of the Andaman and Nicobar Command, the only tri-services formation of the Indian Armed Forces that was started in 2001.
  
  

About:

• Voice Over IP (VoIP) calls in Lebanon would be charged at 20 cents everyday, from January 2020 onwards, which totals to $6 per month. These VoIP services include calls made through Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype and Viber.
  
  
• While the proposal has since then been withdrawn, if it were to pass, Lebanon would be the first country in the world to do so. The move, however, has triggered mass anti-government protests in the West Asian country.
  
  

About: 

• Like a cosmic Yeti, the scientific community generally regarded these galaxies as folklore, given the lack of evidence of their existence, but astronomers in the United States and Australia managed to snap a picture of the beast for the first time.
  
  
• Published in the Astrophysical Journal, the discovery provides new insights into the first growing steps of some of the biggest galaxies in the universe.
  
  
• The researchers estimate that the signal came from so far away that it took 12.5 billion years to reach Earth, therefore giving us a view of the universe in its infancy.
  
  
• They think the observed emission is caused by the warm glow of dust particles heated by stars forming deep inside a young galaxy. The giant clouds of dust conceal the light of the stars themselves, rendering the galaxy completely invisible.
  
  

Key findings of the study: 

• Pancreatic cancer, once rare, is now a growing cause of cancer mortality worldwide. From 1,96,000 incidences in 1990, these rose to 4,41,000 in 2017.
  
  
• The burden of pancreatic cancer is higher in higher income countries. In both 1990 and 2017, the highest age-standardised death rates due to cancer were recorded in Greenland and Uruguay. On the other hand, the lowest age-standardised death rates were in Bangladesh.
  
  
• For India, the death rate due to pancreatic has increased by over five times, from 6,887 in 1990 to 30,426 in 2017, while incidence has increased from 6,824 cases to 29,059. The number of years lost due to ill-health in India were 1,826,77 in 1990 and 7,17,037 in 2017.
  
  
• Bhutan had the least incidents and deaths in the South Asian region. 
  
  

About:

• Following a demand by the exporters, the DPP held extensive consultations with various stakeholders and formulated this OGEL policy and submitted for Defence Minister’s approval.
  
  
• The OGEL is a one-time export licence to be granted to a company for a specific period which is two years initially.
  
  
• The application for grant of OGEL will be considered by Department of Defence Production (DPP) on a case-to-case basis.
  
  
• For acquiring the licences, the applicant is mandatory to have Import-Export certificate.
  
  
• The items permitted under OGEL includes components of ammunition and fuse setting device without energetic and explosive material, firing control and related ing and warning equipment and related system and body protective items.
  
  
• Complete aircraft or complete unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and any components specially designed or modified for UAVs are excluded under this licence.
  
  
• The countries allowed under the OGELs are: Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA, Canada, Italy, Poland and Mexico. Export of items to a Special Economic Zone is not permitted.
  
  

About:

• The National CSR Awards are the highest recongnisation in the domain of CSR by the Government of India.
  
  
• The Awards have been instituted in 2017 by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
  
  
• Objective: To recognize corporate initiatives in the area of CSR to achieve inclusive growth and inclusive and sustainable development.
  
  
• Categories of Awards: Total number of awards of National CSR Awards is 20 in 3 categories which are as follows -
  • Corporate Awards for Excellence in CSR
    
    
  • Corporate Awards in CSR in Challenging Circumstances:
    
    
  • Up to Eleven Awards to be given based on contribution to National Priority Schemes so as to motivate corporates to spend in these areas.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has conducted Whole Genome Sequencing of 1,008 Indians from different populations across the country under the IndiGen Genome project.
  
  
• The IndiGen initiative was undertaken by CSIR in April 2019, which was implemented by the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi and CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.
  
  
• This has enabled benchmarking the scalability of genome sequencing and computational analysis at population scale in a defined timeline. The ability to decode the genetic blueprint of humans through whole genome sequencing will be a major driver for biomedical science.
  
  
• The outcomes of the IndiGen will have applications in a number of areas including predictive and preventive medicine with faster and efficient diagnosis of rare genetic diseases. 
  
  

About: 

• The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas, just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. 
  
  
• The glacier lies between the Saltoro Ridge immediately to the west and the main Karakoram range to the east. The Saltoro Ridge originates in the north from the Sia Kangri peak on the China border in the Karakoram range. 
  
  
• The entire Siachen Glacier, with all major passes, is currently under the administration of India since 1984. Pakistan controls the region west of Saltoro Ridge, far away from the glacier. 
  
  
• The glacier's melting waters are the main source of the Nubra River in the Indian region of Ladakh, which drains into the Shyok River. The Shyok in turn joins the 3000 kilometre-long Indus River which flows through Pakistan. Thus, the glacier is a major source of the Indus.
  
  
• At 76 km long, it is the longest glacier in the Karakoram and second-longest in the world's non-polar areas. 
  
  

About:

• The quantum computer completed the complex computation in 200 seconds. That same calculation would take even the most powerful supercomputers approximastely 10,000 years to finish.
  
  
• Google's quantum computer consists of microscopic circuits of superconducting metal that entangle 53 qubits in a complex superposition state.
  
  
• Although this Google achievement is certainly a feat in the world of quantum computing, the field is still in its infancy and practical quantum computers remain far on the horizon. 
  
  

About: 

• Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh is a reservoir at the foothills (Shivalik hills) of the Himalayas.
  
  
• This rainfed lake was created in 1958 by Le Corbusier and the Chief Engineer P L Verma by damming the Sukhna Choe, a seasonal stream coming down from the Shivalik Hills.
  
  
• The catchment area of Sukhna Wetland spreading over 10,395 acres as finalised by the Survey of India includes 2,525 acres of Haryana and 684 acres of Punjab.
  
  
• Declaring Sukhna a wetland will help preserve the lake and conserve its ecological and biodiversity. A major threat to Sukhna is the discharge of pollutants from neighbouring areas.
  
  
• With this, various activities will be prohibited/regulated/ promoted both in the wetland as well catchment areas.