1) Amnesty Scheme: The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Ministry of Finance announced the amnesty scheme.
- According to it taxpayers, will now have additional time (till January 2024) to file appeals against demand orders.
- Demand orders are issued under Section 73 and 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
- Sections 73 and 74 apply in cases where the department has identified a tax shortfall, lack of payment, etc.
- Beneficiaries have to pre-deposit 12.5 % of the tax demand
2) Dated Government securities (G-Secs): The government auctioned first 50-year bond (dated G-secs) which saw strong demand from investors.
- Previously, the 40-year bond, was the longest-duration bond offered by India.
- Dated G-Secs are securities which carry a fixed or floating coupon (interest rate) which is paid on the face value, on half-yearly basis.
- The sale of long-term bonds may help the government elongate the tenure of debt sold and keep its interest costs under control
3) Kawah Ijen Crater Lake: The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission provided optical images of Kawah Ijen Crater Lake’s unique natural phenomenon.
- Located in East Java (Indonesia) has a pH < 0.3.
- It is the world’s largest acidic lake.
- It is known as ‘largest acid cauldron on Earth’ and has a volcanic origin.
- It is the source of the extremely acidic and metal-polluted river ‘Banyupahit’.
- It emits hot, flammable sulphurous gases that ignite upon contact with Earth’s oxygen-rich atmosphere and burn with an eerie, blue flame.
4) Lucy Mission: NASA’s Lucy mission has discovered that the asteroid Dinkinesh is actually a binary system of two asteroids.
- Launched in 2021, Lucy is the first space mission to explore Jupiter Trojan asteroids.
- Trojans are a group of small bodies (remnants of early solar system) that orbit the Sun in two “swarms” along the orbit of Jupiter.
- Trojan asteroids are most likely made of same primordial material that led to formation of outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune).
- Over its 12 year mission (2021-2033), Lucy will fly past various asteroids like Eurybates, DonaldJohanson, Polymele, Leucus, etc.
Places in News:
1) Galapagos Islands:
- Two new coral reefs and seamounts discovered in Galapagos Islands.
- Political features
- Situated in Eastern Pacific Ocean, ~1,000 km from Ecuadorian coast.
- Located at confluence of three ocean currents (Humboldt current, Panama Flow and Cromwell current).
- Consists of 13 major and 6 smaller islands.
- Equator passes through island.
- Geographical features
- Formed of lava piles and dotted with shield volcanoes, many of which are periodically active.
- Largest Island: Isabela.
- Highest Point: Peak of Wolf Volcano (on Isabella Island).
- Galapagos was a wildlife sanctuary. Later, sanctuary became Galapagos National Park.
- It is a UNESCO World Heritage site
