1) Index Funds: An index fund is a type of mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) with a portfolio constructed to match or track the components of a financial market index, such as the S&P’s 500 Index.
- An index fund is a portfolio of stocks or bonds designed to mimic the composition, returns, and performance of a financial market index. For example, a Nifty 50 Index Fund will replicate the Nifty50 index.
2) AT-1 Bonds: Additional Tier-1 bonds (AT-1 bonds) are a type of unsecured perpetual debt instrument. They are used by the banks to augment their core equity base and thus comply with Basel III norms.
- AT-1 bonds are like any other bonds issued by banks and companies, but pay a slightly higher rate of interest compared to other bonds.
- These bonds are also listed and traded on the exchanges. So, if an AT-1 bondholder needs money, he can sell it in the secondary market.
- Investors cannot return these bonds to the issuing bank and get the money. i.e there is no put option available to its holders. However, the issuing banks have the option to recall AT-1 bonds issued by them (termed call options that allow banks to redeem them)
3) PM Matsay Sampada Yojana (PMMSY): Ministry: Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying
- Timeline: FY 2020 to 2025, Approach: ‘Cluster or Area based approaches’ and many new interventions such as fishing vessel insurance, Aquaculture in saline/alkaline areas, Sagar Mitras, FFPOs, Nucleus Breeding Centres, etc.
- Key targets: Enhance fish production by an additional 70 lakh tonnes by 2024-25.
- Increase fisheries export earnings to Rs.1,00,000 crore by 2024-25.
- Reduce post-harvest losses from 20-25% to about 10%.
- Generate additional 55 lakhs of direct and indirect gainful employment opportunities in the fisheries sector and allied activities.
4) Mantle plume: Mantle plume is an upwelling of abnormally hot rock within the earth’s mantle which carries heat upward in narrow, rising columns, driven by heat exchange across the core-mantle boundary.
- Eventually, the rising column of hot rock reaches the base of the lithosphere, where it spreads out, forming a mushroom-shaped cap to the plume.
- Heat transferred from the plume raises the temperature in the lower lithosphere to above melting point, and forms magma chambers that feed volcanoes at the surface. It is a secondary way through which earth loses heat.
5) Red-Eared Slider Turtles: The red-eared slider is primarily aquatic and will emerge from the water for basking on rocks and logs.
- When basking, red-eared sliders commonly pile on top of each other, and when startled by the sound or sight of a potential predator, they will slide off their basking spot back into the water, hence their name, “slider.” The red-eared slider is native to South-Eastern USA and Mexico.
- Protection Status: IUCN Red List: Least Concern, CITES: N/A, Wildlife Protection Act 1972: N/A
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