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The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)- It is an initiative of the Government of India which aims at providing affordable housing to the urban poor by the year 2022. The scheme was first launched on 25 June 2015. The interest rate for the PMAY scheme starts at 6.50% p.a. and can be availed for aRead more

1) Aluminium freight rake- Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw inaugurated India’s First Aluminium  Freight Rake (61 BOBRNALHSM1) at Bhubaneswar Railway Station. It has been fully designed and developed indigenously in collaboration with RDSO, HINDALCO, and Besco Wagon. Designed under the Make in India program, and have lock-bolted construction with no welding on the superstructure.Read more

1) Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV): ISRO is developing NGLV, which will replace its ‘trusted work horse’ PSLV in the future. ISRO’s NGLV will be a three-stage reusable heavy-lift vehicle. Payload capacity will be around 10 tonnes to Geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) and twice the capacity to Low earth orbit (LEO). Potential applications: areas ofRead more

1) Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA): is a multi-national forum for strengthening cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia. It was founded by the first President of Kazakhstan in 1992, at UNGA session. India is one of the founding members. To be a member of CICA, a stateRead more

1) Slender Loris: In a first in the country, the Tamil Nadu government notified Kaduvur slender loris sanctuary. They are small nocturnal mammals that are arboreal in nature as they spend most of their life on trees. The species acts as a biological predator of pests in agricultural crops and benefits farmers. It is nativeRead more

1) Crypto-Assets Reporting Framework (CARF): OECD has given final shape to CARF. It will enable the cross-border report and exchange of information regarding crypto assets. Entities or individuals providing services in crypto assets will be obliged to report under CARF. It will create a level playing field among countries regarding the use and investments ofRead more

1) Foreign direct product rule: Recently, US officials applied the foreign direct product rule to China’s advanced computing and supercomputer industry to stop it from obtaining advanced computing chips. It was introduced in 1959 by the US government to control the trading of the US technologies. It essentially says that if a product was madeRead more

1) Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP): The GRAP is a step-by-step plan to counter Delhi-NCR’s deteriorating air quality. It was formulated by the Environmental Pollution Prevention and Control Authority (EPCA) jointly with the Delhi government in 2017. it is an emergency response mechanism and is only enforced when air pollution reaches a certain threshold. Moreover,Read more

1) Aatmanirbhar in defence production: India ranks fourth among 12 Indo-Pacific nations in self-reliant arms production capabilities, according to a study released this month by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The 12 countries in the study were selected because they have the highest military spending in the region. The study, which measures self-relianceRead more

1) Laws regarding Moonlighting: Moonlighting refers to a state where employees work for remuneration with entities other than their employer. The Factories Act of 1948 places a restriction on the double employment of workers. However, this is limited only to ‘Factories’ and is not applicable to ‘Companies’ which are regulated by the Companies Act 2013.Read more