Spot billed pelicans: The Grey Pelican also called the Spot Billed Pelican is listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act and in the Red Data Book. It is in “Near Threatened” list in IUCN. The first-ever Pelican Bird Festival was held at the Atapaka Bird Sanctuary on Kolleru lake in Andhra Pradesh on February, 2018.
Chamka/Hajong: They are ethnic people who lived in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, most of which are located in Bangladesh. Chakmas are predominantly Buddhists, while Hajongs are Hindus. They are found in northeast India, West Bengal, Bangladesh and Myanmar. They fled erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1964-65 and came to India and settled in Arunachal Pradesh. Reasons: Chakmas lost their land to the development of the Kaptai Dam on the Karnaphuli River, Bangladesh. Hajongs faced religious persecution as they were non-Muslims and did not speak Bengali.
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle: is the third generation launch vehicle of India. It is a four-staged launch vehicle with first and third stages using solid rocket motors and second and fourth stages using liquid rocket engines. It is the first Indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages. Capacity: Initially, PSLV had a carrying capacity of 850 kg but has been enhanced to 1.9 tonnes. Between 1994 and 2019, the PSLV launched 50 Indian satellites and 222 foreign satellites for over 70 international customers from 20 countries. It has a history of successful launches of payloads that include Chandrayaan-1, Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) and the space recovery mission, etc. The PSLV has failed only twice in its history — the maiden flight of the PSLV D1 in 1993 and the PSLV C-39 in 2017.
Retrospective tax: It allows a country to pass a rule on taxing certain products, items or services and deals and charge companies from a time behind the date on which the law is passed. Retrospective taxation hurts companies that had knowingly or unknowingly interpreted the tax rules differently. Apart from India, many countries including the USA, the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Australia and Italy have retrospectively taxed companies.
New IAS Cadre Rules:
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