NABARD: NABARD is a development bank focussing primarily on the rural sector of the country. It is the apex banking institution to provide finance for Agriculture and rural development. Its headquarter is located in Mumbai, the country’s financial capital. It is responsible for the development of the small industries, cottage industries, and any other such village or rural projects. It is a statutory body established in 1982 under Parliamentary act-National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act, 1981. It provides refinance support for building rural infrastructure. It prepares district level credit plans to guiding and motivating the banking industry in achieving these targets. It supervises Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and helping them develop sound banking practices and integrate them to the CBS (Core Banking Solution) platform.
Ak-203: AK series (known in Russia as ‘Avtomat Kalashnikova) of rifles are a series of automatic rifles of Russia (erstwhile Soviet Union) based on the design of Mikhail Kalashnikov. The armed forces have received the first batch of 70,000 rifles from Russia as part of a larger contract to manufacture the AK 203 assault rifles in India. The initial batch has been delivered at a fast pace as requested by India. The rifles are being manufactured with a complete technology transfer clause that will also enable their exports to friendly foreign nations in the near future. The manufacturing will be done by the Indo Russian Rifles Private Limited Joint Venture between Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Ltd (erstwhile OFB) and Russian Rosoboronexport.
B9 countries: The “Bucharest Nine” is a group of nine NATO countries in Eastern Europe that became part of the US-led military alliance after the end of the Cold War. The B9 was founded on November 4, 2015, and takes its name from Bucharest, the capital of Romania. Romania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the three Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All members of the B9 are part of the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). All nine countries were once closely associated with the now dissolved Soviet Union, but later chose the path of democracy. The B9 offers a platform for deepening the dialogue and consultation among the participant allied states, in order to articulate their specific contribution to the ongoing processes across the North-Atlantic Alliance. The envoys to India of nine Eastern European countries called Bucharest Nine jointly wrote to acquaint the Indian public with the basic facts on the ground” about the “premeditated, unprovoked and unjustified Russian aggression in Ukraine”.
G-20: It is an informal group of 19 countries and the European Union (EU), with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. It does not have a permanent secretariat or Headquarters. The membership comprises a mix of the world’s largest advanced and emerging economies, representing about two-thirds of the world’s population, 80% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 80% of global investment and over 75% of global trade.. Each G20 country is represented by its Sherpa, who plans, guides, implements, etc. on behalf of the leader of their respective country. India will steer the international body as its President from 1st December 2022 to 30th November 2023, which will lead to the G20 summit to be hosted here. Members: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the EU
BOD: Water pollution by organic wastes is measured in terms of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD). BOD is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed by bacteria in decomposing the organic wastes present in water. It is expressed in milligrams of oxygen per litre of water. The higher value of BOD indicates low DO content of water. Since BOD is limited to biodegradable materials, it is not a reliable method of measuring water pollution.
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