12th & 13th JUNE, 2022

NEWS TT DAY
NEWS DAY
MINISTRY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT (MOSJE) SEEKS FEEDBACK ON

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DRAFT NATIONAL POLICY FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (PwD)
Revision, of the existing policy (drafted in 2006), was needed because of the recent developments including:
Signing of United Nations Convention on Rights of Person with Disabilities (UNCRPD) by India,
Enactment of Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPD) Act, 2016,

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National Education Policy 2020
Key initiatives taken by India for PwDs
As per 2011 census, 2.21% of Indian population (2.68

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crores) has some form of disability.
Accessible India
Draft policy aims to Campaign (AIC)
Assistance to disabled
persons for
Reduce number of PwD through disability Unique Disability purchase/fitting of
prevention. Identification (UDID) aids/assistive devices
Project (ADIP)
Improve Quality of Life of PwD through better

healthcare, accessibility and social security.
Create a more inclusive society.
Key provisions in draft policy:
Comprehensive National
prevention of disability.
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Scholarships for students National Action Plan for
with Disabilities Skill Training of Persons
with Disabilities
Deendayal Disabled
Rehabilitation Scheme Concessional loan to
Programme on entrepreneurs
(DDRS)

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Early identification and intervention as one-third of most disabilities in children being preventable, if detected early.
Hassle free certification of Disability based on disabilities covered by RPD Act, 2016

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Provision on Compliance with RPD Act from States and UTs when granting permission or recognition to educational institutions.
Targeted Mission to ensure PWD get accessible and affordable health services.
National level employment portal and disability sports centers for PwD.
Guidelines on necessary modifications in personal vehicles used by PwD.

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IRAN STARTS TRANSFER OF RUSSIA GOODS TO INDIA BY USING INTERNATIONAL

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NORTH-SOUTH TRANSIT CORRIDOR (INSTC)
INSTC is a multi-modal transportation network, first envisaged in 2000 by Russia, India and Iran, to promote transportation
cooperation among the Member States.

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INSTC connects Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf to Caspian Sea via Iran and
is then connected to Saint Petersburg and North Europe via Russia.
Currently, it has 13 members: India, Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia,
Kazakhstan, Belarus, Turkey, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Ukraine and Syria.
INSTC,s Significance for India
Will cut down the transportation costs of goods (by almost 30%) as well
transportation time (almost half compared to suez canal) between India
and Russia.
Will help India to gain smooth access into Central Asia and beyond and will
help to expand trade and investment links.
Reduce dependence on current trading partners, especially energy connectivity, through realignment of supply chains.
Other Planned Corridors Connecting India with Russia and Europe
Chennai-Vladivostok Maritime Corridor connecting India-Russia.
India’s Arabian-Mediterranean (Arab-Med) Corridor connecting India with mainland Europe via Piraeus port of Greece and Middle
East.

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RBI LENS IN NEOBANKS AMONG RAPID GROWTH IN CUSTOMERS
Neobanks (E.g. RazorpayX) are the fintech firms, with only a digital presence. Neobanks don’t have a bank license of their own but
plug into conventional bank’s network to provide banking services.
Traditional banks follow an omni-channel approach i.e. having both physical (through branches and ATMs) and digital banking
presence.
FinTech is broadly used to describe emerging technological innovations in
the financial services sector.
Neobanks are disrupting the traditional banking system by leveraging

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technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to offer a range of personalised
services to customers.

They simplify financial services to the point where they meet the
expectations of today’s digital generation.

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Benefits of Neobanks: Promote innovation and customization of services, offer
level playing field to small banks, increased financial inclusion as they mainly

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cater underserved groups like retail customers and MSMEs segment etc.
MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC
Challenges/concerns: Offer only a small range of products and services, not
able to cater to non-tech savvy consumers, no direct regulation from RBI, lack of GRIEVANCES & PENSIONS RELEASED
customer trust because of absence of physical branches etc.
NATIONAL E-GOVERNANCE SERVICE
BINARY SUPER MASSIVE BLACK HOLE (SMBH) DIS- DELIVERY ASSESSMENT (NESDA)

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COVERED IN A SYSTEM WHICH COULD BE SITE OF
FUTURE GRAVITATIONAL WAVES (GW) DETECTION
Binary SMBH system (system consisting of two black holes in close orbit) was

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discovered in gravitationally lensed blazar.
2021 REPORT
Department of Administrative Reforms &
Public Grievances (DARPG) had constituted
NeSDA in 2019 to assess State, UT and
Central Ministries on depth and effectiveness
of e-Governance service delivery.

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Blazars are among the most luminous and energetic objects in Universe.
Biennial study helps the respective
Gravitational lensing is a phenomenon by which light shining from far away governments improve their delivery of
to be bent and pulled by gravity of an object between its source and citizen centric services and shares best
observer. practices across the country to emulate.
e-Governance is use of Information and

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A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light
cannot get out. This can happen when a star is dying. Communication Technology (ICT) at all level
of Government to transform relations with

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Black holes can be divided into: Tiny black holes (as small as just one atom), citizens, businesses, and other arms of
Stellar black holes (up to 20 times more than mass of sun), Supermassive government.
black holes (mass more than 1 million suns together). Key highlights of NeSDA 2021
2020 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for black hole related findings. Improvement in country's e-Governance

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Discovery of binary SMBH will help in future detection of GW. landscape (from 2019) highlighted by:
GW are 'ripples' in space-time travelling at speed of light caused by some of Increase in e-Service Delivery,
most violent and energetic processes in Universe. Rise in use of integrated/centralized
Albert Einstein predicted existence of GW in 1916 in his general theory of portals for delivery of e-Services,
relativity. Improvement across assessment
parameter scores.
GW were first detected in 2015 by Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave
Observatory (LIGO). e-Services of Finance and Local Governance
& Utility Services sectors were most widely
used.
Amongst all States and UTs, Kerala had the
highest overall compliance score.
Among North-East and Hill States,
Meghalaya and Nagaland are leading
States and among UTs, Jammu & Kashmir
ranked the highest.
Recommendations: Mandatory Sector
-specific Service Focus to attain SDG Goals,
Adoption of Standards for Uniformity in
Governance, Focus on security and privacy,
Embracing New Age Technologies etc.
MUMBAI SINKING AT 2MM PER YEAR, NEW RESEARCH WARNS
Researchers, using InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) data, analysed land subsidence in 99 countries, finding Tianjin
(China) to be fastest-sinking coastal city in the world.
InSAR is a technique for mapping ground deformation using radar images of Earth's surface from orbiting satellites.
NASA and ISRO are working together on NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission to measure changes in Earth’s
surface.
Land subsidence is a gradual settling or sudden sinking of Earth's surface due to removal or displacement of subsurface earth
materials.
It adversely alter local hydrology, causing floods and damaging civic infrastructure like roads, railways, telecommunications etc.
Reasons: Excessive groundwater extraction, Destruction of natural wetlands, Development of underground infrastructure, mining and
other ecological disturbances.
It can also be caused by Natural compaction or collapse (Sinkhole Formation, Earthquakes, or Thawing Permafrost).

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Methods to control or arrest subsidence: Reduction of pumping draft, artificial recharge of aquifers from land surface, and
repressuring of aquifers through wells, or any combination of these methods.
Earlier, Central Ground Water Board signed an MoU with Indian Institute of Remote Sensing to study impact of groundwater
extraction on land subsidence in northern India.

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ALSO IN NEWS

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It was the first-ever security, defense consultations between India and the European Union (EU).
An upgradation of India-EU ties, it covered the evolving security situation in Europe, India’s
neighborhood and the Indo-Pacific.
This includes consultations over cyber security, terrorism, maritime awareness, India’s
participation in Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) etc.
PESCO is a 25 EU member group established in 2017 to deepen defense cooperation between

India-EU Security,
Defense Consultations
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EU member states.
Earlier both sides have established a regular maritime security dialogue and conducted first joint
naval exercise in the Gulf of Aden in 2021.
Union Home Minister chaired 25th meeting of Western Zonal Council.
Zonal Councils are statutory bodies established by States Reorganisation Act (SRA) of 1956.

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Zonal Councils aim at promoting cooperation and coordination between states, UTs and Centre.
They are only deliberative and advisory bodies.
SRA divided the country into five zones (Northern, Central, Eastern, Western and Southern) and

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provided a zonal council for each zone.
In addition to above Zonal Councils, a North-Eastern Council was created by a separate Act of
Parliament in 1971.
Zonal Councils Chairman: Union Home Minister
Other Members: Chief Minister and Two other ministers from each state in the zone, Administrator

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of each UT in the zone.
Recently, EU has given ‘equivalence status’ to Central Counter Parties (CCPs) supervised by IFSCA.

International Financial
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CCPs interpose themselves between counterparties to contracts traded, becoming the buyer to
every seller and the seller to every buyer.
IFSCA (HQ: GIFT City, Gandhinagar) was established in 2020 under the International Financial
Services Centres Authority Act, 2019.
IFSCA is a unified authority for development and regulation of financial products, financial

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Services Centres Authority services and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in India.
(IFSCA) Prior to establishment of IFSCA, RBI, SEBI, PFRDA and IRDAI regulated the business in IFSC.
As per sample registration system data, India's life expectancy at birth increased to 69.7 years
(male 68.4 and female 71.1) in the 2015-19 period (estimated global average is 72.6 years).
Life expectancy at birth is defined as how long, on average, a newborn can expect to live, if
current death rates do not change.
Top states/UTs: Delhi (75.9), Kerala (75.2), J&K (74.2).
India’s life expectancy up by
Bottom States/UTs: Chhattisgarh (65.3), Uttar Pradesh (65.6), Madhya Pradesh (67).
2 years
NeVA system has been developed to make all the work and data related to legislative bodies
available online for the use of both citizens and the members of Assemblies.
e-Vidhan is re-designated as NeVA.
Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs is Nodal Ministry for rolling out NeVA.
NeVA aims to bring all the legislatures of the country together, in one platform thereby creating a
massive data depository.
National e-Vidhan It will also help in streamlining information related to various state assemblies, and to eliminate
Application (NeVA) use of paper in day-to-day functioning.

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 It is neurological disease in which a virus – Varicella Zoster – causes inflammation of the nerves
(7th cranial nerve) involved in facial movements.
When the nerves get inflamed, they lose their ability to function, leading to temporary facial
palsy or paralysis.
The disease is not contagious and is reversible.
Varicella Zoster Virus is the same virus that causes chickenpox and shingles. It can stay dormant in
Ramsay Hunt Syndrome
a person’s body and can reawaken to attack nerves.
A team of researchers from University of Delhi have discovered a unique set of fossilised dinosaur
eggs, with one egg nesting within the other.
While eggs-within-eggs are a rare phenomenon, they are so far known to occur only in birds and
never known in reptiles.
It was found in a titanosaurid sauropod egg found in Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh.
Abnormal Dinosaur egg Dinosaurs of the Sauropod family were among the largest land animals that have ever lived.
found Fossils of these animals have been found in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Meghalaya.

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It is the smallest wild deer in the country. Its appearance is an odd mix of a deer, mouse and pig.
It is highly nocturnal and is found in India, Sri Lanka and possibly Nepal.
It is often found in evergreen, semi-evergreen and deciduous forests, and in grassland and
commercial plantations.
IUCN status: Least Concern

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Indian mouse deer
Threat- Habitat destruction and poaching.
(Spotted Chevrotain)

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Since 2001, BrahMos has been upgraded several times.
BrahMos is a two-stage air to surface Supersonic Cruise missile with solid propellant booster engine.
It is a joint venture between India and Russia and derives its name from rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva.
It operates on "Fire and Forgets" principle. It can be launched from land,sea and air against surface
and sea-based targets.
BrahMos Range: Extended from original 290-km to 350-400-km now.

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Tajikistan (Capital: Dushanbe)
Recently, Indian envoy handed over the India-Tajikistan Friendship
Hospital (ITFH) in Bokhtar to the Tajikistan side.
Political boundaries: Tajikistan is a landlocked Central Asian
country sharing its borders with Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan,

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Afghanistan and China.
Geographical Features

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Topography: 93% of its land is mountainous with Alay Range in
North and Pamir Mountains (part of the roof of the world, High
Asia) in the southeast as main mountain ranges.
Highest Peak: Qullai Ismoili Somoni.

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Main Rivers: Amu Darya, Syr Dariya, Vashkh etc.
Main Glacier: Fedchenko Glacier, world’s largest non-polar glacier.

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Mongolia (Capital: Ulaanbaatar)
Places in News India has sent the holy Buddha relics for celebration
of the Mongolian Buddh Purnima.
Mongolia is also known as the “Land of the Eternal
Blue Sky” and “Land of the Horse”.

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Political boundaries: Mongolia is a landlocked East
Asian Country surrounded by Russia in the North and
China in South.
Geographical Features
Highest Point: Nayramadlin Orgil
Biggest Lake: Hovsgoi Nuur
Longest River: Orkhon River

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