Central Adoption Resource Authority

(CARA)
▪ Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) has
been set up as a statutory body of the Ministry of
Women and Child Development.
▪ It functions as a nodal body for the adoption of Indian
children and is mandated to monitor and regulate
in-country and inter-country adoption.
▪ CARA is designated as the Central Authority to deal
with inter-country adoptions in accordance with the
provisions of the Hague Conventions on Inter-Country
Adoptions, 1993, ratified by the Government of India
in 2003.
▪ CARA primarily deals with adoption of orphan,
abandoned and surrendered children through its
associated /recognised adoption agencies. Instagram
@tireless.study
 Hague Convention
• Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of
International Child Abduction

• Hague Convention is a multilateral treaty which

came into existence on 1st December 1983.

• It is an international treaty to ensure the prompt

return of the child who has been “abducted”
from the country of their “habitual residence”.

• The Convention applies to children age under

16 years.
Instagram
@tireless.study
 GAUBA COMMITTEE Instagram
@tireless.study

About:
• Background:
◦ In May-June 2018, more than 20 people were lynched based on fake posts or rumours
floating on various social media platforms.

◦ Subsequently, this expert panel was constituted to discuss such incidents and suggest
measures to curb incidents of mob lynching’s.

• Recommendations:
◦ Social media platforms – Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and Twitter – need to act in a
‘time-bound’ manner against fake posts.

◦ Make social media platforms accountable for not blocking malicious posts and videos
when brought to their notice.

◦ FIR could be launched against top officials of such platforms for not complying with
government orders and they could be prosecuted under law.

• Way ahead: The Group of Ministers (GoM) will now submit its recommendations to Prime
Minister Narendra Modi for a final decision. Instagram
@tireless.study
 Global Nutrition Report
▪ This report has been produced by the Independent
Expert Group of the Global Nutrition Report,
supported by the Global Nutrition Report Stakeholder
Group.
▪ The Global Nutrition Report was conceived following
the first Nutrition for Growth Initiative Summit
(N4G) in 2013. The first report was published in
2014.
▪ The Global Nutrition Report acts as a report card on
the world’s nutrition—globally, regionally, and
country by country—and on efforts to improve it.
▪ It assesses progress in meeting Global Nutrition
Targets established by the World Health Assembly.
▪ The World Health Organization (WHO) is a Global
Nutrition Report Partner. Instagram
@tireless.study
 States’ Start-up Ranking
• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal
Trade (DPIIT) has released second edition of Startup
Ranking for 2019.
States’ Start-up Ranking
1. The DPIIT launched this exercise to rank states and UTs
on the basis of measures being taken by them to promote
startups, and added that it was consulting states for their
ranking framework.
2. Erstwhile DIPP began this exercise from January, 2016.
3. The State Startup Ranking Framework is aimed at bringing
to fore progress made by States/UTs for promoting startup
ecosystem.
4. The report intends to foster competitiveness and propel the
states/UTs to work proactively while facilitating states/UTs
to identify learn and replicate good practices.
Instagram
@tireless.study
About 2019 Framework
1. The Ranking Framework 2019 comprises of 7 pillars and 30 action
points.
2. DPIIT has prepared the framework after several rounds of consultation
with State and UT Governments.
3. DPIIT also proposes to recognise States and UTs for their exemplary
performance in seven pillars of the ranking framework:

• Institutional support
• Simplifying regulations
• Easing public procurement
• Incubation support
• Seed funding support
• Venture funding support
• Awareness and outreach related activities

Is DIPP and DPIIT same?

DIPP Renamed as DPIIT. The government has notified changing the name of the
Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) to the Department for Promotion
of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Instagram
@tireless.study
 Instagram
@tireless.study
 ILO
• International Labour Organization (ILO) was founded in 1919
as part of the Treaty of Versailles (the treaty that ended World
War I)

• In 1946, ILO became the first specialized agency of the

United Nations

• Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland

• The Vision of ILO is

-Universal humane conditions of labour

-Labourers attain social justice

-Development, promotion, and monitoring of International

Instagram
Labour standards among nations @tireless.study
India has ratified six out of the eight-core/fundamental ILO conventions:-

1) Forced Labour Convention (Convention No. 29)

2) Abolition of Forced Labour Convention (Convention No.105)

3) Equal Remuneration Convention (Convention No.100)

4) Discrimination (Employment Occupation) Convention (Convention

No.111)

5) Minimum Age Convention (Convention No.138)

6) Worst forms of Child Labour Convention (Convention No.182)

So the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining and Freedom of

Association and Protection of Right to Organized convention are not
ratified by India.

Instagram
@tireless.study
• Labour law deals with welfare of the labourers which include
Working Condition, Labour Welfare, Social Security

• The Royal Commission on Labour or the Whitley Commission on

Labour was set up in 1929 to inquire into the existing conditions of
labour in industrial undertakings and plantations in IndiA. The
Commission was chaired by John Henry Whitley.

International Programme on the elimination of child labour

and Forced labour
• It is the flagship program of the International Labour Organization.

• The IPEC+ is developing cutting edge tools and policy

prescriptions to eliminate all forms of child labour by 2025

Instagram
@tireless.study
 Ninth Schedule
Ninth Schedule was added in the Indian constitution
by the first constitutional(amendment) act 1951.

This schedule deals with acts and regulations of the

state legislatures dealing with land reforms and the
abolition of the zamindari system.

This schedule was added by the 1st Amendment (1951)

to protect the laws included in it from judicial scrutiny
on the ground of violation of fundamental rights.

However, in 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the laws

included in this schedule after April 24, 1973, are now
open to judicial review. Instagram
@tireless.study
 What is Devonian period?
It is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic, spanning 60 million years from
the end of the Silurian, 419.2 million years ago, to the beginning of the
Carboniferous, 358.9 Mya.
Key features:
• It is named after Devon, England, where rocks from this period were first
studied.
• The first significant adaptive radiation of life on dry land occurred during the
Devonian.
• Free-sporing vascular plantsbegan to spread across dry land, forming
extensive forests which covered the continents.
• By the end of the period the first seed-bearing plants appeared.
• Various terrestrial arthropods also became well-established.
• Fish reached substantial diversity during this time, leading the Devonian to often
be dubbed the Age of Fishes.
• The ancestors of all four-limbed vertebrates (tetrapods) began adapting to
walking on land, as their strong pectoral and pelvic fins gradually evolved into
legs.
• The first ammonites, species of molluscs, appeared.
• The palaeogeographywas dominated by the supercontinent of Gondwana to the
south, the continent of Siberia to the north, and the early formation of the small
continent of Euramerica in between. Instagram
@tireless.study
 Fundamental rights are justiciable
Fundamental rights are justiciable,
which means a person whose any of
the fundamental right is violated, he
or she can approach the Supreme
Court of India (under article 32) or the
High Court (under article 226).

The fundamental rights are listed in Part

III (article 12 - 35) of the Constitution.
Instagram
@tireless.study
 Sparrow
The reasons attributed to the decline of house sparrows are

• The unfriendly architecture of our homes

• Usage of chemical fertilizer

• Noise pollution

• Exhaust fumes from vehicles

The World Sparrow Day was first celebrated in 2010.

The house sparrow is known to have lived in close contact with humans, rather than in forests and
has, for years, peacefully coexisted with us in our buildings and gardens, according to a
conservation organisation, WWF. According to the NGO, factors leading to their decline are; rapidly
changing cities that are inhabitable for the bird species, modern infrastructure that does not
account for space for the sparrow to nest, and the sharp rise in pollution levels, caused by
microwave towers and pesticides.

The World Sparrow Day, first celebrated in 2010, is an initiative taken by the Nature Forever Society
of India, in partnership with several organisations, national and international, aimed at spreading
awareness about the House Sparrow. Several efforts in cities across the country are underway to
find out why the population of house sparrows has diminished and what measures can be taken to
protect the bird species from extinction. Instagram
@tireless.study
 Kimberley Process
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) is
the process established in 2003 to prevent "conflict
diamonds" from entering the mainstream rough diamond
market by United Nations General Assembly Resolution
55/56 following recommendations in the Fowler Report. The
process was set up "to ensure that diamond purchases
were not financing violence by rebel movements and their
allies seeking to undermine legitimate governments.

Though deals with conflict diamonds but It is not an

international agreement.

India is a founding member of the Kimberly process and

also is currently chairing the Kimberly process
certification scheme. Instagram
@tireless.study
 Black Gold
Scientists at the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of
Fundamental Research (TIFR) used gold nanoparticles
and by rearranging size and gaps between them
developed a new material, which has unique properties
such as capacity to absorb light and carbon dioxide.

Gold does not have these properties, therefore ‘black

gold’ is being called a new material. In appearance it is
black, hence the name ‘black gold.’

Instagram
@tireless.study
Schedule 1 to 12

Instagram
@tireless.study
Nil Darpan (The Mirror of Indigo) by Dinabandhu Mitra

The peasants were supported by the intelligentsia and press.

The play Nil Darpan (The Mirror of Indigo) by Dinabandhu Mitra

written in 1858 – 59 portrayed the farmers' situation accurately.

It showed how farmers were coerced into planting indigo without

adequate payment.

The play became a talking point and it urged the Bengali

intelligentsia to lend support to the indigo revolt.

The Indigo revolt was a peasant movement and subsequent

uprising of indigo farmers against the indigo planters that arose in
Bengal in 1859.

It was led by Digambar and Bishnu Biswas. Instagram

@tireless.study
 Ocean Acidification
When oceans Absorb high levels of carbon dioxide, the acidity
levels raise and the natural order of the ocean becomes
compromised. This is what is known as “ocean acidification”.

Causes of Ocean Acidification

• The industrial revolution
• High concentration of carbon dioxide
• Burning of fossil fuels
• Cement manufacturing
• Changes of land use
• Raising of carbon dioxide levels in the ocean
• Raising of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
• Chemical reactions causing high concentration of hydrogen ions
• Decrease in carbonate ions
• Loss of biodiversity
• Production alterations of biogas
• Lack of environmentally friendly laws and regulations. Instagram
@tireless.study
 Reunion Island
Context: India and France, For the first time, have conducted
joint patrols from the Reunion Island.

India has so far carried out Coordinated Patrols (CORPAT)

only with maritime neighbours and had rejected a similar offer
by the US.

Reunion is an overseas department

and region of the French Republic
and an island in the Indian Ocean,
east of Madagascar and 175 km
southwest of Mauritius.

Instagram
@tireless.study
 CARISSA KOPILII
Context : The Carissa kopilii is threatened by the very river it is
named after — Kopili in central Assam. It is a distant cousin of
multi- utility wild berry.

Properties: It has medicinal and utilitarian properties.

Reasons: a hydroelectric project on the river and water turned

acidic because of coal mining in Meghalaya upstream.

Distribution: The “sun-loving” plant is

distributed sparsely, rooted in rocky
crevices along the Kopili riverbed at
altitudes ranging from 85-600 metres
above sea level.

Instagram
@tireless.study
 Vishwashanti Ahimsa Sammelan
1. The President of India has inaugurated the
Vishwashanti Ahimsa Sammelan at Mangi Tungi,
Nasik in Maharashtra.
2. The event is being organised by the Bhagwan Shri
Rishabhdev 108 Feet Vishalkai Digambar Jain Murti
Nirman Committee.
3. Humankind is exploiting nature indiscriminately.
Ruthless consumption and accumulation of resources is
increasing.
4. Due to this, phenomena like climate change are
emerging as challenges.
5. President highlighted the importance following the Jain
Principles for a way out against emerging challenges.
Instagram
@tireless.study
 Rishabhdeva
1. He is the first Tirthankara of Jainism.
2. The Vishnu Purana and Bhagvat Purana
describe him as an incarnation of
Vishnu.
3. He along with Arishtamneni finds mention
in Rig-Veda.
4. He was followed by 23 other Tirthankars.
5. The Sign of Rishbhdev is a Bull and
achieved nirvana on the Kailasa Mountain
of the Himalayas.
Instagram
@tireless.study
 Mangi Tungi
A 108-feet tall idol of Lord Rishabhdeva, the fi rst Teerthankar
of Jains, carved out of a single rock, has entered the
“Guinness World Records” as the world’s tallest Jain
statue.

The impressive statue is located atop

M a n g i Tu n g i m o u n t a i n n e a r
Teharabad village of Baglan tehsil in
Nashik district of Maharashtra.

Before this statue, the 57 feet idol of

Lord Bahubali in Shravanabelagola
in Karnataka was considered the
world’s tallest Jain statue.

Instagram
@tireless.study
 Vorombe Titan/ Elephant Bird
Context: The elephant bird of Madagascar has regained its title as the largest
bird that ever lived.

About:
• Elephant birds are members of the extinct family Aepyornithidae, that once
lived on the island of

• They became extinct, perhaps around 1000-1200 AD, for reasons that are
unclear, although human activity is the suspected cause.

• These were large flightless birds similar to Ostrich and Kiwi.

• Elephant birds comprised the genera Mullerornis, Vorombe and Aepyornis.

• Recently, scientists determined that

‘Vorombe titan’ specie reached weights
of 730 kg, making it the world's largest
bird, slightly larger than the much older
Dromornis stirtoni of Australia, another
flightless bird that disappeared from the Instagram
Earth 20,000 years ago. @tireless.study
 SpiNNaker
SpiNNaker, the world’s largest supercomputer designed to work
in the same way as the human brain, has been switched on for the
first time.
SpiNNaker:
• Spiking Neural Network Architecture (SpiNNaker) is a massive
parallel computing platform designed to simulate the human
brain.

• It uses 1 million ARM processors in a massively parallel

computing platform based on Spiking Neural Networks (SNN).

• SpiNNaker machine is capable of completing more than 200

million actions per second, with each of its chips having 100
million transistors.

• It is designed by the researchers at University of Manchester.

Instagram
@tireless.study
 Instagram
@tireless.study
Working:
• Biological neurons are basic brain cells present in the nervous system that communicate
primarily by emitting ‘spikes’ of pure electro-chemical energy.

• Neuromorphic computing uses large scale computer systems containing electronic circuits
to mimic these spikes in a machine.

• SpiNNaker is unique because, unlike traditional computers, it does not communicate by

sending large amounts of information from point A to B via a standard network.

• Instead it mimics the massively parallel communication architecture of the brain, sending
billions of small amounts of information simultaneously to thousands of different
destinations.

Human Brain Project (HBP)?

• SpiNNaker is being used as one component of the neuromorphic computing platform for the
Human Brain Project (HBP).

• The Human Brain Project (HBP) is a large ten-year scientific research project started in
2013.

• It is based on exascale supercomputers and aims to build a collaborative ICT-based

infrastructure to allow researchers across Europe to advance knowledge in the fields of
neuroscience, computing, and brain-related medicine.

• The project is largely funded by the European Union. The project coordination office is in
Geneva, Switzerland. Instagram
@tireless.study
 TaihuLight
The Sunway TaihuLight is a Chinese supercomputer that ranked as the fastest
supercomputer between The Sunway TaihuLight was the world’s fastest
supercomputer for two years, from June 2016 to June 2018.
It is located at the Chinese National Supercomputing Center in the city of Wuxi, in
Jiangsu province, China.

What is Sunway TaihuLight used for?

The Sunway TaihuLight is majorly used for weather forecasting, designing nuclear
weapons, analyzing oilfields and other specialized purposes. This can also be
used as a superior device for conducting various cosmic simulation activities such
as earth system modeling, ocean surface wave modeling, atomistic simulation,
and phase-field simulation.

Who has the fastest supercomputer?

The majority of supercomputers belong to the US and China.
How many supercomputers are in China?
According to the reports, China has more than 200 supercomputers in its
possession.
Instagram
@tireless.study
TaihuLight
Instagram
@tireless.study
 Summit and Sierra Instagram
@tireless.study

• IBM builds the world's most powerful supercomputers

The most powerful HPC servers are IBM servers.

• Summit and Sierra, ranked #1 and #2, respectively, tackle

the world’s biggest challenges
-combatting cancer,
-identifying next-gen materials, and
-accelerating our understanding of disease
using technologies that can help you conquer your own
business challenges.

Sierra
Summit
Context
Param-Shivaay
Recently, Param-Shivaay, a supercomputer, was inaugurated at Indian Institute of
Technology- Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU) under the National Supercomputing
Mission.

About
• Supercomputer 'Param Shivay' with a capacity of 833 teraflop has been developed
by the Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
• It will include 1 peta byte secondary storage and appropriate open source system and
application software suite using 223 processor nodes, 384 GB per node DDR4 RAM,
parallel file system, including CPU and GPU.
• The supercomputer will help in simulation and modeling which will be applied in many
areas like climate assessment, weather forecasting, space engineering, seismic
analysis, finance, disaster simulation and management, search astrophysics, macro-
data analytics, information collection.
• Scientists, teachers and research students, government research laboratories in
adjacent engineering colleges to IIT-BHU can avail benefits of the projects. About 40
per cent computer power will be used by the students of Navodaya Vidyalaya.

• India’s first supercomputer called PARAM 8000 was launched in 1991. Pratyush
(4.0 Petaflops) and Mihir (2.8 petaflops) are the other supercomputers established
at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune and National Center for
Medium Range Weather Forecast (NCMRWF), Noida respectively. Instagram
@tireless.study
Param-Shivaay Instagram
@tireless.study
 Royle's pika
Royle's pika (Ochotona roylei) is a species of mammal in the pika
family (Ochotonidae).

It is found in China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan.

The most common pika in Himalayas with a HBT length of 17-22

centimeter.

Royle's pika has slightly arched head with rufous-grey body with
chestnut-coloured head and sparse hair in front of its ears.

Instagram
@tireless.study
 KATRIN Experiment
Context: Researchers in Germany with the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino
experiment have started collecting data to determine the mass of the
universe’s lightest particle- neutrino. Those are sometimes called “ghost
particles” because they’re so difficult to detect.

About KATRIN experiment:

• The KATRIN experiment is currently set up and commissioned on
the Campus North of the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology.
• The experiment is a collaboration between national and
international partners with currently more than 150 scientists,
engineers, technicians and students.

• KATRIN measures the

neutrino mass in a model-
independent way via ultrahigh
precision measurements of
the kinematics of electrons
from beta-decay. Instagram
@tireless.study
 Biospeleology
Biospeleology, also known as cave
biology, is a branch of biology dedicated
to the study of organisms that live in
caves and are collectively referred to as
troglofauna.

Instagram
@tireless.study
 Astra Missile
Recently, ASTRA the first indigenously developed air-to-air missile was successfully
flight-tested off the coast of Odisha.
▪ The missile was launched from Sukhoi-30 MKI.
▪ The Astra missile is developed by Defence Research and Development
Organization (DRDO).
▪ It works on the Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) technology
that enables the fighter-pilots to shoot precisely at the enemy targets which are
beyond their visual range.
▪ The specifications of the missile are:
◦ Speed: over 5,555 km per hour or 4.5 mach
◦ Range: over 70 km,
◦ Payload/warhead capacity: 15 kg.
◦ Features:
• Electronic Counter-Countermeasures or ECCM feature enables Astra
missile to overcome defensive measures put forth for the target by the
enemy.
• Another deadly feature of this missile is the option to choose between
“Lock-on Before Launch – LOBL” and “Lock-on After Launch – LOAL”
• Lock-on After Launch option allows the fighter aircraft to safely shoot
and scoot after launching the missile towards the target.
▪ Astra is extremely effective in a multi-target scenario and therefore, has been
described as the most potent weapon system for IAF’s combat aircraft. Instagram
@tireless.study
 X-Calibur telescope
• It is a telescope that has been successfully launched recently by US
scientists from the McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
• It was launched on a helium balloon intended to reach an altitude of
130,000 feet i.e at nearly four times the cruising altitude of commercial
airliners, and above 99 per cent of the Earth’s atmosphere.
• It will analyse X-rays arriving from distant neutron stars, black holes and
other exotic celestial bodies.
• The prime observation target will be Vela X-1, a neutron star in binary
orbit with a supergiant star.
• Neutron stars are objects of very small radius (typically 30 km) and very
high density, composed predominantly of closely packed neutrons.
• Neutron stars are thought to be formed by the gravitational collapse of
the remnant of a massive star after a supernova explosion.
• It is the same process by which black holes are formed except that here
the star is not massive enough to produce a black hole.
• Supergiant stars are the largest stars in the universe. They can be
thousands of times bigger than our Sun and have a mass up to 100 times
greater.
• The largest known supergiant star, VY Canis Majoris, is up to 2,100
times the size of the Sun.
• Binary stars are two stars orbiting a common center of mass. Instagram
@tireless.study
 Le Grand K
How much is a kilogram?
1. Over the centuries, it has been defined and redefined, with a standard in
place since 1889.
2. Called Le Grand K, a cylinder of platinum-iridium is locked up in a jar at the
International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in Paris.
3. For nearly 130 years, the mass of this cylinder has been the international
standard for the kilogram.
Redefining what constitutes 1 Kg
1. Representatives from 57 countries will vote in Versailles, France, to
redefine SI, or the International System of Units.
2. The kilogram’s definition will be based on a concept of physics called the
Planck constant.
3. Reports worldwide suggest that the new definition is set to be voted in.

Instagram
@tireless.study
 Compact2025
Compact2025 is an initiative for ending hunger and
undernutrition by 2025.
By building a knowledge base, promoting innovation,
and bringing stakeholders together, Compact2025
helps countries develop, scale up, and communicate
policies and programs to accelerate progress.

Instagram
@tireless.study