DPN Topics
Subject: Government organization Context: Standoff between China and India last month has brought focus on India’s nuclear capability. Concept: Strategic Forced Command (SFC), also sometimes known as Strategic Nuclear Command, forms part of India’s nuclear National Command Authority (NCA which is responsible for command and control decisions regarding India’s nuclear weapons program). It was created […]
Subject: Economy Context: The RBI has released India’s balance of payments data for the fourth quarter of financial year 2020. Findings India has attained a small current account surplus which is around 0.1 per cent of the GDP. This is largely driven by a lower trade deficit. This is a rare occurrence because since 1976-77, […]
Subject: Polity Context: Members of departmental Standing Committees of Parliament are gearing up for some tough questioning of the Central Ministries on the Covid-19 lockdown, the migrant crisis and the locusts attack. Concept: Department related Standing Committees The main objective of the standing committees is to secure more accountability of the Executive (i.e.,the Council of […]
Subject:IR Context: US State Department has announced that it would not issue visas to students enrolled in schools that are fully online in the upcoming semester. Concept: F1 visas are issued to students attending an academic program in the United States and M1 visas are for students enrolled in vocational studies. All students with active […]
Subject: Science and tech Context: Scientists warned that Coronavirus has a great risk for airborne spread and wants WHO to revise guidelines. Concept: Airborne diseases are illnesses spread by tiny pathogens in the air. These can be bacteria, fungi, or viruses, but they are all transmitted through airborne contact. In most cases, an airborne disease […]
Subject: Science and tech Context: Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) launched a special winter-grade diesel in Ladakh. Concept: Motorists in high-altitude sectors like Ladakh, Kargil, Kaza and Keylong face the problem of freezing of diesel in their vehicles when winter temperatures drop to as low as -30◦Celsius. Indian Oil has come up with an innovative solution […]
Subject: Economy EPC Under the EPC model, government pays private players to lay roads. The private player has no role in the road’s ownership, toll collection or maintenance (it is taken care of by the government). BOT Under the BOT model though, private players have an active role — they build, operate and maintain the […]
Subject: Arts and culture Context: Zardozi workers have been left with joblessness due to lockdown Concept: Zardozi is form of embroidery that came to India from Persia. Its literal translation, “zar” meaning gold and “dozi” meaning embroidery, refers to the process of using metallic-bound threads to sew embellishment on to various fabrics. This heavy and […]
Subject: Schemes Context: Almost 1.4 lakh poor rural households have completed their quota of 100 days of work under MGNREGA in the first three months of the year, and will not be eligible for further benefits under the rural employment guarantee scheme for the rest of the year. Concept: Reason: With COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown resulting […]
Subject: IR/Economy Context: The World Bank and the Government of India has signed the $750 million agreement for the MSME Emergency Response Programme. Concept: The World Bank’s MSME Emergency Response Programme will address theimmediate liquidity and credit needs of some 1.5 million viable MSMEs to help them withstand the impact of the current shock and […]