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 MARCH 1
General Studies-01
High Arctic temperatures break records
News

 Arctic region is seeing record high temperatures, with the North Pole recently registering 30
degrees Celsius above normal for this time of year.

Beyond News

 At the same time, sea ice is covering the smallest area in the dead of winter since records
began more than half-a-century ago.
 A weather phenomenon called a “sudden stratospheric warming” has produced North Pole
temperatures at or above freezing.
 There are no permanent sensors at the North Pole, but weather services in the U.S. and
Scandinavian countries reported temperatures peaking on February 25.
 At the Longyearbyen weather station on the Island of Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean,
temperatures were 10 C above average over the last 30 days, according to Zack Labe, a
climate modeller at the University of California Irvine.

General Studies-02
Telangana moves to mobile governance
News

 The government is going to bring out a law to ensure that all its services are available through
mobile and in the near future, citizens can expect land registrations, revenue records and the
likes to be available in the format.

150 services

 Right from today by downloading the app, citizens can avail up to 150 services of the GHMC,
RTA, Police and T-Wallet and within a year another 1000 services will be added to it, said
Meeseva and Electronics Service Delivery (ESD) Commissioner G.T. Venkateswara Rao.
 The IT Secretary said the mobile apps of all government departments will be dovetailed into
T App Folio and it was ready to accept apps developed by the private sector having public
utility like those dealing with women‘s safety and tourism.
 General Studies-03
Cops Eye: New app to help
police
News

 The Madurai police have come up with a

new app ―Cops Eye.‖ Based on face
recognition feature, it would help them detect
people with criminal backgrounds by
clicking photographs with their mobile
phones.

Beyond News

 It would take only few seconds to match the face of a person with the of data of 2,000
criminals from the city and Madurai rural police.
 The data of 2,000 criminals has their names, photographs and details of criminal cases.
 Taking photograph of any person whose data is available with the centralised criminal
analysing system will give all particulars.
 It detects the criminal with 93% accuracy.
 The app comes with a password to protect the data.
 The rural police also launched six mobile two-wheeler patrol vehicles on the occasion.

Three astronauts back on Earth after months in space

News

 Three astronauts have landed safely in Kazakhstan after five-and-a-half-months of performing

research and spacewalks in low-Earth orbit.

Beyond News

 The three were part of the Expedition 54 crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
 Vande Hei ventured outside the space station on four spacewalks to perform work that
included replacing and lubricating the Latching End Effectors on both ends of the
Canadarm2.
 Misurkin conducted one record-setting spacewalk with fellow cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov
to replace an electronics box for a high-gain communications antenna on the Zvezda service
module in February.
 The spacewalk timed out at eight hours and 13 minutes, the longest in Russian space
programme history. Misurkin now has spent 334 days in space on two flights.
Waterbird species down by half in EGREE Region
News

 The number of water bird species has declined by half in most habitats across the East
Godavari River Estuarine Ecosystem (EGREE) region.

Beyond News

 This was revealed during a census conducted in the region, including the Coringa Wildlife
Sanctuary and parts of Mada forest and Papikondalu regions.
 It was found that the number of waterbird species has come down to half compared with the
Asian Waterbird Census 2017.
 In the census, uncommon bird species such as Eurasian spoonbill or common spoonbill
(Platalea leucorodia, Oyster catcher (Haematopus ostralegus) and Yellow bittern (Ixobrychus
sinensis) were recorded.
 The Yellow bittern was not recorded in
previous census.

Globally endangered

 According to Chief Executive Officer of

EGREE and Chief Conservator of Forests,
Rajamahendravaram region, a total of 23,779
birds of 85 waterbird species, including 34
migratory, 30 resident and breeding, five
local migratory and 12 local or migratory
species, were recorded.
 Of he 85 recorded species 57 are least
concern, 17 were not evaluated, 10 of them
were near threatened and one is globally
endangered waterbird species.

MARCH 2
General Studies-01
Antarctica: a lab for climate change
News

Measurements taken last year by Chilean scientists on Doumer Island in Antarctica‘s Palmer
Archipelago showed water temperature had risen to 2.5 degrees Celsius, up from its normal
range of between 0 and 1.5 degrees. And at a depth of 130 feet, it was still at 2.0 degrees.

Beyond News
 A decade ago, a thick layer of ice covered the Collins Glacier on Antarctica‘s King George
Island. Now, the rocky landscape is visible to the naked eye, in a region that is both a victim
of and a laboratory for climate change.
 Observers can now see ―rocks that we weren‘t seeing five or 10 years ago, and that is direct
evidence of the shrinking of these glaciers and loss of mass.
 But even as these melting glaciers worry the scientific world, the presence in Antarctica of
plants proving resistant to extreme conditions has also sparked hope for a warming planet.

Its Professor Julio Escudero complex on King George Island is where dozens of researchers are
measuring the effects of climate change on native flora and fauna.

 The warming waters have attracted species previously unseen in the Antarctic, such as a
spider crab normally found south of Chile.
 Antarctica holds 62 % of the planet‘s freshwater reserves, so the melting there could have far-
reaching consequences, not least by diminishing the salinity of the seas, which could prove
fatal for many marine species.
 Already, Antarctic plants – which are resistant to ultraviolet radiation and extreme conditions
– are being used in biotechnology to give us products such as sun protection lotion,
antioxidants and natural sugars.

General Studies-02
India, Jordan firm up security cooperation
News

India and Jordan signed a framework agreement in defence cooperation paving the way for a
joint strategy to counter common threats.

Beyond News

Defence agreement, the first such understanding

between the two sides, is the biggest takeaway
of the visit by the Jordanian king Abdullah II.

A press release from the Ministry of External

Affairs (MEA) informed that the purpose of the
MoU is to promote cooperation between India
and Jordan in the field of defence by defining
the scope of such cooperation and making
provisions for implementation of the
cooperation in some of the recognised areas like
training; defence industry; counter-terrorism;
military studies; cyber security; military medical
services, peace-keeping, etc.

The defence agreement is the result of

broadening security and defence-related
dialogue between the two sides since the king‘s
last visit in 2006.

General Studies-03
Pavagada solar park
inaugurated
News

Karnataka Chief Minister inaugurating the first

phase of the Pavagada solar park, which is set to
become the world‘s largest when it attains its full potential of 2,000 MW.

Beyond News

 The first phase of the park has 600 MW while another 1,400 MW will be added by December
2018.
 It is located in Thirumani of Tumakuru district and has been christened ‗Shakti Sthala‘.
 Chief Minister termed the solar park as the ―Eighth among Wonders of the World‖ built at an
estimated cost of 16,500 crore.
 Setting up the world‘s largest solar park is an important milestone in the history of Karnataka.

12 Naxalites, policeman killed in gunfight on Telangana-

Chhattisgarh border
News

About 12 Naxalites and a Greyhound police constable were reported killed in an encounter in the
Tadapalagutta and Pujari Kanker forest areas bordering Chhattisgarh and Telangana.

Beyond News

 Deceased constable Sushil belonging to Vikarabad of Telangana district. Two other

policemen were also stated to be injured.
 According to information reaching Chhattisgarh‘s Bhulapally that borders Telangana, police
recovered two AK 47 and eight other weapons from the encounter scene.

UN spotlight on Kerala‟s energy-positive campus

News

The Energy Management Centre (EMC), an autonomous institution under the Kerala
government, has grabbed the global spotlight for its energy-positive campus, located at
Sreekaryam in the State capital.

Beyond News
 The ‗Global Status Report 2017: Towards a zero-emission, efficient, and resilient buildings
and construction sector,‘ published by the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP),listed the EMC campus as one of the recent achievements in the deployment of key
technologies for energy-efficiency in buildings.
 The 40,000-square foot building is the only one from India to figure in the list, along with five
other projects worldwide.

According to the report, the EMC‘s energy-positive campus was designed to allow natural cross-
flow ventilation from building forms and openings.

 The campus is equipped with a 30-kilowatt grid-connected solar capacity that exports around
50 kWh a day on an average, with a doubling of the capacity under implementation.
 Built with assistance from the Global Environment Fund, the EMC campus is the only LEED
Gold certified building in the government sector in Kerala. Up to 94% of the built-up space is
daylight illuminated.

NBA calls for plan to manage import of exotic fish

News

Increase in the import of ornamental fishes to the country, which is posing a threat to India‘s
native fish populations, the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has urged the government to
come up with quarantine facilities at major seaports and airports.

Beyond News

 The government of India has only approved the import of 92 species of ornamental fish but
the number of ornamental fish species being imported and in trade is somewhere between
200-300.
 The huge market for Invasive Alien Species (IAS) is turning out to be major threat to India‘s
aquatic biodiversity.
 The paper states that several studies have disclosed the occurrence of exotic ornamental fish
in many inland aquatic systems, including biodiversity-sensitive areas such as the Western
Ghats.
 MARCH 3
General Studies-01
Spells of heavy rainfall see two-fold increase
News

 Very heavy rainfall lasting less than 24 hours (sub-daily) in urban locations in India has
become more intense during the last few decades.

Beyond News

 Researchers said that,the frequency of sub-daily rainfall extreme has also witnessed a two-
fold increase between 1979 and 2015.
 Currently, rainfall data is reported on 24-hour basis and long-term sub-daily observations are
limited. In cities, heavy downpour for less
than an hour can create urban flooding due to
large impervious area.
 Since heavy rainfall for less than an hour
causes flooding and deaths, it is now
necessary to record the amount of rainfall
every 15 minutes especially in the urban
areas.
 Most of the previous studies have considered
changes in atmospheric moisture on account
of local or global change in climate warming
(thermodynamic).
 But extreme precipitation is also linked to
variations in atmospheric motion and vertical
wind velocity (dynamic).
 For 1 Kelvin temperature increase, the half-hourly rainfall extreme increases by about 10%,
while it is only about 6% in the case of daily rainfall extreme.

Reasons

 Both large-scale change in climate warming and localised heating due to urban heat island
effect could be contributing to increased air temperature in cities leading to intense rainfall.

General Studies-02
KRMB panel allows AP to draw 9 tmc ft water for irrigation
News
 The row over utilisation of Krishna waters between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana has
subsided for the time being with the three-member committee of Krishna River Management
Board (KRMB) allowing them to avail 33 tmc ft water till the month-end for meeting
immediate irrigation needs.

Beyond News

 The three-member panel allowed AP to utilise 9 tmc ft and Telangana 24 tmc ft water to
protect the standing crops under Nagarjunasagar Right and Left Canal systems.
 Official sources said that about 15 tmc ft out of 33 tmc ft to be drawn by the two States would
be released from Srisailam to Nagarjunasagar after generation of power.
 The dispute over utilisation of water reached a flash point on February 28 when the irrigation
officials and police from the two sides gathered at Srisailam Right Canal regulator at the
reservoir site, following orders issued by KRMB to stop water release to the canal.
 The river board has asked the two States to coordinate among themselves on release of water
to Nagarjunasagar Right and Left Canal systems to save the standing crop.

Diabetes has five types, say scientists

News

 Scientists unveiled a revised classification for diabetes, could lead to better treatments and
help doctors more accurately predict life-threatening complications from the disease.

Beyond News

 There are five distinct types of diabetes that can occur in adulthood, rather than the two
currently recognized.
 People with diabetes have excessively high blood glucose, or blood sugar, which comes from
food.
 Some 420 million people around the world today suffer from diabetes, with the number
expected to rise to 629 million by 2045, according to the International Diabetes Federation.

Current types of diabetics.

 With type-1 — generally diagnosed in childhood and accounting for about 10% of cases the
body simply doesn‘t make insulin, a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar levels.
 For type-2, the body makes some insulin but not enough, which means glucose stays in the
blood.

Issues with current classification:

 This form of the disease correlates highly with obesity and can, over time, lead to blindness,
kidney damage, and heart disease or stroke.
 It has long been known that type-2 diabetes is highly variable, but classification has remained
unchanged for decades.
 By isolating measurements of insulin resistance, insulin secretion, blood sugar levels, age,
and the onset of illness, they distinguished five distinct clusters of the disease three serious
and two milder forms.
 Among the severe types, a group of patients with insulin resistance in which cells are unable
to use insulin effectively was at far higher risk of kidney disease.

New groups:

 The third “severe” group were people with auto-immune diabetes corresponding to the
original ―type-1‖ diagnosis.
 The two other groups have milder types of the disease including one, which includes about
40% of the patients, beset with a form of diabetes related to advanced age.

India to help build nuclear plant in Bangladesh

News

 India, Bangladesh and Russia have signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU)
for cooperation in the construction of the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh.

Beyond News

 The MoU was signed in Moscow by the Department of Atomic Energy of India, the Ministry
of Science and Technology of Bangladesh and Rosatom.
 Russia is building the nuclear power plant in Bangladesh on a turnkey basis.
 Indian companies can be involved in construction and installation works and in the supply of
equipment of a non-critical category .

General Studies-03
Water detected in exoplanet‟s atmosphere
News

 Astronomers have detected a large amount of water in the atmosphere of a hot, Saturn-mass
exoplanet some 700 light-years away.

Beyond News

 NASA said that ,the planet, known as

WASP-39b, has three times as much water as
Saturn does.
 Researchers said that,though no planet like
this resides in our solar system, WASP-39b
can provide new insights into how and where
planets form around a star.
 MARCH 4&5
General Studies-01
Papua New Guinea quake leaves 67 dead as aftershocks rock
homes: Red Cross
News

At least 67 people were killed by a major earthquake that devastated Papua New Guinea‘s
remote highlands last week,with thousands homeless and without food and clean water.

Why its important? This makes Earth quake & Papua New Guinea relevant for examination.

Beyond News

The recovery effort has been slow as aid workers grapple with blocked roads and power outages
to reach cut-off villages after the 7.5-magnitude quake struck on February 26 in the Pacific
nation‘s mountainous interior.

Terrified locals in the Southern Highlands,

Western, Enga and Hela provinces have also had to
deal with strong aftershocks, including two 6.0-
magnitude tremors.

Compounding the fallout was an announcement

today that the impoverished country‘s biggest-ever
development the PNG LNG project operated by US
energy giant ExxonMobil will be offline for up to
eight weeks as the quake-hit facilities undergo repairs.

The Australian and New Zealand defence forces have began delivering aid, while the China Red
Cross and Beijing have pledged financial assistance.

NASA observes dramatic rise in sea levels

News

A NASA study says that,the sea level may rise twice as high by 2100 as previously estimated
because of climate change.

Beyond News

According to findings, rise in sea level may increase by up to 65 centimetres in the next 80 years,
which will do to cause significant problems for coastal cities.

This is believed to be a conservative estimate by scientists.

 General Studies-02
Cars of President, V-P to have
number plates
News

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways

has informed the Delhi High Court that it has
written to the authorities concerned to get these high security vehicles registered.

Beyond News:

Parting with the practice of displaying just the State Emblem of India, the vehicles of
constitutional authorities and dignitaries, such as the President, the Vice-President, Governors
and Lieutenant-Governors, will soon have to display their registration numbers.

Security issue

The Ministry‘s response came in the backdrop of a petition, filed by NGO Nyayabhoomi, which
claimed that the practice of displaying the state emblem, instead of the registration numbers,
make the cars conspicuous, and the dignitaries may become easy targets for terrorists or anyone
with malicious intent.

General Studies-03
Road kills of wild animals in the Ghats
News

The roads that Valparai‘s tourists love driving through to spot wildlife also see numerous animal
deaths. Road surveys show that almost 3,000 animals died on approximately 1,500 km of roads
in Tamil Nadu‘s Valparai plateau in 2011-12 alone.

Beyond News

Along with people, animals including endangered Asian elephants and lion-tailed macaques –
also live on this high-elevation plateau.

However, fragmentation of habitats ensures that wildlife have to cross roads when they move
about. A study recorded 73 reptile deaths on the Valparai roads in 2001; mammal and insect
deaths are also frequent here.

Scientists of the Nature Conservation

Foundation (NCF) walked along eleven road
sections passing through various habitats in the
Valparai plateau. They noted roadkills of all
animal taxa across seasons (surveying
totally1473.4 kms, including a State Highway) in 2011-12.

Findings

The results show that 2,969 animals died on Valparai‘s roads during this time, which translates
approximately to an average of 21 animals per 10 km of road.

Almost 50% of these kills comprised amphibians — toads, frogs and caecilians (limbless, snake-
like amphibians). Rodents and shrews comprised a majority of the 148 mammal kills.

The Indian crested porcupine, the brown palm civet (a fruit-eater endemic to the Western Ghats),
larger mammals like sambar deer and endemic lion-tailed macaques also figured in the list of
mammal roadkills.

findings could help identify specific management measures for different habitats to prevent or
reduce roadkills in Valparai and similar places.

Roads through forest patches need urgent attention because forest-dependant and endemic
species died most here. Drains along roadsides with underpasses at regular intervals can also
provide safe passages for small-sized taxa like amphibians.

Iraq pips Saudi Arabia to become India‟s top crude oil supplier
News

Iraq has overtaken Saudi Arabia by a wide margin to become India‘s top crude oil supplier,
meeting more than a fifth of the country‘s oil needs in the current financial year.

Beyond News

Saudi Arabia traditionally was India‘s top oil source but in the April-January period of 2017-18,
Iraq dethroned it, supplying 38.9 million tonnes (MT) of oil.

Despite India cutting imports over delays in award of contract for a gas field development, Iran
continued to be the third largest supplier selling 18.4 MT during April-January.

This is the second year in a row that Iran has occupied the third position.

India‘s dependence on West Asia for its crude oil needed has increased from 58 per cent in 2014-
15 to 63.7 per cent in the April-January period
of this fiscal.
 MARCH 6
General Studies-01
India‟s child marriage numbers drop sharply, driving down
global rate, says UNICEF
News

The proportion of girls getting married in India has nearly halved in a decade, the United Nations
children‘s agency UNICEF said,which has contributed significantly to a global decline in child
marriage.

Findings

 UNICEF said 25 million child marriages

were prevented worldwide in the last decade,
with the largest reduction seen in South Asia
where India was at the forefront.
 India constitutes more than 20% of the
world‘s adolescent population and accounts
for the highest number of child marriages in
South Asia given its size and population.

In the current trend, 27% of girls, or nearly 1.5

million girls, get married before they turn 18 in
India. This is a sharp decline from 47% a decade
ago.

 UNICEF estimates that 12 million girls a

year are married globally, and says more is
needed to end the practice by 2030 the target
set under the U.N.‘s Sustainable Development Goals.
 The legal age of marriage in India is 18 for women and 21 for men. Last year the Supreme
Court ruled that sex with an underage wife
constituted rape.

India‘s Prohibition of Child Marriage Act

imposes a fine of 1,00,000 and two years in
prison for parents caught trying to marry off
their underage children.

Japanese volcano erupts,

dozens of flights grounded
News

A volcano in southern Japan has erupted, shooting smoke and ash thousands of metres (feet) into
the sky and grounding dozens of flights to and from a nearby airport.

Beyond News

 The Meteorological Agency says the Shinmoedake volcano erupted violently several times ,
shooting up ash and smoke up to 2,300 metres (7,500 feet) in its biggest explosion since 2011.
 It said some lava was rising from inside a crater at the volcano.
 The volcano has had smaller eruptions since last week.
 Entry to the 1,421-km-high volcano was restricted. About 80 flights in and out of the nearby
Kagoshima airport were canceled.

Japan has 110 active volcanoes.

General Studies-02
Bengaluru‟s first helitaxi service
takes off
##Not much important. Still it‟s good to know
this.

News:

App-based taxi service took on a whole new

meaning when Bengaluru‘s first helitaxi service
took off, ferrying passengers from Kempegowda
International Airport (KIA) to Electronics City
in 15 minutes.

Beyond News

The helitaxi, touted to be the first such service in the country, was announced in August 2017 .
The service is being offered by KIA in partnership with Thumby Aviation Pvt Ltd, in an effort to
reduce the time taken to travel to the city from the international airport.

General Studies-03
Maoists torch 2 Telangana State buses, 4 private buses in Sukma
district of Chhattisgarh
News
An alert has been sounded up in Bhadrachalam
Agency, the tribal heartland of Telangana,
following the killing of a youth and torching of
two Telangana State buses and four private
vehicles, allegedly by Maoists, in the
insurgency-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.

Beyond News

In an apparent retaliatory action to the killing of

10 Maoists in an alleged encounter in
Chhattisgarh‘s Bijapur district , Maoists
allegedly killed the youth, who is believed to be
one of the passengers of a bus, and set ablaze the two TSRTC buses, both belonging to
Hyderabad-II depot, when they were heading towards Hyderabad from Jagdalpur and Bailadilla
in Chhattisgarh respectively.

The incident prompted the Bhadrachalam sub-division police to beef up security and intensify
vehicle-checking operations along the inter-State border.

Vehicle checking has been intensified in coordination with the CRPF personnel.

Threat of new malware looms over cyberspace

News

After Mirai and Reaper, cybersecurity agencies have detected a new malware called Saposhi,
which is capable of taking over electronic devices and turning them into ‗bots‘, which can be
then used for any purpose, including a Distributed Denial Of Service attack which, with enough
firepower, can cripple entire industries.

Being monitored

Saposhi is similar in its intensity to Reaper, which was taking over millions of devices at the rate
of 10,000 devices per day. Various cyber security agencies are currently keeping tabs on it to get
a better idea of what it is capable of.

In October last year, the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), a central government
body that deals with cyber attacks, had issued an alert about reaper, a highly evolved malware
capable of not only hacking devices like WiFi routers and security cameras, but also able to hide
its own presence in the bot a device taken over
by a malware.

Beyond News

Malwares like Saposhi, Reaper and Mirai are

primarily aimed at DDoS attacks, in which the
malware first creates a network of bots called a
botnet and then uses the botnet to ping a single server at the same time.

As the number of pings are far beyond the server‘s capacity, the server crashes and denies
service to its consumers.

In 2016, Mirai, using a botnet of 5 lakh devices, had caused the servers of Dyn, a leading domain
name service provider, to crash, affecting services of popular websites like Twitter, Netflix and
Reddit.

MARCH 7
General Studies-02
Aadhaar not mandatory for NEET, other all India exams:
Supreme Court
News:

The Supreme Court directed the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education)not to make
Aadhaar number mandatory for enrollment of students appearing in NEET (National Eligibility
cum Entrance Test) 2018 and other all India exams.

Beyond News:

 A five-judge Constitution Bench,directed the CBSE to upload the information on their

website.
 Attorney General had instructions from UIDAI that like in Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya
and Assam, other identity proofs like passport, voter card and ration card can be used by the
CBSE for enrolling students in the examination.
 The UIDAI‘s remarks came on a plea challenging the CBSE‘s decision seeking Aadhaar
number or Aadhaar enrolment number from students who are aspiring to take up the NEET.

TB patients to get nutritional

support
News:

Tamil Nadu will roll out a programme of

providing nutritional support for tuberculosis
patients from April.

Beyond News:

 Payments at the rate of 500 per month will be

deposited in bank accounts of patients in
three instalments during the period of
 treatment, which is typically six months but can be longer.
 The programme will be piloted at the Government Hospital of Thoracic Medicine,
Tambaram, and then extended to the rest of the State.
 The scheme, announced in the Union Budget last month with a total allocation of 600 crore,
has been welcomed by doctors and experts.
 Under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), which provides free
treatment to patients in the government sector, guidance provided to patients on nutrition is
limited.

The Central TB Division, last year, released a guidance document on nutritional care and
support.

General Studies-03
A new state of matter created
News

An international team of physicists have successfully created a ―giant atom‖ and filled it with
ordinary atoms, creating a new state of matter termed ―Rydberg polarons”.

These atoms are held together by a weak bond and is created at very cold temperatures.

How was the new polaron created?

 It uses ideas from two different fields: Bose Einstein Condensation and Rydberg atoms.
 A BEC (Bose Einstein Condensate) is a liquid-like state of matter that occurs at very low
temperatures. A BEC can be perturbed to create excitations which are akin to ripples on a
lake. Here, the authors have used a BEC of strontium atoms.
 Electrons in an atom move in regular orbits around the nucleus, somewhat like planets around
the sun.
 A ‗Rydberg atom‘ is an atom in which an electron has been kicked out to a very large orbit.
These have interesting properties and have been studied for a long time.

In this work, the authors used laser light on a BEC of strontium atoms so that it impinges on one
strontium atom at a time. This excites an electron into a
large orbit, forming a Rydberg atom. This orbit is large
enough to encircle many other strontium atoms inside it.

As the electron moves around many strontium atoms, it

generates ripples of the BEC. The Rydberg atom
becomes inextricably mixed with these ripples and forms
a new super-atom called a ‗Rydberg polaron‘.

Use of Rydberg polarons:

 A particularly interesting implication is for

cosmology.
 Some theories of dark matter postulate that it is a cosmic Bose Einstein Condensate, perhaps
composed of an as-yet-unknown type of particle. If we are indeed living in an invisible all
pervading Bose Einstein Condensate, this experiment can suggest ways to detect it.

India to join multilateral lender EBRD

News

India has got the go-ahead to join the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD), after shareholders of the London-based multilateral lender agreed to the country
becoming its 69th member.

Beyond News

It enable Indian companies to undertake joint investments in regions in which the EBRD
operates.

Set up in 1991, based on a proposal by former French President Francois Mitterand, the bank‘s
initial focus was helping central and Eastern European nations reconstruct their economies in the
post-Cold War era.

It remains committed to furthering the development of ―market-orientated economies and the

promotion of private and entrepreneurial initiative.‖

Indian businesses have already cooperated on EBRD projects worth some €982 million, the hope
is that the membership, which will see India take up a small stake in the bank.

India‘s stake will also give it a say in the direction of the EBRD‘s future work.

Following the approval of Indian membership, India is expected to join EBRD within the first
half of the year.

The EBRD works with the private sector and also local governments in the provision of services
and infrastructure across 38 nations with projects ranging from transport provision to
agribusiness, heating, waste management, to renewable energy.

Scientists on overdrive to save world‟s last white rhino

News:

As the health of the world‘s last male northern

white rhino declines in Kenya, a global team of
scientists and conservationists is making effort
to save the subspecies from extinction with the
help of the two surviving females.

Beyond News:

They are trying to create rhino embryos through

in vitro fertilization and its success depends not
on the sick, elderly male named Sudan, but on his daughter Najin and granddaughter Fatu, whose
eggs would likely have to be extracted because the rhinos can‘t reproduce naturally.

Semen from dead northern white rhinos is stored in various locations around the world, and it is
critical to keep the two females alive ―until such time when the protocol or technique for in vitro
fertilization has been perfected.

MARCH 8
General Studies-01
Tribal festival begins
News

 A two-day tribal festival organised by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Karnataka State
Tribal Research Institute, got under way in
the city.

Objective of the festival

 The objective of the festival is to create

awareness, promotion and dissemination of
tribal culture and traditions.
 Besides, it is also expected to generate
awareness of the richness and the diversity of
the tribal culture among the urban
population.
 A release said such festivals also help provide the Scheduled Tribe communities an
opportunity to conduct cultural activities and showcase the same to the public.
 About 45 tribal communities from Mysuru, Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Chikkamagaluru are
participating in the festival.

General Studies-02

Karnataka takes historic

decision to have separate State
flag
News:

Karnataka government took a historic

decision to have separate State flag.
Beyond News

 The decision was taken at a meeting convened by Chief Minister to discuss the
recommendations of the nine-member flag committee.
 The committee had recommended yellow, red and white with the State emblem in the middle.
 The meeting was attended by representatives of Kannada organisations, littérateurs and
official representatives.
 Chief Minister said that, the ―government, which felt the need of having separate flag, lent
voice to the demand by setting up expert committee to decide on colour and emblem of the
State flag.‖
 In the tri-colour Stage flag, white symbolises peace with State emblem. While yellow
symbolises the auspiciousness and well-being of Kannadigas, the red colour symbolises
courage.
 If centre agrees to the proposal, Karnataka will be second state in the country to have a
separate State flag, after Jammu and Kashmir. This is due to J&K‘s special status under the
Constitution.

Free education for girls from April 1

News

 Free education for girls from primary level to post-graduation — which was announced in the
budget will be implemented from April 1.

Beyond News

 Chief Minister reiterated his budget promises such as free bus passes for students, and also
spoke about the free laptop scheme for first-year students.

Higher Education Minister said the State government would set up 16 new residential degree
colleges to help students from economically weak backgrounds complete their higher education.

General Studies-03
Scientists discover antibiotic-producing bacterium
News

 A novel species of a bacterium that produces antibiotic has been discovered .

Beyond News

 The newly discovered bacterium, Planctopirus hydrillae, may provide a solution to the
problem of diseases becoming resistant to a majority of known drugs.
 The new bacteria would also clean up ammonia waste, a growing environmental concern.
 Scientists have been striving hard to find drugs to overcome the challenge of antimicrobial
resistance in the wake of disease-causing germs failing to respond to even the most potent
antibiotics.
 In this scenario, the discovery of antibiotic-
producing Planctomycete may help in the
development of a new drug.
 The bacterium was isolated from aquatic
plant Hydrilla.

TNERC suggests 30% lower

tariff for wind, solar power
News:

 A consultative paper of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) has
suggested a benchmark tariff of Rs. 2.86 per unit for wind energy and Rs. 3.11 per unit for
solar energy, an over 30% fall from previously fixed tariffs.

Beyond News:

 The suggested tariffs are also cheaper than thermal power, whose average cost is Rs. 4 per
unit.
 States are also procuring wind and solar energy through competitive bidding, a process which
could drive the prices even lower than the benchmark rates.
 The consultative paper has fixed a rate of Rs. 2.86 per unit without accelerated depreciation
and Rs. 2.80 per unit with accelerated depreciation benefits [for wind energy].
 Reports broadly suggest reduction in the prices of wind power turbines to an extent of 20% in
the last two years.
 The recent auctions show that the developers have adopted a combination of various factors
that have brought down the per unit price of wind energy.

MARCH 9
General Studies-02
SC Constitution Bench holds passive euthanasia, living wills
permissible
News

In a historic decision, the Supreme Court declared passive euthanasia and the right of persons,
including the terminally ill, to give advance directives to refuse medical treatment permissible.

Beyond News

A Constitution Bench upheld that the fundamental right to life and dignity includes right to
refuse treatment and die with dignity.
The fundamental right to a ―meaningful existence‖ includes a person‘s choice to die without
suffering, it held.

The court said it was time to dispense with such shared suffering and sense of guilt and face the
reality. Doctors who attended on the terminally ill were under pressure and dithered in letting the
patient go, apprehending criminal liability and fear of being drawn into the ―vortex‖ of a possible
family struggle for inheritance.

Justices, said though religion, morality, philosophy, law and society shared equally strong and
conflicting opinions about whether right to life included right to death, they all agreed that a
person should die with dignity.

The Chief Justice‘s judgment includes specific guidelines to test the validity of a living will, by
whom it should be certified, when and how it should come into effect, etc. The guidelines also
cover a situation where there is no living will and how to approach a plea for passive euthanasia.

The issue of death and when to die transcended the boundaries of law, but the court had
intervened because it also concerned the liberty and autonomy of the individual.

WHO launches plan for cheaper TB drugs

News

The World Health Organisation (WHO), invited pharmaceutical companies around the world to
submit proposals to manufacture affordable versions of newer medicines for treatment of drug
resistant tuberculosis.

Beyond News

Competition among Indian drug producers had then brought down the price of HIV medicines by
99% from $15,000 per patient per year to less than a dollar a day.

WHO has now requested drug makers to submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) for Bedaquiline
and Delaminid, two new-generation drugs, recommended for drug resistant-TB. Under WHO
norms, drugs submitted upon such requests and complying with its standards are included in a
list for procurement by the UN and other
organisations.

India has nearly 1.3 lakh DR-TB patients, the

most in the world, but the Health Ministry gets
only 10,000 doses of Bedaquiline and 400 doses
of Delaminid. The medicines are obtained as
donations from Janssen (US) and Otsuka
Pharmaceuticals (Japan), the respective
manufacturers.

One of the aims of pre qualification is to ensure

that a greater number of manufacturers are
supplying quality medicines, which in turn
means a more competitive market and more
affordable prices.

Cheaper drugs to treat HIV became possible at

the time as the Indian Patents Act did not
provide for product patents on pharmaceutical
products, until required by the Trade Related
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) framework
of the World Trade Organization (WTO). India
became TRIPS compliant with pharma product
patents in 2005.

General Studies-03
Trump threatens to impose “reciprocal tax” on India, China
News

United S President Donald Trump threatened to

impose ―reciprocal tax‖ on countries like China
and India if they do not match America‘s tariff.

Reciprocal tax

A reciprocal agreement, also called reciprocity,

is an agreement between two states that allows
residents of one state to request exemption from
tax withholding in the other (reciprocal) state.

Beyond News

Mr. Trump has, in recent days, spoken a number of times about the 50 per cent duty that India
levies on high-end motorbikes that Harley-Davidson, an American company, sells in India. He
has repeatedly insisted that the US levies ―zero‖ duty or ―nothing‖ on motorbikes imported from
India.

 The US President said the stage for the imposition of reciprocal tax has been set in the first
year of his administration.
 China charged 25 per cent duty on American cars whereas it was just 2.5 per cent on import
of Chinese cars into the US.
 Mr. Trump also said the ―reciprocal tax‖ programme would ensure ―fair trade deals‖ for the
US.

Mumbai ranks 47th on wealth index

News: India has the potential to the become the third-largest contributor in Asia with respect to
wealthy population after China and Japan, according to the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2018.

Findings in the Report.

Report said that,at 54%, India has recorded one of the fastest growths in its super prime
population (individuals with net worth of over $50 million) between 2012 and 2017, and will add
more than 2,000 such individuals at a higher growth rate of 71% by 2022.

As per the report, which was unveiled globally , Mumbai ranked 47th on the city wealth index
among 314 global cities.

Mumbai also figures among the top 20 costliest global cities, where $1 million can buy only 92
square metres of real estate.

The report said Mumbai and Delhi would be among the top 10 markets to witness the highest
addition in households earning more than $250,000 annually between 2017 and 2022.

In terms of wealth alone, wherein the index measures the number of the ultra-high net worth
individuals (UHNWIs), high net worth individuals (HNWIs) and rate of wealth generation in a
city, Mumbai ranks in the top 20 with Delhi coming in 22nd and Bengaluru 26th .

As per the findings property investment was amongst the lowest (17%) contributing factors that
led to increase in wealth amongst Indians, compared to 30% for Asia and 50% globally.

The investment allocation into property in India (36%) was lower than Asia (39%) and globally
(43%).

MARCH 10
General Studies-01
Coral sediments in oceans could dissolve by next century
News

As oceans get more acidic, sediments that constitute coral reefs could begin dissolving by the
end of this century, suggests a study.

Beyond News

 Coral reefs are formed by not just the

calcium carbonate skeletons that tiny animals
called coral ‗polyps‘ create, but also
carbonate sediments which accumulate on
them over thousands of years.
 Ocean acidification lowering of sea water‘s
pH when it absorbs the excess, human-
caused carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere prevents polyps from building
their stony skeletons.
 In several reef systems, acidification also dissolves corals‘ carbonate sediments.

Predictions

 Based on this, the team also predicted changes in coral systems by incorporating several
factors including current rates of coral formation and sediment dissolution.
 According to their calculations, coral sediments will begin dissolving by 2050; by 2080, they
will dissolve faster than they are formed.
 Currently, the processes of coral formation are also under threat. In 1998, Lakshadweep‘s
reefs experienced bleaching: increased ocean temperatures caused algae that live as symbionts
within corals to leave, stressing the corals.

Indian reefs

 Coral reefs span 3,062 sq. km in India.

 Many coral species are afforded protection at par with tigers: they are included in Schedule I
of the Wildlife Protection Act (1972).
 While coral systems support a diversity of fish species that local communities depend on for
sustenance, many like those in Lakshadweep also provide protection from storms and prevent
coastal erosion.

General Studies-02
₹65 cr. allotted for maternity scheme
News: In an attempt to curb the maternal and infant mortality rate, Mumbai has allocated ₹65
crore for the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandan Yojana in the Budget.

Beyond News:

 Under the scheme, pregnant women below and on the poverty line receive ₹5,000 for an
institutional delivery.
 The scheme aims at covering partial compensation for the wage loss so that women can take
adequate rest before and after delivery.
 The State has also allocated ₹964 crore for the National Health Mission to cater to the poor in
rural and urban areas.
 The mission aims at getting better doctors
and infrastructure in urban and rural health
centres.

We will jointly fight terror,

radicalisation, says Macron
after talks with Modi
News:
Visiting French President Emmanuel Macron met Prime Minister Narendra Modi .

14 AGREEMENTS SIGNED

 India and France signed 14 pacts in the strategic areas of security, nuclear energy and
protection of classified information after extensive talks between Mr. Modi and Mr.
Macron.
 It included an agreement on „reciprocal logistical support‟ by the armed forces of both
sides.
 The agreements include education, environment, urban development and railways.

Mr. Macron, at a joint press briefing with Mr. Modi, said India and France have decided to
work together to deal with threats of terrorism and radicalisation.

Both the leaders also talked about cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

General Studies-03

Agro-forestry scheme to rope in SC, ST farmers in Chittoor

News: The Social Forestry Division of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh expanded the
purview of its ambitious “agro-forestry” scheme to all 66 mandals to achieve the target of an
additional green cover of 83,000 hectares in 2018.

Beyond News:
The focus would be on farmers belonging to SC ad ST communities, with their landholdings
at the foothills.

Earlier, the scheme was grounded as pilot

project in the eastern mandals.

Awareness campaigns
In order to achieve effective results, the
departments of agriculture, horticulture,
animal husbandry and education, and
voluntary organisations would be roped in to
create massive awareness campaigns.
 MARCH 11&12
General Studies-02
WHO steps up fight against tobacco
News

The World Health Organization has launched new guidelines on the role that tobacco product
regulations can play in reducing tobacco demand, saving lives and raising revenues for health
services to treat tobacco-related diseases.

Guidelines

 Most countries hesitate to implement policies, due in part to the highly technical nature of
such policy interventions and the difficulties in translating science into regulation.
 Failure to regulate represents a missed opportunity as tobacco product regulation, in the
context of comprehensive control, is a valuable tool that complements other tried and tested
tobacco control interventions, such as raising taxes, and ensuring
smoke-free environments.
 The new guidelines provide practical, stepwise approaches to
implementing tobacco testing. Such guidance is relevant to a wide
range of countries in various settings, including those with
inadequate resources to establish a testing facility.

The laboratory guide has comprehensible information on how to test

tobacco products, what products to test, and how to use testing data in a
meaningful way to support regulation.

U.S. tariffs: „India must raise dispute at WTO‟

News

Experts said that,India should drag the United States into the World Trade Organisation‘s (WTO)
dispute mechanism against the latter‘s move to hike import duties on steel and aluminium, as the
decision will impact exports and is not in compliance with the global trade norms.

Beyond News

 The decision of the U.S. would not only impact India‘s export of these goods to America but
also affect global trade.
 Such decisions are protectionist in nature. India needs to approach the WTO against this move
as it would severely hit global trade.
 Former Commerce Secretary said the country should take action against America and also
raise duties on products like almonds, pistachio and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
 General Studies-03
NASA satellites recreate solar eruption in 3D
News

Scientists have mapped and recreated solar bursts in 3D using three NASA satellites, an advance
that may help predict how such events may affect weather around Earth, endanger spacecraft and
astronauts.

Beyond News

 The new models can help see how shocks associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs)
propagate from the Sun by combining data from three satellites to produce a much more
robust mapping of a CME than any one could do alone.
 Much the way ships form bow waves as they move through water, CMEs set off
interplanetary shocks when they erupt from the Sun at extreme speeds, propelling a wave of
high-energy particles.
 These particles can spark space weather
events around Earth, endangering spacecraft
and astronauts.
 Understanding a shock‘s structure
particularly how it develops and accelerates
is key to predicting how it might disrupt
near-Earth space.
 However, without a vast array of sensors
scattered through space, these things are
impossible to measure directly.

India commits $1.4 billion for solar energy worldwide

News

India announced one of the world‘s largest investment plans in solar energy at the Founding
Conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

Beyond News

 The $1.4 billion line of credit will cover 27 projects in 15 countries and boost the much-
required financial power to the solar sector.
 Prime Minister said that,India will provide assistance to 15 countries for $1.4 billion.

The Founding Conference was co-chaired by Mr. Modi and French President Emmanuel
Macron. Mr. Modi presented a 10-point action plan aimed at making solar power more
affordable while raising the share of power generated.
 The solar energy sector, facing a challenge of funding, received considerable support at the
conference.
 Mr Macron is heading to Mirzapur where he will inaugurate a 100 MW solar power project .

Mr. Macron identified three issues to be addressed the solar energy potential in each country
should be identified; mobilisation of finance; and the provision of a favourable framework.

India‟s first coastal policing academy to start from next month

News

The country‘s first national academy to train police forces in effectively safeguarding the Indian
shoreline will start functioning in Devbhumi Dwarka district of Gujarat from next month.

Beyond News

The Union Home Ministry recently sanctioned the launch of the National Academy of Coastal
Policing (NACP) from a campus of Gujarat‘s Fisheries Research Centre located in coastal Okha.

To be run by a team of paramilitary and defence forces, the academy will sharpen the skills of
marine forces of coastal States.

Scientists link 36 genes to heart failure

News

Scientists have identified 36 new genes linked to heart failure, paving the way for novel
personalised drug therapies to treat or prevent the deadly condition.

Beyond News

Researchers confirmed that one of those genes plays a causal role in cardiac hypertrophy
abnormal thickening of the heart muscle which can lead to heart failure.

This is an exciting direction for personalised medicine.

It can predict whether a patient should be prescribed a different drug using just a blood test.

MARCH 13
General Studies-01
Artefacts of „pre-Iron Age‟ found in Odisha
News: Archaeological Survey of India, which has
been excavating a mound at Jalalpur village of
Odisha‘s Cuttack district, has now come across
stone and bone tools believed to be of early Iron
Age.

Beyond News:

 The discovery includes faunal remains,

carbonised grains and stone and bone tools of
early iron age to prehistoric period.
 Yellow and dark grey colour soil noticed during the excavation signifies the rural settlement
flourished in different eras. Circular wall, semi-circular wall, crescent shape wall and mud
platforms of different size and shape have been discovered.
 Recently, teeth of three types of sharks, stone tools were unearthed from the site.
 Among the artefacts retrieved from the site include red ware, red slipped ware, grey and black
wares, pots of different shapes, bowls, bowl-on-stand, ring based bowls, miniature pots,
storage jars, pots .
 Similarly, important antiquities retrieved from the site are polished stone axes and adzes, bone
points, terracotta sling balls, terracotta wheel, beads of carnelian, and sand stone, hopscotch,
barbed bone point, bone drill, bone arrow-head, bone spear-head, stylus and needle made of
antler, bone borer cum side scraper and bone spatula.

General Studies-02
„Levels of pollutants increased during odd-even‟
News:

The fortnight-long odd even policy (OEP) to check pollution in Delhi may have been
counterproductive and may have exposed people to elevated levels as much as 60% of volatile
organic compounds (VOCs), a key component of emissions from vehicles said to aggravate
respiratory ailments.

Beyond News

 Based on whether cars bore odd-or-even-numbered licence plates, the Delhi-government

policy restricted passenger cars from plying between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. between January 1 and
January 15, 2016, on Delhi roads in a bid to cut down pollution from vehicles during winter.
 The report states that the stretch sees nearly 35,000 petrol and diesel vehicles ply at peak
traffic hours.
 Pollutant concentrations spiked in the morning and afternoon but didn‘t show a significant
change during the night, the authors note.
 Statistics from the transport ministry shows that Delhi has the highest number of personal
vehicles in India, with a total registered fleet of 2.9 million cars and 6.1 million two-wheeler
motor vehicles, which alone contributed to 93% of total registered vehicles (about 9.7
million).
 Sources of pollution in Delhi have blamed road dust and the burning of biomass, with
vehicular emissions said to be the third major source of pollution.

General Studies-03
Ranganathittu to be pitched as a potential Ramsar wetland site
News

 The renowned islets of Ranganathittu on the banks of the river Cauvery in Srirangapatna
will be pitched to be recognised as a Ramsar wetland site of international importance.

Beyond News

 India is a signatory to the Convention on Wetlands, called the Ramsar Convention, which was
adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971.
 The convention provides a framework for conservation of wetlands and their resources. There
are currently 26 sites in India recognised as
Ramsar wetland sites of international
importance, but none of them are
in Karnataka.
 Deputy Conservator of Forests toldthat
Ranganathittu has the potential to be
recognised as a Ramsar wetland site as it
meets some of the criteria pertaining to local
flora, fauna and ecology.
 According to the framework of the
convention, a water body should meet any
one of the seven criteria spelt out by it to be
declared a wetland of international
importance.
 The official said the sanctuary supports more than 1% of the world population of spot-billed
pelicans as against a global population of nearly 17,000, Ranganathittu supports about 1,000
of them.

MARCH 14
General Studies-02
Pune tops quality of governance list
News: Pune, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram and Bhubaneswar have the best quality of
governance among Indian cities in 2017, a study has found.

Beyond News
 The fifth edition of the Annual Survey of India‘s City-Systems (ASICS) by Janaagraha Centre
for Citizenship and Democracy spans 23 Indian cities and factors in answers to 89 questions.
 The cities were scored based on the quality of laws, policies, institutions and institutional
processes that together help govern them.

ASICS groups questions into four categories: urban planning & design; urban capacities &
resources; transparency, accountability & participation; and empowered & legitimate political
representation.

 Pune scored 5.1 out of 10 (all questions are scored on a scale of 0-10). This is in stark
contrast to cities in developed countries for instance, London and New York scored 8.8 on the
same scale.
 The report addresses five major issues, and suggests solutions at the local body, State and
Central government levels.
 Indian cities have a weak urban planning framework, and the problem can be addressed by a
well-made and executed spatial development plan something which is difficult to do,
considering there is only one urban planner in Indian cities for every 4 lakh citizens (This
number is 48 in the U.S. and 148 in the U.K.).
 Another problem is stability of finances. On average, the cities assessed generated only 39%
of the funds they spent, with several cities unable to even cover staff salaries.
 A third major issue is the lack of skilled staff and poor management of human resources.
Fragmentation of governance and low levels of empowerment of mayors and councillors is
another key roadblock to good governance.
 One of the most important takeaways for citizens from the report is the absence of platforms
where citizens can participate in civic matters in their neighbourhoods.

This can be remedied by enacting public disclosure and community participation laws, adopting
open data standards and ensuring transparency in finances and operations.

General Studies-03
India‟s growth to speed to 7.3%: World Bank
News: The World Bank in its India Economic Update has predicted India‘s economy to grow at
6.7% in the current financial year, which is set to accelerate to 7.3% in 2018-19 and 7.5% in
2019-20.

Beyond News

 The Central Statistics Office predicted GDP growth to be 6.6% in the current financial year.
 The report divides India‘s economic growth history since 1970 into four segments.
 The first is from 1970 to 1990, when the economy maintained an average growth rate of
4.4%.
 This subsequently accelerated in the 1991-2003 period to an average of 5.4%. Thereafter,
growth accelerated sharply for a short period from 2004 to 2008, where it averaged 8.8%,
which then slowed down to a ―still impressive‖ average of 7.1% in the 2009-17 period.
 The report did highlight several challenges facing the Indian economy that needed prioritised
attention.
 These included the poor state of private sector investments which needed to be enhanced
through measures ―that assure a favourable investment climate while reducing policy
uncertainty‖.

T.N. has second highest salary, pension expenditure

News: Tamil Nadu has the second highest expenditure on salaries and pensions among
comparable peer States.

Beyond News:

 The government‘s spending on salaries and pensions, as a percentage of its revenue

expenditure, was estimated to be 40% between FY2016 and FY2018, according to data from
ICRA, making it the second largest after Maharashtra.
 As per the Budget estimates for 2017-18, the State‘s salary and pension expenditure is pegged
at ₹66,908.59 crore, excluding the impact of the Seventh Pay Commission‘s
recommendations.
 The State spends roughly ₹72,000 crore or 25% of its expenses annually on social welfare
measures — one of the highest in the country. The higher spending on salaries, pensions and
freebies means the State has little leeway to spend on infrastructure projects.

Rare meteorite may hold clue to life‟s origin

News: A study of two meteorites which fell in Assam and Rajasthan over a span of 13 hours in
2017, by the Geological Survey of India (GSI), has concluded that they may contain ―significant
clues to the origins of life.

Beyond News

 Experts from GSI‘s Meteorite and Planetary Science Division (the custodian of meteorites)
studied both objects for over 10 months.
 The Mukundpura one is a carbonaceous meteorite, one of the most primitive types. They
contain grains of calcium and iron which date to a time before the sun came into existence.
 The impact of the meteorite, which fell on sandy farmland, created a hole six inches deep,
with a diameter of nearly 43 cm. The GSI now refers to the object as ‗Mukundpura
carbonaceous meteorite.‘
 The GSI says this is a rare type, since
carbonaceous meteorites constitute only 3%-
5% of all meteorite falls. Analysis revealed
the presence of water-bearing minerals in the
meteorite.
 Meteorites mostly originate from the
asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
 MARCH 15
General Studies-01
The cave temples of Elephanta
Nb: This is not a news/beyond news item, still this article from
Hindu is significant for preparation.

Located on the Elephanta island off the coast of Mumbai, the Elephanta Caves are cave temples
dedicated predominantly to Siva, the Hindu god. It also contains a Buddhist stupa mound.

Archaeologists believe the rock-cut caves were hewn between the 5th and 7th centuries AD.

Over the years, several dynasties laid claim over the island. These include the Konkan-
Mauryas, Trikutakas, Chalukyas of Badami, Silaharas, Rashtrakutas, Kalyani Chalukyas,
Yadavas of Deogiri, Muslim rulers of Ahmedabad and the Portuguese.

Many of the art work in the caves were

destroyed during the Portuguese rule. The
monuments were restored in the 1970s and were
conferred the world heritage status in 1987 by
UNESCO.

There are seven cave excavations on the

Elephanta island. The caves have been named
Cave 1 to 7 with Cave 1 being the most
important.

Cave 1

 The highlight of Cave 1 is the 7 m-high sculpture of ‗Sadashiva‘, the most important
sculpture in Elephanta. This sculpture represents three aspects of Siva the creator, the
preserver and the destroyer.
 Some of the other important sculptures in Cave 1 include the ‗Andhakasuravada murti‘, the
‗Nataraja‘ sculpture, ‗Kalyanasundara murti‘, and Ravana shaking Kailasa and Siva as
Lakulisa.

Caves 2-7

 Located on Cannon hill are Caves 2 to 5. These previously destroyed caves were restored in
the 1970s. The sanctum inside these caves is destroyed, but suggests the caves were once
Saiva shrines.
 Caves 6 and 7, on the other hand, are perched on the Stupa hill. Cave 6 was also a Hindu
temple but was converted and used as a Christian church by the Portuguese.
 Past the 7th cave is a dry pond with artificial boulders and Buddhist cisterns. Next to this is a
mound that resembles a Buddhist stupa. Experts believe this might be the remains of a much
higher Buddhist stupa from the 2nd Century BC.

Warming could threaten half of species in 33 key areas: report

News

 Global warming could place 25 to 50% of species in the Amazon, Madagascar and other
biodiverse areas at risk of localised extinction within decades.

Beyond News

 The lower projection is based on a mercury rise of two degrees Celsius over pre-Industrial
Revolution levels the warming ceiling the world‘s nations agreed on in 2015.
 The highest is for out-of-control warming of 4.5 degrees Celsius.

Findings in the Report

 The report focused on 33 so-called ―Priority

Places‖ which host some of the world‘s
richest and most unusual terrestrial species,
including iconic, endangered, or endemic
plants and animals.
 The team looked at the impact of climate
change on nearly 80,000 terrestrial plant,
mammal, bird, amphibian, and reptile
species.
 The Miombo Woodlands risks losing 90 %
of its amphibians, 86 % of birds, and 80 % of
mammals, according to the report.
 Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries made voluntary pledges to curb planet-warming
greenhouse gas emissions from burning coal, oil and natural gas.
 But even if those pledges are met, scientists predict warming over 3 degrees Celsius, a recipe
for disastrous climate change-triggered sea level rises, superstorms, floods, and droughts.
 Limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius would enable many species to continue inhabiting the
areas they currently occupy.
 And if animals can move freely not constrained by roads, fences, or human settlements the
proportion of species at extinction risk at warming of 2 degrees Celsius drops from 25 to 20
%.

Job- and revenue-generating tourism would suffer greatly if species disappear, and as-yet-
undiscovered medicines from plants forever lost.
 General Studies-02
Survey of cities: Why Bengaluru has dropped to the bottom
News

 With no citizen‘s charter, low per-capita expenditure and no sanitation plans, Bengaluru
rapidly descended into the bottom of the table in this year‘s Annual Survey of India‘s City-
Systems (ASICS) 2017.

Beyond News

 The survey, carried out by Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, places the IT
City at 23rd rank, lower than the major cities and towns in the country. The 2016 report had
placed the city in the 16th position, while in 2015, it was 12th.
 On a score of 10, Bengaluru secures 3 points, or 0.3 points lower than the previous year, and
2.1 points below the chart-topper Pune.
 Out of 140 points, covering parameters such
as collection of taxes, per capita expenditure
or producing budgets that can be
implemented in the time frames proposed, or
power of the BBMP to utilise or raise funds
on its own, the city scores a meagre 29.3
points, the lowest among all urban local
bodies (ULBs) compared.
 Another deficiency is in transparency, with
key documents still out of public reach, and
in citizen participation where the survey finds that BBMP does not have participatory
budgetary process nor a scheme for citizen volunteers.

General Studies-03
Air India Twitter account hacked
News: Air India‘s official Twitter account was hacked for many hours before being restored, the
airline has said.

Beyond News

 Messages in Turkish language were posted on the official Twitter handle @airindiain, said an
Air India spokesperson
 All the malicious contents posted on the handle have been removed and the official handle
has now been restored.
 One of the posts by the hackers read, ―Last minute important announcement. All our flights
have been cancelled. From now on, we will fly with Turkish Airlines‘
 Air India has 1,46,000 followers on Twitter.

MARCH 16
General Studies-02
U.S. challenges Indian export programmes at WTO
News: Turning the heat further on India on trade issues, the United States has challenged India‘s
export subsidy programmes at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Beyond News

 The move comes close on the heels of a string of statements accusing India of ―unfair‖ trade
practices, by President Donald Trump. U.S.
 Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer said Washington has requested dispute
settlement consultations with the Government of India at the WTO on the issue.
 Trump had threatened to raise duties on products from India.
 Unlike the many trade disputes between India and America that are sector specific or product
specific, the new move by Mr. Lighthizer a trade hawk closely in alignment with Mr.
Trump‘s nationalist economic policies is broad and sweeping, in targeting the whole range of
Indian export subsidy programmes.
 Mukesh Aghi, president of the United States-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF),
said the case would not alter the long-term trajectory of bilateral trade partnership.

„Alarming rise in hate crimes‟

News: Amnesty International India, which launched an interactive data website that documents
hate crimes, has said there is an ―alarming increase‖ in the number of crimes against people from
the marginalised groups, especially Dalits and Muslims.

Beyond News

 The website documents hate crimes from September 2015.

 A hate crime(also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime[1]) is a prejudice-
motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her
membership (or perceived membership) in a certain social group or race.

U.P. on top

 The interactive data website ―Halt the Hate‖ notes that 40 of the total 200 hate crimes across
the country in 2017 were from Uttar Pradesh.
 Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan reported 18 each. It also shows that 141 of these crimes were
against Dalits and 44 were against Muslims.
 The website documents alleged hate crimes from September 2015, since Mohammad Akhlaq
was killed in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, for allegedly killing a cow.
 General Studies-03
Navy inducts two mircolight
aircraft
News: Two microlight Garud (Virus SW80)
aircraft were inducted into the Indian Naval Air
Squadron 550 ‗Flying Fish‘ at the Southern
Naval Air Command.

Beyond News

 Garud is a fixed-wing aircraft having low weight, slow landing speed and short landing roll
and the first of its type to have been inducted into Indian naval aviation.
 Induction of Garud into the Navy will play a key role in enhancing bird survey, thus
augmenting measures to tackle bird hazard and promoting flight safety.
 Garud will be the 14th type of aircraft to join INAS 550 since its commissioning in 1959.
 The squadron currently operates Dornier DO 228 aircraft used for maritime surveillance,
search and rescue and training of pilots and observers .

Space travel causes changes to genes

News: Space travel caused lasting changes to 7% of genes of astronaut Scott Kelly, according to
a NASA study which compared his DNA to that of his identical twin brother, who remained on
the earth.

 NASA‘s Twins Study brought ten research teams together to accomplish one goal: find out
what happens to the human body after spending one year in space.

Twin study:

 Reports included data on what happened to Scott Kelly, physiologically and psychologically,
while he was in space, and compared the data to Mark Kelly, as a control subject on the earth.
 Researchers also presented what happened to Scott Kelly after he returned to the earth. By
measuring large numbers of metabolites, cytokines, and proteins, researchers learned that
spaceflight is associated with oxygen deprivation stress, increased inflammation, and
dramatic nutrient shifts that affect gene expression.
 After returning to the earth, Scott Kelly started the process of re-adapting to gravity. Most of
the biological changes he experienced in space quickly returned to nearly his preflight status.
Some changes returned to baseline within hours or days of landing, while a few persisted after
six months.
 Scott‘s telomeres end caps of chromosomes that shorten as one ages actually became
significantly longer in space.
 A new finding is that the majority of those telomeres shortened within two days of Scott‘s
return to the earth. Researchers now know that 93% of Scott‘s genes returned to normal after
landing.
 However, the remaining 7% points to possible longer term changes in genes related to his
immune system, DNA repair, bone formation networks, hypoxia and hypercapnia.

Ban on plastic from Gudi Padwa

News

 The Maharashtra State Cabinet decided to impose a ban on plastic products from Gudi Padwa,
which falls on March 18. Violation of the ban will invite penal action against sellers and
users.

Beyond News

 The department has omitted items such as flex, non-woven polypropylene bags, banners,
flags, decorative door hangings, plastic sheets, and all types of plastic wrappers.
 According to the sources in the Environment department, the ban will be effective only on
manufacture, use, storage, distribution and sale of plastic carry bags, thermocol and plastic
plates, cups, glasses, forks, bowls and spoons.
 Violators would be fined ₹25,000 and could also face a three-year jail term.
 An empowered committee has been formed to discuss the ban on rest of the plastic goods.
 The State has already banned the production and distribution of plastic carry bags thinner than
50 microns and smaller than 8×12 inches.
 But no visible, effective impact is seen on the ground.

After Effects

 Environmental problems due to non-biodegradable plastic are on the rise. Water clogging due
to plastic bags causes health hazards.
 Animals are eating these bags, and marine animals are endangered too.

MARCH 17
General Studies-01
Ancient water pipeline found in Hampi
News: The Archaeological Survey of India has stumbled upon an ancient terracotta pipeline near
the ‗Octagon‘ pavilion near the Queen‘s bath in Hampi.

Beyond News

 During inspection of the ongoing work on the protection wall for the ancient Octagon
pavilion Superintending Archaeologist, Hampi Mini Circle, and other officials noticed a
terracotta pipeline.
 Immediately, a thorough search of the area by them helped to unearth the pipelines in a few
places in the vicinity.
 The ASI officials believe that these multiple-rowed pipelines, buried under the existing road
between the Bhojana Shala on the opposite direction and the octagonal pavilion and further,
continues towards the Royal enclosure.

Octagonal pavilion monument will be included in the vision plan under preparation so that an in-
depth study of the area can be undertaken in a phased manner so as to find out the exact path of
the pipelines and throw more light on the uncomparable hydraulic engineering techniques of
the Vijayanagar rulers five hundred years ago.

General Studies-02
Illegal mining: T.N. recorded highest number of FIRs
News

 A total of 10,734 First Information Reports (FIRs) relating to illegal mining were registered
across the State during 2017-18, the highest figure in the country.

Beyond News

 According to the information provided by Minister of State for Mines and Coal Haribhai
Parthibhai Chaudhary in the Rajya Sabha, almost half of the total number of FIRs (21,559)
registered in the States across the country during 2017-18 (till September 2017) were from
Tamil Nadu.
 Rajasthan and Jharkhand registered 2,536 and 2,444 FIRs respectively.
 As per section 23-C of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957,
the State governments were empowered to frame rules for prevention of illegal mining,
storage and transportation for both major and minor minerals.
 The information is based on the details provided by the respective State governments to the
Indian Bureau of Mines.

General Studies-03
New species of water strider found in Nagaland
News

 Scientists from the Zoological Survey of

India (ZSI) have discovered a new species of
water strider from Nagaland.

Beyond News

 The species, named Ptilomera nagalanda

Jehamalar and Chandra, was found in the
river Intanki, Peren district.
 Water striders are a group of insects adapted to life on the surface of water, using surface
tension to their advantage.
 Scientists working on the water striders say that their presence serves as an indicator of water
quality and they are found on water surface.
 With the discovery of Ptilomera nagalanda the number of species of water striders belonging
to the subgenus has increased to six.
 Water striders also play an important role in the food chain by feeding on mosquito larvae.

Ptilomera

 What is unique about Ptilomerais that they are only found in rocky, fast flowing streams and
rivers that are not exposed to a lot of sunlight.
 Orange with black stripes on the dorsal side and a pale yellowish brown ventral part of the
body, this particular species has long slender legs and measures about 11.79 mm.
 Water striders have three pairs of legs.
 The front legs are relatively shorter than the mid and hind legs and used to catch and hold
prey. The striders possess needle-like
mouth parts that are used for sucking the
juice of prey.

„Over ₹3,600 cr. released in 3

years for cleaning Ganga‟
News: The government has released ₹3,633
crore between 2014-15 and 2016-17 for
cleaning the Ganga and beautifying ghats
along it, the Lok Sabha informed.

Beyond News

 Minister of State for Water Resources said that,construction and beautification of 228 of the
total 361 ghats sanctioned have been completed till now under the Centre‘s Namami Gange
programme.
 Of these, 189 ghats are located along the river‘s stretch in West Bengal.
 In Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand works on 20, 16, two and one ghats have
been completed till date respectively.
 154 priority drains and 1,109 grossly polluting industries (GPIs) have been identified along
the river, most of which are located in Uttar Pradesh.
 Of the five basin States, the longest stretch of the Ganga is in Uttar Pradesh.

Anti-pollution steps

 Surprise inspection of GPIs is carried out for compliance verification of the stipulated
environmental norms.
 Out of the 1,109 GPIs inspected, 538 were found to be non-complying and 358 of those were
issued closure directions and 180 have been given show cause notices, he said.
 Implementation of water conservation measures in industrial sectors and
establishment/upgradation of sewage treatment plants/common effluent treatment plants in
the towns located along Ganga‘s mainstream and tributaries are among the steps taken by the
government to curb pollution in the river.

MARCH 18&19
General Studies-01
Bilaspur‟s stone age tools link Sivalik cultures
News: Researchers from the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) have discovered a number
of Acheulian artefacts (dated to about 1, 500,000–1,50,000 years ago) along with contemporary
Soanian ones from an unexplored site at Ghumarwin in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh.

Beyond News

 The site is close to another site where

scientists in the 19th century discovered
fossil remains of Sivapithecus, the last
common ancestor of orangutans and humans.
 The discovery of stone tools belonging to the
Acheulian age in a region known to have rich
evidence of the Soanian period, presents the
possibility of continuity of the two stone age
cultures at the site.
 This is the first time that the AnSI has found
a large number of Acheulian artefacts along
with the Soanian tools at a same site.
 They have found bifacial hand axes along with cleavers and scrapers, which are clearly tools
of the Acheulian age.
 Along with this, tools like various types of choppers, discoids, scrapers, cores, numerous
flake types and angular core fragments of Soanian cultural period have also been found at the
same site.
 According to experts, the Soanian stone age cultures date to 600 ka (about 6,00,000) years
ago.
 Other than over 100 stone tools, the exploration also yielded petrified remains of a number of
vertebrate and invertebrate groups.

The petrified remains are under examination by experts and will help in recreating an ecological
picture of the area, millions of years ago.
 General Studies-03
A floating laboratory to save the famed Loktak Lake
News: Three days a week, four women in white lab coats traverse the Loktak Lake in a
custombuilt motorboat, scooping flaskfuls of water for analysis.

Why its important?

This news brings loktak lake relevant for upsc. Loktak Lake is the largest freshwater lake in
Northeast India and is famous for the phumdis floating over it. The lake is located near
Moirang in Manipur state, India. The etymology of Loktak is Lok = ―stream‖ and tak = ―the end‖

Beyond News

 They record changes in the temperature, acidity, conductivity and dissolved-oxygen in the
300-sq km lake.
 Rising urbanisation and land-use change over the years has seen the Loktak Lake, the largest
in the northeast, become a dump yard for municipal waste.

„Silent threat‟

 Though the Loktak Lake is yet to see worrying levels of pollution, early signs suggest that
there‘s need to be vigilant.
 Everyone talks about carbon dioxide levels, but nitrogen pollution is a major, silent threat.
 Already there are signs of calcium anomalies in some of the mollusc and other aquatic life in
the lake.
 The model of a floating laboratory ties in with a larger initiative by the Centre‘s Department
of Biotechnology (DBT) to monitor the health of aquatic systems in the northeast.
 The health of the lake also affects the Phumdis, or the unique ‗floating islands‘, on the lake.
 The pH level of the lake, as per measurements so far, varies from 6.8 to 7.2 (ideally it should
be slightly below 7). Studies of ocean acidification have shown that even a 0.1 increase can
cause [harmful] decalcification.

New algorithm may prevent cyber attacks on GPS devices

News

 Scientists have developed a novel algorithm

that may help detect and prevent cyber
attacks on GPS-enabled devices in real time.

Beyond News

 The algorithm developed by researchers

at University of Texas at San Antonio
(UTSA) in the US mitigates the effects of
 spoofed GPS attacks on electrical grids and other GPS-reliant technologies.
 Malicious agents have the ability to disrupt a device‘s understanding of time and location by
emitting a signal that is pretending to be a GPS signal.
 The US electrical power grid, for example, depends on GPS to give time stamps for its
measurements at stations across the country.
 Although reliable, researchers in laboratories across the world have shown that the system can
be vulnerable to spoofing cyber-attacks that can disrupt the system‘s time and location data.
 The algorithm, which can be applied to cell phones or computers as easily as a new app, has
the ability to recognise false GPS signals and counter an attack while it occurs.
 The main focus of researchers is to prevent attacks on the American electrical power grid, but
the algorithm is applicable to several different devices.

Mission: clean water

News: This year though, Kerala is gearing up to conserve its water resources and also to supply
clean drinking water.

Beyond News

 God‟s Own Country suffered its worst-

ever drought in 115 years in 2017.
 As the monsoon failed, residents faced an
acute shortage of drinking water.
 Last year, many areas in the State faced
acute shortage of clean drinking water.
 Last year, the State received only 185 mm
of rainfall, which is about 33% of the
average rainfall of 480.7 mm. Following
the drought, a spike in waterborne diseases
and fevers were reported in the State.
 66% of schools in Kerala had functional drinking water facilities in 2010, the number slipped
to 80.5% in 2016.

Haritha Keralam

 Haritha Keralam is an umbrella mission integrating the components of waste management

and water resources management.
 Local bodies are involved actively in cleaning ponds and rivers, and also carrying out
Watershed Walking programmes.
 Through Watershed Walking programmes, they are identifying watersheds, cleaning them,
and also upgrading the water resources map of the State.
 The Water Parliament will sensitise people towards protecting water resources and keeping
them unpolluted. By April, this [the Water Parliament] will be held at local body levels and
groups will be formed to carry out water conservation awareness programmes.
 MARCH 20
General Studies-01
Africa‟s oldest DNA found
News: The oldest nuclear DNA from Africa
ever has been discovered in eastern Morocco,
adding new clues to the world‘s understanding
of human history.

Beyond News:

 The Moroccan Culture Ministry announced

that the Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was
found at a burial site called Grotte des Pigeons near the eastern town of Taforalt.
 The sequenced DNA dates back to approximately 15,000 years ago.
 The DNA, dating to the Late Stone Age, had a genetic heritage that was in part similar to
Near Eastern populations and in part related to sub-Saharan African populations, it noted.

DNA from nine individuals from Taforalt were analysed, and we were able to recover
mitochondrial data from seven of the individuals and genome-wide nuclear data from five of the
individuals.

Because of the age of the samples, at approximately 15,000 years old, and the poor preservation
characteristic of the area, this is an unprecedented achievement.

 This is the second major archaeological achievements made in Morocco in a year.

 The remains push back human species‘ origins by 100,000 years, and suggest that humans
didn‘t evolve only in East Africa.

Waking the sleeping giants

News: The Arctic is warming like never before.

Beyond News:

 The region experienced an alarming

heatwave was last month, with temperatures
around the entire Arctic region recorded at
minus 8 degree Celsius about 20 degree
Celsius above normal.
 A new study has found that the permafrost in
the coldest northern Arctic is thawing at an
unprecedented rate that it may unleash
ancient carbon, worsening the problem of
global warming.
 It found that the Arctic permafrost could thaw enough to become a permanent source of
carbon to the atmosphere in 60 years.
 They found that if melting continues, by the year 2300, total carbon emissions from this
region will be 10 times higher than the carbon emisson produced by humans through the
burning of fossil fuel in 2016!

Permafrost

 Permafrost is soil that has remained frozen for years or centuries under topsoil.
 It forms in a climate where the mean annual air temperature is 0 degree Celsius or lesser and
is generally characterised by long winters with little snow and short cool and dry summers.
 Such a climate exists in Siberia and a few other parts of Russia, the Tibetan Plateau, Alaska,
Northern Canada, Greenland, and parts of Scandinavia. Hence permafrost forms in these
regions. It covers about 24 % of the exposed landmass of the Northern Hemisphere.
 Scientists estimate that the world‘s permafrost holds about 1,500 billion tonnes of carbon,
almost double the amount of carbon that is currently in the atmosphere.

General Studies-02
39 Indians captured by IS dead: Sushma
News:External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj informed Rajya Sabha that,all 39 Indians who
went missing in the war-torn Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014 are dead.

Beyond News:

 Making a suo motustatement in Hindi, Ms. Swaraj said that, a team of Indian and Iraqi
officials found the bodies from a mass grave in Badush and DNA tests confirmed they
belonged to the missing Indians.
 A total of 39 bodies were exhumed. They collected DNA samples from India sent them to
Iraq. The tests were conducted in Baghdad. The samples were matching in 38 cases.

Background:

 Forty Indians from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal went missing in June
2014 after Mosul fell to the Islamic State.
 In 2015, one of them, Harjit Masih, managed to flee from the clutches of Islamic State and
said all other Indians were killed. But the External Affairs Minister refusedto buy his claims
then.
 In July last year, she said she would declare the missing persons dead until she had a concrete
evidence.

General Studies-03
Two new dog-faced bat species discovered
News: The dog-faced bats are a fast-flying, insectivorous species that are highly difficult to
spot found in the forests of South and Central America.

Beyond News:
 Scientists have only recorded six species so far, but now an international team of
scientists has succeeded in recognising two more species of these bats.
 Named Cynomops freemani in honour of Dr. Patricia W. Freeman, a scientist who
studied bats these tiny bats with a wing span of just 4 cm were found in the Canal Zone
region of Panama.
 The bat is reddish-brown to dark chocolate brown in colour with silky short fur.
 The second species named Cynomops tonkigui (tonkigui means bat in Waorani,a
language spoken by the natives of Ecuador) was found in the eastern Andes of Ecuador
and Colombia.
 It has a dark cinnamon brown colour and is about the same size as Cynomops freemani.

Morphological analysis, acoustics data and modern DNA studies have helped identify the
new species.

General Studies-04
SC/ST Atrocities Act has become a means to blackmail citizens,
public servants: SC
News: The anti-atrocities law which protects Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from
casteist slurs and discrimination has become an instrument for “blackmail” of innocent
citizens and public servants, the Supreme Court observed in a judgment.

Beyond News:

 The court referred to how public administration has been threatened by the abuse of this Act.
Public servants find it difficult to give adverse remarks against employees for fear that they
may be charged under the Act.
 Issuing a slew of guidelines to protect public
servants and private employees from
arbitrary arrests under the Atrocities Act, the
Supreme Court directed that public servants
can only be arrested with the written
permission of their appointing authority.
 In the case of private employees, the Senior
Superintendent of Police concerned should
allow.
 Besides this precaution, a preliminary
enquiry should be conducted before the FIR
is registered to check whether the case falls
 within the parameters of the Atrocities Act and whether if it is frivolous or motivated.

Courts significant observations:

 Supreme Court Bench said in their 89-page judgment that,the last three decades have seen
complainants who belong to the marginalised sections of the society use the Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 to exact ―vengeance‖ and satisfy
vested interests.
 The SC observed that, Innocent citizens are termed as accused, which is not intended by the
legislature. The legislature never intended to use the Atrocities Act as an instrument to
blackmail or to wreak personal vengeance.
 The court also said that,the 1989 Act penalises casteist insults and even denies anticipatory
bail to the suspected offenders. Hence, the law is used to rob a person of his personal liberty
merely on the unilateral word of the complainant.

MARCH 21
General Studies-01
Concerns on Totten Glacier
News: More of a giant France-sized glacier in Antarctica is floating on the ocean than previously
thought, scientists have said, raising fears it could melt faster as the climate warms and have a
dramatic impact on rising sea-levels.

Beyond News

 The Totten Glacier is one of the fastest-flowing and largest glaciers in Antarctica with
scientists keen to keep a close eye on how it melts given the enormous amount of water it
could potentially unleash.
 Using artificially created seismic waves that help scientists see through the ice, researchers
have discovered that more of the Totten Glacier floats on the ocean .
 The portion of the glacier resting on water rather than rock increases, accelerating the pace of
disintegration.
 From the air, the contours of Totten Glacier
are invisible because the entire Antarctic
continent is covered by a seamless,
kilometres-thick blanket of snow and ice.
 Totten Glacier contains enough ice to raise
global sea levels by about three mt if it all
melted.
 Since the 1900s the global sea-level has risen
by around 20 cm and by the end of the
century it‘s projected to rise by up to one
metre or more, but this is subject to high
 uncertainty which is why studying glaciers such as the Totten is important.

Glaciers

 Glaciers are huge bodies of dense ice that slowly move down valleys, mountains and slopes
under their own weight over many centuries, sculpting the earth below as they go.
 They hold the vast majority of Earth‘s fresh water and are the main contributor to rising sea
levels when they melt.

According to NASA monitoring, between 2002 and 2016, Antarctica lost 125 gigatonnes of ice
per year, causing sea levels worldwide to rise by 0.35 mm annually.

General Studies-02
India joins Europe‟s satellite data sharing pool
News: India joined Europe‘s mega global arrangement of sharing data from Earth observation
satellites, called Copernicus.

Beyond News

 Data from a band of Indian remote sensing

satellites will be available to the European
Copernicus programme while designated
Indian institutional users will in return get to
access free data from Europe‘s six Sentinel
satellites and those of other space agencies
that are part of the programme, at their cost.
 Under this arrangement, the European
Commission intends to provide India with free, full and open access to the data from the
Copernicus Sentinel family of satellites using high bandwidth connections.
 Reciprocally the Department of Space will provide the Copernicus programme and its
participating states with a free, full and open access to the data from ISRO‘s land, ocean and
atmospheric series of civilian satellites (Oceansat-2, Megha-Tropiques, Scatsat-1, SARAL,
INSAT-3D, INSAT-3DR) with the exception of commercial high-resolution satellites data.
 The arrangement includes technical assistance for setting up high bandwidth connections with
ISRO sites, mirror servers, data storage and archival facilities.

Uses

 The space-based information will be used for forecasting disasters, providing emergency
response and rescue of people during disasters; to glean land, ocean data; and for issues of
security, agriculture, climate change and atmosphere, according to a statement issued by the
European Commission.
 The multi-billion-euro Copernicus is Europe‘s system for monitoring the Earth using satellite
data. It is coordinated and managed by the EC.
Wide range

 The free and open data policy is said to have a wide range of applications that can attract
users in Europe and outside.
 The Copernicus emergency response mapping system was activated on at least two Indian
occasions during the 2014 floods in Andhra Pradesh in October 2014 and after the 2013 storm
in Odisha.

General Studies-03
AI helps locate 6,000 new craters on Moon
News: Scientists have mapped 6,000 new craters on the Moon with the help of a newly
developed technique based on artificial intelligence (AI).

Beyond News

 By comparison, the technique developed can

generalise very well to unseen lunar patches,
and even other cratered bodies like Mercury.
 It‘s the first time they have an algorithm that
can detect craters really well for not only
parts of the Moon, but also areas of Mercury.
 In order to determine its accuracy, the
researchers first trained the neural network
on a large data set covering two thirds of the
Moon, and then tested their trained network
on the remaining third of the Moon.
 It worked so well that it was able to identify
twice as many craters as traditional manual
counting. In fact, it was able to identify about
6,000 previously unidentified craters on the
Moon.
 The data used by the algorithms was taken from elevation maps gathered from orbiting
satellites.

Importance

 Knowing the size and location of craters on bodies like the Moon is important because it
offers a window into the history of our solar system.
 By studying impact craters of all shapes, sizes and ages, researchers can better understand the
distribution of material and the physics that occurred in the early stages of our solar system.
 Since the Moon lacks an atmosphere, plate tectonics and water, there is little erosion and as a
result some impact craters as old as four billion years are visible.
 The ages of large craters can also be determined by counting how many small craters are
found inside it.
143 species spotted in bird
survey

News: A recent bird survey organised by the

Forest Department and the Hume Centre for
Ecology and Wildlife Biology in the South
Wayanad Forest Division has recorded 143
species.

Beyond News

 Six species of raptors, belonging to Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, were
discovered on the mountain ranges of the region.
 Seven species of pigeons, eight species of woodpeckers, four species of drongos, six species
of bulbuls, and nine species of babblers were recorded during the survey.
 Banasura Chilappan(Montecincla jerdoni), one of the most endangered forest birds of the
country, was spotted in the Shola forests above an altitude of 1,800 m.
 Global distribution of the species is restricted to three mountain ranges of Wayanad, that too
an area of less than 50 sq km.
 Fourteen species of migratory birds seven species of warblers belonging to Phylloscopus and
Acrocephalus genus and seven species of migratory flycatchers, including Rusty-tailed
flycatcher were observed during the survey.

Forest fire threat

 Every year, forest fires, mostly man-made, devastate a large tract of grassland on the
mountain ranges.
 Close to 100 hectares of grassland was ravaged in a recent forest fire in the area this year.
Such incidence highlight the need for conservation on a war footing to protect the fragile
mountain region.

New protein „mat‟ can soak up

pollution
News: In a breakthrough, scientists have created
novel protein mats that can soak up and trap
chemical pollution.

Beyond News

 Despite years of effort to stabilise proteins

outside of their native environments,
scientists have made limited progress in
combining proteins with synthetic
components without compromising protein
activity.
 The study, shows a path toward exploiting the power of proteins outside of the cell by
demonstrating a unique way to keep proteins active in synthetic environments.
 Proteins are usually unstable outside their native environments. To function properly, proteins
must fold into a specific structure, often with the help of other proteins.
 To overcome this challenge, researchers analysed trends in protein sequences and surfaces to
see if they could develop a synthetic polymer that provides all the things that a protein would
need to keep its structure and function.
 This opens the door to the creation of larger mats that could soak up toxic chemicals in places
like war zones.

MARCH 22
General Studies-01

Dravidian language family is

4,500 years old: study
News

 The Dravidian language family, consisting of

80 varieties spoken by nearly 220 million
people across southern and central India,
originated about 4,500 years ago, a study has
found.
 This estimate is based on new linguistic
analyses by an international team.

Why its Important?

 The study of the Dravidian languages is

crucial for understanding prehistory in Eurasia, as they played a significant role in influencing
other language groups.

Findings in the Study

 The researchers used data collected first-hand from native speakers representing all
previously reported Dravidian subgroups.
 The findings, match with earlier linguistic and archaeological studies.
 South Asia, reaching from Afghanistan in the west and Bangladesh in the east, is home to at
least six hundred languages belonging to six large language families, including Dravidian,
Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan.
 The Dravidian language family, consisting of about 80 language varieties (both languages and
dialects) is today spoken by about 220 million people, mostly in southern and central India,
and surrounding countries.
 The Dravidian language family‘s four largest languages Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and
Telugu have literary traditions spanning centuries, of which Tamil reaches back the furthest.
 Along with Sanskrit, Tamil is one of the world‘s classical languages, but unlike Sanskrit,
there is continuity between its classical and modern forms documented in inscriptions, poems,
and secular and religious texts and songs.
 Neither the geographical origin of the Dravidian language nor its exact dispersal through time
is known with certainty.
 The consensus of the research community is that the Dravidians are natives of the Indian
subcontinent and were present prior to the arrival of the Indo-Aryans (Indo-European
speakers) in India around 3,500 years ago.
 Study author ,collected contemporary first-hand data from native speakers of a diverse sample
of Dravidian languages, representing all the previously reported subgroups of Dravidian.
 The researchers used advanced statistical methods to infer the age and sub-grouping of the
Dravidian language family at about 4,000-4,500 years old.
 This estimate, while in line with suggestions from previous linguistic studies, is a more robust
result because it was found consistently in the majority of the different statistical models of
evolution tested in this study.
 This age also matches well with inferences from archaeology, which have previously placed
the diversification of Dravidian into North, Central, and South branches at exactly this age,
coinciding with the beginnings of cultural developments evident in the archaeological record.

General Studies-02
Parliament passes Payment of Gratuity Bill
News: Parliament passed a key bill that will empower the government to fix the amount of tax-
free gratuity and the period of maternity leave with an executive order.

Beyond News:

 The Rajya Sabha, which failed to transact any significant business over the last fortnight due
to protests by various parties, passed the Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill without
discussion.
 The Bill, moved by Labour Minister, was passed by a voice vote.
 The Lok Sabha gave its approval to the important bill last week.
 The legislation will enable the government to enhance the ceiling of tax-free gratuity to Rs.
20 lakh from the existing Rs. 10 lakh for employees falling under the Payment of Gratuity
Act.
 After the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission, the ceiling of gratuity amount for
Central government employees was doubled to Rs. 20 lakh.
 It also allows the government to fix the period of maternity leave for female employees as
deemed to be in continuous service in place of the existing 12 weeks.
 The amendment to the payment of gratuity law comes in the backdrop of Maternity Benefit
(Amendment) Act, 2017 enhancing the maximum maternity leave period to 26 weeks.
Jackfruit is now Kerala‟s official
fruit
News: Kerala elevated jackfruit as the State‘s
official fruit.

Beyond News

 Agriculture Minister announced the

ennoblement of the ubiquitous fruit in the
Assembly during a discussion on demand for
grants in the Budget for farming.
 He said Kerala produced 30 to 60 crore
jackfruits annually. Their produce was
entirely organic and pesticide-free.
 Kerala hoped to market jackfruit and its
value-added products as its signature
agricultural export. The State also would market its banana and pineapple crop in foreign
markets.
 Coconut production in Kerala was on the decline. Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and
Karnataka had overtaken Kerala in coconut production.
 Kerala remained the largest coconut producer because of the vast area under cultivation.
 The government planned to extend coconut cultivation from the current 8 lakh hectares to 9.5
lakh hectares. It would introduce more high-yielding varieties to boost coconut harvests.

General Studies-03
Indigenous technology tested on BrahMos supersonic missile
News: Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos was successfully flight-tested for the first time with
an indigenous seeker.

Beyond News

 The seeker, a critical technology in missiles, had come from Russia.

 The precision strike weapon with Indian-made seeker flew in its designated trajectory and hit
the target with pin-point accuracy.
 The seeker was developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad, in collaboration
with other DRDO labs.
 The seeker technology, which determines the
accuracy of a missile, is a closely guarded
secret.
 Mastering it is a significant milestone in
missile technology and would reduce import
dependence.
 BrahMos is a joint collaboration between
India and Russia and the missile is capable
 of being launched from land, sea, sub-sea and air against surface and sea-based targets.
 Its range was initially capped at 290 km as per obligations of the Missile Technology Control
Regime (MTCR).
 Since India‘s entry into the club, the range has been extended to 450 km and the plan is to
increase it to 600km.

Pakistan gets powerful missile tracking system from China

News: The state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said that,in an unprecedented
deal, China has sold Pakistan a powerful tracking system which could speed up the development
of multi-warhead missiles by its all-weather ally.

Beyond News

 Zheng Mengwei, a researcher with the CAS Institute of Optics and Electronics in Chengdu,
confirmed to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Postthat Pakistan had bought a
highly sophisticated, large-scale optical tracking and measurement system from China.
 Zheng said he could not elaborate on the technology nor where in Pakistan it was being used
as it involved the country‘s defense interests.
 Pakistani military recently deployed the Chinese-made system ―at a firing range‖ for use in
testing and developing new missiles.
 China was the first country to export such sensitive equipment to Pakistan.
 The system‘s performance surpassed the user‘s expectations and it was considerably more
complex than Pakistan‘s home-made systems.

MARCH 23
General Studies-02
Why have you not appointed Lokayuktas yet, SC asks 12 States
News: The Supreme Court directed Chief Secretaries of 11 States to explain the five-year delay
in appointment of anti-corruption ombudsman Lokayukta and Uplokayukta.

Why its important?

Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act comes under the radar of UPSC. Make a note.

Beyond News

 A Bench ,found that several States have not moved a muscle to appoint Lokayuktas despite
the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act coming into existence in 2013.
 The court found that Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland,
Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh have not
appointed Lokpal, Lokayukta or Uplokayukta.
 The Chief Secretaries of the aforesaid 11 States shall inform the court within two weeks as to
whether steps have been taken for appointment of Lokyukta/Uplokayukta and if so the stage
thereof.

U.S. warship sails near disputed islands in South China Sea,

officials say
News: A U.S. Navy destroyer carried out a “freedom of navigation”operation on Friday,
coming within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island built by China in the South China Sea-
U.S. officials.

Beyond News

 The operation, which infuriated Beijing, was the latest attempt to counter what Washington
sees as China‘s efforts to limit freedom of navigation in the strategic waters.
 The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the USS Mustin traveled close
to Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands and carried out maneuvering operations. China has
territorial disputes with its neighbors over the area.
 China‘s Defence Ministry said two Chinese naval ships had been sent to identify the U.S. ship
and warn it to leave.
 China‘s claims in the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade
passes each year, are contested by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
 The U.S. military put countering China and Russia at the center of a new national defense
strategy recently unveiled.
 The United States has been pushing allies to carry out freedom of navigation operations
as well.
 Britain this year said one of its warships would pass through the South China Sea to assert
freedom-of-navigation rights.

General Studies-03

Bengaluru tops in waterbodies

with chemical pollution
News: More than half of the country‟s
critically polluted waterbodies, in terms of
chemical pollution, are found in Karnataka,
with its capital itself accounting for 17 lakes
and tanks with the highest chemical pollution.

Beyond News
 From Bellandur to Hebbal, 17 lakes and
tanks in Bengaluru have been categorised
as critically polluted with Chemical Oxygen
Demand (COD) levels, which indicate
 chemical pollution, topping 250 microgrammes per litre, shows data that was submitted
to the Lok Sabha.
 The Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, provided a list of 38 rivers and
48 lakes, tanks and ponds in the country that have been categorised as critically polluted
.
 The analysis was done by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), in association with
the State Pollution Control Boards, for the years 2013-17. Over 253 rivers and 259
waterbodies are being monitored under the National Water Quality Monitoring
Programme.

Water bodies
 Karnataka tops the list in critically polluted water bodies, followed by Telangana with 12
and Kerala with 6.
 While lakes in and around Bengaluru are polluted, it is hard to believe that lakes in other
States are not as polluted or worse off. This is perhaps because other State Pollution
Control Boards do not monitor or give reliable data.
 Interestingly, in the list of 38 rivers, only Bhima from the State finds mention.
 Sugar factories and cement factories along the stretch dump effluents directly into the
river, while rampant sand mining in both Karnataka and Maharashtra has resulted in the
disappearance of sand, which can naturally filter pollutants.

Microplastics ruin the beaches

News: Microplastics, one of the carriers of pollution to the marine environment, have been
found more on the beaches of Karnataka and Maharashtra as compared to Goa, according
to a study.

Beyond News
 Microplastics are extremely small pieces of plastic debris in the environment, resulting
from the disposal and breakdown of consumer products and industrial waste.
 During a study conducted on different beaches along the coast of Maharashtra,
Karnataka and Goa, the researchers found significant variations in the distribution
pattern of plastic contaminants.
 However, comparatively fewer microplastic pellets were found along the coast of Goa.
 During a comprehensive study on the identification and ecotoxicological impact of
microplastics in the coastal Arabian Sea, they observed 5,095 pieces of plastic pollutants
in total, ranging from 3 to 100 mm in size, on 10 beaches along the west coast of India
during 2016-17.
 These pellets were made of polyethylene and polypropylene, and a few of them were
unidentified polymers.

After effects
 Due to the long residence time of microplastics in the sea and on the beaches, they tend
to adsorb various pollutants, and may act as vector transferring toxic chemicals from the
environment to the marine organisms.
 MARCH 24
General Studies-01
Glacier melting passes point of no return

News: The further melting of glaciers worldwide cannot be prevented in the current
century – even if all the emissions are curtailed, a study has found.

Beyond News

 In the long run, 500 metres by car with a mid-range vehicle will cost one kilogramme of
glacier ice.
 In the Paris Agreement, 195 member states of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change agreed to limit the rise in global average temperature to
significantly below two degrees Celsius.
 Melting glaciers have a huge influence on
the development of sea level rise.
 Whether the average temperature rises by
2 or only 1.5 degrees Celsius makes no
significant difference for the development
of glacier mass loss over the next 100
years.
 Around 36 per cent of the ice still stored in
glaciers today would melt even without
further emissions of greenhouse gases.
 That means more than a third of the
glacier ice that still exists today in mountain glaciers can no longer be saved, even with
the most ambitious measures.

General Studies-02
Indian sign language dictionary released
News: It may have only 3,000 words, but it is the first step to a potentially huge resource
for the country‟s 50 lakh deaf citizens and almost 20 lakh people with speech disabilities.

Aim:The aim of developing the Indian Sign Language Dictionary was to remove
communications barriers between the deaf and hearing communities.

Beyond News

 The country‟s first sign language dictionary, in the works for one and a half years, was
launched by the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment .
 The dictionary, developed by the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre,
has subtitled videos depicting the various signs.
India among 20 nations that
pledged $100 million to agency
for Palestine refugees
News: India is among 20 nations that have
pledged a total of about $100 million to the
United Nations (UN) relief agency charged
with the well-being of Palestinian refugees
across the Middle East.

Beyond News

 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

voiced gratitude for the generous pledges of approximately $100 million made at the
Extraordinary Ministerial Conference in Rome on March 15 titled „Preserving Dignity
and Sharing Responsibility Mobilizing Collective Action for UNRWA’
 Almost 20 donors pledged additional contributions, including Qatar, Norway, Turkey,
Canada, India and Switzerland.
 Giving details of the pledges made by the nations, spokesman told that the Emir of the
Qatar pledged $50 million in new contributions, while Norway pledged $13.6 million,
Turkey $10 million and a doubling of their food aid, Canada $7.7 million, India $5 million
and Switzerland $4.2 million.
 He said the ministerial conference was an “exceptional demonstration” of high-level
support for UNRWA‟s mandate and a recognition for the continued necessity of its work
in support of over five million Palestine .

Insurers cannot reject claims on genetic disorder clause

News:The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has directed
insurers not to reject any claim, on existing policies, based on exclusions related to „genetic
disorder‟.

Beyond News

 It also advised the companies to refrain from including „genetic disorders‟ as one of the
exclusions in new health insurance policies.
 A circular in this regard, to all life, general and health insurers, follows the High Court of
Delhi, in a case, directing IRDAI to take a re-look at the exclusionary clauses in
insurance contracts.
 The High Court wanted the regulator to ensure that insurance companies do not reject
claims on the basis of exclusions relating to genetic disorders.
 The High Court had, in the matter of United India Insurance Company versus Jai
Parkash Tayal, held that the exclusionary clause of „genetic disorders‟, in the insurance
policy, is too broad, ambiguous and discriminatory hence violative of Article 14 of the
Constitution of India, a circular from IRDAI (Non Life).
 Thus, in pursuance of the High Court‟s directions, all insurance companies offering
contracts of health insurance are directed that no claim in respect of any existing health
insurance policy shall be rejected based on exclusions related to „genetic disorder‟.
 General Studies-03
Supreme Court issues notice on Polavaram project

News: The Supreme Court asked the Centre, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, and
Chhattisgarh to respond to a petition challenging the implementation of the Polavaram project.

Polavaram project

 Polavaram Projectis a multi-purpose irrigation project which has been accorded national
project status by the union government. This dam across the Godavari River is under
construction located in West Godavari Districtand East Godavari District in Andhra
Pradesh state and its reservoir spreads in parts of Chhattisgarh and OdishaStates also .

Beyond News

 The petition filed by NGO RELA, represented by advocate Sravan Kumar, is against an order
of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which refused to go into the merits of the issue for the
sole reason that a similar matter is pending in the Supreme Court.
 A Bench issued notice to the Centre and the States as Mr. Kumar urged that the project was
nearing completion and an intervention should be made forthwith.
 He argued that the rights protected under various laws such as the Scheduled Tribes and Other
Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 have been blatantly violated by the
project.
 He claimed large-scale destruction of environment, forests and irreparable loss to about four
lakh people, including 2.5 lakh tribals and Dalits due to the Polavaram project.

MARCH 25&26
General Studies-01
Damaged reefs turn butter flyfish into flexible eaters
News: In bleached coral reefs that host less food
resources, Lakshadweep‘s melon butterflyfish
change their diets and eating patterns to adapt to
reef damages caused by climate change.

Beyond News

 Climate change induced ocean warming can

cause coral bleaching, which stresses coral
patches and makes them prone to death.
 Bleaching is not new in Indian reef systems; the bleaching event of 2010 killed patches of
corals in several reefs off the Lakshadweep Islands. This can be catastrophic for exclusive
coral-eaters like melon butterflyfish.

Live coral cover

 Scientists from Bengaluru‘s Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) and National Centre for
Biological Sciences (NCBS) studied live coral cover and butterflyfish numbers in three reefs
fringing the islands of Kadmat (coral death was highest here with only about 7% live coral
cover and, therefore, resource-poor), Bitra and Kavaratti (least coral death, nearly four times
more live coral cover than Kadmat) in Lakshadweep.
 Surprisingly, their surveys show that despite these large differences in coral cover across the
reefs, melon butterflyfish numbers were similar in all three.
 The video footage recorded the coral species that 58 pairs of melon butterflyfish they
followed ate, the time the fish spent eating and the time they took to travel between patches of
live coral to obtain food. In resource-poor reefs, fish ate coral species that they otherwise
clearly avoided in rich reefs like Kavaratti.
 Fish spent more time travelling and less time searching for food in resource-poor reefs,
making food procurement both difficult and energetically expensive.
 To compensate for this, the fish ate more ‗compulsively‘ in such reefs, taking faster bites
(about two times quicker than in rich reefs) off corals in a hurry.

Mount Etna is „sliding towards the sea‟

News: Europe‟s most active volcano, Mount Etna on the Italian island of Sicily, was sliding
towards the Mediterranean sea at a rate of 14mm per year, according to a report.

Beyond News

 The U.K.-led team of scientists have said the situation will need careful monitoring
because it may lead to increased hazards at Etna in the future.
 The group has published its findings in the Bulletin of Volcanology.
 Murray‟s team has conducted lab experiments to illustrate how this works.

The group believes it is the first time that “basement sliding” of an entire active volcano has
been directly observed.

General Studies-02
SC seeks Centre‟s views on
polygamy, „nikah halala‟
News: The Supreme Court agreed to
examine the constitutional validity of
polygamy and „nikah halala‟ among Muslims
and sought the views of the Union
government and the Law Commission on the the practices.

Beyond News
 A Bench considered the submission that a five-judge Constitution Bench, in its 2017
verdict, kept open the issue of polygamy and „nikah halala‟ while quashing triple talaq.
 By a majority of 3:2, the Constitution Bench held triple talaq as unconstitutional.
 The Bench said a fresh five-judge Constitution Bench would be set up to deal with the
constitutionality of „nikah halala‟ and polygamy.
 While polygamy allows a Muslim man to have four wives, „nikah halala‟ deals with the
process in which a Muslim woman has to marry another person and get divorced from
him before being allowed to marry her divorcee husband again.

The Bench was hearing at least three petitions including some public interest litigation (PIL)
pleas challenging the practices on various grounds including that they violate Right to
Equality and gender justice.

U.S., India hold naval training

News
 Indian Navy‟s Talwar class frigate INS Tarkashcarried out a “greeting and training”
exercise with the U.S. Navy‟s Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (TRCSG) which
was until now involved in operations against the Islamic State in the Arabian Gulf.

Beyond News
 S. Embassy said in a statement that,INS Tarkash sailed in formation with aircraft carrier
USS Theodore Roosevelt, guided-missile destroyer USS Preble (DDG 88) and other
ships on March 25 as part of the exercise.
 The embassy also said that, During the exercise, personnel from both the sides
practiced working together and strengthened their crews‟ ship handling.Exercises
included drills in communications and navigating in several close formations.
 This exercise offered a unique opportunity to further our capabilities to operate with and
learn from one another.
 Ten Indian sailors toured spaces aboard Preble such as combat information center,
central control station, and the bridge, while 10 Preble Sailors visited Tarkash.
 USS Preble is currently deployed to the
U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations with the
aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt,
the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 9,
along with the guided-missile cruiser USS
Bunker Hill, and guided-missile destroyers
USS Halsey, USS Higgins and USS
Sampson.
 TRCSG will now be in the U.S. 7th Fleet
area responsible for counter-piracy,
 freedom of navigation operations and training.

Bill on transfer of assigned lands cleared

News
 The Telangana State Government assured the Assembly that transfer of assigned lands
would be allowed only in case they are in the possession of Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes persons and not others.

Beyond News
 A Bill to amend the Telangana Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1977, was
passed for the purpose.
 Deputy Chief Minister, who also holds the Revenue portfolio, stated that the Act was first
amended in 2007 in combined Andhra Pradesh for regularisation of assigned lands
transferred to others till September 30, 2007.
 The present amendment extends that date till December 31, 2017, Deputy Chief Minister
said adding that it would provide for transfer of 2.5 acres wet and five acres of dry
assigned land to other SC/ST persons who were in the possession of those lands after
purchasing them from the original assignees.
 A total of 20,13,833 acres land was assigned to dalits in Telangana so far and out of it
2,14,627 was in possession of others.
 Bills providing for selection and appointment of Director General of Police (Head of
Police Force) by the State Government instead of selection by UPSC; amendment to the
Telangana Medical Practitioners Registration Act, 1968, removing the requirement of
compulsory rural medical service to Post Graduate doctors; amendments to the
Telangana Advocates‟ Welfare Fund Act, 1987and Telangana Advocates Clerks Welfare
Fund Act, 1992 were also passed.

MARCH 27&28
General Studies-01
When snow turned orange
News:
 Dust from a sandstorm in the Sahara desert is causing snow in eastern Europe to turn
orange, transforming the mountainous regions of Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria and Romania
into Mars-like landscapes, the media reported .

Beyond News

 The unusual scenes were believed to be created by a mix of sand, dust and pollen
particles stirred up and swept across from storms in northern Africa.
 According to meteorologists, the phenomenon occurs roughly every five years.
 As the sand gets lifted to the upper levels of the atmosphere, it gets distributed
elsewhere. Looking at satellite imagery from NASA, it shows a lot of sand and dust in the
atmosphere drifting across the Mediterranean.
 It is not the first time eastern Europeans have experienced an eerie snow-tint.
 A similar phenomenon occurred in 2007 when mysterious “oily” orange snow fell across
three regions of southern Siberia.

General Studies-02

Khaps cannot interfere in

marriage of consenting adults,
rules Supreme Court
News

 In an “unlimited direction” to parents,

society and khap panchayats (community
groups), the Supreme Court ruled that interference, harm or insult caused to consenting
adults who fall in love and choose to marry is absolutely illegal.

Beyond News

 With this judgment, the court has filled the vacuum caused by the lack of a specific penal
law against honour killings.
 The court said the fundamental right of two people who wish to get married to each other
and live peacefully is absolute.
 A bench had repeatedly emphasised that no one has any individual, group or collective
right to harass a couple.
 The Chief Justice has said it is up to the courts to decide legally whether a marriage is
null and void, or if children are legitimate or illegitimate; “no other person or group” have
the right to intervene.
 The government had acknowledged that “honour killing was neither separately defined or
classified as an offence under the prevailing laws. It [honour killing] is treated as murder,”
the government said in its written suggestions.
 The proposed law against honour killing The Prohibition of Interference with Freedom of
Matrimonial Alliance Bill is still under circulation among the States.
Centre not for „creamy layer‟ within SCs, STs category
News

 The Union government opposed the idea of a “creamy layer” within the Scheduled
Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) category.

Beyond News

 The government told a Benchthat the principle of creamy layer cannot be applied to the
presidential order on quota for SC/ST groups.
 The court was hearing a petition to exclude the affluent members or the “creamy layer” of
the SC and ST communities from accessing reservation benefits.
 The Mandal judgment, however, confined the exclusion of „creamy layer‟ only to the
OBCs and not the SC/STs. Now, the petition wants the same exclusion from quota
benefits to the „creamy layer‟ among the SC/STs too.
 Additional Solicitor General P.S. Narasimha said the government would not do anything
to dilute the benefits due to SC/STs.
 The Bench asked the government to file a
categorical affidavit.

China resumes data sharing on

Brahmaputra as part of post-
Doklam thaw
News: China pledged to continue data
sharing of Brahmaputra and Sutlej waters,
marking another confidence building step
between the two countries in the post-Doklam
phase.

Beyond News

 The decision was taken during the 11th meeting of the India-China Expert Level
Mechanism (ELM) on Trans-border Rivers. The two-day meeting began on March 26 in
Hangzhou.
 The data on water flows in both rivers is shared during the monsoons, to predict flooding,
mainly in the northeast. It has been resumed after a gap of one year, when ties between
the two countries had been strained due to the military standoff at the Doklam plateau.

Chinese dams

 The Chinese have been building dams on the Brahmaputra, including the Zangmu
barrage. But they say that these dams are not used for storing water a downstream
concern in Bangladesh and India–but for generating hydro-electricity alone.
 An Indian embassy press statement said,that both
sides also reviewed the report on how data
provided by China on the two rivers was being
utilised.
 Analysts point out that the resumption of water
sharing data is in tune with a series of steps that
are being taken to reboot India-Chinapost-Doklam
ties, following talks between the Chinese President
Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the
Xiamen BRICS summit in September.

General Studies-03
China‟s space lab expected to fall to
earth this week
News: China‟s first experimental space lab is expected to fall back to Earth between
March 31 and April 4 and should burn up in
the atmosphere, space authorities said.

Beyond News

 Tiangong-1 has officially stopped sending

data and entered its final phase of life on
March 16, a statement issued on March
26, by the China Manned Space
Engineering Office said.
 The Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, is
orbiting at an average height of about
216.2 kms, the announcement noted, but
did not disclose any re-entry location.
 It is impossible to name the exact re-entry location at this stage.
 The approximate re-entry location cannot be decided until the last two hours before it
starts to fall based on international precedents.
 Launched in September 2011, Tiangong-1 an experimental had a design life of two
years. The heavenly vehicle successfully docked with the Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9 and
Shenzhou-10 spacecraft and undertook a series of experiments.
 The lab completed its main missions following Shenzhou-10‟s return in June 2013.
 During its extended flight, Tiangong-1 conducted experiments in space technology,
space-earth remote sensing and space environment exploration, the office said. China
plans to finalise its space station to rival Mir, the Russian space station currently in orbit
by 2022.

Deer to get access to drinking water 24×7 in Kondapalli forest

News
 Spotted deer and sambar in the Kondapalli Reserve Forest (KRF) will now get access to
drinking water 24×7 this summer.
 Kondapalli Reserve Forest is a reserved forest in the Krishna district of Andhra
Pradesh. It is spread over an area of 30,000 acres(120 km2) and is under the protection
of Andhra Pradesh Forest Department.

Beyond News

 The forest authorities have decided to ensure availability of water round the clock in the
natural water sources for the deer in the reserve forest.
 Scarcity of water had forced the animals to come out of the forest to quench their thirst,
thereby falling prey to hunters.
 Since 2015, three deer were hunted by the local communities when they came out of the
reserve forest in search of water. Cases are under trial as per the Wildlife (Protection)
Act 1972.

India ranks 67 in fixed broadband speed in February: Ookla

News: India ranked 67th in terms of fixed broadband speeds and 109th for mobile
internet speeds globally in February, internet testing and analysis platform Ookla said.

Beyond News

 The company‟s updated Speedtest Global Index revealed that in absolute terms, India‟s
performance in fixed broadband download speeds have gone up from average speeds of
18.82 mbps in November 2017 to 20.72 mbps in February 2018, marking significant
improvement since last quarter.

„Illegal immigrants issue top priority‟

News: Bangladesh High Commissioner said that the issue of illegal Bangladeshi
immigrants in India, particularly those with links to terrorist outfits, was being handled on a
priority basis.

Beyond News

 Over the past two weeks, the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad has arrested 30 alleged
citizens of Bangladeshi from various parts of the State.
 Three of the arrested accused claimed to be members of Ansarullah Bangla Team, a
terrorist organisation, which owes allegiance to the Al-Qaeda and is banned in
Bangladesh.
 He also said that, there is consistent coordination between India and Bangladesh over
the issue. Information is shared regularly. The border security agencies of both countries
meet twice a year, and Home Ministers of the countries meet at least once a year to
discuss the issue. It is being constantly reviewed. The Bangladesh government has also
nabbed and handed over insurgent elements to Indian security agencies.
 He said that.the governments of both countries were in talks to ensure bilateral
cooperation in fields such as security, trade, connectivity, energy, and civil nuclear
agreement.

Animals too have DNA fingerprints

News: Individual members of many species also have unique and identifiable genetic
profiles.

Beyond News

 As with human beings, a large number of variations in a relatively short sequence of

DNA can make it possible to identify an individual and to distinguish that animal from
other members of the species.
 DNA fingerprinting is commercially available for dogs, for example, for purposes like
identifying a lost or stolen pet or tracing a pedigree.

Uses

 The approach is also used in wildlife research.

 It can determine whether an isolated population of wild birds has become too inbred for
survival, for instance, so that some can be moved elsewhere.
 Scientists at the University of Arizona and elsewhere also have turned to genetic
fingerprinting to identify individual animals that have been poached or illegally trafficked,
as well as to determine where imported animals came from.

MARCH 29
General Studies-01
115,000-year-old bone tools unearthed in China

News: The tool making techniques

mastered by prehistoric humans in China
were more sophisticated than previously
thought, suggests an analysis of 115,000-
year-old bone tools discovered in the country.

Beyond News

 Marks found on the excavated bone

fragments show that our ancestors living in
China in the early Late Pleistocene were
 already familiar with the mechanical properties of bone and knew how to use them to
make tools out of carved stone.
 These artefacts represent the first instance of the use of bone as raw material to modify
stone tools found at an East Asian early Late Pleistocene site.
 Until now, the oldest bone tools discovered in China dated back 35,000 years and
consisted of assegai (spear) points.
 Prior to this discovery, research into the technical behaviour of humans inhabiting China
during this period was almost solely based on the study of tools carved from stone.
 The seven bone fragments analysed by Doyon and his colleagues were excavated
between 2005 and 2015 at the Lingjing site in central China‟s Henan province.
 The artifacts were found buried at a depth of roughly 10 metres.
 The bone fragments were dated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), a
method widely used by geologists for dating the sediment layers in which tools are
found.
 The researchers identified three types of bone retouchers, known as soft hammers, that
were used to modify stone tools.

The researchers have not yet determined which hominid species the users of these
prehistoric tools belonged to, although they do know that they lived during the same period
as Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.

General Studies-02
Indian Immunologicals unveils Pentavalent vaccine
News:

 Indian Immunologicals Ltd. (IIL) has launched Vaxtar 5, a pentavalent vaccine for
children.
 Pentavalentcombines five different vaccines in a single vial. It protects against five
diseases: diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, hepatitis B and Haemophilus
influenzae type B (Hib).Pentavalent vaccine is a successor to the diphtheria-tetanus-
pertussis (DTP) vaccine.

Beyond News

 Developed with the company‟s research and development expertise, it will be made at
the IIL‟s vaccine manufacturing facility in Hyderabad for retail market as well as the
national Universal Immunisation Programme implemented by the Union Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare.
 The vaccine is available in single and multidose presentations.
 The Ministry, which had introduced pentavalent vaccine four years ago, procures about
85 to 90 million doses annually and is in the process of scaling up the use across the
country.
 In a recent tender floated by the Ministry for pentavalent vaccine, IIL emerged as the
most competitive bidder.
 A wholly owned subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board, the company had
launched several other human vaccines in the past decade and supplying its Hepatitis B,
DPT (Triple Antigen) and TT (Tetanus Toxoid) vaccines to UIP.
 It is also working on hexavalent vaccine which includes inactivated polio antigen.

Trade-an agenda of Tokyo talks

News

 India and Japan will discuss cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in the first high-level meeting
since the Quadrilateral and iron out growing worries over bilateral trade as External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj meets Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono in Tokyo.

Beyond News
 The two sides are meeting for the ninth India-Japan Strategic Dialogue, instituted in 2007
as an annual dialogue held alternately in Delhi and Tokyo.
 Among the discussions will be the next steps in the Quadrilateral engagement between
India-Japan-US-Australia, a project initiated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007,
which was revived in 2017, with a meeting of officials of all four countries.
 Swaraj and Mr. Kono are expected to discuss actions required to keep a ―free and open
Indo-Pacific‖ as well as developing joint connectivity projects in Asia and Africa.
 Japan‘s development agency JICA provided India with soft loans of more than US$23.36
billion at minimal rates, becoming the biggest donor partner, while India is JICA‘s largest
recipient since 2008, with its biggest investment in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train
project.
 However concerns over declining trade also hang over the engagement, with Indian
exports to Japan having halved in the four years from $6.81 billion in 2013-14 to $3.85
billion in 2016-17, while the trade deficit more than doubled in that period.

Indus Commission talks today

News: India and Pakistan will go ahead with talks on the Indus Waters Treaty despite an
upsurge in tensions over LoC crossfire and allegations of harassment of diplomats in Delhi
and Islamabad, Ministry of External Affairs sources confirmed.

Beyond News

 This is the 114th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) take place in New
Delhi to hold technical deliberations on various issues.
 India‟s Indus water commissioner P.K. Saxena, technical experts and a representative of
the Ministry of External Affairs will meet with a six-member delegation from Pakistan, led
by Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah.
 The last meeting of the PIC had been held in Islamabad in March 2017, a significant
move at the time as it came after the “surgical strikes” by India across the Line of
Control, and the government‟s announcement that it would reconsider its position on the
1960 treaty with Pakistan after terrorist attacks in Uri.
 While the government kept its treaty commitments to meet, it has been exploring ways to
utilise its share of the Indus waters more efficiently and to the maximum permissible.
 Ahead of the PIC meeting , Minister for Water resources Nitin Gadkari announced that
three dams would be built in Uttarakhand to further that effort.
 Minister for Water resources said that,water from (share of) rivers was going into
Pakistan. They are making detailed project reports to stop that from happening and
water will be given to Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana.

General Studies-03
GSLV successfully places communication satellite GSAT-6A in
orbit
News: India‟s latest communication satellite GSAT-6A was launched onboard
Geosynchronous rocket GSLV-F08 from the
spaceport at Sriharikota and successfully
placed in the designated orbit, in yet another
achievement for the ISRO.

Beyond News

 The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch

Vehicle (GSLV-F08), fitted with
indigenously developed cryogenic third
stage, injected the satellite into orbit about
18 minutes after its lift off from the Satish
Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
 The satellite would provide a thrust to mobile communication through multi-beam
coverage facility.
 This marks the 12th flight of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV-F08 and
sixth flight with indigenous Cryogenic upper stage.
 GSAT-6A, is similar to GSAT-6, a high power S-band communication satellite built on I-
2K satellite bus with a mission life of about ten years, the ISRO said.

Scientists puzzled by exotic distant galaxy lacking dark matter

News: Astronomers have detected for the first time a galaxy that is devoid of dark matter,
the plentiful but enigmatic material that does not emit light or energy and had been
considered a fundamental part of all galaxies including our own Milky Way.

Beyond News
 The discovery, announced on March 28, is forcing scientists to rethink their ideas about
the formation of galaxies.
 Paradoxically, the discovery of a galaxy without dark matter may actually confirm that the
stuff actually exists by contradicting hypotheses advanced by dark matter doubters.
 The galaxy, called NGC1052-DF2 and located about 65 million light years away from
Earth, also appears to be devoid of gas and is relatively sparsely populated by stars.
 It is about the same size as the Milky Way, but has roughly 250 times fewer stars: 400
million compared to the Milky Way‟s 100 billion stars. It is classified as an ultra-diffuse
galaxy, a kind first recognized in 2015.
 Dark matter, which is invisible, is thought to comprise about a quarter of the universe‟s
combined mass and energy and about 80 percent of its total mass, but has not been
directly observed.
 Scientists believe it exists based on gravitational effects it seems to exert on galaxies.
The universe‟s ordinary matter includes things like gas, stars, black holes and planets,
not to mention shoes, umbrellas, platypuses and whatever else you might see on Earth.
 The scientists spotted NGC1052-DF2 using the Dragonfly Telephoto Array, a telescope
in New Mexico.

MARCH 30
General Studies-01
Himalayas warmest on record: researchers
News: Recent decades have been the wettest and warmest on record in the Himalayas, say
researchers who are alarmed that a “warming signature” has led to an overall rise in mercury
levels and the retreat of glaciers.

Beyond News

 They warn that the impact of global warming is clearly evident over the northwestern
Himalayas in the form of rising temperatures in the last 25 years.
 An overall warming signature was observed with the maximum, minimum and mean
temperatures rising.
 The maximum, minimum and mean temperatures in the Himalayas saw a total increase
of 0.9 degree, 0.19 degree and 0.65 degree, respectively, over a quarter of a century.
 However, the warming was not consistent across the Himalayas. The highest rise in
mean temperature was seen in the Greater Himalayas at 0.87 degree Celsius (1991-
2015), followed by the Karakoram Himalayas.
 General Studies-02
Govt. to file review plea in SC against ruling on SC/ST Act
News: Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government is “preparing” to file
a review petition against the top court‟s ruling on the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled
Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 that puts a stop to immediate arrests in
complaints filed under its provisions.

Beyond News

 Officials in the Law Ministry said the government will approach the Supreme Court as
early as next week after preparing a “water tight case” in consultation with the Ministry of
Social Justice, the nodal Ministry to enforce the Act.
 The government has been under pressure from the Opposition as well from its allies and
Ministers from the Dalit community to seek a review or bring an amendment to undo the
Supreme Court‟s ruling.
 In a recent order, the Supreme Court had banned automatic arrests and registration of
criminal cases under the Act.
 The court had laid down stringent guidelines such as written permission from the
appointing authority before a public servant could be arrested.
 The Prime Minister is understood to have assured the delegation that the government
would initiate „remedial measures‟ to ensure that the Act retains its effectiveness in
ensuring justice to Dalits and tribal people.

Seychelles says “NO” to India‟s proposal for naval base

News:

 India‟s plans to get a foothold in the Indian Ocean islands of Seychelles received a
setback after its President Danny Faure told Parliament earlier this week that he will not
take up the Assomption island project deal with India for ratification.

Seychelles

 The Seychelles is an archipelago of 115

islands in the Indian Ocean, off East
Africa. It‟s home to numerous beaches,
coral reefs and nature reserves, as well as
rare animals such as giant Aldabra
tortoises.

Beyond News
 This announcement came after Wavell John Charles Ramkalawan, the leader of the
Opposition of Seychelles, said that he would oppose the deal.
 Significantly, the leader of the Opposition was hosted here in January as India tried to
get him on board for the key project, which was rejected by the Indian Ocean country
earlier this week.
 Ramkalawan declared on Tuesday that the Assomption island project, which was
expected to host a naval facility, would not take off.
 Ramkalawan visited India in the second week of January and participated in the PIO
Parliamentary Conference which was addressed by External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
 The aim of the conference was to firm up ties with individuals of Indian origin who are
spread across the world and are playing important role in their host societies.
 He also met President Ram Nath Kovind on January 9, when Mr. Kovind said that his
visit would help strengthen India-Seychelles ties. Mr. Ramkalawan, who is an ethnic
Indian, was earlier in the race to occupy the post of the President of the country.

The agreement covers within its purview our shared efforts in anti-piracy operations, and
enhanced EEZ surveillance to prevent intrusions by potential economic offenders including
those indulging in illegal fishing, poaching, drug and human trafficking.

US wants visa applicants to submit phone, email, social media

details
News: The Trump administration wants all US visa applicants to submit details of their
previous phone numbers, email addresses and social media histories as part of its “vetting”
practice and to prevent entry of individuals who might pose a threat to the country.

Beyond News

 In a document posted on the Federal Register, anyone who wants to come to the US on
a non-immigrant visa will have to answer a list of questions under new rules.
 The State Department estimates that the new visa forms would affect 710,000 immigrant
and 14 million non-immigrant visa applicants.
 It said that in addition to asking the visa applicants to provide their identifications or
handles of their social media platform, they would also be asked to give details of their
phone and mobile numbers used in the last five years.
 Other questions seek five years of previously used telephone numbers, email addresses
and international travel whether the visa applicant has been deported or removed from
any country and whether specified family members have been involved in terrorist
activities.
 After its publication, the public would have 60 days to comment on the proposed new
visa form.
 One question lists multiple social media platforms and requires the applicant to provide
any identifiers used by applicants for those platforms during the five years preceding the
date of application.
 It said the State Department will collect the information from visa applicants for “identity
resolution and vetting purposes” based on statutory visa eligibility standards.
 However, it intends not to routinely ask the question of applicants for specific visa
classifications, such as most diplomatic and official visa applicants.
 The revised visa application forms will also include additional information regarding the
visa medical examination that some applicants may be required to undergo.

General Studies-03
Scientists report previously-unrecognised anatomical structure
in the human body
News: Researchers from New York University School of Medicine have reported a
previously unrecognised structure in the human body which may have implications in the
mechanisms of major diseases.

Beyond News

 The reveals that layers below the skin‟s surface, which were long thought to be dense,
connective tissues are instead interconnected, fluid-filled compartments.
 This series of spaces, supported by a
meshwork of strong (collagen) and flexible
(elastin) connective tissue proteins, may
act like shock absorbers that keep tissues
from tearing as organs, muscles, and
vessels squeeze, pump, and pulse as part
of daily function.
 The scientists used Confocal laser
endomicroscopy (pCLE), which provides
real-time images of human tissues, to find
these compartments.
 By freezing the biopsy tissue, the researchers preserved the structure and demonstrated
that this new part was supported by a complex network of thick collagen bundles.
 The researchers observed these structures in many tissues of the body like
gastrointestinal tract, urinary bladder, skin and the lungs.

How is this new discovery helpful?

 The report says that “these anatomic structures may be important in cancer metastasis,
edema, fibrosis, and mechanical functioning of many or all tissues and organs.”
 This fixation artifact of collapse has made a fluid-filled tissue type throughout the body
appear solid in biopsy slides for decades, and our results correct for this to expand the
anatomy of most tissues.

This finding has potential to drive dramatic advances in medicine, including the possibility
that the direct sampling of interstitial fluid may become a powerful diagnostic tool.
 MARCH 31
General Studies-01
Ancient temple found in China
News: Archaeologists in China‟s Henan province have discovered ruins of a temple
dating back around 5,000 years.

Beyond News:

 The excavation at the Qingtai ruins in Xingyang city was listed as one of the top five
archaeological discoveries in the province.
 Nine ceramic pots were laid out in the shape of the Big Dipper, with a round sacrificial
altar at the eastern side.
 The Big Dipper refers to the seven bright stars of the constellation Ursa Major.
 A human skeleton showing signs of unnatural death and three funeral urns were found
around the altar.
 The discovery shows that people had some astronomic knowledge.

General Studies-02
Russia expels diplomats from 23 countries as spy crisis escalates
News

 Russia expelled diplomats from 23 countries in retaliation against the West in a spy row,
in the biggest wave of tit-for-tat expulsions in recent memory.

Beyond News

 The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the heads of missions from 23
countries almost all of them European Union member states to tell them that some of
their diplomats had to leave.
 The diplomats from France, Canada, Germany, Australia and other countries were
earlier seen arriving at the Russian Foreign Ministry in flagged official cars.
 France, Germany, Canada and Poland each said that Russia was expelling four of their
diplomats. Among the other countries that had similarly been told to pull their envoys
were the Netherlands, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland, Lithuania and Norway.
 Thirteen Ukrainian diplomats should also leave Russia.
 The moves came in retaliation for the coordinated expulsion of Russian diplomats by
Britain and its allies over a nerve agent attackagainst former double agent Sergei
Skripal and his daughter Ms. Yulia in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.
India, Pak. call truce over envoys
News: The protracted spat between India and Pakistan over harassment of respective
diplomatic staff ended.

Beyond News

 Both sides will ensure safety of each other‟s diplomats, families of diplomats and
diplomatic premises, an official announcement said.
 India and Pakistan have mutually agreed to resolve matters related to the treatment of
diplomats and diplomatic premises, in line with the 1992 ,Code of Conduct for the
treatment of diplomatic/consular personnel in India and Pakistan.
 The decision comes as a relief for serving diplomats on both sides, who alleged for
weeks that they were being harassed by security personnel in both Delhi and Islamabad
by aggressive surveillance and stalking.
 During this period, India sent more than a dozen note verbales to Pakistan to uphold the
principles enshrined in the Vienna Convention for protection of diplomats.
 Diplomatic sources indicated that the resolution will ensure that both sides will abide by
globally accepted diplomatic protocols as well as bilateral understandings.
 The exchange between the two countries became heated following daily incidents and at
one point, Pakistan even recalled its envoy for „consultations‟.
 This bilateral mechanism is a special instrument to ensure safety and security of Indian
and Pakistani diplomats who have the critical responsibility of operating in hostile
circumstances.

General Studies-03
Scientists find glucose-derived molecule switches off
inflammation
News: Scientists have discovered a new metabolic process in the body that can switch
off inflammation.

Beyond News

 They found that „itaconate‟ a molecule

derived from glucose acts as a powerful
off-switch for macrophages, which are the
cells in the immune system that lie at the
heart of many inflammatory diseases.
 It is well known that macrophages cause
inflammation, but they have found that
they can be coaxed to make a biochemical
called itaconate.
 This functions as an important brake, or
off-switch, on the macrophage, cooling the
 heat of inflammation in a process never before described.
 The discovery is very much on the frontier of inflammation research and the researchers
are now exploring its relevance to the onset and development of inflammatory and
infectious diseases.
 They are also keen to explore whether the findings can be exploited in the effort to
develop new anti-inflammatory medicines.
 The macrophage takes the nutrient glucose, whose day job it is to provide energy, and
surprisingly turns it into itaconate.
 This then blocks production of inflammatory factors, and also protects mice from the
lethal inflammation that can occur during infection.

E-waste industry comes together to streamline recycling process.

News: Of an estimated 18 lakh metric tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) that India
generates per annum, less than 2 lakh tonnes reach licenced recyclers.

Beyond News:

 The rest is either reaching the unorganised

sector (such as scrap dealers), or ending
up in landfills.
 Not only does this mean that potentially
recyclable e-waste is being wasted, but
also that unscientifically managed e-waste
is a hazard that stands exposed.
 Now, around 180 recyclers from across
the country have joined hands to change
the narrative and come together to form
the All India e-Waste Recyclers‟
Association. To be headquartered in
Bengaluru, the association will look at
streamlining the dismantling and recycling cycle of e-waste in the country.
 The e-waste quantum is calculated based on the sales that happened in the previous
year, according to which the estimated e-waste generated is 18 lakh metric tonne per
annum. Bengaluru generates around 1 lakh metric tonnes.
 The other big contributors are the National Capital Region, Mumbai, Chennai and now
Hyderabad and Pune. Electronics is a component in many things from laptops and air-
conditioners to cars, which has 26% electronic component. The rate of progress in
technology is a big key in e-waste.
 The association is aiming at tackling the basics first: work with local municipal bodies to
set up e-waste collection centres similar to the dry waste collection centres that are now
being established in many cities.
 They also want to ensure that people find it convenient to make their e-waste reach
recyclers. For this, they are planning to set up technology-driven drop boxes to enable
people to put their waste and be paid back through e-wallets.
U.P. CM inaugurates India‟s
longest elevated road in
Ghaziabad
News: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
inaugurated a 10.30-km-long elevated road,
touted to be the longest of its kind in the
country, connecting UP Gate and Rajnagar.

Beyond News

 Built at a cost of Rs. 1,147 crore, the six-lane elevated road is supported on 227 pillars.
 Vehicle owners will be allowed to drive at an average speed of 80 kmph on the road.