The Hindu
Prelims
- U.P. ranked best under Smart Cities Mission The Ministry said in a statement that 22% in terms of the total value of the projects proposed and 52% in terms of the total number of projects proposed by the 100 Smart Cities had been completed so far.
GS3: Government Budgeting
- ‘Govt. can cut fuel cess by ₹4.5’ Reducing record fuel prices will ease inflation pressures, boost disposable incomes and consumption, says the rating agency’s chief economist Aditi Nayar.
GS2: Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections
- Tax relief on ex-gratia for covid deaths, aid for treatment costs The government on Friday announced Income tax relief for COVID-19 affected taxpayers who had to rely on financial aid for their treatment costs and exempted ex-gratia payments of up to ₹10 lakh from employers and other well-wishers to the families of those who passed away.
GS2: India and neighborhood- relations
- Tibet gets first bullet train, links Lhasa to India border This will be the second railway line connecting Tibet to the hinterland, following the already open Qinghai-Tibet rail.
GS3: Science and Technology
- "Environment ministry to deploy LiDAR survey reports for boosting groundwater in forest area" Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar in a virtual event today released the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of LiDAR based survey of forest areas in ten states namely Assam, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Goa, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, and Tripura.
- DRDO tests enhanced range Pinaka rocket Four enhanced range version of 122mm rockets were test fired with full instrumentation and they met the complete mission objectives.”
GS3: Indigenization of technology
- IAC will be commissioned next year: Defence Minister The Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) was India's pride and a shining example of Atmanirbhar Bharat, Minister for Defence Rajnath Singh said here on Friday, after a review of the vessel being built by the Cochin Shipyard Limited.
Indian Express
GS2: Functioning of Judiciary
- How to unclog the courts More judges, timely filling up of posts in all levels of judiciary, fewer cases by the government could provide redress
GS2: Bilateral, Regional & Global Groupings & Agreements Involving India and/or Affecting India's Interests
- Pakistan to remain on FATF greylist Pakistan was put on the grey list by the Paris-based FATF in June 2018, and the country has been struggling to come out of it.
GS2: Issues & Challenges Pertaining to the Federal Structure
- How the Constitution was subverted during Emergency On the midnight of June 25-26, 1975, the President of India on the advice of Indira Gandhi and without the approval of her Cabinet, signed a proclamation to “declare that a grave emergency exists whereby the security of India is threatened by internal disturbances”.
- Before BJP MPs’ remarks, statehood movements from North Bengal The demand for a separate state for Gorkhas in the Darjeeling hills and parts of the Dooars and Siliguri terai regions began as a violent movement in the 1980s, initially spearheaded by Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) founder Subash Ghising.
GS3: Science and Technology
- Explained: What is Ambergris and why is this ‘whale vomit’ so valuable? Ambergris, French for grey amber, is generally referred to as whale vomit. However, Christopher Kemp, the author of ‘Floating gold: A Natural and (unnatural) history of Ambergris’, says this is not right.
PIB Corner
- Cost-effective, bio-compatible nanogenerators can harvest electricity from vibrations for optoelectronics, self-powered devices The triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) make use of mechanical energy in the form of vibrations present everywhere in different forms to generate electricity
