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Q- Which of the following is correct regarding cleaning of Ganga? 1. National Green Tribunal is a central agency for National Mission for Clean Ganga 2. NGT plans to clean Ganga in one phase only A. 1 only B. 2 only C. Both D. None Q- Which of the following is correct regarding the Insolvency and Bankruptcy code,2015? 1. The Code creates time-bound processes for insolvency resolution of companies and individuals. These processes will be completed within 180 days. 2. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will adjudicate insolvency resolution for companies. 3. The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) will adjudicate insolvency resolution for individuals. A. 1,2 only B. 2,3 only C. 1,3 only D. All of the above Q- Which of the following is correct regarding inflation measurement in India? 1. All the states have equal weightage in inflation measurement 2. Lower base effect increases the inflation next year A. 1 only B. 2 only C. Both D. None. . . . . . . . . ...

Q- Which of the following statement is/are correct about making Aadhar mandatory for filling income tax & Pan card I. It will Greatly help India’s GDP. II. For this government had added section 139AA to income tax act, 1961 through finance act 2017. A. I only B. II only C. Both D. None Q- The fundamental duties are included in the constitution by which of the following act? (a) 40th amendment act (b) 44th amendment act (c) 43rd amendment act (d) 42nd amendment act. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Answer 1-B,  2-D

How food waste can be recycled and turned into resource to reduce rural and urban poverty and improve nutrition? We should avoid as much as possible any waste in the chain from (human) food production to consumption. However, from the farm to the fork, some waste is unavoidable. In rural areas, agricultural (processing) by-products and wastes from farming will be available while in urban areas it will be from distribution (centres) and final consumers. In Belgium and Netherlands, we have companies collecting vegetable and fruit wastes from supermarkets and distribution points and using it to feed insects. The dried insect larvae are then used in fish and chicken feed. In developing countries, poor urban people can collect food waste (usually for free) and use it to farm insects. In this way, we act at three levels: reduce the disposal of waste in the city, provide cash income opportunities and improve nutrition. There are many alternatives to traditional sources of protein s...

Over the past few days there has been a lot of talk about the Paris climate agreement, from which the United States is planning to withdraw. Although this is a setback, there is still near-complete consensus from the world’s governments that a strong effort to tackle climate change is needed. The Paris Agreement aims to limit global warming relative to a pre-industrial baseline. Its precise commitment is: Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2℃ above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels, recognising that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. But this begs the question: what are “pre-industrial levels”? Clearly, if we’re aiming to limit global warming to 1.5℃ or 2℃ above a certain point, we need a common understanding of what we’re working from. But the Paris Agreement doesn’t provide a definition. This becomes key as governments expe...

A new study has found that the mean temperature in India has risen by half a degree Celsius over a period of 60 years. This corresponds to 146 per cent increase in the probability of deaths due to heat waves. This means that even moderate increases in mean temperatures may lead to large increases in heat wave-related deaths, notes the study conducted by researchers from the Indian Institutes of Technology in Delhi and Bombay, along with the University of California and Boise State University, USA. Based on the findings, researchers have urged the government to put in more efforts to build resilience among vulnerable populations in regions with severe heat waves. In the years—1972, 1988, 1998 and 2003— when there were more than 10 heat wave days on an average across India, there was a corresponding spike in heat-related deaths between 650 and 1,500 people. The substantial increase in mortality rates due to 0.5°C increase in summer mean temperature or two more heat wave days suggest...

There are those who say the climate has always changed, and that carbon dioxide levels have always fluctuated. That’s true. But it’s also true that since the industrial revolution, CO₂ levels in the atmosphere have climbed to levels that are unprecedented over hundreds of millennia. So here’s a short video we made, to put recent climate change and carbon dioxide emissions into the context of the past 800,000 years. The temperature-CO₂ connection Earth has a natural greenhouse effect, and it is really important. Without it, the average temperature on the surface of the planet would be about -18℃ and human life would not exist. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is one of the gases in our atmosphere that traps heat and makes the planet habitable. We have known about the greenhouse effect for well over a century. About 150 years ago, a physicist called John Tyndall used laboratory experiments to demonstrate the greenhouse properties of CO₂ gas. Then, in the late 1800s, the Swedish chemist Sva...

The development of a baby, from the time of fertilisation through to the moment of birth, is an incredibly complex journey. Most of the time the result is a perfect new baby. However, in about 3% of babies mistakes happen and a birth defect occurs. This is when an anatomical difference has come about as the baby develops in the womb. Birth defects (also known as congenital anomalies) are a major cause of infant hospitalisation and deaths in the first year of life. These are not only costly to manage in the health-care system, but can also have an enormous impact on the lives of the child and their family. File 20170605 20586 sgg1qn About 3% of babies are born with birth defects, when there is a problem with how they develop in the womb. from www.shutterstock.com Some birth defects are relatively mild, can be repaired with simple surgery and the child will go on to lead a perfectly normal life. These include an additional little finger or webbing between two toes. Other types...

I happened to visit areas around Bilaspur in Uttar Pradesh last fortnight. In the horizon I could see fields of poplar trees, all waiting to be harvested. Farmers explained to me that the market for their tree crop had crashed. They did not know what to do. Some years ago, the price of poplar wood—used for making plywood, sports equipment and matchsticks—was a good Rs 20,000 per tonne. Now it is not more than Rs 2,000 per tonne. “Each year, we hope something will change. But now we are desperate,” they told me. Nobody really knows why this crash has happened. As is usually the case, over-production and lack of demand have played a role. But why is there no demand for wood? Is it because we are importing so much wood that it is killing the domestic market? Is it also because huge restrictions on growing, cutting and transporting trees do not allow the domestic market to develop? In this case, not only has the market crashed, the government is also adding salt to the wounds of tree ...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi aims at making India open defecation-free by October 2019. The government’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) brought to forefront many success stories. But there is a flip side to this movement as well. Zafar Hussain, a 44-year-old social worker from Pratapgarh, Rajasthan was killed brutally by local civic officials after he objected to their photographing of his wife and daughter defecating in open, said the press release by Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) on June 19, 2017. With its head office in Delhi, JSA is a 'People's Health Movement' in the country, which is aimed at establishing health and equitable development through comprehensive primary health care and action on social determinants of health. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation says that till date 64 per cent of households in rural India use toilet. This means, open defecation is practised by only 36 per cent of rural households. We have fascinating stories from Himachal Pradesh, ...

Some revolutions are as important for the way their seeds took root as for the transformation they usher in. Protests and campaigns against genetically modified (GM) crops are routine across the globe but none has resulted in the dramatic denouement witnessed in Burkina Faso, a small impoverished country in West Africa. In this top cotton exporting country, GM or Bt cotton, peddled by agri biotech giant Monsanto under the Bollgard II trademark, has been rolled back completely. And Monsanto itself is, reportedly, exiting Burkina Faso after paying compensation to the cotton companies for the decline in revenues and more significantly for damage to the reputation of Burkina cotton. Those familiar with Monsanto operations worldwide, especially in India where farmers have suffered debilitating losses and destruction of livelihoods, would find this is unprecedented. Monsanto has never acknowledged that its insect-resistant Bt cotton has ever failed although damage to their crop has compel...

Researchers from the School of Life Sciences and Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, have performed DNA analysis by targeted exome sequencing in long standing ulcerative colitis subjects at risk of progressing into colorectal cancer and identified cancer causing mutations.