About Neyveli Lignite Corporation India Limited (NLCIL):

• What is it? It is a Central Public Sector Enterprise with Navratna status under the administrative control of the Ministry of Coal.
• It was incorporated in the year 1956 under the Companies Act, 1956.
• It is involved in the fossil fuel mining sector in India and thermal power generation.
• It currently operates four lignite mines, one coal mine, and six thermal power plants, as well as solar and wind power plants.
• Headquarters: Neyveli, Tamil Nadu.

 

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Q1) What is a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE)?

Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) are those companies in which the direct holding of the Central Government or other CPSEs is 51% or more. As on 31st March 2021, there were 389 CPSEs (excluding insurance companies).

Source: NLCIL sets new records in power generation and coal production

About International Finance Corporation:

• It was founded in 1956 with Washington, DC as its headquarters.
• It is a member of the World Bank Group.
• Mandate: Advance economic development and improve the lives of people by encouraging the growth of the private sector in developing countries.
• Functions: It helps countries develop their private sectors in a variety of ways
  • Investing in companies through loans, equity investments, debt securities and guarantees.
  • Mobilizing capital from other lenders and investors through loan participations, parallel loans and other means.
  • Advising businesses and governments to encourage private investment and improve the investment climate.
• Governance: The IFC is owned and governed by its member countries. It is a corporation whose shareholders are member governments that provide paid-in capital and have the right to vote on its matters.
• The President of the World Bank Group is also the President of the IFC.

What is the World Bank Group?

• The World Bank Group is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries.
• It was established in 1944 through the Bretton Woods Agreement its mission is to fight poverty with passion and professionalism, for lasting results.
• The World Bank is the collective name for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA), two of five international organisations owned by the WB Group.
• The World Bank Group consists of five distinct yet complementary organizations:
  • International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD): It provides loans, credits and grants
  • International Development Association (IDA): It provides low or no-interest loans to low-income countries.
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC): It provides investment, advice and asset management to private companies and governments.
  • Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA): It ensures lenders and investors against political risks such as war.
  • International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID): It settles investment disputes between investors and countries.
• India is not a member of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)

 

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Q1) What is a debt instrument?

A debt instrument is a tool an entity can use to raise capital. It is a documented, binding obligation that provides funds to an entity in return for a promise from the entity to repay a lender or investor in accordance with terms of a contract.

Source: IFC will no longer allow financial intermediary clients to support new coal projects

About Cepheid Star:

• It is a type of variable star which brigthen and dim periodically.
• Variable stars are essentially stars that experience fluctuations in their brightness.
• Cepheids stars are special type of variable star in that they are hot and massive – five to twenty times as much mass as our Sun – and are known for their tendency to pulsate radially and vary in both diameter and temperature.
• Cepheid star's period (how often it pulsates) is directly related to its luminosity or brightness.
• They have luminosities 500-30,000 times greater than that of the Sun.
• They are used as cosmic yardsticks out to distances of a few tens of millions of light-years.

 

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Q1) What is a pulsar?

Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars that blast out pulses of radiation at regular intervals ranging from seconds to milliseconds. Pulsars have strong magnetic fields that funnel particles along their magnetic poles accelerating them to relativistic speeds, which produces two powerful beams of light, one from each pole.

Source: A new measurement could change understanding of the Universe: Study

About Guyana-Venezuela Border Dispute:

• History:
  • The land boundary between Guyana and Venezuela has been disputed since its colonial inception between British and Spanish powers in South America. 
  • In the 1840s, the British government had the border unilaterally surveyed, but the proposed line encroached on Venezuelan territorial claims.
  • The boundary has since been arbitrated (1899) and bilaterally agreed upon following demarcation (1905) but remains in conflict.
  • While the British line, accepted by Guyana, is the current de facto boundary, Venezuela maintains a historic claim to all territory currently administered by Guyana west of the Essequibo River.
  • Venezuelan contents that the Arbitral Award of 1899 about the frontier between British Guiana and Venezuela is null and void. 
• Disputed Area:
  • Venezuela’s claim along the Essequibo River extends for 1,034 kilometers before reaching Brazilian territory. 
  • At stake is approximately 142,795 square kilometers that is currently administered by Guyana.
  • Offshore the disputed land territory is maritime space that was recently discovered to be rich in hydrocarbon resources, upping the stakes of the land boundary dispute.
• Current Status:
  • Guyana submitted the dispute to the International Court of Justice in 2018.
  • Despite Venezuela’s withdrawal from the case, proceedings are currently ongoing.

 

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Q1) What is the International Court of Justice (ICJ)?

The International Court of Justice, which has its seat in The Hague,is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies.

Source: World Court says it can rule on Guyana-Venezuela border dispute

About Madh Island:

• It is an island located in Malad west, in the western suburbs of Mumbai, Maharashtra. 
• It consists of several fishing villages and farmlands bounded by Arabian sea to the west and Malad creek to the east. 
• Over the years, Madh has evolved from a group of fishing villages to a prominent residential and holiday destination.
• It also houses Airforce and Naval stations.
• It is primarily inhabited by Kolis, Marathis, and Roman Catholics.
• It also has an old Fort, Madh Fort and a 16th century Portuguese Church – St. Bonaventure. 
• ‘Erangal’ is a picturesque village on Madh island which is a popular filming location. 

What is the National Green Tribunal (NGT)?

• It has been established under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010.
• Mandate: Effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources.
• Composition: It comprises the Chairperson, the Judicial Members, and Expert Members.
• The Tribunal is not bound by the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by principles of natural justice.
• New Delhi is the Principal Place of Sitting of the Tribunal and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai shall be the other four places of sitting of the Tribunal.

 

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Q1) Where is Madh Fort located?

Madh Fort is a small fort in northern Mumbai, India situated at Madh Island. It was built by the Portuguese in Portuguese occupied India. They lost it during the war against Maratha empire when the Maratha Empire captured it in February 1739

Source: NGT revokes stay on demolition of five studios in Madh Island

About Extended Range Anti-Submarine Rocket (ER-ASR):

• It was designed and developed by Pune-based Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL).
• It is designed to intercept submarines at specific depths.
• It will be deployed in anti-submarine operations and will be fired from an indigenised rocket launcher mounted onboard various Indian naval ships.
• It can be fired in single or in salvo mode depending on the tactical mission requirements
• It has been designed to replace the existing Russian origin RGB rockets which are already fitted in ships.
• While the RGB has a range of five kilometers, the ER-ASR can achieve a range over eight kilometers.
• It consists of two motor propulsion systems which can fire the rocket in Short Range mode and Long Range mode to achieve different range capabilities.

 

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Q1) What are RGB rockets?

The RGB-60 Anti Submarine Rocket is an unguided depth charge fired from RBU 6000 Rocket launcher and it has a warhead mass of 25 kg and is used against the target of submarines.

Source: Anti-submarine rockets developed by 2 Pune labs successfully tested from INS Chennai

About United Nations Statistical Commission:

• It was established in 1947(HQ: New York) and is the highest body of the global statistical system.
• It brings together the Chief Statisticians from member states from around the world.
• Functions:
  • It is the highest decision-making body for international statistical activities, responsible for setting statistical standards and the development of concepts and methods, including their implementation at the national and international levels.
  • The Statistical Commission oversees the work of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), and it is a Functional Commission of the UN Economic and Social Council.
• Membership: The Commission consists of 24 member countries of the United Nations elected by the United Nations Economic and Social Council based on an equitable geographical distribution according to the following pattern:
  • Five members from African States                
  • Four members from Asia-Pacific States
  • Four members from Eastern European States
  • Four members from Latin American and Caribbean States
  • Seven members from Western European and other States
• The term of office of members is four years.
• India was a member of the Statistical Commission last in 2004 and the country is returning to the UN agency after a gap of two decades.

 

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Q1) What is Statistics?

Statistics is the science concerned with developing and studying methods for collecting, analyzing, interpreting and presenting empirical data. Statistics is a highly interdisciplinary field; research in statistics finds applicability in virtually all scientific fields and research.

Source: India elected to UN Statistical Commission

About Hybrid Solar Eclipse:

• What it is? A hybrid eclipse is a type of solar eclipse that looks like an annular solar eclipse or a total solar eclipse, depending on the observer's location along the central eclipse path.
• During a hybrid solar eclipse, the Earth's curvature brings some sections of the eclipse path into the Moon's umbra, the darkest part of its shadow that creates total solar eclipses, while other areas remain outside the umbra's reach, causing an annular eclipse.

What is a total solar eclipse?

• It happens when the Moon passes between the Earth and Sun while completely blocking the face of the Sun.
• It will be visible to the people located in the centre of the Moon’s shadow when it hits Earth.
• If the weather conditions are right, people in the path of the solar eclipse will be able to see the Sun’s corona (outer atmosphere).

What is an annular eclipse?

• It happens when the moon is farthest from the Earth, which is why it seems smaller.
• In this type of eclipse, the moon does not block the sun completely but looks like a “dark disk on top of a larger sun-coloured disk” forming a “ring of fire.

What is an eclipse?

• It happens when the moon, while orbiting the Earth, comes in between the sun and the Earth, due to which the moon blocks the sun’s light from reaching the Earth, causing an eclipse of the sun or a solar eclipse.

 

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Q1) What is Penumbra?

It is the portion of the Moon’s shadow in which only part of the Sun is covered. An observer standing in the penumbra sees only a partial solar eclipse.

Source: Ningaloo ‘hybrid’ solar eclipse on April 20: What is it and Where to watch

About International Seabed Authority:

• It is an autonomous international organization established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
• Mandate: It has the mandate to ensure the effective protection of the marine environment from harmful effects that may arise from deep-seabed-related activities.
• It has its headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica
• Its primary function is to regulate the exploration of poly-metallic nodules.

What are poly-metallic nodules?

• Polymetallic nodules are rounded accretions of manganese and iron hydroxides that cover vast areas of the seafloor.
• These are most abundant on abyssal plains at water depths of 4000-6500 metres.
• They are mainly found in the north-central Pacific Ocean, the southeastern Pacific Ocean, and the northern Indian Ocean.

 

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Q1) What are Abyssal plains?

Abyssal plains occur on the bottom of a seabed from roughly 10,000 to 20,000 feet below sea level. The majority of the world’s abyssal plains are found within The Atlantic Ocean, although they are in all seas on Earth. These plains are made up of silt, sediment and sand that blanket the original ocean floor, forming a smooth, flat plain.

Source: UN to start allowing deep sea mining operations from July: What are the concerns?

About Pseudomonas aeruginosa:

• It is a gram-negative rod-shaped bacteria commonly found in the environment, for example in soil and water.
• It can be spread to people in healthcare settings through contaminated surfaces, hands, and equipment.
• It is capable of causing a variety of infections. 
• It causes infections among immunocompromised hosts, extreme versatility, antibiotic resistance, and a wide range of dynamic defences making it an extremely challenging organism to treat in modern-day medicine.
• Treatment:Doctors usually prescribe antibiotics for its treatment.

 

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Q1) What is an antibiotic?

Antibiotics are medicines that fight infections caused by bacteria in humans and animals by either killing the bacteria or making it difficult for the bacteria to grow and multiply.

Source: Health Ministry finds eye drop of standard quality' after CDC flagged concerns: Report