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What's the difference between an astronaut and a cosmonaut?

The distinction is that they are titles awarded by different space agencies. They both mean essentially the same thing and they both come from Greek. Cosmonaut  is used by the Russian Space Agency.  Astronaut is used by NASA, ESA, CSA, and JAXA.
An  astronaut  or  cosmonaut (Russian) is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft.

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🚉Railways, NBCC ink projects to redevelope 100 Railways Stations.

Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) has inked MoU with National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) for redevelopment of 10 railway stations across the country on global standards.

The identified stations to be taken up initially by NBCC, a PSU of Urban Development Ministry  for redevelopment are Tirupati, Nellore, Puducherry, Sarai Rohilla (Delhi), Madgaon, Lucknow, Gomtinagar, Kota, Thane (New) and Ernakulam.  RLDA is an arm of the Indian Railways for commercial exploitation of rail land.

★ Key Facts

As per the MoU, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be formed at the national level as a Joint Venture (JV) company between RLDA and NBCC on 50:50 shareholding basis. The SPV in turn will enter into City Support Agreements (CSA) with respective cities for the redevelopment of stations and commercial development on Railway land in alignment with the Smart City Plans of respective cities.

RLDA will lease out the land to the SPV for a fixed lease period of up to 45 years at a nominal token cost for development and NBCC as Project Management Consultant will execute the project work on behalf of SPV.

Earnings from the commercial development of land parcels at stations will be utilized to redevelop the stations for creating necessary infrastructure and better passenger amenities. The surplus earnings will go to RLDA which would in turn would be remitted to Zonal railways.

The entire revenue from lease revenues from built up spaces will be deposited in an SPV’s ESCROW account which is to be managed by a Committee to be formed.

★ Background

The Indian Railways has embarked on an ambitious project to redevelop 403 stations with the participation of private players, public sector and foreign agencies. It has taken up this redevelopment programme of stations in a big way by adopting a multi-pronged strategy. It has chosen PPP model and is also roping in varied agencies to execute the project namely its own PSUs, other Central government PSUs, foreign countries through government-to-government (G2G) cooperation and state governments. Earlier in October 2016, MoU was also signed between the Railway Ministry and Urban Development Ministry for integrated planning for redevelopment of railway stations in the cities included in the Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT schemes.
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What's the difference between an astronaut and a cosmonaut?

The distinction is that they are titles awarded by different space agencies. They both mean essentially the same thing and they both come from Greek. Cosmonaut  is used by the Russian Space Agency.  Astronaut is used by NASA, ESA, CSA, and JAXA.
An  astronaut  or  cosmonaut (Russian) is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft.

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The constitution empowers the legislative bodies {Parliament / state legislative assemblies} in the country to make laws in their respective jurisdictions. However, this power is not absolute but is subject to judicial review. Power of judicial review makes Supreme Court guardian of not only fundamental rights but the constitution itself. However, at the time of enactment of the constitution, the Supreme Court derived its power to review the acts via article 13, article 226 and article 245 mainly. Article 13 declares that any law which contravenes any of the provisions of part –III {Fundamental Rights} shall be null and void. Articles 32 and 226 entrust Supreme Court and High Courts with roles of the protector and guarantor of fundamental rights Article 245 states that the powers of both Parliament and State legislatures are subject to the provisions of the constitution.

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Minerva Mills v. Union of India(1980) and Waman Rao v. Union of India(1981)

The Forty-second amendment was challenged before the Supreme Court by the owners of Minerva Mills, a sick industrial firm which was nationalized by the government in 1974. It was argued that Section 55 of the amendment had placed unlimited amending power in the hands of Parliament. The attempt to immunize constitutional amendments against judicial review violated the doctrine of basic structure which had been recognized by the Supreme Court in the Kesavananda Bharati and Indira Gandhi Election Cases. Also, it was argued that this deprived courts of the ability to question the amendment even if it damaged or destroyed the Constitution’s basic structure.

In the Minerva Mills case, the Supreme Court struck down section 4 and 55 of the 42nd Amendment Act 1976. It also provided key clarifications on the interpretation of the basic structure doctrine. The court ruled that the power of the Parliament to amend the constitution is limited by the constitution. Hence the parliament cannot exercise this limited power to grant itself an unlimited power. Hence the parliament cannot usurp the fundamental rights of individuals, including the right to liberty and equality.

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Who invented Telegram messenger ?

Telegram was launched in 2013 by brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov, the founders of Russian VK, Russia's largest social network.  Telegram  Messenger LLP is an independent nonprofit company based in Berlin, Germany. Nikolai Durov  created the MTProto protocol that is the basis for the messenger, while  Pavel  provided financial support and infrastructure through his Digital Fortress fund with business partner Axel Neff, a third founder of Telegram. Telegram is registered as both an English LLP and an American LLC.

RAPID (Revenue, Accountability, Probity, Information and Digitisation): This approach (not a scheme) reflects the new strategy of Tax Department. While revenue considerations will remain the focus of Revenue Department, maximum use of Information Technology will be made to remove human contact with assesses as well as to plug tax avoidance. Data mining capability will be enhanced, both in-house and outsourced. Greater accountability will be expected from the Tax officers for specific acts of commission and omission.

What: Seven Amarnath pilgrims, including five women were killed in a terrorist attackMeanwhile, the Army, CRPF, and J&K Police Special Operations Group have launched a combing operation in the area, and a high alert has been declared on the entire highway

Historical Background of the Amarnath Yatra

Amarnath was discovered by a Muslim shepherd, Buta Malik, in 1850Malik and his family became custodians of the cave-shrine along with Hindu priests who came from two religious organisations — Dashnami Akhara and Purohit Sabha Mattan

Economic Times

Business Standard

Ø  Sick PSUs’ land to be used for low-cost housing

Ø  Global carriers, PE firms in race to buy 24% stake in Jet

Ø  Reliance Infra gets nod for $1 bn Aerospace Park

Ø  GSTIN display on sign boards must for businesses

Ø  Sugar import duty hiked to 50% to help domestic prices

Ø  'EPFO adds over 1 cr new members in H1 2017'

Ø  Grasim divests its holding in Grasim Bhiwani Textiles to Donear

 

Ø  Technical glitch halts trading at NSE for three hours

Ø  NSE asks BSE to explain surge in trading volumes

Ø  Dr Reddy's, Lupin, others mull expanding Africa operations

Ø  SBI to divest 80 million shares in SBI Life via IPO

Ø  NCLT to hear SBI's insolvency plea against Electrosteel Steels

Ø  Emami Infra to merge Zandu Realty with self to unlock value, fund projects

Business Line

 

Mint

Ø  India to import crude oil from US for first time

Ø  ICEX gets SEBI nod to restart trading operations

Ø  Airtel plans to invest Rs.2,000 cr under 'Project Next' programme

Ø   USFDA to lift import alert on Vizag unit: Divi's Labs

Ø   KEC International wins new orders worth Rs. 1,845 cr

Ø  TRAI floats consultation paper on digital radio broadcast 

 

Ø  NSE hit by trading glitch, exchange says not a cyberattack

Ø  Airtel testing VoLTE technology in five circles

Ø  Formal jobs in India may be more than estimated

Ø  Volkswagen’s Porsche brand probed as diesel emissions scandal spreads

Ø  Govt to sell securities worth Rs18,000 crore on 14 July

Ø  Reliance Jio data leaked on website : report

Financial Express

 

Financial Chronicle

Ø  Government may impose countervailing duty on certain steel products

Ø  Microsoft to offer local version of Azure cloud service

Ø  Petrol pump dealers defer protest against daily price revision

Ø  GMR secures Rs 1,330cr funding for Goa airport from Axis Bank

Ø  Chinese firm signs deal worth $22.8 billion with Airbus

 

Ø  IDFC-Shriram merger likely to attract regulatory bottlenecks

Ø  Google awaits RBI nod for UPI service

Ø  Flipkart to make revised offer for Snapdeal this week

Ø  RBI may try to contain further rise of rupee

Ø  Rubber prices to move with a negative bias

Ø  NSE 'deeply apologies' for glitch in trading system

Rare earth metals:

-As per IUPAC total 17 elements are considered as rare earth metal:the 15 from lanthanoid group and two others:Scandium and Yttrium.
-China produces 97% of world production
-India has 2nd largest reserve of REM.
-Mostly found in placer deposits
-High end use, especially in electronics, tablet, wind and solar energy
-Few examples:lanthanum,dyprosium and yttrium

Use:
lanthanum:oil refineries
dyprosium :used in hybrid vehicles, wind turbines and stealth helicopters
yttrium : Used in military jet engines

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Imp. Mains Questions(Vajiram & Ravi Test-1)
Q. Critically examine the impact of urbanization on tribal populations.

Q. What do you understand by social innovation? Can it provide sustainable solutions to the diverse problems afflicting Indian society?

Q. India's unique coastline and its strategic location make it an ideal global transhipment hub. Discuss how the
Sagarmala initiative can play a key role towards goal.

Q. Make an account of the importance and distribution of Rare Earth resources worldwide. Also discuss the
prospects of India's rare earth industry.

Q. Discuss the spatial distribution of Horticulture in India and the reasons for the recent growth of this sector.

Q. More than half of forests in India are vulnerable to fire and some regions are highly prone to it. Discuss the
causes and account for the losses due to forest fire.

Q. People in hilly areas face unique problems and innovative approach is needed for the development of these areas. Explain.

Q. Western disturbances play an important role in large part of India's winter climate and agriculture. In light of
this statement, discuss the genesis and impact of Western disturbances.

Do planets Revolve around sun ?

We often say that the planets orbit the Sun, which is usually a reasonable approximation. But in reality both Sun and the planets orbit the center-of-mass/center-of-gravity of the whole solar system, not the center of the sun.
The Sun is by far the most massive body in the solar system, so it's plausible that the center-of-gravity lies within it. On the other hand Jupiter is rather massive as well and pretty far from the Sun. Thus the center-of-mass might not actually be inside the Sun, only near it. The influence of Saturn might not be negligible either.

Gender Budgeting
------------------------

What is Gender Budgeting?
* It is an attempt to scrutinize the budget from the gender lens and bring out the gender differential impact.
* In Gender Budgeting, “Gender” means women and her empowerment.
* Gender budgeting is used as a tool for effective policy implementation where one can check if the allocations are in line with policy commitments and are having the desired impact


Gender budget is not:
* A separate budget.
* About spending the same on women and men.
* Just about assessing programmes targeted specifically at women and girls.
* Confined to budgets alone. It covers analysing various economic policies from the gender perspective.


Why is gender budgeting necessary?
* The achievement of human development is highly dependent on the development and empowerment of the 496 million women and girls. In addition, the Constitution of India has mandated equality for every citizen of the country as a fundamental right.
* Nevertheless, the reality is that women in India continue to face disparities in access to and control over resources. These disparities are reflected in indicators of health, nutrition, literacy, educational attainments, skill levels, occupational status among others.
* The poor status and value attached to women is also reflected in the fact that the female sex ratio for the 0-6 age group declined from an already low 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001, implying that millions of girls went missing in just a decade. There are a number of gender-specific barriers which prevent women and girls from gaining access to their rightful share.
* Unless these barriers are addressed in the planning and development process, the fruits of economic growth are likely to completely bypass a significant section of the country’s population. This, in turn, does not augur well for the future growth of the economy.


What are the issues in Gender Budgeting adopted by India?
* Total magnitude of Gender Budget is very low.
* Focus has been mainly on identifying programmes/schemes meant entirely for women or having visible components that benefit women.
* Very little information is available in the public domain as regards the assumptions made by various ministries in the reviews of their expenditure profiles from a gender perspective.
* Many misleading and patriarchal assumptions limit the scope of Gender Budgeting.
* Sectors such as Water Supply, Sanitation, and Food & Public Distribution still remain outside the purview of the GB Statement.
* Large schemes do not figure yet in the Gender Budgeting Statement.


What needs to be done to make gender budgeting more effective?
* Gender budgeting should be fully incorporated into standard budget processes so that it becomes fully institutionalized. Otherwise, even initiatives adopted with enthusiasm may not be sustained. Some elements of gender budgeting, such as an analysis of benefits or tax incidence, may require periodic special efforts.
* It should address specific goals, such as reducing inequality in educational attainment, that have clear benefits and can be measured even with somewhat crude tools and data.
* It should draw on civil society for support and assistance with the more research-oriented aspects, and should apply to subnational levels of government where relevant. It should cover both spending and revenue.
* It should not be a rule set specific goals for spending on women-related objectives because this tends to reduce flexibility, making the budget process less effective.


Related Questions:

1. Women empowerment in India needs gender budgeting. What are requirements and status of gender budgeting in the Indian context? (UPSC Mains 2016)

Examine the difference between “multi-stakeholder” and “multilateral” models of discussion to decide the future of issues such as global internet governance and net neutrality. Also critically comment on India‘s position on the issue of global internet governance. (200 Words)

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India to join Global Foreign Exchange Committee

India will soon join Global Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC), a newly-constituted forum of central bankers and experts working towards promotion of a robust and transparent foreign exchange (Forex) market. The committee has been set up under guidance of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), an international financial organisation.

About Global Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC) The GFXC was established in London during a meeting in May 2017 of public and private sector representatives from the foreign exchange committees (FXCs) of 16 international forex trading centres. The newly expanded and formalised GFXC, replaces a similar but more informal organisation of eight FXCs from Australia, Euro area, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, UK and US. It will now also include representatives from existing, or soon to be established FXCs or similar structures in China, India, Brazil, Korea, Mexico, South Africa, Sweden and Switzerland.

The objectives GFXC: (i) Promote collaboration and communication among the local FXCs and non-GFXC jurisdictions with significant FX markets (ii) Exchange views on trends and developments in global FX markets, including on the structure and functioning of those markets, drawing on information gathered at the various FXCs; (iii) Promote, maintain and update on a regular basis the FX Global Code (the Code) and consider good practices regarding effective mechanisms to support adherence. It will also maintain and update ‘Global Code of Conduct for the Foreign Exchange Markets’ issued by Bank for International Settlements (BIS). 

Bank for International Settlements (BIS) BIS is an international financial organisation owned by 60 member central banks, representing countries from around the world including India. It fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks. It carries out its work through its meetings, programmes and through the Basel Process – hosting international groups pursuing global financial stability and facilitating their interaction. Its headquarter is in Basel, Switzerland.

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What is Gi-Fi ?

Gi-Fi or gigabit wireless refers to a wireless communication at a data rate of more than one billion bits (gigabit) per second. By 2004 some trade press used the term "Gi-Fi" to refer to faster versions of the IEEE 802.11 standards marketed under the trademark Wi-Fi. Some press reports called this "GiFi".
This leads to the development of a new technology called
Gi-Fi.
The Gi-Fi technology has faster information rate, low cost for short range transmission and consumes less power. Gi-Fi is developed on an integrated wireless transceiver chip.