MOST PROBABLE TOPICS – PART 7

1.Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) 

• Once it is built, the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) will become one of the world’s largest general-purpose observatories, allowing astronomers to study the outer reaches of the universe and study distant stars and exoplanets than much greater detail than is currently possible- Extremely Large Telescope category.
• The problem is that it is not getting built because the proposed site for the TMT, atop the dormant Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii, is also a sacred location for the island’s native population. 
• India – a member of the international collaboration of research institutions and national governments that have committed money and other resources to building the TMT – wants the observatory to be shifted to a different site, away from Mauna Kea.
• India has committed 10% of the project’s resources and Indian scientists are in turn guaranteed 10% of observation time on the TMT once it is ready.

• Japan Suspends its Funding for the 30-Meter Telescope

2. Sohrai Khovar Painting- Jharkhand

• The Sohrai Khovar painting is a traditional and ritualistic mural art being practised by local tribal women during local harvest and marriage seasons using local, naturally available soils of different colours in the area of Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.

3. Thanjavur Netti Works (Thanjavur Pith Work)

• Thanjavur Netti Works (Thanjavur Pith Work) is made from pith. The pith is obtained from netti, a hydrophyte plant called as Aeschynomene aspera. 
• The lakes around Pudukottai (Pudukullam & Kallaperumbur lake) are surrounded with marshy land which favours the growth of the hydrophytic plant.
• The soil found in Thanjavur is favourable for the growth of the plant that is used for the production of pith handicraft based in Thanjavur.
• The notable works from Thanjavur Netti Works include models of the Brihadeeshwara Temple, Hindu idols, garlands, door hangings and show pieces used for decoration.
• They resemble ivory and marble handicrafts in looks.

4.  Puttapaka Telia Rumal -Nalgonda, Telangana

• The Telia Rumal is made of complex handmade work over cotton loomed cloth. It is created using traditional handloom process. The process is complicated and can be created only through traditional handloom processes. The designs are created in three particular colours. This includes red, white and black.
• Telia Rumal is a unique tie and dye technique that uses oil for the treatment of the yarn that helps it retain softness and has a distinct smell of gingelly oil.

5. Arumbavur Wood Carving

• It is done at Arumbavur and around the Veppanthattai taluk of Perambalur district. The wood carvings are primarily made out of wooden logs of Indian siris , mango , lingam tree , Indian ash tree , rosewood, neem tree.
• The carvings in Arambavur Wood Carvings are often inspired by architectural details on temple sculptures and carvings. 
• Usually, the statues are crafted in the range of 1 to 12 feet.
• The art form also draws inspiration from mythology and mythical deities.
• Arumbavur wood carvings revolve around idols and deities, temple chariots and temple cars, door panels of houses, pooja rooms and temples, decorative figures, pooja mandapam.Whereas Thanjavur pith works are mostly miniature models of temples.
• The artisans – predominantly the Boyar community.

5. Chandrayaan-2

• Chandrayaan-2

6. Aditya L1

• Aditya L1

7. IRNSS (NAVIC)

IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system being developed by India. It is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area. An Extended Service Area lies between primary service area and area enclosed by the rectangle from Latitude 30 deg South to 50 deg North, Longitude 30 deg East to 130 deg East.

IRNSS will provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Service (SPS) which is provided to all the users and Restricted Service (RS), which is an encrypted service provided only to the authorised users. The IRNSS System is expected to provide a position accuracy of better than 20 m in the primary service area.

Some applications of IRNSS are:

• Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation
• Disaster Management
• Vehicle tracking and fleet management
• Integration with mobile phones
• Precise Timing
• Mapping and Geodetic data capture
• Terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travellers
• Visual and voice navigation for drivers

The space segment consists of the IRNSS constellation of eight satellites, NavIC.

3 satellites are located in suitable orbital slots in the geostationary orbit and the remaining 4 are located in geosynchronous orbits with the required inclination and equatorial crossings in two different planes. All the satellites of the constellation are configured identically. The satellites are configured with I-1K Bus to be compatible for launch on-board PSLV.

Many questions from IRNSS topic asked in Prelims Exam earlier.

8. NAVIC- 3GPP

• Global standards body 3GPP, which develops protocols for mobile telephony, has approved India’s regional navigation system NaVIC.
• It will boost commercial use of NAVIC by device makers.
• It will also bring NaVIC technology to the commercial market for its use in 4G, 5G and Internet of Things (IOT).
• Integrated circuits and products based on NAVIC can be developed now.
• 3GPP currently has global navigation satellite system support from BDS (Chinese), Galileo (European), GLONASS (Russia) and GPS (USA) for cellular positioning systems.
• US congress has agreed to designate India’s NavIC as its allied navigational satellite system along with Galileo of European Union and QZSS of Japan.
• US designated Russia’s GLONASS and Chinese Beidou as a “non-allied system”.

9. GRAVITATIONAL LENSING

• NASA has announced that plan to use the phenomena of gravitational lensing in its research to know how new stars are born.
• Use of  James Webb Space Telescope
• It is a natural phenomenon, which occurs when a huge amount of matter, such as a massive galaxy or cluster of galaxies, creates a gravitational field that distorts and magnifies the light from objects behind it, but in the same line of sight.

10. National Infrastructure Pipeline

• National Infrastructure Pipeline is the investment plan unveiled by the Central Government for enhancing infrastructure in identified sectors for a period of five years from 2020-25.
• The funding of the National Infrastructure Pipeline will be jointly made by the Centre, states and the private sector in the proportion of 39:39:22 (39 % each by the centre and states and 22% by the private sector).
• The infrastructure plan was proposed by the Taskforce on National Infrastructure Pipeline for 2019-2025.
• The benefits of NIP are envisaged to be immense–  more inclusive economic growth through equitable access to infrastructure, job creation and improved standards of living; higher quality expenditure, increased government revenue and enhancement in economic activity; better-prepared projects and increased efficiency in delivery as well as enhanced access to sources of finance for developers; and increased investor confidence.
• To draw up the NIP, a bottom-up approach was adopted wherein all projects costing greater than INR 100 crore per project under construction, proposed greenfield projects, brownfield projects and those at the conceptualisation stage were sought to be captured. 
• It is envisaged that during the fiscals 2020 to 2025, sectors such as energy (24%), roads (18%), urban (17%) and railways (12%) amount to ~71% of the projected infrastructure investments in India, with a total capital expenditure projected at ~INR 102 lakh crore. 

11. Network products (NPs)

• Here the GVCs involved such as Apple, Samsung, Sony etc. are controlled by “producer driven” networks wherein products are not produced from start to finish within a given country; instead, countries specialize in particular tasks or stages of the good’s production sequence depending on its comparative advantage. For ex. China with huge low skilled labour force specialized in assembly of products.
• The survey highlighted that in 2018, NP exports accounts for 10% in India’s export basket, while these products account for about 50% of the total national exports of China, Japan and Korea. Also, among the major Asian countries, India is the only one with trade deficit in NP.
• The main category of NP exported by India is Road vehicles with a share of 4.9 per cent in its total exports in 2018.
• From Economic Survey

12. Authorised Economic Operator (AEO)

• Voluntary programme under the aegis of the World Customs Organization (WCO) SAFE Framework of Standards to secure and facilitate Global Trade.
• It enables Indian Customs to enhance and streamline cargo security through close cooperation with the principle stakeholders of the international supply chain.
• Benefits – expedited clearance times, fewer examinations, improved security and communication between supply chain partners, and more.
• From Economic Survey

13. Rollover Risk

• The NBFCs raise capital in short-term market but the assets of NBFCs are of longer duration. Thus, there arises a need for refinancing the debt at short frequencies. The frequent repricing exposes NBFCs to the risk of facing higher financing costs. Such refinancing risks are referred as Rollover Risk.
• The rollover risk is a combination of risks associated with asset-liability management, Interconnectedness with Liquid Debt Mutual Fund (LDMF) Sector and Financial and Operating Resilience.
• Economic Survey

14. Debt Overhang

• This refers to a situation where all current income of the borrower gets used up in repaying the accumulated debt, leaving little incentives to invest either in physical or human capital.
• Economic Survey

15. Deadweight losses

• A deadweight loss is a cost to society created by market inefficiency, which occurs when supply and demand are out of equilibrium. Mainly used in economics, deadweight loss can be applied to any deficiency caused by an inefficient allocation of resources. Price ceilings, such as price controls and rent controls; price floors, such as minimum wage and living wage laws; and taxation can all potentially create deadweight losses.
• Economic Survey

16. Wilful Defaulter

• RBI defines a wilful defaulter as a firm that has defaulted in meeting its repayment obligations even though it has the capacity to honour these obligations.

  A firm could also be branded a wilful defaulter if it uses the funds for purposes other than what is sanctioned by the lender, siphons the money out to related parties or remove the assets used to secure the loan.

  The cost of this wilful default is borne by the common man and genuine borrowers in the form of refinancing of banks (through taxation and deposits) and increased borrowing cost.

17. Ways and Means Advances

• It is a facility for both the Centre and states to borrow from the RBI. These borrowings are meant purely to help them to tide over temporary mismatches in cash flows of their receipts and expenditures. In that sense, they aren’t a source of finance per se. Section 17(5) of the RBI Act, 1934 authorises the central bank to lend to the Centre and state governments subject to their being repayable “not later than three months from the date of the making of the advance”.
• The interest rate on WMA is the RBI’s repo rate, which is basically the rate at which it lends short-term money to banks. 

18. Long Term Repo Operation(LTRO)

• In the last monetary policy, instead of cutting the policy rates, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced a tool called long-term repo operation (LTRO) to inject liquidity in the system, as well as to ensure transmission of rates.
• Under LTRO, RBI provides longer term (one- to three-year) loans to banks at the prevailing repo rate. As banks get long-term funds at lower rates, their cost of funds falls. In turn, they reduce interest rates for borrowers. LTRO helped RBI ensure that banks reduce their marginal cost of funds-based lending rate, without reducing policy rates.

Do all the banking terms properly  like CRR,SLR,RR etc.

18. Non Banking Finance Company – NBFC

• A Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) is a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956 engaged in the business of loans and advances, acquisition of shares/stocks/bonds/debentures/securities issued by Government or local authority or other marketable securities of a like nature, leasing, hire-purchase, insurance business, chit business but does not include any institution whose principal business is that of agriculture activity, industrial activity, purchase or sale of any goods (other than securities) or providing any services and sale/purchase/construction of immovable property.

What is difference between banks & NBFCs?

NBFCs lend and make investments and hence their activities are akin to that of banks; however there are a few differences as given below:

• NBFC cannot accept demand deposits;
• NBFCs do not form part of the payment and settlement system and cannot issue cheques drawn on itself;
• Deposit insurance facility of Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation is not available to depositors of NBFCs, unlike in case of banks.

19. Asian Development Bank

• The Asian Development Bank’s primary mission is to foster growth and cooperation among countries in the Asia-Pacific Region. 
• The majority of the ADB’s members are from the Asia-Pacific region.
• The ADB provides assistance to its developing member countries, the private sector, and public-private partnerships through grants, loans, technical assistance, and equity investments to promote development. 
• Founded in 1966,headquartered in Manila,Philippines
• The two largest shareholders of the Asian Development Bank are the United States and Japan.
• The majority of the Bank’s members are from the Asia-Pacific region.

20. District Mineral Foundation,MMDRA 2015

• District Mineral Foundation (DMF) is a trust set up as a non-profit body, in those districts affected by the mining works, to work for the interest and benefit of persons and areas affected by mining related operations. It is funded through the contributions from miners.
• Under jurisdiction of State governments.
• Mandated through the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Amendment Act, (MMDRA) 2015.
• Central Government retains the power to prescribe the rates of contribution.
• The contributions made to DMFs are collected by the State Governments .
• Under the above mentioned MMRD Amendment Act of 2015, a provision was made also to create a National Mineral Exploration Trust under the jurisdiction of central government, with 2% of royalty as levy, for boosting detailed exploration of minerals.
• DMF funds are treated as extra-budgetary resources for the State Plan.
• Composition and functions of the DMF are prescribed by the State Government.
• DMFs are expected to implement the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY), launched on 17 September 2015 for the welfare of mining areas and affected population. 

21. Madhubani Painting

• Madhubani art (or Mithila painting) is a style of Indian painting, practiced in the Mithila region of Bihar.
• This painting is done with a variety of tools, including fingers, twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchsticks and using natural dyes and pigments.
• It is characterised by its eye-catching geometrical patterns.
• There is ritual content for particular occasions, such as birth or marriage, and festivals, such as Holi, Surya Shasti, Kali Puja, Upanayana, and Durga Puja etc.
• The paintings were traditionally done on freshly plastered mud walls and floors of huts, but now they are also done on cloth, handmade paper and canvas.
• GI Tag
• Madhubani paintings mostly depict people and their association with nature and scenes and deities from the ancient epics. Natural objects like the sun, the moon, and religious plants like tulsi are also widely painted, along with scenes from the royal court and social events like weddings. Generally, no space is left empty; the gaps are filled by paintings of flowers, animals, birds, and even geometric designs.

22. Biomethanation/ Methanogenesis

• Biomethanation is a process by which organic material is microbiologically converted under anaerobic conditions to biogas.
• Three main physiological groups of microorganisms are involved: fermenting bacteria, organic acid oxidizing bacteria, and methanogenic archaea. 
• Microorganisms degrade organic matter via cascades of biochemical conversions to methane and carbon dioxide.
• Biomethanation provides an excellent urban waste management solution .
• Generation of biogas, the prime advantage of using this method. 
• Biomethanation has strong potential for the production of energy from organic residues and wastes. It will help to reduce the use of fossil fuels and thus reduce CO(2) emission.

23. Base Erosion and Profit Sharing

• Has been asked in Past Prelims exam.
• Base erosion and profit shifting refers to the phenomenon where companies shift their profits to other tax jurisdictions, which usually have lower rates, thereby eroding the tax base in India.

Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting

• The Convention is an outcome of the OECD / G20 BEPS Project to tackle base erosion and profit shifting through tax planning strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax locations where there is little or no economic activity, resulting in little or no overall corporate tax being paid.
• India has ratified it in 2019.

24. Blockchain Technology

• Blockchain

25. Sakteng WLS

• Sakteng is a wildlife sanctuary located mostly in Trashigang District and just crossing the border into Samdrup Jongkhar District, Bhutan.
• It is one of the country’s protected areas.
• It is listed as a tentative site in Bhutan’s Tentative List for UNESCO inclusion.
• China  attempted to stop funding for the Sakteng sanctuary from the U.N. Development Programme’s Global Environment Facility (GEF) on the grounds that it was “disputed” territory.