IASNOVA
CURRENT + CONVENTIONAL MIX
Quick Revision Booklet has been designed to help students get as many questions correct with few hours preparation. Topics are based on last 8 years Prelims Question Papers and their analysis.
For more details on how topics are selected and shortlisted,check our Strategic Articles Section.
QUICK REVISION BOOKLET
Virtual Digital Assets
As per the Finance Bill, the term ‘virtual digital assets’ includes both cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
A cryptocurrency, by whatever name called, would be considered a virtual digital asset, taxable under the Income Tax Act, 1961 if it meets the following criteria:
- It’s in the form of information, code, numbers, or tokens;
- It’s generated through cryptographic means or otherwise;
- It acts as a digital representation of value;
- It has some inherent value; and
- It allows for the storage and transfer of its units or tokens.
Government issued digital currencies, both Indian and foreign, have been specifically excluded from the scope of virtual digital assets.
Digital currency term applicable legally in India only when the currency is issued by a central bank.
Non-Fungible Token (NFT)
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are cryptographic assets on a blockchain with unique identification codes and metadata that distinguish them from each other. Unlike cryptocurrencies, they cannot be traded or exchanged at equivalency. This differs from fungible tokens like cryptocurrencies, which are identical to each other and, therefore, can serve as a medium for commercial transactions.
- NFTs can represent real-world items like artwork and real estate.
Meaning of Fungible
Like physical money, cryptocurrencies are fungible, meaning that they can be traded or exchanged, one for another. For example, one bitcoin is always equal in value to another bitcoin. Similarly, a single unit of ether is always equal to another unit. This fungibility characteristic makes cryptocurrencies suitable as a secure medium of transaction in the digital economy.
NFTs shift the crypto paradigm by making each token unique and irreplaceable, thereby making it impossible for one non-fungible token to be equal to another.
Article 351- Promotion of Hindi
Article 351 of the Constitution provides that it shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily, on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages.
Nano Urea Liquid (NUL)
- NUL contains nano-scale nitrogen particles which have more surface area and number of particles making it more impactful.
- India has become the first country globally to start commercial production of NUL.
- Introduced by IFFCO.
Significance
- Reduces the requirement of conventional Urea by 50% or more.
- Improves Soil, Air & Water quality.
- Cheaper than conventional urea.
- Conventional urea is effective 30-40% in delivering nitrogen to plants, while the effectiveness of the Nano Urea Liquid is 80%.
India is dependent on imports to meet its urea requirements.
IVF
Important because of Surrogacy and Assisted Reproductive Technologies legislations passed recently
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a complex series of procedures used to help with fertility or prevent genetic problems and assist with the conception of a child.
During IVF, mature eggs are collected (retrieved) from ovaries and fertilized by sperm in a lab. Then the fertilized egg (embryo) or eggs (embryos) are transferred to a uterus. One full cycle of IVF takes about three weeks.
IVF is the most effective form of assisted reproductive technology.
Various types of ART to solve infertility complications are :
- In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
- GIFT- Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer
- ZIFT- Zygote Intrafallopian Transfer
- Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
- Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)
- Surrogacy
- Donor Eggs
‘Blue Flag’ beach– It is an ‘eco-tourism model’ of beaches. The Certification is accorded by the Denmark based Foundation for Environment Education.
Poly-Metallic Nodules (PMN) – Polymetallic nodules, also called manganese nodules, are rock concretions formed of concentric layers of iron and manganese hydroxides around a core- contain mainly nickel,copper,cobalt and managanese.
Bio rock Technology– Bio rock is the name given to the substance formed by electro accumulation of minerals dissolved in seawater on steel structures that are lowered onto the sea- bed and are connected to a power source. The technology works by passing a small amount of electrical current through electrodes in the water.
GI Tags Latest
Narasinghapettai nagaswaram- Tamil Nadu
Hand-knotted Kashmiri Carpets- Kashmir
Red oranges from Tamenglong-Manipur
Sirarakhing Chili- Manipur
Kanniyakumari Clove- Tamil Nadu
Edayur chilli – Kerala
Kuttiattoor mango-Kannur, Kerala
Channapatna Toys- Karnataka
Chamba Chappal and Lahauli hand-knitten woollen socks and gloves- Himachal Pradesh
Mithila Makhana/Fox-nuts
Assam’s rice wine Judima
Sojat Mehndi of Rajasthan
Agariyas
Agariyas, the salt farmers of the Little Rann of Kutch (LRK), produce 30 per cent of India’s inland salt — about 0.35 million metric tonnes.
PVTGs in News
Chenchu tribes– at Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) Andhra Pradesh
Kadar tribes– Anaimalai Hills, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Kattunaykka tribe– Kerala
Korwa tribe– Jharkhand
Kolam– Andhra,Telangana and Maharashtra
Maldhari– near Gir forest,Gujarat
Sentinelese, Jarawa, Great Andamanese, Ongi. Nicobarese and Shompens– Andaman and Nicobar islands
Mankidia– Odisha
Idu Mishmi– Arunachal Pradesh
Bagun– Arunachal Pradesh
Nyishi– Arunachal Pradesh
Straits and Seas Around Ukraine Russia Conflict- in News
LiDAR– Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)
It is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth.
Applications –Pollution monitoring, agriculture, hydrology,geology, archaeology etc.
Golden rice is the collective name of rice varieties that are genetically modified to counter vitamin A deficiency in developing countries.
Coal Gasification – It is one of the clean coal technologies and involves the process of converting coal into synthesis gas (also called syngas).
Syngas– Syngas is a mixture of hydrogen (H2), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2).
Parthenogenesis – is a reproductive strategy that involves development of a female (rarely a male) gamete (sex cell) without fertilisation or development of an embryo from an unfertilised egg cell.
Deepfakes – Deepfakes refer to manipulated videos, or other digital representations produced by sophisticated artificial intelligence, that yield fabricated images and sounds that appear to be real.
Biomining– It is the process of using microorganisms (microbes) to extract metals of economic interest from rock ores or mine waste.
Bioremediation – It is the treatment of pollutants or waste (as in an oil spill, contaminated groundwater, or an industrial process) by the use of microorganisms (such as bacteria) that break down the undesirable substance
Asked in Prelims exam earlier.
RFID– Radio Frequency Identification- It is an electronic tag that can exchange data with an RFID reader through radio waves.
FASTag– It employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for payments directly from the prepaid or savings account linked to it. It is affixed on the windscreen that can enable electronic payment when it crosses a booth without stopping.
Conservation Agriculture (CA) is defined as a sustainable agriculture production system that comprises of a set of farming practices adapted to the requirements of crops and local conditions of each region.
Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative(SSI)
(Already asked in Prelims 2013)
Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative is an innovative method of sugarcane production using less seeds, less water and optimum utilization of fertilizers and land to achieve more yields.
System of Rice Intensification
(Already asked in UPSC Prelims)
The System of Rice Intensification, known as SRI — is an agro-ecological methodology for increasing the productivity of irrigated rice by changing the management of plants, soil, water and nutrients. SRI originated in Madagascar in the 1980s and is based on the cropping principles of significantly reducing plant population, improving soil conditions and irrigation methods for root and plant development, and improving plant establishment methods.
Carbon Farming
Carbon farming is a name for a variety of agricultural methods aimed at sequestering atmospheric carbon into the soil. Increasing the carbon content of soil can aid plant growth, increase soil organic matter (improving agricultural yield), improve soil water retention capacity,and reduce fertilizer use(and the accompanying emissions of greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O).
Permaculture
Asked in Prelims earlier
Permaculture is a set of design principles centred around whole systems thinking simulating or directly utilizing the patterns and resilient features observed in natural ecosystems. It uses these principles in a growing number of fields from regenerative agriculture, rewilding, community, and organizational design and development.
Carbon Sequestration
Asked in Prelims earlier
Carbon sequestration or carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is the long-term removal, capture or sequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to slow or reverse atmospheric CO2 pollution and to mitigate or reverse global warming.
Geological Sequestration
Geological sequestration refers to the storage of CO2 underground in depleted oil and gas reservoirs, saline formations, or deep, un-minable coal beds.
Biochar
Asked in Prelims 2020
It is charcoal used as a soil amendment for both carbon sequestration and soil health benefits. Biochar is a stable solid, rich in carbon, and can endure in soil for thousands of years.Like most charcoal, biochar is made from biomass via pyrolysis.
Ocean Fertlisation
Ocean fertilization or ocean nourishment is a type of climate engineering based on the purposeful introduction of nutrients to the upper oceanto increase marine food production and to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. A number of techniques, including fertilization by iron, urea and phosphorus have been proposed.
Ocean iron fertilization is an example of such a geoengineering technique. Iron fertilization attempts to encourage phytoplankton growth, which removes carbon from the atmosphere for at least a period of time.
Biosequestration
Biosequestration is the capture and storage of the atmospheric greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by continual or enhanced biological processes.
Ocean Acidification
Asked in Prelims earlier
Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth’s oceans, caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Seawater is slightly basic (meaning pH > 7), and ocean acidification involves a shift towards pH-neutral conditions rather than a transition to acidic conditions (pH < 7).
Net Metering
(Asked in Prelims earlier)
Net metering (or net energy metering, NEM) is an electricity billing mechanism that allows consumers who generate some or all of their own electricity to use that electricity anytime, instead of when it is generated. This is particularly important with renewable energy sources like wind and solar, which are non-dispatchable (when not coupled to storage).
Carbon Neutrality
Carbon neutrality, or having a net zero carbon footprint, refers to achieving net zero carbon dioxide emissions by balancing carbon emissions with carbon removal (often through carbon offsetting) or simply eliminating carbon emissions altogether (the transition to the “post-carbon economy”).
Carbon-neutral fuel is energy fuel or energy systems which have no net greenhouse gas emissions or carbon footprint. One class is synthetic fuel (including methane, gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel or ammonia) produced from renewable, sustainable or nuclear energy used to hydrogenate carbon dioxide directly captured from the air (DAC), recycled from power plant flue exhaust gas or derived from carbonic acid in seawater.
Climate Engineering Terminology
Solar geoengineering is a term used to describe a group of hypothetical technologies that could, in theory, counteract temperature rise by reflecting more sunlight away from the Earth’s surface.
Ocean afforestation – is a proposal for farming seaweed for carbon removal. After harvesting the seaweed decomposes into biogas, (60% methane and 40% carbon dioxide) in an anaerobic digester.
Stratospheric Aerosol injection
It could cool the planet in a similar way to a large volcanic eruption. When a volcano erupts, it sends an ash cloud high into the atmosphere. The sulphur dioxide released in the plume combines with water to form sulfuric acid aerosols, which are able to reflect incoming sunlight.Researchers have proposed that artificially introducing aerosols into the atmosphere – via a plane or a high-altitude balloon – could have a similar cooling effect.
Marine cloud brightening
In theory, this could involve using ships to spray saltwater into the clouds above the sea.Once airborne, the salt particles would act as “cloud condensation nuclei”, meaning they would facilitate the condensation of water vapour into liquid.
High-albedo crops and buildings
Idea of increasing the albedo of buildings in order to reflect more sunlight. Put simply, this would involve making rooftops and walls brighter – by painting them white, for example.
Ocean mirror
In theory, this would involve using a fleet of sea vessels to churn up millions of tiny microbubbles on the ocean surface.
Cirrus Cloud thinning
Asked in previous year Prelims Exam.
In theory, aerial vehicles such as drones could be used to deliver and then inject solid aerosol particles, such as desert dust or pollen, into cirrus clouds. Seeding the clouds in this way would cause them to dissipate more quickly, lessening their overall warming effect.
Space Sunshades
It involves sending a giant mirror – or fleet of mirrors – into orbit in order to reflect away more sunlight from the Earth.
IPCC
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.
- Formed in 1988 by WMO and UNEP
- 195 Members, Headquarters- Geneva
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently released its report of
” Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change “
Emissions Gap Report 2021
- by UNEP
- The report in an annual series that provides an overview of the Emission gap- difference between where greenhouse emissions are predicted to be in 2030 and where they should be to avert the worst impacts of climate change.
Adaptation Gap Report 2021- The Gathering Storm
- Released by UNEP
- Report assesses national and global progress on adaptation, covering 3 central elements of adaptation process: planning, financing and implementation.
Zoonotic diseases– The diseases which “spillover” from animals to humans are referred to as zoonotic diseases, and represent more than 60% of emerging infectious diseases worldwide.
Gahirmatha beach lies near Bhitarkanika mangroves- largest nesting site of the Oliver Ridley Turtles.
Sundarbans wetlands– largest tidaly halophytic mangrove forests in the world, largest Ramsar site in India,UNESCO World Heritage Site,home to Royal Bengal Tigers.
Corals- marine invertebrates and reef builders that inhibit tropical(also sub tropical) oceans of the world and secrete calcium carbonate to form hard skeletons,greatest biodiversity of all marine ecosystems.
Olive Ridley Turtles– smallest,most abundant sea turtles,inhabit warms waters of Pacific ,Indian, Atlantic Oceans,unique mass nesting called Arribada,Vulnerable under IUCN list,Gahiramatha beach,Odisha– worlds largest nesting site.
SQUIDs- Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices are used to detect even the weakest magnetic field. They are
used in mine detection equipment to help in the removal of land mines.
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995)
- asked in past Prelims exam
- BPfA was adopted in Fourth World Conference on Women (1995).
- 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, was one of the largest gatherings of the United Nations,and a critical turning point in the world’s focus on gender equality and the empowerment of women.
All India Survey on Higher Education-AISHE
- Released by MoHRD
- It covers all higher education institutions in the country, which are categorised into 3 broad categories: university, college & standalone institutions
QUAD– An informal but increasingly being formalized strategic dialogue between the United States, Japan, Australia and India.The dialogue was initiated in 2007 by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan.To develop one mechanism,to promote the free and open Indo-Pacific.
Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) – India and Australia have signed a historic agreement, called ‘Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA)’, to allow access to military bases for logistics support.
Special 301 Report- It is prepared annually by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) that identifies trade barriers to United States companies and products due to the intellectual property laws, such as copyright, patents and trademarks, in other countries.
Global Economic Prospects– World Bank Report
Business Correspondents– Business Correspondents are retail agents engaged by banks for providing banking services at locations other than a bank branch/ATM.
Input Tax Credit– It is the tax that a business pays on a purchase and that it can use to reduce its tax liability when it makes a sale.
CRR
- It is a certain minimum amount of deposit that the commercial banks have to hold as reserves with the central bank.
- The percentage of cash required to be kept in reserves, vis-a-vis a bank’s total deposits, is called the Cash Reserve Ratio.
- 2 primary purposes- 1. Ensures security of amount,2. IT can be used to control inflation.
Marginal cost of fund-based lending rate (MCLR)– MCLR refers to the minimum interest rate below which financial institutions can’t lend, except in certain cases.
Long Term Repo Operations– The LTRO is a tool under which the central bank provides one-year to three-year money to banks at the prevailing repo rate, accepting government securities with matching or higher tenure as the collateral. Its objective is to provide banks durable liquidity at reasonable cost.
LAF,MAF and LTRO– While the RBI’s current windows of liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) and marginal standing facility (MSF) offer banks money for their immediate needs ranging from 1-28 days, the LTRO supplies them with liquidity for their 1- to 3-year needs.
South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), also called as ‘dent’ in Earth’s Magnetic Field is an unusually weak spot in the Earth’s Magnetic Field that allows charged particles from Sun to dip closer to the Earth’s surface than normal.It is observed over South America and the southern Atlantic Ocean.
The Adaptation Fund is a financial instrument under the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol (KP) – established to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing country Parties to the KP– financed with a share of proceeds from Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)-administered by The World Bank- Since 2001
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was adopted as a financial mechanism of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the end of 2011—The GCF is a legally independent institution –The World Bank serves as the interim trustee of the GCF-Secretariat—Songdo ,South Korea
Biocarbon Fund– The BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes supports developing countries’ efforts to reduce emission- managed by World Bank.
Clean Technology Fund– administered by World Bank
The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) is a World Bank programme and consists of a Readiness Fund and a Carbon Fund. The FCPF was created to assist developing countries to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, enhance and conserve forest carbon stocks, and sustainably manage forests (REDD+).
The Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) was created in 2001 to address the specific needs of developing countries under the UNFCCC- managed by GEF.
Falkenmark Index– It is the most commonly used measure of water scarcity.
Cryosphere – It refers to frozen components of the Earth system that are at or below the land and ocean surface.
Permafrost– It is defined as “ground (soil or rock containing ice and frozen organic material) that remains at or below Zero degrees Celsius for at least two consecutive years”.
Nano-pharmaceutical is an emerging field that combines nanotechnology with pharmaceutical and biomedical science with the goal of targeted drug delivery which may improve efficacy and safety profile.
Food fortification is the deliberate addition of one or more micronutrients to food so as to correct or prevent a deficiency and provide a health benefit.
Param Shivay,Param Shakti,Param Brahma– names of supercomputers installed under National Supercomputing mission.
Geotextiles are permeable fabrics which, when used in association with soil, have the ability to separate, filter, reinforce, protect, or drain. Typically made from polypropylene or polyester. Geotextiles support many civil engineering applications including roads, airfields, railroads, embankments, retaining structures, reservoirs, canals, dams, bank protection, coastal engineering and construction site silt fences or geotube.
CaTRAT (Camera Trap Data Repository and Analysis Tool)– It is an image processing software used for organizing and geotagging of photo-captures- used in Tiger Census.
Sendai Framework – for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030
Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005- 2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters.
Nanotechnology
- Nanotechnology is science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers.
Properties of materials can be different on a nanoscale for two main reasons.
- First, nanomaterials have, relatively, a larger surface area than the same mass of material produced in a larger form.
- Second, below 50 nm, the laws of classical physics give way to quantum effects, provoking optical, electrical and magnetic behaviors different from those of the same material at a larger scale. – These effects can give materials very useful physical properties such as exceptional electrical conduction or resistance, or a high capacity for storing or transferring heat, and can even modify biological properties.
UPI Pay123
It a 3-step method to initiate and execute UPI services for feature phone users without the use of internet connection or USSD channel. It is based on Interactive voice response (IVR) technology which is good specially for rural areas. It is launched by RBI on 10 March 2022.
DigiSaathi
It a 24×7 helpline for digital payments. It is launched with UPI Pay123 by RBI on 10 March 2022.
e-RUPI
- developed in collaboration with Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and National Health Authority.
- to ensure leak proof delivery of welfare services and bypassing middle man to decrease corruption.
- basically e-voucher based on QR code or SMS string that can be delivered through mobile phone.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
- is an instant real-time payment system
- developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)
- facilitating inter-bank peer-to-peer (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions.
- The interface is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and works by instantly transferring funds between two bank accounts on a mobile platform.
National Payments Corporation of India
The National Payments Corporation of India is the specialised division of Reserve Bank of India which is under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Finance, Government of India.It was created by RBI for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.
Founded in December 2008.
BHIM-UPI
- BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) is an Indian mobile payment app developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
BHIM allows users to send or receive money to or from UPI payment addresses, or to non-UPI based accounts
Unlike mobile wallets which hold money, the BHIM app is only a mechanism which transfers money between different bank accounts.
