Why in News Himachal Pradesh (HP) and Haryana signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the construction of a Adi Badri dam on 77 acres in HP near the Adi Badri area of Yamunanagar, Haryana for the revival of the Saraswati river. Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) would be the executing agency for the Adi Badri dam and its related infrastructure The entire funding of the Project would be arranged by the Haryana Government. About Saraswati River: The report from satellite claimed that the Saraswati originated at Adi Badri, an archaeological site which is located around 40 km away....Read More

Syllabus- General Studies 3(economy)  Context Recently the government of India, released ‘IndiGau’, India’s first Cattle Genomic Chip for the conservation of pure varieties of indigenous cattle breeds like Gir, Kankrej, Sahiwal, Ongole etc. About IndiGau: This indigenous chip was developed by the concerted efforts of scientists of the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NAIB), Hyderabad, an autonomous institution under the aegis of the Department of Biotechnology. It is purely indigenous and the largest cattle chip in the world.  It has 11,496 markers (SNPs) more than that placed on 777K Illumina chips of US & UK breeds.  The Minister stated that this....Read More

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3 Context: Recently, PM launched an electronic voucher-based digital payment system “e-RUPI” About e-RUPI: The platform has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the National Health Authority. It will be a person-specific and purpose-specific payments system. Working of the e-RUPI: The e-RUPI system is accessible to anyone with a mobile phone, even if the recipient does not have a bank account. It comes in the form of one-time use e-vouchers to access government health services. It could gradually be implemented to cover welfare....Read More

Syllabus: General studies paper 3 Context: On July 1, 2020, the Indian Railways launched the formal process of inviting private parties to run trains on the Indian railway system. Bids were finally opened last month. More in News:        Hopes of large participation were belied as there were no bids for nine clusters and only two bids for three clusters. Even for these three clusters, the only serious bid was by Indian Railways’ (IR) own company IRCTC, which in effect negated the basic objectives of bringing in private capital. Reasons for their failure: It is an outcome of the lack of....Read More

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2 Context: The Supreme Court has rejected the Kerala government’s plea to withdraw criminal cases against its MLAs who were charged in the assembly. The Supreme Court held that legislators who indulge in vandalism and general mayhem cannot claim parliamentary privilege and immunity from criminal prosecution against leaders who destroyed public property and disrupted a Budget speech (on the State Assembly floor in 2015 Kerala government). About Privileges and Legal immunity: Feature of parliamentary privileges in the Indian Constitution is borrowed from the British Constitution. The British Constitution is a source of other borrowed features like parliamentary government,....Read More