208939
UPSC Notes
🔆Directive Principles Of State policy DPSP
✅ The constitution of India aims to establish not only political democracy but
also socioeconomic justice to the people to establish a welfare state.
✅These provisions are given in Part IV of Indian Constitution.
✅ Directive Principles of state policy are in the form of instructions to the governments at the centre as well as states.
✅Though these principles are non justiciable, they are fundamental in the governance of the country.
✅ The idea of the Directive Principles of State Policy has been taken from the
Irish Republic .
✅The Directive Principles of State policy were incorporated in our constitution in order to provide economic justice and to avoid concentration of wealth in the hands of few people.
✅ The constitution covers from Article 36 to 51 as Directive Principles of State
Policy.
✅They are unique blend of socialistic, liberal, democratic and Gandhian Principles.
✅ They describe as the ‘conscience of the constitution’.
✅ In the “State of Tamil Nadu etc. Vs L.Abu Kavur Bai” case in 1984 , the Supreme court held that although directive principles of State Policy are not enforceable, yet the court should not avoid them
#SargassoSea is a region of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by 4 ocean currents forming an ocean gyre.
1) Gulf Stream on the west
2) North Atlantic Drift on the north
3) Canary Current on the east
4) North Atlantic Equatorial Current on the south
Unlike all other seas, it has no land boundaries. It is the only sea in the world which has no coast. It is distinguished from other parts of the Atlantic Ocean by its characteristic brown seaweed called Sargassum and often calm blue water.
Sargasso Sea is famous for its floating seaweed that covers large swathes of ocean. But it also boasts an astounding wealth of biodiversity that has earned it the nickname "The Floating Rainforest of the Sea."
The four ocean currents together forming a clockwise-circulating system of ocean currents termed the North Atlantic Gyre. Bermuda is near the western fringes of the sea.
The four ocean currents deposit the marine plants and refuse which they are carrying into this sea, yet the ocean water in the Sargasso Sea is distinctive for its deep blue color and exceptional clarity, with underwater visibility of up to 61m
Environmental Impact Assessment or EIA is the process or study which
▪️predicts the effect of a proposed industrial/infrastructural project on the environment.
▪️prevents the proposed activity/project from being approved without proper oversight or taking adverse consequences into account.
▪️compares various alternatives for a project and seeks to identify the one which represents the best combination of economic and environmental costs and benefits.
42nd Amendment Act of 1976 added four new Directive Principles to the original list. Those DPSPs are:
1⃣ Article 39 - To secure opportunities for healthy development of children.
2⃣ Article 39A - To promote equal justice and to provide free legal aid to the poor.
3⃣ Article 43A - To take steps to secure the participation of workers in the management of industries
4⃣ Article 48A - To protect and improve the environment and to safeguard forests and wild life.
Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or CITES, aims at regulating the international trade of specimens of endangered animals and plants. India has ratified this Convention in 1976
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#Shell_companies are corporate entities which do not have any active business or significant assets in their possession. These companies remain legally registered (but merely on paper), without actually producing goods and services. They are mainly set up for the purposes of tax evasion and money laundering.
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Private Member's Bills : A Member of Parliament (MP) who is not a Minister in the Union Cabinet is called a Private Member. Bills introduced by such members are called Private Member's Bills. Private Member Bill (PMB) is same as that of a Government Bill. These bills can deal with any issue and can also be a Constitutional Amendment Bill. It can be introduced in either the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha
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Scope of application of nanotechnology in the development process of the country:
Agriculture: Nanotechnology can be used in agriculture and food production in the form of Nano sensors for monitoring crop growth and pest control by early identification of plant diseases. These Nano sensors can help enhance production and improve food safety. With inputs related to water use, fertiliser and pesticides delivered in nanoscale productivity and yield can be increased.
Medical applications: Development of newer drug delivery systems based on nanotechnology methods is being tried for conditions like cancer, diabetes, fungal infections, and viral infections and in gene therapy. Nanotechnology has also found its use in diagnostic medicine as contrast agents, fluorescent dyes and magnetic nanoparticles.
Electronics: The semiconductor industry has been able to improve the performance of electronic systems for more than four decades by downscaling silicon-based devices. Carbon nanomaterials such as one dimensional (1D) carbon nanotubes and two dimensional (2D) graphene have emerged as promising options due to their superior electrical properties which allow for fabrication of faster and more power-efficient electronics.
Textiles and Clothing: Nanotechnology has shown a huge potential in the textile and clothing industry which is normally very traditional. Coating is a common technique used to apply Nano-particles onto textiles. The success of nanotechnology in textile applications lies in areas of durability, flexibility, wash ability and softness. The use of nanotechnology allows textiles to become multifunctional and produce fabrics with special functions, including antibacterial, UV-protection, easy clean, water & stain repellent and anti-odour.
Energy equipment: Nanoscales and nanoporous membranes are being used to facilitate production of biomass fuel. Energy transmission could potentially be made much more efficient by using engineered nanomaterials. Throughout the renewable-energy sector, nanotechnology has the potential to increase process efficiencies and process yields, decrease costs and enable energy processes that would not be attainable any other way.
@civilservicesBaba
Blood Groups: ABO
✅ABO grouping is based on the presence or absence of two surface antigens (chemicals that can induce immune response) on the RBCs namely A and B.
✅Similarly, the plasma of different individuals contain two natural antibodies (proteins produced in response to antigens).
✅ABO blood groups are controlled by the gene I. The plasma membrane of the red blood cells has sugar polymers that protrude from its surface and the kind of sugar is controlled by the gene. The gene (I) has three alleles IA, IB and i.
✅The alleles IA and IB produce a slightly different form of the sugar while allele i does not produce any sugar.
✅Because humans are diploid organisms, each person possesses any two of the three I gene alleles.
✅IA and IB are completely dominant over i, in other words when IA and i are present only IA expresses (because i does not produce any sugar), and when IB and i are present IB expresses.
✅But when IA and IB are present together they both express their own types of sugars: this is because of co-dominance. Hence red blood cells have both A and B types of sugars.@civilservicesBaba
#Food_Preservatives are substances added to food to prevent or slow down spoilage and maintain natural colours and flavours.
Two reasons for food spoilage
• Microbial contamination
• Fats reacting with oxygen (oxidation)
Preservative criteria
• Non-toxic
• Functional
• Flavourless
• Economical
Sorbic acid - It is a food preservative which protects many food varieties from yeast and mold spoilage. It is an organic compound, with naturally strong antimicrobial capabilities.
Sodium benzoate - It is a food preservative commonly used in fruit pies, jams, beverages, salads, foods with acidic pH.
It is used in processed foods to prevent the growth of bacteria or fungus that could spoil the food.
Citric Acid - Its acidic pH makes it useful as a food preservative and preserves the color of the food since it significantly slows the oxidation.
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is not a food preservative.
It is a food additive, which is used as a flavour enhancer commonly added to Chinese food, canned vegetables, soups and processed meats.
Circular Economy A circular economy is an economic system of closed loops in which raw materials, components and products lose their value as little as possible, renewable energy sources are used and systems thinking is at the core. In this article we will explain this definition in more detail. @CivilservicesBaba Often focus on the use of raw materials or on system change. Definitions that focus on resource use often follow the 3-R approach:
Reduce (minimum use of raw materials)
Reuse (maximum reuse of products and components)
Recycle (high quality reuse of raw materials) @CivilservicesBaba
Green Bonds : is a debt security issued by an organization for the purpose of financing or refinancing projects that contribute positively to the environment and/or climate. A green bond is alternatively known as a climate bond @civilservicesBaba
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Cryptocurrency: A digital currency that is secured by cryptography and used as a medium of exchange within a peer-to-peer (P2P) digital economic system. Cryptographic techniques ensures that these systems are completely immune to fraud and counterfeiting.
The first cryptocurrency to be ever created was Bitcoin, introduced by pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto, in 2009
@civilservicesBaba
River Rejuvenation is the result of a sudden fall in sea level or a sudden uplift in land surface due to tectonic movements.
This disturbance enables a rise in river’s potential energy (energy stored in river due to newly created height difference from base level).
This energy results in increased river bed erosion. Vertical erosion or downcutting is associated with river rejuvenation as seen in Chambal Ravines.
✅ APEC का मतलब एशिया-पैसिफिक इकोनॉमिक कोऑपरेशन है और यह एक रीजनल इकोनॉमिक फोरम है, जिसे साल 1989 में स्थापित किया गया था। इसका मुख्य उद्देश्य बढ़ती निर्भरता का लाभ प्रदान करना है। @civilservicesBaba
✅ APEC का उद्देश्य समावेशी, टिकाऊ, अभिनव और सुरक्षित विकास को बढ़ावा देने की मदद से अधिक से अधिक समृद्धि बनाना है।
List of countries by length of coastline
1) Canada's coastline is world's longest, measuring 202,080 km (includes the mainland coast and the coasts of offshore islands)
2) Indonesia (99,083 km)
3) Norway (58,133 km)
4) Greenland* (44,087 km)
5) Russia (37,653 km)
6) Philippines (36,289 km)
7) Japan (29,751 km)
8) Australia (25,760 km)
9) United States (19,924 km)
10) Antarctica* (17,968 km)
11) New Zealand (15, 134 km)
12) China (14,500 km)
13) Greece (13,676 km)
14) United Kingdom (12,429 km)
15) Mexico (9330 km)
16) Italy (7782 km)
17) India (7516km)
Coal Gasification is one of the clean coal technologies and involves the process of converting coal into synthesis gas/ syngas.
• Syngas is a mixture of hydrogen (H2), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2).
• The by-products of coal gasification include coke, coal tar, sulfur, ammonia and fly ash, all having their own potential uses.
• CO2 and ammonia are further reacted to produce urea.
• Syngas can also be used in a variety of other applications such as in the production of electricity, fuel for IC engines, making plastics, cement etc
There are 4 types of genetic diseases
1⃣ Single Gene - Disorders caused by abnormality or mutation in the sequence of one gene.
2⃣ Multifactorial - Caused by a combination of environmental factors as well as mutations in multiple genes.
3⃣ Chromosomal - Abnormalities in chromosome structure such has missing or extra copies
4⃣ Mitochondrial - Caused by a mutation in non-chromosomal DNA of mitochondria
Hotspot volcanism is a type of volcanism that occurs at the interior of the lithospheric plates rather than plate margins.
Well known hotspots include-
1) Hawaiian Hotspot
2) Yellowstone Hotspot
3) Reunion Hotspot
Hotspot volcanism occurs due to abnormally hot centres in the mantle known as "mantle plumes".
Most of the mantle plumes lie far from tectonic plate boundaries (e.g. Hawaiian Hotspot), but there are some exceptions which are located near plate boundaries (e.g. Iceland Hotspot, Afar Hotspot).
Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layers. it will help reduce the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), potent greenhouse gases (GHGs), and thus to avoid global warming by up to 0.4°C this century
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Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism is an initiative of Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube with the objective of disrupting terrorist abuse on their respective platforms by dedicated technology, counterterrorism and operations teams.
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Dark Net, Deep Web and Surface Web
✅"Dark net" is commonly confused with "deep web." The deep web refers to unindexed sites which are unsearchable; in most cases, this is because those sites are protected by passwords.
✅Part of the WWW (World Wide Web) which is not indexed by a search engine like Google is Deep Web and it about 500-600 times larger than the surface web.
✅Surface Web -Also called the Visible Web, Indexed Web, Indexable Web or Lightnet -is that portion of the World Wide Web that is readily available to the general public and searchable with standard web search engines. It is the opposite of the deep web. It only constitutes 4-6% of the whole web. @civilservicesBaba
Nanotechnology
✅Nanotechnology is the term given to those areas of science and engineering where phenomena that take place at dimensions in the nanometre scale are utilised in the design, characterisation, production and application of materials, structures, devices and systems.
✅Nanotechnology primarily refers to the use and creation of particles that are smaller than 100 nanometre.
✅The American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate Richard Feynman introduce the concept of nanotechnology in 1959
@civilservicesBaba
📌 AT-1 bonds (Additional tier 1 bonds) are :
🔸️ Perpetual bonds [ No fixed maturity tenure ] have fixed Interest rate (But interest rate is usually set high, because AT-1 bonds are very risky)
🔸️ Unsecured bonds : Not backed by any mortgage/physical asset or source of revenue are listed on exchange Issued to fulfil (capital adequacy Ratiol under basel 3 Norms. @UPSCPRELIMSZONE
🔸️ AT-1 bonds can be written down, if common Equity tier-1 capital of bank falls below 5.5% of Risk weighted assets
Basai Wetland
• Located in Gurugram district in Haryana, is a flora and fauna rich water body.
• Recognised as one of India's Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas.
• Basai wetland is recognised globally as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by the BirdLife International.
• Species: White ramped vulture, red head vulture present in the wetland were listed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN red list. @CivilservicesBaba
🔴 What is a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) ?
👉CBDC is a legal tender issued by a central bank in a digital form.
👉 It is similar to a fiat currency issued in paper and is interchangeable with any other fiat currency
🔴 What is the need for CBDC?
👉 the goal is to provide users with convenience and security of digital as well as the regulated, reserve-backed circulation of the traditional banking system.
🔴 What does this change for citizens?
👉 There are several models proposed by technology experts and evangelists on how the Digital Rupee could be transacted but a formal announcement by the Reserve Bank of India will likely detail how the Digital Rupee will be transacted by citizens.
♦️One chief difference will be that a Digital Rupee transaction will be instantaneous as opposed to the current digital payment experience.
@UPSCMainsZone
Carbon neutral means that any CO2 released into the atmosphere from a company’s activities is balanced by an equivalent amount being removed. @civilservicesBaba
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Digital Rupee :Digital currency will also lead to a more efficient and cheaper currency management system @UPSCPRELIMSZONE
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🌀Forest Report (IFSR) 2021
▪️Key pointer about India :
▫️Total Forest Cover = 21.71%
▫️Total Forest & Tree Cover = 24.62%
▪️Largest Forest Cover ( Area wise):-
1. MP
2.Arunachal Pradesh
3.Chhattisgarh
4.Odisha
5.Maharashtra
▪️Total Forest Cover ( %age of total GA) : Top five States are
▫️Mizoram (84.53%)
▫️Arunachal Pradesh (79.33%)
▫️Meghalaya (76.00%)
▫️Manipur (74.34%)
▫️Nagaland(73.90%)
▪️Total mangrove cover- 4,992 sq km.
Join @UPSCPrelimszone
@civilservicesBaba
Bonn Convention: The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, also known as the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) or the Bonn Convention, is an international agreement that aims to conserve migratory species within their migratory ranges. India is a signatory to this Convention.
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