Why in news?
Assam has asked the State’s Forest and Revenue departments to permanently rehabilitate the indigenous forest dwellers of the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.

Dibru-Saikhowa National Park
• DSNP is a national park in Assam located in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.
• It was designated a Biosphere Reserve in July 1997 with an area of 765 sq. km.
Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The park is bounded by the Brahmaputra and Lohit Rivers in the north and Dibru river in the south.
Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.
• It mainly consists of moist mixed semi-evergreen forests, moist mixed deciduous forests, canebrakes and grasslands.
• It is the largest Salix swamp forest in north-eastern India, with a tropical monsoon climate with a hot and wet summer and cool and usually dry winter.
Hence, statement 3 is correct.

Why in news?
A recent order passed by CIC in an appeal against the State Bank of India (SBI) has once again highlighted the issues with the Electoral Bond Scheme.

• The Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018 was notified in the official gazette on 2nd January 2018 and allows periodic issuances of electoral bonds.
• Electoral Bond is a financial instrument for making donations to political parties.
• The bonds are issued in multiples of Rs. 1,000, Rs. 10,000, Rs. 1 lakh, Rs. 10 lakh and Rs. 1 crore without any maximum limit.
Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.
• State Bank of India is authorised to issue and encash these bonds, which are valid for fifteen days from the date of issuance.
• These bonds are redeemable in the designated account of a registered political party.
– Every party that is registered under section 29A of the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1951 and has secured at least 1% of the votes polled in the most recent Lok Sabha or State election will be allotted a verified account by the Election Commission of India.
– Electoral bond transactions can be made only via this account.
• The bonds are available for purchase by any person (who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India) for a period of ten days each in the months of January, April, July and October as may be specified by the Central Government.
Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
– A person being an individual can buy bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals.
– Donor’s name is not mentioned on the bond.
• During general elections, the central government may specify an additional period of thirty days for sale of these bonds.
• There have been some occasions when the government has deviated from the specified periodicity for issuance of these bonds.
– For example, the sixth tranche of electoral bonds was issued from 1st-10th November 2018 and electoral bonds were sold in the months of March, April and May during 2019 general elections.

Why in news?
Union Health Minister has been nominated by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) as a member on the GAVI Board.

GAVI
• GAVI is a public-private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.
• GAVI has observer status at the World Health Assembly.
• GAVI has been praised for being innovative, effective, and less bureaucratic than multilateral government institutions like the WHO.
• Members: the WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialized and developing countries and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation among others.
• GAVI programmes can often produce quantified, politically appealing, easy-to-explain results within an election cycle, which is appealing to parties locked in an election cycle.

Its function
• It currently supports the immunization of almost half the world’s children, giving it the power to negotiate better prices for the world’s poorest countries and remove the commercial risks of manufacturers.
• It also provides funding to strengthen health systems and train health workers across the developing world.

Why in news?
The Ministry of Earth Sciences has inaugurated the web-based application “Digital Ocean” developed by INCOIS.

Digital Ocean
• Digital Ocean is a first of its kind digital platform for Ocean Data Management.
Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.
• The platform will be promoted as a platform for capacity building on Ocean Data Management for all Indian Ocean Rim countries.
• It would help share ocean knowledge about the ocean with a wide range of users including research institutions, operational agencies, strategic users, the academic community, and maritime industry and policymakers.
• It also provides free access to information to the general public and the common man.
Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• It will play a central role in the sustainable management of our oceans and expanding ‘Blue Economy’ initiatives.

Its features
• It includes a set of applications developed to organize and present heterogeneous oceanographic data by adopting rapid advancements in geospatial technology.
• It facilitates:
– Online interactive web-based environment for data integration,
– 3D and 4D (3D inspace with time animation) data visualization,
– Data analysis to assess the evolution of oceanographic features,
– Data fusion and multi-format download of disparate data from multiple sources viz., in-situ, remote sensing and model data, all of which is rendered on a georeferenced 3D Ocean.
Hence, statement 3 is correct.

Why in news?
Union Minister of Education laid the foundation stone of ‘TiHAN-IIT Hyderabad’, India’s first Testbed for Autonomous Navigation Systems (Terrestrial and Aerial).

TiHAN
• TiHAN is an acronym for Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation and Data Acquisition Systems (UAVs, RoVs etc.).
• It is a multi-departmental initiative, including researchers from Electrical, Computer Science, Mechanical and Aerospace, Civil, Mathematics, and Design at IIT Hyderabad.
• It would focus on addressing various challenges hindering the real-time adoption of unmanned autonomous vehicles for both terrestrial and aerial applications.

Why need TiHAN?
• One major requirement to make unmanned and connected vehicles more acceptable to the consumer society is to demonstrate its performance in real-life scenarios.
• However, it may become dangerous. Especially in terms of safety, to directly use the operational roadway facilities as experimental test tracks for unmanned and connected vehicles.
• In general, both UAV and UGV testing may include crashes and collisions with obstacles, resulting in damage to costly sensors and other components.
• Hence, it is important to test new technologies developed in a safe, controlled environment before deployment.

Why in news?
Prime Minister has launched the ambitious National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) service for the Delhi Metro’s Airport Express Line.

National Common Mobility Card
• The idea of NCMC was floated by the Nandan Nilekani committee set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• The committee had suggested that NCMC should contain two instruments – a regular debit card which can be used at an ATM and a local wallet.
• Banks mandated by the department of financial services have been asked to make their debit cards NCMC compliant, to ensure availability of service.
• The committee has also proposed a host of measures, including all payments by the government to citizens through the digital mode, to reduce the number of cash transactions in the country.

Features of the NCMC
• NCMC will allow passengers with RuPay debit cards, issued in the last 18 months by 23 banks, including SBI, UCO Bank, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, etc, to be swiped for Metro travel.
• It can be used at all transit locations making all new metro and transit payments interoperable via one card.
• NCMC is an automatic fare collection system. It will turn smartphones into an inter-operable transport card that commuters can use eventually to pay for Metro, bus, and suburban railways services.
• NCMC service is slated to cover the entire 400km stretch of Delhi Metro.
• It will allow entry and exit from Metro stations with the help of a smartphone, known as the automatic fare collection (AFC) system.
• To make AFC compliant indigenous gates for metro stations, the government has engaged Bharat Electronics Limited. Eventually, all Metro stations will be fitted with AFC gates.

Why in news?
The government has used financial innovation to recapitalize a bank by issuing the lender Rs 5,500-crore worth of non-interest bearing bonds called Zero-Coupon Bonds.

Zero-Coupon Bonds
• These are non-interest bearing, non-transferable special GOI securities that have a maturity of 10-15 years and are issued specifically to Punjab & Sind Bank.
Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• These bonds are not tradable; the lender has kept them in the held-to-maturity (HTM) investments bucket, not requiring it to book any mark-to-market gains or losses from these bonds.
Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.
• This will earn no interest for the subscriber; market participants term it both a ‘financial illusion’ and ‘great innovation’ by the government.

Why in news?
In yet another tug-of-war between Kerala Governor and CM, the Governor has turned down a request to summon a special sitting of the Assembly to debate the new three central farm laws.

A governor must:
• Be a citizen of India.
• Be at least 35 years of age.
• Not be a member of the either house of the parliament or house of the state legislature.
• Not hold any office of profit.

Why in news?
Union Home Minister has said that Inner-Line Permit (ILP) had been the Centre’s biggest gift to Manipur since its statehood.

The Inner Line
• A concept drawn by colonial rulers, the Inner Line separated the tribal-populated hill areas in the Northeast from the plains.
• To enter and stay for any period in these areas, Indian citizens from other areas need an Inner Line Permit (ILP).
• Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram are protected by the Inner Line, and lately, Manipur was added (in December last year).
• The concept originates from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act (BEFR), 1873.

Why in news?
The Prime Minister has launched Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY SEHAT to extend coverage to all residents of Jammu & Kashmir.

PM-JAY SEHAT
• The full form of SEHAT is social, endeavor for health, and telemedicine. Under this scheme, the SEHAT card will be distributed to all the eligible beneficiaries.
• All the eligible beneficiaries of Jammu and Kashmir can apply for the Scheme through common service center operators.
• Around 1 crore beneficiaries will cover under this scheme. All the eligible citizens of Jammu and Kashmir will get cashless treatment up to Rs 5 lakh under the Scheme.

Why in news?
With the New Year, a new concept of Positive Pay System for Cheque Truncation System (CTS) will be introduced by the Banking regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seeking to further augment customer safety in cheque payments.

Positive Pay System
• The concept of Positive Pay involves a process of reconfirming key details of large-value cheques.
• Put simply, cheques will be processed for payment by the drawee bank based on information passed on by its customer at the time of issuance of the cheque.
• When the beneficiary submits the cheque for encashment, the cheque details are compared with the details provided to the drawee bank through Positive Pay.
• If the details match, the cheque is honoured. In case of mismatch in cheque details, the discrepancy is flagged by CTS to the drawee bank and the presenting bank, which would take redress measures.

Why in news?
The Caspian is actually a lake, the largest in the world and it is experiencing a devastating decline in its water level that is about to accelerate.

Caspian Sea
• The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland body of water, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea.
• As an endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia.
• An endorheic basin is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but converges instead into lakes or swamps, permanent or seasonal that equilibrates through evaporation
• Its level is the product of how much water is flowing in from rivers, mostly the mighty Volga to the north, how much it rains and how much evaporates away.
• At the end of the century, the Volga and other northern rivers will still be there.
• However, a projected temperature rise of about 3℃ to 4℃ in the region will drive evaporation through the roof.

The sea is bordered in the northeast by Kazakhstan, in the southeast by Turkmenistan, in the south by Iran, in the southwest by Azerbaijan, and in the northwest by Russia.

Why in news?
The Tamil Nadu government has permitted Jallikattu to be held across the state during the upcoming Pongal season.

What is Jallikattu?
• It is a bull-taming sport and a disputed traditional event in which a bull such is released into a crowd of people.
• Multiple human participants attempt to grab the large hump on the bull’s back with both arms and hang on to it while the bull attempts to escape.
• Participants hold the hump for as long as possible, attempting to bring the bull to a stop. In some cases, participants must ride long enough to remove flags on the bull’s horns.
• It is typically practised in the state of Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal (harvest) celebrations in January.

Jallikattu : Tamil Nadu
Kambala : Karnataka
Bail Gadi Shariat : Maharashtra
Bulbul fights : Assam

Why in news?
The planet will breach the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels between 2027 and 2042 according to new research.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• The IPCC is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations that is dedicated to providing the world with an objective, scientific information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of the risk of human-induced climate change.
• It was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Its membership is open to all members of the WMO and UN.
Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The IPCC produces reports that contribute to the work of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the main international treaty on climate change.
• The IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report was a critical scientific input into the UNFCCC’s Paris Agreement in 2015.

Why in news?
The Environment Ministry along with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) India has come up with a unique initiative a “firefly bird diverter” for overhead power lines in areas where Great Indian Bustard (GIB) populations are found in the wild.

• The GIB is one of the heaviest flying birds and can weigh up to 15 kg which grows up to one metre in height.
• In July 2011, the bird was categorised as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.
• It is considered the flagship grassland species, representing the health of the grassland ecology.
Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• For long, conservationists have been demanding to secure this population, warning that the bird might get extinct in the coming decades.
• It would become the first mega species to disappear from India after Cheetah in recent times.
• Till the 1980s, about 1,500-2,000 Great Indian Bustards were spread throughout the western half of India, spanning eleven states.
• However, with rampant hunting and declining grasslands, their population dwindled.

Why in news?
Union Home Minister has visited the native village of Bengali revolutionary Khudiram Bose in Midnapore, West Bengal.

Who was Khudiram Bose?
• Bose was born in 1889 at a small village in Midnapore district.
• From his adolescent years, he was drawn towards revolutionary activities, being inspired by a series of public lectures given by Sri Aurobindo and Sister Nivedita, when the duo visited Midnapore in the early 1900s.
• In 1905, when Bengal was partitioned, he actively participated in protests against the British.
• At the age of 15, Bose joined the Anushilan Samiti, an early 20th-century organisation that propounded revolutionary activities in Bengal.
Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• Within a year, he had learnt how to make bombs and would plant them in front of police stations.
• On July 13, 1908, he was finally sentenced to death. He was just 19 when he was hanged.
Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.

Tikdam:
Khudiram Bose was not alive when the Rowlatt Act was passed.

Why in news?
The virtual summit was conducted recently between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina.

Bangladesh and India share a 4,096-kilometre-long (2,545 mi) international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world, including 262 km (163 mi) in Assam, 856 km (532 mi) in Tripura, 318 km (198 mi) in Mizoram, 443 km (275 mi) in Meghalaya, and 2,217 km (1,378 mi) in West Bengal.

Why in news?
The ‘SolarWinds hack’, a cyberattack recently discovered in the US, has emerged as one of the biggest ever targeted against the US government, its agencies and several other private companies.

Solar-Winds Hack
• It was first discovered by US cybersecurity company FireEye, and since then more developments continue to come to light each day.
• The US termed it as a highly sophisticated threat actor calling it a state-sponsored attack, although it did not name Russia.
• It said the attack was carried out by a nation with top-tier offensive capabilities and the attacker primarily sought information related to certain government customers.

Why in news?
The next Director-General of the organization will have to navigate through a slew of thorny issues in WTO.

World Trade Organization (WTO)
• The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations.
• The WTO has 164 members (including European Union) and 23 observer governments (like Iran, Iraq, Bhutan, Libya etc).
Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• The Uruguay Round, conducted from 1987 to 1994, culminated in the Marrakesh Agreement, which established the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Hence, statement 2 is correct.
• The WTO incorporates the principles of the GATT and provides a more enduring institutional framework for implementing and extending them.
• The GATT was concluded in 1947 and is now referred to as the GATT 1947. The GATT 1947 was terminated in 1996 and WTO integrated its provisions into GATT 1994.
• The GATT 1994 is an international treaty binding upon all WTO Members. It is only concerned with trade in goods.
• Although the WTO is not a UN specialized agency, it has maintained strong relations with the UN and its agencies since its establishment.
Hence, statement 3 is incorrect.
• For the first time in its 25-year history, the World Trade Organization (WTO) will be led by a woman.
Hence, statement 4 is incorrect.

Why in news?
India dropped two ranks in the United Nations’ Human Development Index this year, standing at 131 out of 189 countries.

Human Development Index (HDI)
• HDI is a statistical tool used to measure a country’s overall achievement in its social and economic dimensions.
• It is one of the best tools to keep track of the level of development of a country, as it combines all major social and economic indicators that are responsible for economic development.
• Pakistani economist Mahbub-ul-Haq created HDI in 1990 which was further used to measure the country’s development by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
• Every year UNDP ranks countries based on the HDI report released in their annual report.

Various indicators under HDI
• Calculation of the index combines four major indicators: life expectancy for health, expected years of schooling, mean of years of schooling for education and GNI per capita for the standard of living.