Dhanush

India’s first indigenous, long-range artillery gun Dhanush
has passed its final test at Pokhran

It is now ready for its induction into the Army

Dhanush is a 155mm x 45mm calibre artillery gun and is
also called the desi Bofors

It has a strike range of 38 kilometres and 81 percent of
its components are indigenously sourced. Hence statement 1 is not correct. It
is not built under a technology transfer.

It has features like electronic gun-laying and sighting
systems

The gun has passed tests under severe cold conditions in
Sikkim and Leh and in hot and humid weather in Balasore, Odisha, Babina in
Jhansi and in the desert of Pokhran in Rajasthan

The gun has been developed by the Ordnance Factory Board
(OFB), Kolkata and manufactured by the Jabalpur-based Gun Carriage Factory
(GCF). Hence statement 2 is also not correct.

http://www.civilsdaily.com/news/dhanush-artillery-gun-clears-final-test-ready-for-induction/

http://atlantislsc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/map-world-java-java-world-map.jpg

-Currently, the Central Water Commission (CWC) warns of floods based on the rising water levels in reservoirs and if these are nearing a dam’s ‘danger marks’. Hence statement 1 is not correct.

-Statement 2 is correct

The below mentioned places are to developed under Swacchh Iconic Places.

Kanvashram (Uttarakhand)

Ima Keithal/market (Imphal, Manipur)

VidurKuti (Bijnor,
Uttar Pradesh)

Brahma Sarovar Temple (Kurukshetra, Haryana)

TheInternational Solar Alliance(ISA) is an alliance of more than 121 countries, most of them beingsunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between theTropic of Cancerand theTropic of Capricorn. Thus statement 1 is not correct.

The primary objective of the alliance is to work for efficient exploitation ofsolar energyto reduce dependence onfossil fuels.

Why in news?

Proposed World Solar Bank

The proposal for a World Solar Bank comes against the backdrop of ISA’s mission to undertake joint efforts required to reduce the cost of finance and the cost of technology.

It needs to mobilize more than $1,000 billion of investments by 2030 for massive deployment of solar energy and pave the way for future technologies.

ISA has inked joint declarations with the World Bank, African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, AIIB, New Development Bank, European Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for enhancing cooperation in the solar energy area.

The fund will be used to insure solar power projects against risks such as default in payment by electricity procurers, foreign exchange fluctuations and regime change.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind marks 100
years of exixtence

A century ago, a Muslim organization was set up to pursue
two broad goals: freedom for India and the restoration of the Muslim Caliphate
after Turkey’s defeat in the First World War. Hence statement 1 is correct.

Cut to the present, when the Jamiat
Ulema-e-Hind is observing its 100th anniversary, and the organisation has
emerged as a voice for Muslim causes in independent India.

It famously espoused a composite nationalism for India,
opposed the Muslim League’s demand for Pakistan and took part in the freedom
struggle. Hence statment 2 is not correct.

The Jamiat’s most notable
contributions included a critique of the two-nation theory in the 1930s and
1940s.

http://www.civilsdaily.com/news/century-not-out-jamiat-still-bats-for-an-india-with-a-composite-culture/

History of caste census in India

Census was first held in colonial India in 1871.

Dalits, Adivasis, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and upper
castes are still being defined largely using data from 1931 Census. Hence
statement 1 is correct.

As the demands for inclusion of data on caste in Census
reached a high, caste information was collected for the first time via the
planned Below Poverty Line (BPL) Census, later renamed the Socio-Economic and
Caste Census (SECC) .

SECC 2011 is also the first paperless census in India
conducted on hand-held electronic devices by the government. Hence statement 2
is correct.

http://www.civilsdaily.com/news/op-ed-snap-the-tools-for-counting/

Suryashakti Kisan Yojna

The Gujarat government launched Suryashakti Kisan Yojna (SKY) under which grid-connected solar panels will be provided to over 12,000 cultivators who have already taken regular electricity connections for irrigation purpose.

This is for the first time in the country that farmers will be able to produce solar energy, consume as much as they need and sell the remaining. Hence statement 1 is correct.

This is a revolutionary step after Jyoti Gram Yojna that brought round-the-clock electricity in the villages.

Using solar panels, which will be connected to the feeders, farmers would get 12 hours of power supply for their pumps during the daytime. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

http://www.civilsdaily.com/news/suryashakti-kisan-yojna-gujarat-govt-launches-solar-scheme-to-double-farm-income/

BIMSTEC Counter-Terrorism Exercise

India will host the first military exercise of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) group focussing on only counter-terrorism in September.Hence statement 1 is wrong.

As part of this, a conclave of the Army chiefs of all seven member-states is being planned.

The exercise is scheduled to be held in Pune in the second week of September. Hence statement 2 is also wrong.

The aim of the exercise is to promote strategic alignment among the member-states and to share best practices in the area of counter-terrorism.

The theme includes counter-terrorism in semi-urban terrain and cordon and search, and each side will bring in some 30 soldiers.

Sewa Bhoj
Yojana

Aim: Scheme seeks to reimburse Central Share of CGST and
IGST on Food/Prasad/Langar/Bhandara offered by
Religious and Charitable Institutions free of cost without any discrimination
to Public/Devotees. It doestnt exempt SGST. Hence
statement 1 is not Correct.

Nodal Ministry: The Ministry of Culture, Government of
India

Total Outlay: Rs. 325.00 Crores for Financial Years
2018-19 and 2019-20.

Since the exempted taxes are 100% beared
by the Union govt, It is a central sector scheme.

Criteria for Charitable Religious Institutions

These includesDharmik
Ashram, Dargah, Matth, Monasteries etc. which have
been in existence for at least five years before applying for financial
assistance/grant.

These should serve free food to at least 5000 people

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

PMUY is a welfare scheme being implemented by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to provide LPG connections to families below the poverty line, guided by the strong commitment to bring about changes in the life of poor women and also protect their health. Hence statement 1 is correct.

Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) is used to identify the beneficiaries (adult woman of a BPL family) and is given a deposit free LPG connection with a financial assistance of Rs.1600 per connection by the centre. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

This scheme will help prevent pollution and facilitate the healthy atmosphere in the families of poor people.

It has completed two years of operation.

The LPG Panchayat scheme aims at spreading awareness among LPG users about how to properly use clean fuel and its useful benefits. Hence statement 3 is wrong.

Blue flag standards

To achieve the Blue Flag standards, a beach must be
plastic-free and equipped with a waste management system. Hence statement 1 is
correct.

Clean water should be available for tourists, apart from
international amenities

The beach should have facilities for studying the
environmental impact around the area

The Chandrabhaga beach on the
Konark coast of Odisha will be the first in Asia to get the Blue Flag
certification. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

Gahirmatha beach is famous for
mass nesting of Olive Ridley Turtles.

Unorganised Workers Identification Number

The Union Ministry of Labour has called for tenders to
design, develop and run the new UWIN ” Unorganised Workers Identification
Number ” Platform

The single unified sanitized database will assign a
ten-digit UWIN to every worker and include details of both nuclear and extended
families of unorganized workers

The Centre will create and maintain the platform and it is
up to the states to identify and register unorganized workers

The Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011 will be used as
the base for the platform, and other worker databases ” from the states as well
as other Central ministries such as Textiles and Health ” will also be
incorporated into UWIN

The Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, 2008 had
first mandated that every worker be registered and issued a smart ID card

Those who have enrolled for Aadhaar but have not yet
received it can provisionally enroll themselves into
the UWIN system with their Aadhaar Enrollment ID

They will be assigned a UWIN number only when they are
able to link Aadhaar with their dataset at a later stage.

ASEAN Naval Games, 2018

India will hold bilateral as well as multi-lateral naval exercises with member nations of ASEAN. Hence statement 1 is not correct.

The Navies of India and Indonesia will hold their first bilateral exercise in the Java Sea

India will stage a new trilateral exercise with Thailand and Singapore soon

India is instituting a series of bilateral and multilateral naval exercises with Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries

This is being done as part of the increasing military-to-military cooperation

India is also looking at a new multilateral exercise with ASEAN

Currently, RIMPAC is the worlds largest multilateral naval exercise organised by US biennially, off coast Hawaii Islands.

Hence statement 2 is also not correct.

Half Earth project

To protect life on earth, the famous American biologist
E.O. Wilson has described an ambitious project he calls Half-Earth

He calls for formally protecting 50% of the earth’s land
surface in order to conserve our rapidly disappearing natural heritage. Hence
statement 1 is correct.

It is not being implemented by UNEP.Statement
2 is incorrect.

http://www.civilsdaily.com/news/op-ed-snap-sustaining-earth-for-the-future/

Sattriya Nritya

Vaishnava saint Srimanta Sankardev came to Majuli island
in the 15th century Hence statement 1 is not correct.

He along with his disciples, set up 65 sattras”which
is said to translate to unique monasteries

Sankardev developed an equally
unique way of worship through dance and drama, called the Sattriya
Nritya

It is a dazzling retelling of the Ramayan
and Mahabharat”complete with comedy, action, suspense and make-up to match

Until the 20th century, it was the preserve of male monks
but has since brought women into the fold

In the year 2000, the Sangeet Natak
Akademi recognized this dance form as classical.

Hence statement 2 is correct.

Hague treaty on the inter-country abduction of children

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International
Child Abduction or Hague Abduction Convention is a multilateral treaty developed
by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) that provides an
expeditious method to return a child internationally abducted by a parent from
one member country to another

The Convention was drafted to ensure the prompt return of
children who have been abducted from their country of habitual residence or
wrongfully retained in a contracting state not their country of habitual
residence

The primary intention of the Convention is to preserve
whatever status quo child custody arrangement existed immediately before an
alleged wrongful removal or retention thereby deterring a parent from crossing
international boundaries in search of a more sympathetic court

The Convention applies only to children under the age of
16. Hence statement 1 is not correct.

The Convention does not alter any substantive rights

The Convention requires that a court in which a Hague
Convention action is filed should not consider the merits of any underlying
child custody dispute, but should determine only that country in which those
issues should be heard

India has not yet signed the treaty. Hence statement 2 is
not correct.

http://www.civilsdaily.com/news/india-not-yet-ready-to-sign-the-hague-treaty/

Virtual IDs for eKYC

The VID is a temporary, revocable 16-digit random numbers
(and not alpha-numeric code) mapped with the Aadhaar number. The UIDAI, in a
statement issued in January, said that one’s Aadhaar number cannot be derived
from the VID that is generated. Hence statement 1 is incorrect.

Currently, VID can be generated on UIDAI’s resident
portal.

Since this is a digital ID, Aadhaar holders can regenerate
it multiple times, which makes it safer than providing your actual Aadhaar
number. At present, the VID is valid for a minimum of one day, which means an
Aadhaar holder would be able to re-generate a new VID a day after he has
generated the first one.

The Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI’s)
plan to make non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) use Aadhaar Virtual IDs to
authenticate customers from 1 July. Hence statement 2 is correct.

National Digital Library of India (NDLI)

It is a project of the Ministry of Human Resource Development under the aegis of National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT)developed by IIT Kharagpur. Hence statement 1 and 3 are not correct.

The objective of NDL is to make digital educational resources available to all citizens of the country to empower, inspire and encourage learning.

NDL is the Single Window Platform that collects and collates metadata from premier learning institutions in India and abroad, as well as other relevant sources.

It is a digital repository containing textbooks, articles, videos, audio books, lectures, simulations, fiction and all other kinds of learning media. Hence statement 2 is correct.

Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs)

Aim: To promote
innovation among students

Students will be
trained on business and entrepreneurship skills, including intellectual
property, effective communication, making an elevator pitch and so on.