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Medieval India Printed Notes by Shankar IAS PDF
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Sunday, March 14, 2021
GS SCORE Prelims 2021 All India Mock Test 10 With Solution PDF
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GS SCORE Prelims 2021 All India Mock Test 10 With Solution PDF
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GS SCORE Fact Files – Economic Survey 2020-21 (Key Concepts, Terms & Data) PDF
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GS SCORE Fact Files – Economic Survey 2020-21 (Key Concepts, Terms & Data) PDF
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GS SCORE Yearly Compilation Art & Culture 2020-2021 PDF
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GS SCORE Yearly Compilation Art & Culture 2020-2021 PDF
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Saturday, March 13, 2021
Daily Current Affairs, 13th March 2021
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1) PM Modi Virtually Attends First Quad Summit 2021
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga come together for the first QUAD Summit. The meeting was held virtually during which the four participants will exchange views on different areas of cooperation like maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region, COVID-19, emerging and critical technologies, maritime security, and climate change.
•The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue nations are planning to counter China by cooperating and pool their resources to fund new production technologies and development projects. The world leaders talked about the cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and its development. President Biden also said that they are launching a new pact for the manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines.
2) Govt to launch “Atmanirbhar Niveshak Mitra Portal”
•The commerce and industry ministry has stated that the central government is working to develop a portal called “Atmanirbhar Niveshak Mitra Portal” for information dissemination, hand-holding, and facilitation of domestic investors. The portal Atmanirbhar Niveshak Mitra is currently is in the testing phase. It will be launched by May 1, 2021. The ministry is also working on a webpage which will be available in regional languages and mobile app.
3) Govt launches Mera Ration Mobile App
•In order to facilitate the ‘One Nation-One Ration Card’ system in the country, the government has launched ‘Mera Ration’ mobile app to benefit citizens in identifying the nearest fair price shop. This app will benefit especially those ration card holders who move to new areas for livelihoods. The app is developed by the government in association with NIC “to facilitate various “One Nation-One Ration Card” related services among the National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries, particularly migrant beneficiaries, fair price shop dealers and other relevant stakeholders.
4) India Chaired the First Meeting Of BRICS CGETI
•Under the chairship of India, the First Meeting of the BRICS Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues (CGETI) was held from 9th March 2021 to 11th March 2021. The 2021 theme of the BRICS is “BRICS@15: Intra BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation, and Consensus”.
•India presented the calendar of events for BRICS CGETI 2021, this includes the priority areas for deliverables, schedule and scope of the MSME roundtable conference workshop on Services Statistics, and the BRICS Trade Fair. A series of presentations on the proposed deliverables during India’s chairship under the BRICS CGETI track was made in a separate session by the concerned departments of the government of India.
5) PM Narendra Modi Launches Kindle Version Of Bhagavad Gita
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the Kindle version of Swami Chidbhavananda’s ‘Bhagavad Gita’ via video conferencing. The event has been organised to commemorate the sale of over 5 lakh copies of the Swami Chidbhavanandaji’s Bhagavad Gita. Swami Chidbhavanandaji is the founder of Sri Ramakrishna Tapovanam Ashram at Thirupparaithurai, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu.
•Chidbhavananda Ji was devoted to India’s regeneration. He noted that Swami Vivekananda’s Madras lectures inspired Swami Chidbhavananda Ji to put the nation above everything else and serve the people.
6) DoT Launches Online Certificate Course on 5G Technology
•The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has launched a new online certificate course on 5G technology to be conducted by the National Telecommunications Institute for Policy Research, Innovation and Training (NTIPRIT), which is the training institute of DoT. The course, which will be conducted from 9 March 2021 onwards, is 36 hours long and will be conducted over a period of 12 weeks every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm. Participants will also be allowed to record the session if they happen to miss it.
Daily Current Affairs, 12th March 2021
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1) World Kidney Day observed globally on 11th March 2021
•World Kidney Day is observed globally on the second Thursday of March every year. This year World Kidney Day is observed on 11th March 2021. The theme of the 2021 World Kidney day is “Living Well with Kidney Disease”. World Kidney Day is a global campaign aimed at raising awareness of the importance of our kidneys. World Kidney Day aims to raise awareness of the importance of our kidneys to our overall health and to reduce the frequency and impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems worldwide.
2) Cabinet Approves Amendments in Insurance Act 1938
•The Union Cabinet has given its nod for amendments in the Insurance Act, paving way for 74 per cent foreign direct investment in the sector. Currently, the permissible FDI limit in life and general insurance stands at 49 per cent with ownership and management control with Indian. According to sources, the Cabinet in its meeting has approval for amendments in the Insurance Act, 1938. It was in 2015 when the government hiked the FDI cap in the insurance sector from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.
3) Union Cabinet approves Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Nidhi
•The Union Cabinet has approved the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Nidhi (PMSSN), as a single non-lapsable reserve fund. This has been approved for the share of Health from proceeds of Health and Education Cess which is levied under the Section 136-b of Finance Act, 2007.
4) Union Minister Anurag Thakur promoted as Captain in Territorial Army
•Union Minister Anurag Thakur has become the first serving MP to be appointed as Captain in the Territorial Army. Thakur has been promoted to the rank of Captain at 124 Infantry Battalion Territorial Army (Sikh).
•The four-time BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur was commissioned into the Territorial Army as a Lieutenant by then Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Dalbir S Suhag TA in July 2016.
5) 2021 Dandi March to mark 75 years of Independence
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi has flagged off the 91st anniversary of Dandi March on March 12 in Ahmedabad to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence. The Salt March, which took place from March to April 1930, was an act of civil disobedience led by Mahatma Gandhi to protest the British rule in the country. The event is kicked off from Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram and this event is also the part of the State government’s programme to mark “Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav.”
6) World’s Most Powerful Supercomputer Fugaku is ready for use
•The Japanese scientific research institute called RIKEN and Fujitsu started developing the “Fugaku” six years ago. It is the world’s most powerful supercomputers. Fugaku has been named after an alternative name for Mount Fuji. Now, this supercomputer is fully ready and developed in Japan and is now available for research use. This supercomputer has been developed with the aim of making the device core of the computing infrastructure of Japan.
7) GoI appoints Dr. GP Samanta as new Chief Statistician of India
•The Central Government has appointed Dr G P Samanta as the new Chief Statistician of India (CSI) for a period of two years. He is India’s fourth CSI. He will replace Kshatrapati Shivaji who was holding an additional charge of the post since September 2020.
•Currently, Dr Samanta was serving as an adviser in the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Department Of Statistics and Information Management. Dr Samanta will also serve as the Secretary of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
8) IBM signs MoU with U’khand Government to introduce STEM for Girls
•IBM has announced a collaboration with Samagra Sikhsha Uttarakhand, the Government of Uttarakhand’s education mission, to introduce the ‘IBM STEM for Girls’ program in 130 secondary and higher secondary schools across five districts in the state. The collaboration is part of a three-year program between IBM and Uttarakhand State Government with the American India Foundation as the implementation partner to increase the participation of girls and women in STEM careers.
The HINDU Notes – 13th March 2021
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📰 First Quad Summit | Quad leaders for ‘open, free’ Indo-Pacific
Focus on vaccines, climate change, emerging tech makes group a force for global good, says PM Modi
•Members of the Quadrilateral Framework or ‘Quad’ will become “closer than ever before”, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, in his address to the first ever leadership summit of the grouping.
•Addressing the virtual summit, Mr. Modi, President Joe Biden of the United States, Japanese Premier Yoshihide Suga and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison highlighted cooperation among the member countries to beat the global COVID-19 pandemic, with joint partnership on vaccines, and emphasised the need for an “open” and “free” Indo-Pacific region.
•“We are united by our democratic values and our commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. Our agenda, covering areas like vaccines, climate change, and emerging technologies make the Quad a force for global good. We will work together, closer than ever before on advancing our shared values and promoting a secure, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” said Mr. Modi, who described the Quadrilateral Framework as an “important pillar of stability in the region.”
•The member nations agreed to ensure “equitable” access to vaccines to counter the pandemic. A joint statement, titled ‘The Spirit of the Quad’, said: “We will join forces to expand safe, affordable, and effective vaccine production and equitable access to speed economic recovery and benefit global health.”
•Addressing the meeting, President Biden emphasised that the Indo-Pacific region should be governed in accordance to human rights.
‘Big agenda ahead’
•“And we're renewing our commitment to ensure that our region is governed by international law, committed to upholding universal values and free from coercion. We’ve got a big agenda ahead of us,” said Mr. Biden.
•Addressing the gathering, Mr. Morrison laid out the agenda of the Quad in the near future and said, “We join together as leaders of nations to welcome, what I think will be a new dawn in the Indo-Pacific through our gathering.”
•Prime Minister Suga acknowledged the new dynamism that Quad has received because of the meeting of the top leaders of the member countries.
•“With the four countries working together, I wish to firmly advance our cooperation to realise, a free and open Indo Pacific, and to make a tangible contribution to the peace, stability, and prosperity of the region, including overcoming COVID-19,” he said.
•The ‘Quad’, has been taken to the “apex level”, said Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla during a special briefing on the leaders’ summit.
•“We are all committed to free and open, inclusive, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Today’s summit adopted a positive vision to address contemporary issues with vaccine cooperation. Leaders agreed to strengthen, peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” said Mr Shringla, who described the focus on the vaccines as the “most pressing”.
•He informed that Japan, U.S. and Australia will finance the vaccine initiative that India has welcomed.
•“We look forward to participating in the initiative whole-heartedly. During the discussion there was wholesome appreciation of the Vaccine Maitri initiative,” said Mr Shringla.
•The vaccine expert working group, a critical and emerging technology working group, and a climate working group for technology, capacity building and climate finance have been cleared during the summit. The Foreign Secretary also said the Quad leaders have agreed to meet in person during the coming months.
•“The Quad does not stand against anything, it stands for something,” said Mr Shringla, explaining that Quad is a value-based grouping that is trying to deal with the need for vaccines, climate change and other such issues. He informed that the issue of military takeover in Myanmar came up during the discussion among the leaders.
📰 Rajasthan Information Commission penalises five officials for negligence
The HINDU Notes – 12th March 2021
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📰 PM to attend first Quad Summit on March 12
The summit meeting is expected to begin at 7 p.m. IST on Friday
•Access to COVID-19 vaccines, cooperation on technology, and climate change are at the top of the agenda as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join U.S. President Joseph Biden, Australian PM Scott Morrison and Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga for a virtual summit of the Quadrilateral Framework (Quad) on Friday — the first time leaders of the Indo-Pacific grouping are meeting.
•The meeting is also one of Mr. Biden’s first multilateral engagements, which the White House said denoted the importance of the U.S.’s cooperation with “allies and partners in the Indo Pacific”.
•The Quad meeting, that China has referred to as an “Indo-Pacific NATO”, will be watched most closely for signals on how the grouping will deal with the challenge from Beijing’s recent moves in the Pacific as well as at the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh. Also of interest is whether the four leaders will issue a joint statement at the end of the meeting, which would be another first, as all Quad engagements thus far have come out with four separate readouts indicating differences in their positions.
•Ahead of the summit, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who will visit Japan and South Korea next week, said he expected to “see something on vaccines” as an outcome of the summit meeting, expected to begin at 7 p.m. IST on Friday.
•In the Quad ministerial summit in February, the four countries had discussed the need for international cooperation to ensure equitable access to vaccines, especially in developing countries. India, the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines, that has already shipped out more than 48 million doses worldwide, primarily through commercial shipments and the global COVAX alliance, but also as grants, is expected to request Quad investment in order to scale up its outreach further. In addition, India would like to see Western countries, led by the U.S., dilute their opposition to its proposal at the World Trade Organisation to waive Trade Related Intellectual Property (TRIPS) guidelines, so that more vaccines can be produced generically.
•In its statement ahead of the summit, the Ministry of External Affairs had said the leaders would discuss cooperation towards maintaining a “free, open and inclusive” Indo-Pacific region, as well as challenges such as “resilient supply chains, emerging and critical technologies, maritime security, and climate change.”
•Also on the agenda are talks about managing regional crises, including Myanmar, where military rulers continue to ignore global pleas against its decision to jail the elected government and the brutal crackdown on protestors, as well as Afghanistan, where the U.S. has outlined its latest plan to promote talks and chalk out a possible exit of its troops from the conflict.
•The timing of the Quad summit is also significant, as it comes amidst ongoing talks between India and China on the disengagement process at the Line of Actual Control, after a nearly year-long standoff between troops in Ladakh.
•It also comes just ahead of Mr. Blinken’s travels to the region, after which he will fly to Alaska, along with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan for the first meeting of the Biden Administration with Chinese counterparts Wang Yi and Yang Jiechi. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who will join him in Tokyo and Seoul will then travel to Delhi. As a result, the Quad summit’s outcomes are expected to bear a message on India-China, India-US and US-China relations as well.
•Mr. Wang, who has been sharply critical of the Quad in the past, referred to the upcoming Quad summit in more oblique terms this week, cautioning against “selective multilateralism” and “group politics” in the region.
•Experts said India’s messaging on the Quad has thus far been mixed, referring to it as one of many multilateral arrangements in the region, which should not be “conflated” with India’s Indo-Pacific policy, that encompasses many more countries including the EU, UK, France, Russia and others.
•“India's position has been mature. We have understood that these public platforms are created for certain requirements, [] provided they are transparent and open and they respect the international order,” former Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said at a seminar on India-China relations organised by Carnegie India, adding that China’s opposition to the Quad is unwarranted, given that the Quadrilateral Framework has “no treaty, no structure, and no secretariat” at present.
📰 India, Japan space agencies review cooperation
