Ministry of AYUSH in association with Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga will host a television event as curtain raiser of the International Day of Yoga 2020 which will be telecasted on DD News on 10th June, 2020 from 07:00 PM to 08:00 PM. This will also be streamed live on Ministry of AYUSH’s Facebook page.

The curtain raiser would mark out a 10-day official countdown to IDY 2020. Union Ministers of State for AYUSH Shri Shripad Naik, Minister of State (PMO) Dr. Jitendra Singh and President, Indian Council for Cultural Relation Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, will address the nation through the electronic medium. Secretary, AYUSH Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha will grace the occasion.

In the light of the prevailing health emergency in the country due to Covid 19, this year the IDY is set to go digital internationally. In view of the highly infectious nature of the Corona virus the ministry is encouraging people to practise Yoga at their homes. The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has also announced a video blogging contest “My life, My Yoga” for the general public.

In the 10 days after the curtain raiser (i.e., from 11th June 2020 to 20th June, 2020), there will be training sessions on Common Yoga Protocol on DD Bharti/DD Sports from 08:00 AM to 08:30 AM. These will be conducted by the country’s premier Yoga teaching institution, the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, New Delhi.

Yoga Gurus Swami Ramdevji, Sri Sri Ravishankarji, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudevji, Dr. H. R. Nagendraji, Shri Kamlesh Patel ji (Daji), Sister Shivani and Swami Bharat Bhushanji will explain importance of Yoga in our lives and how we can utilise yoga to boost immunity and improve mental health and wellbeing.

Dignitaries from the Ministry will also address the people highlighting key steps taken by the Ministry to enable people to do Yoga at home during the present difficult times of the Covid 19 Pandemic. Director AIIMS, Director AIIA and Director MDNIY will join the panel of experts.

This year the IDY comes at a time when the world is in the grip of the contagious COVID-19. It is significant that the health enhancing and stress busting impacts of Yoga practice is especially relevant to the people in this situation. Therefore, for IDY -2020, it is advantageous for people to participate and learn Yoga from their respective homes— in conformity to social distancing norms. The Ministry of AYUSH and numerous other stake holding institutions are providing various digital resources on their portals and social media handles including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, which the public can make use to prepare for the event. Yoga followers all over the world will come together in solidarity at 7 am on the 21st of June and join a harmonious demonstration of Common Yoga Protocol from their homes.

Saffron and Heeng (asafoetida) are the most valuable spices of the world and widely used in Indian cuisine since time immemorial. In India, the annual demand for Saffron spice is 100 tons per year but its average production is about 6-7 tons per year. Hence a large amount of Saffron is being imported. Similarly, there is no production of heeng in India and currently about 1200 tons of raw heeng worth Rs 600 crore is being imported from Afghanistan, Iran, and Uzbekistan.

To increase the production of these two spices in India, the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT) and the Department of Agriculture, Government of Himachal Pradesh, have forged strategic and implementation partnership based on their mutual strengths. This partnership is expected to provide immense benefits to Himachal Pradesh by way of increased farm income, livelihood promotion, and rural development. To facilitate this development, a number of steps will be undertaken such as transfer of innovations by means of capacity building, skill development, and other extension activities of prospective farmers and officers of the Department of Agriculture.

“Introduction of these crops will reduce the import. CSIR-IHBT will provide technical know-how to the farmers, impart training to state agriculture department officers and farmers, and set up corm and seed production centres of Saffron and heeng, respectively, in the state,” said Dr Sanjay Kumar, Director, IHBT.

At present, about 2825 hectares of land is under cultivation of Saffron in Jammu and Kashmir. IHBT has developed the production technology for Saffron and introduced its cultivation in non-traditional areas of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The Institute has also developed tissue-culture protocol for the production of disease-free corms.

The Palampur-located Institute has introduced six accessions of heeng from Iran through the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi, and standardized its production protocols under Indian conditions. Heeng is a perennial plant and it produces oleo-gum resin from the roots after five years of plantation. It can be grown in unutilized sloppy land of cold desert region.

“Besides providing technical support for the achievement of physical targets of the project, we will also undertake technical supervision of Saffron production areas. Exposure visits of farmers will also be done. A total of 750 acres of land will be covered under these crops in the state in the next five years, said Dr. Kumar.

Dr. R. K. Koundal, Director of the Department of Agriculture, Government of Himachal Pradesh, said that this project will enhance the livelihood of the farmers and will benefit the state and country. “This programme will improve the farmer well-being of the farmers by providing better income prospects and the state will be benefited by cultivation of these high-value crops” he said.

A state-of-the-art tissue-culture lab will be established for large-scale production of quality planting material of these crops.

A team of researchers from IIT Madras, Cancer Institute, Sree Balaji Dental College and Hospital, Chennai, and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru have identified a specific microRNA (miRNAs) called ‘miR-155’ that is over-expressed in tongue cancer. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small Ribo Nucleic Acid. They are non-coding RNAs involved in the regulation of a variety of biological and pathological processes, including the formation and development of cancer. This finding is important in that molecular strategies can potentially be devised to manipulate miR-155 expression to develop therapeutics for tongue cancer.

The main function of miRNA is to silence the expression of the other genes. If the silence oncogenes then the cancer will be suppressed. On the other hand, if they suppress tumour suppressor gene, the cancer will progress. Accordingly, miRNA can act as oncogenes or tumour suppressor genes depending on what they act upon. “There are only two therapeutic approaches that can be possible. If the miRNA has been shown to work as oncogenes, then one wants to inhibit; this is known as miRNA inhibition therapy.

If the miRNA acts as tumour suppressor genes, then you want to introduce to the system so that tumour can be suppressed; such therapy is called miRNA replacement therapy,” said, Prof. Karunagaran, Head, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras, while speaking with India Science Wire. miRNA manipulation is being combined with conventional cancer treatment methods such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy, and the study reported by collaborative team can enable such emerging therapeutics for cancer.

Ministry of Coal has taken initiatives to re-visit old laws with an aim to improve efficiency, ease of doing business and to open up coal sector which would result in improving domestic coal production and reduce imports. In the present scenario of coal sector, there has been dominance of public sector companies both in exploration and mining of coal.

Age old Mineral Concession Rule, 1960 was governing many aspects of coal mining and needed amendment in furthering the Coal Sector Reforms and also due to several legislations coming into existence such as those related to Environment and Forest conservation etc. Considering the long gestation period of coal mines due to complexity of multiple laws, restrictive rules affecting entry of potential investors in the coal sector, , the following changes have been brought into the system for freedom of operations for improving coal production and to facilitate adoption of technology.

Mineral Laws (Amendment) Act, 2020: Salient features Amendment to provide for allocation of coal blocks for composite Prospecting License-cum-Mining Lease (“PL-cum-ML”) to help in increasing the available inventory of coal/ lignite blocks for auction.

Provisions for any company selected through auction/ allotment to carry on coal mining operation for own consumption, sale without possessing any prior coal mining experience in India.

FDI Policy in Coal Sector allowing 100% FDI through automatic route for sale of coal, coal mining activities including associated processing infrastructure. Provisions to remove the requirement of previous approval in cases where the allocation or reservation of coal/ lignite block is made by the Central Government

Entitlement to an allottee to utilize mined coal in any of its plants or plants of its subsidiary or holding company. To implement it, corresponding CMSP Rules and CBA rules were also amended Amendment in Mineral Concession Rule 1960: Salient features Registration of Qualified Persons for Mining Plan preparation is no longer required. Project proponent’s declaration in this regard will suffice.

Empowering block allocatee to make minor changes in mining plan and reducing requirement of repeated approvals thus giving flexibility in operation. An option is now available to Coal Block allocatee to engage an Accredited Prospecting Agency for conduct of prospecting operation and preparation of Geological Report (GR) with a view to expedite exploration, bringing technology and faster growth of coal sector.

Additional option is also made available to Project Proponent through accreditation system for Mining Plan Preparing Agency for preparation. Similarly, a peer review of Mining Plan to improve quality of mine planning and fast tracking approval system has also been introduced. Provision for regulating grant of PL-cum-ML in light of the Mineral Laws (Amendment) Act, 2020.

Amendment in the guidelines of preparation, processing and approval of Mining Plan With a view to remove repetition of provisions from the Mining Plan which are now covered in other statutory documents, the Mining Plan structure has been simplified. Following introduction of other laws, such as Environment and Forest Conservation etc, many overlapping information sought in mining plan has been deleted. Simplified guidelines issued.

Processing of mining planfor approval has been simplified with an aim to reduce time in grant of approval. Power to approve Mining Plan delegated to subordinate authority in CCO with an interim arrangement for the interregnum. System of appeal introduced to bring transparency. Process has been made compatible to online approval so as to formulate an online single window clearance system.

On June 1, 2020, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved a revision in the definition of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).[1] In this blog, we discuss the change in the definition as approved by the Cabinet, and examine some of the common criteria used for classification of MSMEs.

Currently, MSMEs are defined under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006.[2] The Act classifies them as micro, small and medium enterprises based on: (i) investment in plant and machinery for enterprises engaged in manufacturing or production of goods, and (ii) investment in equipment for enterprises providing services. As per the Cabinet approval, the investment limits will be revised upwards and annual turnover of the enterprise will be used as additional criteria for the classification of MSMEs (Table 1).

Earlier attempts to amend the definition of MSMEs The central government has sought to revise the definition of MSMEs in the Act on two earlier occasions. The government introduced the MSME Development (Amendment) Bill, 2015 which proposed to increase the investment limits for manufacturing and services MSMEs.[3] This Bill was withdrawn in July 2018 and another Bill was introduced. The MSME Development (Amendment) Bill, 2018 proposed to: (i) use annual turnover as criteria instead of investment for classification of MSMEs, (ii) remove the distinction between manufacturing and services, and (iii) provide the central government with the power to revise the turnover limits, through a notification.[4] The 2018 Bill lapsed with the dissolution of 16th Lok Sabha.

Global trends in criteria for the classification of MSMEs While India will now be using investment and annual turnover as the criteria to classify MSMEs, globally, the number of employees is the most widely used criteria for classifying MSMEs. The Reserve Bank of India's Expert Committee on MSMEs (2019) cited a study by the International Finance Corporation in 2014 which analysed 267 definitions used by different institutions in 155 countries.[5],[6] According to the study, countries used a combination of criteria to classify MSMEs. 92% of the definitions used the number of employees as one of the criteria. Other frequently used criteria were: (i) turnover (49%), and (ii) value of assets (36%). 11% of the analysed definitions used alternative criteria such as: (i) loan size, (ii) years of experience, and (iii) initial investment.

Evaluation of common criteria used to define MSMEs Investment: The 2006 Act uses investment in plant, machinery, and equipment to classify MSMEs. Some of the issues with the investment criteria include:

The investment criteria require physical verification and have associated cost overheads.

The investment limits may need to be revised from time-to-time due to the impact of inflation. The Standing Committee on Industry (2018) had observed that limits set under the Act in 2006 have become irrelevant due to the impact of inflation.

Due to their informal and small scale of operations, firms often do not maintain proper books of accounts and hence find it difficult to get classified as MSMEs as per the current definition.

The investment-based classification incentivises promoters to keep the investment size restricted to retain the benefits associated with the micro or small category.

Turnover: The 2018 Bill sought to replace the investment criteria with annual turnover as the sole criteria for the classification of MSMEs. The Standing Committee agreed with the proposal under the Bill to use annual turnover as the criteria instead of investment.7 It observed that this could overcome some of the shortcomings of classification based on investment. While turnover based criteria will also require verification, the Committee noted that the GST Network (GSTN) data can act as a reliable source of information for this purpose. However, it also observed that:7

With turnover as a criterion for classification, corporates may misuse the incentives meant for MSMEs. For instance, there is a possibility that a multi-national company may produce a large quantity of products worth a high turnover and then market it through various subsidiaries registered as Micro or Small enterprise under GSTN.

The turnover of some enterprises may fluctuate depending on their business, which may result in the change of classification of the enterprise during a year.

The Committee noted that there is a wide gap in turnover limits. For instance, an enterprise with a turnover of Rs 6 crore and an enterprise with a turnover of Rs 75 crore (as proposed in 2018 Bill) would both be classified as a small enterprise, which seems incongruous.

The Expert Committee (RBI) also recommended using annual turnover as the criteria for classification instead of investment.5 It observed that turnover based definition would be transparent, progressive, and easier to implement through the GSTN. It also recommended that the power to change the definition of MSMEs should be delegated to the executive as it will help in responding to changing economic scenarios.

Number of employees: The Standing Committee had highlighted that in a labour-intensive country like India, appropriate focus is required on employment generation and MSME sector is the most suitable platform for this.7 It had recommended that the central government should assess the number of persons employed in the MSME sector and also consider employment as a criterion while classifying MSMEs. However, the Expert Committee (RBI) stated that while the employment-based definition is an additional feature preferred in some countries, the definition would pose challenges in implementation.5 According to the Ministry of MSME, employment as a criterion has problems due to: (i) factors such as seasonality and informal nature of engagement, (ii) similar to investment criteria, this would also require physical verification and has associated cost overheads.7

Number of MSMEs According to the National Sample Survey (2015-16), there were around 6.34 crore MSMEs in the country. The micro sector with 6.3 crore enterprises accounted for more than 99% of the total estimated number of MSMEs. The small and medium sectors accounted for only 0.52% and 0.01% of the estimated number of enterprises, respectively. Another dataset to understand the distribution of MSMEs is Udyog Aadhaar, a unique identity provided by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to MSME enterprises.[8] Udyog Aadhaar registration is based on self-declaration by enterprises. Between September 2015 and June 2020, 98.6 lakh enterprises have registered with UIDAI. According to this dataset, micro, small, and medium enterprises comprise 87.7%, 11.8% and 0.5% of the MSME sector respectively.

Employment in the MSME sector The MSME sector employed nearly 11.1 crore people in 2015-16. The sector was the second largest employer after the agriculture sector. The highest number of employed persons were engaged in trade activity (35%), followed by persons engaged in manufacturing (32%).

Implications of change in the definition of MSMEs The change in the definition of MSMEs may result in many enterprises which are currently classified as Small enterprises be reclassified as Micro, and those classified as Medium enterprises be reclassified as Small. Further, there may be many enterprises which are not currently classified as MSMEs, which may fall under the MSME classification as per the new definition. Such enterprises will also now benefit from the schemes related to MSMEs. The Ministry of MSME runs various schemes to provide for: (i) flow of credit to MSMEs, (ii) support for technology upgrade and modernisation, (iii) entrepreneurship and skill development, and (iv) cluster-wise measures to promote capacity-building and empowerment of MSME units. For instance, under the Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises, a credit guarantee cover of up to 75% of the credit is provided to micro and small enterprises.[9] Thus, the re-classification may require a significant increase in budgetary allocation for the MSME sector.

Other announcements related to MSMEs in the aftermath of COVID-19 MSME sector accounted for nearly 33.4% of the total manufacturing output in 2017-18.[10] During the same year, its share in the country’s total exports was around 49%. Between 2015 and 2017, the contribution of the sector in GDP has been around 30%. Due to the national lockdown induced by COVID-19, businesses including MSMEs have been badly hit. To provide immediate relief to the MSME sector, the government announced several measures in May 2020.[11] These include: (i) collateral-free loans for MSMEs with up to Rs 25 crore outstanding and up to Rs 100 crore turnover, (ii) Rs 20,000 crore as subordinate debt for stressed MSMEs, and (iii) Rs 50,000 crore of capital infusion into MSMEs. These measures have also been approved by the Union Cabinet.[12]

Background: Elections will be held on June 17 by the UN General Assembly to elect five of the ten nonpermanent members.

India is the single candidate in the Asia-Pacific group and would return to the council after a decade starting January 2021.

How are non- permanent members elected? Each year, the General Assembly elects five non-permanent members out of a total of 10, for a two-year term.

Distribution of seats: These 10 seats are distributed among the regions thus: five for African and Asian countries; one for Eastern European countries; two for Latin American and Caribbean countries; two for Western European and other countries.

Of the five seats for Africa and Asia, three are for Africa and two for Asia; there is an informal understanding between the two groups to reserve one for an Arab country. The Africa and Asia Pacific group takes turns every two years to put up an Arab candidate.

Elections: Elections for terms beginning in even-numbered years select two African members, and one each within Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Terms beginning in odd-numbered years consist of two Western European and Other members, and one each from Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Votes: Irrespective of whether a country is a “clean slate” candidate and has been endorsed by its group, it needs to secure the votes of two-thirds of the members present and voting at the General Assembly session (a minimum of 129 votes if all 193 member states participate).

When contested, the elections for non-permanent seats can be fraught and can go on for several rounds, In 1975, there was a contest between India and Pakistan, which went to eight rounds. Pakistan won the seat that year. In 1996, India lost a contest to Japan.

About UNSC: What is it? The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security.

Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action through Security Council resolutions; it is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states.

Permanent Members: The Security Council consists of fifteen members. Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, and the United States—serve as the body’s five permanent members. These permanent members can veto any substantive Security Council resolution, including those on the admission of new member states or candidates for Secretary-General.

Proposed reforms: Reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) encompasses five key issues: categories of membership. the question of the veto held by the five permanent members. regional representation. the size of an enlarged Council and its working methods. the Security Council-General Assembly relationship.

What is Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR)? Here, the pre-germinated seeds are directly drilled into the field by a tractor-powered machine.

There is no nursery preparation or transplantation involved in this method. Farmers have to only level their land and give one pre-sowing irrigation.

How is it different from conventional method? In transplanting paddy, farmers prepare nurseries where the paddy seeds are first sown and raised into young plants. The nursery seed bed is 5-10% of the area to be transplanted. These seedlings are then uprooted and replanted 25-35 days later in the puddled field.

Advantage of DSR: Water savings. The first irrigation (apart from the pre-sowing rauni) under DSR is necessary only 21 days after sowing. This is unlike in transplanted paddy, where watering has to be done practically daily to ensure submerged/flooded conditions in the first three weeks. Less Labour. About three labourers are required to transplant one acre of paddy at almost Rs 2,400 per acre.

The cost of herbicides under DSR will not exceed Rs 2,000 per acre. Reduce methane emissions due to a shorter flooding period and decreased soil disturbance compared to transplanting rice seedlings.

Limitations: Non-availability of herbicides. The seed requirement for DSR is also high,8-10 kg/acre, compared to 4-5 kg/acre in transplanting.

Further, laser land levelling is compulsory in DSR. This is not so in transplanting. The sowing needs to be done timely so that the plants have come out properly before the monsoon rains arrive.

The difference of opinion is only about the extent of this contraction. The range varies between minus 4% to minus 14%. Many economists are of the opinion that after hitting rock bottom this year, the economy will start its recovery in the next financial year (2021-22).

What should be the ideal shape of the economic recovery for India? Given the weakness of the economy going into the Covid crisis as well as the less than adequate fiscal stimulus, India is likely to end up with an “elongated U-shape” recovery.

Shapes: The Z-shaped recovery is the most-optimistic scenario in which the economy quickly rises like a phoenix after a crash. It more than makes up for lost ground (think revenge-buying after the lockdowns are lifted) before settling back to the normal trend-line, thus forming a Z-shaped chart.

Z-Shaped_Recovery In V-shaped recovery the economy quickly recoups lost ground and gets back to the normal growth trend-line.

V-Shaped_Recovery A U-shaped recovery is a scenario in which the economy, after falling, struggles and muddles around a low growth rate for some time, before rising gradually to usual levels.

U-Shaped_Recovery A W-shaped recovery is a dangerous creature — growth falls and rises, but falls again before recovering yet again, thus forming a W-like chart.

w-Shaped_Recovery The L-shaped recovery is the worst-case scenario, in which growth after falling, stagnates at low levels and does not recover for a long, long time.

L-Shaped_Recovery The J-shaped recovery is a somewhat unrealistic scenario, in which growth rises sharply from the lows much higher than the trend-line and stays there.

Other shapes: There is also the Swoosh shaped recovery, similar to the Nike logo — in between the V-shape and the U-shape. Here, after falling, growth starts recovering quickly but then, slowed down by obstacles, moves gradually back to the trend-line.

There is also the Inverted square root shaped recovery. Financier George Soros, who coined this term years ago, explained that while there could a rebound from the bottom, the growth slows and settles a step down.

Factors responsible: The shape of economic recovery is determined by both the speed and direction of GDP prints. This depends on multiple factors including fiscal and monetary measures, consumer incomes and sentiment.

In the month of May, forex reserves jumped by $12.4 billion to an all-time high of $493.48 billion (around Rs 37.30 lakh crore) for the week ended May 29.

Important fact for Prelims: The level of foreign exchange reserves has steadily increased by 8,400 per cent from $5.8 billion as of March 1991 to the current level.

What are forex reserves? Forex reserves are external assets in the form of gold, SDRs (special drawing rights of the IMF) and foreign currency assets (capital inflows to the capital markets, FDI and external commercial borrowings) accumulated by India and controlled by the Reserve Bank of India.

Why they are important? Official foreign exchange reserves are held in support of a range of objectives like supporting and maintaining confidence in the policies for monetary and exchange rate management including the capacity to intervene in support of the national or union currency.

It will also limit external vulnerability by maintaining foreign currency liquidity to absorb shocks during times of crisis or when access to borrowing is curtailed.

Why are forex reserves rising despite the slowdown in the economy? Rise in investment in foreign portfolio investors in Indian stocks and foreign direct investments (FDIs).

Fall in crude oil prices has brought down the oil import bill, saving the precious foreign exchange. Overseas remittances and foreign travels have fallen steeply – down 61 per cent in April from $12.87 billion.

What’s the significance of rising forex reserves? The rising forex reserves give a lot of comfort to the government and the Reserve Bank of India in managing India’s external and internal financial issues at a time when the economic growth is set to contract by 1.5 per cent in 2020-21.

It’s a big cushion in the event of any crisis on the economic front and enough to cover the import bill of the country for a year.

The rising reserves have also helped the rupee to strengthen against the dollar. Reserves will provide a level of confidence to markets that a country can meet its external obligations, demonstrate the backing of domestic currency by external assets, assist the government in meeting its foreign exchange needs and external debt obligations and maintain a reserve for national disasters or emergencies.

Where are India’s forex reserves kept? The RBI Act, 1934 provides the overarching legal framework for deployment of reserves in different foreign currency assets and gold within the broad parameters of currencies, instruments, issuers and counterparties.

As much as 64 per cent of the foreign currency reserves is held in the securities like Treasury bills of foreign countries, mainly the US.

28 per cent is deposited in foreign central banks.

7.4 per cent is also deposited in commercial banks abroad. India also held 653.01 tonnes of gold as of March 2020, with 360.71 tonnes being held overseas in safe custody with the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements, while the remaining gold is held domestically.

Designed, developed and manufactured by Indian Air Force.

The pod is used for the evacuation of critical patients with infectious diseases from the high altitude, remote and isolated areas across the country.

It has a transparent and durable cast Perspex for enhanced patient visibility which is larger, higher, and wider than the existing models. The ARPIT uses High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) H-13 class filters and supports invasive ventilation using Transport Ventilator.

The Central Administrative Tribunal was established by an Act of Parliament namely Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 as sequel to the 42nd amendment of the Constitution of India inserting Article 323 A.

Functions: The tribunal adjudicates disputes and complaints with respect to Recruitment and Conditions of Service of the persons appointed to the Public Services and Posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or any State or of any other Local Authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India.

Composition: The Tribunal is headed by the Chairman and 65 Members, 33 from Judicial (including Chairman) and 33 from the Administrative stream. The Chairman is normally a retired Chief Justice of a High Court.

Why in News? 18th Bench of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) for the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh inaugurated recently.

It is country’s first indigenous wireless physiological parameters monitoring system for the COVID 19 affected patients.

Developed by Employees’State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) medical college, Hyderabad in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad and the Department of Atomic Energy.

COVID BEEP stands for Continuous Oxygenation and Vital Information Detection Biomed ECIL ESIC Pod.

It is an initiative to provide a chance to participants and art enthusiasts to create and learn from practising artists.

The programme includes online workshops sessions on painting, sculpture, printmaking and indrajaal (an interdisciplinary creative workshop). Organised by National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA).

The exhibition of selected artworks from the program will be displayed on So’ham, the cultural media platform of NGMA.

Gairsain in Chamoli district was formally declared as the summer capital of Uttarakhand.

It would be developed as an ideal seat of the administration.

The Legislative Assembly of the state is located at Dehradun, the winter capital city.

Launched by the Andhra Pradesh Government.

It will help the authorities monitor the movement of hazardous waste real-time using the tools incorporated in the platform.

The platform will be handled by the AP Environment Management Corporation (APEMC).

The APEMC will streamline collection of the waste from industries, sort and streamline the waste as hazardous or non-hazardous or e-waste according to category, and scientifically dispose it off at various waste disposal centres.