Author: ForumIAS

Cockroach DNA reveals mighty little secrets Context Genome sequencing may throw light on the insect’s ability to heal itself in the most harshest of environments American Cockroach The American cockroach is the largest common house cockroach, about the length of a AA battery. Also called the water bug, it can live for a week without… Continue reading Cockroach DNA reveals mighty little secrets

Indigenous technology tested on BrahMos What has happened? The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was on Thursday successfully test-fired with an indigenous seeker for the first time. So far the seeker, a critical technology in missiles, came from Russia. Seeker’, a critical technology, used to come from Russia The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test-fired… Continue reading Indigenous technology tested on BrahMos

Not equipped to detect deep Maoist mines: Home Ministry What has happened? The Home Ministry has told a parliamentary panel that forces were “unable to detect deep planted mines” with the technology presently available in the areas affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Background The Committee of Estimates headed by senior BJP leader MurliManohar Joshi… Continue reading Not equipped to detect deep Maoist mines: Home Ministry

EU leaders to push for privacy protection What has happened? European Union leaders will on Thursday press tech giants to protect personal data in the wake of the scandal over information harvested from Facebook, draft summit conclusions said. Move comes amid the Facebook row The Brussels summit is tackling the row over the misuse of… Continue reading EU leaders to push for privacy protection

CA, Facebook &you Context The recent Facebook controversy is a wake-up call to press ahead with a robust data protection law Issues highlighted Involvement of Elections and politics Need of a policy: Regardless of whether what Facebook and CA did was legal or not, something is broken in a policy environment in which the data… Continue reading CA, Facebook &you

Protecting our data What has happened? After the Cambridge Analytica crisis exploded, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad warned Facebook against the misuse of Indians’ data and any attempt to influence the electoral processes of this country. Dangers abound Creating Psychological Profiles: Data mined from Indian users of social media may be used for purposes… Continue reading Protecting our data

Face ID’ from July 1 for Aadhaar authentication What has happened? The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that it will introduce ‘Face ID’ on July 1 to enable Aadhaar holders to authenticate their identity to access services, benefits and subsidies. Advantage of authentication via Face ID The Face… Continue reading Face ID’ from July 1 for Aadhaar authentication

Trump orders curbs on Chinese goods, investments What has happened? President Donald Trump on Thursday directed imposition of tariffs on Chinese products, and restrictions on Chinese investments in America in a move that officials described as “historic” and is meant to push back against “economic aggression” Special review The measures follow the completion of a… Continue reading Trump orders curbs on Chinese goods, investments

10 missions on anvil to boost exports’ What has happened? The Union Cabinet is likely to approve 10 new market development missions to aid exports, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu said on Thursday. Imports outpacing exports: a matter of concern Exports are growing this year because the base has… Continue reading 10 missions on anvil to boost exports’

Is the economy back on track? Context Disturbances on account of demonetisation and GST were purely short term Positive indications Employment-generating sectors like construction, the worst hit by demonetisation, have already started reviving — demand is picking up because of falling prices and this is obviously due to minimum exposure to black money There are… Continue reading Is the economy back on track?