Category: ForumIAS Programs

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (Sendai Framework) is the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda, with seven targets and four priorities for action. The Sendai Framework is a 15-year, voluntary, nonbinding agreement. It recognizes that the State has the primary role to reduce disaster risk but that responsibility should be…

Mitochondrial Donation Technology World’s first child with new three-parent technique (spindle transfer) was born this year in Mexico. Mitochondrial Donation or Mitochondrial manipulation technology (MMT) is a form of in vitro fertilization in which the future baby’s mitochondrial DNA comes from a third party apart from mother and father. This is a controversial technique because mitochondria…

 Disaster management Act in India   Some basic facts • From 2002 to 2013, India was among the five countries most frequently hit by natural disasters. • These included the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004, which caused around 11,000 deaths and affected 2.79 million people in India, and the 2013 floods in Uttarakhand, which caused…

Scorpene Data Leak India signed a $3.5bn (£2.6bn, €3.1bn) deal for six Scorpene vessels in 2005 with France. They are being built in cooperation with a state-owned Mumbai shipbuilder. Over 22,000 pages of top secret data on the capabilities of six highly advanced submarines being built for the Indian Navy in Mumbai in collaboration with…

Draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016 Context– Ministry of Home Affairs in May this year released a draft of “The Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016.” It basically aims to regularize critical information on Maps services that affect “the security, sovereignty and integrity” of the country. Cold response from MNCs like Google to India’s security concerns is…

National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) Context: The government of India in 2016 appointed Ashok Patnaik as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Intelligence Grid. The appointment is being seen as the government’s effort to revive the project. Introduction: 1. The attack on Mumbai in 2008, 26/11 attack, exposed many weaknesses in Indian intelligence security and…

Farm Subsidies and WTO WTO Functions Ensure all countries benefit from world trade. Reducing barriers to international trade – both tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers. Getting the members to Enter into multilateral trade agreements. Providing forum for negotiation and dispute settlement for the members. Cooperating with UN, World and IMF for a global economic policy…

Augmented Reality What is Augmented Reality? Augmented reality is the integration of digital information with the user’s environment in real time. Unlike virtual reality, which creates a totally artificial environment, augmented reality uses the existing environment and overlays new information on top of it. Applications of Augmented Reality: 1. Navigation: Enhanced GPS systems are using augmented…

Zika virus   Introduction Zika virus disease is caused by a virus transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. It is an emerging mosquito-borne virus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys. Outbreaks of Zika virus disease have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific. Symptoms Symptoms of Zika virus infections…

Light Fidelity or Li-Fi What is Li-Fi? Li–Fi is a Visible Light Communications system running wireless communications, traveling at very high speeds. How does it work? 1. Li–Fi uses common household LED light bulbs to enable data transfer, reaching speeds of up to 224 gigabits per second. 2. Although Li-Fi bulbs would have to be kept on…