J&K Assembly dissolved
- Dissolved under Section 53 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir.
- Reason – the claims of the two groups who claimed to form the government were not convincing enough and could have led to instability.
Point Calimere
- It is a renowned wildlife and bird sanctuary on the seashore in Tamil Nadu.
Ortolan Bunting
- It is a bird which breeds from Mongolia to Europe and migrates to Africa via the Middle East.
- Its first photographic record of in India has been obtained in India.
- The IUCN red list of threatened species has placed Ortolan bunting in the “Least Concern” category.
Andaman
- Sentinelese is a negrito tribe who lives on the North Sentinel Island of the Andaman.
- They are connected to the Jarawa on the basis of physical, as well as linguistic similarities.
- The Sentinelese have been fiercely hostile to outside contact. But in 1991 they accepted some coconuts from a team of Indian anthropologists and administrators.
- Sentinelese have been mostly left alone even from colonial times, unlike other tribes such as the Onges, Jarawas and Great Andamanese, because the land they occupy has little commercial attraction.
- From 1901 to 1921 they were estimated to be 117 people. In 1931, the number dropped to 50, a figure used for the 1961 Census too. In 1991 their head count was put at 23. Census 2001 counted 39 inhabitants.
- The Govt. of India issued the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956 to declare the traditional areas occupied by the tribes as reserves, and prohibited entry of all persons except those with authorisation.
- Photographing or filming the tribe members is also an offence.
FCRA
- Setting up a body or tribunal for enforcement of FCRA would require an amendment of the statute, which was in the domain of the legislature and not the judiciary.
Rabab
- Rabab is a long-necked lute played in Kashmir.
- The number of rabab makers is fast dwindling in Kashmir.
- In north Kashmir, only two families continue with the trade of crafting the rabab, from the dozens of just a few decades ago.
- Seen in many variants across central Asia, the rabab arrived in Kashmir from Afghanistan many centuries ago.
- Compared to the seven strings of the Afghan rabab, the Kashmiri version has 22 strings, with two strings crafted out of goat gut.
Non-ECR
- Passport holders with “non-Emigration Check Required (non-ECR)” status will soon have to get themselves registered with the Ministry of External Affairs before taking up jobs abroad.
- The rule, which takes effect on January 1, is said to be aimed at the welfare of Indians going abroad.
- It applies to jobs in 18 countries, including the six Gulf Cooperation Council nations, which have the largest number of expats.
- The non-ECR category of passengers include Indians paying income tax and those with educational qualification above matriculation.
- As of now only ECR category passport holders were required to get emigration clearance from the office of the Protector of Emigrants to seek employment abroad.
- The objective of the directive is to protect workers with higher educational qualification from not getting into blue collar jobs.
Interpol
- International police organisation Interpol elected Kim Jong-yang of South Korea as president.
- The presidency is typically held for four years.
- The president is elected after winning a two-thirds majority among members in a secret ballot.
Virtual climate summit
- World leaders will participate in an innovative climate change summit that will take place entirely online so it is carbon neutral.
- This eco-friendly event stands in stark contrast to many other international political summits, which involve thousands of delegates jetting across the world to a venue where they stay in air-conditioned comfort.
- The Virtual Climate Summit is the brainchild of Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine.
- The event will be the first global political meeting to be held online.
- It will will begin in the Marshalls’ capital Majuro.
- The virtual summit’s main aim is to encourage the international community to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
- The latest round of UN climate talks, COP24, will open in the southern Polish city of Katowice on December 2 with the aim of reinvigorating the Paris agreement.
Fall in global oil prices
Various factors led to the decline in crude prices. These include:
- Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers, which have been holding back production of oil since 2017, started to produce oil in ample amounts.
- At the same time, production in the United States has been rising faster than expected.
- Output has also risen in Libya.
- Trump’s sanctions on Iran have not had a huge impact on the latter’s oil production. This may be because US has permitted Iran’s largest customers — Japan, China and India — to continue buying oil temporarily.
Nominated Authority (NA)
- The nominated authority (NA) is generally an officer of the Coal Ministry — not below the rank of Joint Secretary — to conduct auction of coal mines or allot coal mines as per Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015.
- At present, NA works on additional charge basis by one of the joint secretaries of Ministry of Coal. At present, NA is not a full time designation.
MCLR
- The MCLR is the minimum interest rate below which a bank cannot lend.
