Dongria Kondh
Category: Society
- With a recent Supreme Court order triggering panic among forest dwellers over possible eviction, Odisha’s Dongria Kondh tribals have resolved to resist any attempt to force them out.
- The tribe shot into the limelight for their successful resistance against the Vedanta Group’s plan to mine bauxite in the ecologically and mineral-rich Niyamgiri hill range.
- The Dongria Kondh are currently holding their annual ‘Niyamraja festival’ on the picturesque hilltop of Niyamgiri.
- The Dongria Kondh’s habitations dot the Niyamgiri hills in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts.
Bangladesh
Category: International
- Bangladesh plans to open a Deputy High Commission in as it seeks to strengthen ties with the southern parts of India.
- This will be Bangladesh’s sixth diplomatic office in India.
- Besides the High Commission in Delhi, Bangladesh has Deputy High Commissions in Kolkata and Mumbai and Representative Offices in Guwahati and Agartala.
OIC
Category: International
- Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) invited External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to address the body’s foreign ministers meet.
- India has never been invited to the OIC before.
- The invitation that came from UAE marks a major turnaround between India and the group of Islamic countries, that have often clashed over Kashmir.
- The OIC has a specially designated “Kashmir contact group” that coordinates positions at the United Nations, often led by Pakistan, to protest alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir and invoke UN resolutions.
- OIC had denied India a seat when the grouping started.
- While it was Bangladesh that floated the idea of India becoming an observer at the OIC in 2018, the UAE invite offers India an opportunity to address the forum.
- While observer status still looks distant, Swaraj’s presence at the OIC plenary is not likely to change the organisation’s stand on Jammu and Kashmir, where they have always supported Pakistan. But India’s presence is a big sign that the OIC may be open to looking at India and — perhaps Kashmir — differently.
IIFCL
Category: Infrastructure
- India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL), which was set up in 2006 to primarily bridge funding deficit for infrastructure sector, is now being geared to support social sector infra projects, especially in the health and education sector.
- To enable this, the interim Budget 2019-20 raised the capital support for IIFCL to Rs 500 crore for the next financial year as compared to Rs 100 crore in 2018-19.
- The government’s idea is to deploy IIFCL to fund socially desirable projects, which may not be viable commercially. It could be on the lines of National Highways Authority of India funding unviable road projects.
- Since it was set up in 2006 to promote long term funding infra sectors, IIFCL has been investing mainly in sectors such as transport, energy, water & sanitation and communication.
Art 35 A
Category: Polity & Governance
- Govt may review its stand on Article 35A TIMES NEWS NETWORK New Delhi: The Supreme Court is expected to take up next week the challenge to Article 35A of the Constitution.
- Article 35 A gives the Jammu & Kashmir government the rights to confer special privileges to those whom it defines as “permanent residents” of the state.
- Article 35A prevents outsiders from acquiring any immovable property and denies property rights to women married to people from outside the state.
FDI
Category: Economy
- The government is working on a blueprint to increase FDI inflows to $100 billion.
- In 2017-18, FDI flows into India were estimated at over $61 billion.
Indo-Gangetic basin
Category: Geography
- It is feared that drying up of the Indo-Gangetic basin, comprising some 2,000 km of land from Pakistan to Bangladesh, may also trigger moderate earthquakes.
- Drying up of groundwater by using bigger pumps from deeper borewells is also causing largescale contamination of water.
- While 10 years ago, arsenic-contaminated water was largely seen in some parts of West Bengal and Bihar, it’s now being seen moving in a northwest direction.
- The Ganga basin region has two big aquifers. But people have started to overexploit both, leading to more cross contamination.
- Paddy is getting infected with arsenic, and there are fears that it will affect other crops and have a disastrous impact on health.
- Worried over the state of groundwater in India, the government is looking for new aquifers in the country.
- Scientists here have used helicopter-borne electromagnetic tools to find new fractures zones beneath the earth, containing untapped water in cities like Surata and Nagpur among other areas.
P.V. Sindhu
Category: Miscellaneous
P.V. Sindhu became the first woman athlete to co-pilot the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas.
Capital requirement
Category: Indian economy
