Extra tropical storms are a global phenomena with moisture usually carried in the

upper atmosphere, unlike their tropical counterparts where the moisture is carried
in the lower atmosphere.
Fiat money is currency that a government has declared to be legal
tender, but is not backed by
a physical commodity. The value of fiat money is derived from the relationship
between supply and demand rather than the value of the material that the money is
made of.Fiat money is based solely on the faith and credit of the economy e.g.
Modern day Indian Rupee.Fiat money has been defined variously as:
Any money declared by a government to be legal tender.Its an intrinsically
valueless money used as money because of government decree.Currency Notes and Coins
do not have intrinsic value like gold and silver and that is why they are called
fiat money.
GST is a consumption based tax which thus
means that the tax which is paid is at the point of Sale. Decision of Gst council
will be taken by majority of not less than 3/4th(75%) of the weighted votes of d
members present and voting.Atleast one-half(50%) of d total members constitute the
quorum of GST Council.GST Council is a Constitutional Body.

kaladan project passes through Mizoram.

Sovereign Gold Bonds r issued by RBI on behalf of Govt. of India.

UJALA is d largest non-subsidised LED Programme in the world - by EESL which is a

joint venture of PSUs under Power Ministry.

ISDS(Investor State Dispute Settlement) is coming in the way of several BITs.It

gives special legal rights to those who invest in foreign companies.They can sue
the host country govt. b4 a panel of private arbitrators,when they perceive lapses
in domestic procedures.

Sterilization by the RBI

is defined as undertaking open market operations by the RBI to prevent the economy
from external shocks. Structural unemployment results due to
technological change. NEER is the weighted average of
bilateral nominal exchange rates of the home currency in terms of foreign
currencies.REER is the weighted average of nominal exchange rates, adjusted for
inflation.
SILICA AERO GEL/BLUE AIR/FROZEN SMOKE ===is the WORLD's LIGHTEST
SYNTHETIC MATERIAL ever made by man --HAS excellent thermal resistance--
indigenously developed by VIKRAM SARAABHAI SPACE

IDDM (Indigenously Designed,Developed & Manufactured) platform of Defense

Procurement Policy,2016.

International Court of Justice is composed of 15 judges appointed by the General

assembly with the term of 9 years. Every sitting judge must be from a different
nation.The Court settles legal disputes between nations only and not between
individuals, in accordance with international law.Once a country accepts the
Court's jurisdiction, it must comply with its decision.

ICAO was created after the Chicago convention on International Civil Aviation. It
became a specialized agency of the United Nations linked to Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC). Its secretariat is located in Montreal, Canada.

International Maritime Organisation=It is the only UN special agency to have its

headquarters in the United Kingdom.It is the first ever international organization
devoted exclusively to maritime matters.
The objective of IMO is the improvement of Maritime safety and the prevention of
marine pollution.

International Fund for Agricultural Development= It is a specialized UN agency

dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing
countries.It was setup after ?The World Food Conference 1974 which was organized in
response to the food crises of 1970s in Sahelian Countries of Africa. It is
headquartered in Rome, Italy.

Samarkand Declaration It is the joint initiative of UNWTO and UNESCO and the
declaration is made on
Silk Road Tourism to enhance sustainable tourism development along the historic
Silk Road route.

Unlike the General Assembly of the United Nations, where each country has one vote,
decision making at the
IMF was designed to reflect the relative positions of its member countries in the
global economy.
Reports released by IMF - World economic outlook, Global Financial stability
report.

The ADB was modeled closely on the World Bank, and has a similar weighted voting
system where votes are
distributed in proportion with members' capital subscriptions(Manila).

United States and Japan are not the members of AIIB(Beijing).China, India and
Russia are the three largest shareholders of AIIB, taking 30.34%, 8.52%, 6.66%
stake respectively. Their voting shares are 26.06%, 7.5% and 5.92% respectively.

India is not a signatory to the Rome Statute(International Criminal Court).

PCA is an intergovernmental organization located at The Hague in the
Netherlands.The PCA is not a court "in the traditional sense", but provides
services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes
between member states, international organizations, or private parties arising out
of international
agreements.PCA has no sitting judges; instead parties themselves select the
arbitrators.
The organization is not a United Nations agency but has observer status in the UN
General Assembly.
The rulings of PCA are binding but the tribunal has no powers for enforcement.

International Energy Agency (IEA) is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental

organization established in the framework ofthe Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD).
Only OECD member states can become members of the IEA. China, India, Indonesia,
Morocco, Singapore and Thailand are the associate members of IEA.

ISA is an intergovernmental body based in Kingston, Jamaica, that was established

to organize, regulate and control all mineral-related activities in the
international seabed area beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.ISA has
Observer status in UN.

The Council of Europe is an international organisation whose stated aim is to

uphold human
rights, democracy, and rule of law in Europe and promote European culture.No
country has ever joined the EU without first belonging to the Council of Europe.The
headquarters of the Council of Europe are in Strasbourg, France.Council of Europe
conventions/treaties are also open for signature to non-member states, thus
facilitating equal co-operation with countries outside Europe.
BIMSTEC HQs = DHAKA. Myanmaar,Maldives,Pak r not d members
of IORA(HQS Mauritius).
The Australia Group is an informal group to help member countries identify
those exports which need to be controlled so as not to contribute to the spread of
chemical and biological weapons.
The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use
Goods and
Technologies is a multilateral export control regime (MECR) with 41 participating
states.It is not a treaty, and therefore is not legally binding.

CTBT is a multilateral treaty that bans all nuclear explosions, for both civilian
and military purposes, in all
environments. China, Egypt, Iran, Israel and the United States have signed but not
ratified the Treaty.
India, North Korea and Pakistan have not signed it.

Kuttanad Wetland Agriculture System is unique as

it is the only system in India that
favours rice cultivation below sea level in the land created by draining delta
swamps in brackish
waters. This system also allows fisheries system, livestock and home garden to be
grown. The
below sea-level farming is an approach to cope with the imminent climate impacts in
coastal
areas and evolve efficient methods to deal with soil and pest-related issues in
agriculture.
Edge Species are found most abundantly
in ecotone boundary. Gharial (gavialis gangeticus) is an edge species and found in
the transition/ecotone boundary between river and sand banks.

International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC)

It is a 1951 multilateral treaty overseen by the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO)
It aims to secure coordinated, effective action to prevent and to control the
introduction and spread
of pests of plants and plant products.
The Convention extends beyond the protection of cultivated plants to the
protection of natural flora and
plant products.
It also takes into consideration both direct and indirect damage by pests, so it
includes weeds.
The Convention created a governing body consisting of each party, known as the
Commission on
Phytosanitary Measures (CPM)
The Convention is recognized by the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on
Application of
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the SPS Agreement) as the only international
standard setting body
for plant health.
GFCF aka Investment Expenditure.
Animal Spirits=coined by John Keynes.Its build around the presumption that
confidence can drive Economic Growth.
WASHINGTON CONSENSUS = is a 10
point economic policy,considered to be the standard reform package for developing
countries.These are developed by IMF,WB & US Treasury.
Evergreening in Economics= the tendency of banks to lend firms the money to
pay their interest obligations quite often is called as evergreening(so that loan
given should not become NPAs).
for External Debt,the share of Non-Govt. debt
is much higher than the Govt. debt.

for China-gdp>gnp(since several MNCs estd. there ) but for

America -gnp>gdp(since several American Companies r in various countries).
if a currency is over-valued(eg. Indian
Rupee),the exports will become globally uncompetitive.
Zika,Dengue,Chikungunya,Yellow fever -by
AEDES Mosquito.
Transfer pricing-when the subsidiary company sells goods to its Parent
Company,the cost paod by the Parent Company is known as Transfer Pricing.
MIP(Min. Import
Price)von steel products to protect the domestic steel industry against cheap
imports. India is NOT a member of OECD but is a member of FATF.

The Anupam Verma Committee, set up to review the

continued use of 66 pesticides that have been barred/restricted for use in farming
in other countries, has recommended a ban on 13 extremely hazardous pesticides
(see table), phasing out of six moderately hazardous ones by 2020, and review of
27 pesticides in 2018.The Verma panel did not review the use of endosulfan, as it
is being examined by the Supreme Court.
Polachira wetlands in Kerela.
KESSLER SYNDROME is a graveyard orbit, also called a junk
orbit or disposal orbit, is a super-synchronous orbit that lies significantly above
the synchronous orbit, where spacecraft are intentionally placed at the end of
their operational life.

The word FAST stands for Five hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope
(FAST), worlds largest filled single aperture radio telescope located in China and
second largest radio telescope after Russsias RATAN-600, which has sparsely filled
aperture.
? It is called as Heavenly Eye or Eye of the Heaven since it is capable to receive
weaker and more distant radio signals.

Delhi Declaration on Agrobiodiversity Management:- The 1st International

Agrobiodiversity Congress held in New Delhi from 6th to 9th November, 2016 was
attended by 900 participants from 60 countries. Throughout the Congress, delegated
discussed various aspects of access, conservation and use of agrobiodiversity in 16
technical sessions, four satellite sessions, a genebank roundtable, a public forum,
a farmers forum and poster sessions. Based on these deliberations, the delegates
unanimously adopted the Preamble and following declaration at the concluding
session on November 9, 2016.

Dehradun to
house India's First Tiger Repository. The country's first tiger cell will soon
take shape at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) campus in Dehradun. It will be
funded by NTCA.
NBAGR(National Bureau
of Animal Genetic Resources) has registered Kendrapada sheep as a rare genetic
breed.Its a typical breed of sheep. These sheep are fast breeders giving multiple
birth while those in other parts of the State give single birth at a time.Its a
threatened breed of sheep found only in coastal Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara
districts of Odisha has been conferred rare and singular species tag by the
Central government.

Nearly 30 per cent per cent of the countrys total

geographical area is undergoing degradation, according to a study that analysed
satellite imageries of the country over an eight-year period.There was high
desertification and degradation in Delhi, Tripura, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh and
Mizoram, while Odisha, Telangana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh showed some
improvement.India has committed itself to the U.N. Convention on Combating
Desertification that it would fully stop land degradation by 2030. The definition
of desertification implies it is degradation that cannot be reversed in a lifetime
(around 60 years).41 per cent of the landmass worldwide is prone to
desertification. The major deserts in the world are expanding at an alarming rate.
Deserts in China, Mongolia and Africa are all invading their neighbouring regions.
In your own country, the deserts in western India are expanding. Hundreds of
thousands of hectares in the arid and semi-arid regions and drylands around the
world are becoming sand dunes every year. This means fewer and fewer hectares are
available for agriculture, livestock rearing and allied activities that offer
livelihood sources to hundreds of millions of world population, especially the
poor. Desertification cuts on the availability of food and water even as the global
population is increasing. It also causes disasters such as sandstorms which wipe
out large swathes of habitable lands. Aquifers vanish and biodiversity is greatly
reduced.

GDP is a measure of value added, its not about output.

Core Inflation,also known as underlying inflation, is a measure of inflation which
excludes items that face volatile price movement, notably food and energy. In other
words, Core Inflation is nothing but Headline Inflation minus inflation that is
contributed by food and energy commodities.

Gross value added (GVA) is defined as the

value of output less the value of intermediate consumption.Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) of any nation represents the sum total of gross value added (GVA) (i.e,
without discounting for capital consumption or depreciation) in all the sectors of
that economy during the said year after adjusting for taxes and subsidies. GVA at
basic prices will include production taxes and exclude production subsidies
available on the commodity. On the other hand, GVA at factor cost includes no taxes
and excludes no subsidies and GDP at market prices include both production and
product taxes and excludes both production and product subsidies.

GDP deflator reflects the prices of all domestically produced goods and
services in the economy whereas, other measures like CPI and WPI are based on a
limited basket of goods and services, thereby not representing the entire economy
(the basket of goods is changed to accommodate changes in consumption patterns, but
after a considerable period of time). Another important distinction is that the
basket of WPI (at present) has no representation of services sector. The GDP
deflator also includes the prices of investment goods, government services and
exports, and excludes the price of imports. Changes in consumption patterns or the
introduction of new goods and services or structural transformation are
automatically reflected in the deflator which is not the case with other inflation
measures.
However WPI and CPI are available on monthly basis whereas deflator comes with a
lag (yearly or quarterly, after quarterly GDP data is released). Hence, monthly
change in inflation cannot be tracked using GDP deflator, limiting its usefulness.

a Finance Bill may contain non-taxation proposals also.

as far as inter-state water disputes are concerned, the courts are barred to hear
such disputes. However, Supreme Court still takes the matter under the so called
Special Leave Petition under article 136.

There is no established set of criteria for inclusion of languages in the Eighth

schedule.
Sitakant Mohapatra Committee was set up to evolve a set of objective criteria for
inclusion of more
languages in the Eighth Schedule which submitted its report in 2004.
pakisyan & maldives not in IORA(HQs-MAURITIUS).COLOMBO DECLARATION related to IORA.
BIMSTEC thru BANGKOK DECLARATION. Turkmenistaan not in SCO.
IOM(International organisation for migration) not a part of UN. INDIA is member of
IOM.

JAIPUR DECLARATION of women parliamentrians from BRICS nations.

multidimensional poverty index by UNDP.