Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
Mulberry silk is the most popular variety of silk in India, accounting for around 79% of the country’s silk production. In 2022, India produced nearly 26,000 metric tons of mulberry silk. The other varieties of silk produced in India are:

• Tasar, which accounted for 8.02% of the total raw silk production
• Eri, which accounted for 20.55% of the total raw silk production
• Muga, which accounted for 0.71% of the total raw silk production

India is the second largest producer of silk in the world. The five states that produce the most silk are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Jammu & Kashmir.

Notes:
National Agricultural Insurance Scheme was launched by the Government of India in the year 1999-2000. The coverage was for cereals, pulses, oilseeds, horticultural and commercial crops farmers and loanees as well as non-loanees farmers. The modified NAIS will be launched in 50 districts.

Notes:
R Seetharaman, a Qatar-based Indian banker has been awarded for his contribution in environment-friendly activities and for promoting green economy for nearly two decades. R Seetharaman, group chief executive officer of Doha Bank, was honoured with the 'Green Economy Visionary award' at the 2016 Union of Arab Banks International Banking Summit held in Rome.

Notes:
Recently, Switzerland and India have inked a pact to extend the Indo-Swiss Building Energy Efficiency Project (BEEP) by five years till 2021 based on successes achieved by the project in the first phase. 

Notes:
Under Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR), banks set aside funds to cover bad loans. A higher provision coverage ratio means the bank is protecting itself better against its bad loans. It was recently in news when provision coverage ratio for most of the public sector banks went down and quantity of bad loans increased.

Notes:
'Tulaipanji' and 'Gobindobhog' are varieties of aromatic rice. Recently, the Bengal Government applied in the Office of Geographical Indications, Chennai for GI certification of products.

Notes:
Bharatmala Pariyojana is an umbrella programme which includes construction of roads nationwide including in border and coastal areas. It aims to achieve optimal resource allocation for a holistic highway development. It will look to improve connectivity particularly on economic corridors, border areas and national highways in the country.

Notes:
Recently, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in its environment report entitled, “Solid approach to waste: how five cities are beating pollution” has recognised 5 cities in the world for their excellent waste management system. These include Osaka in Japan, Ljubljana in Slovenia, Penang in Malaysia and Cajica in Colombia and Alappuzha in India.

Notes:
Operation Save Kurma was a species specific operation on turtles launched from December 15, 2016 to January 30, 2017. Under it total of 15,739 live turtles were recovered from 45 suspects, having inter-state linkages. It helped the enforcement agencies to focus on the existing trade routes and major trade hubs in the country, which will be continued in future.

Notes:
The three proposed corridors are North-South connecting Delhi to Chennai, East-West connecting Kharagpur to Mumbai and East-Coast connecting Kharagpur to Vijayawada.