Important Facts For Prelims (26th April 2019)

The tribe Tiwas (Lalungs) lives both in the hills and plains of Assam and Meghalaya state. Tiwa means people who were lifted from below.
They are recognized as a Scheduled tribe within the State of Assam.
In the month of April, Khelchawa festival is celebrated by Tiwa tribe at the close of the harvest season.
The hill Tiwa villagers are habitual to the Jhum cultivation, horticulture, vegetables and the crops which are cultivable in the area.
They speak a Tibeto Burman language.

The Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), in collaboration with the National Research Centre on Meat (NRCM), has initiated research aimed at producing meat through cellular agriculture or cells sourced from animals and later cultivated into the meat. '
It has also been called as cell-based meat or clean meat or ahimsa meat (non-violence meat) which will be is nutritionally equivalent to conventional animal meat.
Significance of Cell-based Meat
- Protecting Biodiversity and environment
- Stop use of animals in research purposes
- Can address concerns relating to food security, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare.

Researchers at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has found that second largest Emperor penguin colony in the world, in Halley Bay Antarctica has suffered a “catastrophic” breeding failure.
In the colony, nearly all chicks born over three years died due to shrinking sea ice.
Emperor Penguins are the largest of all the different kinds of penguin and are endemic to Antarctica. They have near threatened status in IUCN.
Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere, with only one species, the Galapagos penguin, found north of the equator.
Every year the 25th of April is observed as World Penguin Day.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) launched Mission DELHI (Delhi Emergency Life Heart-Attack Initiative) project.
In the pilot phase, it will cater only to people living in a three-kilometer radius of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
The project aims to reduce the mortality from a serious type of heart attack called ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI), wherein one of the heart’s major artery, supplying oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle, gets completely blocked.
It aims to reduce the time it takes for people with a serious heart attack to receive clot-busting medicine.

The Reserve Bank of India has eased norms for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) by allowing them to invest in Municipal Bonds (Muni bond) under prescribed limits.
The limits for investing in Muni bond is same as that of FPI investment in State Development Loans (SDLs), which is currently 2% of outstanding loans.

Municipal Bonds

Municipal bonds are bonds issued by urban local bodies- municipal bodies and municipal corporates (entities owned by municipal bodies) to raise money for financing specific projects specifically infrastructure projects.
These Bonds has tax-free status if they conform to certain rules and their interest rates are market-linked.
Bangalore Municipal Corporation was the first ULB to issue Municipal Bond in India in 1997.
In 2015, SEBI made fresh guidelines for the issue of municipal bonds for enabling the ULBs to mobilize money.
These bonds are known as revenue bonds when raised for one project.
‘Muni bond’ could help corporations directly raise funds without looking to State grants or agencies such as World Bank and help in financing projects such as Smart Cities.

Yakshagana is a rare and unique traditional theatre of Karnataka state in India and has a recorded history of more than 5 centuries.
It is a rich artistic blend of music, dance, speech, and costumes, this art combines the features of opera as well as drama, the characteristics of moral education and mass entertainment.
Yakshagana is strongly influenced by the Bhakti movement.

Bhakti movement

The Bhakti movement probably began around in 6th and 7th century AD and achieved a great deal of popularity through the poems of the Alvars and Nayanars, the Vaishnavite and Shaivite poets.
They were often opposed to the establishment and all authoritarian monastic order.
They also strongly criticized all sectarian zealotry and caste discrimination in society.
All of them claimed relevance for religion in social life, in the sphere of real human aspirations and social relationships. Bhakti poets emphasized surrender to god.
Hailing from both high and low castes, these poets created a formidable body of literature that firmly established itself in the popular narratives.
The leader of this revivalist movement was Shankaracharya, a great thinker, and a distinguished philosopher. And this movement was propounded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Namadeva, Tukaram, Jayadeva in different of India.
The movement's major achievement was its abolition of idol worship.
It is traditionally presented from dusk to dawn. Its stories are drawn from Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavata and other epics from both Hindu and Jain and other ancient Indic traditions.

The United States has placed India on its Priority Watch List for alleged violations of intellectual property rights.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative released its annual Special 301 Report, in which it placed 36 countries on the Priority Watch List.
USA places trading partners that currently present the most significant concerns regarding IP rights on the Priority Watch List or Watch List. The “Priority Watch List” classification indicates that problems exist in that country involving its IP protection, enforcement, or market access.
Consequences of being placed on Special report 301
- U.S. government may initiate dispute settlement proceedings at the World Trade Organization (WTO) or other relevant trade agreement.
- The U.S. government can also eliminate tariff preferences unilaterally granted, such as the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).

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