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🔆 Clean Plant Programme (CPP)

📍 Context
✅ The Union Cabinet launched the Clean Plant Programme (CPP) under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) with a budget of ₹1,766 crore.

📍 About Clean Plant Programme (CPP)
✅ Objective: Enhance horticulture quality by ensuring high-quality, virus-free planting material.
✅ Under MIDH: Supports farmers & horticulture sector by increasing crop yield, health, and quality.
✅ Implementation: Led by National Horticulture Board (NHB) in collaboration with ICAR.
✅ Core Components:
Clean Plant Centers (CPCs): Establish 9 state-of-the-art CPCs in Pune, Srinagar, Bengaluru, etc.
Certification & Legal Framework: Quality control under Seeds Act, 1966.
Infrastructure Support: Large nurseries to propagate virus-free planting material.

📍 About MIDH (Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture)
✅ Launch: 2014-15, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
✅ Objective: Holistic growth of fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, and cocoa.
✅ Key Components:
National Horticulture Mission (NHM): Launched in 2005 for horticulture development.
Horticulture Mission for Northeast & Himalayan States (HMNEH): Special focus on NE & Himalayan regions.
National Bamboo Mission (NBM): Supports bamboo cultivation.
Coconut Development Board (CDB): Promotes the coconut sector, HQ in Kochi, Kerala.
Central Institute of Horticulture (CIH): Provides training in Nagaland, primarily for NE farmers.

📍 Additional Info
✅ NHB: Established in 1984, HQ in Gurugram.
✅ Father of Indian Horticulture: M.H. Marigowda.


#Government_Schemes

📌 200 Years of Kittur Vijayotsava 🇮🇳
Context:

✅ The Department of Post released a commemorative stamp at Kittur Fort to mark the 200th anniversary of Kittur Vijayotsava.
Rani Chennamma – The Warrior Queen

✅ Born: 1778, in Kakati (Belagavi, Karnataka).
✅ Title: Queen of Kittur, a princely state in present-day Karnataka.
✅ Family: Daughter of Dhulappa Desai and Padmavati, belonged to the Lingayat community. Married Raja Mallasarja of the Desai family at age 15.
Her Struggle Against the British

✅ Personal Losses: Lost her husband in 1816, followed by her son’s death in 1824.
✅ Adoption: Adopted Shivalingappa in 1824, declaring him heir to the throne.
✅ Doctrine of Lapse: The British East India Company refused to recognize her adopted son, forcing Kittur under British rule.
✅ First Revolt (1824): Led Kittur army against 20,000 British soldiers, killing British officer John Thackery and inflicting heavy losses on British forces.
✅ Imprisonment & Death: British forces retaliated, captured her, and imprisoned her at Bailhongal Fort, where she passed away in 1829.
Legacy:

✅ Rani Chennamma remains a symbol of resistance and one of the first Indian rulers to fight against British colonial rule.
✅ Her bravery continues to inspire the fight for women’s empowerment and national pride.

⚔️ "Her courage ignited the flame of freedom long before the Revolt of 1857!" ⚔️

🔆 Forty-Second Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976

📍 Key Additions:
✅ Preamble: Added "socialist," "secular," and "integrity" to define India's core values.
✅ Directive Principles (Articles 39A, 43A, 48A): Introduced:
🟢 Equal justice and free legal aid.
🏭 Participation of workers in industrial management.
🌳 Protection of environment, forests, and wildlife ✅ Fundamental Duties (Article 51A): Introduced Part IV-A, listing ten Fundamental Duties for citizens. ✅ Administrative Tribunals (Part XIV-A): Added Article 323A (administrative tribunals) and Article 323B (tribunals for other matters). ✅ Article 368 (Clauses 4 & 5): Made constitutional amendments beyond judicial scrutiny.

📍 Key Changes:
✅ Directive Principles Supremacy: Amended Article 31C to give Directive Principles precedence over Fundamental Rights in certain cases.
✅ Judicial Powers Curtailed: Restricted judicial review by Supreme Court and High Courts.
✅ Executive Powers Enhanced: Made the President bound by the Cabinet's advice.
✅ Tenure of Legislatures: Extended the term of Lok Sabha and State Assemblies from 5 to 6 years.
✅ President’s Rule: Increased its duration from 6 months to 1 year.
✅ Parliamentary Procedure: Removed the requirement of quorum for parliamentary and state legislative sessions.
✅ Lok Sabha Seats Frozen: Froze representation based on the 1971 census until 2001.
✅ Seventh Schedule: Moved five subjects (education, forests, protection of wildlife, weights and measures, and administration of justice) from the State List to the Concurrent List.

📍 Significance:
✅ Strengthened the Directive Principles to emphasize socio-economic reforms.
✅ Introduced Fundamental Duties to promote civic responsibility among citizens.
✅ Enhanced centralization of powers but raised concerns about weakening the federal structure.

The Forty-Second Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976, often referred to as the "Mini-Constitution", brought sweeping changes to India’s governance framework, reflecting the authoritarian tendencies of the Emergency period while emphasizing the goals of a socialist and secular state.

#polity #prelims

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🔆Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG)

✅The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) is K. Sanjay Murthy, who was sworn in on November 21, 2024.


✅Office of the Accountant General was established in 1858 (the year the British took over administrative control of India from the East India Company).

✅In 1860 Sir Edward Drummond was appointed as the first Auditor General.

✅CAG is an independent authority under the Constitution of India.

✅He is the head of the Indian audit & account department and chief Guardian of Public purse.

✅It is the institution through which the accountability of the government and other public authorities (all those who spend public funds) to Parliament and State Legislatures and through them to the people is ensured.

✅Under the Government of India Act 1919, the Auditor General became independent of the government as statutory backing was given for the position.

📍What are the Constitutional Provisions regarding the CAG?

✅Article 148 broadly deals with the CAG appointment, oath and conditions of service.
✅Article 149 deals with Duties and Powers of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India.
✅Article 150 says that the accounts of the Union and of the States shall be kept in such form as the President may, on the advice of the CAG, prescribe.
✅Article 151 says that the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India relating to the accounts of the Union shall be submitted to the president, who shall cause them to be laid before each House of Parliament.
✅Article 279 – Calculation of "net proceeds" is ascertained and certified by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India, whose certificate is final.

📍Functions

✅CAG audits the accounts related to all expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India, Consolidated Fund of each state and UT’s having a legislative assembly.
✅He audits all expenditure from the Contingency Fund of India and the Public Account of India as well as the Contingency Fund and Public Account of each state.
✅He audits all trading, manufacturing, profit and loss accounts, balance sheets and other subsidiary accounts kept by any department of the Central Government and the state governments.

#gs2
#polity_governance

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🔆 Officials in the Later Vedic Age

📍 Administrative & Military Officials
✅ Purohita – Chief Priest, sometimes called Rashtragopa.
✅ Senani – Supreme Commander of the army.
✅ Vrajapati – Officer-in-Charge of pasture lands.
✅ Jivagribha – Police Officer.

📍 Judicial & Revenue Officials
✅ Madhyamasi – Mediator for dispute resolution.
✅ Bhagadugha – Revenue Collector.
✅ Sangrahitri – Treasurer.

📍 Royal & Court Officials
✅ Mahishi – Chief Queen.
✅ Suta – Charioteer & court minstrel/musician.


#history

🔆 United Nations Water Convention

📍 Context
✅ Ivory Coast has joined the UN Water Convention, aimed at managing transboundary water resources.

📍 About the Convention
✅ Adoption: 1992 in Helsinki, Finland; enforced in 1996.
✅ Legally Binding: Ensures fair & sustainable use of transboundary waters.
✅ Global Expansion: Initially for Europe, open to all UN members since 2016.
✅ Parties: 39 members (EU + 38 countries).
First African members: Chad & Senegal (2018).
First Middle Eastern member: Iraq (2023).
First Latin American member: Panama (2023).
✅ India is not a party to the convention.

📍 Administration
✅ United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) oversees the convention.

📍 Ivory Coast & Transboundary Waters
✅ Shares 8 transboundary river basins with Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.


#International_relations

🔆 GRAPHITE: Key Facts & Uses

📍 India’s Move on Graphite
✅ India has started talks with Sri Lanka to acquire graphite mines, as graphite is one of the 30 critical minerals declared by India.

📍 About Graphite
✅ Graphite is a naturally occurring form of carbon, found in soft, black, and shiny deposits.
✅ It has a layered structure, with carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal patterns, allowing layers to slide over each other, giving it slippery, lubricating qualities.
✅ Extremely soft and light, it cleaves easily with light pressure and has a low specific gravity.
✅ A good conductor of electricity, heat-resistant, and nearly inert with most materials.
✅ Its unique properties make it valuable in metallurgy and manufacturing.

📍 Applications of Graphite
✅ Used in pencils, lubricants, crucibles, foundry facings, polishes, arc lamps, batteries, electric motor brushes, and the cores of nuclear reactors.

📍 Global Production
✅ China, India, Brazil, North Korea, and Canada are major producers of graphite.


#science_and_technology

🔆 INDUS-X Initiative

✅ INDUS-X is a defense partnership between India and the U.S., launched in 2023.
✅ Objective: Expand technology partnerships and defense cooperation.
✅ Steering Bodies:
India: iDEX.
U.S.: DIU (Defense Innovation Unit).
✅ Funding: Managed by Defence Innovation Organization (DIO), formed by HAL and BEL.

📍 iDEX: Launched in 2018, aims to foster defense innovation with startups and academia.


#international_relation

🔆 Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM-AJAY)

📍 Context:
PM-AJAY, launched in 2022 by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, aims to uplift SC-dominated villages and provide socio-economic benefits to Scheduled Caste (SC) communities.

📍 Key Features:
✅ Transforms SC-dominated villages into ‘Adarsh Grams’ (model villages).
✅ Provides grants-in-aid for socio-economic development and education infrastructure (including constructing and repairing educational hostels for SC students).
✅ Focuses on villages with more than 40% SC population.

📍 Beneficiaries:
✅ SC citizens in eligible villages.

📍 Implementing Authority:
✅ Managed by the Central Management Information System.

📍 Subsumed Schemes:
✅ Includes the SCA to SCSP, BJRCY, and PMAGY schemes.

#Government_Schemes

🔆 Giant Viruses Found in Yellowstone’s Hot Springs

📍 Context:
✅ Scientists have found giant viruses in Yellowstone’s hot springs that are 1.5 billion years old. This helps us understand how viruses evolved and their role in early life.

📍 What are Giant Viruses?
✅ Size & Structure:
Much larger than normal viruses (200-400 nanometers).
Some are bigger than bacteria.
Have a protective protein shell (capsid) that contains DNA or RNA.

✅ Types of Giant Viruses:
Mimi virus (largest known virus).Pandora virus, Pitho virus, Mega virus – mostly found in water bodies.

✅ How Do They Affect Nature?
Infect amoebas, algae, and small organisms in water.
Can change food chains and impact how energy moves in nature.

#science_and_technology