News Broadcasters Association:
- The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) represents the private television news & current affairs broadcasters. It is the collective voice of the news & current affairs broadcasters in India .It is an organization funded entirely by its members.
- The NBA presents a unified and credible voice before the Government, on matters that affect the growing industry.
FCRA:
- Foreign Contribution Regulation Act is a law enacted by Parliament to regulate foreign contribution (especially monetary donation) provided by certain individuals or associations to NGOs and others within India.
- FCRA Act was originally passed in 1976 and majorly modified in 2010.
- The government has used the act over the years to freeze bank accounts of certain NGOs who it found were affecting India’s national interest for wrong purposes.
- As per the FCRA Act 2010, all NGOs are required to be registered under the Act to receive foreign funding.
MSP:
- The MSP is the rate at which the government buys grains from farmers.
- Reason behind the idea of MSP is to counter price volatility of agricultural commodities due to the factors like variation in their supply, lack of market integration and information asymmetry.
- The MSP is fixed on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
Solicitor General and Additional Solicitor General:
- Solicitor General is the second highest law officer in the country.
- He is subordinate to the Attorney General of India, the highest law officer and works under him.
- He also advises the government in legal matters.
- Solicitor general is appointed for period of three years by Appointment Committee of Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister.
- Office and duties of Attorney General is created by Constitution under Article 76.
- While, Solicitor General and Additional Solicitor Generals’ office and duties are governed by Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987 and not by Constitution (thus they are statutory posts and not constitutional).
- Moreover, attorney generals has right to participate in the proceedings of Parliament, but cannot vote.
- Whereas, Solicitor General and Additional Solicitor Generals’ do not have these rights wrt to participation in parliament.
Landslides:
- A landslide is defined as the movement of a mass of rock, debris, or earth down a slope.
- Landslides are a type of “mass wasting (a geomorphic process),” which denotes any down-slope movement of soil and rock under the direct influence of gravity.
- Several things can trigger landslides including the slow weathering of rocks as well as soil erosion, earthquakes and volcanic activity.
- Continent-wise, Asia suffers the maximum damages / losses due to landslides.Among the Asian countries, South Asian nations are the worst sufferers and India is one of the worst affected by landslides.
- As landslides are frequent and widespread, the annual cumulative losses worldwide amount to tens of billions of USD in terms of lost property, environmental damage, repair works, and the maintenance of defence measures.
- As per Geological Survey of India, the economic loss due to landslides may reach between 1-2% of the gross national product in many developing countries.
World Bank:
- Head Quarters:- Washington
- Set up in 1944 with a charter to drive post-World War II reconstruction
- Officially known as IBRD ( International bank for reconstruction and Development)
- Provide long term soft loans to rebuild the third world (Soft loans ? interest rate is very low)
- The official goal or mission of the World Bank is reduction of poverty
- Aim: – Promotion of foreign investment and international trade + Facilitation of capital investment.
- Voting power is based on economic size and International Development Association contributions.
- World Bank Group Comprises of Five organizations viz.
-The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)
-The International Development Association (IDA)
-International Finance Corporation (IFC)
-Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)
-International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)
No confidence motion:
- A no-confidence motion is a parliamentary motion which is moved in the Lok Sabha against the entire council of ministers, stating that they are no longer deemed fit to hold positions of responsibility due to their inadequacy in some respect or their failure to carry out their obligations.
- No prior reason needs to be stated for its adoption in the Lok Sabha.
- The Constitution of India does not mention about either a Confidence or a No Confidence Motion. Although, Article 75 does specify that the Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha.
A motion of No Confidence can be admitted when a minimum of 50 members, support the motion in the house.
ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research):
- Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research.
- It was established in 1911 as Indian Research Fund Association (IRFA) making it one of oldest and largest medical research bodies in the world.
- The ICMR functions under Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- It is headquartered in New Delhi.
- ICMR’s research priorities coincide with national health priorities such as control and management of communicable diseases, fertility control, maternal and child health, control of nutritional disorders, research on major non-communicable diseases like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and mental health research and drug research (including traditional remedies) and developing alternative strategies for health care delivery.
- Its mandate is to :-
-conduct
-coordinate and
-implement - It is funded by the Government of India through the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.