NCDC:
- It is a statutory corporation set up under the National Cooperative Development Corporation Act, 1962.
- The objectives of NCDC are planning and promoting programmes for production, processing, marketing, storage, export and import of agricultural produce, foodstuffs, industrial goods, livestock and certain other notified commodities and services on cooperative principles.
- NCDC is a major financial institution for cooperatives, and has started Mission Sahakar 22, which aims to double farmers’ income by 2022.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI):
- It is an autonomous statutory body established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSS Act).
- Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the administrative Ministry of FSSAI.
SAATHI:
- It is an initiative of the Ministry of Tourism with Quality Council of India to assist the hospitality industry to continue to operate safely and thereby instill confidence among the Staff, employees and the guests about the safety of the hotel/unit.
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize:
- The award is named after the founder Director of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), the late Dr (Sir) Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar and is known as the ‘Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) Prize for Science and Technology’.
- The Prize is given each year for outstanding contributions to science and technology.
- Any citizen of India engaged in research in any field of science and technology up to the age of 45 years. Overseas citizen of India (OCI) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) working in India are also eligible.
- The Prize is awarded on the basis of contributions made through work done primarily in India during the five years proceeding the year of the Prize.
Nagorno-Karabakh:
- Nagorno-Karabakh is a breakaway region that is inside Azerbaijan but is run by ethnic Armenians.
- It broke away from Azerbaijan in a conflict that broke out as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
- Though a ceasefire was agreed in 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia frequently accuse each other of attacks around Nagorno-Karabakh and along the separate Azeri-Armenian frontier.
Sandalwood Spike Disease:
- The disease is caused by phytoplasma — bacterial parasites of plant tissues — which are transmitted by insect vectors.
- The disease was first reported in Kodagu in 1899.
- The disease is characterized by extreme reduction in leaf size accompanied by stiffening and reduction of internode length.
- In advanced stage, the entire shoot gives the appearance of a spike inflorescence.