The US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 75 basis points or 0.75 percentage points, the biggest hike in 28 years.   Details – The US Federal Reserve has hiked the key interest rate by 75 bps to a range of 1.5%-1.75% and said it is “strongly committed” to bring inflation to two percent. The… Continue reading U.S. Federal Reserve

The Union Cabinet has approved the auction of airwaves capable of offering fifth generation, or 5G, telecom services, including ultra-high-speed Internet. It also gave its nod for setting up of captive 5G networks by big tech firms.   What has been approved? Approval for 5G auctions — The Cabinet has approved 5G auctions at reserve… Continue reading Auction of 5G

According to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) which also captured data on migration for the first time, nearly 88% of migrants moved within the same state in 2020-21 while 11.8% moved to another state during the same period.   About PLFS – Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) is an initiative aimed at generating… Continue reading PLFS Survey

Recently, an engineer associated with Google has claimed that an Artificially Intelligent (AI) chatbot he was working on had become sentient and was showing the ability to think and reason like a human being.   Details – According to the employee, the AI was sentient enough to be compared to a human child in terms… Continue reading LaMDA

As per Stockholm-based defence think tank SIPRI, India had 160 nuclear warheads as on January 2022 and it appears to be expanding its nuclear arsenal.   Details – SIPRI has launched the findings of SIPRI Yearbook 2022, which assesses the current state of armaments, disarmament and international security.   Key findings of SIPRI Yearbook 2022… Continue reading Nuclear Weapons in 2022

According to the 2022 Reuters Institute Digital News Report, trust in news is declining in nearly half of the countries polled, with significant proportions of the public, particularly younger age groups, turning away from news. Furthermore, rather than traditional media, social media platforms such as TikTok are increasingly being used to consume news.   Highlights… Continue reading Digital News Report 2022

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) is celebrating Elimination of Child Labour Week in the honour of World Day Against Child Labour from 12th June to 20th June, 2022.   Details – The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 to focus attention on the global extent of… Continue reading World Day Against Child Labour

India has successfully test-fired a short-range ballistic missile Prithvi-II off the coast of Odisha.   Details – The training launch of the surface-to-surface missile was carried out from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur. The missile is a proven system and is capable of striking targets with a very high degree of precision. The… Continue reading Prithvi-II Missile

Union Minister released the second edition of the National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA) 2021. The NeSDA 2021 report has been prepared covering the assessment of States, UTs, and focus Central Ministries on their effectiveness in delivering online services to citizens.   What is it? Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) had constituted… Continue reading National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment

Recently, the Election Commission of India asked the Union Law Ministry to consider limiting the seats from which a candidate can contest to just one.   Section 33(7) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 – Constitution allows the Parliament to make provisions in all matters relating to elections to the Parliament and State… Continue reading Contesting from multiple seats