• In order to provide easy access to investors to participate in public and rights issues by using various payment avenues, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has recently allowed payments banks to carry out the activities of investment bankers.
• According to SEBI, Non-scheduled payments banks, which have prior approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), will be eligible to act as a banker to an issue (BTI) subject to fulfilment of the conditions stipulated in the BTI Regulations.

Bankers to an Issue

• It means a scheduled bank carrying on all or any of the following issue related activities namely:

1. acceptance of application and application monies
2. acceptance of allotment or call monies
3. refund of application monies
4. payment of dividend or interest warrants

Coir Geotextiles

• They are natural eco friendly, erosion control blankets in woven and non-woven preparations.
• It protect land surface and promote quick vegetation.
• They are bio-degradable geo-textiles used for improvement of sub-grade soil strength in road pavements and stabilization of side slopes, as it can retard soil erosion.
• It has been used in various places for improving the properties and strength of sub-grade soil layer by providing a physical separation of sub-base and sub-grade layers.
• The Indian Road Congress (IRC) has also accredited the use of coir geo-textiles in construction of roads. 
• The coir geo textiles are being used for construction of rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY-III).

Sabki Yojna Sabka Vikas Campaign

• Under Article 243 G of Indian Constitution, Panchayats have been mandated for preparation and implementation of plans for economic development and social justice.
• Sabki Yojna Sabka Vikas is a campaign for inclusive and holistic preparation of Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP).
• In this endeavor, convergence was sought with all Departments relating to 29 devolved subjects listed in XIth Schedule of the Constitution. 
• The objectives of ‘Sabki Yojna Sabka Vikas’ broadly include strengthening of elected representatives and Self Help Groups.

• Banks have been informing customers about making mandatory, the positive pay system to safeguard against cheque frauds.

Positive Pay System

• It is a process of reconfirming the key details of large value cheques.
• It has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India.
• Under this system, a person issuing the high-value cheque submits certain essential details of that cheque like date, name of the beneficiary/payee amount etc. to the drawee bank.
• The details can be submitted through electronic means such as SMS, mobile app, internet banking, ATM etc.
• The details are cross-checked while issuing the cheque and any discrepancy is flagged.

Limits

• RBI has told banks to enable the facility for all account holders issuing cheques for amounts of Rs.50, 000 and above.
• It has also said that while availing of the facility is at the discretion of the account holder, banks may consider making it mandatory in case of cheque values of Rs. 5 lakh and above.

Genetically Modified (GM) crops in India

• A GM or transgenic crop is a plant that has a novel combination of genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology.
• Bt cotton is the only GM crop that is allowed in India. It has alien genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that allows the crop to develop a protein toxic to the common pest pink bollworm.
• Herbicide Tolerant Bt (Ht Bt) cotton, on the other hand is derived with the insertion of an additional gene, from another soil bacterium, which allows the plant to resist the common herbicide glyphosate.
• In Bt brinjal, a gene allows the plant to resist attacks of fruit and shoot borers.
• In DMH-11 mustard, genetic modification allows cross-pollination in a crop that self-pollinates in nature.
• The poultry industry is demanding a permit for the import of crushed genetically modified (GM) soy seeds for captive consumption of farmers from the Central government.

Skyglow

• The brightening of the night sky over inhabited areas because of streetlights, security floodlights and outdoor ornamental lights cause the Skyglow, it is one of the components of light pollution.
• This light floods directly into the eyes of the Nocturnal (active at night) and also into the skies and misleads their path.
• The natural component of sky glow has five sources:

1. Sunlight reflected off the moon and earth,
2. Faint air glow in the upper atmosphere (a permanent, low-grade aurora),
3. Sunlight reflected off interplanetary dust (zodiacal light),
4. Starlight scattered in the atmosphere,
5. Background light from faint, unresolved stars and nebulae (celestial objects or diffuse masses of interstellar dust and gas that appear as hazy smudges of light).

• A recent study has shown that the Skyglow forces dung beetles in the city to abandon the Milky Way as their compass, they rely instead on earthbound artificial lights as beacons.

Minervarya Pentali

• The new frog species named Minervarya Pentali belongs to the family of Dicroglossidae.
• The family Dicroglossidae comprises 202 species of semiaquatic frogs distributed by the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia and Papua New Guinea.
• It was discovered from the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, extending along the southwest coast of the Indian Peninsula.
• This new species is endemic to the southern Western Ghats, it is also among the smallest known Minervarya (genus) frogs.

Hypervitaminoses

• It are primarily caused by fat-soluble vitamins (D and A), as these are stored by the body for longer than the water-soluble vitamins.
• Generally, toxic levels of vitamins stem from high supplement intake and not always from natural sources but rather the mix of natural, derived vitamins and enhancers (vitamin boosters).
• Toxicities of fat-soluble vitamins can also be caused by a large intake of highly fortified foods, but natural food in modest levels rarely deliver extreme or dangerous levels of fat-soluble vitamins.
• Recently, activists have warned the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) of the adverse impacts of Food Fortification on health and livelihoods.

Halam Tribes

• Halams are also known as Mila Kuki, though they are not at all Kukis in terms of language, culture and living style.
• As per 2011 Census, their total population is 57,210 and distributed throughout the State of Tripura.
• Halams are divided into several sub-clans which are referred to as “Barki-Halam”.
• Their language is also more or less similar to that of the Tibeto-Burman family.
• Major sub-clans of Halams are Koloi, Korbong, Kaipeng, Bong, Sakachep, Thangachep, Molsom, Rupini, Rangkhowl, Chorai, Lankai, Kaireng (Darlong), Ranglong, Marchafang and Saihmar.
• Halams live in typical "Tong Ghar" specially made of bamboo and Chan grass.
• Apart from plain land cultivation they still practice Jhum cultivation and depend on both the activities beside other substitute works.