• Lead poisoning is affecting children on a massive and previously unknown scale, according to a new report launched by UNICEF and Pure Earth.
• The report, the first of its kind, says that around 1 in 3 children – up to 800 million globally – have blood lead levels at or above 5 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL), the level at which requires action.
• Nearly half of these children live in South Asia.
• The report, The Toxic Truth: Children’s exposure to lead pollution undermines a generation of potential, is an analysis of childhood lead exposure undertaken by the Institute of Health Metrics Evaluation (IHME) and verified with a study approved for publication in Environmental Health Perspectives.

• NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has recently launched AIM-iCREST.

AIM-iCREST

• It is an Incubator Capabilities enhancement program for a Robust Ecosystem focused on creating high performing Startups. (iCREST)
• Under the initiative, the AIM’s incubators are set to be up-scaled and provided requisite support to foster the incubation enterprise economy.
• This is a first of its kind initiative for advancing innovation at scale in India to encourage and enable holistic progress in the incubator ecosystem across the country,
• AIM has joined hands with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wadhwani Foundation for the program. 

• The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) came into existence as Crown Representative’s Police on 27th July 1939.
• It became the Central Reserve Police Force on enactment of the CRPF Act on 28th December 1949.
• It has completed 82 years of glorious history recently.

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)

• It is the premier central police force of the Union of lndia for Internal Security.
• Originally constituted as the Crown Representative Police in 1939, it is one of the oldest Central para military forces (now termed as Central Armed Police Force).
• CRPF was raised as a sequel to the political unrest and the agitations in the then princely States of India following the Madras Resolution of the All-lndia Congress Committee in 1936 and the ever-growing desire of the Crown Representative to help the vast majority of the native States to preserve law and order as a part of the imperial policy
• After Independence, the force was renamed as Central Reserve Police Force by an Act of Parliament on December 28, 1949.
• The CRPF is governed by the CRPF Act 1949 which constituted CRPF as an armed force of the Union.
• The objective of this Act is to provide for the constitution and regulation of an Armed Central Reserve Police Force.
• This Act deals with important aspects of the Force like constitution, duties, control & administration, offences & punishments, and other miscellaneous subject.

• After Kargil war, a high level committee was constituted by the Govt. of India who emphasized that multiplicity of forces on the same border has also led to lack of accountability on the parts of the forces.
• To enforce the accountability, the principle of 'One Border One Force' may be adopted while considering deployment of Forces at the border.
• Accordingly, the Indo-Pakistan border and lndo-Bangladesh border given to BSF; the Indo-Myanmar border given to Assam Rifles; the lndo-Nepal border is given to SSB; and the Indo-Chinese border given to ITBP.
• Each of these forces has also been designated as the lead intelligence agency for that particular border for sharing with the other paramilitary forces and the Army which may be in the hinterland and being able to co-ordinate all the operations.
• As a part of this exercise, it has also been decided that CRPF will be the major Force which would be dealing with counter insurgency or internal security operations all over the country.

• The Baba Kalyani led committee was constituted by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to study the existing SEZ policy of India and had submitted its recommendations in November 2018.
• The objectives of the committee were to evaluate the SEZ policy and make it WTO compatible, suggest measures for maximizing utilization of vacant land in SEZs, suggest changes in the SEZ policy based on international experience and merge the SEZ policy with other Government schemes like coastal economic zones, Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor, national industrial manufacturing zones and food and textile parks.

• The UN Human Rights Committee, monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
• They have issued a comprehensive legal guidance, also known as ‘general comment’, on article 21 of ICCPR about fundamental right of peaceful assembly.
• ICCPR is a multilateral treaty adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution. 
• There are certain rights enshrined in ICCPR which are specifically enumerated in the Constitution of India, like Right to life and personal liberty, Right to equality, Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion etc.  
• India has not only signed the treaty but also ratified it.  

• Recently, the Supreme Court accentuated the urgent need to find an alternative to killing marauding wild animals as Vermin even while protecting crops from them.
• These are wild animals that are believed to be harmful to crops, farm animals or which carry disease.
• As per Section 62 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, States can send a list of wild animals to the Centre requesting it to declare them vermin for selective slaughter.
• The Central Government may by notification, declare any wild animal other than those specified in Schedule I and part 11 of Schedule H of the law to be vermin for any area for a given period of time.
• As long as the notification is in force, such wild animal shall be included in Schedule V of WPA, 1972. 

• Recently, Supreme Court warns IIT Bombay of contempt proceedings over withdrawal from 'Smog Tower Project'.
• These are giant device absorbs the polluted air, purifies the air through its multiple layers and re-circulated into the atmosphere.
• With the filters made of carbon nanofibres as a major component is able to clean up to 99.99% Particulate Matter (PM) present in the air.
• China has the world’s largest smog tower and has reduced PM 2.5 by 19% in an area of around 6 sq km in the tower’s vicinity.  

• The eight core industries’ output contracted 23.4 per cent in May.
• The eight Core Industries are coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity. 

• The Centre’s Fiscal Deficit has already reached 83.2% of the Budget Estimate (BE) in the first quarter of 2020-21.
• A fiscal deficit is a shortfall in a government's income compared with its spending.
• It is the difference between the total income of the government (total taxes and non-debt capital receipts) and its total expenditure.
• A Fiscal Deficit is different from Fiscal Debt.
• The Fiscal Debt is the total debt accumulated over years of deficit spending.
• A fiscal deficit is not universally regarded as a negative event.
• A high fiscal deficit can also be good for the economy if the money spent goes into the creation of productive assets like highways, that boost economic growth and result in job creation.
• Deficit spending and the debts incurred to sustain that spending can help countries climb out of economic recession.