GANDHIPEDIA

Context: An encyclopedia on Mahatma Gandhi in the offing: Centre.

• A “Gandhipedia” was being developed in order to sensitize society, particularly the youth, about Gandhian values.
• To mark the the 150th Birth Anniversary of Gandhi with several programmes throughout the year, an encyclopedia-like “Gandhipedia” would be among the efforts to spread his values.
• “A Gandhipedia is also being developed by National Council for Science Museums to sensitise youth and society at large about positive Gandhian values,”

DAMAN GANGA – PINJAL RIVER LINKAGE PROJECT

Context: Damanganga-Pinjal project to meet Mumbai’s water needs till 2060.

• In Maharashtra, the state government has decided to inter-link rivers to solve the crisis of drought.
• Pinjal river inter-linking project, which is seen as an ideal, long-term solution for Mumbai’s water needs.
• This will fulfil Mumbai’s water needs till 2060.

About Daman Ganga:

• It is also known as Dawan River rises in the Sahayadri range, Nashik district, Maharastra.
• The river’s headwaters are on the western slope of the Western Ghats range, and it flows west into the Arabian Sea.
• The river flows through Maharashtra and Gujarat states, as well as the Union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli

CHABAHAR PORT

• It is a Seaport in Chabahar located in Southeastern Iran, on the Gulf of Oman.
• Pakistan’s Gwadar is about 70 kilometers to the west along the coast.
• Afghanistan is connected to the port through its land border with Iran, and India via the sea.
• Thus, the port is readily accessible for all the three countries and acts to facilitate trade among them. Chabahar is considered to be a significant opportunity for India and Afghanistan to bypass Pakistan’s Gwadar seaport and its trade routes.
• The first phase of Chabahar port was inaugurated in December 2017.
  India committed to invest $500 million, according to the first phase agreement.

AGRICULTURAL MARKETING AND FARMER FRIENDLY REFORMS INDEX (AMFFRI)

• It is an index launched by NITI Aayog
• The main reason is to rank states and union territories based on the implementation of seven provisions proposed under the model Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act
• Maharashtra got first rank in NITI Aayog’s “Agricultural Marketing and Farmer Friendly Reforms Index (AMFFRI)”.
• The index ranks states based on the degree of reforms they have undertaken in agricultural marketing.
• AMFFRI can have a score that can have minimum value “0”, the score implies no reforms and they have maximum value “100” implying complete reforms in the selected areas.

JAGANNATH RATH YATRA

• Jagannath Rath Yatra festival is dedicated to Lord Jagannath (Lord Krishna), his sister Goddess Subhadra and his elder brother Lord Balabhadra or Balaram.
• Traditional Oriya calendar begins on the second day of Shukla Paksha of the Hindu lunar month of Ashadha. This year it will start on 4 July, 2019 and ends on 15 July, 2019.
• Lord Jagannath is considered as one of the reincarnation of avatars of Lord Vishnu.
• Idols are taken out on a chariot and the three chariots are pulled by the devotees through the streets of Puri to the Gundicha temple a few kilometres away.

PURANANURU

Context: Finance Minister in her budget speech quoted a famous poem from Sangam Era work of ‘Purananuru’ to drive home her point on the tax policy

About Purananuru:

• The Purananuru is a collection of 400 Poems composed by multiple ancient Tamil poets.
• It is one of the eight books in the secular anthology of Sangam literature
• It also known as Puram, Purappaattu, and Purambu Naanuru, is a Tamil poetic work in the Eight Anthologies (Ettuthokai), one of the two divisions of the Eighteen Greater Texts (Pathinenmelkanakku) collection.
• It is a treatise on kingship: what a king should be, how he should act, how he should treat his subjects and how he should show his generosity.
• The Sangam Collection is classified into Eighteen Greater Texts (Patinenmelkanakku) and Eighteen Lesser Texts (Pathinenkilkanakku) and each classification has eighteen collections, as an anthology of Tamil literature, belonging to the Sangam period.
• It is dated between 1st century BCE and 3rd century CE

ANGEL INVESTORS AND VENTURE CAPITALIST

• An Angel investor is a High Net Worth Individual who puts their own finance into the growth of a small business in the formative stages of the startup’s business as seed funds for debt or equity ownership.
• A Venture Capitalist enters in the later stages of development of a start-up for a portion of equity or debt ownership in an effort to advance the growth, launch IPOs or undertake mergers/acquisitions.