Prelim Bits 19-02-2019

Guru Ravidas

He is a 14th century saint and reformer of the Bhakti movement in North India.
He was from Varanasi.
He was the son of a cobbler who gained prominence due to his belief in one God and his unbiased religious poems.
His devotional songs made an instant impact on the Bhakti Movement.
Around 41 of his poems were included in ‘Adi Granth’ or ‘Guru Granth Sahib’, the religious text of the Sikhs.
Ravidas dedicated his whole life for the abolition of the caste system and openly despised the notion of a Brahminical society.

Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony

It was instituted by the Government of India to recognize the contributions made by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore to humanity.
It is awarded annually and carries an amount of Rs 1 Crore, a citation in a Scroll, a Plaque as well as an exquisite traditional handicraft or handloom item.
Exponent of Manipuri dance Rajkumar Singhajit Singh was given the award for the year 2014.
Chhayanaut, a cultural organization of Bangladesh was given the award for 2015 for its role in the promotion of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore's works and Bangla arts.
Renowned sculptor and scholar Ram Vanji Sutar was given the award for 2016.

National Cyber Forensic Lab

Union Home Minister inaugurated the National Cyber Forensic Lab and Cyber Prevention, Awareness & Detection Centre (CyPAD) of Delhi Police recently.
NFCL is inaugurated under the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (i-4C).
i-4C deals with cyber crimes such as financial frauds, circulation of communal and pornographic contents.
NFCL will have equipment’s to deal with memory forensics, image enhancement, crypto currency forensics, recovery of damaged hard drive and advanced mobile forensics.
The lab will also function as an all-India base to deal and coordinate with cyber threats, where nation- wide information will be generated and stored at the National Cyber Reporting Portal.
State police units will have access to the facilities and can get their forensic samples analyzed.

Global Go To Think Tank Index Report

Observer Research Foundation (ORF) has been named the highest ranked Indian think tank in the "2018 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report".
Globally the US-based Brookings Institution is the highest ranked think tank, followed by the French Institute of International Relations and the Carnegie Endowment.
The report is published by Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, The Lauder Institute, University of Pennsylvania.
The largest number of think tanks in 2018 are from the US (1,871) followed by India (509) and China (507).
Japan and South Korea have 128 and 60 think tanks respectively.
The ranking was based on several parameters such as

SPHEREx

NASA will launch a new space telescope in 2023 called SPHEREx.
It would provide a glimpse of the first moments in the history of the universe, and explore how common are the ingredients for life in our galaxy’s planetary system.
SPHEREx is the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer.
NASA plans it as a two-year mission.
It will survey the sky in optical as well as near-infrared light which serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions.

Recession

Economics Nobel winner Paul Krugman had warned that the US could possibly be heading for a recession.
A recession is a significant decline in economic activity that goes on for more than a few months.
It is visible in industrial production, employment, real income and wholesale-retail trade.
Further, if the recession is prolonged over a longer period it is said to be Depression.
Depression is commonly defined as an extreme recession that lasts two or more years.
A depression is a severe and prolonged downturn in economic activity.
The Great Depression of 1929 is considered to be an example of depression in economic history.

Source: PIB, The Hindu, Business Standard