Madrid Principles

• The Madrid Principles could be the starting point for ending the hostility between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
• The Madrid Principles is the basis for the formulation of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
• It was put forward by Minsk Group which functions under the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
• The OSCE works for stability, peace and democracy through political dialogue about shared values.
• It has 57 participating States in North America, Europe and Asia, and the OSCE is one of the world‘s largest regional security organization.

New Shephard rocket system

• New Shephard rocket system meant to take tourists to space successfully completed its seventh test launch.
• The system is built by the Blue Origin space company and will eventually allow space tourists to experience microgravity.
• It has been designed to take astronauts and research payloads past the Karman line.
• The Karman line is the boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space at an altitude of 100km above sea level.
• It is an internationally recognised boundary of space.

MOSAiC Mission

• After a year in the Ice, the biggest-ever Arctic Science Mission, MOSAiC ends.
• MOSAiC stands for Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate.
• It aims for studying the impact of climate change on the Antartic and how it could affect the rest of the world.
• The German research icebreaker Polarstern has sailed from Norway, drifting through the Arctic Ocean.
• A total of 600 people from 17 countries, send their aircrafts and icebreakers, participating in the arctic mission.

Kastellorizo Island

• Kastellorizo, officially Megisti, is a Greek island and municipality of the Dodecanese in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
• Germany's foreign Minister had criticized Turkey for unilateral steps in the eastern Mediterranean that are undercutting efforts to de-escalate tensions with Greece and Cyprus over sea boundaries and drilling rights.
• He said that, any attempt by a Turkish survey ship to begin prospecting for hydrocarbons in disputed waters around the Greek island of Kastellorizo would strike a serious blow to efforts at easing tensions and improving ties between the European Union and Turkey.
• Ankara's redeployment of the Oruc Reis survey vessel for new energy exploration around Kastellorizo has reignited tensions over sea boundaries between Greek islands, Cyprus and Turkey's southern coast.

• A group of Scientists from Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehradun, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, have found through observations and detailed mapping of geological features that the suture zone of Himalaya that was conventionally thought to be locked is tectonically active.

Indus Suture Zone (ISZ)

• The suture zone of the Himalayas or the Indus Suture Zone (ISZ) is located in the Ladakh region where Indian and Asian Plates are joined.
• It has been found to be tectonically active, as against current understanding that it is a locked zone.
• This could have major implications in terms of earthquake study, prediction, understanding the seismic structure of the mountain chains well as its evolution.
• Himalaya were known to be made up of north dipping thrusts like the Main Central Thrust (MCT), the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT), and the Main Frontal Thrust (MFT).
• As per the established models, all of these thrusts except MFT are locked, and overall deformation in Himalaya is being accommodated only along with the MFT.
• The new findings, which suggest a more remote fault at the suture zone being neo-tectonically active, could call for a serious relook into the existing evolutionary models using new techniques and a larger geological database.

• In order to provide further relief to the taxpayers desirous of settling disputes under Vivad se Vishwas Scheme, the Government has further extended the date for making payment without additional amount from 31st December 2020 to 31st March 2021.

Vivad se Vishwas scheme

• It is a direct tax scheme announced in Budget 2020, for settling tax disputes between individuals and the income tax department.
• The Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Act, 2020 was enacted on 17th March, 2020 with the objective:

1. To reduce pending income tax litigation
2. To generate timely revenue for the Government
3. To benefit taxpayers by providing them peace of mind, certainty and savings on account of time and resources that would otherwise be spent on the long-drawn and vexatious litigation process.

• Earlier, the scheme offered complete waiver on interest and penalty to the taxpayers with a full and final settlement of the dispute if the scheme was availed by March 31, 2020.
• An individual opting for settlement after March 31, 2020 was required to pay additional 10 per cent penalty on the disputed tax amount.
• It was later extended to 30th June, 2020. Later again, this date was extended further to 31st December, 2020.