• Anchor investor is a concept launched by Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in 2009.
• Anchor investors are institutional investors who are invited to subscribe the shares before the Initial Public Offers (IPOs) open so that it jazzes up the popularity of the issue.
• The anchor investors are required to take up the share at a fixed price to make other investors confident and improve the demand of the share.
• Each anchor investor needs to invest a minimum of Rs 10 crore in the issue

• The Minister of State (IC) for Culture Shri Prahlad Singh Patel has recently led the programme organized to observe the Flag Satyagraha in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.

Flag / Jhanda Satyagraha

• It is a campaign of peaceful civil disobedience during the Indian independence movement.
• It focused on exercising the right and freedom to hoist the nationalist flag and challenge the legitimacy of the British Rule in India through the defiance of laws prohibiting the hoisting of nationalist flags and restricting civil freedoms.
• It was on March 18, 1923 that the first Tricolour was hoisted in Jabalpur, marking the start of ‘Jhanda Satyagraha’.
• With the observance of the All India Flag Day on June 18, 1923, the Jhanda Satyagraha assumed national complexion with Nagpur as its headquarters and ‘Nagpur Chalo’ as its slogan.
• Later the movement gains more importance and spread to many other parts of India.

• The Northern Limit of Monsoon (NLM) continues to pass through lat. 20.5°N/ Long.
• 60°E, Diu, Surat, Nandurbar, Bhopal, Nowgong, Hamirpur, Barabanki, Bareilly, Saharanpur, Ambala and Amritsar.

Terms used during southwest Monsoon Season (June to September)

• Northern limit of Monsoon (NLM) - A line delineating the regions where the monsoon has advanced from the regions where the monsoon is yet to set in.
• Axis of Monsoon trough - A northwest-southeast oriented trough across the northern plains, often extending over the Bay of Bengal.
• The normal position of the monsoon trough on sea level chart passes through GanganagarAllahabad-Kolkata to Head Bay.
• Break Monsoon- Monsoon trough shifts northwards and runs close to foot hills of Himalayas, resulting in drastic reduction in rainfall over the country outside the foot hills and southernmost Peninsula.
• Off-shore trough- The trough along the west coast which generally runs from Gujarat to Kerala coasts and is generally seen from surface to 0.9 km. above mean sea level.

• In a recently published research paper, Scientists have analysed the data on iron deficiency in the blood samples collected in the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) conducted in 2016-18 under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• According to the analysis, Scientists at the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) have reported that Anaemia (reduced haemoglobin or red blood cells) is high in rural, poor children while iron deficiency is more among the urban and rich across the country.
• Although anaemia prevalence was higher in rural and poorer children as well as adolescents, counter-intuitively, iron deficiency was less common among them.
• Similarly, anaemia was found to be lower among their urban counterparts while iron deficiency was seen more in them.

The study

• The study included a representative sample of more than 33,000 children and adolescents in different states.
• It showed about 30-32% pre-school children and adolescent girls had iron deficiency whereas this proportion was lower (11-15%) in case of children aged 5-9 years.
• This finding provided new insights into the public health problem of anaemia, which, according to surveys, affects almost 40-50% women and children in the country. Anaemia and Iron Deficiency.
• Measurement of iron deficiency in blood samples are expensive, population level surveys, therefore, usually measure only haemoglobin in the blood often used as a proxy to estimate the iron deficiency in the population.
• When anaemia prevalence increases in subsequent surveys, usually, iron supplementation interventions through supplemental iron tablets or iron fortification of foods are intensified.
• But are solutions that focus merely on increasing intake of iron enough to reduce anaemia prevalence in India? It does not seem so as per this study.
• So, increasing iron intake alone without addressing the poverty-related constraints like poor diet quality, hampering iron absorption and utilisation, and high load of infections may not result in intended benefits for anaemia reduction through mere supplementation.

• DAVINCI+ is short for ‘Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging‘.
• It is the first US-led mission to the planet‘s atmosphere since 1978.
• It also consists of a descent sphere that will pass through the planet‘s thick atmosphere and make observations and take measurements of noble gases and other elements
• VERITAS mission will determine if active volcanoes are releasing water vapour into the atmosphere.

• NITI Aayog will launch the 3rd edition of “Sustainable Development Goals India Index & Dashboard, 2020-21: Partnerships in the Decade of Action”.
• It covers 17 Goals, 70 targets, and 115 indicators.

SDG India Index & Dashboard

• Launched in 2018, the index has been monitoring progress on the SDGs in the country at the national and sub-national level.
• The index supports the States and UTs in identifying areas which require more attention; and promoting healthy competition among them.
• The Index, developed in collaboration with the United Nations in India, measures the progress at the national and sub-national level in the country‘s journey towards meeting the Global Goals and targets and has been successful as an advocacy tool to propagate the messages of sustainability, resilience, and partnerships, as well.

Isothermal Forging

• Due to the lower heat loss smaller machines can be used to make the Isothermal forging.
• Here the work piece is maintained at its maximum elevated temperature throughout the entire operation
• Isothermal Forging Technology for Aero engines is achieved by DRDO to develop a jet engine with the thrust to power a fighter in combat.
• This technological involves developing complex titanium and nickel-based alloys that can withstand temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees Celsius.

• Dr. K.P. Krishnan headed expert committee has recently submitted its report to the Chairperson of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), Shri. Injeti Srinivas.
• International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has constituted an expert committee to examine the feasibility of the Variable Capital Company (VCC) in India and to examine the suitability of the Variable Capital Company as a vehicle for fundmanagement in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in India.
• Conventionally, pooling of funds in India is undertaken through three types of entities, namely
  1. Limited liability companies governed under the Companies Act, 2013
  2. Limited liability partnerships under the Limited Liability Partnership Act
  3. Trusts governed under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882
• The Committee recommended the adoption of a VCC-like legal structure for the purpose of conducting fund management activity in IFSCs

• The eighth triennial conference of theInternational Nitrogen Initiative (INI) washosted recently by Germany’s FederalEnvironment Agency (Umweltbundesamt-UBA).
• UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) isthe main focus of the conference.
• The conference was postponed from May lastyear due to the novel coronavirus disease(COVID-19) pandemic.
• The last INI conference was held inMelbourne, in December 2016, adoptingMelbourne declaration

International Nitrogen Initiative

• The International Nitrogen Initiative (INI) was set up in 2003 under the sponsorship of Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP).
• The key aims of the INI are to:
  1. Optimize nitrogen‘s beneficial role in sustainable food production,
  2. Minimize nitrogen‘s negative effects on human health and the environment resulting from food and energy production.
• The program is currently a sustained partner of Future Earth.
• The INI holds a conference every three years on different continents to discuss ideas and exchange knowledge on nitrogen issues.
• INI is coordinated by a Steering Committee, led by a chair and six regional centre directors representing, Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, South Asia and East Asia.
• Steering Committee members serve a four-year term.

Background

• South Asia is one of the global hotspots for nitrogen pollution.
• The Indian nitrogen assessment of 2017 has provided a huge impetus to the UN resolution, as well as to the ongoing South Asian nitrogen assessment.
• Millions of lives and livelihoods are affected by nitrogen pollution, apart from loss of fertilisers worth billions of dollars from farms.

• UR Rao Satellite centre (URSC) of ISROinvited Proposals for the three-phase development of a 100-Watt RadioisotopeThermoelectric Generator (RTG).
• URSC is ISRO‘s lead centre for the design, development, fabrication, and testing of all Indian-made satellites.
• Gaganyaan crew module is a fully autonomous5.3 t (12,000 lb) spacecraft designed to carry a 3-member crew to orbit and safely return to the Earth after a mission duration of up to seven days.
• It will use GSLV Mark III launcher which is powered by liquid propellant engines.

Click here to download the compilation of Monthly Prestorming, June 2021