• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has recently given its approval for creation and launch of Bharat Bond Exchange Traded Fund (ETF).
• It will create an additional source of funding for Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), Central Public Financial Institutions (CPFIs) and other Government organizations. 
• Bharat Bond ETF would be the first corporate Bond ETF in the country.

Features of Bharat Bond ETF:

ETF will be a basket of bonds issued by CPSE/CPSU/CPFI/any other Government organization Bonds (Initially, all AAA rated bonds)

• Tradable on exchange
• Small unit size Rs 1,000    
• Transparent NAV (Periodic live NAV during the day)
• Transparent Portfolio (Daily disclosure on website)
• Low cost (0.0005%)

• The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence is the apex anti-smuggling agency of India, working under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
• It is tasked with detecting and curbing smuggling of contraband, including drug trafficking and illicit international trade in wildlife and environmentally sensitive items, as well as combating commercial frauds related to international trade and evasion of Customs duty.

• The leaders of NATO are going to meet in London to mark the 70th birthday of the organisation.
• NATO is an intergovernmental political and military alliance among 29 independent member countries across North American and European states.
• HQ - Brussels, Belgium.
• It was founded in 1949 for the collective defence of its members, linking the security of the United States with its European allies against the Soviet Union.
• In accordance with the Treaty, the fundamental role of NATO is to safeguard the freedom and security of its member countries by political and military means.
• NATO is playing an increasingly important role in crisis management and peacekeeping.

• The Global Climate Risk Index was released recently by international environmental think tank Germanwatch.
• It shows that India has fallen from its 15th rank of countries hit most by climate change-induced weather phenomena in 2017, to number five in 2018.
• Japan topped the list followed by the Phillipines and Germany.
• The report says that in India, it was the 2018 monsoon that severely affected the country and contributed to its sliding to the number 5 position.

• Gujarat has been adjudged as the least corrupt state in India according to the India Corruption Survey-2019, conducted by Transparency International India (TII) and LocalCircles.
• Rajasthan tops the corruption chart in India, according to the Survey.
• As per the survey, 78 per cent people in Rajasthan, participating in the survey, admitted to paying a bribe to get the work done. 

• The global mean sea level of the oceans reached its highest-ever level since records began in January 1993, according to the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) State of Global Climate 2019 report.
• The report was released at the Conference of Parties 25 (CoP 25) in Madrid recently.
• The report blamed the rise on the continued melting of ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland as well as climate phenomena like El Nino and La Nina.

• Bougainville, an island in the Pacific, is holding a referendum to decide if it wants to remain a part of Papua New Guinea or become an independent country.
• Nithyananda, India’s fugitive godman, has reportedly founded his own country somewhere in the Pacific.
• Across the world, various territories are agitating for independence, Catalonia in Spain, Kurdistan in Iraq, Tibet in China. New countries are suddenly in high demand.
• Anyone can declare itself a country. There is no straightforward rule or law barring the regions from declaring independence.

1. In Jharkhand in 2017-18, as part of the Pathalgadi movement, stone plaques had come up outside villages, declaring the gram sabha as the only sovereign authority.

• Broadly, four criteria must a nation-hopeful meet, as decided in 1933’s Montevideo Convention.

1. A country-hopeful must have a defined territory, people, government, and the ability to form relationships with other countries.

• In 1945, the right of "self-determination" was included in the UN charter.
• This means that a population has the right to decide how and by whom it wants to be governed.
• UN member states recognise a country, but not the UN as a body.
• This puts a country in the grey area with respect to protection against parent country’s aggression, and international trade.
• UN recognition means a new country has access to the World Bank, the IMF, etc. Its currency is recognised, which allows it to trade.

• Alcohol manufacturers have written to NITI Aayog asking for reduction in import duty to make it cost-effective for them to import Extra Neutral Alcohol from global markets.
• Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) is the primary raw material for making alcoholic beverages.
• It is a colourless food-grade alcohol that does not have any impurities.
• It has a neutral smell and taste, and typically contains over 95% alcohol by volume.
• It is derived from different sources, sugarcane molasses and grains and is used in the production of alcoholic beverages.
• ENA also serves as an essential ingredient in the manufacture of cosmetics and personal care products such as perfumes, toiletries, hair spray, etc.
• It also finds industrial use and is utilised in the production of some lacquers, paints and ink for the printing industry, as well as in pharmaceutical products such as antiseptics, drugs, syrups, medicated sprays.

• Seven states account for about 90% of the burden of malaria cases in India, according to the World Malaria Report 2019 released by the World Health Organization (WHO).
• Malaria is caused by the ‘Protozoan parasite Plasmodium’.
• Protozoa are one-celled organisms contain a nucleus and other cell structures, making them more similar to plant and animal cells.
• The protozoa that causes malaria grows inside red blood cells, eventually destroying them.
• Human malaria is caused by four different species of Plasmodium, P. falciparum, P. malariae, P. ovale and P. vivax.
• It is transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes, which bite mainly between dusk and dawn.

• Less than 3% of this season’s sanctioned amount of pulses and oilseeds have actually been procured so far under the PM-AASHA scheme, Agriculture Ministry data show.
• Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA) is an umbrella scheme aimed at ensuring remunerative prices to the farmers for their produce.
• There are three components outlined under the scheme.
• Price Support Scheme (PSS) - Under the PSS, physical procurement of pulses, oilseeds and copra will be done by Central Nodal Agencies.
• Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS) - Under the PDPS, the Centre proposes to cover all oilseeds for which MSP is notified.
• Pilot of Private Procurement & Stockist Scheme (PPPS) - Under this, a private player can procure crops at MSP when market prices drop below MSP.