25th September 2019 Prelims Sure Shot

Generalised System of Preferences (GSP)

The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is a U.S. trade program designed to promote economic growth in the developing world by providing preferential duty-free entry for up to 4,800 products from 129 designated beneficiary countries and territories.
The idea of granting developing countries preferential tariff rates in the markets of industrialized countries was originally presented at the first UNCTAD conference in 1964.
The GSP was adopted at UNCTAD in New Delhi in 1968 and was instituted in 1971.
It involves reduced Most Favoured Nations (MFN) Tariffs or duty-free entry of eligible products exported by beneficiary countries to the markets of donor countries.

The following countries grant GSP preferences:

The objective of GSP was to give development support to poor countries by promoting exports from them into the developed countries. GSP promotes sustainable development in beneficiary countries by helping these countries to increase and diversify their trade.

DNA

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria.
The information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T).
DNA bases pair up with each other, A with T and C with G, to form units called base pairs. Each base is also attached to a sugar molecule and a phosphate molecule. Together, a base, sugar, and phosphate are called a nucleotide.
An important property of DNA is that it can replicate, or make copies of itself. Each strand of DNA in the double helix can serve as a pattern for duplicating the sequence of bases. This is critical when cells divide because each new cell needs to have an exact copy of the DNA present in the old cell.

Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai

It is a protected area near Mumbai in Maharashtra.
It was formerly known as Borivali National Park. It is notable as one of the major national parks existing within metropolis limit and is one of the most visited parks in the world.
It is spread over are of 103 sq.km in heart of Mumbai city and surrounded by population of 20 million people.
It is part of Western Ghats biodiversity and forms roughly 20.5% of Mumbai’s geographical area.
Kanheri Caves, 2000 year old complex of some 160 rock-cut caves (was important Buddhist learning centre) is situated within national park and is protected archaeological site.

Ramanujan prize for U.K. mathematician

The SASTRA Ramanujan prize for 2019 will be awarded to mathematician Adam Harper, Assistant Professor with the University of Warwick, England.
The prize carries a citation and an award of $10,000 and is conferred annually on mathematicians from across the world who is less than 32 years of age, working in an area influenced by the genius Srinivasa Ramanujan.
The SASTRA-Ramanujan Award has gained global repute ever since it was instituted in 2005 and today is easily amongst the top five awards of this type for mathematics.
Four mathematicians who were awarded this prize have gone on to win the Fields Medal later.
Adam Harper has improved earlier results obtained by Kannan Soundararajan and Andrew Granville. His paper with Ben Green on large sieve is also worth mentioning. The citation said Mr. Harper was awarded the prize “for several outstanding contributions to analytic and probabilistic number theory.”
Every year, this prize is awarded by SASTRA University on its campus near Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu, on Ramanujan’s birth anniversary, December 22.

Dadasaheb Phalke award for Amitabh Bachchan

The country’s highest film honour, the Dadasaheb Phalke award, conferred for “outstanding contribution for the growth and development of Indian cinema” will be presented this year to Amitabh Bachchan.
This year that marks Mr Bachchan’s golden jubilee in cinema. He made his debut in 1969 with Khwaja Ahmad Abbas’ Saat Hindustani.
the Dadasaheb Phalke award itself was first presented in the year of Mr Bachchan’s debut. It was introduced by the government in 1969 to commemorate the “father of Indian cinema” who directed Raja Harischandra (1913), India’s first feature film, and it was awarded for the first time to Devika Rani, “the first lady of Indian cinema”.
Mr Bachchan has been honoured with the Padma Shri in 1984, the Padma Bhushan in 2001 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015.
The Dadasaheb Phalke award comprises a Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus), a shawl and a cash prize of 1,000,000.

25th September 2019 Prelims Sure Shot for UPSC IAS Exam