Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

• It is a permanent  international intergovernmental organization.
• Founding Members: Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Uzbekistan, The Russian Federation,  and the Republic of Tajikistan.
• India and Pakistan became members in the year 2017 at the Astana summit and there are nine members, Iran being the latest to join in 2020.
• The supreme decision-making body in the SCO is the Heads of State Council (HSC) and meets once in a year and adopts guidelines and decisions on all important matters of the SCO.
• The organization has two permanent bodies — First is the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) based in Tashkent and second is the SCO Secretariat based in Beijing.

Difference between RNA and DNA virus

• DNA viruses are mostly double-stranded while RNA viruses are single-stranded.
• RNA mutation rate is higher than the DNA mutation rate.
• DNA replication takes place in the nucleus while RNA replication takes place in the cytoplasm.
• DNA viruses are stable while RNA viruses are unstable.

Albedo

• It is a non-dimensional, unitless quantity that indicates how well a surface reflects solar energy through the evapotranspiration process.
• Albedo varies between 0 and 1. Albedo commonly refers to the whiteness of a surface, with 0 meaning black and 1 meaning white.
• A value of 0 means the surface is a perfect absorber that absorbs all incoming energy.
• Absorbed solar energy can be used to heat the surface or, when sea ice is present, melt the surface.
• A value of 1 means the surface is a perfect reflector that reflects all incoming energy.
• At higher latitudes, albedo is the most prominent biophysical driver as vegetation is patchy and sunlight is seasonal.

Fortified Rice

• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) defines fortification as deliberately increasing the content of essential micronutrients in a food so as to improve the nutritional quality of food and to provide public health benefit with minimal risk to health.
• Various technologies are available to add micronutrients to regular rice, such as coating, dusting, and ‘extrusion’.
• The last mentioned involves the production of fortified rice kernels (FRKs) from a mixture using an ‘extruder’ machine.
• It is considered to be the best technology for India.
• The fortified rice kernels are blended with regular rice to produce fortified rice.

Extrusion Method

• Dry rice flour is mixed with a premix of micronutrients, and water is added to this mixture.
• The mixture is passed through a twin-screw extruder with heating zones, which produces kernels similar in shape and size to rice.
• As per guidelines issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, the shape and size of the fortified rice kernel should resemble the normal milled rice as closely as possible.

Standing Deposit Facility (SDF)

• The main purpose of SDF is to reduce the excess liquidity of Rs 8.5 lakh crore in the system, and control inflation.
• The RBI Act empowered the Reserve Bank to introduce the SDF – an additional tool for absorbing liquidity without any collateral.
• By removing the binding collateral constraint on the RBI, the SDF strengthens the operating framework of monetary policy.
• The SDF is also a financial stability tool in addition to its role in liquidity management.
• The SDF will replace the fixed rate reverse repo (FRRR) as the floor of the liquidity adjustment facility corridor.
• Both the standing facilities — the MSF (marginal standing facility) and the SDF will be available on all days of the week, throughout the year.
• The SDF rate will be 25 bps below the policy rate (Repo rate), and it will be applicable to overnight deposits at this stage.
• It would, however, retain the flexibility to absorb liquidity of longer tenors as and when the need arises, with appropriate pricing.