Topic 1: The Smart Cities Mission

Context: As the deadline for completing the Smart Cities Mission approaches, the government has asked 20 of the worst performing cities — ones that have completed the fewest projects under the mission — to buck up.

What is the Smart Cities Mission?

Basic infrastructural aspects of a Smart City:

Way forward:


Topic 2: Foreign lawyers allowed to practice in India

Context: The Bar Council of India (BCI) has allowed foreign lawyers and law firms to practise in India.

Key details:


Topic 3: Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana

Context: The Members of Parliament (MPs) have adopted 3154 Gram Panchayats under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) from 2014-15 to 2022-23.

About SAGY


Topic 4: ATL Sarthi and Atal Innovation Mission

Context: Atal Innovation Mission – NITI Aayog launches ATL Sarthi

What is ATL Sarthi?

What is Atal Innovation Mission?

Atal Tinkering Labs


 Topic 5: The McMahon Line

Context: Two United States Senators have introduced a bipartisan resolution reiterating that the US recognises the McMahon Line as the international boundary between China and India in Arunachal Pradesh.

Key details:

What is the McMahon Line?

How was the border between British India and China decided?

Status of the McMahon line since 1914


Topic 6: Sika Deer

Context: 1,400-year religious protection of sika deer in Japan have made them genetically unique

Key details:


Topic 7: Sufi Dialogue

Context: A Sufi Samvad (Sufi Dialogue) programme was launched by a political party as a means of reaching out to the Muslim community.

Key details:


Topic 8: Eurasian otter

Context: The first photographic record of Eurasian otter has indicated that some stretches of the Neeru remain unpolluted.

The Neeru river:

The Eurasian Otter


Topic 9: The Willow project

Context: The United States formally approved a vast oil drilling project in Alaska, also known as the Willow

What is the Willow Project?

Climate threats:


Topic 10: Domestic Systematically Important Banks

Context: The failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in the US raises questions on the safety of depositors’ wealth everywhere but such failures are unlikely in the Indian system.

What is the basis for the confidence in the resilience of Indian banks?

What are domestic systemically important banks (D-SIB)?

How are D-SIBs determined?

Global Systematically Important Banks:

The Basel accord:


Topic 11: MQ-9 Reaper drone

Context: The US military said its MQ-9 Reaper drone crashed into the Black Sea after a Russian Su-27 fighter jet damaged its propeller.

What is the MQ-9 Reaper drone?

Black SeaThe Black Sea is a mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asi.Countries surrounding Black sea:Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.The Black Sea ultimately drains into the Mediterranean Sea, via the Turkish Straits and the Aegean Sea. The Bosporus strait connects it to the small Sea of Marmara.To the north, the Black Sea is connected to the Sea of Azov by the Kerch Strait.

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