Facts in News

                             Facts in News

Initial Public Offering (IPO)

• An initial public offering (IPO) also known as floating, or going public, refers to the process of offering shares of a private corporation to the public in a new stock issuance.
• Public share issuance allows a company to raise capital from public investors.
• An IPO is underwritten by one or more investment banks, who also arrange for the shares to be listed on one or more stock exchanges.
  • Underwriting (of a bank or other financial institution) means pledge to buy all the unsold shares in (an issue of new shares).
• Through this process, a privately held company is transformed into a public company.
• IPO can be used
  • to raise new equity capital for companies.
  • to monetize the investments of private shareholders such as company founders or private equity investors.
  • to enable easy trading of existing holdings or future capital raising by becoming publicly traded.
• After the IPO, shares are traded freely in the open market at what is known as the free float.
• Markets regulator SEBI has put in place a uniform policy to streamline the reconciliation process among intermediaries with regard to IPO as well as a new mechanism to compensate investors.
• Other issues addressed include
  • Delayed receipt of mandate by investors at intermediaries
  • Failure to unblock the funds in cases of partial allotment by the next working day from the finalisation of Basis of Allotment (BOA).
  • Self Certified Syndicate Banks (SCSBs) blocking multiple amounts for the same UPI application and SCSBs blocking more amounts in the investor’s account than the application amount.
  • Need for Nodal officers for IPO applications processed through UPI.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

• He was born on March 17, 1920, in Tungipara village of Gopalganj.
• He studied law and political science in Kolkata and Dhaka and agitated for Indian independence.
• He is considered as the “architect of independent Bangladesh” and the ‘father of Bangladesh”.
•  In 1949, he joined the Awami League, a political party that advocated greater autonomy for East Pakistan.
• He played an important role in the six-point movement and the Anti-Ayub movement.
•  In 1970, his party secured an absolute majority in the Pakistani general elections.
• India under then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi provided full support to Rahman and Bangladesh’s independence movement, resulting in the creation of a sovereign government at Dhaka in January 1971.
• On 15 August 1975, he was killed in a military coup along with his wife and three sons.
  •  His daughters, the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, survived as they were abroad at the time.

Baralacha Pass

• Baralacha La, better known as Baralacha pass is situated in the Zanskar range.
• It is a high mountain pass located along the Leh-Manali highway that connects Leh district in Ladakh and Lahaul district in Himachal Pradesh.
• It is considered one of the toughest roads that remain under 15 to 20 feet of snow during the winters when the temperature dips down to minus 18 to 20 degree C.

AstraZeneca vaccine side effects (Cerebral Thrombosis)

• Scientists at the Germany-based Paul-Ehrlich-Institute observed the blood clots in some of those vaccinated.
  • They are a “special form of very rare cerebral vein thrombosis”.
  • This corresponds to a deficiency in platelets and bleeding following vaccination with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
• The European Medicines Agency (EMA)noted several cases of immune thrombocytopenia, a lack of platelets in the blood that can lead to bleeding and bruising, had been reported under its vaccine safety monitoring process.
• Several EU countries — France and Italy for instance — have called a halt to the AstraZeneca vaccine after reports from Denmark and Norway of possible serious side-effects, including bleeding and blood clots.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) has ruled out any link between AstraZeneca’s vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and reported blood clots.
• India also is reliant on Covishield, which is based on the AstraZeneca vaccine and forms the bulk of the nearly 30 million vaccines that have been so far administered to the population.
•  However, officials say no instances of such blood clots have been reported so far.

Dead Sea Scroll

• The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts.
• Scholarly consensus dates these scrolls from the last three centuries BCE and the first century CE.
• Fragments are believed to have been stashed away in the cave during the Bar Kochba Revolt, an armed Jewish uprising against Rome during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, between 132 and 136 AD, i.e. 1900 years ago.
• New pieces are found in a site known as Qumran Caves also known as “The Cave of Horror”
  • The cave was named so for the 40 human skeletons found there during excavations in the 1960s.
  • They also bear a Greek rendition of the Twelve Minor Prophets.
  • The cave is located in a remote canyon in the Judean Desert south of Jerusalem.

Kumbh Mela 2021

• According to Hindu mythology, Kumbh Mela is an important and religious festival which is celebrated four times over the course of 12 years.
• Kumbh Mela is made up of two-words Kumbh and Mela.
• The name Kumbh is derived from the immortal pot of nectar which the Devatas and the demons fought over (Samudra Manthan) as described in ancient Vedic scriptures. Mela, as we all are familiar, is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘gathering’ or ‘to meet’.
• The location of the festival keeps rotating between four pilgrimage sites situated on the banks of the holy rivers.
  • It is believed that a few drops from the Kumbh (Pot of Divine Nectar) fell at four places.
• These places are:
  • Haridwar on the Ganges in Uttarakhand.
  • Ujjain on the Shipra river in Madhya Pradesh.
  • Nashik on the Godavari river in Maharashtra.
  • Prayagraj at the confluence of three rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati in Uttar Pradesh.
• Kumbha Mela 2021 will be held at Haridwar.
• Social Significance:
  • Largest peaceful congregation of pilgrims on earth.
  • Includes ascetics, saints, sadhus, aspirants-kalpavasis and visitors.
  • Encapsulates the science of astronomy, astrology, spirituality, ritualistic traditions, and social and cultural customs and practices, making it extremely rich in knowledge.
  • Culturally diverse festival.

Rule Curve

• The rule curve divides the storage volume of a reservoir in zones where different strategies for demand supply will be applied.
• Rule curve in a dam decides the fluctuating storage levels in a reservoir.
• The gate opening schedule of a dam is based on the rule curve.
• It is part of the “core safety” mechanism in a dam.
• The limits of each zone may vary seasonally or remain constant during the whole year.
• Such tools may be used for flood control or water conservation during long dry spells.
• The Supreme Court made the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary “personally responsible” for developing  Rule Curve for 123 years old Mullaperiyar Dam.
  • “Appropriate action” will be taken on failure to give information on the rule curve for Mullaperiyar dam to the Supreme Court-appointed Supervisory Committee.