·       It was set up on 2nd April, 1990, under an Act of the Indian Parliament.

·       It is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance, GoI.

·       It was incorporated in initially as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI).

·       Currently the shares of SIDBI are held by the Government of India (GoI) and 22 other institutions/PSBs/insurance companies owned or controlled by the Central Government.

·       Headquarters: Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

·       SIDBI helps MSMEs in acquiring the funds they require to grow, market, develop, and commercialize their technologies and innovative products.

·       The bank provides several schemes and also offers financial services and products to meet individual requirements of various businesses.

·       Financial support to MSMEs is provided by way of

·       Indirect/refinance to banks/Financial Institutions for onward lending to MSMEs

·       Direct finance in niche are as like risk capital, sustainable finance, receivable financing, service sector financing, etc.

Scarborough Shoal:

·       The Scarborough Shoal (also known in English as the Scarborough Reef) is a series of small rocks and islands which are formed into a triangle shape in the South China Sea, located some 220 kilometers from the Philippines.

·       The largest island features a lagoon and is around sixty square miles in area, while many of the rocks are so small they protrude only a metre or so from the sea at low tide and are completely submerged when the tide is high.

·       The deep waters around the shoal make it a productive fishing area, rich in marine life, and the lagoon also contains many commercially valuable shellfish and sea cucumbers.

·       The shoal is the source of an ongoing and, so far, unresolved dispute between the People’s Republic of Chinaand the Philippines, with both countries claiming that the shoal lies within their territory and saying they have exclusive rights to access its waters.

·       There are no structures built on Scarborough Shoal, but the feature is effectively controlled by China, which has maintained a constant coast guard presence at the feature since 2012.

·       China, which now refers to the shoal as Huangyan Island, makes a historical claim to the area, stating that they can trace their ownership of the area back to the Yuan Dynasty of the 1200s.

·       The Philippines claim the area on the basis of geography, as it is much closer to the Philippines’ main island of Luzon, which contains the capital, Manila, but lies over 500 miles from China.

·       It is responsible for reviewing and accrediting these institutions in compliance with the Paris Principles every five years.

·       It is recognised and a trusted partner of the United Nations.

·       Paris Principles – It was formally known as Principles Relating to the Status of National Human Rights Institutions and was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 20, 1993.

·       It sets out minimum standards that NHRIs must meet in order to be considered credible and to operate effectively.

·       General Assembly – It is GANHRI’s supreme deliberative body.

·       It adopts and reviews the program of activities and is responsible for electing the governance bodies and monitoring the activities of the GANHRI Bureau.

·       Sub-Committee on Accreditation – The Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) is the body responsible for making recommendations on accreditation under the auspices of Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

·       Rank ‘A’ – NHRIs with rank ‘A’ status can participate in the UN Human Rights Council, its subsidiary bodies, and some UNGA bodies and mechanisms.

·       They are also eligible for full membership of GANHRI, which includes the right to vote and hold governance positions.

·       Rank ‘B’ – NHRIs accredited with rank ‘B’ status can participate in GANHRI meetings, but cannot vote nor hold governance positions.

·       Currently India holds rank ‘A’ status.

·       These trips provide a brief experience of weightlessness and a view of the Earth from space but last only about 10-15 minutes from take-off to landing.

·       Private space companies like Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, and others are offering sub-orbital space tourism flights to interested individuals.

·       The sub-orbital flights are currently the most accessible form of space tourism, as orbital trips and journeys to the International Space Station (ISS) or beyond are significantly more expensive.

·       Space tourism is currently accessible only to the ultra-wealthy, but the market is expected to grow rapidly as more private players enter the industry.

·       Karman line is an imaginary line that scientists use to define the border between outer space and the Earth’s atmosphere.

·       Anything past the Karman line is not subject to control by countries like their airspace.

·       Anything flying below Karman line is called an aircraft while those crossing this line get classified as a spacecraft.

·       The farthest reaches of Earth’s atmosphere is a cloud of hydrogen atoms called the geocorona.

·       It is a rare terrestrial hemi-parasitic plant.

·       Hemi-parasitic plants lack fully developed roots and obtain water/minerals from host plants via historical connections, while also performing photosynthesis.

·       This hemi-parasitic species faces threats due to anthropogenic activities like trekking and leaf litter collection by local villagers in the Phawngpui area.

·       It is named ‘lushaiorum’ after the Lushai tribe of Mizoram, honoring their biodiversity conservation efforts.

·       Lushai tribe – Lushai is another tribe under Kuki-chin group of tribes.

·       Their main concentration is under Kanchanpur Sub-Division of North Tripura District and also found in Mizoram.

·       Lushai’s are commonly known as Mizos.

·       Racially they are known to be under Mongoliod origin.

·       Lushai live on Jhum Cultivation and hunting of wild animal.

·       They eat meat of any kind of animals and birds.

·       They are also famous as orange producing community.

·       Their Cheraw Dance (Bamboo Dance) is very much popular in and outside the country.