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*- July 2015, when Cecil, a 13-year-old black-maned male lion The unfortunate lion happened to be a study animal collared and tracked by Oxford University, and beloved of tourists on account of his readiness to provide easy photo-ops.

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*Cecil s death soon catalysed an international slanging match where animal rights activists and celebrities traded insults with hunters and their supporters. *U.S. Endangered Species Act, making it difficult for American citizens to trophy hunt. *Lifting of import bans for elephants is expected to ease the entry of trophy imports from countries such as Zimbabwe and Zambia. *But several questions remain unanswered: *Is trophy hunting good for conservation or does it contribute to population declines? *Is hunting ethical, and by whose standards? Should hunting be banned, and who decides?

*Kenya and India *South Africa and Namibia where wildlife has been commoditised (trophy hunting, wildlife tourism, commercial meat production as well as local consumption) and managed for the benefit of local communities, populations seem to be doing better. *WildCRU s own report states that the most fundamental benefit of trophy hunting to lion conservation is that it provides a financial incentive to maintain lion habitat that might otherwise be converted to non-wildlife land uses.

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*An undue focus on issues such as trophy hunting can take away from real problems such as conflict as well as widespread habitat loss and degradation. *massive land grabs perpetrated by multinational companies * Scramble for Africa

Crouching leopard, gun-toting Minister Maharashtra Irrigation Minister goes looking for leopard, armed with a pistol

*- The imposing tower of misery which today rests on the heart of India has its sole foundation in the absence of education. This is as true today as it was nearly 90 years back.

*While India highlights its ever-improving literacy levels, *Educationally it is a terrible under-performer, *Too embarrassed to participate in the OECD s Programme for International Student Assessment *tests covering reading and computational skills for 15-year-olds. *Data from the Ministry of Human Resource Development show that only half of all students who enter primary school make it to the upper primary level. *We have around a million primary schools and only half that number at the upper primary level.

*The number of secondary schools is less than 150,000 for a country of 1.3 billion, and even this comes down to just 100,000 at the higher secondary level. *While there are around five million primary school teachers, at the secondary level the number is just 1.5 million. *Right to Education Act *It is government schools that should be the drivers of change by becoming the first, not the last, choice of parents to send their children to.

*Teacher training *View school education as a critical strategic investment *Finland: *If only India had begun revamping school education at the start of economic liberalisation, it would by now have had the world s largest pool of well-educated and highly trained workers. *By ensuring they get a world-class education over the next few decades, India will be well on its way towards becoming a developed nation sooner than expected.

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*There were serious reservations about the High Court s observations to the effect that a woman s marriage requires the involvement of her parents and that even if she had attained the age of majority she was still at a vulnerable age. *It is doubtful if similar remarks would have been made if the convert was a man. *Supreme Court has also made it clear that the National Investigation Agency can continue its ongoing probe. *Any probe into this phenomenon need not be at the cost of individual liberty.

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*Populism dominates the ideological positions of the major parties and the politics of patronage has governed their engagement with the people.

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*- Creating entrepreneurs Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ivanka Trump, daughter and adviser of U.S. President Donald Trump, with a robot at the inauguration of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Invest in India, PM tells entrepreneurs *Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said his government understood that an environment of transparent policies and the rule of law providing a level playing field were necessary for entrepreneurship to flourish. * come, make in India, invest in India, for India and for the world *The three-day GES, co-hosted by the U.S. and Indian governments, is the first in an annual series to be travelling to South Asia, and has Women first, Prosperity for all as the theme. More than 50% of the delegates are women. *Ms. Trump underscored the importance of education and technology for women entrepreneurs to make a mark in their chosen field. *Closing Gender Gap can Add $150b to Indian GDP: Ivanka

Telecom regulator backs Net neutrality *Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Tuesday came out in strong support of Net neutrality *Warning against any discriminatory treatment including blocking, degrading, slowing down or granting preferential speeds to any content

Don t comment on Padmavati: SC *The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked people holding public office to desist from commenting on the Bollywood flick Padmavati, saying such statements violated the rule of law and could prejudice the censor board s decision. *Politicians, including some Chief Ministers, have made public remarks, mostly against the film based on the saga of the historic 13th century battle between Maharaja Ratan Singh and his army of Mewar and Sultan Alauddin Khilji of Delhi. * When a matter is pending before the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), how can persons in public authority comment on whether it should issue certificate or not? It will prejudice the decision of the CBFC, a Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said.

Chabahar port ready, next stage for India *Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will inaugurate the first phase of the Chabahar port development project on Sunday, with senior Afghan and Indian Ministers travelling for the event *Iranian media quoted President Rouhani as saying that the port will enhance trade in the region, with a final aim to connect not just to Afghanistan via rail but also to the 7,200-km International North-South Transport Corridor to Russia.

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India, Russia update pact on security *India and Russia have concluded a comprehensive agreement on security and reviewed the implementation of the Agreement on Information Security signed in October 2016 during the just-concluded visit of Home Minister Rajnath Singh. *Mr. Singh, who paid a three-day visit to Russia, met his counterpart, Nikolai Patrushev, and signed deals on disaster management and narcotics smuggling. An updated and more comprehensive agreement on Cooperation on Security between Ministry of Home Affairs of India and the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation was signed, said the Indian Embassy in Moscow.

India seeing increasing formalisation: Jaitley *The country is witnessing a new chapter in history being written where every day is seeing a new initiative that further expands the formalisation of the economy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday. *Finance minister Arun Jaitley vigorously rejected a rumour about bank loan waivers to capitalists, accusing the previous Congress-led UPA government of being responsible for the profligacy that has burdened the sector with non-performing assets. *In a signed article released on Tuesday entitled The Fiction of Loan Waiver to Capitalists, Jaitley categorically denied any move to let big defaulters off the hook, pointing to the action that s being taken against them under the insolvency law.

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Answers 1. The systematic organisation of Mughal empire into SUBAS was first done by A. Babur B. Akbar C. Humayun D. Jahangir 2. Copenhagen is an example of type of port A. Naval B. Packet Station C. Entreport D. Inland 3. All species of Lemur are endemic to which of the following places? A. Seychelles B. Galapagos C. New Caledonia D. Madagascar

Questions 1. An aquatic plant introduced from America to check pollution turned out to be a troublesome weed in Indian water bodies. The name of this plant is a) Opuntia b) Aegilops c) Richhornia d) Pistia 2. The word Ecosystem was coined by a) Charles Darwin b) Robert Whittaker c) Arthur Tansley d) Ernst Haeckel 3. Name the Chairman of National Anti-Profiteering Authority?