UniFocus IAS ( UNIFOCUS UNIVERSAL )

" Kosovo celebrates 25th anniversary of the withdrawal of Serbian forces after NATO bombing " - The Hindustan Times Historical Background: After centuries of Ottoman rule, Kosovo became part of Serbia in the early 20th century. After World War II, Kosovo eventually had the status of a province of Serbia, one of six republics of Yugoslavia. Some Serbian perspectives view Kosovo’s incorporation as the rightful return of territory that was the center of a medieval Serbian kingdom and is prominent in national identity narratives. Kosovo Albanian perspectives, by contrast, largely view Kosovo’s incorporation into Serbia as an annexation that resulted in the marginalization of the Albanian-majority population.  During the 1980s, Kosovo Albanians grew increasingly mobilized and sought separation from Serbia. In 1989, Serbia—then led by autocrat Slobodan Milošević, who leveraged Serbian nationalism to consolidate power—imposed direct rule in Kosovo. Throughout the 1990s, amid Yugosla...

"Centre decides to release additional installment of the tax devolution share of States" - The Hindu <<< About Finance Commission <<< History of Finance Commission

World Ocean Day (abbreviation not acronym: WOD) is an international day that takes place annually on 8 June. The concept was originally proposed in 1992 by Canada's International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD) and the Ocean Institute of Canada (OIC) at the Earth Summit – UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Ocean Project started global coordination of World Ocean Day starting in 2002. "World Oceans Day" was officially recognised by the United Nations in 2008. The international day supports the implementation of worldwide Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and fosters public interest in the protection of the ocean and the sustainable management of its resources. World Oceans Day is observed by all UN member states, incl. Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, South Africa and the United States. PIB

Quality Council of India (QCI) celebrated World Accreditation Day today across more than 20 cities in India. The event held in New Delhi, with the theme “Accreditation: Empowering Tomorrow and Shaping the Future,” was inaugurated by Secretary, DPIIT, Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh. The event was graced by the presence of Director, AIIMS, New Delhi, Dr. M. Srinivas; Chairperson, Quality Council of India, Shri Jaxay Shah along with several industry leaders, government officials, and company heads, who discussed the role of accreditation in shaping the quality of life in all spheres. Addressing the event, Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh empasised the need to go beyond standard practices and develop processes that make us stand out from the crowd. He mentioned that strengthening the accreditation body and the entire quality system is not just a necessity but a strategic move towards excellence. Both NABL and NABCB constitute the accreditation infrastructure in India and are signatories to the Multilatera...

FODMAPs or fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols are short-chain carbohydrates that are poorly absorbed in the small intestine and ferment in the colon. They include short-chain oligosaccharide polymers of fructose (fructans) and galactooligosaccharides (GOS, stachyose, raffinose), disaccharides (lactose), monosaccharides (fructose), and sugar alcohols (polyols), such as sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, and maltitol. Most FODMAPs are naturally present in food and the human diet, but the polyols may be added artificially in commercially prepared foods and beverages. FODMAPs may cause digestive discomfort in some people. The reasons are hypersensitivity to luminal distension or a proclivity to excess water retention and gas production and accumulation, but they do not cause intestinal inflammation. Naturally occurring FODMAPs may help avert digestive discomfort for some people because they produce beneficial alterations in the gut flora. They are not the c...