Daily UPSC Prelims Current Affairs – May 20, 2022 [Mock Test]

Notes:

• The eight service cadres of Indian Railways (IR) would be merged into one newly created Indian Railways Management Service (IRMS) to bring uniformity in the categories of services for encouraging the fast and delivery-oriented decision-making process in the railways.
• The merger plan of eight services into one is based on the recommendations of the Bibek Debroy committee report of 2015, in which strong recommendations were laid down for restructuring of railway board and the railway ministry respectively.
• The government has excluded the Indian Railways Protection Force Service and the Indian Railways Medical Service from merging into the IRMS.
• In future, the recruitment to IRMS will be made through the UPSC (civil services) in proper consultation with UPSC and the DOPT.
• The decision for unification was taken in the suggestion of all levels of officers during “Parivartan Sangoshthi”, organised on December 7, 2019, in New Delhi.
• The idea of a new Indian Railway Management Service dates back to 1994 when the Tondon committee had first recommended this unified service.

Notes:

• Food insecurity is soaring across 20 countries and regions – “hunger hotspots”, where conflict, economic shocks, natural hazards, political instability, and limited humanitarian access, are putting millions of lives at risk, according to the Hunger Hotspots report.
• As per the Hunger Hotspots Report from the World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen remain the countries of highest concern.

Notes:
Communication satellites are typically placed in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO), which allows them to remain fixed relative to a point on the Earth’s surface. Satellites in low earth orbit (LEO) can have a tilted orbital plane, suitable for various applications. The International Space Station, however, is in LEO, not medium earth orbit (MEO); hence, statement 3 is incorrect.