Government Job Preparation

  Farzad-B Gas Field It is located in the  Persian Gulf  (Iran) and the contract for exploration of the field was signed in  2002  by an Indian consortium comprising  Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) Videsh, Indian Oil Corporation,  and  Oil India. The contract  expired in 2009  after the declaration of commerciality of the field, based on the gas discovery. Since then, the consortium has been  trying to secure the contract  for the development of the field. The  major dispute  between India and Iran was  over setting up of two pipelines,  and also over  money to be quoted  on the development plan. Around 75% of the deal was finalized by  May 2018,  when the  USA unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal and announced sanctions  on Iran. In  January 2020,  Iran clarified that it would develop the field on its own and would like to  involve India ap...

  Why in News? Recently,  Iran’s Port and Maritime Organisation  (PMO) has  conveyed to India a request  for locomotives and signaling equipment for the  Chabahar-Zahedan railway line. Iran has been facing  difficulty in procuring  them directly due to the  sanctions imposed by the USA. Iran has also asked India to activate the  USD 150 million credit  line which was offered to it by India during the Iranian President's visit in 2018. Chabahar Port It is located on the  Gulf of Oman  and is only  72 km away from the Gwadar port  in  Pakistan  which has been developed by China. The port serves as the  only oceanic port of Iran  and consists of  two separate ports named Shahid Beheshti and Shahid Kalantari. Points to Remember:- Background: In  May 2016,  India, Iran, and Afghanistan signed the  trilateral agreement  which entailed the establishment of  Transit ...

  Why in News? India has scored considerably low in the international  Academic Freedom Index (AFI)  with a score of 0.352. Academic freedom,  in general, refers to a scholar's freedom to express ideas without risk of official interference or professional disadvantage. Points to Remember:- About the Academic Freedom Index: It has been  published by Global Public Policy Institute  as a part of a global time-series dataset (1900-2019) in close cooperation with  Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Scholars at Risk, and the V‑Dem Institute. It  compares  levels of academic freedom worldwide and enhances the understanding of its curtailments. The AFI used  eight components  to evaluate the scores: the freedom to research and teach, freedom of academic exchange and dissemination, institutional autonomy, campus integrity, freedom of academic and cultural expression, constitutional protection of academic freedom, international...