GS Analyst: Daily Current Affairs

During the harvest festival in August-September, the artists prepare to leave home for long spells to perform at temple festivals across Kerala and perform song-and-dance Thullal, which is steeped in a satire on contemporary society through the themes are mythological.

• Introduced in the 18th century by legendary poet Kunchan Nambiar, Thullal is a recite-and-dance art-form of Kerala, India.
• Three forms of thullal - Ottan Thullal, Parayan Thullal and Seethankan Thullal.
  • Apart from these three, there are other forms like Kolam Thullal and Thumbi Thullal.

Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs urged the officials of the Ministry of Mines to restructure the National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) as an autonomous body.

The Government urged automakers to roll out flex-fuel vehicles capable in the Indian market within a year's time.

• Flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) have an internal combustion engine and are capable of operating on gasoline and any blend of gasoline and ethanol up to 83%. 
• Flex-fuel engines in vehicles can run equally on biofuel and petrol.
  

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended the withdrawal of anti-dumping duty on viscose staple fibre originating in or exported from Indonesia or China and imported by India.

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has told Supreme Court that minorities have to be treated as the “weaker sections” in the country, where majority community is so “predominant”. The NCM said despite the safeguards provided in the Constitution and the laws in force there persist amongst the minorities a feeling of inequality and discrimination.