Important Facts For Prelims (27th May 2019) | 27 May 2019

Seawater from Ice Age Discovered

Recently, scientists for the first time have discovered the remnants of 20,000-year-old seawater dating back to the Ice Age, tucked inside rock formations in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

• Researchers made the discovery on a month long scientific mission exploring the limestone deposits that form the Maldives.
• Earlier, scientists had to reconstruct seawater from the last Ice Age from indirect clues, like fossil corals and chemical signatures from sediments on the seafloor.
• Scientists are interested in reconstructing the last Ice Age because the patterns that drove its circulation, climate and weather were very different from today.
• Understanding these patterns could shed light on how the planet’s climate will react in the future.

Appointment of Prime Minister of India

Exercising powers vested in him under Article 75 (1) of the Constitution of India, the President, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, today appointed Shri Narendra Modi to the office of Prime Minister of India.

Article 75 in The Constitution of India 1949

• The Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister.
• The Minister shall hold office during the pleasure of the President
• The Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the House of the People.
• Before a Minister enters upon his office, the President shall administer to him the oaths of office and of secrecy according to the forms set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule.
• A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of either House of Parliament shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister.
• The salaries and allowances of Ministers shall be such as Parliament may from time to time by law determine and, until Parliament so determines, shall be as specified in the Second Schedule.