Karnataka has over 9,000 million tonnes of iron ore resources, of which the bulk is in the magnetite form. The production during the year 2007-08 crossed 47 million tons. The districts of Bellary and Hospet are the main districts, whereas Chitradurga, Bagalkot and Tumkur districts are also produce significant amounts of iron ore. The chunk of the iron ore is exported to be used in steel manufacture and pig iron and sponge iron plants.

In 2006, IAU defines three criteria to classify any object as a planet

It needs to be in orbit around any fully-fledged star. It needs to have enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape. It has cleared the neighborhood of small objects around its orbit.

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2 only is correct

Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s Technical Liaison Unit (ITLU) in Moscow, Russia. The establishment of this unit will help ISRO to collaborate with Space agencies/industries in Russia and neighboring countries for mutually synergistic outcomes. Further, this unit will also help in ISRO's Gaganyaan programme which requires development of some of the key technologies and establishment of specialized facilities which are essential to support life in space. However, the establishment of ITLU is not one of its kinds. ISRO already has its ITLU units active in Washington, USA and Paris, France. The main agenda of these establishments is to collaborate with various government and space agencies in the USA and Europe.

The GSP, instituted in 1971 under the aegis of UNCTAD, has contributed over the years to creating an enabling trading environment for developing countries. The following 13 countries grant GSP preferences: Australia, Belarus, Canada, the European Union, Iceland, Japan, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Norway, the Russian Federation, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States of America.

Following the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Decision in 2005 in which members agreed that developed countries and developing countries in a position to do so would grant duty-free and quota-free market access for exports of LDCs, improvements were made to various GSP schemes and/or new schemes for LDCs were launched.

The objective of UNCTAD's support on GSP is to help developing countries - particularly LDCs - to increase utilization of GSP and other trade preferences and in turn promote productive capacity development and increased trade.

UNCTAD: GSP ;

USTR: GSP ;

In the news ( TH ): The USTR is currently reviewing India's eligibility under its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which allows duty-free imports of certain goods. India was the largest GSP beneficiary at $5.6 billion, the USTR said in April.

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