A Medieval cathedral made famous by Victor Hugo.

Importance of Notre-Dame
● The iconic cathedral has been deeply enmeshed in Paris’s history since construction began at the end of the 12th century; historians generally ascribe the date 1163 and lasted more than two centuries to 1345.
● For French Catholics it has particular resonance, as the resting place of the crown of thorns believed to have been placed on Jesus’ head before his crucifixion.
● For centuries France’s kings and queens were married and buried there.
● Its massive tenor bell announced the liberation of the city from Nazi control on August 24, 1944, ending the dark years under German rule in World War II.
● Napoleon was crowned emperor in Notre-Dame in 1804, and the joyous thanksgiving ceremony after the Liberation of Paris in 1944 took place there, led by Charles de Gaulle.

The Nirbhay Missile is indigenously developed by the DRDO centre of India. Nirbhay is all-weather, low-cost, long-range cruise missile capable of carrying conventional and nuclear warheads. The missile has a range of more than 1000 km, weighs about 1500 kg and has a length of 6 metres. It is named after the Brutal sexual assault case of Delhi which named the brave victim as Nirbhaya.
Upon reaching the required velocity and height, Turbofan engine in the missile takes over for further propulsion. The missile is guided by a highly advanced inertial navigation system indigenously developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and a radio altimeter for the height determination.
Nirbhay is able to pick out a target and attack it among multiple targets. The missile has a loitering capability, i.e., it can go round a target and perform several manoeuvres and then re-engage it. It is capable of delivering 24 different types of warheads depending on mission requirements and uses an inertial navigation system for guidance.

● RCAP is the annual global platform for urban resilience and climate change adaptation.
● It is convened by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and co-hosted by the World Mayors Council on Climate Change and the City of Bonn.
● It was launched in 2010 with the goal of forging partnerships and dialogues that matter.
● The success of the series ‘Resilient Cities – The Annual Global Forum on Urban Resilience and Adaptation’ that attracts hundreds of participants to Bonn, Germany, every year since 2010 is a clear indication of how pressing the issue of adaptation and resilience is perceived among local governments worldwide.
● The RCAP is a response to heightened demand from the Asia Pacific Region, which encouraged ICLEI to expand the congress series to include Resilient Cities Asia-Pacific, bringing the event and the focus to the Asia-Pacific region, catering to the situation, challenges and opportunities of local governments specifically in this region.
● It aims to provide an Asian platform for urban resilience and climate change adaptation where partnerships are forged and concrete dialogues are happening, with the ultimate goal of identifying solutions and creating lasting impacts for cities in the region.

Indian Monsoons – Role of ITCZ [Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone]

• The southeast trade winds in the southern hemisphere and the northeast trade winds in the northern hemisphere meet each other near the equator.
• The meeting place of these winds is known as the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ).
• This is the region of ascending air, maximum clouds and heavy rainfall.
• The location of ITCZ shifts north and south of equator with the change of season.
• In the summer season, the sun shines vertically over the Tropic of Cancer and the ITCZ shifts northwards.
• The southeast trade winds of the southern hemisphere cross the equator and start blowing in southwest to northeast direction under the influence of Coriolis force.
• These displaced trade winds are called south-west monsoons when they blow over the Indian sub-continent.
• The front where the south-west monsoons meet the north-east trade winds is known as the Monsoon Front (ITCZ). Rainfall occurs along this front.
• In the month of July the ITCZ shifts to 20°- 25° N latitude and is located in the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the south-west monsoons blow from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The ITCZ in this position is often called the Monsoon Trough [maximum rainfall].
• The seasonal shift of the ITCZ has given the concept of Northern Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (NITCZ) in summer (July – rainy season) and Southern Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (SITCZ) in winter (Jan – dry season).
• NITCZ is the zone of clouds and heavy rainfall that effect India

The phrase ‘Directive Principles of State Policy’ denotes the ideals that the State should keep in mind while formulating policies and enacting laws. These are the constitutional instructions or recommendations to the State in legislative, executive and administrative matters.