Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: International Whaling Commission (IWC)
Mains level: Not Much
Iceland will not be hunting any whales in 2020. Iceland, alongside Norway and Japan, has frequently broken the International Whaling Commission’s 1986 worldwide moratorium, which indefinitely “paused” commercial whaling.
Regarding IWC, we can expect a statement based prelim question asking-
1) If IWC has a UN or any other parent organization
2) If India is a member/observer etc.
About International Whaling Commission (IWC)
- The IWC is an Inter-Governmental Organisation set up by the terms of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) signed in Washington, D.C in 1946.
- It aims to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.
- The main duty of the IWC is to keep under review and revise as necessary the measures laid down in the Schedule to the Convention which governs the conduct of whaling throughout the world.
- The body is the first piece of International Environmental Legislation established in 1946.
- Commercial whaling was banned by the IWC in 1986 after some species were almost driven to extinction.
- 89 countries have the membership of in IWC and all the member countries are signatories to this convention.
- India is a member state of the IWC.
Earlier reference
- Japan has last year withdrawn from the IWC citing domestic reasons.
- Thus, it resumed commercial whaling after 31 years, meeting a long-cherished goal of its traditionalists.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GI mentioned in the news
Mains level: Not Much
Chak-Hao, the black rice of Manipur and the Gorakhpur terracotta and the Kovilpatti kadalai mittai of Tamil Nadu have bagged the Geogrphical Indication (GI) tag.
Must read: GI Tags in news for 2020 Prelims
Chak-Hao
- Chak-Hao, the scented glutinous rice which has been in cultivation in Manipur over centuries.
- It is characterized by its special aroma. It is normally eaten during community feasts and is served as Chak-Hao kheer.
- The application for Chak-Hao was filed by the Consortium of Producers of Chak-Hao (Black Rice), Manipur and was facilitated by the Department of Agriculture.
- Chak-Hao has also been used by traditional medical practitioners as part of traditional medicine.
- According to the GI application filed, this rice takes the longest cooking time of 40-45 minutes due to the presence of a fibrous bran layer and higher crude fibre content.
- At present, the traditional system of Chak-Hao cultivation is practised in some pockets of Manipur.
- Direct sowing of pre-soaked seeds and also transplantation of rice seedlings raised in nurseries in puddled fields are widely practised in the State’s wetlands.
Gorakhpur terracotta
- The terracotta work of Gorakhpur is a centuries-old traditional art form, where the potters make various animal figures like, horses, elephants, camel, goat, ox, etc. with hand-applied ornamentation.
- The application was filed by Laxmi Terracotta Murtikala Kendra in Uttar Pradesh.
- Some of the major products of craftsmanship include the Hauda elephants, Mahawatdar horse, deer, camel, five-faced Ganesha, singled-faced Ganesha, elephant table, chandeliers, hanging bells etc.
- The entire work is done with bare hands and artisans use natural colour, which stays fast for a long time.
- There are more than 1,000 varieties of terracotta work designed by the local craftsmen.
- The craftsmen are mainly spread over the villages of Aurangabad, Bharwalia, Langadi Gularia, Budhadih, Amawa, Ekla etc. in Bhathat and Padri Bazar, Belwa Raipur, Jungle Ekla No-1, Jungle Ekla No-2 in Chargawan block of Gorakhpur.
Kovilpatti kadalai mittai
- It is a candy made of peanuts held together with glistening syrup, and topped with wisps of grated coconut dyed pink, green and yellow.
- It is made using all natural ingredients such as the traditional and special ‘vellam’ (jaggery) and groundnuts and water from the river Thamirabarani is used in the production, which enhances the taste naturally.
- It is manufactured in Kovilpatti and adjacent towns and villages in Thoothukudi district.
- It is produced by using both groundnuts and jaggery (organic jaggery), in carefully selected quantities from selected specific locations in Tamil Nadu.
Back2Basics: Geographical Indications in India
- A Geographical Indication is used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
- Such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness which is essentially attributable to its origin in that defined geographical locality.
- This tag is valid for a period of 10 years following which it can be renewed.
- Recently the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry has launched the logo and tagline for the Geographical Indications (GI) of India.
- The first product to get a GI tag in India was the Darjeeling tea in 2004.
- The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 (GI Act) is a sui generis Act for protection of GI in India.
- India, as a member of the WTO enacted the Act to comply with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
- Geographical Indications protection is granted through the TRIPS Agreement
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chithirai Festival
Mains level: Not Much
For the first time, in place of Madurai’s Chithirai Festival, a simple celestial union is set to take place that will be streamed online.
Match the pair based question can be asked from festivals as such. Recently, the following festivals were in the news: Ambubachi Mela, Thrisoor Puram, Meru Jatara, Nagoba Jatara etc.
Chithirai Festival
- Chithirai Festival or Chithirai Thiruvizha is an annual celebration celebrated in the city of Madurai during the month of April.
- It is celebrated during the Tamil month of Chithirai.
- It lasts for one month of which the first 15 days mark the celebrations of the coronation of Goddess Meenakshi and the Marriage of Lord Sundareswara and Goddess Meenakshi.
- The next 15 days mark the celebrations of the Journey of Lord Alagar from Kallazhagar temple in Alagar Koyil to Madurai.
About Meenakshi Temple
- The ancient city of Madurai, more than 2,500 years old, was built by the Pandyan king, Kulashekarar, in the 6th century B.C.
- But the reign of the Nayaks marks the golden period of Madurai when art, architecture and learning flourished expansively.
- The most beautiful buildings in the city including its most famous landmark, the Meenakshi temple, were built during the Nayak rule.
- Located in the heart of the city, the Meenakshi-Sundareshwarar temple is dedicated to goddess Meenakshi, the consort of lord Shiva.
- The sculpted pillars are adorned with the exquisite murals that celebrate the ethereal beauty of princess Meenakshi and the scenes of her wedding with Lord Shiva.
- The pillars depict scenes from the wedding of Meenakshi and Sundareswarar. There are 985 richly carved pillars here and each one surpasses the other in beauty.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Europeanized school of painting in India
Mains level: NA
April 29 is the birth anniversary of the famed Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906), remembered for giving Indians their western, classical representations of Hindu gods and goddesses.
Raja Ravi Varma
- Varma was born into aristocracy at Kilimanoor in the erstwhile Travancore state of present-day Kerala and was closely related to its royal family.
- At the age of 14, Varma was patronised by Ayilyam Thirunal, the then ruler of Travancore, and went on to receive training in watercolours from Ramaswamy Naidu, the royal painter.
- Later, Varma studied oil painting with the British painter Theodore Jensen.
- Apart from Travancore, Varma also worked for other wealthy patrons such as the Gaekwad of Baroda.
Major works
- A prolific artist, Varma is believed to have made around 7,000 paintings before his death.
- Varma worked on both portrait and landscape paintings and is considered among the first Indian artists to use oil paints.
- Apart from painting Hindu mythological figures, Varma also made portraits of many Indians as well as Europeans.
- His most famous works include Damayanti Talking to a Swan, Shakuntala Looking for Dushyanta, Nair Lady Adorning Her Hair, and Shantanu and Matsyagandha.
His legacy
- He continues to be regarded as the most important representative of the Europeanized school of painting in India.
- His 1873 painting, Nair Lady Adorning Her Hair, won Varma prestigious awards including Governor’s Gold Medal when it was presented in the Madras Presidency and Certificate of Merit at an exhibition in Vienna.
- In 1904, the British colonial government awarded Varma with the Kaiser-i-Hind Gold Medal.
- In 2013, a crater on the planet Mercury was named in his honour.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: General Relativity, Black Holes, Black Holes merger
For the first time since it started functioning, the gravitational wave observatories at LIGO scientific collaboration have detected a merger of two unequal-mass black holes.
This newscard contains few basic terms that one must know-
Gravitational waves
General Relativity
Black Holes
GW190412
- The event, dubbed GW190412, was detected nearly a year ago, and this is almost five years after the first-ever detection of gravitational-wave signals by these powerful detectors.
- Subsequent analysis of the signal coming from the violent merger showed that it involved two black holes of unequal masses coalescing.
- One of them was some 30 times the mass of the Sun and the other which had a mass nearly 8 times the solar mass.
- The actual merger took place at a distance of 2.5 billion light-years away.
Significant feature observed
- The detected signal’s waveform has special extra features in it when it corresponds to the merger of two unequal-sized black holes as compared with a merger of equal-sized black holes.
- These features make it possible to infer many more things about the characters such as- a more accurate determination of the distance from the event, the spin or angular momentum of the more massive black hole and the orientation of the whole event with respect to viewers on Earth.
- While the mass of the black hole bends the space-time close to it, the spin or angular momentum of this inscrutable object drags the nearby space-time, causing it to swirl around, along with it.
- Hence both these properties are important to estimate.
Confirmed General Relativity
- An Indian team consisting of researchers verified the consistency of the signal with the prediction of General Relativity.
- The existence of higher harmonics was itself a prediction of General Relativity.
Must refer for an easy and illustrated understanding of General Relativity-
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Radioactivity
Mains level: NA
This newscard is inspired by an article published in the DTE which talks about a family which has received a total of four Nobel prizes, the highest won by a single-family.
Last year in 2019 CSP, there was a question on pure Biology about Hepatitis and its variants. With such news trending, we can expect a core chemistry or physics based question coupled with a slight Current Affairs blend.
The ‘Nobel’ family
- On April 20, 1902, Marie and Pierre Curie successfully isolated radioactive radium salts from pitchblende, a mineral, in a laboratory in Paris, France.
- They were inspired by French physicist Henri Becquerel’s 1896 experiment on phosphorescence or the phenomenon that allows certain objects to glow in the dark.
- They were able to find traces of two radioactive elements—polonium (Element 84) and radium (Element 88).
- Curie shared the 1903 Nobel with her fellow researcher Pierre Currie and Becquerel for their combined work on radioactivity.
Important facts
- In 1903, Marie Curie received the Nobel Prize in Physics making her the world’s first woman to win the prize.
- In 1911, she created history again by becoming the first woman to have won two Nobel awards.
- The 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Marie after she managed to produce radium as a pure metal. This proved the new element’s existence beyond doubt.
- However, this was not the last Nobel for the Curie family.
- The 1935 Nobel in Chemistry went to Irène Curie and her husband and co-researcher Frédéric Joliot for their joint work on the artificial creation of new radioactive elements.
- The Curies have received a total of four of Nobel prizes, the highest won by a single-family. They also have the unique distinction of having three Nobel-prize winning members in the family.
Birth of Radioactivity
- While delivering a lecture at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden in 1911, Curie shared some critical details about “radioactive elements” and the phenomenon called “radioactivity”.
- She also spoke about the chemical properties of radium, the new element that was about a million times more radioactive than uranium.
- Radium in solid salts was about 5 million times more radioactive than an equal weight of uranium.
Back2Basics: Radioactivity
- Radioactivity refers to the particles which are emitted from nuclei as a result of nuclear instability.
- It is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation.
- The most common types of radiation are called alpha, beta, and gamma radiation, but there are several other varieties of radioactive decay.
- Radioactive decay rates are normally stated in terms of their half-lives, and the half-life of a given nuclear species is related to its radiation risk.
- Examining the amounts of decay products makes possible radioactive dating.
Its applications
- Medical use: Many diseases such as cancer are cured by radiotherapy. Sterilization of medical instruments and food is another common application of radiation.
- Scientific use: Alpha particles emitted from the radioisotopes are used for nuclear reactions.
- Industrial use: Radioisotopes are used as fuel for atomic energy reactors. Also used in Carbon dating.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various passes in news, BRO
Mains level: NA
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has opened the Rohtang Pass, three weeks in advance, for transporting essential supplies and relief materials to Lahaul and Spiti districts of Himachal Pradesh.
Rohtang Pass
- It is a high mountain pass (elevation 3,980 m) on the eastern Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas around 51 km from Manali.
- It connects the Kullu Valley with the Lahaul and Spiti Valleys of Himachal Pradesh, India.
- The pass lies on the watershed between the Chenab and Beas basins.
- On the southern side of this pass, the Beas River emerges from underground and flows southward and on its northern side, the Chandra River, a source stream of the river Chenab, flows westward.
Another pass in new:
Sela Pass Tunnel Project
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Exercise Pitch Black 2020
Mains level: NA
Australia has informed India that their premier multilateral air combat training exercise Pitch Black 2020 scheduled in July has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation.
All-time generic question seeking ‘match the pairs’ can be asked from the news as such. Click here for more exercises.
Ex Pitch Black 2020
- Exercise Pitch Black is a biennial warfare exercise hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
- The aim of the exercise is to practice Offensive Counter Air (OCA) and Defensive Counter Air (DCA) combat, in a simulated war environment.
- In the last edition of Pitch Black in 2018, the IAF for the first time participated with its Su-30MKI fighters, one C-130 and one C-17 transport aircraft.
- It provided a unique opportunity for an exchange of knowledge and experience with these nations in a dynamic warfare environment.
- The next edition of Pitch Black is scheduled in 2022.
India’s defence relation with Australia
- The defence and strategic engagement with Australia have steadily gone up in recent years especially on the bilateral front with naval cooperation at the forefront.
- The bilateral naval exercise AUSINDEX early last year saw the participation of the largest Australian contingent ever to India with over 1,000 personnel.
- The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) has been long pending and is expected to be concluded soon as well as a broader maritime cooperation agreement including the Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) to elevate the existing strategic partnership.
- Australia recently made a pitch for trilateral cooperation among India, Australia and Indonesia to identify new ways that our three countries can collaborate to be the best possible custodians of the Indian Ocean.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Unified Geologic Map of the Moon
Mains level: Studying topography of the moon
The first-ever digital, unified, global, geological map of the moon was released virtually by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and the Lunar Planetary Institute.
Unified Geologic Map of the Moon
- The UGM will serve as a blueprint for future human missions and a source of research and analysis for the educators and the general public interested in lunar geology.
- The map is a ‘seamless, globally consistent, 1:5,000,000-scale geologic map’.
- The mapped surface features of the moon included crater rim crests, buried crater rim crests, fissures, grabens, scarps, mare wrinkle ridges, faults, troughs, rilles, and lineaments.
How it was prepared?
- The researchers built on the original digital renovation of the six maps comprising of the near, central far, east, west, north and south sides that was released in 2013.
- The final map consists of 43 geologic units across the entire lunar surface, broken down into groups based on characteristics like materials of craters, basins, terra, plains and volcanic units.
- Data from NASA’s Apollo Missions were used to come up with the map.
Its’ significance
- The moon’s South Pole is especially interesting because the area is much larger than the North Pole and there could be a possibility of the presence of water in these permanently shadowed areas.
- Further, the South Pole region also contains the fossil record of the early Solar System.
- These present and future moon missions’ success can be further helped by the digital map of the moon.
- The Chandrayaan 2, an active mission also targets the Lunar South Pole for exploration.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Reverse Vaccinology
Mains level: Coronovirus and the hunt for its vaccine
The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University has developed a vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2 through ‘reverse vaccinology’.
A definition based prelims question can be expected on Reverse Vaccinology. Ex. Which of the following statements best describes ‘Reverse Vaccinology’?
Reverse Vaccinology
- Reverse vaccinology is an improvement on vaccinology that employs applied bioinformatics.
- The basic idea behind it is that an entire pathogenic genome can be screened using bioinformatics approaches to find genes.
- Some traits that the genes are monitored for may indicate antigenicity.
- Those genes are filtered for desirable attributes that would make good vaccine targets such as outer membrane proteins.
- Once the candidates are identified, they are produced synthetically and are screened in animal models of the infection.
- Since then, it has been used on several other bacterial vaccines.
Benefits
- Earlier researchers had to do a viral culture in the laboratory to develop a vaccine, and this was time-consuming.
- The major advantage for reverse vaccinology is finding vaccine targets quickly and efficiently.
- Traditional methods took decades to unravel pathogens and antigens, diseases and immunity
- With ‘reverse vaccinology’ scientists know what molecules make the genomic sequence.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BSL ratings
Mains level: Not Much
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a mobile virology research lab.
We can expect a prelim question on BSL ratings as the term is widely appearing in news these days.
About the MVRDL
- The MVRDL is the combination of a bio-safety level (BSL)-3 lab and a BSL-2 lab and was set up in a record time of 15 days.
- It can process 1,000-2,000 samples a day.
- The mobile lab will be helpful in carrying out a diagnosis of COVID-19 and in virus-culturing for drug screening, convalescent plasma-derived therapy, comprehensive immune profiling of patients towards vaccine etc.
What are Biosafety Level (BSL) Ratings?
- A BSL is a set of biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed laboratory facility.
- The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 (BSL-1) to the highest at level 4 (BSL-4).
- BSL-1 is suitable for work with well-characterized agents which do not cause disease in healthy humans.
- BSL- 2 is suitable for work involving agents of the moderate potential hazard to personnel and the environment.
- BSL-3 is appropriate for work involving microbes which can cause serious and potentially lethal disease via the inhalation route.
- BSL-4 is the highest level of biosafety precautions and is appropriate for work with agents that could easily be aerosol-transmitted within the laboratory and cause severe to fatal disease in humans for which there are no available vaccines or treatments.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NanoBlitz 3D
Mains level: NA
Indian scientists have developed an advanced tool for mapping nano-mechanical properties of materials like multi-phase alloys, composites, and multi-layered coatings.
Nanotechnology is a pathbreaking technology which can create many new materials and devices with a wide range of applications, such as in nanomedicine, nanoelectronics etc. NanoBlitz 3D is another distinct development. We can expect a prelims question asking what the NanoBlitz 3D is , with confusing options like 3d printing tool etc.
NanoBlitz 3D
- Scientists from Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI) an autonomous institute under the Dept. of S&T have developed this tool.
- It is an advanced tool for mapping nano-mechanical properties of materials like multi-phase alloys, composites, and multi-layered coatings.
- The tool has been useful to yield excellent results on a wide range of material systems, including glass-fibre-reinforced polymer composites, dual-phase steels, softwood and shale.
- An important aspect of this technique is its high-throughput, with just a few hours of testing required for generating more than 10,000 data points that can be processed using machine learning (ML) algorithms.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ambubachi Mela
Mains level: NA
The Ambubachi Mela at Guwahati’s Kamakhya Temple has been cancelled this year due to COVID-19.
Many festivals this year have been cancelled for the first time in their recorded history. Few of them were – Thrisur Pooram Festival, Pandharpur Jatara and now, the Ambubachi Mela. Do read about the Medaram Jatara (held in February) as well. Take note of each of them and their speciality along with the respective state of celebration.
Ambubachi Mela
- Ambubachi Mela, a four-day fair to mark the annual menstruation of the goddess at Kamakhya temple in Guwahati has begun.
- Legends say the temple atop the Nilachal Hills, whose northern face slopes down to the Brahmaputra River, was built by the demon king Narakasura.
- But records are available only from 1565 when Koch king Naranarayana had the temple rebuilt.
- Kamakhya is one of 51 shaktipeeths or holy sites for the followers of the Shakti cult, each representing a body part of the Sati, Lord Shiva’s companion.
- The temple’s sanctum sanctorum houses the yoni – female genital – symbolised by a rock.
Significance
- Temple priests said the ritualistic fair celebrating the Goddess’ period is one of the reasons why taboo associated with menstruation is less in Assam compared to other parts of India.
- The attainment of womanhood of girls in Assam is celebrated with a ritual called Tuloni Biya, meaning small wedding.
Similar place
- A similar custom is followed at the Devi Temple at Chengannur town in Alleppey district of Kerala.
- The temple is shut for the days the Goddess there is believed to undergo her period.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Anthurium
Mains level: NA
A women innovator from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, has developed ten varieties of Anthurium, a flower with high market value, by cross-pollination.
Anthurium
- An anthurium is a vast group of beautiful blooming plants available in a wide range of colours.
- Anthurium is one of the best domestic flowering plants in the world.
- They are decorative as well as purify the surrounding air and remove harmful airborne chemicals like formaldehyde, ammonia, toluene, xylene, and allergens.
- Its importance of removing toxic substances from the air, NASA has placed it in the list of air purifier plants.
- Anthurium has larger economic importance because of its eye-catching and beautiful inflorescence and fetches a good market price.
Salient features of the Anthurium varieties are
- Large beautiful flowers
- Different colors of spathe and spadix
- Long stalks
- Better shelf life
- Good market value
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Earth Day
Mains level: NA
Yesterday, April 22nd was celebrated as Earth Day, an international event celebrated around the world to pledge support for environmental protection.
The Earth Day designation by UN and its first observance have confusing difference. Make note of that. We can expect a question based on that. Also read about Earth Overshoot Day.
What is Earth Day?
- In 2009, the United Nations designated April 22 as ‘International Mother Earth Day’.
- Earth Day aims to “build the world’s largest environmental movement to drive transformative change for people and the planet.”
- Earth Day was first observed in 1970, when 20 million took to the streets to protest against environmental degradation.
- The event was triggered by the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, as well as other issues such as smog and polluted rivers.
- The landmark Paris Agreement, which brings almost 200 countries together in setting a common target to reduce global greenhouse emissions, was signed on Earth Day 2016.
Significance of this year
- The year 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the annual celebrations.
- This year’s theme for Earth Day is ‘climate action’.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Daporijo bridge and its location
Mains level: Border disputes with China
A key bridge over the Subansiri River in Arunachal Pradesh close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in record 27 days.
North-East has seen the construction of a series of bridges by BRO in recent times post-Doklam standoff. Make a note of all such bridges and the corresponding rivers over which they are built.
Daporijo Bridge
- This Bridge is one of the two over River Subansiri which connect Daporji in North Subansiri dist. with rest of state.
- This and the other bridge at Tamin sustaining more than 600 villages and troops strength of around 3000 personnel manning the LAC which includes disputed Areas of Asaphila and Maza.
- All supplies, rations, constructional material and medicines pass over this bridge.
- The new bridge now can withstand 40 tonnes of weight allowing a safe passage for heavier vehicles catering for the requirements of the Indian Army as well as future infrastructure development requirements.
Significance
- India has speeded up the construction of critical infrastructure in its northeast in the past half a dozen years including airports, railways and roads with an eye on China that has motorable roads right up to the border.
- Arunachal Pradesh was the scene of the 1962 India-China border conflict that ended badly for India. China on its parts claims all of the state as “Southern Tibet.”
- Of the 3488 km long Line of Actual Control with China 1126 lies with Arunachal Pradesh alone.
- The two countries are yet to demarcate their border with the two sides patrolling the LAC but reporting incursions by the other side since the frontier is not clearly marked.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Thrissur Pooram
Mains level: NA
For the first time since its inception, Thrissur Pooram, considered as mother of all poorams in Kerala, has been cancelled earlier this month.
Note the cultural terms in the newscard. As the name itself suggests the state of celebration, it very unlikely to be asked in the ‘fest-state’ format. Rather UPSC can ask – “The terms X, Y, Z …. are associated with which of the following reknown festival?”
Thrissur Pooram
- Thrissur Pooram is an annual Hindu festival held in Kerala.
- It is held at the Vadakkunnathan Temple in Thrissur every year on the Pooram day – the day when the moon rises with the Pooram star in the Malayalam Calendar month of Medam.
- It is the largest and most famous of all poorams.
- Thrissur Pooram was the brainchild of Raja Rama Varma, famously known as Sakthan Thampuran, the Maharaja of Cochin (1790–1805).
Actual course of the festival
- The Pooram is centred on the Vadakkunnathan Temple, with all these temples sending their processions to pay obeisance to the Shiva, the presiding deity.
- The Pooram officially begins with a flag hoisting ceremony (Kodiyettam).
- All the participating temples of Thrissur Pooram are present for the ceremony, and there is a light firework to announce the commencement of the festival.
- The seventh day of the pooram is the last day. It is also known as “Pakal Pooram”.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Helicopter Money, Quantative easing
Mains level: Not Much
With the coronavirus-hit economy falling deeper and deeper into a chasm with each passing day, Telangana chief minister KC Rao earlier this month has said helicopter money can help states come out of this crisis.
Various monetary policy tools are being considered to boost consumer demand in the economy which is stricken by the coronavirus pandemic. Helicopter Money is one such tool.
What is Helicopter Money?
- This is an unconventional monetary policy tool aimed at bringing a flagging economy back on track.
- It involves printing large sums of money and distributing it to the public. American economist Milton Friedman coined this term.
- It basically denotes a helicopter dropping money from the sky.
- Friedman used the term to signify “unexpectedly dumping money onto a struggling economy with the intention to shock it out of a deep slump.”
- Under such a policy, a central bank “directly increases the money supply and, via the government, distributes the new cash to the population with the aim of boosting demand and inflation.”
Is helicopter money the same as quantitative easing (QE)?
- Quantitative easing involves the use of printed money by central banks to buy government bonds.
- But not everyone views the money used in QE as helicopter money.
- It sure means printing money to monetize government deficits, but the govt has to pay back for the assets that the central bank buys.
- It’s not the same as bond-buying by central banks “in which bank-owned assets are swapped for new central bank reserves.
- Helicopter money is also different from a central bank directly financing the debt of a government.
Pros and cons of helicopter money
Pros
- Helicopter money does not rely on increased borrowing to fuel the economy, which means that it doesn’t create more debt and interest rates can remain unchanged.
- Generally, helicopter money boosts spending and economic growth more effectively than quantitative easing because it increases aggregate demand – the demand for goods and services – immediately.
- While government money drops that come from debt might not boost consumer spending, due to the debt needing to be repaid, it is often thought that ‘money finance’ will stimulate the economy.
Cons
- Unlike quantitative easing, using helicopter money as a tactic is not reversible, and many argue that it’s not a feasible solution to revive the economy.
- A country’s central bank sets its interest rates to reach economic growth targets.
- However, a helicopter drop means that a central bank cannot use interest rates to recover any costs, because the money is not linked to a borrowed asset (loan).
- Instead, the money is given directly to the public. This may lead to over-inflation and cause damage to the central bank’s financials.
- One of the main risks associated with helicopter money is that it could lead to a significant devaluation of the currency on the foreign exchange market.
- As more money is printed and supply increases, the value of the domestic currency could significantly decrease.
- It could also discourage speculators from buying the currency as it is less likely to perform well.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mt. Matterhorn and its location
Mains level: Not Much
Switzerland has expressed solidarity with India in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic by projecting the tricolour on the famous Matterhorn Mountain in the Swiss Alps.
It has been long time since a question on global mountains/mountain ranges has not been asked in the prelims. Gear up for the uncertainty. Make a special sheet of geographical locations in news.
Mt. Matterhorn
- The Matterhorn is a mountain of the Alps, separating the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy.
- It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, whose summit is 4,478 metres.
- It is one of the highest summits in the Alps and Europe (Mont Blanc being highest).
- The four steep faces, rising above the surrounding glaciers, face the four compass points and are split by the Hörnli, Furggen, Leone/Lion, and Zmutt ridges.
Its formation
- The Matterhorn is mainly composed of gneisses originally fragments of the African Plate before the Alpine orogeny.
- The mountain’s current shape is the result of cirque erosion due to multiple glaciers diverging from the peak, such as the Matterhorn Glacier at the base of the north face.
Back2Basics: Alps mountain range
- The Alps are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe.
- It stretches approximately 1,200 kilometres across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia.
- The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided.
- Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.
- Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,809 m (15,778 ft) is the highest mountain in the Alps.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: OBICUS
Mains level: Not Much
The Reserve Bank of India has launched the latest round of quarterly order books, inventories and capacity utilization survey (OBICUS) of the manufacturing sector.
OBICUS is something new than we often get to hear from RBI…. Most recent was Ways and Means Advances. We can expect prelims question like- “Order books, inventories and capacity utilization survey (OBICUS) of the manufacturing sector is held by” – with options like NSSO, Labour Bureau etc.
OBICUS
- OBICUS survey on the manufacturing sector is published quarterly by the RBI since March 2008.
- It provides an insight into the demand conditions faced by the Indian manufacturing sector.
- It covers over 2500 public and private limited companies in the manufacturing sector.
- The company-level data collected during the survey are treated as confidential and never disclosed.
Items included in OBICUS
- The information collected in the survey includes quantitative data on new orders received during the reference quarter, backlog of orders, pending orders, total inventories with a breakup between work-in-progress (WiP) and finished goods (FG) inventories and item-wise production.
Significance of OBICUS
- The survey provides valuable input for monetary policy formulation.
- It represents the movements in actual data on order books, inventory levels of raw materials and finished goods and capacity utilization.
- These are considered as important indicators to measure economic activity, inflationary pressures and the overall business cycle.
- The survey also gives out the ratio of total inventories to sales and ratio of raw material (RM) and finished goods (FG) inventories to sales in percentages.
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