Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mullaperiyar Dam
Mains level: Not Much
The Mullaperiyar dam has recently turned 125.
Try this PYQ:
Q. What is common to the places known as Aliyar, Isapur and Kangsabati?
(a) Recently discovered uranium deposits
(b) Tropical rain forests
(c) Underground cave systems
(d) Water reservoirs
Mullaperiyar Dam
- It is a masonry gravity dam on the Periyar River in the Indian state of Kerala.
- It is located 881 m above mean sea level, on the Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats in Thekkady, Idukki District of Kerala.
- It was constructed between 1887 and 1895 by John Pennycuick and also reached in an agreement to divert water eastwards to the Madras Presidency area (present-day Tamil Nadu).
- Pennycuick is widely worshipped as a hero by farmers in the four districts of southern Tamil Nadu, where water from the dam meets the drinking water needs and irrigates thousands of hectares.
Why is the dam special?
- The dam was constructed surmounting many odds, with malaria and thick jungles taking a toll on workers. It was a huge challenge before him to construct the dam and divert the river course.
- Pennycuick sowed the seeds of river interlinking to bring barren and rain-starved areas under cultivation.
- To fund dam construction, gold ornaments were donated by Chettiar families and farmers in Cumbom valley also gave their meagre savings to Pennycuick.
- Pennycuick even sold his ancestral property in Britain and spent the amount for completing the works of the dam when the expenses exceeded the allotted funds.
- The British government endowed him with the ‘Companion of Star of India’, a high civilian honour. He died on March 9, 1911, at Frimley in Britain.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hybrid funds
Mains level: Not Much
This newscard is an excerpt from an originally FAQ published in TH.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following is issued by registered foreign portfolio investors to overseas investors who want to be part of the Indian stock market without registering themselves directly?
(a) Certificate of Deposit
(b) Commercial Paper
(c) Promissory Note
(d) Participatory Note
Hybrid Fund
- A hybrid fund is one that invests in both equity and bonds. So, such funds ought to help investors with their asset allocation decision.
- This refers to how you allocate your annual savings between equity and bond investments.
- Suppose you are unsure of the proportion of equity and bond investments to have in your portfolio.
- By investing in a hybrid fund, you could outsource your asset allocation decision to the manager of the fund, so the argument goes.
- The issue is that each goal you pursue requires different asset allocation. For instance, the asset allocation for your child’s education portfolio must be different from your retirement portfolio.
- Hybrid funds cannot consider your individual goal requirement as it is a collective investment vehicle.
Tax efficiency of the fund
- Based on current tax laws, a hybrid fund that holds 65% or more in equity is considered as an equity fund.
- So, if you redeem your units in such hybrid funds after a holding period of more than 12 months, you have to pay long-term capital gains tax of 10%.
- If a hybrid fund holds less than 65% in equity, you have to pay 20% capital gains tax with indexation if you sell your units after a holding period of more than 36 months.
Back2Basics: Stocks vs. Bonds vs. Equity
- A stock represents a collection of shares in a company which is entitled to receive a fixed amount of dividend at the end of the relevant financial year which are mostly called Equity of the company.
- Bonds term is associated with debt raised by the company from outsiders which carry a fixed ratio of return each year and can be earned as they are generally for a fixed period of time.
- Bonds are actually loans that are secured by a specific physical asset.
- It highlights the amount of debt taken with a promise to pay the principal amount in the future and periodically offering them the yields at a pre-decided percentage.
- Equity is ownership of assets that may have debts or other liabilities attached to them. Equity is measured for accounting purposes by subtracting liabilities from the value of an asset.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chapter Proceedings
Mains level: Law and order maintenance
The Mumbai police last week began “chapter proceedings” against the Editor-in-Chief of a news channel.
Can you relate the philosophy behind chapter proceedings and preventive detention?
What exactly are “chapter proceedings”?
- Chapter proceedings are preventive actions taken by the police if they fear that a particular person is likely to create trouble and disrupt the peace in society.
- These proceedings are unlike punitive action taken in case of an FIR with an intention to punish.
- Here, the police can issue notices under sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure to ensure that the person is aware that creating nuisance could result in action against him.
What are the sections using which these notices are served?
- Generally, a notice is issued to a person under section 111 of the CrPC whereby he is asked to present himself before the Executive Magistrate – an ACP-rank officer in a Commissionerate of a Dy. the collector in rural areas – who has issued the notice.
- The person has to explain why he should not be made to sign a bond of good behaviour.
- If the Executive Magistrate is not satisfied with the answer, the person is asked to sign a bond of good behaviour and produce sureties vouching for his/her good behaviour.
- A fine amount is also decided – in accordance with the crime and the person’s financial capability – which the person would have to pay if he violates the conditions set in the bond.
Legal immunities against such proceedings
- On receiving the notice under section 111, a person can appeal the notice before the courts.
- In fact, in the past, courts have come down strongly against chapter proceedings in some cases.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Authority of Ship Recycling (NASR)
Mains level: Not Much
The Central government has notified the Director-General of Shipping as the national authority for recycling of ships under the Recycling of Ships Act, 2019.
The ‘Hong Kong Convention’ is the odd man out here. Read more about the convention at:
[pib] Hong Kong International Convention for Safe Recycling of Ships 2009
About NASR
- The national authority of ship recycling will be set up in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
- The location of the office will benefit the ship recycling yard owners situated in Alang, Gujarat which is home to the largest ship recycling industry in the world.
- DG Shipping is authorized to administer, supervise and monitor all activities relating to ship recycling in the country.
- DG Shipping will oversee the sustainable development of the ship recycling industry, monitoring the compliance to environment-friendly norms and safety and health measures for the stakeholders.
- DG Shipping will be the final authority for the various approvals required by the ship-recycling yard owners and state governments.
Recycling of Ships Act, 2019
- Under the Ship Recycling Act, 2019, India has acceded to the ‘Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships’.
- This was adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
- DG Shipping is a representative of India in the IMO and all the conventions of IMO are being enforced by DG Shipping.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Karman Line, New Sphephard
Mains level: Micro-gravity experimentation
New Shephard, a rocket system meant to take tourists to space successfully completed its seventh test launch.
Note the features of the Karman Line. It is a new terminolgy in our recent space vocab.
What is New Shephard?
- New Shephard has been named after astronaut Alan Shephard, the first American to go to space, and offers flights to space over 100 km above the Earth and accommodation for payloads.
- Essentially, it is a rocket system that has been designed to take astronauts and research payloads past the Karman line – the internationally recognised boundary of space.
- The idea is to provide easier and more cost-effective access to space meant for purposes such as academic research, corporate technology development and entrepreneurial ventures among others.
- It is built by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s Space Company called Blue Origin.
- In 2018, Blue Origin was one of the ten companies selected by NASA to conduct studies and advance technologies to collect process and use space-based resources for missions to the Moon and Mars.
How does it work?
- The rocket system consists of two parts, the cabin or capsule and the rocket or the booster.
- The cabin can accommodate experiments from small mini payloads up to 100 kg.
- The cabin is designed for six people and sits atop a 60-feet tall rocket and separates from it before crossing the Karman line, after which both vehicles fall back to the Earth.
- The system is a fully reusable, vertical takeoff and vertical landing space vehicle that accelerates for about 2.5 minutes before the engine cuts off.
- After separating from the booster, the capsule free falls in space, while the booster performs an autonomously controlled vertical landing back to Earth.
- The capsule, on the other hand, lands back with the help of parachutes.
Back2Basics: Karman line
- The Karman line is an attempt to define a boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.
- The line is named after Theodore von Kármán (1881–1963), a Hungarian American engineer and physicist, who was active primarily in aeronautics and astronautics.
- He was the first person to calculate the altitude at which the atmosphere becomes too thin to support aeronautical flight and arrived at 83.6 km (51.9 miles) himself.
Locating the line
- The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) defines Karman Line as the altitude of 100 kilometres (62 miles; 330,000 feet) above Earth’s mean sea level.
- However, other organizations do not use this definition. There is no international law defining the edge of space, and therefore the limit of national airspace.
- For instance, the US Air Force and NASA define the limit to be 50 miles (80 km) above sea level.
- The line is approximately at the turbopause, above which atmospheric gases are not well-mixed.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Opposition event
Mains level: Not Much
Due to an event referred to as “opposition”, which takes place every two years and two months, Mars will shine the brightest.
Try this question from CSP 2017:
Q.Which region of Mars has a densely packed river deposit indicating this planet had water 3.5 billion years ago?
(a) Aeolis Dorsa (b) Tharsis (c) Olympus Mons (d) Hellas
What is the Opposition Event?
- ‘Opposition’ is the event when the sun, Earth and an outer planet (Mars in this case) are lined up, with the Earth in the middle.
- The time of opposition is the point when the outer planet is typically also at its closest distance to the Earth for a given year, and because it is close, the planet appears brighter in the sky.
- An opposition can occur anywhere along Mars’ orbit, but when it happens when the planet is also closest to the sun, it is also particularly close to the Earth.
- It will outshine Jupiter, becoming the third brightest object (moon and Venus are first and second, respectively) in the night sky during the month of October.
When does opposition happen?
- Earth and Mars orbit the sun at different distances (Mars is farther apart from the sun than Earth and therefore takes longer to complete one lap around the sun).
- In fact, the opposition can happen only for planets that are farther away from the sun than the Earth.
- In the case of Mars, roughly every two years, the Earth passes between sun and Mars, this is when the three are arranged in a straight line.
- Further, as the Earth and Mars orbit the sun, there comes a point when they are on the opposite sides of it, and hence very far apart. At its farthest, Mars is about 400 million km from the Earth.
- In case of opposition, however, Mars and Sun are on directly opposite sides of the Earth. In other words, the Earth, sun and Mars all lie in a straight line, with the Earth in the middle.
Logic behind the name
- As per NASA, from an individual’s perspective on the Earth, Mars rises in the east and after staying up all night, it sets in the west just as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
- Because from the perspective on Earth, the sun and Mars appear to be on the opposite sides of the sky, Mars is said to be in “opposition”.
- Essentially, the opposition is a reference to “opposing the sun” in the sky.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NSM, Supercomputing
Mains level: National Supercomputing Mission
The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has launched the second phase of the ambitious National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).
Tap to read more about National Supercomputing Mission (NSM):
[pib] National Supercomputing Mission (NSM)
National Supercomputing Mission (NSM)
- NSM is a proposed plan by GoI to create a cluster of seventy supercomputers connecting various academic and research institutions across India.
- In April 2015 the government approved the NSM with a total outlay of Rs.4500 crore for a period of 7 years.
- The mission was set up to provide the country with supercomputing infrastructure to meet the increased computational demands of academia, researchers, MSMEs, and startups by creating the capability design, manufacturing, of supercomputers indigenously in India.
- Currently, there are four supercomputers from India in the Top 500 list of supercomputers in the world.
Aims and objectives
- The target of the mission was set to establish a network of supercomputers ranging from a few Tera Flops (TF) to Hundreds of Tera Flops (TF) and three systems with greater than or equal to 3 Peta Flops (PF) in academic and research institutions of National importance across the country by 2022.
- This network of Supercomputers envisaging a total of 15-20 PF was approved in 2015 and was later revised to a total of 45 PF (45000 TFs), a jump of 6 times more compute power within the same cost and capable of solving large and complex computational problems.
What is a Supercomputer?
- A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer.
- The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instructions per second (MIPS).
- Since 2017, there are supercomputers which can perform over a hundred quadrillion FLOPS (petaFLOPS).
- Since November 2017, all of the world’s fastest 500 supercomputers run Linux-based operating systems.
Why do we need supercomputers?
- Tackle problems: Developed and almost-developed countries have begun ensuring high investments in supercomputers to boost their economies and tackle new social problems.
- These high-performance computers can simulate the real world, by processing massive amounts of data, making cars and planes safer, and more fuel-efficient and environment-friendly.
- They also aid in the extraction of new sources of oil and gas, development of alternative energy sources, and advancement in medical sciences.
- Disaster Management: Supercomputers have also helped weather forecasters to accurately predict severe storms, enable better mitigation planning and warning systems.
- They are also used by financial services, manufacturing and internet companies and infrastructure systems like water-supply networks, energy grids, and transportation.
- Future applications of artificial intelligence (AI) also depend on supercomputing.
- Due to the potential of this technology, countries like the US, China, France, Germany, Japan, and Russia have created national-level supercomputing strategies and are investing substantially in these programmes.
When did India initiate its efforts to build supercomputers?
- India’s supercomputer programme initiated in the late 1980s, when the United States ceased the export of a Cray Supercomputer due to technology embargos.
- This resulted in India setting up C-DAC in 1988, which in 1991, unveiled the prototype of PARAM 800, benchmarked at 5 Gflops. This supercomputer was the second-fastest in the world at that time.
- Since June 2018, the USA’s Summit is the fastest supercomputer in the world, taking away this position from China.
- As of January 2018, Pratyush and Mihir are the fastest supercomputers in India with a maximum speed of Peta Flops.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Greater Male Connectivity Project
Mains level: India-Maldives Relations
Following up on India’s announcement of a $500 million package to the Maldives, the Exim Bank of India and the Maldives’s Ministry of Finance signed an agreement for $400 million in Male.
Try this question from 2014:
Q.Which one of the following pairs of islands is separated from each other by the ‘Ten Degree Channel’?
(a) Andaman and Nicobar
(b) Nicobar and Sumatra
(c) Maldives and Lakshadweep
(d) Sumatra and Java
Greater Male Connectivity Project
- The GMCP consists of a number of bridges and causeways to connect Male to Villingili, Thilafushi and Gulhifahu islands that span 6.7 km.
- It would ease much of the pressure of the main capital island of Male for commercial and residential purposes.
- When completed, the project would render the Chinese built Sinamale Friendship bridge connecting Male to two other islands, thus far the most visible infrastructure project in the islands.
- At present, India-assisted projects in the region include water and sewerage projects on 34 islands, reclamation project for the Addl island, a port on Gulhifalhu, airport redevelopment at Hanimadhoo, and a hospital and a cricket stadium in Hulhumale.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Femto Satellites, Micro-gravity
Mains level: Not Much
An experimental satellite developed by three students of Karur (TN) has been selected for launch in sub-orbital space by NASA.
Try this PYQ:
Q.The term ‘IndARC’, sometimes seen in the news, is the name of:
(a) An indigenously developed radar system inducted into Indian Defence
(b) India’s satellite to provide services to the countries of Indian Ocean Rim
(c) A scientific establishment set up by India in Antarctic region
(d) India’s underwater observatory to scientifically study the Arctic region
Indian Sat
- The Indian Sat is made of reinforced graphene polymer. It is 3 cm in size and weighs 64 gm.
- It has its own radio frequency communication to transmit and receive a signal from earth to outer space. The solar cells attached to the satellite generate power for it.
- The photographic film will absorb and measure the cosmic radiation inside the rocket.
- It would study the effect of reinforced graphene polymers in microgravity. It would be in sub-orbital space flight for a few minutes before landing in the ocean.
What is micro-gravity?
- The term micro-g environment is more or less synonymous with the terms weightlessness and zero-g, but with an emphasis on the fact that g-forces are never exactly zero—it is just very small.
- On the ISS, for example, the small g-forces come from tidal effects, gravity from objects other than the Earth, such as astronauts, the spacecraft, and the Sun, and, occasionally, air resistance.
Back2Basics: Femto-satellites
- Femto-satellites are satellites with a mass lower than 100 grams.
- These new categories of satellites are, by concept, low cost devices if they are based on Commercial-of-the-Shelf (COTS) components.
- Some examples of applications are related to low-cost missions with a short time of development.
Kalamsat
- Kalamsat was a communication satellite with a life span of two months launched in 2017.
- The nanosatellite is a 10cm cube weighing 1.2 kg.
- It will be the first to use the rocket’s fourth stage as an orbital platform.
- The fourth stage will be moved to higher circular orbit so as to establish an orbital platform for carrying out experiments.
- It is named after former Indian president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam and was built by an Indian high school student team, led by Rifath Sharook, an 18-year-old from the Tamil Nadu town of Pallapatti.
- It is the world’s lightest and first-ever 3D-printed satellite.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FELUDA, CAS9, CRISPR
Mains level: CRISPR technology
Union Health Ministry will soon roll out the FELUDA paper strip test for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis.
Try this PYQ:
Q.What is Cas9 protein that is often mentioned in news?
(a) A molecular scissors used in targeted gene editing
(b) A biosensor used in the accurate detection of pathogens in patients
(c) A gene that makes plants pest-resistant
(d) A herbicidal substance synthesized in genetically modified crops
FELUDA test
- FELUDA is the acronym for FNCAS9 Editor Linked Uniform Detection Assay.
- It uses indigenously developed CRISPR gene-editing technology to identify and target the genetic material of SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
- According to CSIR, the test matches accuracy levels of RT-PCR tests, considered the gold standard in the diagnosis of Covid-19, has a quicker turnaround time and requires less expensive equipment.
- It is also the world’s first diagnostic test to deploy a specially adapted Cas9 protein to successfully detect the virus.
How does it work?
- The Feluda test is similar to a pregnancy test strip that will just change colour upon detection of the virus and can be used in a simple pathological lab.
- The Cas9 protein is bar-coded to interact with the SARS-CoV2 sequence in the patient’s genetic material.
- The Cas9-SARS-CoV2 complex is then put on the paper strip, where using two lines (one control, one test) makes it possible to determine if the test sample was infected.
Back2Basics: CRISPR technology
- CRISPR is a short form for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats.
- It is a gene-editing technology and finds its use in correcting genetic defects and treating and preventing the spread of diseases.
- The technology can detect specific sequences of DNA within a gene and uses an enzyme functioning as molecular scissors to snip it.
- It also allows researchers to easily alter DNA sequences and modify gene function.
- Moreover, the technology can also be configured for detection of multiple other pathogens in the future.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Blue Flag Beaches
Mains level: Not Much
Eight Indian beaches have got an International Blue Flag Certification, said Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Note the beaches and their respective states. They can be asked in the ”match the pairs” type questions.
Citation needed: *As of now, there are 13 Blue flag awarded beaches in India a/c to wikipedia. But Blue Flag website would provide exact figures (which yet to update the official numbers).
Which are these beaches?
- Shivrajpur (Dwarka-Gujarat)
- Ghoghla (Diu)
- Kasarkod [NOT Kasargod which is in Kerala] and Padubidri (Karnataka)
- Kappad (Kerala)
- Rushikonda (AP)
- Golden Beach (Odisha) and
- Radhanagar (A&N Islands)
Blue Flag Beaches
- The ‘Blue Flag’ beach is an ‘eco-tourism model’ and marks out beaches as providing tourists and beachgoers clean and hygienic bathing water, facilities/amenities, a safe and healthy environment, and sustainable development of the area.
- The certification is accorded by the Denmark-based Foundation for Environment Education.
- It started in France in 1985 and has been implemented in Europe since 1987, and in areas outside Europe since 2001 when South Africa joined.
- It has 33 stringent criteria under four major heads for the beaches, that is, (i) Environmental Education and Information (ii) Bathing Water Quality (iii) Environment Management and Conservation and (iv) Safety and Services.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Skal International Asia Area (SIAA)
Mains level: NA
The UT of Jammu and Kashmir has won the bid to host the 50th annual Skal International Asia Area (SIAA) Congress in 2021 during the annual general meeting recently against four other cities.
Note: Skal International is not an affiliate of the United Nations. This is where a prelims question can pull a nerve.
Skal International
- Skal International is a professional organization of tourism leaders around the world, promoting global tourism and friendship.
- It is a Spain-based tourism body with 15,000 members and 150 chapters across the world.
- The word Skal comes from Scandinavia and has a long tradition. The “Skal” is a bowl containing a welcome drink that is offered to visitors when entering a home.
- Its members, the industry’s managers and executives meet at local, national, regional and international levels to discuss and pursue topics of common interest.
- It is the only international group uniting all branches of the travel and tourism industry.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Raychaudhuri Equation
Mains level: Not Much
The Raychaudhuri Equation in General Relativity, derived by Raychaudhuri is in the spotlight after 2020 Physics Nobel was awarded to Penrose for throwing light on Black Holes.
Try this MCQ:
Q.The Raychaudhuri Equation is sometimes seen in news is related to:
Artificial Intelligence/Cloud Computing/Quantum Mechanics/Space Sciences
What is Raychaudhuri Equation?
- Raychaudhuri (1923–2005) was an Indian physicist, known for his research in general relativity and cosmology.
- In general relativity, the Raychaudhuri equation is a fundamental result describing the motion of nearby bits of matter.
- It was discovered independently by the Indian physicist Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri and the Soviet physicist Lev Landau.
- The equation offers a simple and general validation of our intuitive expectation that gravitation should be a universal attractive force between any two bits of mass-energy in general relativity, as it is in Newton’s theory of gravitation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: RudraM-I
Mains level: India's missile arsenal
A New Generation Anti Radiation Missile (NGARM), RudraM-I, was successfully flight-tested by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Try this MCQ:
Q.The RudraM-I recently seen in news is an:
Ans: Anti-satellite missile/ Anti-radiation Missile/ Anti-tank mine/ Submarine Torpedo
RudraM-I
- RudraM-I is an anti-radiation missile can locate and target any radiation-emitting source like enemy radars, communication sites and other Radio Frequency (RF) emitting targets.
- It is being developed by Defence Research Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad, as the nodal agency.
- It is a joint effort involving several DRDO labs, the IAF, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and several public and private sector enterprises.
- This is the first indigenous anti-radiation missile of the country. It has a range of up to 200 km depending upon the launch conditions.
- It can be launched from altitudes of 500 m to 15 km and speeds of 0.6 to 2 mach.
- It can play a key role in neutralizing any jamming platforms of the enemy or take out radar stations thereby clearing a path for own fighters to carry out an offensive and also prevent own systems from being jammed.
How does it work?
- Anti-radiation missiles are designed to detect, track and neutralize the adversary’s radar, communication assets and other radio frequency sources, which are generally part of their air defence systems.
- Such a missile’s navigation mechanism comprises an inertial navigation system — a computerised mechanism that uses changes in the object’s own position — coupled with GPS, which is satellite-based.
- For guidance, it has a “passive homing head” — a system that can detect, classify and engage targets (radio frequency sources in this case) over a wide band of frequencies as programmed.
- Once the RudraM missile locks on the target, it is capable of striking accurately even if the radiation source switches off in between.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: World Food Programme
Mains level: Not Much
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Programme (WFP) for feeding millions of people from Yemen to North Korea, with the coronavirus pandemic seen pushing millions more into hunger.
Tap here to read more about Nobel Prizes here at:
Nobel and other Prizes
World Food Programme
- The WFP is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations and the world’s largest humanitarian organization focused on hunger and food security.
- Founded in 1961, it is headquartered in Rome and has offices in 80 countries.
- In addition to emergency food aid, WFP focuses on relief and rehabilitation, development aid, and special operations, such as making food systems more resilient against climate change and political instability.
- It is an executive member of the United Nations Development Group, which collectively aims to fulfil the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and has prioritized achieving SDG 2 for “zero hunger” by 2030.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National butterflies
Mains level: Not Much
A citizen poll to identify the national butterfly concluded with three species garnering the highest number of votes.
Try this PYQ:
Q.With reference to India’s Biodiversity, Ceylon frogmouth, Coppersmith barbet, Gray-chinned minivet and White-throated redstart are-
(a) Birds
(b) Primates
(c) Reptiles
(d) Amphibians
Which are the three species?
(1) Indian Jezebel
- Blessed with a vibrant colour pattern, including vermilion (Haldi – kumkum), the Indian Jezebel (or Common Jezebel) is known to deter its predators with its flashy wing colours.
- Regarded as soldiers of farmers, they also prey on parasites that infest fruit-bearing plants.
- Widely distributed, the species can be spotted in gardens and other lightly wooded areas.
(2) Krishna Peacock
- It is a flagship species for biodiversity and conservation, generally found in large numbers in the Himalayas.
- Possessing a peculiarly large swallowtail, its iridescent green scales diffract light to coat itself in radiance.
(3) Orange Oakleaf
- It is commonly known as ‘dead leaf’ for its ability to camouflage as a dry autumn leaf while striking a stationary pose with its wings closed.
- The masquerade enables the species to prevent it from being devoured by birds in the moist forests of the northern Western Ghats, central, northern and northeastern parts of India where they are generally found.
- Besides, the Oakleaf is also known to exhibit polyphenism as it assumes specific colour and size during dry and wet seasons.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Abortelphusa Namdaphaensis
Mains level: Eastern Himalayas and its biodiversity
A crab specie was recently named after Arunachal Pradesh’s pristine forests on the edge of a small stream in Namdapha Tiger Reserve.
Try this question from CSP 2020:
Q.With reference to India’s Biodiversity, Ceylon frogmouth, Coppersmith barbet, Gray-chinned minivet and White-throated redstart are:
(a) Birds
(b) Primates
(c) Reptiles
(d) Amphibians
Abortelphusa Namdaphaensis
- The species, a small freshwater crab species, is a tribute to Namdapha, the largest protected area in the Eastern Himalayan Biodiversity Hotspot and the Abor Hills.
- It is the first Gecarcinucidae to be found in the Himalayan region. Freshwater crabs are divided into two families/categories: Potamidae and Gecarcinucidae.
- Both differ in abdomen shape and size. Potamidae species have a broad triangular abdomen, whereas, in Gecarcinucidae, the abdomen is mostly T-shaped.
- While the Gecarcinucidae is found in the peninsular region, the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, Potamidae are found in the Himalayan region.
What makes it special?
- The new species was found in a dry area, despite being a “freshwater” crab.
- Freshwater crabs use their gills to absorb dissolved oxygen from water, but for food, breeding, and other purposes, they do not need water, and thus roam on the land near water.
- The only reason it was possible to spot this on land is that the habitat around the water body has been preserved, untouched even.
- Of the 125 freshwater crabs in India, the north-east accounts for 37. Arunachal Pradesh has 15 and Assam has 21.
- The discovery highlights the potential of Arunachal Pradesh as one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in the country.
Back2Basics: Namdapha
- Namdapha (named a National Park in 1983) is known for its rich biodiversity and believed to be the rare area that harbours four large cats: tigers, snow leopards, clouded leopards and leopards.
- The Abor Hills, bordered by the Mishmi Hills and Miri Hills, is historically known for the Abor Expedition.
- It is a punitive expedition against the Abors in the North-Eastern Frontier Agency (which corresponds to parts of present-day Assam and Arunachal Pradesh) from October 1911 to April 1912.
- The expedition had thrown up a plethora of new floral and faunal species, making it a zoological and botanical expedition as well.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mascerene High, Global Warming Hiatus (GWH)
Mains level: Impact of global warming on Indian Monsoon
A new study on variability in the Mascarene High (MH) in the Southern Indian Ocean during global warming hiatus (GWH) has revealed that the region experienced significantly increased sea surface temperature (SST) during this period (1998-2016).
Try this PYQ:
Q.With reference to Ocean Mean Temperature (OMT), which of the following statements is/are correct? (CSP 2020)
- OMT is measured upto a depth of 26 degree Celsius isotherm which is 129 meters in the south-western Indian Ocean during January-March.
- OMT collected during January-March can be used in assessing whether the amount of rainfall in monsoon will be less or more than a certain long-term mean.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
What is Global Warming Hiatus (GWH)?
- A global warming hiatus is referred to a global warming pause, or a global warming slowdown, which is a period of relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures.
- The hiatus, however, can result in an increase in the SST.
What is Mascarene High (MH)?
- The Mascarene High (MH) is a semi-permanent subtropical high-pressure zone in the South Indian Ocean.
- It is also called the Indian Ocean subtropical high, which is a high-pressure area located between 20° to 35° South latitude and 40° to 90° East longitude.
- It is a region from where the cross-equatorial winds blow to India.
- It has been named after the Mascarene Islands, in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of the islands belonging to Mauritius as well as the French Réunion Islands.
- Apart from its large influence on African and Australian weather patterns, it also helps in driving the inter-hemispheric circulation between the Indian Ocean in the south and subcontinental landmass in the north.
Role of MH
- The warming in SST due to global warming has resulted in a decrease in the pressure gradient between the MH and the Indian landmass.
- This in turn suppressed the intensity of low-level cross-equatorial winds over the western Indian Ocean affecting the onset of the monsoon over the Indian subcontinent and rainfall over East Asia.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SMART
Mains level: Indian navy's arsenal
DRDO successfully conducted the flight test of its Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) system.
Try this MCQ:
Q.The SMART system recently tested by the DRDO is essentially a-
a)Radar
b)Torpedo
c)UAV
d)Missile
What is the SMART system?
- Torpedoes are self-propelled weapons that travel underwater to hit a target but are limited by their range.
- In the mid-2010s, DRDO undertook a project to build capacity to launch torpedoes assisted by missiles; Monday’s was the first known flight test of the system.
- This SMART system comprises a mechanism by which the torpedo is launched from a supersonic missile system with modifications that would take the torpedo to a far longer range than its own.
- For example, a torpedo with a range of a few kilometres can be sent a distance to the tune of 1000 km by the missile system from where the torpedo is launched.
Why is it significant?
- SMART is a game-changing technology demonstration in anti-submarine warfare.
- India’s anti-submarine warfare capacity building is crucial in light of China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean region.
- Assets of such warfare consist of the deployment of submarines, specialised anti-submarine ships, air assets and state-of-the-art reconnaissance and detection mechanisms.
- The Navy’s anti-submarine warfare capability got a boost in June after the conclusion of a contract for Advanced Torpedo Decoy System Maareech, capable of being fired from all frontline warships.
- India has been indigenously developing and building several anti-submarine systems and vessels in the recent past.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: About the Tunnel, EIA
Mains level: NA
Kerala CM has launched a tunnel road project that would connect Kozhikode with Wayanad.
Try this PYQ:
Q.From the ecological point of view, which one of the following assumes importance in being a good link between the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats?
(a) Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve
(b) Nallamala Forest
(c) Nagarhole National Park
(d) Seshachalam Biosphere Reserve
Kozhikode-Wayanad Tunnel Project
- The 7-km tunnel, being described as the third-longest in the country, is part of an 8-km road cutting through sensitive forests and hills of the Western Ghats.
- Its endpoints are at Maripuzha in Thiruvambady village panchayat (Kozhikode) and Kalladi in Meppadi panchayat (Wayanad).
- The tunnel is an outcome of a decades-long campaign for an alternative road as the Thamarassery Ghat Road is congested and gets blocked by landslides during heavy monsoon.
How will the road impact the ecology?
- The Forest Department has identified the proposed route as a highly sensitive patch comprising evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, marshlands and shola tracts.
- This region is part of an elephant corridor spread between Wayanad and Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.
- Two major rivers, Chaliyar and Kabani that flows to Karnataka, originate from these hills in Wayanad.
- Eruvazhanjipuzha, a tributary of Chaliyar and the lifeline of settlements in Malappuram and Kozhikode, begins in the other side of the hills.
- The region, known for torrential rain during the monsoon, has witnessed several landslides, including in 2019 at Kavalappura near Nilambur and at Puthumala, Meppadi in Wayanad.
Environmental clearance issues
- Proponents of the project have been stressing that the tunnel will not destroy forest (trees).
- The MoEFCC guidelines state that the Forest Act would apply not only to surface area but the entire underground area beneath the trees.
- For tunnel projects, conditions relating to underground mining would be applicable.
- As the proposed tunnel is 7 km long, it will require emergency exit points and air ventilation wells among other measures, which would impact the forest further.
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