Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Epiphany Festival
Mains level: NA
The Epiphany festival was celebrated in parts of India, such as Goa and Kerala. In Goa, the celebration is known by its Portuguese name ‘Festa dos Reis’, and in parts of Kerala by its Syriac name ‘Denha’.
Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day
- Epiphany is among the three oldest and major festival days in Christianity, the two others being Christmas and Easter.
- It is celebrated on January 6 by a number of Christian sects, including Roman Catholics, and on January 19 by some Eastern Orthodox churches.
- In the West, the duration between December 25 and January 6 is known as the Twelve Days of Christmas.
- Epiphany is a feast day, or a day of commemoration, which in Christianity marks the visit of the Magi (meaning the Three Wise Men or Three Kings) to the Infant Jesus (Christ from his nativity until age 12).
- According to Christian belief, the Magi — Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar (or Casper), the kings of Arabia, Persia, and India, respectively — followed a miraculous guiding star to Bethlehem to paid homage to the Infant Jesus.
- The day also commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.
Celebrations in India
- In Goa, the Magi or Three Kings are called ‘Reis Magos’ in Portuguese.
- The Reis Magos fort, and church, in Bardez, and the Three Kings Chapel in Cansaulim, get their name from the belief.
- Communities in Bardez, Chandor, Cansaulim, Arossim, and Cuelim are known to celebrate Epiphany.
- In Kerala, at the St. Mary’s Orthodox Syrian Cathedral in Piravom, ‘Denha’ is an important annual celebration, in which a big congregation takes part.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nankana Sahib
Mains level: Significance of Nankana Sahib in Sikhism
Recently tension mounted in Pakistan after few goons vandalized the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara.
Nankana Sahib
- Nankana Sahib is a city of 80,000 in Pakistan’s Punjab province, where Gurdwara Janam Asthan (also called Nankana Sahib Gurdwara) is located.
- The shrine is built over the site where Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was believed to be born in 1469.
- It was constructed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, after he visited Nankana Sahib in 1818-19 while returning from the Battle of Multan.
- It is 75 kms to the west of Lahore, and is the capital of Nankana Sahib district.
- The city was previously known as Talwandi, and was founded by Rai Bhoi, a wealthy landlord.
- Rai Bhoi’s grandson, Rai Bular Bhatti, renamed the town ‘Nankana Sahib’ in honour of the Guru. ‘Sahib’ is an Arabic-origin epithet of respect.
Historical significance
- During British rule, the Gurdwara Janam Asthan was the site of a violent episode when in 1921, over 130 Akali Sikhs were killed after they were attacked by the Mahant of the shrine.
- The incident is regarded as one of the key milestones in the Gurdwara Reform Movement, which led to the passing of the Sikh Gurdwara Act in 1925 that ended the Mahant control of Gurdwaras.
- In 2014, Pakistan had a memorial for the massacre built.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Drosophila
Mains level: Not Much
Pune is set to host the fifth edition of the Asia Pacific Drosophila Research Conference (APDRC5) is being organised in the country for the first time by the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER).
Drosophila
- Drosophila is a genus of two-winged flies commonly known as fruit flies that are used in evolutionary and developmental studies.
- It is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called “small fruit flies” or pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species to linger around overripe or rotting fruit.
- It is one of the most widely-used and preferred model organisms in biological research across the world for the last 100 years.
- Several discoveries in biology have been made using this. Its genome is entirely sequenced and there is enormous information available about its biochemistry, physiology and behaviour.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Op Save Kurma
Mains level: Wildlife conservation in India
A first-of-its-kind rehabilitation centre for freshwater turtles will be inaugurated in Bihar’s Bhagalpur forest division in January 2020.
About the rehab centre
- The centre, spread over half a hectare, will be able to shelter 500 turtles at a time.
- Earlier, rescued turtles were released into rivers without much treatment in the absence of any facility.
- In the rehab centre they will be properly monitored before being released in their natural habitat.
Why need such centre?
- The need to build such a centre was felt after several turtles were found severely wounded and sick when rescued from smuggles by rescue teams.
- This centre will play a significant role in treating these animals and their proper upkeep before being returned to their natural habitat.
Why Bhagalpur?
- Eastern Bihar has been an ideal breeding ground for turtles.
- In Bhagalpur, the flow of water in the Ganga is ample. Also, there are many sandbanks in the middle of the river, which are ideal breeding ground for turtles.
Significance of turtles
- According to environmentalists, the turtles play a significant role in the river by scavenging dead organic materials and diseased fish.
- They control fish population by their predation and control aquatic plants and weeds.
- They are also described as indicators of healthy aquatic ecosystems.
Various threats
- According to a recent study conducted by Traffic India, around 11,000 turtles are being smuggled in India every year. In the past 10 years, as many as 110,000 turtles have been traded.
- These species are now under severe threats due to habitat fragmentation and loss through dams and barrages, pollution, illegal poaching, accidental drowning through fishing nets and threats to their nesting habitats etc.
- The turtles have come under serious threat primarily for two reasons — food and the flourishing pet trade.
- Turtles are being frequently targeted for meat due to the prevailing belief that it gives an energy boost and keeps various diseases away.
Back2Basics
Operation Save Kurma
- It is a periodic species specific operation on turtles conducted by Wildlife Crimes Control Bureau since 2017.
- Under this, a total of 15,739 live turtles were recovered from 45 suspects, having inter-state linkages.
- It helped the enforcement agencies to focus on the existing trade routes and major trade hubs in the country, which will be continued in future.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: WHO
Mains level: Role of nurses and midwives , ASHA
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has selected the year 2020 as the international “Year of the Nurse and Midwife”.
Year of the Nurse and Midwife
- It was decided in the honour of 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale.
- WHO said that nurses and midwives are the people who devote their lives to caring for children and mothers, looking after senior citizens and giving lifesaving immunizations.
- The declaration will help to strengthen nursing and midwifery for Universal Health Coverage.
- The declaration will also help to endorse “The NursingNow!” a three-year campaign (2018-2020) to improve health globally by raising the status of nursing.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Arabica and RObusta
Mains level: Coffee production in India
India’s Arabica production has hit an all-time low this coffee-picking season.
Coffee Production in India
- Coffee is grown in three regions of India with Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu forming the traditional coffee growing region.
- It is followed by the new areas developed in the non-traditional areas of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa in the eastern coast of the country and with a third region comprising the NE states.
- Indian coffee, grown mostly in southern states under monsoon rainfall conditions, is also termed as “Indian monsooned coffee”.
- The two well known species of coffee grown are the Arabica and Robusta.
History of Coffee in India
- In the Indian context, coffee growing started with a saint, Baba Budan who, while returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, smuggled seven coffee beans from Yemen to Mysore in India.
- He planted them on the Chandragiri Hills now named after the saint as Baba Budan Giri in Chikkamagaluru district of Karnataka.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MANI app
Mains level: Eliminating counterfeit currency notes
With an eye to aid the differently-abled, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched a mobile app to identify currency notes.
MANI App
- ‘MANI’, is an acronym for Mobile Aided Note Identifier.
- The visually challenged can identify the denomination of a note by using the application, which can also work offline once it is installed.
- A user will have to scan the notes using the camera and it will give the audio output to give out results in Hindi and English.
- RBI has clarified that the app does not authenticate a note as either genuine or counterfeit.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Millimeter Spectrum
Mains level: Rolling out of 5G services in India
The DoT plans to auction the 24.75 – 27.25 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum in the 5G band in March-April 2020.
Millimeter Spectrum
- The new spectrum under the 5G band called the ‘millimeter-wave bands’ is separate from the 8,300 megahertz (MHz).
- The millimeter-wave band or extremely high-frequency frequency spectrum is mainly designed for usage in airport security scanners, closed-circuit television, scientific research, machine-to-machine communication, and military fire control.
What’s so special with this MM spectrum?
- As the wavelength becomes smaller, the cell size becomes less, which is the footprint of the relay station. This will be used more by the industry.
- If we you already have fiber connection and want to reach houses, this will be through millimeter bands.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Senna spectabilis
Mains level: Impacts of the invasive alien species
The Kerala Forest Department is planning to adopt steps to arrest the rampant growth of invasive plants, especially Senna spectabilis, in the forest areas of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR).
Senna spectabilis
- The Senna spectabilis species was planted as avenue trees in Wayanad. The vayal ecosystem (marshy land) of the forest area now has this plant in large numbers.
- The spread is posing a major threat to the forest areas of the reserve, owing to its quick growth and coppicing character.
- The tree species was found in nearly 10 sq km area of the 344.44 sq km sanctuary around five years ago.
- The plant has started to invade the adjacent Bandipur and Nagarhole tiger reserves in Karnataka and the Mudumalai tiger reserve in Tamil Nadu.
- Now, it had invaded to more than 50 sq km of the sanctuary Wayanad WLS.
- A recent study of the Ferns Nature Conservation Society recorded the presence of the plant in 78.91 sq km area of the sanctuary.
Impact
- An adult tree grows up to 15 to 20 metres in a short period of time and every year distributes thousands of seeds after gregarious flowering.
- The thick foliage arrests the growth of other indigenous tree and grass species and causes food shortage for the wildlife population, especially herbivores.
- Moreover, wildlife will not feed on the leaf of the treeas it is not palatable for them.
- The allelochemicals produced by this plant adversely affect the germination and growth of the native species.
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