Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Deccan Queen
Mains level: NA
The historic Deccan Queen train between Mumbai and Pune completed 90 years on June 1.
Take the opportunity to revise some of reformative measure in the Indian Railways taken through these years. Click here to read more .
The Deccan Queen
- The Deccan Queen was introduced between Mumbai and Pune on June 1, 1930 by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), the forerunner of the Central Railway.
- This was the first deluxe train introduced to serve the two important cities of the region, and was named after Pune – also known as the “Queen of Deccan”.
- It is among the rare Indian trains that have never been hauled using steam traction and were always electric-powered; on rare instances running on diesel.
- The GIPR in the 1940s would run Race Special trains for Mumbai’s horse racing enthusiasts who would come to Pune on weekends and race days.
- This train holds many a record, including that of being India’s first superfast train, first long-distance electric-hauled train, first vestibuled train, the first train to have a ‘women-only’ car, and the first train to feature a dining car.
Back2Basics: Railways in India
- Indian Railways started its service 164 years ago on 16 April 1853.
- The first railway proposals for India were made in Madras in 1832.
- The first train was run over a stretch of 33 kilometres from Mumbai to Thane and was hauled by three steam locomotives named Sahib, Sindh and Sultan.
- Indian Railway now has the 4th largest rail network in the world after the United States of America, China and Russia.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Antifa
Mains level: Racial antagonism across the world
As massive protests following the death of a person in racial discrimination continued to rock the US, President Donald Trump has announced that the alleged far-left group Antifa would be designated as a terrorist organisation by his government.
One can expect a similar prelims question:
Q. The Antifa movement recently seen in news is an: Free trade movement/Anti-terror movement etc.
Why the US seeks to ban Antifa?
- Trump has blamed for the protests that have convulsed cities across the US,
- Antifa is considered the loosely affiliated group of far-left anti-fascist activists.
Antifa: The group
- Antifa is an acronym for ‘Anti-Fascist’. It is not an organisation with a leader nor does it have a defined structure or membership roles.
- Antifa has been around for several decades, though accounts vary on its exact beginnings.
- The term dates the term as far back as Nazi Germany, describing the etymology of ‘Antifa’ as “borrowed from German Antifa, short for antifaschistische ‘anti-fascist’.
- Rather, Antifa is more of a movement of activists whose followers share a philosophy and tactics.
- They have made their presence known at protests, including the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
Its members
- It is impossible to know how many people count themselves as members.
- Its followers acknowledge that the movement is secretive, has no official leaders and is organised into autonomous local cells.
- It is also only one in a constellation of activist movements that have come together in the past few years to oppose the far right.
- Antifa members campaign against actions they view as authoritarian, homophobic, racist or xenophobic.
Activism over years
- Antifa members typically dress in black and often wear a mask at their demonstrations, and follow far-left ideologies such as anti-capitalism.
- The movement has been known to have a presence in the US in the 1980s.
- It shot into prominence following the election of President Trump in 2016, with violence marking some of its protests and demonstrations.
- Criticizing mainstream liberal politicians for not doing enough, Antifa members have often physically confronted their conservative opponents on the streets.
- The group also participates in non-violent protests. Apart from public counter-protests, Antifa members run websites that track white extremist and ultra-right groups.
Criticisms
- The movement has been widely criticised among the mainstream left and right.
- Conservative publications and politicians routinely rail against supporters of Antifa, who they say are seeking to shut down peaceful expression of conservative views.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: D10 Club
Mains level: Not Much
Britain said that it was pushing the U.S. to form a club of 10 nations that could develop its own 5G technology and reduce dependence on Huawei.
We can expect prelims question asking the purpose of the D10 group like-
Q. The D10 Club recently seen in news is a- Environment NGO/ Group of Democracies/ etc.
The D10 Club
- The Britain is proposing a ‘D10’ club of democratic partners that groups the G7 nations with Australia and the Asian technology leaders South Korea and India.
- It would include G7 countries – UK, US, Italy, Germany, France, Japan and Canada – plus Australia, South Korea and India.
- It is aimed for channelling investments into existing telecommunication companies within the 10 member states.
- The group aim to create alternative suppliers of 5G equipment and other technologies to avoid relying on China.
Ruling out Huawei
- Britain has allowed the Chinese global leader in 5G technology to build up to 35% of the infrastructure necessary to roll out its new speedy data network.
- But their PM Boris Johnson was reported to have instructed officials to draw up plans to cut Huawei out of the network by 2023 as relations with China sour.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Dibru-Saikhowa National Park
Mains level: NA
The Oil India Ltd (OIL) leak in Assam has contaminated water bodies that flow into the Maguri Motapung Beel, a large wetland, and the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park (DSNP).
Try this PYQ from CSP 2019:
Q. Which of the following are in Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve?
(a) Neyyar, Peppara and Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuaries; and Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve
(b) Mudumalai, Sathyamangalam and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuaries; and Silent Valley National Park
(c) Kaundinya, Gundla Brahme-swaram and Papikonda Wildlife Sanctuaries; and Mukurthi National Park
(d) Kawal and Sri Venkateswara Wildlife Sanctuaries; and Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve
About Dibru-Saikhowa National Park
- DSNP is a national park in Assam located in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.
- It was designated a Biosphere Reserve in July 1997 with an area of 765 sq.km.
- The park is bounded by the Brahmaputra and Lohit Rivers in the north and Dibru river in the south.
- It mainly consists of moist mixed semi-evergreen forests, moist mixed deciduous forests, canebrakes and grasslands.
- It is the largest Salix swamp forest in north-eastern India, with a tropical monsoon climate with a hot and wet summer and cool and usually dry winter.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Band-tail scorpionfish
Mains level: NA
A rare band-tail scorpionfish was recently found in the Gulf of Mannar.
A stand-alone species being mentioned in the news for the first time (and that too from Southern India) find their way into the prelims. Make special note here. Usually, note the species and its habitat location (IUCN status if available), in the purview of a generic prelims question.
Band-tail scorpionfish
- The band-tail scorpionfish (Scorpaenospsis neglecta) camouflages within the seagrass meadows.
- It is well-known for its stinging venomous spines and ability to change colour.
- The fish has the ability to change colour and blend with its surrounding environment to escape from predators and while preying.
- The fish is called ‘scorpionfish’ because its spines contain neurotoxic venom.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Amaltas Tree
Mains level: NA
The Amaltas or Indian laburnum has begun blooming this summer.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2018:
Q. Why is a plant called Prosopis juliflora often mentioned in news?
(a) Its extract is widely used in cosmetics.
(b) It tends to reduce the biodiversity in the area in which it grows
(c) Its extract is used in the pesticides.
(d) None of the above
Amaltas Tree
- The Amaltas (Cassia fistula linn), native to South-East Asia is one of the most widespread trees in India and South-East Asia, with their presence both in cities as well as in moist and dry forests.
- It has drooping clusters of bright fragrant yellow flowers with five petals and characteristic cylindrical fruits.
- The Amaltas is known by so many names — Indian Laburnum, Golden Shower, Purging Fistula, Pudding-pipe tree, Girmala, Rajbrikh, Alash, Kiar, Kirwara, Ali — showing us how common and loved it is.
- It is both the national tree and the national flower of Thailand and is also the state flower of Kerala.
Features of Amaltas
- This middle-sized deciduous tree is leafless only for a brief time, between March and May.
- The new leaves are glossy, a trait that they lose on maturing, and are mostly bright green, though sometimes a rich copper too.
- It flowers from April to June, partly alongside the emergence of new leaves, but it’s not uncommon to find the Amaltas in flower as late as September.
- The bark is yellowish at first, slowly coarsens with age and turning dark grey.
Significance
- The tree is mostly known to be ornamental and few know of its benefits as a medicinal plant, and one that’s loved by some mammals, bees, and butterflies.
- The bark is used to make dye and the pulp in the fruit pod also serves as a strong purgative agent, which also helps animals that feed on it.
- A medicinal preparation with the roots of the tree is used to cure leprosy and skin diseases and the leaves are used to get rid ulcers, in traditional medicine.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Demo 2 Mission
Mains level: Not Much
NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 test flight has now been rescheduled for May 31, due to weather conditions. Apart from the test flight itself, what’s getting attention are the spacesuits that the astronauts will wear while travelling in the SpaceX capsule, called Crew Dragon.
Try this question from CSP 2014:
Q. Which of the following pair is/are correctly matched?
| Spacecraft |
Purpose |
| 1. Cassini-Huygens |
Orbiting the Venus and transmitting data to the Earth |
| 2. Messenger |
Mapping and investigating the Mercury |
| 3. Voyager 1 and 2 |
Exploring the outer solar system |
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
a) 1 only
b) 2 and 3 only
c) 1 and 3 only
d) 1, 2 and 3
The SpaceX spacesuit
- The so-called “Starman suits” the astronauts will wear on the Demo-2 mission have been designed by a famous Hollywood costume designer.
- The SpaceX spacesuits are different from other spacesuits typically worn by astronauts because of their sleek design and are being described as resembling a tuxedo.
- These spacesuits are meant to be lighter and more flexible, are equipped with touchscreen gloves, have vents that allow astronauts to be cooler while maintaining pressure inside the suit, and have an incorporated helmet and visor.
- The helmets of these suits are 3D printed with touchscreen-sensitive gloves and the suit is all in one piece, customised for the wearer.
How are launch-and-entry spacesuits different from EMUs?
- The SpaceX suits are only meant to be worn inside the space shuttle and are not suitable for carrying out spacewalks.
- Spacesuits for spacewalks, called Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs), are heavier than launch-entry suits (LES) and are already present aboard the ISS.
- While inside the spacecraft, the atmosphere can be controlled, to explore and work in space, humans require that they take their environment with them because there are atmospheric pressure and no oxygen to sustain life.
- Such spacesuits – EMUs — are worn for spacewalks or extravehicular activities (EVA) conducted outside a space shuttle.
- These provide astronauts with oxygen supply and protect them against extreme temperatures, radiation and space dust.
Back2Basics
Demo-2 Mission by SpaceX
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cordyceps militaris
Mains level: NA
A university in Assam has developed a fungal powder to help people boost their immunity to disease.
Try this question from CSP 2019:
Q.) Recently, there was a growing awareness in our country about the importance of Himalayan nettle (Girardinia diversifolia) because it is found to be a sustainable source of
(a) anti-malarial drug
(b) bio-diesel
(c) pulp for paper industry
(d) textile fibre
A similar question related to Cordyceps militaris can be asked. UPSC may ask whether it is a Fungi, Algae, a Moss or a Lichen.
Cordyceps militaris
- The powder is from a parasitic but rare “super mushroom” called Cordyceps militaris.
- The militaris underwent powdering through lyophilisation or freeze-drying at –80°C.
- The earth has more than 400 species of Cordyceps, a fungus parasitic on insects as well as other fungi.
- Often referred to as a super mushroom, Cordyceps known for its anti-ageing, anti-viral, energy and immunity-boosting effect.
- Natural Cordyceps is hard to get and if dried, costs at least ₹8 lakh per kg.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Asian Koel
Mains level: NA
Asian Koel, the state bird of Puducherry, is now breeding across Delhi-NCR.
For such species, related question, always focus on their habitat, endemic area, IUCN/Wildlife Protection Acr status.
Another caution: Imp birds in the news that are almost “Least Concerned” eg. Amur Falcon (Nagaland), Asian Koel
Asian Koel
IUCN status: Least Concerned
- The Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus) is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes.
- It is found in the Indian Subcontinent, China, and Southeast Asia.
- It forms a superspecies with the closely related black-billed koels, Indian cuckoos, and Pacific koels which are sometimes treated as subspecies.
- The Asian Koel like many of its related cuckoo kin is a brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of crows and other hosts, who raise its young.
Key Features
- Sexual dimorphism is evident, where males are a glossy black with a greenish sheen to their bodies and females are brown with white dots on their wings and heavy streaking on their head and throat.
- Both sexes have strong long greenish bills and captivating ruby-red eyes.
- In the bird world, the males are generally more pleasant looking than the females, considering they woo females.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cicadas
Mains level: NA
A brood of periodical cicadas, noisy insects that breed underground for as long as 13-17 years are expected to emerge into some states of the US this year.
A stand-alone species being mentioned in the news for the first time may find their way into the prelims. Make special note here.
What are Cicadas?
- Cicadas are insects that spend most of their lives underground and emerge from the soil mainly to mate.
- Once out of the ground, their life span is fairly short, somewhere between two-four weeks.
- At present, there are about 15 active broods of these cicadas as some have gone extinct.
- The insects are found in America’s as well as New Zealand and Australia.
- The name 13 and 17 year refers to the number of years that cicada nymphs take to reach adulthood.
- It is not clear why their development period is so long, researchers suspect that it may be linked to avoiding predators above the soil.
How are the fed?
- During this time underground the nymphs feed on sap from plant roots.
- After this developmental period, the cicada nymphs construct a “cicada hut” and burrow their way out from the soil and climb onto any nearby tree or vegetation.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kheer Bhawani Mela
Mains level: NA
In the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, the Annual Kheer Bhawani Mela in Tulmulla village of Ganderbal district has been cancelled by its religious trust.
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.
Try this:
Q. Consider the following pairs:
Traditions Communities
1. Chaliha Sahib Festival — Sindhis
2. Nanda Raj Jaat Yatra — Gonds
3. Wari-Warkari — Santhals
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched ? (CSP 2017)
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) None of the above
Kheer Bhawani Mela
- The festival witnesses lakhs of Hindu pilgrims from across the country largely the Kashmiri Pandit Community, who throngs the famous Ragyna Devi Temple which is popularly known as “Mata Kheer Bhawani”.
- The festival falls on the auspicious day of “Zeshta Ashtami”.
- The term kheer refers to rice pudding that is offered in the spring to propitiate the Goddess, which became part of the name of the temple.
- The devotees have been asked to cooperate with the authorities and perform the worship of the Goddess at their homes only.
- However, the holy rituals and Aarti of the Deity will be conducted as per the tradition which will be shared with the devotees via social media.
Significance
- Kheer Bhawani Mela is one of the biggest religious functions of Kashmiri Pandit Community.
- It is believed and rather has been seen that the colour of the water in the spring around the Kheer Bhawani Temple changes its colour with the change in the circumstances of the Kashmir valley.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Purandara Dasa
Mains level: Bhakti Saints of South India
The Department of Archaeology, Karnataka has commenced field research work regarding the birthplace of Purandara Dasa who is held as the father figure of Carnatic music.
Recently there was a news on Lord Basaveshwara. Now comes the other popular saint.
Vaishnavism and Shaivism are the two most profound strands of Bhakti Movement in Indian history. Enlist all the Bhakti Saints and their theistic philosophy and teachings. Try to spot the minute differences between them.
Purandara Dasa
- Purandara Dasa (1484 –1565) was a Haridasa, a renowned composer of Carnatic music, a great devotee of the Supreme Lord Krishna, a Vaishnava poet, a saint and a social reformer.
- He was a disciple of the Dvaita philosopher-saint Vyasatirtha, and a contemporary of yet another Haridasa, Kanakadasa.
- He was a composer, singer and one of the chief founding-proponents of South Indian classical music (Carnatic music).
- In honour of his significant contributions to Carnatic music, he is widely referred to as the Pitamaha (lit. “father” or “grandfather”) of Carnatic music.
- He is respected as an Avatara (incarnation) of the great sage Narada (a celestial being who is also a singer).
Confusions over his birthplace
- As ‘Purandara Vithala’ was the pen name of his compositions, it was widely believed that the mystic poet was born in Purandar (near Pune), Maharashtra.
- However, many in Malnad claimed that he hailed from this region.
- According to historians, Araga in Malnad was a buzzing commercial centre during the Vijayanagar rule, the period to which the poet belonged to.
- Prior to his initiation to Haridasa tradition, Purandara Dasa was a rich merchant and was called as Srinivasa Nayaka.
Back2Basics: Bhakti Movement
- The Bhakti movement refers to the theistic devotional trend that emerged in medieval Hinduism.
- It originated in eighth-century south India and spread northwards.
- It swept over east and north India from the 15th century onwards, reaching its zenith between the 15th and 17th century CE.
- It has traditionally been considered as an influential social reformation in Hinduism and provided an individual-focused alternative path to spirituality regardless of one’s birth or gender
- The salvation which was previously considered attainable only by men of Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya castes, became available to everyone.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Rail adukku pathiram
Mains level: NA
The rail adukku pathiram a traditional set of kitchen utensils in Tamil Nadu has become the gathered attention of all over the past few days.
The traditional ‘rail adukku pathiram’ set of utensils are very unique in itself. However, one must note that it does NOT carry any GI tag and is completely out of use. Still, there is a possibility of it being asked in match the pair type questions asking – Q) Which among the following artefacts from Tamil Nadu carries a GI Tag?
Rail adukku pathiram
- The rail adukku pathiram consists of 14 vessels of different sizes, neatly placed in a compact manner inside the largest container.
- The vessels were earlier used by families to carry groceries and cook food during train journeys.
- These vessels were used to cook food for a mini-wedding. The interesting aspect is the compact size and easy to carry.
- It has two vessels to cook vegetables, a sippal plate to boil rice, a frying pan, a sombu, a bronze pot to carry water and vessels of varying sizes to cook food.
- Many in Tamil Nadu had forgotten about the existence of these multi-layered vessels until a video surfaced online recently.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ramkinkar Baij and his artworks
Mains level: Modern artforms in India
Ministry of Culture’s has organised virtual tour titled “Ramkinkar Baij | Journey through silent transformation and expressions” to commemorate his 115th Birth Anniversary.
We can expect a description based question in prelims like-
Q. “In 1925, he made his way to Kala Bhavana, the art school at Santiniketan and was under the guidance of Nandalal Bose. Encouraged by the liberating, intellectual environment of (Tagore’s) Santiniketan, his artistic skills and intellectual horizons blossomed, thus acquiring greater depth and complexity. One of the earliest modernists in Indian art, he assimilated the idioms of the European modern visual language and yet was rooted in his own Indian ethos.”
Who is the imminent personality discussed?
Who was Ramkinkar Baij?
- Ramkinkar Baij (1906-1980), one of the most seminal artists of modern India, was an iconic sculptor, painter and graphic artist.
- He was born in Bankura, West Bengal, into a family of little economic and social standing and grew by his sheer determination into one of the most distinguished early modernists of Indian art.
- In 1925, he made his way to Kala Bhavana, the art school at Santiniketan and was under the guidance of Nandalal Bose.
- Encouraged by the liberating, intellectual environment of (Tagore’s) Santiniketan, his artistic skills and intellectual horizons blossomed, thus acquiring greater depth and complexity.
His works
- One of the earliest modernists in Indian art, he assimilated the idioms of the European modern visual language and yet was rooted in his own Indian ethos.
- His themes were steeped in a deep sense of humanism and an instinctive understanding of the symbiotic relationship between man and nature.
- Both in his paintings and sculptures, he pushed the limits of experimentation and ventured into the use of new materials.
- For instance, his use of unconventional material, for the time, such as cement concrete for his monumental public sculptures set a new precedent for art practices.
- The use of cement, laterite and mortar to model the figures, and the use of a personal style in which modern western and Indian pre-classical sculptural values were brought together was equally radical.
Popular recognition
- Although his work was passed over for quite a while, gradually it began to get both national and international attention.
- He was invited to participate in the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in 1950 and in the Salon de Mai in 1951.
- In the national honours began to come his way one after the other.
- In 1970, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan for his irrefutable contribution to Indian art.
- In 1976 he was made a Fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi.
- In 1976, he was conferred the honorary Doctoral Degree of ‘Desikottama’ by Visva Bharati, and in 1979 an honorary D. Litt by Rabindra Bharati University.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nile River, GERD
Mains level: Not Much
Africa’s longest river, the Nile, has been at the centre of a decade-long complex dispute involving several countries in the continent who are dependent on the river’s waters. At the forefront of this dispute, however, are Ethiopia and Egypt.
Note: You never know when UPSC might switch map based questions away from the Middle East and SE Asia.
Considering this news, the UPSC may ask a prelim question based on the countries swept by River Nile/ various dams constructed/ landlocked countries in the African continent etc.
Grand Ethiopian Rennaissance Dam (GERD)
- GERD is a gravity dam on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia that has been under construction since 2011.
- At 6.45 gigawatts, the dam will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa when completed, as well as the seventh-largest in the world.
- Once completed, the reservoir could take anywhere between 5 and 15 years to fill with water, depending on hydrologic conditions during the filling period and agreements reached between Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt.
Issues with the Dam
- While the main waterways of the Nile run through Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt, its drainage basin runs through other countries in East Africa, including Ethiopia.
- Egypt has objected to the construction of this dam and in Sudan has found itself caught in the midst of this conflict.
- Due to the importance of the Nile as a necessary water source in the region, observers are concerned that this dispute may evolve into a full-fledged conflict between the two nations.
- The US has stepped in to mediate.
How can this lead to conflict?
- The mega project may just allow the country to control the river’s waters, and this is essentially what concerns Egypt because it lies downstream.
- Egypt has objected to these plans and has proposed a longer timeline for the project because it does not want the water level of the Nile to dramatically drop as the reservoir fills with water in the initial stages.
- For the past four years, triparty talks between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have been unable to reach agreements. Egypt isn’t alone in its concerns.
- Sudan is hardly a passive observer caught in the conflict just because of its location.
- It too believes Ethiopia having control over the river through the dam may affect its own water supplies.
Why does Ethiopia want this dam?
- Ethiopia believes this dam will generate approximately 6,000 megawatts of electricity when it is done.
- 65% of Ethiopia’s population suffers due to lack of access to electricity.
- This dam will reduce those shortages and help the country’s manufacturing industry.
- The country may also be able to supply electricity to neighbouring nations and earn some revenue in exchange.
- Neighbouring countries like Kenya, Sudan, Eritrea and South Sudan also suffer from electricity shortages.
- If Ethiopia sells electricity to these nations, they may also reap benefits.
What is happening now?
- In the latest developments on this front, Egypt announced that it is willing to resume negotiations with Ethiopia and Sudan concerning the dam.
- Ethiopia has however proceeded with the first stage of filling the dam saying that it does not need Egypt’s permission to fill the dam.
- In the letter to the UNSC, Egypt also implied that the dam would cause armed conflict between the two countries.
Back2Basics: River Nile
- The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa.
- It is the longest river in Africa and the disputed longest river in the world as the Brazilian government says that the Amazon River is longer than the Nile.
- The Nile is about 6,650 km long and its drainage basin covers eleven countries: Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Republic of Sudan, and Egypt.
- In particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan.
- The Nile has two major tributaries – the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The White Nile is considered to be the headwaters and primary stream of the Nile itself.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Initiaitives mentioned in the newscard
Mains level: Not Much
In a virtual celebration of the International Day for Biological Diversity 2020, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has launched key initiatives towards conservation of biodiversity.
Possible prelim question:
The ‘Not all Animals Migrate by Choice’ campaign recently seen in news is an initiative by __________.
About the International Day for Biological Diversity
- This Day is a United Nations-sanctioned international day for the promotion of biodiversity issues.
- It is currently held on May 22.
- The year 2020 is also the “Super Year for Biodiversity”, as the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity with 20 global Aichi targets adopted in 2010 ends in 2020.
1) Biodiversity Samrakshan Internship Programme
- The program proposes to engage 20 students with postgraduate degrees for a period of one year through an open, transparent, online competitive process.
- It has the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) as a nodal agency.
2) ‘Not all Animals Migrate by Choice’ campaign
- It is a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Campaign launched by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau on Illegal Trafficking of Endangered Species.
- It aims to curb illegal trade in wildlife which carries the risk of spreading dangerous pandemics.
Back2Basics: Aichi Targets
- The ‘Aichi Targets’ were adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at its Nagoya conference.
- The short term plan provides a set of 20 ambitious yet achievable targets, collectively known as the Aichi Targets.
- The IUCN Species Programme provides advice to Parties, other governments and partners on the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and it’s Aichi Biodiversity Targets (2011 – 2020) and is also heavily involved in work towards the Target.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: General Financial Rules (GFRs)
Mains level: Various moves to boost MSME sector
The union government has notified amendments to General Financial Rules (GFR) to ensure that goods and services valued less than Rs 200 crore are being procured from domestic firms, a move which will benefit MSMEs.
Possible mains question:
Q. Discuss how the nationwide lockdown to control the coronavirus outbreak has led to the resurfacing of inherent bottlenecks in India’s MSME Sector.
What are the General Financial Rules (GFRs)?
- The GFRs are a compilation of rules and orders of the Government of India to be followed by all while dealing with matters involving public finances.
- They are instructions that pertain to financial matters.
- They lay down the general rules applicable to Ministries / Departments, and detailed instructions relating to the procurement of goods.
- They are issued by the procuring departments broadly in conformity with the general rules while maintaining the flexibility to deal with varied situations.
Also read:
[Burning Issues] Fiscal Push for MSME Sector of India (Part I)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
The ‘International Tea Day’ gets thumbs up from the UN. Tea is the most consumed drink in the world, second only to water.
It would be no surprise to expect a question based on worldwide tea production:
Q. Among the following, which one is the largest exporter of rice in the world in the last five years? (CSP 2019)
(a) China
(b) India
(c) Myanmar
(d) Vietnam
International Tea Day
- While the UN has been aware of the popularity of the drink, May 21, 2020, became the first time when it recognized and gave an official nod to International Tea Day.
- The UN General Assembly proclaimed May 21 as International Tea Day.
- The day is aimed at promoting sustainable production, consumption and trade of tea.
- As part of the celebrations, key players in tea production come together and make systematic plans for expansion of demand for tea, particularly in tea producing countries where per capita consumption is relatively low.
- This day also reminds all actors at global, regional and national levels to ensure that the tea sector continues to play a role in reducing extreme poverty, fighting hunger and safeguarding natural resources.
Tea
- Tea is an aromatic beverage commonly prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to East Asia.
- After water, it is the most widely consumed drink in the world.
- There are many different types of tea; some, like Darjeeling and Chinese greens, have a cooling, slightly bitter, and astringent flavour.
- Tea has a stimulating effect in humans primarily due to its caffeine content.
- China is the leading producer of tea in the world. (Ref.)
Its significance
- In 2018, over 50 lakh tonnes of tea was consumed globally, according to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN.
- The origin of tea plantations dates back to 5,000 years. Like many cultures, tea enjoys a special space in Indian culture.
- With more than 100 varieties being consumed in the country, India is among the top four producers of tea.
- Currently, tea is grown in more than 35 countries and supports 1.3 crore people including smallholder farmers around the globe.
Back2Basics: Tea cultivation in India
- India is the second producer of tea in the world and second in terms of land devoted to tea growing as well.
- Much of India’s tea production is concentrated in the areas of Darjeeling, Nilgiri, Dooars, and Assam, which is the single largest tea growing region in the world. The top 5 growing states in India, ranked by production, are:
1) Assam
2) West Bengal
3) Tamil Nadu
4) Kerala
5) Karnataka
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sonic Boom, Mach Number
Mains level: India's missile programme
The ‘loud sound’ heard in Bengaluru a few days back, which puzzled lakhs of city dwellers, was revealed to have emanated from an IAF test flight involving a supersonic profile. The sonic boom was probably heard while the IAF aircraft was decelerating from supersonic to subsonic speed between 36,000 and 40000 feet altitude.
Note:
We often get to hear about updates in India’s missile programme. UPSC may ask a basic physics question asking fundamental differences between various Mach number and its differences.
What is a ‘sonic boom’?
- Sound travels in the form of waves which are emitted outwards from its source.
- In air, the speed of these waves depends on a number of factors, such as the temperature of the air and altitude.
- When an aircraft travels at supersonic speed – meaning faster than sound (>1225 kmph at sea level) – the field of sound waves moves to the back of the craft.
- A stationary observer thus hears no sound when a supersonic flight approaches since the sound waves are at the rear of the latter.
- At such speeds, both newly created as well as old waves, are forced into a region at the aircraft’s rear called a ‘Mach cone’, which extends from the craft and intercepts the Earth in a hyperbola-shaped curve, and leaves a trail called the ‘boom carpet’.
- The loud sound that is heard on the Earth when this happens is called a ‘sonic boom’ (resembles bomb-blast sound).
Impacts
- When such aircraft fly at a low altitude, the sonic boom can become intense enough to cause the glass to crack or cause health hazards.
- Overland supersonic flights have thus been banned in many countries.
Supersonic flights
- In 1947, the American military pilot Chuck Yeager became the first to breach the sound barrier, flying the Bell X-1 aircraft at 1127 kmph.
- Since then, many supersonic flights have followed, with advanced designs allowing speeds of over Mach 3, or three times the speed of sound.
- According to the IAF website, India’s fastest jets include the Sukhoi SU-30 MKI (Mach 2.35) and the Mirage-2000 (Mach 2.3).
Back2Basics: Traverse of sound
- From a stationary source, such as a television set, sound waves travel outwards in concentric spheres of growing radii.
- When the source of sound is moving – e.g, a truck– the successive waves in front of the truck get closer together, and the ones behind it spread out.
- This is also the cause of the Doppler effect– in which bunched waves at the front appear at a higher frequency to a stationary observer, and spread out waves that are behind are observed at a lower frequency.
- As long as the source of the sound keeps moving slower than the speed of sound itself, this source– say a truck or a plane – remains nested within the sound waves that are travelling in all directions.
Mach number
- The ratio of the speed of the aircraft to the speed of sound in the gas determines the magnitude of many of the compressibility effects.
- Because of the importance of this speed ratio, aerodynamicists have designated it with a special parameter called the Mach number in honour of Ernst Mach, a late 19th-century physicist who studied gas dynamics.
- Subsonic conditions occur for Mach numbers less than one, M < 1.
- As the speed of the object approaches the speed of sound, the flight Mach number is nearly equal to one, M = 1, and the flow is said to be transonic.
- Supersonic conditions occur for Mach numbers greater than one, 1 < M < 3.
- For speeds greater than five times the speed of sound, M > 5, the flow is said to be hypersonic.
- The Space Shuttle re-enters the atmosphere at high hypersonic speeds, M ~ 25. Under these conditions, the heated air becomes ionized plasma of gas and the spacecraft must be insulated from the high temperatures.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Agappe Chitra Magna
Mains level: COVID diagnosis and treatment
Agappe Chitra Magna, a magnetic nanoparticles-based RNA extraction kit has been commercially launched.
The peculiarity of the name ‘Agappe Chitra Magna’ creates a possibility of a prelims question. One may confuse it with any sort of Artform.
Agappe Chitra Magna (ACM) Kit
- The ACM kit is developed by the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) and manufactured by Kochi-based Agappe Diagnostics Ltd.,
- It uses innovative technology for isolating RNA using magnetic nanoparticles to capture the RNA from the patient sample.
- The magnetic nanoparticles beads bind to the viral RNA and, when exposed to a magnetic field, give a highly purified and concentrated RNA.
- As the sensitivity of the detection method is dependent on getting an adequate quantity of viral RNA, this innovation enhances the chances of identifying positive cases.
- The commercial launch of the kit is a major step to make India self-reliant in detecting COVID-19 and can help increase the rate of testing and bring down its costs, a crucial step for combating the pandemic.
Significance of the kit
- The commercial launch of the kit is a major step to make India self-reliant in detecting COVID-19 and can help increase the rate of testing and bring down its costs, a crucial step for combating the pandemic.
- The RNA isolation kit will reduce the dependence on imported kits and make COVID testing more cost-effective.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now