Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tribes mentioned in the newscard
Mains level: NA
The Gujarat government will constitute a commission to identify the members of Rabari, Bharvad and Charan communities who are eligible to get the benefits of Schedule Tribe (ST) status.
Try this question from CSP 2017:
Q.Every year, a monthlong ecologically important campaign/festival is held during which certain communities/ tribes plant saplings of fruit-bearing trees. Which of the following are such communities/ tribes?
(a) Bhutia and Lepcha
(b) Gond and Korku
(c) lrula and Toda
(d) Sahariya and Agariya
About the Tribes
(1) Rabari
- The Rabari, also called the Rewari are an indigenous tribal caste of nomadic cattle and camel herders and shepherds that live throughout northwest India, primarily in the states of Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan.
- The word “Rabari” translates as “outsiders”, a fair description of their primary occupation and status within Indian society.
- They speak ‘Bhopa’ which is a mixture of Gujarati, Kachchi, Marwari words and Pharasi (Persian) and use Gujarati script.
- The Rabari are known for their distinctive art, particularly the mirrored and whitewashed mud sculpture-work that adorns their homes and villages.
- Rabari women are responsible for this artwork and also traditionally spin the wool from their sheep and goats, and give it to local weavers to make their woollen skirts, veils, blankets and turbans.
(2) Bharvad
- The Bharwad are tribals primarily engaged in herding livestock.
- The Bharwad name may derive from the Gujarati word badawad, constructed from bada (sheep) and wada (a compound or enclosure).
- The Bharwads have numerous subgroups known as ataks or guls (clans) whose main purpose is to determine eligibility for marriage.
- Constrained exogamy is practised between clans.
(3) Charan
- The Charan, also called Gadhvi, is a small tribe in Gujarat and the name Charan is derived from the word ‘Char’ which means grazing.
- Members of the caste are considered to be divine by a large section of society.
- Women of the caste are adored as mother goddesses by other major communities of this region.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bhashan Char Island and its location
Mains level: Rohingya Crisis
Bangladesh has announced that it will not move the Rohingyas settled on the Bhashan char island amid Corona pandemic.
Try this question from CSP 2018:
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
Bhashan Char Island
- Bhasan Char also known as Char Piya, is an island in Hatiya, Bangladesh.
- The island was formed with Himalayan silt in 2006 spanning 40 square kilometres.
- It is underwater from June to September annually because of the monsoon, and it has no flood fences.
- In June 2015, the Bangladeshi government suggested resettling Rohingya refugees on the island under its Ashrayan Project.
- The proposal was characterized by the UN Refugee Agency as “logistically challenging”.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Herbert Kleber and his work
Mains level: NA
With today’s doodle, Google is remembering Dr Herbert David Kleber, who reframed the field of addiction treatment.
Try this question from CSP 2016:
A recent movie titled The Man Who Knew Infinity is based on the biography of-
(a) S. Ramanujan
(b) S. Chandrasekhar
(c) S. N. Bose
(d) C. V. Raman
Herbert Kleber
- Born on June 19, 1934, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Dr Kleber studied medicine, where he discovered that psychology was his calling.
- He viewed addiction as a medical condition rather than a moral failure.
- He spent years treating people with drug addiction and realized that the treatment needed a new approach backed by scientific research.
- His new methods of treatment gained an appreciation and he was appointed as the deputy director for demand reduction at the Office of National Drug Control Policy by the then U.S. President George H. W. Bush.
- He headed many projects on developing new methods to treat individuals with alcohol, cocaine, heroin and alcohol addictions.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Lithium, Nucleosynthesis, Big Bang
Mains level: Formation of stars
A forty-year-old puzzle regarding the production of lithium in stars has been solved by Indian researchers.
Try this question from CSP 2013:
Q.Consider the following phenomena:
- Size of the sun at dusk
- Colour of the sun at dawn
- Moon being visible at dawn
- Twinkle of stars in the sky
- Polestar being visible in the sky
Which of the above are optical illusions?
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 3, 4 and 5
(c) 1, 2 and 4
(d) 2, 3 and 5
Lithium nucleosynthesis in Stars
- Stars, as per known mechanisms of evolution, actually destroy lithium as they evolve into red giants.
- Planets were known to have more lithium than their stars — as is the case with the Earth-Sun pair.
- However, leading to a contradiction, some stars were found that were lithium-rich.
- The new work by an Indian researcher shows that when stars grow beyond their Red Giant stage into what is known as the Red Clump stage, they produce lithium.
- This is known as a Helium Flash and this is what enriches them with lithium.
Studying lithium-rich stars
- About 40 years ago, a few large stars were spotted that were lithium-rich.
- This was followed by further discoveries of lithium-rich stars, and that posed a puzzle — if stars do not produce lithium, how do some stars develop to become lithium-rich.
- The planet engulfment theory was quite popular. For example, Earth-like planets may increase the star’s lithium content when they plunge into [their] star’s atmosphere when the latter become Red Giants.
Findings of the Indian research
- Indian researchers have been working on this puzzle for nearly 20 years to devise a method of measuring lithium content using low-resolution spectra in a large number of stars.
- The study demonstrated that lithium abundance enhancement among low mass giant stars is common.
- Until now, it was believed that only about 1% of giants are lithium-rich.
- Secondly, the team has shown that as the star evolves beyond the Red Giant stage, and before it reaches the Red Clump stage, there is a helium flash which produces an abundance of lithium.
Back2Basics: Lithium
- Lithium is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the lightest metal and the lightest solid element.
- S light element commonly used today in communication device technology, it has an interesting story.
- It was first produced in the Big Bang, around 13.7 billion years ago when the universe came into being, along with other elements.
- While the abundance of other elements grew millions of times, the present abundance of lithium in the universe is only four times the original [Big Bang] value. It is actually destroyed in the stars.
- The Sun, for instance, has about a factor of 100 lower amount of lithium than the Earth.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Patrolling points, Galwan River
Mains level: India-China border skirmishes and its de-escalation
The standoffs between Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), where initial steps towards disengagement have taken place, are around a number of patrolling points or PPs in Galwan, Hot Springs and Gogra areas.
Do you know?
The Galwan River flows from the Aksai Chin region occupied by China in the UT of Ladakh. It originates in the area of Samzungling on the eastern side of the Karakoram Range and flows west to join the Shyok River. It is one of the upstream tributaries of the Indus River.
What exactly are Patrolling Points?
- PPs are patrolling points identified and marked on the LAC, which are patrolled with a stipulated frequency by the security forces.
- They serve as a guide to the location of the LAC for the soldiers, acting as indicators of the extent of ‘actual control’ exercised on the territory by India.
- By regularly patrolling up to these PPs, the Indian side is able to establish and assert its physical claim about the LAC.
Are all the Patrolling Points numbered?
- Some of the PPs are prominent and identifiable geographical features, such as a pass, or a nala junction where no numerals are given.
- Only those PPs, where there are no prominent features, are numbered as in the case of PP14 in Galwan Valley.
Do all Patrolling Points fall on the LAC?
- Mostly, yes. Except for the Depsang plains in northern Ladakh, where PP10, PP11, PP11A, PP12 and PP13 – from Raki Nala to Jivan Nala – do not fall on the LAC.
- These are short of the LAC, on the Indian side.
Are these Patrolling Points not manned?
- The PPs are not posts and thus not manned. Unlike on the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan, the border with China is not physically held by the Army all along.
- They are just physical markers on the ground, chosen for their location and have no defensive potential or tactical importance for the Army.
How is the claim asserted on LAC?
- The claim is asserted by the Army or joint Army-ITBP patrols as they show more visible presence in these areas.
- This is done by physically visiting PPs with a higher frequency, as the deployment has moved closer to the LAC and due to improved infrastructure.
- As the Chinese may not see when the Indian patrols visit these PPs, they will leave come cigarette packets or food tins with Indian markings behind.
- That lets the Chinese know that Indian soldiers had visited the place, which indicates that India was in control of these areas.
Who has given these Patrolling Points?
- These PPs have been identified by the high-powered China Study Group, starting from 1975 when patrolling limits for Indian forces were specified.
- It is based on the LAC after the government accepted the concept in 1993, which is also marked on the maps with the Army in the border areas.
- But the frequency of patrolling to PPs is not specified by the CSG – it is finalised by the Army Headquarters in New Delhi, based on the recommendations made by the Army and ITBP.
PP under dispute
- PPs 10 to 13 in Depsang sector, PP14 in Galwan, PP15 in Hot Spring, and PP17 and PP17A in Gogra are currently being disputed by both sides, where the standoffs have taken place in the past nine weeks.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary
Mains level: China's territorial expansion plans
In a bid to further its territorial ambitions, China has recently claimed the Sakteng wildlife sanctuary in Eastern Bhutan as its own territory.
Practice question for mains:
Q.What are the various fronts of Chinese imperial expansionism across the South Asian Region?
About the Sakteng WLS
- Sakteng is a wildlife sanctuary located mostly in Trashigang District and just crossing the border into Samdrup Jongkhar District, Bhutan.
- It is one of the country’s protected areas.
- It is listed as a tentative site in Bhutan’s Tentative List for UNESCO inclusion.
Certain unresolved issues
- The boundary between China and Bhutan has never been delimited.
- There have been disputes over the eastern, central and western sectors for a long time.
- China last month attempted to stop funding for the Sakteng sanctuary from the U.N. Development Programme’s Global Environment Facility (GEF) on the grounds that it was “disputed” territory.
Reasons for the dispute
- According to written records, there has been no mention of Eastern Bhutan, or Trashigang Dzongkhag (district), where Sakteng is based as per boundary negotiations held between the two countries between 1984 and 2016.
- The negotiations have not been held since the Doklam standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in 2017.
- Bhutan has always maintained a discreet silence on its boundary negotiations with China, and it does not have any formal diplomatic relations with Beijing.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Winter grade diesel
Mains level: Not much
India’s armed forces may soon be using winter diesel for operations in high altitude areas such as Ladakh, where winter temperatures plummet to extremely low as -30° Celsius.
This year BS-VI compliant fuel was in news. Try differentiating the Winter Diesel with the BS-VI fuel.
What is Winter Diesel?
- Winter diesel is a specialised fuel that was introduced by Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. last year specifically for high altitude regions and low-temperature regions such as Ladakh, where ordinary diesel can become unusable.
- The flow characteristics of regular diesel change at such low temperatures and using it may be detrimental to vehicles.
- Winter diesel which contains additives to maintain lower viscosity can be used in temperatures as low as -30°C and that besides a low pour point, it had higher cetane rating — an indicator is the combustion speed of diesel and compression needed for ignition.
- It has lower sulphur content, which would lead to lower deposits in engines and better performance.
Back2Basics: BS-VI fuel
- Sulphur content in fuel is a major cause for concern. Sulphur dioxide released by fuel burning is a major pollutant that affects health as well.
- BS-VI fuel’s sulphur content is much lower than BS-IV fuel.
It is reduced to 10 mg/kg max in BS-VI from 50 mg/kg under BS-IV.
This reduction makes it possible to equip vehicles with better catalytic converters that capture pollutants. However, BS-VI fuel is expected to be costlier that BS-IV fuel.
With inputs from:
[pib] Winter-grade diesel
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hagia Sophia
Mains level: World History: Turkish renaissance under Ottoman Empire
Turkey’s highest court this week convened to decide whether Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia museum can be turned into a mosque.
Try this question:
Q. The iconic Hagia Sophia, a UNESCO World Heritage site was recently in news. It is situated in:
a) Greece b) Turkey c) Israel d) Iran
What is the Hagia Sophia?
- The construction of this iconic structure in Istanbul started in 532 AD during the reign of Justinian I, the ruler of the Byzantine Empire when the city was known as Constantinople.
- The structure was originally built to become the seat of the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church and remained so for approximately 900 years.
- In 1453, when Constantinople fell to Sultan Mehmet II’s Ottoman forces, the Hagia Sophia was ransacked by the invading forces and turned into a mosque shortly after.
- For a long time, the Hagia Sophia was Istanbul’s most important mosque.
- The 1,500-year-old structure, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, was originally a cathedral before it was turned into a mosque.
What is the controversy about?
- In the 1930s, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, shut down the mosque and turned it into a museum in an attempt to make the country more secular.
- There have been calls for long from extremists groups to convert the Hagia Sophia back into a mosque.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Timbuktu
Mains level: NA
Timbuktu is a western African city whose name is a metaphor for a place too exotic and remote to even imagine, now is in the grasp of Covid-19.
Try this question from CSP 2018:
Q.Very recently, in which of the following countries have lakhs of people either suffered from severe famine/acute malnutrition or died due to starvation caused by war/ethnic conflicts?
(a) Angola and Zambia
(b) Morocco and Tunisia
(c) Venezuela and Colombia
(d) Yemen and South Sudan
Timbuktu
- Timbuktu is a city in Mali, situated 20 km north of the Niger River.
- The mystique of Timbuktu owes a lot to its inaccessibility, which continues even today.
- It is located on the southern tip of the Sahara desert where there is nothing but thousands of miles of barren desert to its north.
- It was a regional trade centre in medieval times, where caravans met to exchange salt from the Sahara Desert for gold, ivory, and slaves from the Sahel, which could be reached via the nearby Niger River.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Central Zoo Authority (CZA)
Mains level: NA
The Environment Ministry has reconstituted the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) to include an expert from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, and a molecular biologist.
Note following things about CZA:
1)Its constitution under any Act
2)Composition
3)Roles and functions
About CZA
- The CZA is the body of the government responsible for oversight of zoos constituted under the section 38A of Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972.
- The main objective of the authority is to complement the national effort in the conservation of wildlife.
- Standards and norms for housing, upkeep, health care and overall management of animals in zoos have been laid down under the Recognition of Zoo Rules, 1992.
Roles & Functions
- The Authority’s role is more of a facilitator than a regulator.
- It, therefore, provides technical and financial assistance to such zoos which have the potential to attain the desired standard in animal management.
- Primary function– grant of recognition and release of financial assistance.
- It also regulates the exchange of animals of endangered category Listed under Schedule-I and II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act among zoos.
- Exchange of animals between Indian and foreign zoos is also approved by the Authority before the requisite clearances under EXIM Policy and the CITES permits are issued by the competent authority.
- The Authority also coordinates and implements programmes on capacity building of zoo personnel, planned breeding programmes and ex-situ research including biotechnological intervention for the conservation of species for complementing in-situ conservation efforts in the country.
Composition
- Apart from the chairman, it consists of 10 members and a member-secretary.
- Almost all of them are officials in the Environment Ministry and NGO experts are those who are wildlife conservationists or retired forest officers.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bahuda Yatra, Puri Temple Architecture
Mains level: Temple Architecture of India
The Bahuda Yatra, the return journey of the deities to the Puri Jagannath temple after the annual Rath Yatra, was recently concluded amid permitted restrictions.
Bahuda Yatra
- A/c to folk stories Lord Jagannath and his siblings, Goddess Shubhadra and Lord Balabhadra, returns from their aunt’s place at Gundicha Temple to Jagannath Temple.
- This journey is known as Bahuda Yatra.
- Nine days after the Rath Yatra, the yatra or the return journey takes place.
About Jagannath Rath Yatra
- Ratha Jatra, the Festival of Chariots of Lord Jagannatha is celebrated every year at Puri, the temple town in Orissa, on the east coast of India.
- It involves a public procession with a chariot with deities Jagannath (Vishnu avatar), BalaBhadra (his brother), Subhadra (his sister) and Sudarshana Chakra (his weapon) on a ratha, a wooden deula-shaped chariot.
- The huge, colourfully decorated chariots, are drawn by hundreds and thousands of devotees on the bada danda, the grand avenue to the Gundicha temple, some two miles away to the North.
- It attracts over a million Hindu pilgrims who join the procession each year.
Back2Basics: Puri Temple Architecture
- Jagannath Temple is a very big temple and covers an area of 37000m2. The height of the outer wall is 6.1m.
- It is surrounded by a high fortified wall 6.1 m high is known as Meghanada Pacheri.
- The main portion of the temple is also surrounded by a wall known as Kurma Bheda.
- The temple is built in Rekha Deula style and has four distinct sectional structures, namely –
- Deula, Vimana or Garba griha (Sanctum sanctorum) where the triad deities are lodged on the ratnavedi (Throne of Pearls)
- Mukhashala (Frontal porch)
- Nata mandir/Natamandapa, which is also known as the Jagamohan (Audience Hall/Dancing Hall), and
- Bhoga Mandapa (Offerings Hall)
Try this question from CSP 2019:
Q.Building ‘Kalyaana Mandapas’ was a notable feature in the temple construction in the kingdom of-
(a) Chalukya (b) Chandela (c) Rashtrakuta (d) Vijayanagara
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: G4 Flu
Mains level: Rise in zoonotic diseases and their possible causes
In new research, scientists from China – which has the largest population of pigs in the world – have identified a “recently emerged” strain of influenza virus that is infecting Chinese pigs and that has the potential of triggering a pandemic.
Practice question for mains:
Q.What are zoonotic diseases? Why China has emerged as the epicentre of global outbreaks of zoonotic disease?
G4 Flu
- Named G4, the swine flu strain has genes similar to those in the virus that caused the 2009 flu pandemic.
- The scientists identified the virus through surveillance of influenza viruses in pigs that they carried out from 2011 to 2018 in ten provinces of China.
- They also found that the G4 strain has the capability of binding to human-type receptors (like, the SARS-CoV-2 virus binds to ACE2 receptors in humans).
- The virus was able to copy itself in human airway epithelial cells, and it showed effective infectivity and aerosol transmission.
Swine industry is the new hotspot for zoonoses
- The scientists report that the new strain (G4) has descended from the H1N1 strain that was responsible for the 2009 flu pandemic.
- Pigs are intermediate hosts for the generation of pandemic influenza virus.
- Thus, systematic surveillance of influenza viruses in pigs is a key measure for pre-warning the emergence of the next pandemic influenza.
Back2Basics: 2009 swine flu pandemic
- The WHO declared the outbreak of type A H1N1 influenza virus a pandemic in 2009 when there were around 30,000 cases globally.
- It was caused by a strain of the swine flu called the H1N1 virus, which was transmitted from human to human.
- Influenza viruses that commonly circulate in swine are called “swine influenza viruses” or “swine flu viruses”.
- Like human influenza viruses, there are different subtypes and strains of swine influenza viruses. Essentially, swine flu is a virus that pigs can get infected by.
- The symptoms of swine flu include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headaches, chills and fatigue.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gold Nanoparticles
Mains level: Applications of nanomaterials
Indian researchers have successfully synthesized gold nanoparticles (GNPs) using psychrotolerant Antarctic bacteria through a non-toxic, low-cost, and eco-friendly way.
Nanotechnology is a pathbreaking technology which can create many new materials and devices with a wide range of applications, such as in nanomedicine, nanoelectronics etc. GNPs are another distinct development.
What are Gold Nanoparticles?
- Metallic NPs have been efficiently exploited for biomedical applications and among them, GNPs are found to be effective in biomedical research.
- And NPs are those materials that are at least one dimension smaller than 100 nanometers.
- NPs have a high surface-to-volume ratio and they can provide the tremendous driving force for diffusion, especially at elevated temperatures.
- GNPs are melted at much lower temperatures (300 °C) than bulk gold (1064 °C).
- NPs have been found to impart various desirable properties to different day-to-day products.
- For example, GNPs are found to have greater solar radiation absorbing ability than the conventional bulk gold, which makes them a better candidate for use in the photovoltaic cell manufacturing industry.
Properties of GNP
1) Biomedical
- Genotoxicity describes the property of a chemical agent that is capable of damaging the genetic information of DNA and thus causing the mutation of the cell, which can lead to cancer.
- The study revealed the genotoxic effect of GNPs on a sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB).
- These GNPs can be used as composite therapeutic agent clinical trials, especially in anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-diabetic, and cholesterol-lowering drugs.
2) Optical
- GNPs have unique optical properties too. For example, particles above 100 nm show blue or violet colour in the water, while the colour becomes wine red in 100 nm gold colloidal particles.
- They can thus be used for therapeutic imaging.
3) Electronics
- GNPs are also found to be useful in the electronics industry.
- Scientists have constructed a transistor known as NOMFET (Nanoparticles Organic Memory Field-Effect Transistor) by embedding GNPs in a porous manganese oxide.
- NOMFETs can mimic the feature of the human synapse known as plasticity or the variation of the speed and strength of the signal going from neuron to neuron.
- These novel transistors can now facilitate better recreation of certain types of human cognitive processes, such as recognition and image processing and have their application in AI.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kholongchhu Hydel Project
Mains level: Not Much
India and Bhutan took a major step forward for the construction of the 600 MW Kholongchhu project.
Try this question from CSP 2019:
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
Kholongchhu Hydel Project
- The Kholongchhu project is regarded as a “milestone” in the India-Bhutan partnership, under which four hydropower projects have been built in the last 30 years totalling a capacity of 2,100 MW.
- It is one of four additional projects agreed to in 2008, as a part of India’s commitment to helping Bhutan create a total 10,000 MW of installed capacity by 2020.
- The project is located at the lower course of Kholongchhu just before its confluence with Drangmechu (Gongrichu) in Trashiyangtse District of Bhutan.
- The GoI will provide, as a grant, the equity share of the Bhutanese DGPC in the JV Company.
- Once the project is commissioned, the JV partners will run it for 30 years, called the concession period, after which the full ownership will transfer to the Bhutan government.
Whats’ so special with the project?
- It is the first hydropower joint venture project in Bhutan’s less developed eastern region of Trashiyangtse.
- It is the first time an India-Bhutan hydropower project will be constructed as a 50:50 joint venture and not as a government-to-government agreement.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gynandromorphism
Mains level: NA
Recently, a rare biological phenomenon called Gynandromorphism was observed in dragonflies at Kole wetlands of Kerala.
Gynandromorphism is a core biology concept. We can expect a prelims question in a rare scenario.
Try this question from CSP 2013:
Q.Improper handling and storage of cereal grains and oilseeds result in the production of toxins known as aflatoxins which are not generally destroyed by normal cooking process. Aflatoxins are produced by
(a) Bacteria (b) Protozoa (c) Moulds (d) Viruses
Gynandromorphism
- Gynandromorphs are individual animals that have both genetically male and female tissues and often have observable male and female characteristics.
- They may be bilateral, appearing to divide down the middle into male and female sides, or they may be mosaic, with patches characteristic of one sex appearing in a body part characteristic of the other sex.
- Gynandromorphs occur in insects, spiders, crustaceans, and other arthropods as well as in birds, but they are extremely rare, and discovering one in the field or in the laboratory is a major event.
- Estimating how frequently they occur is difficult because they usually go unnoticed in species where sexual dimorphism is less pronounced.
- Gynandromorphs have been reported in mosquitoes, fruit flies, and in other insects, but they are most dramatic in those butterfly species in which the male and female wing colours and patterns are dramatically different.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Jungle Fowl
Mains level: NA
A recent study by scientists has revealed new details about the earliest domestication of chicken from the Jungle Fowl.
Try this question from CSP 2012:
Q.What is the difference between the antelopes’ Oryx and Chiru?
(a) Oryx is adapted to live in hot and arid areas like Africa and Arabia whereas Chiru is adapted to live in steppes and semi-desert areas of cold high mountains of Tibetan Plateau.
(b) Oryx is poached for its antlers whereas Chiru is poached for its musk
(c) Oryx exists in western India only whereas Chiru exists in northeast India only.
(d) None of the statements (a), (b) and (c) given above is correct.
Jungle Fowl
- The DNA sequencing of 863 genomes has shown the first domestication of chicken occurred in southwestern China, northern Thailand and Myanmar.
- The study involved sequencing of genomes from all four species of the genus Gallus, five subspecies of Red Jungle Fowl and various domestic chicken breeds collected worldwide.
- It revealed single domestication from Red Jungle Fowl sub-species Gallus spadiceous.
- The study also demonstrated that all five Red Jungle Fowl sub-species were genetically differentiated from each other approximately 50,000 years ago much earlier than domestication.
- The results contradicted the earlier claim that chickens were domesticated in northern China and the Indus Valley.
Domestication of Chicken
- The question of domestication of chickens has intrigued scientists for centuries and has been the subject of debate.
- Charles Darwin postulated that chickens were domesticated around 4,000 B.C. from a single ancestor, Red Jungle Fowl in the Indus Valley.
- An important study published earlier from Uppsala University claimed the Grey Jungle Fowl had contributed to chicken domestication.
- With this, a couple of studies from India, China and other South-Asian countries have argued the monophyletic origin of chicken.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PC Mahalanobis
Mains level: NA
Statistics Day will be celebrated today on 29th June 2020 to popularize the use of Statistics in everyday life and sensitize the public as to how Statistics helps in shaping and framing policies.
Try this question from CSP 2016:
A recent movie titled The Man Who Knew Infinity is based on the biography of-
(a) S. Ramanujan
(b) S. Chandrasekhar
(c) S. N. Bose
(d) C. V. Raman
Who was P.C. Mahalanobis?
- Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis (29 June 1893 – 28 June 1972) was an Indian scientist and statistician.
- He is best remembered for the Mahalanobis distance, a statistical measure, and for being one of the members of the first Planning Commission of free India.
- He made pioneering studies in anthropometry (the science of obtaining systematic measurements of the human body) in India.
- He founded the Indian Statistical Institute and contributed to the design of large-scale sample surveys.
- For his contributions, Mahalanobis has been considered the father of modern statistics in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various waterfalls mentioned in the newscard
Mains level: NA
The Kerala government recently gave the go-ahead for the proposed 163-megawatt (MW) Athirappally Hydroelectric Project.
Information about some of India’s tallest waterfalls is provided in the B2b section. Kindly pen them down along with their respective states. They can be asked in the match the pair type question.
Athirappally Waterfalls
- The famous Athirappally Waterfalls is located on the Chalakudy River in Thrissur district of Kerala.
- It originates from the upper reaches of the Western Ghats at the entrance to the Sholayar ranges.
- It is the largest waterfall in Kerala, which stands tall at 80 feet and is nicknamed “The Niagara of India”.
- Controversy about a state-proposed hydroelectric dam on the Chalakudy River above the waterfalls began in the 1990s and continued through 2021.
Issues with the Hydel project
- A number of families belonging to the Kadar tribal group are facing displacement here.
- The dam will also affect irrigation and tourism possibilities in the downstream parts of the Chalakudy River.
- The falls and its surroundings are part of a crucial biodiversity-rich region coming under the Ecologically Sensitive Zone 1 of the Western Ghats.
- The Ghats themselves are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and are one of the eight “hottest hot-spots” of biological diversity in the world.
Back2Basics: Waterfalls in India
- Vajrai Falls (560m): Satara, Maharashtra
- Kunchikal Falls (455m): Shimoga, Karnataka
- Barehipani Falls (390m): Odisha
- Nohkalikai Falls (340m): East Khasi, Meghalaya
- Dudhsagar Falls (310m): Karnataka, Goa
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Malabar Rebellion 1921
Mains level: Peasants revolts in the colonial period
With the 1921 Malabar Rebellion turning 100 next year, several movies have been announced back-to-back.
Try this question from CSP 2015:
Q. Which amongst the following provided a common factor for tribal insurrection in India in the 19th century?
(a.) Introduction of a new system of land revenue and taxation- of tribal products
(b.) Influence of foreign religious missionaries in tribal areas
(c.) Rise of a large number of money lenders, traders and revenue farmers as middlemen in tribal areas
(d.) The complete disruption of the old agrarian order of the tribal communities
What is the Malabar Rebellion?
- The Malabar Rebellion in 1921 started as resistance against the British colonial rule and the feudal system in southern Malabar but ended in communal violence between Hindus and Muslims.
- There were a series of clashes between Mappila peasantry and their landlords, supported by the British, throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
- It began as a reaction against a heavy-handed crackdown on the Khilafat Movement, a campaign in defence of the Ottoman Caliphate by the British authorities in the Eranad and Valluvanad taluks of Malabar.
- The Mappilas attacked and took control of police stations, British government offices, courts and government treasuries.
Also in news:
Variyankunna Kunjahammed Haji
- He was one of the leaders of the Malabar Rebellion of 1921.
- He raised 75000 natives, seized control of large territory from the British rule and set up a parallel government.
- In January 1922, under the guise of a treaty, the British betrayed Haji through his close friend Unyan Musaliyar, arresting him from his hideout and producing him before a British judge.
- He was sentenced to death along with his compatriots.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Senkaku Islands
Mains level: China's territorial expansion plans
A local council in southern Japan voted to rename an area covering the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku Islands — known by Taiwan and China as the Diaoyus — from “Tonoshiro” to “Tonoshiro Senkaku”.
Try this:
Q. Recently, Senkaku Island was in the news. Where is it located?
a) South China Sea
b) Indian Ocean
c) East China sea
d) Red sea
Senkaku Island Dispute
- The Japanese-administered island chain, formed by five islets and three barren rocks, covers an area of 7 square km.
- It is located about 200km southwest of Japan’s Okinawa Island and a similar distance northeast of Taiwan.
- Japan annexed the archipelago following China’s defeat in the first Sino-Japanese war from 1894 to 1895.
- Yet the islands were left out of the Treaty of San Francisco at the end of the second world war that returned to China most of the territories previously occupied by Japan.
- Under the terms of Japan’s surrender, the island chain was controlled by the US until 1971, when it was returned to Japan along with Okinawa and other surrounding islands.
Why are the Islands so coveted?
- The region appears to have great promise as a future oil province of the world.
- Japan and China are among the world’s top importers of fossil fuels.
- Abundant fishing resources are found nearby, as can important shipping lanes used by Japan, South Korea and China for energy imports.
- The islands have also become a focal point of the broader rivalry between the two countries.
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