Category: Ranker Webinars

1.RISAT-2B: An all-seeing radar imaging satellite

• he PSLV-C46 is set to launch RISAT-2B from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

RISAT Constellation

• RISAT-2B, short for “Radar Imaging Satellite-2B”, is the second in a series of satellites used to observe weather conditions on Earth using radar imagery.
• RISAT-2 was the first satellite in the series, launched for the purpose of surveillance. RISAT-1 was launched later, to become India’s first all-weather radar imaging satellite.
• RISAT-2B is to be followed by RISAT-2BR1, 2BR2, RISAT-1A, 1B, 2A and so on.
• ISRO orbited its first two radar satellites in 2009 & 2012 and it plans to deploy four or five of them in 2019 alone.
• A constellation of such space-based radars means a comprehensive vigil over the country.
• Once operational, the satellite will be capable of monitoring weather day and night, in all weather conditions.

2.Phase 4 of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)

• The Union Cabinet has approved ongoing GSLV continuation programme Phase-4 consisting of five GSLV flights during the period 2021-2024.
• The will enable the launch of 2 tonne class of satellites for Geo-imaging, Navigation, Data Relay Communication and Space Sciences.
• It will meet the demand for the launch of satellites at a frequency up to two launches per year, with maximal participation by the Indian industry.

About GSLV

• GSLV Continuation Programme was initially sanctioned in 2003, and two phases have been completed and the third phase is in progress and expected to be completed by Q4 of 2020-21.
• GSLV has enabled independent access to space for 2 tonne class of satellites to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).
• One of the significant outcomes of the GSLV Continuation Programme is the mastering of the highly complex cryogenic propulsion technology, which is an essential technological capability to launch communication satellites to GTO.
• This has also paved the way for the development of a high thrust Cryogenic engine & stage for the next generation launch vehicle i.e. GSLV Mk-lll.
• With the recent successful launch of GSLV-F11 on 19th December 2018, GSLV has successfully orbited 10 national satellites.
• GSLV with the indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage has established itself as a reliable launch vehicle for communication, navigation and meteorological satellites and also to undertake future interplanetary missions.

3.Mission Shakti (Anti-Satellite Missile Test)

• In an incremental advance, India has successfully conducted an Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile test, named Mission Shakti.
• India becomes the fourth country in the world to demonstrate the capability to shoot down satellites in orbit.
• So far, only the United States, Russia and China have this prowess.

Mission Shakti

• While Mission Shakti may have targeted an object in outer space, India has long developed the ability to intercept incoming missiles.
• In 2011, a modified Prithvi missile mimicked the trajectory of a ballistic missile with a 600-km range.
• The DRDO-developed Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) Interceptor Missile successfully engaged an Indian orbiting target satellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in a ‘Hit to Kill’ mode.
• The interceptor missile was a three-stage missile with two solid rocket boosters.

4.Young Scientist Programme (YUVIKA)

Young Scientist Programme

• ISRO has launched a special programme for School Children called “Young Scientist Programme” “YUva VIgyani KAryakram from this year.
• The Program is primarily aimed at imparting basic knowledge on Space Technology, Space Science and Space Applications to the younger ones with the intent of arousing their interest in the emerging areas of Space activities.
• The residential training programme will be of around two weeks duration during summer holidays and it is proposed to select 3 students each from each State/ UTs to participate in this programme covering state, CBSE, and ICSE syllabus.
• Those who have just finished 9th standard (in the academic year 2018-19) and waiting to join 10th standard (or those who have started 10th Std just now) will be eligible for the programme.
• The selection will be based on the 8th Std marks.
• Students belonging to the rural area have been given special weightage in the selection criteria.

5.PSLV-C45/ Emisat Mission

• For the sheer number of ‘firsts’ to its credit, the scheduled PSLV-C45/Emisat mission scheduled will be a memorable one for the ISRO.

PSLV-C45/Emisat

• C-45, which is set for lift-off from the second launchpad at Sriharikota, will mark the 47th flight of the PSLV.
• It is meant for electromagnetic spectrum measurements, according to the ISRO.
• It will be released into an orbit at 749 km.
• EMISAT is primarily based on on the famous Israeli spy satellite called SARAL or (Satellite with ARgos and ALtika), and inherits its SSB-2 bus protocol for conducting sharp electronic surveillance across the length and breadth of India.
• The satellite would serve as the country’s roving device for detecting and gathering electronic intelligence from enemy radars across the borders as it circles the globe roughly pole to pole every 90 minutes or so.
• For the third successive PSLV mission, the ISRO plans to reuse the rocket’s spent fourth stage or PS4 to host short experiments.

6.ISRO, French agency to set up maritime surveillance system

• ISRO and its French counterpart CNES has sealed an agreement to set up a joint maritime surveillance system in the country.
• The two nations will explore putting up a constellation of low-Earth orbiting satellites.

Oceansat-3-Argos Mission

• The system will be augmented with the launch of Oceansat-3-Argos mission in 2020 along with a joint infrared Earth-observation satellite.
• These will identify and track movement of ships globally – and in particular those moving in the Indian Ocean region where France has its Reunion Islands.
• Before that, they will initially share data from their present space systems and develop new algorithms to analyse them, according to the Paris based National Centre for Space Studies.
• They work together for the design and development of joint products and techniques, including those involving Automatic Identification System (AIS), to monitor and protect the assets in land and sea.

7. Use of Space Technology in Agriculture Sector

• The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, has been pro-active in using the space technology in agricultural sector. Take a look of various initiative in the aid of farmers:

Various institutional measures

1. The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare established a Centre, called Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre, in 2012.
2. It works for operationalization of the space technology developed in the Indian Space Research Organization, for crop production forecasting.
3. The Soil and Land Use Survey of India uses satellite data for soil resources mapping.

8.India’s communication satellite GSAT-31 launched successfully

GSAT-31

1. It was launched in an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 250 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 35,850 km, inclined at an angle of 3.0 degree to the equator.
2. With a lift-off mass of 2536 kg, GSAT-31 will augment the Ku-band transponder capacity in Geostationary Orbit.
3. The satellite will provide continuity to operational services on some of the in-orbit satellites.
4. GSAT-31 will provide DTH Television Services, connectivity to VSATs for ATM, Stock-exchange, Digital Satellite News Gathering (DSNG) and e-governance applications.
5. The satellite will also be used for bulk data transfer for a host of emerging telecommunication applications.
6. It is the India’s 40th communication satellite which is configured on ISRO’s enhanced ‘I-2K Bus’, utilising the maximum “bus capabilities” of this type.

9.ISRO launches Human Space Flight Centre in Bengaluru

Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC)

1. The HSFC, the hub of ISRO’s future manned missions, was inaugurated at ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru.
2. Announced on August 15 2018, the country’s first crewed mission is set to happen by 2022, the 75th year of Independence.
3. HSFC shall be responsible for the implementation of Gaganyaan project — which involves mission planning, development of engineering systems for crew survival in space, crew selection and training and also pursue activities for sustained human space flight missions.
4. HSFC will take the support of ISRO centres to implement the first developmental [crewed] flight.

10.ISRO’s first mission of 2019 to put military satellite Microsat-R in space

• ISRO’s first mission of 2019 will put into space a 130-kg military imaging satellite, Microsat-R.
• C-44 will be launched from the older First Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

 Details of Launch

1. The satellite would be placed within 15 minutes after take-off in a polar orbit 274 km away from Earth.
2. This is much lower than any of its civil Earth observation spacecraft, which fly pole to pole over the globe at between 400 km and 700 km.

Payload Details

Microsat-R

1. Microsat-R and its payload come assembled from a handful of laboratories of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
2. It is meant for military use.
3. The satellite was assembled outside and ISRO only interfaced it” with its own systems and the launch vehicle, just as it treats any customer satellite.

11.Unispace Nanosatellite Assembly & Training Programme of ISRO

NNATI Programme

1. It is a capacity building programme on Nanosatellite development.
2. It is an initiative by ISRO to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first United Nations conference on the exploration and peaceful uses of outer space (UNISPACE-50).
3. The programme provides opportunities to the participating developing countries to strengthen in assembling, integrating and testing of Nanosatellite.
4. UNNATI programme is planned to be conducted for 3 years by U.R. Rao Satellite Centre of ISRO in 3 batches and will target to benefit officials of 45 countries.

About UNISPACE+50

1. It is an event marking the 50th year of the first UN Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.
2. It is an initiative of United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).
3. Three such conferences held earlier recognized the potential of space and laid the guidelines for human activities and international cooperation related to outer space.

11.ISRO successfully launches hyperspectral imaging satellite HysIS

HysIS

1. HysIS stands for Hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite.
2. The objective of the probe is to provide observations within the visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared bands of the electromagnetic spectrum.
3. The imaging tools will help the HysIS satellite monitor atmospheric activity and climate change, while also assisting studies of Earth’s magnetic field.
4. These observations will have a host of applications, prime among which relate to agriculture, forestry, water management, and coastal patterns.
5. The satellite’s payload also consists of a 730W power backup, and a 64Ah Li-ion battery.
6. It will continue to make observations till 2023, when the mission ends.
7. After this launch, the next big event for the Indian space organisation will be its awaited mission to the moon – Chandrayaan-2 – in early 2019.

12.GROWTH-India telescope’s first science observation

GROWTH-India Telescope

1. The GROWTH-India telescope was commissioned six months ago soon after which it saw first light, on the night of June 12.
2. It is part of a multi-country collaborative initiative – known as the Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen (GROWTH) – to observe transient events in the universe.
3. The fully robotic telescope is designed to capture cosmic events occurring over relatively shorter periods of the cosmological timescale: years, days and even hours.
4. Universities and research institutes from the US, the UK, Japan, India, Germany, Taiwan and Israel are part of the initiative.
5. Their primary research objective is time-domain astronomy, which entails the study of explosive transients and variable sources (of light and other radiation) in the universe.

13.ISRO telemedicine nodes for soldiers in high-altitude areas

Telemedicine Nodes by ISRO

1. In a major effort to improve emergency medical support to soldiers posted in high-altitude areas, especially Siachen, the Integrated Defence Staff of the Defence Ministry and the ISRO signed a MoU to set up telemedicine nodes in critical places across the country.
2. ISRO will establish 53 more nodes in the first phase over and above the existing 20, in various establishments of the Army, Navy and Air Force across the country.

14.Chandrayaan-1 data confirms presence of ice on Moon: NASA

NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) is testimony

1. M3, aboard the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, launched in 2008 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was uniquely equipped to confirm the presence of solid ice on the Moon.
2. Scientists used data from NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument to identify three specific signatures that definitively prove there is water ice at the surface of the Moon.
3. It collected data that not only picked up the reflective properties we would expect from ice, but was also able to directly measure the distinctive way its molecules absorb infrared light, so it can differentiate between liquid water or vapour and solid ice.
4. Most of the new-found water ice lies in the shadows of craters near the poles, where the warmest temperatures never reach above minus 156 degrees Celsius.
5. Due to the very small tilt of the Moon’s rotation axis, sunlight never reaches these regions.

15.ISRO set to launch its TV channel

1. The ISRO is all set for a year-long Vikram Sarabhai centenary celebration starting in August 2019 to honour the visionary scientist and its legendary founding father.
2. In a few months’ time, it plans to roll out a dedicated ISRO TV channel showcasing space applications, developments and science issues, targeting young viewers and people in remote areas in their language.

Satellite launches now open to public

1. As it strengthens its public outreach, ISRO will shortly start allowing the public to watch satellite launches from its Sriharikota launch centre.
2. Selected students of classes 8 to 10 will be the trained at ISRO for a month and taken to various laboratories and centres across the country.

Vikram Sarabhai- the legend

1. Sarabhai, the architect of the Indian space programme, the first ISRO chief and renowned cosmic ray scientist, was born on August 12, 1919.
2. ISRO’s tributes to Sarabhai start with naming the first Indian moon landing spacecraft of the Chandrayaan-2 mission ‘Vikram’.
3. Sarabhai was only 28 when he sowed the seeds of a space agency around the late 1940s and 1950s.

16.Upgraded Vikas engine will soon boost ISRO’s rockets

Adding more thrust

1. The Vikas engine will improve the payload capability of PSLV, GSLV and GSLV Mk-III launch vehicles.
2. The space agency has improved the thrust of the Vikas engine that powers all of them.

Main beneficiary: GSLV Mk III

1. The main beneficiary of the high-thrust Vikas engine is said to be the heavy-lifting GSLV-Mark III launcher, which ISRO expects will now put 4,000-kg satellites to space.
2. This would be the third Mk-III and the first working one to be designated Mk III Mission-1 or M1.
3. The first MkIII of June 2017 started with a 3,200-kg satellite and the second one is being readied for lifting a 3,500-kg spacecraft.
4. The Vikas engine is used in the second stage of the light lifting PSLV; the second stage and the four add-on stages of the medium-lift GSLV; and the twin-engine core liquid stage of Mk-III.

17.ISRO’s PRL scientists discover an ‘EPIC’ planet

India in elite planet-spotting club

1. A team from the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, has spotted for the first time a distant planet six times bigger than Earth and revolving around a Sun-like star about 600 light years away.
2. EPIC 211945201b (or K2-236b) is the name given to the planet by the discovery team. The host star is named EPIC 211945201 or K2-236.
3. With this discovery India has joined a handful of countries which have discovered planets around stars,” PRL’s parent ISRO has announced.
4. The discovery was made using a PRL-designed spectrograph, PARAS, to measure and confirm the mass of the new planet.

About EPIC

1. EPIC was found circling very close to the Sun-like star, going around it once in about 19.5 days and unlikely to be inhabitable because of its high surface temperature of around 600°C.
2. The team found the planet to be smaller in size than Saturn and bigger than Neptune.
3. Its mass is about 27 times Earth’s and six times that of Earth at radius.
4. The scientists estimate that over 60% of its mass could be made up of heavy elements like ice, silicates and iron.

 

1.Phyto-Pharma Plant Mission

Objectives

• Rs 50 crore Mission aimed at conservation and cultivation of endangered and threatened endemic medicinal plants, and discovery of new botanical drugs for unmet medical needs using the rich traditional ethno-botanical knowledge and biodiversity of these states and at the same time also improve availability of authentic and quality botanical raw material on sustainable basis for a boom in the phyto-pharmaceutical industry
• Nodal Ministry –Ministry of Science & Technology

 

2.Brahmaputra Biodiversity and Biology Boat

Objectives

• B4 will establish a large barge on the river with a well-equipped laboratory for analysis of all components of the entire ecosystem of the river and surroundings. The B4 will link to all the local research institutions along the river, as well as national and international laboratories
• Nodal Ministry –Ministry of Science & Technology

 

3.Secure Himalaya

Objectives

• To Conserve Snow Leopard, Uplift Mountain Community Launched

 

4.Namami Gange

Objectives

• Aims at Ganga Rejuvenation by combining the existing ongoing efforts and planning under it to create a concrete action plan for future. It is an ambitious Union Government Project which integrates the efforts to clean and protect the Ganga river in a comprehensive manner
• Nodal Ministry –Ministry of Water resources

 

5.INSPIRE (INNOVATION IN SCIENCE PURSUIT FOR INSPIRED RESEARCH)

Objectives

• To attract talent to Science.
• To communicate to the youth of the country the excitements of creative pursuit of science, attract talent to the study of science at an early age and thus build the required critical human resource pool for strengthening and expanding the Science & Technology system and R&D base.
• It does not believe in conducting competitive exams for identification of talent at any level.
• It believes in and relies on the efficacy of the existing educational structure for identification of talent.
• INSPIRE has three components:
• i. Scheme for Early Attraction of Talent (SEATS)
• ii. Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE)
• iii. Assured Opportunity for Research Careers (AORC)
• The Inspire Awards have been renamed as MANAK

 

6.JIGYASA –

Objectives

• Student-Scientist Connect Programme
• connecting school students and scientists so as to extend student’s classroom learning with that of a very well planned research laboratory based learning.
• CSIR + Kendriya Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS)

 

7.VAJRA

Objectives –

• The Government of India recently launched VAJRA (Visiting Advanced Joint Research) Faculty scheme by the Department of Science and Technology which enables NRIs and overseas scientific community to participate and contribute to research and development in India. The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), a Statutory body of the Department will implement the Scheme.
• International Faculty / scientists/technologists including Non-resident Indians (NRI) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) / Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) are offered adjunct / visiting faculty positions in Indian Institutions / Universities for a period of 1-3 months under this scheme. The faculty can also undertake the role of teaching /mentoring apart from R&D.
• Public funded institutions and national laboratories are allowed to host the VAJRA faculty.
• Nodal Ministry –Ministry of Science & Technology

7. National Initiative for Developing & Harnessing Innovation (NIDHI)

Objectives

A programme to address the complete chain of innovation ecosystem right from scouting to mentoring to scaling up innovations. launched by DST. Establishment of a research park at IIT Gandhinagar has been supported at a cost of Rs.90 cr.

 

8.Surya Jyoti

Objectives

• In order to capture day light and concentrate the same inside a dark room, particularly in urban slum or rural areas which lack electricity supply, a low cost and energy efficient Micro Solar Dome (Surya Jyoti) has been tested and developed. -Potential users of this device are10 million households.
• According to preliminary estimates, if this technology is adopted in 10 million households only, it has the potential of saving 1750 million units of energy.
• It would also lead to an emission reduction of about 12.5 million ton of CO2 equivalent, hence giving a fillip to the mission of ‘Clean India, Green India’.
• The manufacturing process, being labour-intensive, would also generate huge job opportunities in the economy.
• Nodal Ministry – Department of Science & Technology.

1.Purple frog set to be crowned Kerala’s state amphibian

Purple Frog

• Quite similar to the lore of King Maveli, researchers have found that the Purple frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis), which lives almost its entire life in underground tunnels, comes out to the surface for a single day in a year to breed.
• Once it lays it’s eggs, the bloated frogs characterized by a protruding snout and powerful hind legs return to the earth’s deepest layers.
• This intriguing frog species is listed as Endangered on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
• It feeds mostly on soil-mites, ants and termites using its fluted tongue.
• The male and female frogs mate underground and once in a year, they come out on the surface to lay thousands of eggs near seasonal streams in the months of May-June.
• How they time their emergence onto the surface along with the onset of early rains is a mystery that continues to baffle naturalists.

Why is it so special?

• It’s endemic to this part of the southern Western Ghats and cannot be found anywhere else.
• Described for the first time in 2003 by two scientists in the jungles of Kerala, the species sparks feverish imagination among herpetologists worldwide for a number of reasons.
• It’s evolutionary roots suggest it could have shared space with dinosaurs going back almost 70 million years ago.
• This could help scientists understand how it’s population may have evolved and learned to overcome the challenges of shifting land masses.
• A year after it was documented, the frog’s closest relatives were found in Seychelles, an island in the Indian Ocean off East Africa.
• This discovery led many to ask whether the species could indeed be living proof of the theory of Gondwanaland.

2.Despite objections, Bannerghatta National Park’s Eco-Sensitive Zone curtailed

• Bannerghatta National Park’s Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ), which provides a regulated buffer zone around protected areas, will remain at 168.84 sqkm despite thousands of citizens formally objecting to the reduction of nearly 100 sq. km. as compared to the original proposal.
• The new ESZ will range from 100 metres (towards Bengaluru) to 1 kilometre from the periphery of the protected area.

3.Grizzled Giant Squirrel

Grizzled Giant Squirrel

• For the first time, researchers have sighted nests of the grizzled giant squirrel at Pakkamalai Reserve Forests near Gingee in the Eastern Ghats.
• The grizzled giant squirrel is usually known to nest in the Western Ghats in Southern India ranging from Chinnar Wildlife sanctuary in Kerala to Anamalai Tiger Reserve and Palani hills in Tamil Nadu.
• Owing to habitat loss and poaching, the species has been categorised as near threatened by the Red List and listed under Schedule II of CITES.
• It is an endangered species listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
• The grizzled giant squirrel is usually known to nest in the Western Ghats in Southern India ranging from Chinnar Wildlife sanctuary in Kerala to Anamalai Tiger Reserve and Palani hills in Tamil Nadu.

4. Global Assessment Report by IPBES

Global Assessment Report

• It is compiled by 145 expert authors from 50 countries and is a cornerstone of an emerging body of research the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
• Known as the Global Assessment, the report found that up to one million of Earth’s estimated eight million plants, insect and animal species is at risk of extinction, many within decades.
• It suggests the world may need to embrace a new “post-growth” form of economics if it is to avert the existential risks posed by the mutually-reinforcing consequences of pollution, habitat destruction and carbon emissions.

About IPBES

• The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is an independent intergovernmental body, established by member States in 2012 under the auspices of UNEP.
• The objective of IPBES is to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development.
• The IPBES secretariat is based in Bonn, Germany.

5.Kashmir Stag (Hangul)

• A massive decline in the population of Kashmir’s iconic wildlife species, the Hangul (Cervus hanglu hanglu), also known as the Kashmir stag, continues to be a big concern.

Kashmir Stag (Hangul)

• Hangul, the state animal of Jammu & Kashmir, is restricted to the Dachigam National Park some 15 km north-west of Jammu & Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar.
• The Hangul is placed under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and the J&K Wildlife Protection Act, 1978.
• The Hangul was once widely distributed in the mountains of Kashmir and parts of Chamba district in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.
• The IUCN’s Red List has classified it as Critically Endangered and is similarly listed under the Species Recovery Programme of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Environmental Information System (ENVIS) of the MoEFCC.

5. Asiatic Wild Dogs (Dhole)

• A recent study has discovered a reduction in Dhole occupancy in Karnataka’s Western Ghats, from 62 percent in 2007 to 54 percent in 2015.

Asiatic Wild Dogs (Dhole)

• The dhole is on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species and is protected under Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 in India.
• Globally, dholes have disappeared from approximately 82 percent of their former range.
• The Western Ghats perhaps supports the largest dhole population in the world and is therefore a critical conservation landscape for the species.

6. Hump-backed Mahseer

• The hump-backed Mahseer, found in the waters of the Cauvery, has been added to the IUCN Red List with Critically Endangered Status.

Hump-backed Mahseer

• The hump-backed mahseer is a large freshwater fish also called the tiger of the water and found only in the Cauvery river basin including Kerala’s Pambar, Kabini and Bhavani rivers.
• It is now “Critically Endangered”: more threatened than the tiger is, as per the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species.
• The fish is one of the 229 species added to the Red List last November; this update also reveals that the threat status of 12 other Indian species, including great hornbills, has increased.
• The inclusion was possible only once the fish got its scientific name last June—Tor remadevii.

7. Parrotfish in Andaman

• Coral cover protection along the existing protected marine areas in Andaman and Nicobar islands is necessary for conservation of the endangered Bumphead Parrotfish, a new study has suggested.

Bumphead Parrotfish

• Bumphead parrotfish, Bolbometopon muricatum, is an important component of coral reef ecosystem, but is highly endangered globally.
• It is categorized as ‘vulnerable’ in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
• This fish is a highly prized resource, but is threatened due to limited knowledge about its distribution and abundance in Indian waters.
• A research recently studied the distribution, abundance and dangers to this species in the waters of Andaman and Nicobar islands.

8. Herbivore census in Gujarat’s Gir forest

• Every summer, the Forest Department of Gujarat conducts an Herbivore Census in Gir forest.

Herbivore Census

• The Herbivore Census covers ungulates such as spotted deer, blue bulls (nilgais), sambars, Indian gazelles (chinkaras), four-horned antelopes (choshinga) and wild boars, as well as Indian langurs and peafowl.
• This year’s exercise is of particular significance because it is the last Herbivore Census ahead of next year’s Lion Census, which is a once-in-five-years exercise.

9.DNA database for Indian Rhino

• The Environment Ministry has embarked on a project to create DNA profiles of all rhinos in the country.

DNA Database of Indian Rhino

• By 2021, the Indian rhino could be the first wild animal species in India to have all its members DNA-sequenced.
• The project’s proponents include the World Wildlife Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) and the Centre-funded Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
• The exercise would be useful in curbing poaching and gathering evidence in wildlife crimes involving rhinos.
• There are about 2,600 rhinos in India, with over 90% of the population concentrated in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park.
• Around 60 samples of tissue have been collected so far from some rhinos living outside Kaziranga.

10.India’s biodiversity-rich zones also ‘hotspots’ of human impacts

• Human impacts on species occur across 84% of the earth’s surface, finds a study published in PLOS Biology, an international journal dedicated to biological science.

Human Footprint Data

• Southeast Asian tropical forests — including India’s biodiversity-rich Western Ghats, Himalaya and the north-east also fall in this category.
• Malaysia ranks first among the countries with the highest number of impacted species (125).
• India ranks 16th in such human impacts, with 35 species impacted on average.
• The study mapped the distribution of eight human activities — including hunting and conversion of natural habitats for agriculture — in areas occupied by 5,457 threatened birds, mammals and amphibians worldwide.

11.Sundarbans Wetlands

Sundarbans Wetlands

• This January 30^th, the Indian Sundarban was accorded the status of ‘Wetland of International Importance’ under the Ramsar Convention.
• It comprises hundreds of islands and a network of rivers, tributaries and creeks in the delta of the Ganga and the Brahmaputra at the mouth of the Bay of Bengal in India and Bangladesh.
• Located on the southwestern part of the delta, the Indian Sundarban constitutes over 60% of the country’s total mangrove forest area.
• It is the 27th Ramsar Site in India, and with an area of 4,23,000 hectares is now the largest protected wetland in the country.

12. Greens in the red: Why Aravallis matter to National Capital Region

• It was in 1900 that the then Government of Punjab enacted the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), aimed at “conservation of sub-soil water” and “prevention of erosion” by giving the state power to “regulate, restrict or prohibit” certain activities, including “clearing or breaking up” of land.
• As a result, for the last 118 years, the Act provided notified tracts of land in the Aravallis protection against real estate construction, urbanisation and mining.

13. Rhinos without borders is conservation credo

• International boundaries will not come in the way of conservation of rhinos, said representatives of Asian countries where the one-horned herbivore thrives.

New Delhi Declaration

• The Declaration was recently adopted at the second meeting of the Asian rhino range countries.
• It underscored trans-boundary collaboration among India, Nepal, and Bhutan for the conservation and protection of the greater one-horned rhino.

Rhinos without Borders

• There are no rhinos in Bhutan, but some from the Manas National Park in adjoining Assam or Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal are known to cross over occasionally.
• In Feb, the National Rhino Conservation Strategy for India called for active engagement between India and Nepal to protect the species.
• The plan said the single population of rhinos in Sukla-Phanta (Nepal), Valmiki Tiger Reserve (India) and Chitwan National Park (Nepal) and Dudhwa (India) is separated by the political boundary between the two countries.

14. 106 coastal sites picked for conservation

• The Centre has identified over 100 coastal and marine sites as conservation reserves under its National Wildlife Action Plan for 2017-2031, says a biennial report released by the government.

Highlights of the Report

1. Under the National Wildlife Action Plan for the period 2017 to 2031, the government is working towards the conservation of coastal and marine ecosystems from the impacts of climate change.
2. In the last four and a half years, India has not only been able to sustain but also increase its mangrove cover at a time when these ecosystems are disappearing at an alarming rate across the world.

15. Centre announces mascot for COP-13 on conservation of migratory species

• The Centre has announced that the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) will be its mascot for the 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) to be held in Gujarat in 2020.

About CMS COP-13

1. Representatives from 129 countries and eminent conservationists and international NGOs working in the field of wildlife conservation are expected to attend the COP-13, to be held in Gandhinagar.
2. It will provide a global platform for deliberations on the conservation and sustainable use of migratory wild animals and their habitat.
3. The CMS COP-13 would also bring together the states through which migratory animals pass.

16. First Captive Elephant Survey

• The details of the first survey of captive elephants in the country were submitted in an affidavit by the MoEFCC to the Supreme Court.
• The affidavit comes in the wake of rising elephant deaths and human-elephant conflicts, particularly in Kerala and Assam.

In Total

1. According to the affidavit, there are 2,454 elephants in captivity, of which 560 are in possession with forest departments and 1,687 with private individuals.
2. However, 664 of the total captive elephants in the country are without ownership certificate while there are 85 in zoos, 26 in circuses and 96 in temples.

17. Sustainable Catchment Forest Management (SCATFORM) Project in Tripura

• Tripura has launched a project for Sustainable Catchment Forest Management at Hatipara in West Tripura.

Sustainable Catchment Forest Management (SCATFORM) Project

1. The project is jointly funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Government of India.
2. It aims to improve quality of forest in the catchment area by sustainable forest management, soil and moisture conservation and livelihood development.
3. The Tripura Forest Department (TFD) is the Executing Agency of the Project.
4. Eighty per cent of the project would be funded by JICA while Government of India would fund 20 per cent of the project value.

18. Asian Waterbird Census (AWC)

1. AWC, the largest such census in Asia, is organised by Wetlands International, is an international programme that focuses on monitoring the status of waterbirds and wetlands.
2. The data collected each year is shared by Wetlands International with global conservation organisations such as IUCN and Ramsar Convention, while state coordinators share data with local wildlife departments to ensure conservation and sustainable management of wetlands in the region.
3. It also aims to increase public awareness on issues related to wetland and waterbird conservation.
4. The census is carried out each January as a voluntary activity at national and local level.
5. The AWC is co-ordinated by Wetlands International as part of global programme, the “International Waterbird Census”.
6. The AWC was started in 1987, and many birders were initiated into bird counting and monitoring through this project.
7. To take part one simply has to visit a wetland and count the birds he/she see there.

19.India submits sixth national report to Convention of Biological Diversity

• India submitted its sixth national report (NR6) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) highlighting the progress it has made in achieving the 12 National Biodiversity Targets (NBT) set under the convention process.

Highlights of the Report

1. The report was submitted online to the CBD Secretariat during the inaugural session of the 13th National Meeting of the State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs).
2. The report says that India had already exceeded two targets, it was on track to achieve another eight soon.
3. The remaining two would be met by the stipulated time of 2020.

20. Asiatic Lion Conservation Project

Asiatic Lion Conservation Project

1. The MoEFCC has launched the “Asiatic Lion Conservation Project” with an aim to protect and conserve the world’s last ranging free population of Asiatic Lion and its associated ecosystem.
2. The project will be funded from the Centrally Sponsored Scheme- Development of Wildlife Habitat (CSS-DWH) with the contributing ratio being 60:40 of Central and State share.
3. The conservation of Asiatic Lions has always been a priority of Government of India.
4. The Ministry in the past has supported Asiatic Lion in Gujarat by including it in list of 21 critically endangered species under the species recovery component of CSS-DWH.

21.India, Nepal, Bhutan plan joint task force to protect wildlife

• The governments of India, Nepal and Bhutan are actively considering having a joint task force for allowing free movement of wildlife across political boundaries and checking smuggling of wildlife across the Kanchenjunga Landscape.

About Kanchenjunga Landscape

1. The Kanchenjunga Landscape is a trans-boundary region spread across Nepal, India and Bhutan.
2. The landscape stretches along the southern side of Mount Kanchenjunga covers an area of 25,080 sq km spread across parts of eastern Nepal (21%), Sikkim and West Bengal (56%) and western and south-western parts of Bhutan (23%).
3. Other than seven million people, the Kanchenjunga Landscape is also home to 169 species of mammals and 713 species of birds.
4. The trio is setting up a joint task force in the road map on achieving the objectives of free movement of wildlife and checking smuggling of wildlife.

22. SC directs Centre to declare area around national parks as Eco-sensitive

Expand ESZ

1. The Supreme Court has directed the Union Environment Ministry to declare 10 km area around 21 national parks and wildlife sanctuaries across the country as ‘eco-sensitive zones’.
2. A Bench led by Justice Madan B. Lokur took the initiative after its amicus curiae informed the court that the State governments have taken no effort to protect the area around these sanctuaries and parks.
3. The court recorded that the issue has been pending for the past 12 years.

23. Country’s first owl festival organized in Pune

Indian Owl Festival

1. The Indian Owl Festival, the country’s first owl fest, will be held at Pingori village in Purandar taluka of Pune, Maharashtra.
2. The two-day festival is organised by Ela Foundation, an NGO working towards nature education and conservation.
3. It will give information on owl conservation and feature art forms like pictures, paintings, lanterns, lamp shades, posters, origami, stitched articles, poems and stories on owls.
4. It is a first-of-its-kind festival in the country that is being organised with the intention of creating awareness about owl as a bird and debunking numerous superstitions associated with it.

24. India gets UN Environment award for combating transboundary environmental crime

• UN Environment has awarded Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Ministry of Environment with Asia Environment Enforcement Awards, 2018 for excellent work done in combating transboundary environmental crime.

About the Award

1. The Asia Environment Enforcement Awards publicly recognize and celebrate excellence in enforcement by government officials and institutions/teams combating transboundary environmental crime in Asia.
2. The awards are given to outstanding individuals and/or government organizations/teams that demonstrate excellence and leadership in enforcement of national laws to combat transboundary environmental crime.
3. The award was decided upon by a selection panel set up by the UN Environment and this is the second time in a row the awards are being given by UN Environment to India.

25. Nature pushed to the brink by ‘runaway consumption’, says WWF

 

Triggering another Mass Extinction

1. Uncontrolled consumption has decimated global wildlife and has triggered a mass extinction and exhausted Earth’s capacity to accommodate humanity’s expanding appetites, warned WWF.
2. From 1970 to 2014, 60% of all animals with a backbone — fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals — were wiped out by human activity.
3. WWF said all this in its “Living Planet” report, based on an ongoing survey of more than 4,000 species spread over 16,700 populations scattered across the globe.

Mountain Ranges

Sr. No.	Mountain Range	Important/Highest Peaks	Location	Description
1	Rocky Mountains	Mt. Elbert (highest peak in the Rockies)	North America	It is one of the longest fold mountains in the world and extends from Canada to Western US (New Mexico State)
2	Appalachian Mountains	Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina, US (highest peak of Appalachian Mountains)	North America	It is a fold mountain with rich in mineral resources
3	Alps	Mont Blanc (French –Italian border)	Europe	It is a folded mountain and source for rivers like Danube, Rhine, etc.
4	Sierra Nevada	Mt. Whitney	California, USA	Habitat for many Red Indian tribes
5	Alaska Range	Mt. McKinley	North America	Mt. McKinley highest peak in North America
6	Altai Mountains	Belukha mountain	Central Asia	Young folded mountain which extends from Kazakhstan to northern China.
7	Andes Mountains	Mt. Aconcagua	South America	Longest mountain chain in the world
8	Atlas Mountains	Mt. Toubkal	Northwestern Africa	Young fold mountain spreading over Morocco and Tunisia.
9	Drakensberg Mountains	Mt. Lesotho	South Africa	Young folded mountain
10.	Caucasus Mountain	Mt. Elbrus	Europe	Located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea
11.	Ural Mountains	Mt. Narodnaya	Russia	This mountain range act as a boundary between Europe and Asia.
12.	Hindukush Mountains	Mt. Trich Mir	Pakistan and Afghanistan	Folded mountain with rugged topography which makes it difficult for transportation.
13.	Himalayas	Mt. Everest	Asia	Young fold mountains in Asia which separates Indian sub-continent from Asian plains
14.	Arakan Yoma	Mt. Kennedy peak	Myanmar	It extends from north to south direction. Shifting cultivation is practised.
15.	Kunlun Mountains	Mt. Muztag	North of Tibetan plateau and western China	It is one of the young folded mountains.
16.	Vosges	Mt. Grand Ballon	Eastern France, Europe	Famous for the cultivation of grapes and manufacture of wines.
17.	Great Dividing Range	Mt. Kosciuszko	Australia	This range is the source for the rivers Darling and Murray.

 

 

APC Network: Association for Progressive Communications comprises more than 20,000 subscribers to electronic listservers in 95 countries, and have recently been very much involved in agitating for global development and democratization of the United Nations

Balance of payments: net flow of goods, services and financial transactions that takes into account outflows and inflows of money from a state

Balance of payments deficit: a state spends more than it receives from other countries

Balance of payments surplus: a state receives more than it spends in other countries

Balance of power: a condition in which the distribution of military and political forces among nations means no one state is sufficiently strong to dominate all the others. It may be global, regional or local in scope

Bargaining power: the general capacity of a state to control the behaviour of others, power to cause another actor to do an action (also see structural power)

Biodiversity: two kinds: species and genetic diversity, species diversity refers to the differences between species, while genetic diversity refers to differences within species

Brezhnev Doctrine: reinforced the right of the Soviets to ntervene where Moscow deemed socialism was threatened by ‘counter-revolutionary forces’

Brundtland Commission Report: published 1987, commissioned 1983 with Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway, as commissioner, mandate was to look into the alarming rate at which environmental resources were being consumed, a the levels of their waste, particularly in the case of development, at the ways in which developing countries were falling further and further behind the industrialized world in their standards of living, coined term ‘sustainable development’

Cold War: The period in world affairs from c.1947-1990, marked by ideological, economic and political hostility and competition between the US and the Soviet Union, and drawing in other powers at various levels of involvement

Common unit of exchange: a currency in which international economic exchanges are valued

Comparative advantage: Doctrine says that states should 1) produce and export whatever they can produce most efficiently relative to other states i.e., whatever they have a comparative advantage in; and they should 2) import those things they can’t produce as efficiently from states that can

Concert of Europe: the informal system of consultation set up by the Great Powers (Austria, Britain, France, Prussia and Russia) to manage the balance of power at the end of the Congress system

Conflict: perceived rival and incompatible claims over some desired “good”

Congress of Vienna: meeting of the four main victors over Napoleon and France: Austria, Britain, Prussia and Russia.

Containment: policy pursued by the US toward the Soviet Union c. 1947-1989, the aim of which was to deny Moscow opportunities to expand its political influence abroad, to draw a line and contain the Soviets within their borders, (also see Truman Doctrine )

CSCE: Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, from 1973-75 all European states (except Albania) plus the US and Canada met to discuss regional security (now the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and one of the central security organizations in Europe

D5: denuclearization, demilitarization, dealignment, democratization, and development, five main goals of peace and social movements

Defence strategy: involves the assumption that war will be fought with three aims in mind: 1. to punish the aggressor 2. to deny territorial gains 3. to limit the damage to oneself (also see deterrence)

Deterrence: efforts of an actor to dissuade the opponent from doing something considered against the actor’s interests by making the costs of action outweigh the benefits with threat of punishment, the implicit or explicit purpose of this strategy was to avoid actually fighting war (also see defence)

Doctrine of Flexible Response: a nuclear utilization strategy which legitimized the notion of limited nuclear war, involved two dimensions: limited targetting (‘counterforce strategy’) and the use of battlefield nuclear weapons (also see MAD)

Dollar overhang: the amount of US dollars overseas exceeded US reserves of gold, undermining dollar convertibility to gold

Ethnic group: a group of people who define themselves as distinct from other groups because of cultural differences

Eurodollar markets: free market where buyers and sellers exchange currencies outside of their country of origin

Exchange rate: value at which one currency is traded for another

Fixed exchange rate: the rate of exchange of a currency or currency is set by agreement between governments or by government policy (see also gold standard)

Floating exchange rate: the rate of exchange of currencies is permitted to rise and fall with supply and demand on the international private market

 

Free trade: means the buying or selling of goods and services across international borders with few or no restrictions (see also protectionism)

Fungibility: the extent to which one form of power can be converted into another

GATT: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, drawn up in 1947 to codify the rules of conduct in trade for its members, in the GATT, states agreed to negotiate “reciprocal and mutually advantageous arrangements directed to the substantial reduction of tariffs and other barriers to trade” and to increase free and fair trade

Glasnost: ‘openness’, a term introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev about his post-1985 opening of Soviet society to dissidents, public criticism and limited admission of past Soviet mistakes (also see perestroika)

Gold standard: the value of a currency is fixed relative to an amount of gold, can be converted to gold at a fixed rate (see also fixed exchange rates)

GSP: Generalized System of Preferences: early 1970’s nineteen advanced industrial states agreed to eliminate tariffs on manufactured and semimanufactured goods exported by 140 LDCs unilaterally for ten years, renewed during 1980s for another decade (see UNCTAD, IPC)

Holy Roman Emperor: the supreme secular authority in Medieval Europe

Hugo Grotius (1583-1645): the ‘father’ of international law, a Dutch jurist, humanist and diplomat His great work ‘On the Law of War and Peace’ is widely regarded as a landmark in the development of international law

HYV’s: high-yielding varieties of agricultural plants, genetically designed to produce higher quantities of product with the aid of fertilizer, pesticides, and mechanized agricultural methods

ICBM’s: inter-continental ballistic missiles

IPC: Integrated Programme for Commodities, concerted attempt to control price fluctuations in commodities on which LDC’s depended for foreign exchange income (see UNCTAD, GSP)

LDC: Less Developed Country

MAD: Mutually Assured Destruction, strategic doctrine which guarantees that each side in a nuclear exchange would survive a first strike by its opponent with enough arms intact to launch a second-strike sufficient to destroy the aggressor (also see Doctrine of Flexible Response)

massive retaliation: a a nuclear strategy which calls for a nuclear response to any aggressive action

MFN: Most Favoured Nation: every member is treated as well as the “most favoured one”: ie: if U.S. offers low tariff to Canada on ice cubes: every other GATT member is entitled to the same treatment (see also free trade, GATT)

MIRV’S: multiple independently targetted re-entry vehicles (see also ICBM’S)

monetarism: a policy of manipulating the money supply (inflating or deflating a currency) to influence economic growth

monoculture: refers to the use of one genetic strain of plant or animal to replace a diversity of strains

Multiple-sum game: both actors can mutually gain (also see zero-sum game)

Natural law: the idea there existed rights and duties attached to human beings as such that existed in all times and all places, that could be discovered by reason, and that should be applied in the relations between groups

Negative peace: the absence of war and physical (direct) violence (also see positive peace)

Netwar: the primary objective of “netwar” is to use computer networks and databases to inflict cultural and political damage to the international image of the opponent.

News values: the criteria for determining what kinds of stories are reported; used to identify, define and present a story

NIEO: United Nations Resolution of May 1974 for a New International Economic Order to address concerns of LDC’s

Non-Aligned Movement: loose organization of Third World countries which dealt with statements on a wide variety of issues from nuclear proliferation to trade and development, first meeting: Bandung, Indonesia, 1955, led by a few relatively strong, independent personalities: Tito, Nehru, and Nasser (Yugoslavia, India, Egypt) (see also UNCTAD, NIEO)

Non-governmental organization (NGO): any private organization involved in activities that have transnational implications
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Nuclear fusion: relies on forcing two hydrogen atoms together, and in the process destroying some extra matter that is converted into energy (called H-bomb)

NWIO: New World Information and Communication Order, begun in the 1970s around the same time as the Group of 77 launched its drive for a NIEO, called for a more balanced flow of communications globally, development of communication infrastructure in LDC’s, control or elimination of information monopolies, and respect for each people’s cultural identity

OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, organization of 29 industrialized countries

OPEC: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies: cartel of oil producers formed to control the price and supply of oil on world markets

Perestroika: ‘restructuring’, a term used by Mikhail Gorbachev to describe his plans to reform, modernize and partly decentralize the Soviet economy (also see glasnost)

Positive peace: the absence of structural violence as well as direct violence (see also negative peace)

Protectionism: protecting your economy from the international economy by imposing various restrictions on flow of imports or exports of goods or services into or out of your country (see also free trade)

Reserve currency: a currency that countries hold in reserve because of its strength and stability

Security dilemma: a situation in which states’ actions taken to assure their own security, tend to threaten the security of other states

Self-help: necessity to rely on a states’ own resources and capabilities

SLBM’s: submarine-launched ballistic missiles

specie money: solid money (gold or silver, traditionally)

spheres of influence: an area declared by a Great Power to be its exclusive area of interest, where it acts to defend its dominance and to exclude other Great Powers.

SOP’s: standard operating procedures

Sovereignty: means a government has the right, at least in principle, to do whatever it liks in its own territory (also see state)

Structural power: the power to change the rules of the game for others, the power to structure the choices of other actors

Structural violence: latent or hidden forms of social conflict

Stockholm Conference: UN Conference on the Human Environment, held 1972, was first worldwide environmental conference in history

Sustainable development: term coined by Brundtland Commission Report 1987, defined as development which can “ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

Terms of trade: the ratio in prices between a country’s exports and its imports

Truman Doctrine: a promise of US aid to all ‘free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside powers” (also see Brezhnev Doctrine)

UNCED: United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio 1992. Effort by the int. Community to reach consensus on principles and a long-term workplan for global sustainable development, major output was Agenda 21 (referring to the Twenty-First Century), a global plan of action containing 294 pages encompassing every sectoral environmental issues as well as international policies affecting both environment and development and the full range of domestic social and economic policies.

UNCTAD: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development: formed 1964: first Secretary General Raul Prebisch: called for reform of system of international trade based on liberalism and comparative advantage, in order to assist development of poor countries, included calls for a GSP and IPC (see also NIEO)

War: legitimate use of organized violence or force to achieve “goods” (also see conflict)

zero-sum game: one actors’ gain is another’s loss

Dear students,

We understand that the UPSC exam is a generalist exam. It’s more important to cover more issues than to cover one issue in more depth. Hence, through Samachar Manthan, we are trying to maintain a fine balance of covering many important news items and having a detailed discussion on selected topics which require the same. On daily basis a news gets repeated multiple times. Scattered knowledge is not adequately useful when you have to write a 200 words answer within 6-7 minutes. To handle this, Samachar manthan covers such issues in a comprehensive and consolidated manner which is the smart strategy.

Benefits of Samachar Manthan

• Packed 3 – 3.5 hours Weekly videos will focus on news and its importance from both prelims and mains perspective.
• This program will also help you understand how to utilize current affairs in all your prelims and mains papers.
• This ideology makes this course the best utilization of your time.
• Detailed coverage would mean analysis from all the angles like background or history, features, significance, challenges and way forward. Also, multiple sources like epw, diplomat magazine etc will be referred to in the video lectures.
• Such an approach will help in writing multidimensional answers.
• Also which part of the topic is important from mains and prelims perspective will also be discussed.
• Audio Visual Learning is more impactful than simply glancing through the material. So that you are able to retain information for long also interlink with any new information you get.
• 4 stage structure of Video->Notes->testing->review to perfect your preparation
• The sequence of video->Notes->testing->review is the best way to ensure maximum retention and a rock solid preparation. Each component of the program has been meticulously crafted.

For example this week, we will be covering the following issues;

This Week’s Hottest Stories
Climate Change Impact on India and World- International Reports, Key Observations, etc. (5 Newscards)
Wildlife Conservation Efforts (3 Newscards)
Electoral Reforms In India (3 Newscards)
Indian Navy Updates (2 Newscards)
Judiciary Institutional Issues (2 Newscards)
Foreign Policy Watch: India-United States (2 Newscards)
Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc. (2 Newscards)

Economics
[op-ed snap] Resolving India’s banking crisis
Lakshadweep recruits Barn Owls to fight rodent menace

Enviro & Biodiversity
UK has become the first country to declare a ‘climate emergency’
Global Assessment Report by IPBES
Grizzled Giant Squirrel
Purple frog set to be crowned Kerala’s state amphibian
[op-ed snap] One million species face extinction: Why biodiversity report matters
How China, followed by India, has led greening efforts across world
[op-ed snap] From Idai to Fani

Governance
[op-ed snap] No courts for women
Home Ministry terminates ‘Black List’ of Indian-origin people
WHO for eliminating industrially produced trans fats by 2023
India facing critical shortage of healthcare providers: WHO

International Relations
[op-ed snap] The quest for a military footprint
India re-elected as observer to Arctic Council
[op-ed snap] Taking tensions seriously
[op-ed snap] Loud and clear
[op-ed snap] Endless war
[op-ed snap] A fraught moment: U.S.-China trade war
[op-ed snap] Gulf warning
Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitrary Tribunal

Polity
Zero Pendency Courts Project
Sub-categorization of OBCs
Supreme Court pushes for ‘full’ strength of 31

Science Tech
Sand, a global sustainability challenge: UN report
[op-ed snap] Surveillance wars in space
Indian scientists discover how serotonin helps brain cells cope with stress
NASA spacecraft to hit an asteroid in 2022

Security Issues
Fourth Scorpene-class submarine INS Vela launched
IAF gets first Apache Guardian attack helicopter
Exercise Group Sail

Arts and culture
Thailand’s cultural roots with India
Genetic Study on people of Lakshadweep Islands

 

And these issues will be covered in detail

• Surveilance war in space
• Global report on extinction of species
• Zero pendency court project
• US china Trade War
• Instability in Gulf
• Gender disparity in Courts

So to be thorough in your preparation and to have an integrated approach, join Samachar Manthan here.

 

State	Monument	Place	Built by
Bihar	Golghar	Patna	British Govt.
	Pathar Ki Masjid	Patna	Pervez Shah
	Sher Shah’s Tomb	Sasaram	Sher Shah’s son
	Vishnupad Temple	Gaya	Rani Ahilyabai
Delhi	Feroz Shah Kotla	Delhi	Ferozshan Tughlaq
	Hauz Khas	Delhi	Alauddin Khilji
	Humayun Tomb	Delhi	Empress Bega Begum
	Jama Masjid	Delhi	Shahjahan
	Jantar-Mantar	Delhi	Sawai Jai Singh
	Khirki Masjid	Delhi	Ghyasuddin Tughlaq
	Lakshmi Narayan Temple	Delhi	Birla Family
	Moti Masjid	Delhi	Aurangzeb
	President House	Delhi	British Govt.
	Purana Qila	Delhi	Sher Shah Suri
	Qutub Minar	Delhi	Qutubuddin Aibak
	Red Fort	Delhi	Shahjahan
	Safdarjung Tomb	Delhi	Shuja-ud-daula
Gujarat	Sabarmati Ashram	Ahmadabad	Mahatma Gandhi
Jammu and Kashmir	Charar-E- Sharif	Budgam	Zainul Abedin
	Nishat Garden	Srinagar	Asaf Ali
	Shalimar Garden	Srinagar	Jahangir
Karnataka	Lal Bagh	Bangaluru	Hyder Ali
Maharashtra	Ajanta- Ellora Caves	Aurangabad	Gupta rulers
	Bibi Ka Maqbara	Aurangabad	Aurangzeb
	Elephanta Cave	Mumbai	Rashtrakuta rulers
	Gateway Of India	Mumbai	British Govt.
	Kanheri Fort	Mumbai	Buddhists
Odisha	Jagannath Temple	Puri	Anantavarman Ganga
	Sun Temple	Konark	Narasimhadeva I
Punjab	Golden Temple	Amritsar	Guru Ramdas
Rajasthan	Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra	Ajmer	Qutubuddin Aibak
	Bharatpur Fort	Bharatpur	Raja Surajmal Singh
	Ajmer Sharif Dargah	Ajmer	Sultan Shyasuddin
	Dilwara Jain Temple	Mount Abu	Siddharaja
	Hawa Mahal	Jaipur	Maharaja Pratap Singh
	Jaigarh Fort	Jaipur	Sawai Jai Singh
	Jodhpur Fort	Jodhpur	Rao Jodha
	Nahargarh Fort	Jaipur	Sawai Jai Singh
	Vijaya Stambha	Chittorgarh	Maharana Kumbha
Tamil Nadu	Saint George Fort	Chennai	East India Company
Telegana	Char- Minar	Hyderabad	Quli Qutub Shah
	Makka Masjid	Hyderabad	Quli Qutub Shah
Uttar Pradesh	Agra Fort	Agra	Akbar
	Akbar Rsquo Tomb	Sikandra	Akbar
	Anand Bhawan	Allahabad	Motilal Nehru
	Aram Bagh	Agra	Babur
	Bada Imambara	Lucknow	Asaf-ud-daula
	Chhota Imambara	Lucknow	Muhammad Ali Shah
	Deewan-E- Khas	Agra Fort	Shahjahan
	Fatehpur Sikri	Agra	Akbar
	Tomb of Itmad-Ud-Daula	Agra	Nurjahan
	Jama Masjid	Agra	Shahjahan
	Moti Masjid	Agra	Shahjahan
	Sati Burj	Mathura	Raja Bhagwan Das
	Shish Mahal	Agra	Shahjahan
	Taj Mahal	Agra	Shahjahan
Uttarakhand	Jim Corbett Park	Nainital	Sir Malcolm Hailey
West Bengal	Shantiniketan	West Bengal	Rabindranath Tagore
	Belur Math	Kolkata	Swami Vivekananda
	Victoria Memorial	Kolkata	British Govt.

Name of the Exercise	PartnerCountry/Countries	Details
Surya Kiran XIII	Nepal	This exercise was aimed at training on jungle warfare, anti-terrorism combat and disaster response activities.
Lamitye VIII	Seychelles	The focus of the exercise was to conduct counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations.
Shakti IV	France	The focus was on high degree of physical fitness, tactical drills, techniques and procedure.
Vinbax 1	Vietnam	The focus was on cooperation in the maritime domain.
Hamesha Vijayee	Southern Command	It aimed at fine tuning surveillance and destruction mechanisms to support precision strikes and manoeuvres by network enabled forces.
Ajeya Warrior	UK	The aim of the exercise was to build and promote bilateral relations and enhance interoperability.
Malabar	The USA and Japan	It’s a joint naval exercise.
AUSINDEX	Australia	It’s a joint naval exercise.
SIMBEX	Singapore	It’s a joint naval exercise.
IND–INDO CORPAT	Indonesia	It’s a joint naval exercise.
Varuna	France	It’s a joint naval exercise.
Nomadic Elephant	Mongolia	It’s a joint exercise between two armies.
Surya Kiran	Nepal	It’s a joint exercise between two armies.
Al-Nagah	Oman	It’s a joint army exercise.
EKUVERIN	Maldives	It’s a joint military exercise.
INDRA	Russia	It refers to joint exercises conducted between army, navy and airforce.
KONKAN	United Kingdom	It’s a joint naval exercise.
Hand in Hand	China	It’s a joint military exercise.
SAMPRITI	Bangladesh	It’s a joint military exercise.
Mitra Shakti	Sri Lanka	It’s a joint military exercise.
Yudh Abhyas	The USA	It’s a joint military exercise.
PRABAL DOSTYK	Kazakhstan	It’s a joint military exercise.
Maitree	Thailand	It’s a joint military exercise..
RIPMAC	Around 25 nations, including the USA, the UK, China and France.	It’s the world’s largest international maritime exercise.
Desert Eagle	United Arab Emirates	It’s a joint air combat exercise.
Garuda Shakti	Indonesia	It’s a joint military exercise.
Lamitye	Seychelles	It’s a joint military exercise.
IBSAMAR	South Africa and Brazil	It’s a joint naval exercise.
Sahyog-Kaijin	Japan	It’s a joint exercise between the coast guards of two countries.
SHAKTI	France	It’s a joint military exercise.
SLINEX	Sri Lanka	It’s a joint military exercise.
Indradhanush	The United Kingdom	It’s a bilateral air exercise.