Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UNESCO heritages (tangible and intangible)
Mains level: Not Much
Turkish Coffee made it to the UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013. It is celebrated in literature and songs and is an important part of ceremonies and festivals.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following pairs:
Traditions Communities
- Chaliha Sahib Festival — Sindhis
- Nanda Raj Jaat Yatra — Gonds
- Wari-Warkari — Santhals
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3
(c) 1 and 3
(d) None of the above
Turkish Coffee
- To make Turkish Coffee, Arabica beans are ground manually and boiled with water and sugar in a special pot called cezve in Turkey and ibrik elsewhere.
- It is taken off the heat as soon as it begins to froth and before it boils over.
- It is traditionally served in individual porcelain cups called kahvefinjan.
- Sometimes the coffee may be flavoured with cardamom or other spices and served with a small piece of Turkish delight.
Back2Basics: Intangible Heritages from India
- Tradition of Vedic chanting
- Ramlila, the traditional performance of the Ramayana
- Kutiyattam, Sanskrit theatre
- Ramman, religious festival and ritual theatre of the Garhwal Himalayas.
- Mudiyettu, ritual theatre and dance drama of Kerala
- Kalbelia folk songs and dances of Rajasthan
- Chhau dance
- Buddhist chanting of Ladakh: recitation of sacred Buddhist texts in the trans-Himalayan Ladakh region, Jammu and Kashmir.
- Sankirtana, ritual singing, drumming and dancing of Manipur
- Traditional brass and copper craft of utensil making among the Thatheras of Jandiala Guru, Punjab
- Yoga
- Nawrouz
- Kumbh Mela
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: “Dictionary of Martyrs” Project
Mains level: India's freedom struggle
Four martyrs of Communist movement of Kerala will be added to the ‘Dictionary of Martyrs India’s Freedom Struggle (1857-1947)’, if an earlier review report to the Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR) is accepted.
Communist revolutionaries of Kerala
- The four who may make it to the list include Aboobacker and Chirukandan of Kayyur, “who walked to the gallows shouting Inquilab Zindabad and Communist Party Zindabad” and “died as brave communists,” as mentioned in the fifth volume of the dictionary.
- Abu of Mambram, a Communist and active partner in the nationalist and anti-imperialist movements, and Chattukutty, an active Communist cadre involved in the agitations for price control, wage hike, and relief to peasants, who were killed in the Tellichery police firing on September 15, 1940, would also qualify.
- The report had suggested the deletion of the martyrs of Punnapra-Vayalar, Karivelloor, and Kavumbayi agitations as they were rioters against the interim government headed by Jawaharlal Nehru.
Back2Basics: “Dictionary of Martyrs” Project
- The project for the compilation of “Dictionary of Martyrs” of India’s Freedom Struggle was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, to the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the uprising of 1857.
- In this dictionary, a martyr has been defined as a person who died or who was killed in action or in detention, or was awarded capital punishment while participating in the national movement for the emancipation of India.
- It includes ex-INA or ex-military personnel who died fighting the British.
- Information of about 13,500 martyrs has been recorded in these volumes.
Who are included?
- It includes the martyrs of 1857 Uprising, Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919), Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22), Civil Disobedience Movement (1930-34), Quit India Movement (1942-44), Revolutionary Movements (1915-34), Kissan Movements, Tribal Movements, Agitation for Responsible Government in the Princely States (Prajamandal), Indian National Army (INA, 1943-45), Royal Indian Navy Upsurge (RIN, 1946), etc.
Five Volumes
- Volume 1: In this volume, more than 4400 martyrs of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have been listed.
- Volume 2: In this volume, more than 3500 martyrs of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir have been listed.
- Volume 3: The number of martyrs covered in this volume is more than 1400. This volume covers the martyrs of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Sind.
- Volume 4: The numbers of martyrs covered in this volume is more than 3300. This volume covers the martyrs of Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura.
- Volume 5: The number of martyrs covered in this volume is more than 1450. This volume covers the martyrs of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Streets for People
Mains level: Not Much
The Union Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the initiative ‘Streets for People’ for making cities more pedestrian-friendly.
Streets for People
- The Challenge builds on the advisory issued by MoHUA for the holistic planning for pedestrian-friendly market spaces, earlier this year.
- It will support cities across the country to develop a unified vision of streets for people in consultation with stakeholders and citizens.
- Adopting a participatory approach, cities will be guided to launch their own design competitions to gather innovative ideas from professionals for quick, innovative, and low-cost tactical solutions.
- It aims to inspire cities to create walking-friendly and vibrant streets through quick, innovative, and low-cost measures.
- All cities participating in the challenge shall be encouraged to use the ‘test-learn-scale’ approach to initiate both, flagship and neighbourhood walking interventions.
- The interventions can include inter alia creating pedestrian-friendly streets in high footfall areas, re-imagining under-flyover spaces, re-vitalizing dead neighbourhood spaces, and creating walking links through parks and institutional areas.
Various stakeholders
- Fit India Mission, under Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, along with the India program of the Institute for Transport Development and Policy (ITDP) has partnered with the Smart Cities Mission to support the challenge.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Persons mentioned in the news, Nobel Prize
Mains level: Not Much
A Norwegian legislator has nominated US President Donald Trump for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts towards furthering peace in the Middle East.
Take a look at the Presidents and Vice-Presidents who have won the Nobel Peace Prize:
These trivial facts are too unlikely to be asked in the CS prelims, but may hold importance for CAPF and other exams.
(1) Theodore Roosevelt (1906)
- Roosevelt, the 26th occupant of the White House (1901-09), was not only the first American president but also the world’s first statesman to win the honour, five years after the Peace Prize was instituted in 1901.
- He was given the prize for negotiating peace between imperial Russia and Japan after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05.
- He was also praised for his efforts in resolving a dispute between the US and Mexico through arbitration, and for extending the use of arbitration as a means for settling international disputes.
- At home, Roosevelt launched radical social and economic reform policies and earned a reputation as a “trust buster” for breaking up monopolies.
(2) Woodrow Wilson (1919)
- Wilson (1913-21) was given the award for his efforts in ending World War I, and for being the key architect of the League of Nations– born out of his famous ‘Fourteen Points’.
- Although the League faltered in a few years, it served as a blueprint for the United Nations after World War II.
- At home, Wilson saw the reduction of import duties, started America’s central bank and a national business oversight body, and strengthened anti-monopoly and labour laws.
- In his second term, the US passed its 19th constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote.
(3) Jimmy Carter (2002)
- The 39th President was awarded the Peace Prize “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development”.
- During his presidency (1977-81), Carter earned praise for his role in bringing about a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.
- His later years were more fraught, including foreign policy failures such as the conflict with Iran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, culminating in him losing re-election to the conservative Ronald Reagan in 1980.
- Post his presidency, Carter pursued peace and mediation efforts independently and co-founded the Carter Center, a non-profit that chiefly works to advance human rights.
(4) Barack Obama (2009)
- The country’s 44th President (2009-2017) was given the Nobel Peace Prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”.
- Cited among Obama’s achievements were his promotion of nuclear non-proliferation, and bringing a “new climate” in international relations.
- Obama donated the full prize money – 10 million Swedish kronor (around $1.4 million) – to charity.
(5) Al Gore (1993-2001)
- Apart from the four Presidents, one Vice President– Al Gore (1993-2001) – has been given the Nobel Peace Prize.
- He shared the honour in 2007 with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for their joint efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AMU, Sir Saiyad Ahmad Khan
Mains level: Not Much
In its centenary year, Aligarh Muslim University is planning to bury a time capsule, containing its history and achievements for posterity.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following:
- Calcutta Unitarian Committee
- Tabernacle of New Dispensation
- Indian Reforms Association
Keshab Chandra Sen is associated with the establishment of which of the above?
(a) 1 and 3 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Aligarh Muslim University
- AMU is a public central university in Aligarh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875.
- Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920, following the Aligarh Muslim University Act.
- It has three off-campus centres in Malappuram (Kerala), AMU Murshidabad centre (West Bengal), and Kishanganj Centre (Bihar).
Its establishment
- The university was established as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, starting functioning on 24 May 1875.
- The movement associated with Syed Ahmad Khan and the college came to be known as the Aligarh Movement, which pushed to realize the need for establishing a modern education system for the Indian Muslim populace.
- He considered competence in English and Western sciences necessary skills for maintaining Muslims’ political influence.
- Khan’s vision for the college was based on his visit to Oxford University and Cambridge University, and he wanted to establish an education system similar to the British model.
About Syed Ahmad Khan
- He was an Islamic pragmatist, reformer, and philosopher of nineteenth-century British India.
- Born into a family with strong debts to the Mughal court, Ahmed studied the Quran and Sciences within the court.
- He was awarded an honorary LLD from the University of Edinburgh in 1889.
- In 1838, Syed Ahmed entered the service of East India Company and went on to become a judge at a Small Causes Court in 1867, retiring from 1876.
- During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, he remained loyal to the British Raj and was noted for his actions in saving European lives.
- In 1878, he was nominated to the Viceroy’s Legislative Council.
- He supported the efforts of Indian political leaders Surendranath Banerjee and Dadabhai Naoroji to obtain representation for Indians in the government and civil services.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ramjet, Scramjet
Mains level: Indian missile program
The DRDO has successfully demonstrated the hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology with the flight test of the Hypersonic Technology Demonstration Vehicle (HSTDV).
Take note of close dissimilarities between Ramjet and Scramjet engines.
About HSTDV
- HSTDV is an unmanned scramjet vehicle with a capability to travel at six times the speed of sound.
- The scramjets are a variant of a category of jet engines called the air-breathing engines.
- The ability of engines to handle airflows of speeds in multiples of the speed of sound gives it a capability of operating at those speeds.
- Hypersonic speeds are those which are five times or more than the speed of sound.
- The unit tested by the DRDO can achieve upto six times the speed of sound or Mach 6, which is well over 7000 km per hour or around two km per second.
Its development
- The DRDO started on the development of the engine in the early 2010s.
- The ISRO has also worked on the development of the technology and has successfully tested a system in 2016. DRDO too has conducted a test of this system in June 2019.
- The special project of the DRDO consisted of contributions from its multiple facilities including the Pune headquartered Armament and Combat Engineering Cluster.
Back2Basics: Ramjet V. Scramjet
- A ramjet is a form of air-breathing jet engine that uses the vehicle’s forward motion to compress incoming air for combustion without a rotating compressor.
- Fuel is injected in the combustion chamber where it mixes with the hot compressed air and ignites.
- A ramjet-powered vehicle requires an assisted take-off like a rocket assist to accelerate it to a speed where it begins to produce thrust.
- Ramjets work most efficiently at supersonic speeds around Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound) and can operate up to speeds of Mach 6.
- However, the ramjet efficiency starts to drop when the vehicle reaches hypersonic speeds.
- A scramjet engine is an improvement over the ramjet engine as it efficiently operates at hypersonic speeds and allows supersonic combustion. Thus it is known as Supersonic Combustion Ramjet or Scramjet.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Malabar Rebellion
Mains level: Not Much
A report submitted to the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) in 2016 has termed the Malabar Rebellion leaders as ‘rioters’.
Try this question from CSP 2015:
Q. Which amongst the following provided a common factor for a 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.
Why is it contentious?
- It largely took the shape of guerrilla-type attacks on janmis (feudal landlords, who were mostly upper-caste Hindus) and the police and troops.
- Mappilas had been among the victims of oppressive agrarian relations protected by the British.
- But the political mobilization in the region in the aftermath of the Khilafat agitation and Gandhi’s non-cooperation struggle served as an opportunity for an extremist section to invoke a religious idiom to express their suffering.
- There were excesses on both sides — rebels and government troops. Incidents of murder, looting and forced conversion led many to discredit the uprising as a manifestation of religious bigotry.
- Moderate Khilafat leaders lamented that the rebellion had alienated the Hindu sympathy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Assam Rifles
Mains level: India's paramilitary forces
The Delhi High Court has granted 12 weeks to the Union government to decide on whether to scrap or retain the dual control structure for Assam Rifles. Presently it comes under both the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
What is the Assam Rifles?
- Assam Rifles is one of the six central armed police forces (CAPFs) under the administrative control of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
- The other forces being the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Border Security Force (BSF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
- It is tasked with the maintenance of law and order in the North East along with the Indian Army and also guards the Indo-Myanmar border in the region.
- It has a sanctioned strength of over 63,000 personnel and has 46 battalions apart from administrative and training staff.
Making of the regiment
- Assam Rifles is the oldest paramilitary force raised way back in 1835 in British India with just 750 men.
- Since then it has gone on to fight in two World Wars, the Sino-Indian War of 1962 and used as an anti-insurgency force against militant groups in the North East.
- Raised as a militia to protect British tea estates and its settlements from the raids of the NE tribes, the force was first known as Cachar Levy.
- It was reorganized later as Assam Frontier Force as its role was expanded to conduct punitive operations beyond Assam borders.
How is it unique?
- It is the only paramilitary force with a dual control structure. While the administrative control of the force is with the MHA, its operational control is with the Indian Army, which is under the MoD.
- This means that salaries and infrastructure for the force is provided by the MHA, but the deployment, posting, transfer and deputation of the personnel is decided by the Army.
- All its senior ranks, from DG to IG and sector headquarters, are manned by officers from the Army. The force is commanded by Lt. General from the Indian Army.
- The force is the only central paramilitary force (CPMF) in a real sense as its operational duties and regimentation are on the lines of the Indian Army.
- However, its recruitment, perks, promotion of its personnel and retirement policies are governed according to the rules framed by the MHA for CAPFs.
Why do both MHA and MoD want full control?
- MHA has argued that all the border guarding forces are under the operational control of the ministry and so Assam Rifles coming under MHA will give border guarding a comprehensive and integrated approach.
- MHA sources also say that Assam Rifles continues to function on the pattern set during the 1960s and the ministry would want to make guarding of the Indo-Myanmar border on the lines of other CAPFs.
- The Army, for its part, has been arguing that there is no need to fix what isn’t broken.
- Sources say the Army is of the opinion that the Assam Rifles has worked well in coordination with the Army and frees up the armed forces from many of its responsibilities to focus on its core strengths.
- It has argued that giving the control of the force to MHA or merging it with any other CAPF will confuse the force and jeopardize national security.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vitamin D
Mains level: Not Much
The pandemic-induced lockdown has confined people to their houses for five months now. The resultant lack of sunlight, followed by rains, has brought down the vitamin D levels to the lowest.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2014:
Q.Consider the following pairs:
Vitamin Deficiency:: Disease
- Vitamin C::Scurvy
- Vitamin D:: Rickets
- Vitamin E:: Night blindness
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) None
What is Vitamin-D?
- Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that has myriad positive effects on several systems in the body.
- Unlike other vitamins, it functions like a hormone and every cell in your body has a receptor for it.
- It is sparsely found in certain fatty fish and fortified dairy products, and it is extremely difficult to get the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) of 600-800 IU from diet alone.
There are two main forms of vitamin D in the diet:
– Vitamin D2 (Ergocalciferol) — found in plant foods like mushrooms.
– Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) — found in animal foods like salmon, cod and egg yolks.
Common signs and symptoms of the deficiency
Vitamin D deficiency is incredibly common and most people are unaware of it, as the symptoms are subtle and nonspecific.
– Getting sick or infected often with common cold and flu, because of a weak immune system.
– Fatigue and tiredness
– Bone and muscle pains
– Depression
– Impaired wound healing
– Bone loss and osteoporosis
Sources of Vit. D
- Sunlight is the best natural source of vitamin D. Sunlight synthesizes cholesterol into Vitamin D3.
- Usually, 20 to 30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 am and 3 pm is adequate to meet daily requirements, in places with minimum pollution levels.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kalasa-Banduri Dam Project
Mains level: Inter-state water disputes
India is on the brink of an acute water crisis, which has, to an extent, fabricated a looming threat of trans-boundary water conflicts. The conflict on the Mandovi / Mahadayi River— flowing through Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra— is one such example.
Try this PYQ:
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
Kalasa-Banduri Project
- The project undertaken by the Karnataka government proposes to divert Mandovi river water from Kalasa and Banduri canals into the Malaprabha river in the state.
- The project received clearance from the Centre in 2002. It aims to construct a total of 11 dams on the river Mandovi.
- The diversion of water from Kalasa and Banduri nullahs, however, has been the point of contention between Karnataka and Goa, with the latter claiming it would strip the state of its flora and fauna.
The conflict
- The Mandovi originates from Karnataka’s Belgaum district.
- The Mandovi river basin falls into the states of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
- The river is 81 kilometres (km) in length; 35 km of which flows in Karnataka, 1 km in Maharashtra and 45 km in Goa.
- The seeds of the conflict were sowed over 40 years ago: In 1985, Karnataka initially explored a 350 megawatt-hydro-electric project to divert 50 per cent of the Mandovi river water in Karnataka for irrigation.
- The plan was also to allow a steady flow of water from the power project’s storage dam after using the water for irrigation purposes in Karnataka.
- This would have served to drinking water and irrigation purposes in Goa as well.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM)
Mains level: Not Much
As a first step towards Greening the Indian short term power market, the Ministry of Power and New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has launched pan-India Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM) in electricity.
About GTAM
- GTAM is an alternative new model introduced for selling off the power by the renewable developers in the open market without getting into long term PPAs.
- This would promote RE merchant capacity addition and help in achieving RE capacity addition targets of the country.
Benefits of GTAM
- It would lessen the burden on the RE-rich States and incentivize them to develop RE capacity beyond their own RPO.
- It will benefit buyers of RE through competitive prices and transparent and flexible procurement. It will also benefit RE sellers by providing access to the pan- India market
Key features
- Transactions through GTAM will be bilateral in nature with clear identification of corresponding buyers and sellers, there will not be any difficulty in accounting for RPO.
- GTAM contracts will be segregated into Solar RPO & Non-Solar RPO as RPO targets are also segregated.
- Further, within the two segments, GTAM contracts will have Green Intraday, Day Ahead Contingency, Daily and Weekly Contracts
- Green Intraday Contract & Day Ahead Contingency Contract – Bidding will take place on a 15-minute time-block wise MW basis.
- Daily & Weekly Contracts – Bidding will take place on an MWh basis.
- Price discovery will take place on a continuous basis i.e. price-time priority basis. Subsequently, looking at the market conditions open auction can be introduced for daily & weekly contracts.
- Energy scheduled through GTAM contract shall be considered as deemed RPO compliance of the buyer.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Special Frontier Force (SFF)
Mains level: India's security forces
There have been reports that a Special Frontier Force (SFF) unit, referred to as Vikas Battalion, has been instrumental in occupying some key heights on the LAC.
Try this question for mains:
Q.“It cannot be business as usual with China after the border clash.” Critically comment.
What is the Special Frontier Force (SFF)?
- SFF was raised in the immediate aftermath of the 1962 Sino-India war.
- It was a covert outfit which recruited Tibetans (now it has a mixture of Tibetans and Gorkhas) and initially went by the name of Establishment 22.
- It was named so because it was raised by Major General Sujan Singh Uban, an Artillery officer who had commanded 22 Mountain Regiment.
- He, therefore, named the new covert group after his regiment. Subsequently, the group was renamed as Special Frontier Force.
- SFF now falls under the purview of the Cabinet Secretariat where it is headed by an Inspector General who is an Army officer of the rank of Major General.
Is SFF a part of the Army?
- Strictly speaking, the SFF units are not part of the Army but they function under the operational control of the Army.
- The units have their own rank structures which have equivalent status with Army ranks.
- However, they are highly trained Special Forces personnel who can undertake a variety of tasks which would normally be performed by any Special Forces unit.
- The SFF units, therefore, function virtually as any other Army unit in operational areas despite having a separate charter and history.
Major operations conducted
- There are several overt and covert operations in which SFF units have taken part over the years.
- They took part in operations in the 1971 war, Operation Blue Star in Golden Temple Amritsar, Kargil conflict and in counter-insurgency operations in the country.
- There are several other operations too in which the SFF has participated but the details are classified.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pinaka Multibarrel Missiles
Mains level: India-China LAC tensions
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed contracts with three Indian companies for supply of six regiments of the Pinaka Rocket System to be deployed along borders with Pakistan and China.
Following things are crucial to know about the Pinaka Missile System:
1) It’s development and manufacture
2) Fire Range and other capabilities
3) Latest technology enhancement
Pinaka Missile System
- Pinaka is an indigenously developed rocket system named after Lord Shiva’s mythological bow.
- It is used for attacking the adversary targets prior to the close-quarter battles which involve smaller range artillery, armoured elements and the infantry.
- The development of the Pinaka was started by the DRDO in the late 1980s, as an alternative to the multi-barrel rocket launching systems of Russian make, called like the ‘Grad’, which are still in use.
- After successful tests of Pinaka Mark-1 in late 1990, it was first used in the battlefield during the Kargil War of 1999, quite successfully.
- Subsequently, multiple regiments of the system came up over the 2000s.
Its versions and capabilities
- The Pinaka, which is primarily a multi-barrel rocket system (MBRL) system, can fire a salvo of 12 rockets over a period of 44 seconds.
- One battery of the Pinaka system consists of six launch vehicles, accompanied by the loader systems, radar and links with network-based systems and a command post.
- It can neutralize an area one kilometre by one kilometre.
- The Mark-I version of Pinaka has a range of around 40 kilometres and the Mark-II version can fire up to 75 kilometres.
- The Mark-II version of the rocket has been modified as a guided missile system by integrating it with the navigation, control and guidance system to improve the end accuracy and increase the range.
- The navigation system of the missile is linked with the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Exercise Indra
Mains level: India-Russia defence ties
Amid high operational alert by the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) India and Russia are scheduled to hold the bilateral naval exercise, Indra 2020, in the Andaman Sea, close to the strategic Strait of Malacca.
[Prelims Spotlight]: Various Defence Exercises in News
https://www.civilsdaily.com/prelims-spotlight-various-defence-exercises-in-news/
Exercise Indra
- It is a joint, tri-services exercise between India and Russia
- This series of exercise began in 2003 and the First joint Tri-Services Exercise was conducted in 2017.
- Company sized mechanized contingents, fighter and transport aircraft, as well as ships of respective Army, Air Force and Navy, participate in this exercise of ten days duration.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: C-14, Carbon Dating
Mains level: Scientific management of nuclear waste and its disposal
A California-based company has made a self-charging battery, which can run for 28,000 years on a single charge, by trapping carbon-14 (C14) nuclear waste in artificial diamond-case.
Try this PYQ:
Q.The known forces of nature can be divided into four classes, viz. gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force. With reference to them, which one of the following statements is not correct?
(a) Gravity is the strongest of the four
(b) Electromagnetism act only on particles with an electric charge
(c) Weak nuclear force causes radioactivity
(d) Strong nuclear force holds protons and neutrons inside the nuclear of an atom.
What is C14?
- Carbon-14 (14C), or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons.
- There are three naturally occurring isotopes of carbon on Earth: carbon-12, which makes up 99% of all carbon on Earth; carbon-13, which makes up 1%; and carbon-14, which occurs in trace amounts.
- Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and colleagues (1949) to date archaeological, geological and hydrogeological samples.
C14 battery
- The battery works by generating electricity on its own from a shower of electrons as a result of radioactive decay scattered and deposited in the artificial diamond-case.
- The battery can be used in electric vehicles, mobile phones, laptops, tablets, drones, watches, cameras, health monitors and even sensors.
- It is also said to be extremely safe and tamper-proof as it is coated with a non-radioactive diamond which prevents radiation leaks.
Best example of nuke waste recycling
- It is estimated that 33 million cubic metres of global nuclear waste will cost over $100 billion to manage and dispose of.
- And a lot of this waste is graphite that is one of the higher risks of radioactive waste and one of the most expensive and problematic waste to store.
Its applications
- The company says its battery can be used to powerhouses, and that any excess electricity generated can be sold to the grid.
- As the new battery need not be replaced, it can be installed in hard to reach places like pacemakers and implants, where a regular change of battery is not possible.
- Another area of use is space electronics. The battery is said to power space equipment in rockets.
- It can power the electrical needs of space crafts, like providing power to cockpits and assisting launch into the upper atmosphere.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Renati Cholas, Chola Administration
Mains level: Not Much
A rare inscription dating back to the Renati Chola era has been unearthed in a remote village of Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh.
Try this PYQ:
Q.In the context of the history of India, consider the following pairs:
Term: Description
- Eripatti: Land revenue from which was set apart for the maintenance of the village tank
- Taniyurs: Villages donated to a single Brahmin or a group of Brahmins
- Ghatikas: Colleges generally attached to the temples
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 3 only
(c) 2 and 3
(d) 1 and 3
Who are the Renati Cholas?
- The Telugu Cholas of Renadu (also called as Renati Cholas) ruled over Renadu region, the present-day Kadapa district.
- They were originally independent, later forced to the suzerainty of the Eastern Chalukyas.
- They had the unique honour of using the Telugu language in their inscriptions belonging to the 6th and 8th centuries.
- The earliest of this family was Nandivarman (500 AD) who claimed descent from the family of Karikala and the Kasyapa gotra.
- He had three sons Simhavishnu, Sundarananda and Dhananjaya, all of whom were ruling different territories simultaneously.
- The family seems to have had its origin in Erigal in the Tunmkur district, situated in the border between Pallava and Kadamba regions.
About the inscription
- The inscription so found was engraved on a dolomite slab and shale.
- The inscription was written in archaic Telugu which is readable in 25 lines — the first side with eleven lines and the remaining on the other side.
- It was assigned to the 8th Century A.D. when the region was under the rule of Chola Maharaja of Renadu.
- The inscription seems to throw light on the record of a gift of six Marttus (a measuring unit) of land gifted to a person Sidyamayu, one of the Brahmins serving the temple at Pidukula village.
- It says the people who safeguard this inscription for future generations will acquire the status of conducting Aswamedha Yajna and those destroying it will incur sin equivalent to causing death in Varanasi.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Exercise Kavkaz 2020
Mains level: Not Much
India has turned down Russia’s invitation to participate in the multilateral defence exercise Kavkaz 2020.
Go through the list for once. UPSC may ask a match the pair type question asking exercise name and countries involved.
https://www.civilsdaily.com/prelims-spotlight-defence-exercises/
Exercise Kavkaz 2020
- The Kavkaz 2020 is also referred to as Caucasus-2020.
- The exercise is aimed at assessing the ability of the armed forces to ensure military security in Russia’s southwest, where serious terrorist threats persist and preparing for the strategic command-staff drills.
- The main training grounds that will be involved are located in the Southern Military District.
- The invitation for participation has been extended to at least 18 countries including China, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey apart from other Central Asian Republics part of the SCO.
Why didn’t India participate?
- While it is learned that China has confirmed its participation, Pakistan is also likely to send its troops for the exercise.
- In the response communicated to Russia, New Delhi cited Covid-19 as the official reason to skip ‘Exercise Kavkaz 2020’.
- The move comes in the backdrop of a border standoff with China in eastern Ladakh.
Earlier instances
- Exercise Tsentr last year had the participation of India, Pakistan and all Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member-nations.
- India had participated in SCO peace mission exercise in 2018, and in 2019, for the first time, was involved in a strategic command and staff exercise as part of Exercise Tsentr.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hampi
Mains level: Vijayanagara Architecture
The Ministry of Tourism organised their latest webinar titled Hampi- Inspired by the past; Going into the future under Dekho Apna Desh Webinar series.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Building ‘Kalyaana Mandapas’ was a notable feature in the temple construction in the kingdom of-
(a) Chalukya
(b) Chandela
(c) Rashtrakuta
(d) Vijayanagara
Facts about Hampi
- Its name is derived from Pampa which is the old name of the Tungabhadra River on whose banks the city is built.
- In 1336 CE, the Vijayanagara Empire arose from the ruins of the Kampili kingdom.
- It grew into one of the famed Hindu empires of South India that ruled for over 200 years.
- The Vijayanagara rulers fostered developments in intellectual pursuits and the arts, maintained a strong military and fought many wars with sultanates to its north and east.
- They invested in roads, waterworks, agriculture, religious buildings and public infrastructure.
- The site used to be multi-religious and multi-ethnic; it included Hindu and Jain monuments next to each other.
- The buildings predominantly followed South Indian Hindu arts and architecture dating to the Aihole-Pattadakal styles.
- The Hampi builders also used elements of Indo-Islamic architecture in the Lotus Mahal, the public bath and the elephant stables.
Major attractions
- One of the major attractions of Hampi is the 15th Century Virupaksha temple which is one of the oldest monuments of the town.
- The main shrine is dedicated to Virupaksha, a form of Lord Shiva.
- Hemkunta Hill, south of the Virupaksha temple contains early ruins, Jain temples and a monolithic sculpture of Lord Narasimha, a form of Lord Vishnu.
- At the eastern end, there is the large Nandi in stone; on the southern side is the larger than life Ganesha.
- Large single stone carvings seem to have been the fashion of the day in Hampi, for there is a large image of Narasimha (6.7m high), the half-lion half-man incarnation of God, as well as a huge linga.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Noor Inayat Khan
Mains level: Not Much
World War II spy Noor Inayat Khan is now the first woman of Indian origin to be commemorated by the distinct blue London plaque.
Try this PYQ:
Q.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
Noor Inayat Khan
- A descendant of Tipu Sultan, Noor Inayat Khan became a secret agent during the Second World War.
- She was the first woman radio operator to be infiltrated into occupied France in 1943 and worked under the code name ‘Madeleine’.
- Renowned for her service in the Special Operations Executive, an independent British secret service set up by Winston Churchill in 1940.
- Noor was Britain’s first Indian Muslim war heroine in Europe and the first female radio operator sent into Nazi-occupied France.
- She was killed at the Dachau concentration camp in 1944 and was posthumously awarded the George Cross in 1949.
What are Blue Plaques?
- The idea of placing commemorative plaques on historically significant buildings was first mooted in 1863.
- The idea was to honour important people and organisations that have lived or worked in London buildings.
- Currently, the blue plaque scheme is being run by the charity organisation, English Heritage that takes care of historic sites and buildings in England.
- While Khan is the first woman of Indian origin to be honoured with a blue plaque, it has been erected on houses and venues associated with several Indian men including Mahatma Gandhi, Raja Ram Mohun Roy, B R Ambedkar, Sardar Patel and Swami Vivekananda among others.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GI Indications in news
Mains level: NA
The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a crippling blow to the Channapatna Toys industry.
Must read:
GI Tags in news for 2020 Prelims
All time GI tags in news
Channapatna Toys
- Channapatna toys are a particular form of wooden toys (and dolls) that are manufactured in the town of Channapatna in the Ramanagara district of Karnataka.
- This traditional craft is protected as a geographical indication (GI) under the World Trade Organization, administered by the state govt.
- As a result of the popularity of these toys, Channapatna is known as Gombegala Ooru (toy-town) of Karnataka.
- Traditionally, the work involved lacquering the wood of the Wrightia tinctoria tree, colloquially called Aale mara (ivory-wood).
- Their manufacture goes back at least 200 years according to most accounts and it has been traced to the era of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan in the 18th century.
- The toys are laced with vegetable dyes and colours devoid of chemicals and hence they are safe for children.
Back2Basics: Geographical Indications in India
- A Geographical Indication is used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
- Such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness which is essentially attributable to its origin in that defined geographical locality.
- This tag is valid for a period of 10 years following which it can be renewed.
- Recently the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry has launched the logo and tagline for the Geographical Indications (GI) of India.
- The first product to get a GI tag in India was the Darjeeling tea in 2004.
- The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 (GI Act) is a sui generis Act for the protection of GI in India.
- India, as a member of the WTO enacted the Act to comply with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
- GI protection is granted through the TRIPS Agreement.
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