Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Radioactivity
Mains level: NA
This newscard is inspired by an article published in the DTE which talks about a family which has received a total of four Nobel prizes, the highest won by a single-family.
Last year in 2019 CSP, there was a question on pure Biology about Hepatitis and its variants. With such news trending, we can expect a core chemistry or physics based question coupled with a slight Current Affairs blend.
The ‘Nobel’ family
- On April 20, 1902, Marie and Pierre Curie successfully isolated radioactive radium salts from pitchblende, a mineral, in a laboratory in Paris, France.
- They were inspired by French physicist Henri Becquerel’s 1896 experiment on phosphorescence or the phenomenon that allows certain objects to glow in the dark.
- They were able to find traces of two radioactive elements—polonium (Element 84) and radium (Element 88).
- Curie shared the 1903 Nobel with her fellow researcher Pierre Currie and Becquerel for their combined work on radioactivity.
Important facts
- In 1903, Marie Curie received the Nobel Prize in Physics making her the world’s first woman to win the prize.
- In 1911, she created history again by becoming the first woman to have won two Nobel awards.
- The 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Marie after she managed to produce radium as a pure metal. This proved the new element’s existence beyond doubt.
- However, this was not the last Nobel for the Curie family.
- The 1935 Nobel in Chemistry went to Irène Curie and her husband and co-researcher Frédéric Joliot for their joint work on the artificial creation of new radioactive elements.
- The Curies have received a total of four of Nobel prizes, the highest won by a single-family. They also have the unique distinction of having three Nobel-prize winning members in the family.
Birth of Radioactivity
- While delivering a lecture at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden in 1911, Curie shared some critical details about “radioactive elements” and the phenomenon called “radioactivity”.
- She also spoke about the chemical properties of radium, the new element that was about a million times more radioactive than uranium.
- Radium in solid salts was about 5 million times more radioactive than an equal weight of uranium.
Back2Basics: Radioactivity
- Radioactivity refers to the particles which are emitted from nuclei as a result of nuclear instability.
- It is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation.
- The most common types of radiation are called alpha, beta, and gamma radiation, but there are several other varieties of radioactive decay.
- Radioactive decay rates are normally stated in terms of their half-lives, and the half-life of a given nuclear species is related to its radiation risk.
- Examining the amounts of decay products makes possible radioactive dating.
Its applications
- Medical use: Many diseases such as cancer are cured by radiotherapy. Sterilization of medical instruments and food is another common application of radiation.
- Scientific use: Alpha particles emitted from the radioisotopes are used for nuclear reactions.
- Industrial use: Radioisotopes are used as fuel for atomic energy reactors. Also used in Carbon dating.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various passes in news, BRO
Mains level: NA
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has opened the Rohtang Pass, three weeks in advance, for transporting essential supplies and relief materials to Lahaul and Spiti districts of Himachal Pradesh.
Rohtang Pass
- It is a high mountain pass (elevation 3,980 m) on the eastern Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas around 51 km from Manali.
- It connects the Kullu Valley with the Lahaul and Spiti Valleys of Himachal Pradesh, India.
- The pass lies on the watershed between the Chenab and Beas basins.
- On the southern side of this pass, the Beas River emerges from underground and flows southward and on its northern side, the Chandra River, a source stream of the river Chenab, flows westward.
Another pass in new:
Sela Pass Tunnel Project
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Exercise Pitch Black 2020
Mains level: NA
Australia has informed India that their premier multilateral air combat training exercise Pitch Black 2020 scheduled in July has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation.
All-time generic question seeking ‘match the pairs’ can be asked from the news as such. Click here for more exercises.
Ex Pitch Black 2020
- Exercise Pitch Black is a biennial warfare exercise hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
- The aim of the exercise is to practice Offensive Counter Air (OCA) and Defensive Counter Air (DCA) combat, in a simulated war environment.
- In the last edition of Pitch Black in 2018, the IAF for the first time participated with its Su-30MKI fighters, one C-130 and one C-17 transport aircraft.
- It provided a unique opportunity for an exchange of knowledge and experience with these nations in a dynamic warfare environment.
- The next edition of Pitch Black is scheduled in 2022.
India’s defence relation with Australia
- The defence and strategic engagement with Australia have steadily gone up in recent years especially on the bilateral front with naval cooperation at the forefront.
- The bilateral naval exercise AUSINDEX early last year saw the participation of the largest Australian contingent ever to India with over 1,000 personnel.
- The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) has been long pending and is expected to be concluded soon as well as a broader maritime cooperation agreement including the Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) to elevate the existing strategic partnership.
- Australia recently made a pitch for trilateral cooperation among India, Australia and Indonesia to identify new ways that our three countries can collaborate to be the best possible custodians of the Indian Ocean.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Unified Geologic Map of the Moon
Mains level: Studying topography of the moon
The first-ever digital, unified, global, geological map of the moon was released virtually by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and the Lunar Planetary Institute.
Unified Geologic Map of the Moon
- The UGM will serve as a blueprint for future human missions and a source of research and analysis for the educators and the general public interested in lunar geology.
- The map is a ‘seamless, globally consistent, 1:5,000,000-scale geologic map’.
- The mapped surface features of the moon included crater rim crests, buried crater rim crests, fissures, grabens, scarps, mare wrinkle ridges, faults, troughs, rilles, and lineaments.
How it was prepared?
- The researchers built on the original digital renovation of the six maps comprising of the near, central far, east, west, north and south sides that was released in 2013.
- The final map consists of 43 geologic units across the entire lunar surface, broken down into groups based on characteristics like materials of craters, basins, terra, plains and volcanic units.
- Data from NASA’s Apollo Missions were used to come up with the map.
Its’ significance
- The moon’s South Pole is especially interesting because the area is much larger than the North Pole and there could be a possibility of the presence of water in these permanently shadowed areas.
- Further, the South Pole region also contains the fossil record of the early Solar System.
- These present and future moon missions’ success can be further helped by the digital map of the moon.
- The Chandrayaan 2, an active mission also targets the Lunar South Pole for exploration.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Reverse Vaccinology
Mains level: Coronovirus and the hunt for its vaccine
The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University has developed a vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2 through ‘reverse vaccinology’.
A definition based prelims question can be expected on Reverse Vaccinology. Ex. Which of the following statements best describes ‘Reverse Vaccinology’?
Reverse Vaccinology
- Reverse vaccinology is an improvement on vaccinology that employs applied bioinformatics.
- The basic idea behind it is that an entire pathogenic genome can be screened using bioinformatics approaches to find genes.
- Some traits that the genes are monitored for may indicate antigenicity.
- Those genes are filtered for desirable attributes that would make good vaccine targets such as outer membrane proteins.
- Once the candidates are identified, they are produced synthetically and are screened in animal models of the infection.
- Since then, it has been used on several other bacterial vaccines.
Benefits
- Earlier researchers had to do a viral culture in the laboratory to develop a vaccine, and this was time-consuming.
- The major advantage for reverse vaccinology is finding vaccine targets quickly and efficiently.
- Traditional methods took decades to unravel pathogens and antigens, diseases and immunity
- With ‘reverse vaccinology’ scientists know what molecules make the genomic sequence.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BSL ratings
Mains level: Not Much
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a mobile virology research lab.
We can expect a prelim question on BSL ratings as the term is widely appearing in news these days.
About the MVRDL
- The MVRDL is the combination of a bio-safety level (BSL)-3 lab and a BSL-2 lab and was set up in a record time of 15 days.
- It can process 1,000-2,000 samples a day.
- The mobile lab will be helpful in carrying out a diagnosis of COVID-19 and in virus-culturing for drug screening, convalescent plasma-derived therapy, comprehensive immune profiling of patients towards vaccine etc.
What are Biosafety Level (BSL) Ratings?
- A BSL is a set of biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed laboratory facility.
- The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 (BSL-1) to the highest at level 4 (BSL-4).
- BSL-1 is suitable for work with well-characterized agents which do not cause disease in healthy humans.
- BSL- 2 is suitable for work involving agents of the moderate potential hazard to personnel and the environment.
- BSL-3 is appropriate for work involving microbes which can cause serious and potentially lethal disease via the inhalation route.
- BSL-4 is the highest level of biosafety precautions and is appropriate for work with agents that could easily be aerosol-transmitted within the laboratory and cause severe to fatal disease in humans for which there are no available vaccines or treatments.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NanoBlitz 3D
Mains level: NA
Indian scientists have developed an advanced tool for mapping nano-mechanical properties of materials like multi-phase alloys, composites, and multi-layered coatings.
Nanotechnology is a pathbreaking technology which can create many new materials and devices with a wide range of applications, such as in nanomedicine, nanoelectronics etc. NanoBlitz 3D is another distinct development. We can expect a prelims question asking what the NanoBlitz 3D is , with confusing options like 3d printing tool etc.
NanoBlitz 3D
- Scientists from Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI) an autonomous institute under the Dept. of S&T have developed this tool.
- It is an advanced tool for mapping nano-mechanical properties of materials like multi-phase alloys, composites, and multi-layered coatings.
- The tool has been useful to yield excellent results on a wide range of material systems, including glass-fibre-reinforced polymer composites, dual-phase steels, softwood and shale.
- An important aspect of this technique is its high-throughput, with just a few hours of testing required for generating more than 10,000 data points that can be processed using machine learning (ML) algorithms.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ambubachi Mela
Mains level: NA
The Ambubachi Mela at Guwahati’s Kamakhya Temple has been cancelled this year due to COVID-19.
Many festivals this year have been cancelled for the first time in their recorded history. Few of them were – Thrisur Pooram Festival, Pandharpur Jatara and now, the Ambubachi Mela. Do read about the Medaram Jatara (held in February) as well. Take note of each of them and their speciality along with the respective state of celebration.
Ambubachi Mela
- Ambubachi Mela, a four-day fair to mark the annual menstruation of the goddess at Kamakhya temple in Guwahati has begun.
- Legends say the temple atop the Nilachal Hills, whose northern face slopes down to the Brahmaputra River, was built by the demon king Narakasura.
- But records are available only from 1565 when Koch king Naranarayana had the temple rebuilt.
- Kamakhya is one of 51 shaktipeeths or holy sites for the followers of the Shakti cult, each representing a body part of the Sati, Lord Shiva’s companion.
- The temple’s sanctum sanctorum houses the yoni – female genital – symbolised by a rock.
Significance
- Temple priests said the ritualistic fair celebrating the Goddess’ period is one of the reasons why taboo associated with menstruation is less in Assam compared to other parts of India.
- The attainment of womanhood of girls in Assam is celebrated with a ritual called Tuloni Biya, meaning small wedding.
Similar place
- A similar custom is followed at the Devi Temple at Chengannur town in Alleppey district of Kerala.
- The temple is shut for the days the Goddess there is believed to undergo her period.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Anthurium
Mains level: NA
A women innovator from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, has developed ten varieties of Anthurium, a flower with high market value, by cross-pollination.
Anthurium
- An anthurium is a vast group of beautiful blooming plants available in a wide range of colours.
- Anthurium is one of the best domestic flowering plants in the world.
- They are decorative as well as purify the surrounding air and remove harmful airborne chemicals like formaldehyde, ammonia, toluene, xylene, and allergens.
- Its importance of removing toxic substances from the air, NASA has placed it in the list of air purifier plants.
- Anthurium has larger economic importance because of its eye-catching and beautiful inflorescence and fetches a good market price.
Salient features of the Anthurium varieties are
- Large beautiful flowers
- Different colors of spathe and spadix
- Long stalks
- Better shelf life
- Good market value
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Earth Day
Mains level: NA
Yesterday, April 22nd was celebrated as Earth Day, an international event celebrated around the world to pledge support for environmental protection.
The Earth Day designation by UN and its first observance have confusing difference. Make note of that. We can expect a question based on that. Also read about Earth Overshoot Day.
What is Earth Day?
- In 2009, the United Nations designated April 22 as ‘International Mother Earth Day’.
- Earth Day aims to “build the world’s largest environmental movement to drive transformative change for people and the planet.”
- Earth Day was first observed in 1970, when 20 million took to the streets to protest against environmental degradation.
- The event was triggered by the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, as well as other issues such as smog and polluted rivers.
- The landmark Paris Agreement, which brings almost 200 countries together in setting a common target to reduce global greenhouse emissions, was signed on Earth Day 2016.
Significance of this year
- The year 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the annual celebrations.
- This year’s theme for Earth Day is ‘climate action’.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Daporijo bridge and its location
Mains level: Border disputes with China
A key bridge over the Subansiri River in Arunachal Pradesh close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in record 27 days.
North-East has seen the construction of a series of bridges by BRO in recent times post-Doklam standoff. Make a note of all such bridges and the corresponding rivers over which they are built.
Daporijo Bridge
- This Bridge is one of the two over River Subansiri which connect Daporji in North Subansiri dist. with rest of state.
- This and the other bridge at Tamin sustaining more than 600 villages and troops strength of around 3000 personnel manning the LAC which includes disputed Areas of Asaphila and Maza.
- All supplies, rations, constructional material and medicines pass over this bridge.
- The new bridge now can withstand 40 tonnes of weight allowing a safe passage for heavier vehicles catering for the requirements of the Indian Army as well as future infrastructure development requirements.
Significance
- India has speeded up the construction of critical infrastructure in its northeast in the past half a dozen years including airports, railways and roads with an eye on China that has motorable roads right up to the border.
- Arunachal Pradesh was the scene of the 1962 India-China border conflict that ended badly for India. China on its parts claims all of the state as “Southern Tibet.”
- Of the 3488 km long Line of Actual Control with China 1126 lies with Arunachal Pradesh alone.
- The two countries are yet to demarcate their border with the two sides patrolling the LAC but reporting incursions by the other side since the frontier is not clearly marked.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Thrissur Pooram
Mains level: NA
For the first time since its inception, Thrissur Pooram, considered as mother of all poorams in Kerala, has been cancelled earlier this month.
Note the cultural terms in the newscard. As the name itself suggests the state of celebration, it very unlikely to be asked in the ‘fest-state’ format. Rather UPSC can ask – “The terms X, Y, Z …. are associated with which of the following reknown festival?”
Thrissur Pooram
- Thrissur Pooram is an annual Hindu festival held in Kerala.
- It is held at the Vadakkunnathan Temple in Thrissur every year on the Pooram day – the day when the moon rises with the Pooram star in the Malayalam Calendar month of Medam.
- It is the largest and most famous of all poorams.
- Thrissur Pooram was the brainchild of Raja Rama Varma, famously known as Sakthan Thampuran, the Maharaja of Cochin (1790–1805).
Actual course of the festival
- The Pooram is centred on the Vadakkunnathan Temple, with all these temples sending their processions to pay obeisance to the Shiva, the presiding deity.
- The Pooram officially begins with a flag hoisting ceremony (Kodiyettam).
- All the participating temples of Thrissur Pooram are present for the ceremony, and there is a light firework to announce the commencement of the festival.
- The seventh day of the pooram is the last day. It is also known as “Pakal Pooram”.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Helicopter Money, Quantative easing
Mains level: Not Much
With the coronavirus-hit economy falling deeper and deeper into a chasm with each passing day, Telangana chief minister KC Rao earlier this month has said helicopter money can help states come out of this crisis.
Various monetary policy tools are being considered to boost consumer demand in the economy which is stricken by the coronavirus pandemic. Helicopter Money is one such tool.
What is Helicopter Money?
- This is an unconventional monetary policy tool aimed at bringing a flagging economy back on track.
- It involves printing large sums of money and distributing it to the public. American economist Milton Friedman coined this term.
- It basically denotes a helicopter dropping money from the sky.
- Friedman used the term to signify “unexpectedly dumping money onto a struggling economy with the intention to shock it out of a deep slump.”
- Under such a policy, a central bank “directly increases the money supply and, via the government, distributes the new cash to the population with the aim of boosting demand and inflation.”
Is helicopter money the same as quantitative easing (QE)?
- Quantitative easing involves the use of printed money by central banks to buy government bonds.
- But not everyone views the money used in QE as helicopter money.
- It sure means printing money to monetize government deficits, but the govt has to pay back for the assets that the central bank buys.
- It’s not the same as bond-buying by central banks “in which bank-owned assets are swapped for new central bank reserves.
- Helicopter money is also different from a central bank directly financing the debt of a government.
Pros and cons of helicopter money
Pros
- Helicopter money does not rely on increased borrowing to fuel the economy, which means that it doesn’t create more debt and interest rates can remain unchanged.
- Generally, helicopter money boosts spending and economic growth more effectively than quantitative easing because it increases aggregate demand – the demand for goods and services – immediately.
- While government money drops that come from debt might not boost consumer spending, due to the debt needing to be repaid, it is often thought that ‘money finance’ will stimulate the economy.
Cons
- Unlike quantitative easing, using helicopter money as a tactic is not reversible, and many argue that it’s not a feasible solution to revive the economy.
- A country’s central bank sets its interest rates to reach economic growth targets.
- However, a helicopter drop means that a central bank cannot use interest rates to recover any costs, because the money is not linked to a borrowed asset (loan).
- Instead, the money is given directly to the public. This may lead to over-inflation and cause damage to the central bank’s financials.
- One of the main risks associated with helicopter money is that it could lead to a significant devaluation of the currency on the foreign exchange market.
- As more money is printed and supply increases, the value of the domestic currency could significantly decrease.
- It could also discourage speculators from buying the currency as it is less likely to perform well.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mt. Matterhorn and its location
Mains level: Not Much
Switzerland has expressed solidarity with India in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic by projecting the tricolour on the famous Matterhorn Mountain in the Swiss Alps.
It has been long time since a question on global mountains/mountain ranges has not been asked in the prelims. Gear up for the uncertainty. Make a special sheet of geographical locations in news.
Mt. Matterhorn
- The Matterhorn is a mountain of the Alps, separating the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy.
- It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, whose summit is 4,478 metres.
- It is one of the highest summits in the Alps and Europe (Mont Blanc being highest).
- The four steep faces, rising above the surrounding glaciers, face the four compass points and are split by the Hörnli, Furggen, Leone/Lion, and Zmutt ridges.
Its formation
- The Matterhorn is mainly composed of gneisses originally fragments of the African Plate before the Alpine orogeny.
- The mountain’s current shape is the result of cirque erosion due to multiple glaciers diverging from the peak, such as the Matterhorn Glacier at the base of the north face.
Back2Basics: Alps mountain range
- The Alps are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe.
- It stretches approximately 1,200 kilometres across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia.
- The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided.
- Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.
- Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,809 m (15,778 ft) is the highest mountain in the Alps.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: OBICUS
Mains level: Not Much
The Reserve Bank of India has launched the latest round of quarterly order books, inventories and capacity utilization survey (OBICUS) of the manufacturing sector.
OBICUS is something new than we often get to hear from RBI…. Most recent was Ways and Means Advances. We can expect prelims question like- “Order books, inventories and capacity utilization survey (OBICUS) of the manufacturing sector is held by” – with options like NSSO, Labour Bureau etc.
OBICUS
- OBICUS survey on the manufacturing sector is published quarterly by the RBI since March 2008.
- It provides an insight into the demand conditions faced by the Indian manufacturing sector.
- It covers over 2500 public and private limited companies in the manufacturing sector.
- The company-level data collected during the survey are treated as confidential and never disclosed.
Items included in OBICUS
- The information collected in the survey includes quantitative data on new orders received during the reference quarter, backlog of orders, pending orders, total inventories with a breakup between work-in-progress (WiP) and finished goods (FG) inventories and item-wise production.
Significance of OBICUS
- The survey provides valuable input for monetary policy formulation.
- It represents the movements in actual data on order books, inventory levels of raw materials and finished goods and capacity utilization.
- These are considered as important indicators to measure economic activity, inflationary pressures and the overall business cycle.
- The survey also gives out the ratio of total inventories to sales and ratio of raw material (RM) and finished goods (FG) inventories to sales in percentages.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Anastomosis Surgery
Mains level: Not Much
The chopped off-hand of a Punjab Police officer has been successfully re-implanted after hours of surgery.
Anastomosis is a general term in surgical sciences used to join amputated limbs or organs. The term has made headline due to its recent application. A piece of general information regarding novelties of medical sciences should be known to the aspirants.
Anastomosis Surgery
- A surgical Anastomosis is a surgical technique used to make a new connection between two body structures that carry fluid, such as blood vessels or bowel.
- It involves conjoining various parts of the arm and the hand — bones, muscles, tendons, arteries, veins as well as nerves.
- Both radial and ulnar arteries, accompanying nerves and the dorsal vein were anastomosed successfully, allowing for the hand to receive adequate circulation.
- The bones are attached using K wires (used for orthopaedic surgery) which can be removed once the bones conjoin organically.
In which cases is re-implantation possible?
- When a surgeon makes that decision, the factors that he or she considers include how much time has elapsed since the injury.
- The condition of the severed organ and the nature of the injury are also taken into account.
Can a reattached hand get its function restored?
- That is the goal of doing such surgery. The extent of restored function, however, can vary from case to case.
- While a successful surgery can result in the good return of motor function, studies have shown that sensory recovery can often be poor.
- Whether the blood circulation is optimum after surgery can only be observed within the next few days.
- The patient also needs to attend regular physiotherapy sessions for total restoration of motor movement and sensation in his hand.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Read the attached story
Mains level: India-US arms trade
The US has approved a military sale to India of 16 MK 54 all round up lightweight torpedoes and ten AGM-84L Harpoon Block II air-launched missiles. India plans to use the equipment requested in both the deals on the Indian Navy’s Boeing P-8I maritime aircraft.
What is “Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)” , sometimes seen in the news? (CSP 2018) .
MK 54 lightweight torpedo
- The MK 54 lightweight torpedo is known as the Lightweight Hybrid Torpedo (LHT).
- It weighs around 608 pounds, while its warhead weighs around 96.8 pounds and is highly explosive.
- The primary use of this equipment is for offensive purposes when deployed by anti-submarine warfare aircraft and helicopters, and for defensive purposes when deployed by ships and against fast, deep-diving nuclear submarines and slow-moving, quiet, diesel-electric submarines.
AGM-84L Harpoon Block II air-launched missiles
- The Harpoon missile system will be integrated into the P-8I aircraft to conduct anti-surface warfare missions in defence of critical sea lanes.
- It uses GPS-aided inertial navigation to hit the designated target.
- Its warhead weighs over 500 pounds and is capable of delivering lethal firepower against targets, including land-based targets, coastal defence sites, surface-to-air missile sites, exposed aircraft and industrial or port facilities.
About P-8I aircraft
- Boeing’s P-8s are designed for long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
- The P-8s India version is called the P-8I, and helps the Indian Navy carry out important maritime operations.
- According to Boeing, the aircraft can surpass 25,000 flight hours, and gives the Navy a significant edge in the strategically important Indian Ocean.
- India currently has eight of these aircraft and is scheduled to receive four more by 2022.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various provisions allowing lockdowns
Mains level: Coronovirus outbreak and its mitigation
The central government has extended the 21-day nationwide lockdown by two more weeks. Before this, some states had already ordered to extend the lockdown till the end of this month.
How do the two lockdowns differ?
Newspapers are flooded up with news on lockdowns. The two lockdowns are fundamentally different from each other. Such difference sparks a thought in the mind of question framers.
1) State lockdowns
- As per the Constitution, subjects of law and order and public health lie with state governments.
- Additionally, the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897, which many states have invoked to order a lockdown, empowers them to prescribe temporary regulations to prevent the outbreak and spread of disease.
2) Centre’s lockdown
- The lockdown ordered by the centre is implemented under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
- The Union home ministry, in compliance with the NDMAs order can issue orders for the lockdown under Section 10(2)(l) of the DMA.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nihang cult
Mains level: Not Much
The Patiala incident in which a group of Nihangs attacked a Punjab police officer has put the spotlight on the Nihangs.
This newscard focuses on Nihang cult of Sikhism. Though in news for a different purpose, it is significant for prelims.
Who is a Nihang?
- Nihang is an order of Sikh warriors, characterized by blue robes, antiquated arms such as swords and spears, and decorated turbans surmounted by steel quoits.
- Etymologically the word Nihang stems more from the Sanskrit word nihshank which means without fear, unblemished, pure, carefree and indifferent to worldly gains and comfort.
- The word Nihang also occurs in a hymn in the Guru Granth Sahib, where it alludes to a fearless and unrestrained person.
When was the order formed?
- Formation of Nihang order can be traced back to the creation of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699.
How were Nihangs different from other Sikhs, and other Sikh warriors?
- As per an account by the East India Company’s Colonel James Skinner (1778-1841), Khalsa Sikhs were divided into two groups.
- Those who put on blue attire which Guru Gobind Singh used to wear at the time of battle and those who do not follow any restrictions on the colour of their dress.
- Both of them follow the profession of soldiery and are brave without peer in the art of musketry and chakarbazi, and the use of quoits.
- Nihangs observe the Khalsa code of conduct in its strictest sense.
- They do not profess any allegiance to an earthly master. Instead of saffron they hoist a blue Nishan Sahib (flag) atop their shrines.
What is their role in history?
- Nihangs had a major role in defending the Sikh panth after the fall of the first Sikh rule (1710-15) when Mughal governors were killing Sikhs, and during the onslaught of Afghan invader Ahmed Shah Durrani (1748-65).
- Nihangs also took control of the religious affairs of the Sikhs at Akal Takht in Amritsar.
- They did not consider themselves subordinate to any Sikh chief and thus maintained their independent existence.
- At Akal Takht, they held the grand council (Sarbat Khalsa) of Sikhs and pronounced the resolution (Gurmata) passed.
- During Operation Bluestar in June 1984, some Nihangs, namely Ajit Singh Poohla, collaborated with the Punjab police to eliminate militants.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Meru Jatra
Mains level: NA
Odisha’s Ganjam district administration has banned the Meru Jatra festival and congregations related to it at temples on the occasion of Mahavishub Sankranti.
Festive fairs in India are known for their age-old traditions and some historic background. Meru Jatra is one of such fairs. We can expect a match the pairs question on such fairs.
Meru Jatra
- In Southern Odisha, the Meru Yatra festival is celebrated as the end of the month-long Danda nata dance festival.
- Thousands of devotees gather at the Shakti Pitha shrine in the Taratarini Temple because it is one of the auspicious days during the Chaitra Yatra.
- People from all over the state eat festive chhatua and drink Bel Pana to mark the occasion.
What is Danda nata?
- Danda as the name implies, is self-inflicted pain, which the danduas (people who participate in the festival) undergo to pay their obeisance to the lord Kali.
- It is also a form of worshipping the lord Shiva and his consort Parvati.
- The origin of the festival is generally traced to 8th and 9th AD after the decadence of Buddhism in Orissa.
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