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The Hindu CA
Jan 2023

The Siyom Bridge inaugurated by the Defence Minister in Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday. Defence Minister
Rajnath Singh in Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday as he inaugurated 28 infrastructure projects built by the Border
Roads Organisation (BRO). The projects built at a cost of ₹724 crore include 22 bridges and three roads spread
across several States.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) announced on Tuesday that residents would once again
be able to change their address on Aadhaar card by having the “head of family” endorse their request. Anyone
above the age of 18 can act as a head of family, and can update the address on the card for a relative he/she lives
with, by providing a proof of their relationship, such as marriage certificate, passport, birth certificate, or ration
card.

Tamil Nadu’s jallikattu Usually held during the Pongal season, jallikattu is a sport where men compete against
each other to hold on to the humps of agitated bulls that are released into an open arena. some of the Directive
Principles of State Policy and the Fundamental Duties, contained respectively in Parts IV and IVA of the
Constitution, reflect a responsibility placed on the state and on human beings to protect and improve the natural
environment. But these are unenforceable obligations. it was morally wrong to inflict unnecessary pain and
suffering on animals. It was with this vision in mind that Parliament enacted the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals Act (PCA Act), 1960. both the state and the Union government have the power to legislate on issues
concerning cruelty to animals

The worlds largest hockey stadium – Birsa Munda Hockey stadium Rourkela odisha

The 2023 Men's FIH Hockey World Cup will be the 15th edition of the Men's FIH Hockey World Cup, the
quadrennial world championship for men's national field hockey teams organized by the International Hockey
Federation. It will be held at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar and at the under-construction 20,000
seat Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Rourkela, India from 13 to 29 January 2023.[1][2]

GH2 i.e Green Hydrogen

Hydrogen is sought after as a fuel because its combustion releases only [Link] production mode of choice of
green hydrogen is through the electrolysis of water. India currently lacks the required electrolysers. Hydrogen
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leaks easily and liquid hydrogen reacts explosively with air, incurring significant storage and transportation
costs. 60%of Indias energy comes from fossil fuel sources.

Mahadayi river water project in Karnataka

Talacauvery in Kodagu district of Karnataka, which is the source of the Cauvery river, has emerged as South
India’s Hanle, as astronomers have been hosting “star parties” there for some time now.

Hanle, located in Ladakh, and known for its pristine skies and minimal light pollution, is also India’s first Dark
Sky Reserve.

A Dark Sky Reserve is a designation given to a place that has policies in place to ensure that a tract of land or
region has minimal artificial light interference.

In South India, most dark sky locations are in the Western Ghats or some hill ranges nearby, and according to
astronomers, Talacauvery is the most ideal location to gaze at the sky and have a star party.

Talacauvery is possibly the best dark night location in South India due to less light pollution. In astronomy,
there is something called the Bortle scale which measures the night sky’s brightness of a location on a nine level
numerical scale. The lesser the numerical scale, it qualifies for a better dark sky location. For example, Hanle
skies would qualify as Bortle one skies, Talacauvery as Bortle two, and Bengaluru as Bortle nine. The star
parties are usually conducted in the winter months between December and March as the skies are clearer during
these months which is very important for stargazing.

So far, 175 species of birds have been spotted in Silent Valley. Brown wood owl, Banded bay cuckoo, Malabar
woodshrike, White-throated kingfisher, Indian nightjar, Jungle nightjar, and Large cuckooshrike were among
the 17 species newly identified in the Silent Valley

The sixth schedule under Article 244 of the Constitution protects the autonomy of tribal populations through
creation of autonomous development councils which can frame laws on land, public health and agriculture. As
of now ten autonomous councils exist in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

Purse seine fishing, popular on India’s western coasts, uses a large vertical net to surround dense shoals of
pelagic or midwater fish in the open ocean, and then draws in the edges like tightening the cords of a drawstring
purse. In some States, it is linked to concerns about the decreasing stock of small, pelagic shoaling fish such as
sardines, mackerel, anchovies and trevally on the western coasts.

A major concern is the dwindling availability of oil sardines, a favourite of Kerala fish eaters.

Supreme Court, to decide whether the ban that several States have imposed on purse seine fishing is justified or
not

Preserving corals

Cryogenically, frozen coral can be stored and later reintroduced to the wild but the current process requires
sophisticated equipment including lasers. Scientists say a new lightweight “cryomesh” can be manufactured
cheaply and better preserves coral. Scientists are scrambling to protect coral reefs as rising ocean temperatures
destabilise delicate ecosystems
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Mesh technology

The mesh technology, which will help store coral larvae at -196°C (-320.8°F). This new technology that we’ve
got will allow us to do that at a scale that can actually help to support some of the aquaculture and restoration
interventions

With Russia being a key energy supplier and Ukraine a dominant player in the world market for food items like
wheat and sunflower oil, fuel and food inflation translated into consumer price rise levels not seen in decades
across several countries. India’s retail inflation which flared up to the 6% upper tolerance threshold set for the
central bank in January 2022, stayed over that mark through 10 of the 11 months for which data is now
available. This included some months of 7%-plus inflation, with April recording a near eight-year peak of 7.8%.
The surge in inflation compelled central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, to hasten unwinding of easy
money policies deployed to prop up economic activity through the pandemic. However, the Indian economy has
displayed a broad resilience amid strong external headwinds thanks to a consistently growing farm sector and
consumers catching up on pent-up demand for contact-intensive services that have now recovered to pre-
COVID levels.

In China, the number of cases began to soar as it dropped its zero-COVID policy and lifted all restrictions, in
response to unprecedented protests. Because of the sheer size of the population and the fact that the nation had
not been exposed properly to the natural march of the virus, there has been a massive surge end of the year.
China also has low hybrid immunity, which is immunity granted by the twin factors of natural infection and
vaccination, since it artificially suppressed the waves of COVID-19 with harsh restrictions,.

14 different lineages of SARS-CoV-2, all of which are Omicron sublineages, including BA.5.2, BQ.1.1, BF.7,
BF.5, BA.2.75 and the recombinant lineage XBB. the XBB lineage of SARS-CoV-2 resulted from recombinant
between Omicron sublineages BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75.

US Help to Ukraine:- the U.S. decided to send medium-range rocket systems such as HIMARS (High Mobility
Artillery Rocket Systems) and MLRS (multiple launch rocket systems), which helped Ukraine turn around the
battlefield momentum. the U.S. finally announced that it would send the Patriot, its most advanced ground-
based air defence system, to Ukraine.

The Patriot is one of the most sought-after defence systems and has been deployed in 18 countries, including the
U.S. It is operational across the NATO geography and is in high demand in West Asia, where America’s allies
such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israel, all facing a common foe in Iran, have been using it. Initially
developed as a system to intercept high-flying aircraft, by U.S. aerospace and defence giant Raytheon
Technologies Corp., the Patriot (Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target) was modified in the
1980s to focus on other threats such as ballistic missiles. The programme’s roots can be traced back to the 1960s
when the Pentagon was looking to replace the HAWK and Nike-Hercules air defence systems.

Currently, Patriot batteries can defend against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, jets and “other threats”,
but it doesn’t offer protection against low-flying small drones. A mobile Patriot system includes a control
centre, a radar station to detect threats, missile launchers to take out those threats and other support vehicles. It
can launch different types of interceptor missiles: The older PAC-1 and PAC-2 interceptors used a blast-
fragmentation warhead, while the newer PAC-3 missile has a more advanced hit-to-kill technology.

According to NATO, the Patriot system’s radar has a range of over 150 km and it can track over 50 potential
targets at the same time. One system typically has eight launchers with each holding between four and 16 ready-
to-fire missiles.
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Though the Patriot was deployed in Europe in the 1980s against potential threats from the Soviet Union, the
system was tested in combat for the first time in the First Gulf war (1990-91. Raytheon has built more than 240
Patriot systems so far. The Patriot production lines are still active, but mostly for supplies for America’s
partners. One battery could cost over $1 billion — $400 million for the system and about $700 million for the
missiles.

Triggered by anger over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police back in
September, women hit the streets and led a wave of mass anti-government protests that spiralled into one of the
biggest challenges to the theocratic regime since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Protests reverberated widely.
Hijab once again took centre stage to emerge as a symbol of defiance against the imposition of the veil and the
Gasht-e Ershad (guidance patrol), commonly known as morality police, responsible for enforcing the strict
Islamic dress code.

Hijab has been an integral part of Iranian politics since the 20th century. In 1936, modernist Reza Shah Pahlavi
issued a decree to ban all Islamic veils and headscarves. Women could dress as per their wishes. Then the
Islamic Revolution shook Iran.

Four years after the 1979 revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini established the Islamic rule of Iran and introduced
Sharia. In 1983, he made hijab mandatory for all women, irrespective of nationality or religion. Though the
clerical leadership was strictly enforcing the rules, a formal force called Gasht-e Ershad was established during
the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to “spread the culture of modesty and hijab”. Under the Sharia that
governs Iran, women have to cover their hair and wear loose-fitting clothes. Iranian women are prohibited from
wearing shorts, ripped jeans, or any other clothing that exposes the shape of their bodies, according to generally
acceptable guidelines.

In July this year, Iran attempted to reinforce the law. President Ebrahim Raisi called for the mobilisation of “all
state institutions to enforce the headscarf law” by the use of surveillance tools to monitor and punish unveiled
women. Uncertainty remains over Iran’s morality police, but activists maintain that not much will change for
women even if the Guidance Patrol is abolished since Islamic laws still hold that the hijab is mandatory for
women.

Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday introduced a host of new initiatives, including a
right to repair portal and an NTH mobile app and opened new premises of the National Consumer Helpline
centre in the national capital. On the ‘right to repair’ portal, manufacturers would share the manual of product
details with customers so that they could either repair by self, by third parties, rather than depend on original
manufacturers. Initially, mobile phones, electronics, consumer durables, automobile and farming equipments
would be covered. Under the Consumer Protection law, a complaint is required to be disposed of within 90 days
of filing and within 150 days wherever expert evidence is required to be taken.

Drone start-up Garuda Aerospace Private Ltd. said it hasreceived TypeCertification and Remote Pilot Training
Organisation approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)for the company’s Kisan drones.

“We have become India’s first drone start-up to get these approvals,” said Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and
CEO.

Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari on Sunday appointed Pushpa Kamal Dahal, leader of the parliamentary
party of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), Prime Minister of the Himalayan nation.

A communication from the President’s Office in Sital Nivas said Mr. Dahal, better known as ‘Prachanda’,
would be sworn in as Prime Minister at 4 p.m. on Monday
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Seven parties and three Independent MPs led by former Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli of the Communist
Party of Nepal (UML) came together in a dramatic move for a post-poll alliance on Sunday and wrote to the
President proposing the name of Mr. Prachanda as the prime ministerial candidate of the Left-dominant
coalition. This will be the third time that the former Maoist rebel leader will be the Prime Minister of the
Himalayan nation. He served in 2008-09 when he had to step down because of a political crisis over sharing of
power. His second stint came in 2016 when he took over from Mr. Oli against the backdrop of an economic
blockade of Nepal during 2015-16 by the Madhesi agitators.

Nepal’s transition from a monarchy to a republic began in 2008. In 15 years, Nepal has had three NC Prime
Ministers (G.P. Koirala, Sushil Koirala and Mr. Deuba twice), two Maoist Prime Ministers (Prachanda twice
and Baburam Bhattarai), three UML Prime Ministers (Madhav Nepal, Jhala Nath Khanal and Mr. Oli twice)

Mr. Modi had in January this year announced that December 26 will be observed as ‘Veer Bal Diwas’ to mark
the martyrdom of the tenth Sikh guru’s two sons – Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh. ‘Sahibzade Shahadat
Diwas’. Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Harjinder Singh Dhami on Sunday asked
the Sikh community to observe the martyrdom day of the sons of Guru Gobind Singh as ‘Sahibzade Shahadat
Diwas’ instead of ‘Veer Bal Diwas.’

On Christmas day, many in the bustee of Pilkhana in this industrial city of Howrah, twin to the megapolis of
Kolkata, remember Dominique Lapierre, the author who put the bustee on the global map with his book `City of
Joy.’

The well-known French author spent many months working for the poor in the narrow lanes of Pilkhana, around
3-4 kilometres from Howrah Railway Station alongside Christian missionaries and became a popular figure
here. Pilkhana which Mr. Lapierre described as the ‘City of Joy’, a name now used as a tagline for Kolkata,
remains a slum which has been given a facelift.

One of the silences in the Constitution is in Article 200 which does not prescribe a timeline for the Governor to
provide assent to Bills sent by the Legislative Assembly. This has been used to advantage by the Governors of
various Opposition-ruled States to obfuscate the mandate of democratically elected governments

The Government has decided not to extend the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana, (PMGKY), a scheme
that ran between April 2020 to December 2022 (except for a short period in between), and provided additional
allocation of foodgrains, i.e., rice or wheat from the central pool at five kilograms a month free of cost to
beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

While discontinuing the scheme, the Government has said that it will bear the expenses of food grains under the
NFSA for 2023 and ensure free ration under the Act for the estimated 81.35 crore beneficiaries for that year. In
other words, ration card holders can now avail 5 kg of wheat or rice per month for free rather than at a
subsidised rate, while Antyodaya Anna Yojana cardholders will receive 35 kg of free foodgrains.

US bomb cyclone — when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm — developed near the
Great Lakes, stirring up blizzard conditions, including heavy winds and snow. At least 24 killed and power
outages reported across the country, forecasters attribute blizzard to a bomb cyclone which is formed
when atmospheric pressure drops quickly in a storm

Cervical cancer is caused by infection with the human papillomavirus and India accounts for 21% of cases and
23% of deaths occurring in the world. Cervical cancer is preventable and curable if it is detected early and
managed effectively. It is the second most common cancer in women in India,
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To tackle this, the government announced the rollout of vaccines for girls aged between 9 and 14 years through
schools. Girls who do not attend schools will be given the vaccines by community outreach and mobile health
teams.

The indigenous HPV vaccine, called CERVAVAC, has been cleared by the DGCI and is likely to be rolled out
by mid-2023. It will be issued through the Universal Immunisation Programme - one of the largest public health
programmes which offers free vaccines for at least 12 diseases. the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).
The UIP is one of the largest public health programmes which offers free vaccines for at least 12 diseases, and
has successfully eradicated diseases like polio and maternal and neonatal tetanus.

The Health Ministry of Uzbekistan on Tuesday said 18 children, with acute respiratory disease, have died from
taking excessive doses of a cough syrup, Doc-1 Max, manufactured by Marion Biotech, an Indian firm. The
children consumed “excessive amounts” of the cough syrup, which contained ethylene glycol, a substance that
ought not to be present in cough syrup.

Telangana was endowed with several places of historical and spiritual significance. Sammakka Saralamma
jatara, the biggest tribal festival, was a celebration of the rich tribal culture and traditions that strengthened
social harmony and preserve India’s glorious cultural heritage… Bhadrachalam, popularly known as south
Ayodhya, in tribal majority Bhadradri Kothagudem district ….Bhadrachalam -Telangana’s famous temple town

Muslim Fertility Rate: NFHS data indicate that although the fertility rate of Muslims is higher than Hindus, the
gap between the two has shrunk substantially. In 1992-93, the gap between the Hindu and Muslim fertility rate
was 1.1, which now has reduced to 0.35. A close comparison of Census data on average fertility rates is
insightful. For instance, in Uttar Pradesh, with around 20% Muslim population, the TFR declined from 5.8% in
1981 to 2.7% in 2011. In Assam, where the Muslim population is about 33%, the TFR is 1.9%. Similarly, in
Jammu and Kashmir, where the Muslim population is the majority, the TFR fell from 4.5% in 1981 to 1.4% in
2011. Data also show that Muslims have adopted better family planning measures than Hindus.

India’s TFR, 2%, is even lower than the replacement level, signifying a remarkable step in the population
control parameters. It is clear that India does not need a law for forced population control. External Affairs
Minister S. Jaishankar too has countered the need for such a law by saying, “forced population control can have
very dangerous consequences, it can create a gender imbalance”. Forced population control measures have not
shown promising results in the countries that have implemented them, the most relevant example being India’s
immediate neighbour, China. The one-child policy has proved to be disastrous, causing a demographic
imbalance. The population of China is aging faster than in any other modern country, owing to the policies of
forced population control. India needs to adopt population control measures. But the focus should be on
strengthening public health infrastructure and raising awareness about the need for population control. Any
forced control method will impact the rate of aging.

Kalasa-Banduri drinking water project in the inter-State Mahadayi river basin.

The raging boundary dispute between the two States dates back to thereorganisationof States along linguistic
lines. In 1957, unhappy with the demarcation of boundaries, Maharashtra demanded realignment of its border
with Karnataka. It filed a petition in the Supreme Court staking a claim over Belagavi.

Karnataka has argued for the inclusion of areas in Kolhapur, Sholapur andSanglidistricts (falling under
Maharashtra) in its territory. From 2006, Karnataka started holding the winter session of the Legislature in
Belagavi, buildingthemassiveSuvarna VidhanaSoudhain the district headquartersto reassert its claim.
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In 1966, at Maharashtra’s insistence, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi established a one-man
commissionled by Mehr Chand Mahajan,whichrecommended that 264 villages be transferred to Maharashtra
and that Belagavi (Belgaum) and 247 villages remain with Karnataka.

Maharashtra rejected the report, while Karnataka welcomed it. Karnataka argued that either the Mahajan
Commission Report should be accepted fully, or the status quo maintained.

The WG [Western Ghats] is an escarpment running north–south along the western coastline of India, interrupted
towards the south by the low-lying Palghat Gap that separates the northern from the southern elephant
populations. This gap has been transformed by agriculture for several centuries, is 3 km at its narrowest, and 40
km at its widest. The northern part of the WG includes the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve [NBR] and its surrounding
PAs [protected areas], which contain the largest remaining population of wild elephants, ca. 6000 animals. The
Palghat Gap is a break in the Ghats that is “relatively flat and consequently easily negotiable by elephants.
human settlements and crop cultivation have hindered the movement of the elephants, keeping them confined to
the hilly areas, considered sub-optimal habitats. In these sub-optimal habitats, their chances of survival are
lower due to dangerous terrain for animals of this size.

Our study shows that when barriers are erected, particularly in areas with slopes, their movement is blocked and
gene flow reduced. This could ultimately lead to increasing the extinction risk of this endangered species,” she
said. If movement is restricted and gene flow reduced, there is more in-breeding, and low genetic diversity,
pushing up chances of disease, and lowering fertility rates

Ironically, most elephant reserves in India are found in mountainous habitats.

Terrestrial television in India started with the experimental telecast starting in Delhi on 15 September
1959 with a small transmitter and a makeshift studio. Daily transmission began in 1965 as a part of All India
Radio (AIR).

it was only in 2000 that the first license to set up a teleport — an earth station facility from where TV signals
can be uplinked to a geostationary satellite — was granted. When Indian broadcasters were allowed to uplink
from Indian soil, the facility was made available through the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL). Instead
of being flown to Hong Kong, Singapore or Moscow, the tapes were now being carried to the VSNL office in
New Delhi’s Connaught Place. The first license was given to TV Today Network Limited in November 2000
and the broadcaster started a 24X7 Hindi news channel, Aaj Tak, from December 31, 2000.

In 2021, the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994, were amended to include a statutory mechanism for
redressal of grievances and complaints of viewers relating to content broadcast by television channels in
accordance with the provisions of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. In 2022, the Union
Cabinet approved the policy guidelines for the uplinking and downlinking of television channels from India.

an uplink refers to the link from a ground station up to a satellite, a downlink is the link from a satellite down to
one or more ground stations or receivers.

It is obligatory for broadcasters to undertake public service broadcasting for a minimum of 30 minutes in a day
on themes of national importance and social relevance

The Union Cabinet has cleared a ₹17,490-crore National Green Hydrogen (NGH) mission that aims to facilitate
the production of hydrogen from renewable energy. Hydrogen is an essential industrial fuel that has a range of
uses from producing ammonia, making steel and cement, to powering fuel cells that can run buses and cars. By
2030, the goal is to have at least 5 million metric tonnes of annual green hydrogen production, electrolyser
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capacity of 60-100 gigawatt and a 125-gigawatt renewable energy capacity for green hydrogen and its
associated transmission network.

Green hydrogen is when hydrogen is produced via electrolysis, the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen
with electricity generated from renewable energy sources such as solar or wind. This is the most
environmentally sustainable way of producing hydrogen.

Hydrogen is a key industrial fuel that has a variety of applications including the production of ammonia (a key
fertilizer), steel, refineries and electricity. However, all of the hydrogen manufactured now is the so-called
‘black or brown’ hydrogen produced from coal. Grey hydrogen is produced from natural gas while ‘Blue’
hydrogen is from fossil fuel sources where the ensuring carbon emitted is captured via carbon-capture
processes. Green hydrogen is when hydrogen is produced via electrolysis, the splitting of water into hydrogen
and oxygen with electricity generated from renewable energy sources such as solar or wind. This is the most
environmentally sustainable way of producing hydrogen.

Green hydrogen currently accounts for less than 1% of global hydrogen production due to it being expensive to
produce.. What is the National Green Hydrogen Mission?

The intent of the mission is to incentivise the commercial production of green hydrogen and make India a net
exporter of the fuel. The mission has laid out a target to develop green hydrogen production capacity of at least
5 MMT (Million Metric Tonne) per annum. This is alongside adding renewable energy capacity of about 125
GW (gigawatt) in the country. This will entail the decarbonisation of the industrial, mobility and energy sectors;
reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels and feedstock; developing indigenous manufacturing capabilities;
creating employment opportunities; and developing new technologies such as efficient fuel cells.

By 2030, the Centre hopes its investments will bring in investments worth ₹8 trillion and create over six lakh
jobs.

There are two umbrella sub-missions under the programme. The first is the Strategic Interventions for Green
Hydrogen Transition Programme (SIGHT), that will fund the domestic manufacturing of electrolysers and
produce green hydrogen. The second is to support pilot projects in emerging end-use sectors and production
pathways. States and regions capable of supporting large scale production and/or utilisation of hydrogen will be
identified and developed as Green Hydrogen Hubs.

Green hydrogen development is still in the nascent stages globally and while India can take the lead in being a
major producer, it doesn’t have the necessary infrastructure yet to execute all these intermediary steps.

Why does Japan want people to move out of the metropolitan area?

The impact of emigration has been felt sharply in rural areas the most, where the number of local community
members have decreased, leading to a shrinkage in local and small-scale economic opportunities. Japan’s two-
pronged solution to this problem includes achieving the goal of a vibrant local community and correcting the
overconcentration in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Tokyo is also prone to earthquakes, and the
overconcentration of the population and economy makes the nation vulnerable to loss.

What is the Tokyo metropolitan area?

Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, and Kanagawa Prefecture are included in the Tokyo
area.-------------------------------------------------------
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Jains fear that a sacred hill will be defiled by tourism plans Sammed Shikharji parvat kshetra (Parasnath
hills). a long-standing proposal by the Jharkhand government to develop the Parasnath Hills in Jharkhand as an
ecotourism site. The location is of significant religious importance to Jains Sammed Sikharji, or just Sikharji, as
it is reverentially known locally,stands 1,350 metres tall,andisone of the mostimportant pilgrimage sitesfor the
[Link] is believed that 20 of the 24 Tirthankaras(enlightenedbeings)attainedmoksha (salvation) [Link] hill
itself is named afterParasnath,[Link] year thousands ofJain pilgrims from across the world
undertakea27-km-long trek to reach the summit.

Marang Buru, where the ritual is conducted, is located on the slopes of the Parasnath Hills, in present-day
Jharkhand’s Giridih district, also home to Sammed Shikharji, its highest peak at 1,350 metres, and one of the
holiest pilgrimage sites of the Jain community. Here, followers believe 20 of the 24 Tirthankaras (enlightened
beings) attained nirvana.

During the full moon of the Baisakh month (in May), Adivasis from the Santhal community in Hazaribagh,
erstwhile Manbhum, and the larger Santhal Pargana areas in Jharkhand, gather at the base of Marang Buru or
the hill deity. Here, by the stump of an otherwise towering Sal tree, with five stones dug into the mountain rock,
they stand, with bows, arrows, and tangis (broad axes) in hand. They will spend the next three days in the
jungle.

The annual custom, dating back generations, begins with a night-long hunt by the Santhal men in the forested
hills along the eastern side of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. It culminates in a two-day tribal session to discuss
community problems and resolutions.

 the holy pilgrimage centres of Jainism such as Sammed Shikharji, Palitana’s Shatrunjaya hills (in
Bhavnagar Gujarat), Mount Girnar (in Junagarh Gujarat) Parasnath Hills:
o Parasnath Hills are a range of hills located in Giridih district of Jharkhand.
o The highest peak is 1350 metres. It is one of the most important pilgrimage centre for Jains. They
call it Sammed Sikhar.
o The hill is named after Parasnath, the 23rd Tirthankara.
o Twenty of Jain Tirthankaras attained salvation on this hill. For each of them there is a shrine
(gumti or tuk) on the hill.
o Some of the temples on the hill are believed to be more than 2,000 years old.
o The Santhals call it Marang Buru, the hill of the deity. They celebrate a hunting festival on the
full moon day in Baisakh (mid-April).
o Every year, thousands of Jains from across the world undertake the 27 km long trek of climbing the
hills to reach the summit.
 Palitana and Shatrunjaya Hill:
o Shatrunjaya Hill is a sacred site containing hundreds of shrines in Palitana town, Bhavnagar District,
Gujarat.
o The shrines were sanctified when Rishabha, the first Tirthankara of Jainism, gave his first
sermon in the temple on the hilltop.
o It is one of the Jainism’s holiest pilgrimage sites, the Shatrunjaya hill is an incredible hill studded
with temples, built over 900 years.
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o It is said that Adinath (also known as Rishabha), the founder of Jainism, meditated beneath the
rayan tree at the summit.

The proportion of women workers participating in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme (MGNREGS) has touched a 10-year high in the financial year 2022-23. According to the latest statistics
available with the Union Rural Development Ministry, 57.8% of the workers who used the scheme this year
were women, their highest level of participation since 2012-13.

The Defence Ministry has started the process for the procurement of 100 more K9-Vajra tracked self-propelled
howitzers, which are built in India by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) using technology transferred from South Korean
defence major Hanwha Defense Co. Ltd. The K9-Vajra is a 155-mm, 52-calibre tracked self-propelled howitzer
based on the K9 Thunder built by Hanwha Defense.

Benedict XVI, the first Pope to resign in 600 years, dies at 95

 Cucurbita – squash, pumpkin, zucchini, some gourds

 Citrullus – watermelon (C. lanatus, C. colocynthis) and others
 Cucumis – cucumber (C. sativus), various melons and vines

Cucurbits are usually hairy climbers, and male and female flowers are separate. Their fruit — which comes in a
wide range of colour, flavour, shape and size — are valued as components of healthy diets. They grow well in
India’s geo-climate. The sowing season is usually from November to January, with fruits ripening in the
summer. Unlike the potato, which was globalised only about 450 years ago, cucurbits have been important
components of food economies across the globe for thousands of years.

Cucumbers are indigenous to India. Wild relatives of cucumber are found growing in the foothills of the
Himalayas. The Romans brought them to Europe in the 2ndcentury B.C.

Bitter gourds are rich sources of vitamin C and minerals

cucurbits are the nutritional opposites of processed foods, which tend to be rich in fats and carbohydrates. With
water content of about 85-95%, they are a source of low-calorie bulk.i.e they have less fats percentage

uses :-dietary mainstays , medicinal value, used as a sponge in skin care resonators in musical instruments such
as the sarod, sitar and tanpura.

free foodgrain scheme

In a Cabinet decision on December 23, the Centre decided to provide 5 kg of free foodgrains per month for the
81 crore beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) during 2023, rather than charging them a
subsidised amount of ₹3 a kg of rice, ₹2 a kg of wheat and ₹1 a kg of coarse cereal as is currently done. This
will soften the blow of the termination of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), which
has provided an additional 5 kg of free grains every month to NFSA beneficiaries after being launched as an
emergency measure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020 and received multiple extensions
since.
 11

The Election Commission of India (ECI) said on December 28 that it was ready to pilot remote voting for
domestic migrants through newly devised remote electronic voting machines (RVMs) so that the voter does not
have to travel to their home State or district to cast their vote. As per the 2011 census, 45.36 crore Indians (37%
of the population) were internal migrants, settled in a place different from that of their registered residence.

The EC has come up with a prototype for a Multi-Constituency Remote Electronic Voting Machine (RVM) for
migrant voting, a modified version of the existing EVM model. The EC says the RVM can handle multiple
constituencies (up to 72) from a single remote polling booth. The voter will have to register (online/offline) for a
remote voting facility within a pre-notified time with the concerned Returning Officer (RO) of their home
constituency. Once the voter is verified and marked eligible for remote voting, a multi-constituency remote
polling station will be set up in the area of their current residence. The RVMs will have the same security
system and voting experience as the EVM, with the modification of an electronic ballot display with candidates
and symbols instead of a fixed ballot paper sheet. When the voter scans his/her constituency card in the presence
of the Presiding Officer at the station, their respective constituency and candidate list will appear on the RVM
display. As for counting the votes, the electronic system will also count and store the votes for each candidate in
a constituency.

The Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) will launch an outreach programme soon to create
awareness of cryptocurrencies and online gaming. The need for the outreach is based on the observation that
both crypto-assets and online gaming (that extends to gambling and betting) are still being promoted in a risky
manner despite the recent turmoil in the sector. The Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) is managed
by the IEPF Authority, which was set up in 2016 under the provisions of Section 125 of the Companies Act,
2013.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has been appointed the nodal industry for
online gaming in India; for e-sports, the nodal agency is the Department of Sports, under the Ministry of Youth
Affairs and Sports. ------------------------

Pushpa Kamal Dahal has a fatal attraction with power. The chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-
Centre) became the Prime Minister of the country, recently, for the third time after stints in 2008-09 and 2016-
17.

Abdulla Yameen The former Maldives President, who was spearheading an ‘India Out’ campaign, faces
political uncertainty after he was sentenced to 11 years in jail for corruption

From January 1, GST would not be payable on housing units rented to the proprietor of a proprietary concern if
such accommodation has been rented in his individual capacity to be used as his residence only, the CBIC has
said.

However, the proprietor would be liable to pay GST on reverse charge mechanism basis at 18% in case such
accommodation is being used for his proprietary concern.

Ethyl alcohol supplied to refineries for blending with petrol will attract 5% GST from January 1, lower than the
18% currently. Also, the tax rate on husks of pulses has been cut to nil, from 5%.

the outcome of the Koregaon-Bhima battle was inconclusive

The Battle of Koregaon was fought on 1 January 1818 between the British East India Company and
the Peshwa faction of the Maratha Confederacy, at Koregaon Bhima.
 12

A 28,000-strong force led by Peshwa Baji Rao II whilst on their way to attack the company-held Pune, were
unexpectedly met by an 800-strong Company force that was on its way to reinforce the British troops in Pune.
The Peshwa dispatched around 2,000 soldiers to attack the force which sought entrenchment in Koregaon. Led
by Captain Francis Staunton, the Company troops defended their position for nearly 12 hours, before the
Peshwa's troops ultimately withdrew, fearing the imminent arrival of a larger British force.
The battle was part of the Third Anglo Maratha war, a series of battles that culminated in the defeat of the
Peshwa rule and subsequent rule of the British East India Company in nearly all of Western, Central and
Southern India.[4] There is a "victory pillar" (obelisk) in Koregaon commemorating the battle.[5
Battle of Bhima Koregaon[edit]
The 1818 Battle of Koregaon is of importance for Dalits. On 1 January 1818, 800 troops of the East India
Company's Bombay Presidency Army, A victory pillar (Vijay Sthamb) was erected in Koregaon by the British,
commemorating the dead soldiers. In 1928, B. R. Ambedkar led the first commemoration ceremony here. Since
then, on 1 January every year, Ambedkarites gather at Bhima Koregaon to celebrate their victory against the
upper caste Peshwa regime of the Maratha Empire, whom they see as their oppressors

The 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence refers to violence during an annual celebratory gathering on 1 January
2018 at Bhima Koregaon to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon.[1]

Deepfakes are digital media - video, audio, and images edited and manipulated using Artificial Intelligence. It is
basically hyper-realistic digital falsification. Access to commodity cloud computing, public research AI
algorithms, and abundant data and availability of vast media have created a perfect storm to democratise the
creation and manipulation of media. This synthetic media content is referred to as deepfakes.

AI-Generated Synthetic media or deepfakes have clear benefits in certain areas, such as accessibility, education,
film production, criminal forensics, and artistic expression.

96% of deepfakes are pornographic videos. Deepfake can depict a person as indulging in antisocial behaviors
and saying vile things that they never did. public safety and create uncertainty and chaos in the target country.
Deepfakes can be used by non-state actors, such as insurgent groups and terrorist organisations, to show their
adversaries as making inflammatory speeches or engaging in provocative actions to stir anti-state sentiments
among people. The mere existence of deepfakes gives more credibility to denials. Leaders may weaponise
deepfakes and use fake news and alternative-facts narrative to dismiss an actual piece of media and truth.

solution?

Media literacy efforts must be enhanced to cultivate a discerning public.

meaningful regulations with a collaborative discussion with the technology industry, civil society, and
policymakers to develop legislative solutions to disincentivising the creation and distribution of malicious
deepfakes.

Social media platforms are taking cognizance of the deepfake issue, and almost all of them have some policy or
acceptable terms of use for deepfakes.

A bad loan is that which has not been ‘serviced’ for a certain period. Servicing a loan is paying back the interest
and a small part of the principal.
 13

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office on Sunday for a third term as President of Brazil, capping a remarkable
comeback for the veteran leftist after he defeated far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro in October elections.

XBB.1.5 is a recombinant, which means its genome is the product of the genomes of two different strains
spliced together. XBB.1.5 could be more transmissible than its immediate ancestors. This can happen when two
strains infect a person at the same time; a recombinant variant is produced as they replicate together.
Recombinant strains also arise when existing recombinant strains mutate. Previous recombinants include XD
(Delta + Omicron), XE (BA.1 + BA.2), and XBB (BA.2.10.1 + BA.2.75). The XBB strain is descended from
BA.[Link] and BA.[Link].1.1. It mutated further and became XBB.1.5. XBB.1, which also descended from
XBB, accounted for 14% of new cases in India around mid-December 2022.

Delimitation is the process of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and State Assembly constituencies based on a
recent census to ensure each seat has an almost equal number of voters. It is ideally carried out every few years
after a Census by an independent Delimitation Commission formed under the provisions of the Delimitation
Commission Act.

While delimitation exercise was undertaken across the country between 2002 and 2008, it was not carried out in
Assam and four other States after 1976 by citing various reasons.

Despite constituting a Delimitation Commission in 2020, the ECI’s decision to use the 2001 Census data and
citing of Section 8A of the Representation of People Act, 1950 have raised hackles.

As many as 13 farmers known for innovative farming were felicitated to mark Kisan Diwas or National
Farmers Day on 23rd December, 2022.

 The Kisan Diwas is observed across the country to celebrate the birth anniversary of Chaudhary
Charan Singh, the former Prime Minister of India.

He was given the nickname ‘Champion of India’s Peasants’

 He left Congress in 1967 and formed his independent party known as the Bharatiya Lok Dal.
 He served twice as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He became Prime Minister of India in 1979.
 He was the author of several books and pamphlets, including ‘Abolition of Zamindari’, ‘Co-operative
Farming X-rayed’, ‘India’s Poverty and its Solution’, ‘Peasant Proprietorship or Land to the Workers’
and ‘Prevention of Division of Holdings Below a Certain Minimum’.
 Fukushima accident caused by Tsunami in 2011 was the second worst nuclear accident in the
history of nuclear power generation. The site is on Japan’s Pacific coast, in northeastern Fukushima
prefecture about 100 km south of Sendai.
 Nuclear energy is the fifth-largest source of electricity for India. India has over 22 nuclear reactors
in 7 power plants across the country which produces 6780 MW of nuclear power. The 7 power plants
are:
 Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS), Maharashtra.
 Kudankulam Nuclear Power Station (KKNPS), Tamil Nadu
 Kakrapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS), Gujarat.
 (Kalpakkam) Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS), Tamil Nadu.
 Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS), Uttar Pradesh.
 14

 Kaiga Generating Station (KGS), Karnataka.

 Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS), Rajasthan.

 The public sector entity, Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), is responsible for
designing, building, commissioning and operating nuclear power reactors in the country.
 NPCIL operates under the Indian government’s Department of Atomic Energy
(DAE).
 Heavy water (D2O), also called Deuterium Oxide, is water composed of Deuterium (Hydrogen
isotope) with a mass double that of regular water (H2O).
 Heavy water occurs naturally, although it is much less common than regular water.
 It is commonly used in nuclear reactors as a neutron moderator, i.e., to slow down the speed of
neutrons.
Recently, the Social Progress Index (SPI) for States and Districts of India was released by the Economic
Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).

 The SPI was compiled by the Institute for Competitiveness and Social Progress Imperative.
 The report also dwells on India's performance (ranked 110 out of 169 nations) based on the global SPI
2022 that is brought out by Social Progress Imperative since 2013.
What is EAC-PM?

 It is an independent body constituted to give advice on economic and related issues to the Prime
Minister.
 EAC-PM is responsible for analysing and advising the Prime Minister on any issue of macroeconomic
importance that the Prime Minister refers to.

 Highest SPI Score: Puducherry

 Lowest SPI Score: Jharkhand and Bihar
Sand batteries can store a significant extent of thermal energy and can aid Clean Energy Solutions.

 Finland has installed the world’s first fully working "sand battery" in its town
called Kankaanpaa capable of storing green power for months at a time. The batteries can also solve the
issue of year-round supply.
What is a Sand Battery?

 A “sand battery” is a high temperature thermal energy storage that uses sand or sand-like materials as
its storage medium. It stores energy in sand as heat.
o Sand is a very effective medium for retaining heat over a long period, storing power for months at a
time.
Bharat Biotech’s intranasal vaccine, BBV154 or Incovacc is the world’s first intranasal vaccine to be
approved as a booster dose for Covid-19.

What is Incovacc?
 15

 About:
o The nasal vaccine is a recombinant replication-deficient adenovirus vectored vaccine with a pre-
fusion stabilized spike protein.

This is the second heterologous booster to be included in the vaccination programme after Corbevax.
Incovacc will be available as a booster dose only for those above 18 years of age who have got 2 doses of
either Covaxin or Covishield.

What are India’s Exercises with China & Russia?

 China:
o Exercise Hand-in-Hand:
Russia:
o Exercise Indra:

Exercise TSENTR:

the Genetically Modified (GM) mustard Dhara Mustard Hybrid (DMH-11) was tested in the field and
shown to be more productive.

 Production of the DMH-11 variety is not interfering with honey bees' natural pollination practices.
 DMH-11 is an indigenously developed transgenic mustard. It is a genetically modified variant of
Herbicide Tolerant (HT) mustard.
 DMH-11 is a result of a cross between Indian mustard variety ‘Varuna’ and East European ‘Early
Heera-2’ mustard.
 It contains two alien genes (‘barnase’ and ‘barstar’) isolated from a soil bacterium called Bacillus
amyloliquefaciens that enable breeding of high-yielding commercial mustard hybrids.
 Barnase in Varuna induces a temporary sterility because of which it can’t naturally self-pollinate.
Barstar in Heera blocks the effect of barnase allowing seeds to be produced.
 “Bar gene” maintains the genetic purity of hybrid seed.

three genes used in the creation of the technique Barnase, Barstar and Bar

Good Governance Day (25th December) is being celebrated on the birth anniversary of former Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

 Currently, there are five states (Bihar, Gujarat, Lakshadweep, Nagaland, and Mizoram) with total
prohibition and some more with partial prohibition.
What is Purse Seine Fishing?

 About:
o A purse seine is made of a long wall of netting framed with floating and leadline and having
purse rings hanging from the lower edge of the gear, through which runs a purse line made from
steel wire or rope which allow the pursing of the net.
o The technique has been widely deployed on India’s western coasts.
 16

 Advantages:
o Purse-seine fishing in open water is considered to be an efficient form of fishing.
o It has no contact with the seabed and can have low levels of by catch.
o It can also be used to catch fish congregating around fish aggregating devices
o It is used in the open ocean to target dense schools of single-species pelagic (midwater) fish like tuna
and mackerel.
What are the Concerns?

 In some States, this technique linked to concerns about the decreasing stock of small, pelagic shoaling
fish such as sardines, mackerel, anchovies and trevally on the western coasts.
 The scientific community argues that climatic conditions, including the El Nino phenomenon, are
responsible for the declining catch of such fish in the last ten years.
 However, fishermen using traditional methods have placed the blame squarely on the rise of purse seine
fishing, and fear a further fall in the availability of these small fish if the ban is lifted.
o They have also demanded that, as the Centre has supported the lifting of the ban, it should
publish the expert committee report it has based its stance on.
 A major concern is the dwindling availability of oil sardines, a favourite of Kerala fish eaters.
o In 2021, Kerala recorded a catch of just 3,297 tonnes of sardine, a sharp decrease from the haul of 3.9
lakh tonnes in 2012.
 Purse seine is a non-targeted fishing gear and catches all sorts of fishes which come in the way of the net,
including juveniles. Hence, they are very much detrimental to marine resources.
Mission Mode (MM) Projects of the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation).
 17

 MM projects are taken up by the DRDO on high priority, based on specific user requirements and with
definite timeframes for their completion.
o These projects depend on technologies that are already available, proven and readily accessible
within the DRDO or India, or from abroad at a short notice.
 The Benin Bronzes are a group of over 3,000 sculptures and artworks from the ancient Kingdom
of Benin in present-day Nigeria. It dates back to at least the 16th century.
o They were looted by British colonial forces during the infamous raid on Benin City in
1897.
 Rosetta Stone:
o The other well-known example is the Rosetta Stone. Currently displayed at the British
Museum, it is an ancient Egyptian stone that features the inscriptions that formed the
basis of Egyptology itself.
o The stone was discovered by the army of Napoleon Bonaparte near the town of Rashid
(Rosetta) in 1799 during the emperor’s campaign to conquer Egypt. It was passed on to the
British after they defeated the French in 1801.

Ballistic Missile vs Cruise Missile

Ballistic Missile Cruise Missile

 Travel in projectile motion and trajectory

 Comparatively follows a straight trajectory
depends on gravity, air resistance and
of motion.
Coriolis Force.

 The flight path is within the earth’s

 Leave the earth’s atmosphere and re enter it.
atmosphere.

 Long-range missiles (300 km to 12,000 km)  Short range missiles (range upto 1000 km)

 E.g. Prithvi I, Prithvi II, Agni I, Agni II and

 E.g. BrahMos missiles
Dhanush missiles.

o The ‘National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive’ (PRASAD)
was launched by the Ministry of Tourism in the year 2014-15 with the objective of holistic
development of identified pilgrimage destinations.
o The name of the scheme was changed from PRASAD to “National Mission on Pilgrimage
Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD)” in October 2017.
 After the discontinuation of the HRIDAY scheme of the Ministry of Housing and Urban
Development, the development of Heritage destinations was included in the PRASAD Scheme,
changing it to PRASHAD.
 18

With 8 wins in a row at the Chess Olympiad 2022, Dommaraju Gukesh (or Gukesh D) became the new
poster boy for Indian chess. In 2019, he became the youngest Indian and then-second-youngest
Grandmaster ever (youngest - Abhimanyu Mishra).

S Korea reported its first case of infection and death from Naegleria fowleri or “brain-eating amoeba”.

Ukraine’s 10-Point Peace Plan?

 Ukraine first announced its peace formula at a November 2022 summit of the Group of 20 major
economies. The plan calls for:
o Radiation and nuclear safety, focusing on restoring safety around Europe’s largest nuclear power
plant, Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine, which is now-Russian occupied.
o Food security, including protecting and ensuring Ukraine’s grain exports to the world’s poorest
nations.
o Energy security, with focus on price restrictions on Russian energy resources, as well as aiding
Ukraine with restoring its power infrastructure, half of which has been damaged by Russian
attacks.
o Release of all prisoners and deportees, including war prisoners and children deported to Russia.
o Restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity and Russia reaffirming it according to the United
Nations Charter.
o Withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities, restoration of Ukraine’s state borders with
Russia.
o Justice, including the establishment of a special tribunal to prosecute Russian war crimes.
o Protection of environment with focus on demining and restoring water treatment facilities.
o Prevention of escalation of conflict, and building security architecture in the Euro-Atlantic space,
including guarantees for Ukraine.
o Confirmation of the war’s end, including a document signed by the involved parties.
What is a Non-Performing Asset?

 NPA refers to a classification for loans or advances that are in default or are in arrears on scheduled
payments of principal or interest.
 Banks are required to classify non-performing assets further into the following three categories based
on the period for which the asset has remained non-performing and the realisability of the dues:
o Sub-standard Assets: A substandard asset is an asset classified as an NPA for a period less than or
equal to 12 months
o Doubtful Assets: A doubtful asset is an asset that has been nonperforming for a period exceeding 12
months.
o Loss Assets: Loss assets are loans with losses identified by the bank, auditor, or inspector that need
to be fully written off.
Key terms
 GNPA: These assets are the sum of all the loans that have been defaulted by the individuals who have
acquired loans from the financial institution.
 19

 Macro-environment: It refers to how the macroeconomic conditions in which a company or sector

operates influence its performance.
o Macroeconomics deals with aggregate production, spending, and the price level in an
economy as opposed to individual industries and markets.
 NNPA: These are the amount that is realised after provision amount has been deducted from the gross
non-performing assets.
 CRAR: The Capital Adequacy Ratio, also known as CRAR, is used to protect depositors and promote
the stability and efficiency of financial systems around the world.
o The CAR is a measure of a bank's available capital expressed as a percentage of a
bank's risk-weighted credit exposures.
 CET1: It includes equity instruments where returns are linked to the banks’ performance and
therefore the performance of the share price. They have no maturity.

India-assisted 720 Megawatts Mangdechhu Hydroelectric Power Project (on Mangdechhu River) was
handed over to Druk Green Power Corporation (DGPC), Bhutan. The project was conceived in 2010.

Kashmir valley is going through the hardest winter period of 40 days famously known as ‘Chillai Kalan’
(persian for major cold). The minimum temperature of Kashmir is below the freezing point (-5.7℃ to -
2.5℃) and the continuous cold wave has resulted in freezing the Dal Lake along with the water supply.

Chillai Kalan usually occurs from 21st December to 30th January. The cold waves will then carry forward with
a 20 day stretch of “Chillai’ Khurd’ (small cold) followed by 10 days long “Chillai-Bacha’ (baby cold).

the Dhanu Jatra - considered to be the world’s largest open-air theatre, began. It came into existence in
Bargarh (Odisha) in 1947-48 as part of the celebration of the country’s Independence and is held annually.

The Yatra relates to the episode of Lord Krishna's visit to Mathura (UP) to witness the ceremony of 'Bow'
organised by Kansa as described in the 'Bhagavata Purana'. The fest continues for 7-11
days preceding Pausa Purnima (falling in Dec-Jan every year).

A similar festival, Jagannath Rath Yatra (also called Chariot Festival) is also held in Orissa.

What is the Role of AWS Cloud Services in India's Start-up Boom?

 About:
o AWS, or Amazon Web Services, one of India’s largest providers of cloud-based services, has
provided start up credits that allow aspirant startups to use a suite of services from computing,
storage and hosting for free.

o Some of the companies supported by AWS included: HealthifyME, which developed an

app called ‘Vaccinate Me,’ which allowed feature phones to book close to 50 million
vaccination-appointments.
 AWS also powered the Ayushman Bharat Digital mission as well as the Cowin system for Covid-
19 vaccinations.
 20

Union Home minister launched ‘Prahari’ app for Border Security Force (BSF) Jawans.

Government will launch the Digital India Innovation Fund to support deep tech startups.

What is Deep Tech?

 About:
o Deep tech or deep technology refers to a class of startup businesses that develop new offerings
based on tangible engineering innovation or scientific discoveries and advances.
o Usually, such startups operate on, but are not limited to, agriculture, life sciences, chemistry,
aerospace and green energy.
o Deep tech fields like Artificial Intelligence, advanced materials, blockchain, biotechnology,
robotics, drones, photonics, and quantum computing are moving more and more quickly from early
research to market applications.
Protection of Women Against Sexual Harassment Act, 2013

 Background: The Supreme Court in a landmark judgement in the Vishakha and others v State of
Rajasthan 1997 case gave ‘Vishakha guidelines.
o These guidelines formed the basis for the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention,
Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 ("Sexual Harassment Act").
Background & Mandate of NCW?

 About:
o Under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990, the NCW was set up as a statutory body in
January 1992.
o The First Commission was constituted on 31st January 1992 with Mrs. Jayanti Patnaik as the
Chairperson.
 The commission consists of a chairperson, a member secretary and five other members. The
chairperson of the NCW is nominated by the Central Government.
 Millet is a collective term referring to a number of small-seeded annual grasses that are cultivated
as grain crops, primarily on marginal lands in dry areas in temperate, subtropical and tropical
regions.
International Year of Millets 2023
 India is the largest producer of millet in the world.
o It accounts for 20 % of global production and 80% of Asia’s production.

Some of the common millets available in India are Ragi (Finger millet), Jowar (Sorghum), Sama (Little millet),
Bajra (Pearl millet), and Variga (Proso millet).

 Millets are less expensive and nutritionally superior to wheat & rice owing to their high protein, fibre,
vitamins and minerals like iron content.
 Millets are also rich in calcium and magnesium. For example, Ragi is known to have the highest
calcium content among all the food grains.
 21

they are gluten-free and have a low glycemic index (a relative ranking of carbohydrate in foods according to
how they affect blood glucose levels)

 Millets are Photo-insensitive (do not require a specific photoperiod for flowering) & resilient to climate
change. Millets can grow on poor soils with little or no external inputs.
 Millets are less water consuming and are capable of growing under drought conditions, under non-
irrigated conditions even in very low rainfall regimes.
 Millets have low carbon and water footprint (rice plants need at least 3 times more water to grow in
comparison to millets).
What is the Significance of the Sundarbans Delta?

 The Sundarbans hosts the largest mangrove forests in the world, lying on the delta of the Ganges,
Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers on the Bay of Bengal.
o Mangrove ecosystem is a very specialised environment occurring in between the land and the
sea in the tropical and subtropical regions. The mangrove trees do not get uprooted by storms and
tides because of their extensive roots
 Sundarbans is the natural abode of many groups of animals and a large number of species are known to
feed, breed, and take shelter in this ecosystem.
o It is home to many rare and globally threatened wildlife species such as the estuarine crocodile,
water monitor lizard, Gangetic dolphin and olive ridley turtle.
 40% of Sundarbans lies in India and the rest in Bangladesh. Sundarbans was designated a UNESCO
World Heritage site in 1987 (India) and 1997 (Bangladesh).
 Sundarbans Wetland, India was recognised as the ‘Wetland of International Importance’ under
the Ramsar Convention in January 2019.

K9-Vajra tracked self-propelled howitzers.

Spear phishing is an attempt to trick a particular person/group into giving private information over the
internet or by email, especially by sending emails that seem to be from someone they know.

In line with Kerala government’s plan to create a women-friendly tourism network, the State authorities have
planned to turn the Aymanam village (a Responsible Tourism (RT) village) as a hub of women friendly
destinations along with showcasing women’s talent.

On 1st January 2023, Croatia adopted the Euro and removed dozens of border checkpoints to become
the 27th nation to join Europe's passport-free travel area (world’s largest).

What is Delimitation?

 About:
o Delimitation literally means the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial
constituencies in a country to represent changes in population.
o The Delimitation Commission is to work without any executive influence.
o The Constitution mandates that the Commission’s orders are final and cannot be questioned
before any court as it would hold up an election indefinitely.
 22

o When the orders of the Delimitation Commission are laid before the Lok Sabha or State Legislative
Assembly, they cannot effect any modification in the orders.
 The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with
the Election Commission of India.
o Retired Supreme Court judge
o Chief Election Commissioner
o Respective State Election Commissioners
What is the Process of Delimitation?

 Under Article 82, the Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census.
 Under Article 170, States also get divided into territorial constituencies as per Delimitation Act after
every Census.
 Once the Act is in force, the Union government sets up a Delimitation Commission.
 The first delimitation exercise was carried out by the President (with the help of the Election
Commission) in 1950-51.
 The Delimitation Commission Act was enacted in 1952.
 Delimitation Commissions have been set up four times — 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002 under the Acts of
1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002.
 There was no delimitation after the 1981 and 1991 Censuses.
What are Mitochondria?

 Mitochondria are membrane-bound semi-autonomous cell organelles and are often referred to as the
powerhouses of the cell.
o They generate most of the chemical energy needed to power the cell's biochemical reactions.
 Chemical energy produced by the mitochondria is stored in the form of Adenosine
Triphosphate (ATP).
 Mitochondria contain their own Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA). Generally, mitochondria, and
therefore mitochondrial DNA, are inherited only from the mother in almost all multicellular
organisms.
o Mitochondria in mammalian sperm are usually destroyed by the egg cell after fertilization.
 The mitochondria are present at the base of the sperm's tail, which is used for propelling
the sperm cells; sometimes the tail is lost during fertilization.
Mannathu Padmanabhan

The Prime Minister has paid tributes to Sri Mannathu Padmanabhan on his birth anniversary. He was born on
2nd January 1878 in Kerala. He was an Indian social reformer and freedom fighter from the southwestern
state of Kerala.

He took part in the Vaikom (1924) and Guruvayoor (1924) temple-entry Satyagrahas and the anti-
untouchability agitations. He is regarded as the reformer and moral guide of the members of the Nair
community. He received Padma Bhushan in 1966. He died on 25th February 1970.
 23

Recently, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) celebrated the 65th Foundation Day
on 1st January 2023.

 National Exit Test (NExT).The NExT is a medical licensing exam that is designed to assess the
competency of medical graduates.
 Students who received their medical degrees from NMC approved medical institutions and overseas
students also will have to qualify the National Exit Test.
 To register for medical practice in India, they must pass the NExT test.
 Indian Mural Paintings are paintings made on the walls of caves and palaces.
 The earliest evidence of the murals is the beautiful frescoes painted on the caves of Ajanta and
Ellora, the Bagh caves and Sittanvasal cave.
 Researchers have found the first known "Virovore," or organism that eats viruses. These virus-eating
species of protists — which are their own kingdom on the tree of life and are not an animal, plant, or fungi
— are now classified as Virovores.

o Fly ash is an unwanted unburnt residue of coal combustion in a coal thermal power plant.
o It is emitted along with flue gases during the burning of coal in a furnace and collected using the
electrostatic precipitators.

o Composition of fly ash depends upon the composition of coal being burnt. It may contain
Beryllium, Arsenic, unburnt Carbon, Silicon Oxides, Dioxins, aluminium oxide, ferric oxide,
calcium oxide, etc.
o These elements are severe environmental pollutants.
o Properties:
o Resemble Portland cement but is chemically different

o Portland cement is a binding material in the form of a finely ground powder that is
manufactured by burning and grinding a mixture of limestone and clay.
o Its chemical composition includes calcium silicates, calcium aluminate and calcium
aluminoferrite.
o Exhibit cementitious properties.
o A cementitious material is one that hardens when mixed with water.
Rani Velu Nachiyar

The Prime Minister of India has paid tributes to Rani Velu Nachiyar (3 Jan 1730 – 25 Dec 1796) on her birth
anniversary. She was the first queen to fight against the British colonial power in India (and son of Nawab
of Arcot) in 1780s.
 24

Rani Velu Nachiyar, known by Tamils as Veeramangai, was the princess of Ramnad
Kingdom of Ramanathapuram (TN). Along with proficiency in languages like French, English and Urdu, she
was trained in martial arts like Valari, Silambam, horse riding and archery.

Upon her husband - Muthuvaduganathaperiya Udaiyathevar’s death, she succeeded him in 1780 as the
Queen of Sivagangai (TN).

India is all set to assume the leadership of Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU). Vinaya Prakash
Singh was elected as the Secretary General of the APPU for a tenure of 4 years (from Jan 2023). This is
the first time an Indian is leading an international organization in the postal sector. APPU, headquartered in
Bangkok (Thailand), is an intergovernmental organization of 32-member countries of the Asian-Pacific
region. It is the only Restricted Union of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) (a UN specialised agency) in
this region.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been sworn in as the new president of Brazil replacing Jair Bolsonaro. This is
the 3rd third time he has held the country's highest office (earlier - January 2003 - January 2011).

Honey Mission?

 It was launched in 2017 in line with the ‘Sweet Revolution’.

 Under the mission, the KVIC ( Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) )under Ministry of
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises provides the farmers or beekeepers –
 KVIC is a statutory body
Supreme Court Expands Article 19 Ambit

Recently, the Supreme Court has ruled that a fundamental right under Article 19/21 can be enforced even
against persons other than the State or its instrumentalities.

 The court took this view while ruling that the right of free speech and expression guaranteed under the
Article 19(1)(a) cannot be curbed by any additional grounds other than those already laid down in
Article 19(2).
 Major Minerals Includes
 Fuel Minerals: Coal, Lignite, Natural Gas, Petroleum (Crude).
 Metallic Minerals: Bauxite, Chromite, Copper Ore, Gold, Iron Ore, Lead (Concentrates),
Zinc (Concentrates), Manganese Ore, Silver, Tin (Concentrates), Tungsten (Concentrates).
 Non-Metallic Minerals: Agate, Andalusite, Apatite, Asbestos, Ball Clay, Barytes, Calcite, Chalk,
Clay, Corundum, Calcarious sand, Diamond, Diaspore, Dolomite, Kyanite, Laterite, Limestone,
Limestone Kankar, Lime Shell,Magnesite, Mica (crude), Ochre, Pyrites, Pyrophyllite, Phosphorite,
Quartz, impure quartz, Quartzite, Fuchsite Quartzite, Silica Sand, Salt (Rock), Salt (Evaporated),
Shale, Slate, Steatite, Sillimanite, Vermiculite, Wollastonite.
 Minor Minerals include Bentonite, Boulder, Brick Earth, Building Stones, Chalcedony or Corundum,
Fuller’s Earth, Gravel, Lime Stone, Dunite, Felspar, Fire Clay, Felsite, Flourite (Graded), Flourite
(Concentrates), Gypsum, Garnet (Abrasives), Garnet (Gem), Graphite run-on-mines, Jasper, Kaolin,
Marble, Murram, Ordinary Clay, Ordinary Sand, Ordinary Earth, Pebbles or Kankar, Quartzite and
Sand stone, Road Metal, Salt Petre, Shale, Shingle, Slate.
 25

refugee crisis brews on the Mizoram-Bangladesh border, several members of the Kuki-Chin community(ethnic
Mizo” from Bangladesh) were “pushed back” by the Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday, according to K.
Vanlalvena, a Rajya Sabha member from Mizoram.

The Bihar government is set to start the first phase of a caste-based survey on Saturday 7 th jan.

All households in the State will be counted and recorded in the first phase, which will culminate on January
[Link] second phase of the survey, to be held from April 1 to 30

o In India, the right to protest is a fundamental right under Article 19 of the Constitution of India.
o But right to strike is not a fundamental right but a legal right and with this right statutory restriction is
attached in the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947.
 The Industrial Dispute Act, 1947 is subsumed under The Industrial Relations Code, 2020.
o In India, unlike America, the right to strike is not expressly recognized by the law.
o Right to strike has also been recognised by the conventions of the International Labour
Organization (ILO).
 India is a founder member of the ILO.
What are Swarn Drones?

 About:
o Swarm Drones are a collection of small and lightweight aerial vehicles that can be controlled
from the same station.
o These drones are equipped with advanced communication systems which enables them to be
controlled as a collective.
o Furthermore, through communication systems, swarm drones can also communicate with each
other to create different flying formations for surveillance and attack modes.
o Such drones can also carry a variety of payloads in a single mission and organize a collaborative
attack against an enemy unit.
 All Weather Operations: Swarm Drone System can be deployed at high altitudes, rough-weather
conditions

ATR Feature: Swarm Drones are backed by Artificial Intelligence and are equipped with the Automatic Target
Recognition (ATR) feature, which can enable them to automatically recognise targets.

Unmanned Combat Systems

o For field applications, they can be categorized into,

 Deep space unmanned systems
 Unmanned aerial vehicle systems
 Ground unmanned systems
 Surface unmanned systems
 Underwater unmanned systems
 26

Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023, Odisha Chief Minister has inaugurated Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium, one of
the largest hockey stadiums in Rourkela.

 The 15th edition International Hockey Federation (FIH) Hockey World Cup 2023 will be held in
Bhubaneswar and Rourkela from January 13 to 29.
 Pakistan was the inaugural world Cup winner, defeating Spain in 1971.
 FIH, founded in 1924, is responsible for field hockey’s major international tournaments, notably
the World Cup.
 It is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland.
 The FIH is recognised by the International Olympic Committee as the sole ultimate governing
body for the sport of Hockey throughout the world.
 India will deploy an all-woman platoon of peacekeepers as part of a battalion to the United
Nations Interim Security Force in Abyei (on the border between South Sudan and Sudan).
 This will be India’s largest single unit of women peacekeepers in a U.N. mission since the
deployment of the first-ever all-women’s contingent in Liberia in 2007.
 India is one of the largest troop-contributing nations to the U.N. peacekeeping missions.

Fondly called a “tree teacher”, Bheraram Bhakhar works to prevent desertification in western Rajasthan
through his diligent work. Harit Pranam (green salutation) introduced by the environmentalist-teacher
has become popular among the people for greetings.

India will host a special virtual summit, the Voice of Global South summit, on January 12 and 13.

‘Global North’ refers loosely to countries like the US, Canada, Europe, Russia, Australia and New Zealand,
while ‘Global South’ includes countries in Asia, Africa and South America. Global South refers to the
developing and the less-developed countries of the world.
 27

o First, Second and Third Worlds countries refer to countries associated with the Cold war-era alliances of
the US, the USSR, and non-aligned countries, respectively.

Asia's first Palm leaf Manuscript Museum was inaugurated in Kerala.

The Museum is a repository of the administrative, socio-cultural and economic facets of the Travancore
kingdom spanning a period of 650 years (till the end of 19th century). It has 187 manuscripts one of which
accounts for the famous Battle of Colachel (1741) wherein the Travancore king defeated the Dutch East
India Company at Colachel (TN).

What are the Recent Initiatives Related to Tourism in India?

 Swadesh Darshan Scheme

 Draft National Tourism Policy 2022
 Dekho Apna Desh Initiative
 Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat
What are the Recent Government Initiatives for Growth of the Industrial Sector in India?

 Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) - To scale up domestic manufacturing capability.

 PM Gati Shakti- National Master Plan - Multimodal connectivity infrastructure project.
 Bharatmala Project - To Improve connectivity in North East India
 Start-up India - To catalyze Startup culture in India
 Make in India 2.0 - To transform India into a global design and manufacturing hub.
 Atmanirbhar Bharat Campaign - To cut down import dependence.
What is A Circular Economy?

 About:
o A Circular Economy is the one where products are designed for durability, reuse and
recyclability and thus almost everything gets reused, remanufactured, and recycled into a raw
material or used as a source of energy.
o It includes 6 R’s - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Refurbishment, Recover, and Repairing of materials.
What are the Government Initiatives Related to Groundwater Conservation?

 Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana

 Jal Shakti Abhiyan- Catch the Rain Campaign
 Atal Bhujal Yojana
 Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme
 Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)
 28

Water Credit’
1. It puts microfinance tools to work in the water and sanitation sector.
2. It is a global initiative launched under the aegis of the World Health Organization and the World Bank.
3. It aims to enable the poor people to meet their water needs without depending on subsidies.

What is a Free Trade Agreement (FTA)?

 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) are agreements between two or more countries to reduce or eliminate
tariffs and other trade barriers on a wide range of goods and services.
 India has entered into a number of FTAs with other countries in order to expand its trade and boost its
economic growth.
Alternatives to Stubble Burning?

 Bio Enzyme-PUSA: A bio-enzyme called PUSA has been developed by the Indian Agriculture
Research Institute as a solution to stubble burning.
o As soon as it is sprayed, this enzyme starts decomposing the stubble in 20-25 days, turning it into
manure, which further improves the soil.
 It also Increases organic carbon and soil health while reducing fertiliser expenses for the next
cropping cycle.
 Palletisation: Paddy straw can be dried and converted into pellets can be mixed along with coal which
can be used in thermal power plants and industries as fuel. This can save coal as well as reduce carbon
emissions.
 Happy Seeder: Instead of burning the stubble, a tractor-mounted machine called the Happy Seeder can
be used that “cuts and lifts rice straw, sows wheat into the bare soil, and deposits the straw over the
sown area as mulch.
 Chhattisgarh Innovative Model: It is an innovative experiment that has been undertaken by the
Chhattisgarh government which involves the setting up of gauthans.
o Gauthans are five-acre plots owned by each village where unused stubble or parali is
collected through parali daan (people's donations) and turned into organic fertiliser by mixing cow
dung with natural enzymes.
 Additional Alternative Uses: Stubbles can be used in various ways; cattle feed, compost manure, roofing
in rural areas, for packing materials, for preparation of papers and for preparation of bioethanol as well.
What are the Initiatives Shaping India’s Energy Transition?

 Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (SAUBHAGYA)

 Green Energy Corridor (GEC)
 National Solar Mission (NSM)
 National Biofuels Policy and SATAT
 Small Hydro Power (SHP)
 Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)
 International Solar Alliance (ISA)
 29

What are the Recent Government Initiatives Related to the Telecom Sector?

 Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI)

 Bharat Net Project
 One Nation Full Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
 Draft Telecommunication Bill 2022
What are the Government Schemes to Enhance Solar Energy Production in India?

 International Solar Alliance

 National Solar Mission
 Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM)
 One Sun, One World, One Grid (OSOWOG)

What are the Recent Government Initiatives Related to Food Security?

 National Food Security Mission

 Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)
 Integrated Schemes on Oilseeds, Pulses, Palm oil and Maize (ISOPOM)
 eNAM Portal
Meghalaya is known for its root bridges, locally known as jingkieng jri. Many bridges across the State are over
a century old.

Kerala’s wetlands, which habitats more than 80% of duck population, are under threat due to outbreaks of bird
flu. Many of these wetlands come under Ramsar sites with rich biodiversity. The Kuttanad area, a Ramsar site,
is under constant threat of Avian influenza.

“There is no effective vaccination against bird flu. It spreads mainly through migratory birds,

Rajouri and Poonch districts of the Pir Panjal valley.

Republican Kevin McCarthy was elected U.S. House Speaker

Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered superconductivity in mercury. He found that at a very low
temperature, called the threshold temperature, solid mercury offers no resistance to the flow of electric current.

The BCS theory

Scientists later classified mercury as a conventional superconductor because its superconductivity could be
explained by the concepts of Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory.

mercury has such a low threshold temperature (around –270°C). mercury becomes a superconductor below its
threshold temperature.
 30

team at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune came up with a custom-designed
unique molecular sponge-like material — macro/microporous ionic organic framework — which can swiftly
clean polluted water by soaking up sinister contaminants. various organic (organic dyes, antibiotics, pesticides,
etc.) as well as inorganic toxicpollutantssuch as iodides, oxo-pollutants like perrhenate that are carcinogenic in
fresh water sources and can pose direct threat to humanity and living organisms.

clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Yangtse area of the Tawang region in Arunachal Pradesh

Why Tawang?

Tawang is a strategically significant Indian territory wedged between China and Bhutan. The region’s border
with China is a part of the de facto but unsettled India-China border, known as the Line of Actual Control, or
LAC. Within Tawang, the Yangtse plateau is important for both the Indian and Chinese militaries. With its peak
at over 5,700 metres above sea level, the plateau enables visibility of much of the region. Crucially, India’s
control of the ridgeline that makes up the LAC allows it to prevent Chinese overwatch of roads leading to the
Sela Pass — a critical mountain pass that provides the only access in and out of Tawang. India is constructing
an all-weather tunnel through the pass, due to be completed in 2023. However, all traffic in and out of the region
along the road will still be visible from the Yangtse plateau.

Qin Gang as China’s next Foreign Minister

Ant Group’s founder Jack Ma

 Modern polo is said to have originated from Sagol Kangjei, a sport indigenous to Manipur, in
which players ride horses, specifically the Manipur Ponies, which are referenced in records
dating back to the 14th century.
 Marjing is considered the God of polo and features a pony as his carrier.
 The Lai-Haraoba festival of the state depicts the life and times of Khori-phaba, the polo-
playing god of sports.
 The Manipur Pony is one of five recognised equine breeds of India and has a powerful cultural
significance for Manipuri society.
 The Marjing Polo Complex has been developed as a way to conserve the Manipur Pony.

What is NPCI?
NPCI was established by the RBI and the Indian Banks’ Association in 2008 modelled on the non-profit
payments and settlement entity run by the Swedish central bank that’s owned and operated by banks.

 It has developed the country’s key payment railroads, including UPI, the Immediate
Payments System (IMPS), RuPay and the National Financial Switch (NFS). It’s also credited
with powering the Direct Benefit Transfer architecture that supports the government’s Jan Dhan
Yojana.

Kalasa-Banduri Canal Construction Project

Source: The Hindu
Context: Recently centre has given approval for the implementation of this project by
the Karnataka government. The project will divert water from two tributaries of the Mahadayi
River (Mandovi River)- Kalasa and Banduri to the Malaprabha river.
 31

 The project aims to improve the drinking water supply to four drought-hit districts in Karnataka
— Belagavi, Bagalkot, Dharwad and Gadag. However, the Goa government has been
opposing the project.

About Mahadayi River:

The Mahadayi/Mandovi River is described as the lifeline of the Indian state of Goa. The Mandovi and the
Zuari are the two primary rivers in the state of Goa. Mandovi joins with the Zuari at a common creek at Cabo
Aguada, forming the Mormugao harbour.
Mandovi river originates from a cluster of 30 springs at Bhimgad in the Western Ghats in the Belagavi
district of Karnataka. The river also houses the island of Chorao (Goa) where the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary is
located. Dudhsagar falls ( in Goa) lies on this river.

About Malaprabha River:

The Malaprabha River is a tributary of the Krishna River and flows through the state of Karnataka in India.
It rises in the Western Ghats at an elevation of 792.4 m in the state’s Belgaum district. The river joins the
Krishna River at Kudalasangama in the Bagalkot district

The first Census after 2026 would be used for delimitation of parliamentary and Assembly constituencies and
for apportionment of parliamentary seats among the States. Due to the disparity in growth rates between the
States, there could be changes in the distribution of seats in Parliament.
 32

The University Grants Commission (UGC) announced the draft regulations for ‘Setting up and Operation of
Campuses of Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India’.

The proposal allows a foreign university among the top 500 global rankings or a foreign educational institution
of repute in its home jurisdiction to apply to the UGC to set up a campus in India.

The objective in promoting India as a global education destination is to primarily save loss of foreign exchange.

Due to land subsidence, Joshimath - a key transit point for tourists travelling to Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib -
developed cracks, causing panic and protests among the local population.

 Joshimath has been declared a landslide-subsidence zone and over 60 families living in uninhabitable
houses in the sinking town have been evacuated to temporary relief centres.
Where is Joshimath Located?

 Joshimath is a hilly town located on the Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway (NH-7) in Chamoli
district of Uttarakhand.
 The city serves as a tourist town as it acts as an overnight rest stop for people visiting Badrinath,
Auli, Valley of Flowers, and Hemkund Sahib, among other important religious and tourist
locations in the state.
 Joshimath is also of great strategic importance to the Indian armed forces and is home to one of the
Army's most important cantonments.
 The town (fall in high-risk seismic Zone-V)
 Land subsidence is a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earth’s surface.
 Subsidence - sinking of the ground because of underground material movement—is most often caused
by the removal of water, oil, natural gas, or mineral resources out of the ground by pumping,
fracking, or mining activities.
 The first complete census of an Indian city was conducted in 1830 by Henry Walter (known as the
father of the Indian Census) in Dacca.
 First non-synchronous Census was conducted in India in 1872 during the reign of Governor-
General Lord Mayo.
 The first synchronous census was taken in 1881, by W.C. Plowden, Census Commissioner of India.
Since then, censuses have been undertaken uninterruptedly once every ten years.
 Nodal Ministry:
 The decennial Census is conducted by the Office of the Registrar General and Census
Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs.
 Until 1951, the Census Organisation was set up on an ad-hoc basis for each Census.
 Census is conducted under the provisions of the Census Act, 1948.
 The bill for this Act was piloted by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Home Minister of
India.
 The population census is a Union subject under Article 246 of India Constitution.
 It is listed at serial number 69 of the seventh schedule of the constitution.
 33

 The information collected during the population Census is so confidential that it is not even accessible
to the courts of law.
What is Make in-India Programme?

 About:
o Launched in 2014, Make in India aims to transform the country into a leading global
manufacturing and investment destination.
o It is being led by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT),
Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.
o Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is celebrated on 9th January to mark the contribution of the Overseas
Indian community to the development of India. 9th January was chosen as the day to celebrate PBD
since it was on this day in 1915 that Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest Pravasi, returned to India from
South Africa, led India’s freedom struggle and changed the lives of Indians forever.
o This day came into effect in 2003, but in 2015 it was revised and was decided to be celebrated every
two years. It was then a theme-based conference that was set up every year during the interim period.
o PBD Conventions are held once every two years.
 PBD 2023: The theme is "Diaspora: Reliable partners for India’s progress in Amrit Kaal”.
 macro/microporous ionic organic framework - iVOFm Viologen-unit grafted organic-
framework (iVOFm) is a unique molecular sponge-like material to clean polluted water by soaking
up the contaminants in it.
o There are carcinogenic pollutants in freshwater sources that are removed using sorbent
materials and ion-exchange techniques, but these techniques are not effective enough. iVOFm aims
to improve this.
 iVOFm employs amalgamation of electrostatics driven ion-exchange combined with nanometer-sized
macropores and specific binding sites for the targeted pollutants.

 Manpreet Monica Singh

 Indian-origin Manpreet Monica Singh has been sworn in as a Harris county judge (US), becoming
the first female Sikh judge in the US.

About Airglow:
The glow produced by atoms and molecules in the atmosphere is called airglow.
The distinct colours of airglow are the result of atoms and molecules releasing particular amounts of energy
(quanta) in the form of light.
In visible light,

 Oxygen produces green and red light.

 Hydroxyl (OH) molecules produce red light.
 Sodium produces a sickly yellow.
 Nitrogen does not contribute much to airglow.
 At high altitudes ultraviolet light can split oxygen molecules (O₂) into pairs of oxygen atoms.
 34

 When these oxygen atoms later recombine into oxygen molecules, they produce a distinct green
light.
The launch of world’s longest river cruise with MV Ganga Vilas from Varanasi to Dibrugarh via
Bangladesh by the Prime Minister will herald a new age of river cruise tourism for India.

 The MV Ganga Vilas cruise is a first-of-its-kind cruise service. With support from the Inland
Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) under Ministry of Shipping, Ports and Waterways
(MoPSW).

Rare Himalayan griffon vulture rescued in Kanpur

The vulture, which is listed as near threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
red list. The Himalayan vulture or Himalayan griffon vulture as it is called is an old world vulture native to the
Himalayas and the adjoining Tibetan Plateau.

 Medical ways of finding age -The court also stated that better techniques such as the ‘wisdom
teeth’(wisdom teeth also known as third molars).) technique and the ‘epigenetic clock’ technique, which
measures DNA methylation levels and has a low margin of error, be introduced in India. The most popular
test for determining age is the ossification test. The extent of ossification (i.e., calcification) and the union
of epiphysis in bones, particularly long bones such as radius and ulna, humerus, tibia and fibula, and
femur, are helpful in estimating age. Another recommended technique is the ‘epigenetic clock’ technique
which measures DNA methylation levels to estimate the chronological age of the subject. It is a biological
process through which methyl groups are added to DNA molecules. This primarily occurs on cytosine that
precedes a guanine nucleotide (CpG sites). However, the use of this technique is yet to be explored by
Indian forensic scientists. Radiographic Techniques:
o X-ray and CT scans can be used to assess the maturity of bones, as well as to look for signs of
degeneration or disease.

India has conducted the Census every 10 years since 1881; only 2021, a pandemic-affected year, was an
exception as the exercise was postponed. India’s first proper or synchronous Census, one which begins on the
same day or year across regions of the country, was carried out in 1881 by the colonial administration and has
since happened every 10 years, except the one that was supposed to be carried out in 2021. The Census is still
conducted under the Census Act of 1948, which predates the Constitution The Census data is crucial for various
administrative functions, welfare schemes, and other surveys. affects those who do and do not receive the
benefits of welfare schemes.

NPR?

 About:
o NPR is a database containing a list of all usual residents of the country.
 A usual resident for the purposes of NPR is a person who has resided in a place for six
months or more and intends to reside there for another six months or more.
o Its objective is to have a comprehensive identity database of people residing in the country.
 The NPR is prepared under the provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship
(Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.
 It is mandatory for every “usual resident of India” to register in the NPR.
 35

 It is generated through house-to-house enumeration during the “house-listing” phase of

the Census.
 The NPR was first collected in 2010 and then updated in 2015.
Therefore NPR is based on census data and relies on census

o But NrC is not dependent on census data After a list of residents is created (i.e., NPR), a nationwide
NRC could go about verifying the citizens from that list.
o However, unlike the NRC, the NPR is not a citizenship enumeration drive as it records even a foreigner
staying in a locality for more than six months.
o National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register prepared after the conduct of the Census of 1951 in
respect of each village, showing the houses or holdings in a serial order and indicating against each
house or holding the number and names of persons staying therein.
o The NRC was published only once in 1951 and since then, it has not been updated for the nation
until recently.
o It has been updated in Assam only for now and the government plans to update
it nationally as well.

Through its ruling, the Supreme Court debunks the myth that absolute proof of guilt alone can help convict an
offender. The court has now laid down that even if prosecution witnesses turn hostile, a conviction would be in
order if all the circumstantial evidence marshalled by the prosecution and produced before the court points
unmistakably to the guilt of the accused. This is a great step towards ensuring integrity in public services,
especially in the ‘superior’ services such as the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service.

The governments of India and the U.K. marked Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on January 9 by kicking off the Young
Professionals Scheme, which will permit up to 3,000 of their degree-holding citizens aged between 18 and 30 to
live and work in each other’s countries for a period of two years.

According to a new study by the United Nations, around 3,700 dams in India will lose 26% of their total
storage by 2050 due to accumulation of sediments which can undermine water security, irrigation and power
generation in future. Under the 7th Schedule of the Constitution of India, water and water storage is a state
subject.

What is Kala-azar Disease?

 About:
o It is also known as Visceral Leishmaniasis or Black Fever or Dumdum Fever.
 There are three types of Leishmaniasis:
 Visceral Leishmaniasis, which affects multiple organs and is the most serious form of the
disease.
 Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, which causes skin sores and is the most common form.
 Mucocutaneous Leishmaniasis, which causes skin and mucosal lesions.
 36

o It is a deadly parasitic disease caused by the protozoa parasite Leishmania and mainly affects the
people living in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
o The disease can cause death, if left untreated.
Over 90% of kala-azar cases in India are reported from Bihar and Jharkhand,

 Transmission:
o It is transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected female phlebotomine sandfly.
Treatment:
o The treatment of kala-azar involves the use of drugs, such as sodium stibogluconate and meglumine
antimoniate.
o Zika virus is a flavivirus which was first discovered in 1947 in monkeys and then in humans in
Uganda in 1952.
o Both Zika and Dengue have similarities in terms of symptoms of fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis,
muscle and joint pain, malaise, and headache. In addition to this, the mode of transmission is also
same for both the diseases, i.e., both are spread by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus species of
mosquitoes.
o Modes of Zika Transmission
o Mosquito bites
o From mother to child during pregnancy, which can cause microcephaly and other severe
fetal brain defects. Zika virus has also been found in breast milk.
o Sexual transmission from infected partner. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
o Through blood transfusion.
Vishwa Hindi Diwas (VHD) or World Hindi Day (WHD) is celebrated every year on 10th January to
promote the Hindi language all around the world.

 Whereas Hindi Diwas is celebrated on 14th September annually, which focuses largely on recognition of
the Hindi language in India.
Conservation Status of Elephants?

 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species:
o African Forest Elephant- Critically Endangered
o African Savanna Elephant- Endangered
o Asian Elephant- Endangered
Deepor Beel Wetland, which is the only Ramsar Site in Assam. Deepor Beel?

 About:
o It is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Assam and an Important Bird Area by Birdlife
International.
o Deepor Beel has been designated as a Ramsar Site in November, 2002
 37

o It is located towards the southwest of Guwahati city, Assam and is the erstwhile water channel
of River Brahmaputra.
 Deepor Beel adjoins the Rani Reserve Forest from where herds of elephants come periodically to
forage in the wetland.
Jim Corbett National Park: River Ramganga, a tributary of river Ganga is the primary source of water for the
park. Tributaries of Ramganga are Khoh, Kolhu and Mandal rivers.

Kaziranga National Park: It is a park hosting around two-third of total world’s one-horned rhinoceros and is
circumscribed by the Brahmaputra River. The Brahmaputra forms the northern and eastern boundaries of it,
whereas the Mora Diphlu forms the southern boundary. Other notable rivers within the park are the Diphlu and
Mora Dhansiri.

Silent Valley National Park: Located in Kerala, the park’s entire stretch drains from north to south by River
Kuntipuzha. It is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.

Recently, Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupted again after a brief pause. The eruption in the volcano’s crater
started in Jan 2022. dangerous volcanic fumes containing sulphur dioxide, Pele’s hair (tiny strands of
drifting lava) (Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes) and other volcanic particles.

In Nov-Dec 2022, Hawaii’s Mauna Loa also erupted for the first time in 38 years.

 Goa is the only state in India which has a uniform civil code. Goa’s Portuguese Civil Code of
1867 is an example of a common family law prevalent in a State.

About the Uniform Civil Code (UCC):

 It provides for one law that applies to all religious communities in personal matters such as
marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, etc.
 In India, Article 44 in the Part IV (DPSP) of the Indian Constitution lays down that the state
shall endeavour to secure a UCC for the citizens throughout the territory of India

What is LNG?
 38

 LNG is natural gas reduced to a liquid state (liquefaction) through intense cooling to around -
161 degrees Celsius (-259 Fahrenheit).
 This liquid gas is 600 times smaller than the original volume and is half the weight of
water, thus, can be transported around the world by ship.
 This compressed fossil fuel is wholly made up of methane – a potent greenhouse gas (GHG).
 Despite LNG’s export potential, the high cost of liquefaction and producing LNG has limited
its market.
 The cooling, liquefying and transport processes, as well as the post-transport regasification
procedures, require a lot of energy.

10-25% of the energy of the gas is being lost during the liquefaction process.

 LNG emits about twice as much GHG as ordinary natural gas, emits 14 times as much carbon
as solar power when producing the equivalent amount of energy, and 50 times as much carbon
as wind power.
 Risk of methane leakages across the supply chain, makes LNG much more emissions-intensive.
 Processing LNG is so energy and carbon-intensive that it can create almost 10 times more
carbon emissions than piped gas.

Article 176 (Special address by the Governor):

 The Governor shall address the Legislative Assembly or both Houses (in the case of a State
having a Legislative Council), assembled together at the
o Commencement of the first session after each general election to the Legislative
Assembly and
o Commencement of the first session of each year

Article 87: Special address by the President

a rare and incurable genetic disorder called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

 It is the most common and fatal type of muscular dystrophy marked by progressive muscle
degeneration and weakness due to alterations of a protein called “dystrophin” that helps keep
muscle cells intact.
 Patients (usually children) have reduced bone density and an increased risk of developing
fractures.

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs, whose mortality rate
can reach 100%. The virus belongs to Asfarviridae family. It is not known to affect human beings and hence
not a zoonotic disease. It is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa but has spread to many other regions of the world,
including Asia and Europe. There is no cure or precaution available for the infection yet and no approved
vaccine, so the only way to stop it spreading is by culling the animals.

oshimath is situated in the middle slopes of a hill bounded by the Karmanasa and Dhaknala streams on the west
and the east and the Dhauliganga and Alaknanda rivers on the south and the north. Alaknanda and
Dhauliganga meet at the confluence of Vishnuprayag overlooking the town of Joshimath. Also known as
Jyotirmath, it is a town in the Garhwal Himalayas in Chamoli District in Uttarakhand.

9th January was chosen as the day to celebrate PBD, as it was on this day in 1915 that Mahatma Gandhi, who
returned to India from South Africa, led India’s freedom struggle.
 39

The blackbuck is found only on the Indian subcontinent. While males have corkscrew-shaped horns and black-
to-dark brown coats, the females are fawn-coloured. The animals are mainly seen in three broad clusters across
India that pertain to the northern, the southern, and the eastern regions.

What are Blackbucks?

 About:

o The Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra), or the Indian Antelope, is a species of antelope native to
India and Nepal.

 It is widespread in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and other
areas throughout peninsular India.

o It is considered as the epitome of grassland.

o The blackbuck is a diurnal antelope (active mainly during the day).

 IUCN Status: Least Concern

 Velavadar Blackbuck Sanctuary - Gujarat

 Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary - Tamil Nadu

 Tal Chhapar Sanctuary- Rajasthan

The necropolis (a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments) of noblemen dating from the Asaf
Jahi era known as Paigah Tombs complex in Hyderabad is set to be restored with funding by the U.S.
Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation. Stucco work like this doesn’t exist anywhere else in India. It has
incredible lattice screens, minarets, and detailing.

The Paigah tombs (or Maqbara Shams al-Umara) is a necropolis belonging to the nobility of the Paigah family
who served the Nizam of Hyderabad (Asaf Jahi dynasty). The tombs, made of lime, mortar and marble, are one
of the finest examples of Indo-Islamic architecture (blend of Asaf Jahi and Rajputana styles).

The Paigahs were among the most influential and powerful families of Hyderabad in the 18th century.
Wealthier than most rulers, they were responsible to look after the security and defence of the region. They
claimed to be the descendants of Hazrath Omar bin Al-Khattab, Islam’s second caliph.

The All India Football Federation unveiled its strategic roadmap with ‘Vision 2047’, hoping that in the
country’s centenary year of independence, India will emerge as a new powerhouse of Asian football. Vision
2047’ into six four-year strategic plans. The first of these will look to cover the period till 2026.

a new method of deposition of Nickel alloy coatings on engineering-grade materials can replace
environmentally toxic chrome plating. The process of chrome plating involves the use of hexavalent
chromium, which is a known human carcinogen.
 40

 Aerosol sprays, like other commonly used substances such as dry-cleaning solvents, refrigerants and
fumigants, contain Ozone-Depleting Substances (ODS) including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs),
hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), halons, methyl bromide, carbon tetrachloride, and methyl
chloroform.

 About 90% of ozone occurs naturally in the Earth's upper atmosphere (Stratosphere) between
10 and 40 km above Earth's surface, where it forms a protective layer that shields us from the sun's
harmful ultraviolet rays.

 This “good” ozone is gradually being destroyed by man-made chemicals referred to as ODS,
including CFCs, HCFCs, halons, methyl bromide, carbon tetrachloride, and methyl chloroform.

 When chlorine and bromine atoms come into contact with ozone in the stratosphere, they destroy
ozone molecules.

 One chlorine atom can destroy over 100,000 ozone molecules before it is removed from the
stratosphere.

 Ozone can be destroyed more quickly than it is naturally created.

 Vienna Convention:

 The 1985 Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer provided a framework
for international cooperation on ozone protection.

 Montreal Protocol (under Vienna Convention):

 Adopted in 1987, the Montreal Protocol is a worldwide agreement to stop the production
of substances causing ozone-depletion.

 Kigali Amendment to the Protocol: Parties to the Montreal Protocol agreed to phase
down production and consumption of Hydrofluorocarbons, commonly known as HFCs.

On December 3, 1989, the highly dangerous and toxic gas, methyl isocyanate (MIC) (Chemical
formula- CH3NCO or C2H3NO), leaked from the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) in Bhopal.

Tamizhagam literally translated means home of Tamil. The word is also spelled as Tamilakam. It also refers to a
geographical region where ancient Tamil people live. The ancient Tamilakam is made up of today's land of
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Puducherry and southern areas of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

The Kozhikode tourism promotion council has applied for a GI tag for the Beypore ‘Uru’.

Swadesh Darshan project.: Beypore and Kumarakom are the only two tourism destinations from Kerala to be
included in the second phase of the project. Kadalundi, the nearby eco-tourism spot, is a favourite too.

o The Godavari estuary in Andhra Pradesh has become a prime and safe habitat for the Indian skimmer
(Rynchops albicollis) Another common name for Indian skimmers is Indian scissors bill.

o They are more widespread in winter; the Indian skimmer is found in the coastal estuaries of western
and eastern India.

o The species can be sighted near the Chambal River in Central India, in few parts of Odisha and in
Andhra Pradesh. IUCN Red List Status: Endangered


 41

Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary

 The Government declared a part of the Godavari mangrove system as Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary in
1978 to rehabilitate the salt water crocodile and to protect the other endangered species, such as Olive
Ridley turtles and Indian Otter.

White tufted royal butterfly, a rare species, found in Kerala’s Kannur

The wingspan of the butterfly is just 32-40 mm. Its larvae feed on Scurrula parasitica, a plant belonging to
the Loranthaceae family. there were eight species of the butterfly. While two are common, the others are rare.

o Recently, a Himalayan butterfly known as Golden Birdwing (Troides aeacus) has

been discovered as India’s largest butterfly after 88 years.

children being ‘born too early’ (preterm births), which means they are born alive before 37 weeks of pregnancy
are completed. This is a challenge because these ‘preterm babies’ are two to four times at higher risk of death
after birth in comparison to those born after 37 weeks of gestation. Globally, one in every 10 births is preterm;
in India, one in every six to seven births is preterm.

A baby who dies any time after 22 weeks of pregnancy, but before or during the birth, is classified as a stillborn.

The Amu Darya[a] (also called the Amu, Amo River, and historically known by its Latin name Oxus or
Greek Ὦξος)[2] is a major river in Central Asia and Afghanistan. Rising in the Pamir Mountains, north of
the Hindu Kush, the Amu Darya is formed by the confluence of the Vakhsh and Panj rivers, in the Tigrovaya
Balka Nature Reserve on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and flows from there north-westwards
into the southern remnants of the Aral Sea. In its upper course, the river forms part of Afghanistan's northern
border with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. In ancient history, the river was regarded as the
boundary of Greater Iran with "Turan", which roughly corresponded to present-day Central Asia.[3

At a height of 6,107 feet, Joshimath is a busy town in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. The town is also a
gateway to noted sites of pilgrimage — Badrinath for Hindus and Hemkund Sahib for Sikhs; the international
skiing site of Auli; and the Valley of Flowers, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

What is Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)?

 About:

o SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organization.

o It’s a Eurasian political, economic and military organization aiming to maintain peace,
security and stability in the region.

o It was created in 2001.

o The SCO Charter was signed in 2002, and entered into force in 2003.
 42

 Genesis:

o Prior to the creation of SCO in 2001, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and
Tajikistan were members of the Shanghai Five.

o Shanghai Five (1996) emerged from a series of border demarcation and demilitarization talks
which the four former Soviet republics held with China to ensure stability along the borders.

o Following the accession of Uzbekistan to the organization in 2001, the Shanghai Five was
renamed the SCO.

o India and Pakistan became members in 2017.

o On 17th September, 2021, it was announced that Iran would become a full member of the SCO.

 Membership:

o Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan and Iran.

India will host ‘The Voice of Global South’ Summit on January 12-13,. As many as 120
countries will participate in the summit

Golden Globes AWARD: The Fabelmans was named best movie drama

Banshees of Inisherin, won best movie musical or comedy

music composer M M Keeravani accepted the award for Best Original Song for Telugu film
RRR (directed by SS Rajamouli) at the 80th Golden Globe Awards. ‘Naatu Naatu’ becomes
the first Asian song to win the coveted award.

 Ladakh’s Demand of Sixth Schedule: According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ladakh’s inclusion
in the Sixth Schedule would be difficult.

o The Constitution is very clear, Sixth Schedule is for the Northeast. For tribal areas in the rest of
the country, there is the Fifth Schedule.

What is the Sixth Schedule?

 Article 244: The Sixth Schedule under Article 244 provides for the formation of autonomous
administrative divisions — Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) — that have some legislative,
judicial, and administrative autonomy within a state.

o The Sixth Schedule contains special provisions for the administration of tribal areas in the four
north-eastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.

Causes of Cold Wave in India:

o Absence of Cloud Cover in the Region: Clouds trap some of the outgoing infrared radiation and radiate
it back downward, warming the ground.

o Snowfall in the upper Himalayas that has blown cold winds towards the region.

o Subsidence of Cold Air over the Region: Subsidence is the downward movement of cold and dry air
closer to the surface.
 43

o La Nina: Prevailing La Nina conditions in the Pacific Ocean. La Nina is the abnormal cooler sea
surface temperatures reported along the equatorial Pacific Ocean and it is known to favour cold waves.

 During La Nina years, the severity of cold conditions becomes intense. The frequency and area
covered under the grip of a cold wave becomes larger.

o Western Disturbances: Western disturbances can cause cold waves in India. Western disturbances are
weather systems that originate in the Mediterranean Sea and move eastward, bringing cold winds,
precipitation and cloud cover to the northwest regions of India. These disturbances can lead to a drop in
temperature and cause cold wave conditions. However, not all western disturbances bring cold wave
conditions.

Prithivi-II Missile?

 About:

o Prithvi-II is an indigenously developed Surface-to-Surface Missile Short-Range Ballistic

Missile (SRBM), which has a range of around 350km and can carry a one tonne payload.

o Prithvi II class is a single-stage liquid-fueled missile that has warhead mounting capability of
500 kg-1000kg.

 Developed by:

o Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India under its Integrated
Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).

What are the Prithvi Missiles?

 The Prithvi missile system comprises various tactical Surface-to-Surface Short-Range Ballistic
Missiles (SRBM).

 Its development began in 1983, and it was India’s first indigenous ballistic missile.

Every year 12th January is celebrated as National Youth Day (NYD) to mark the birth anniversary of Swami
Vivekananda. NYD was declared by GoI in 1984. Theme for 2023 - ‘Viksit Yuva - Viksit Bharat’.

It is designed and developed by DRDO’s Research

VSHORAD missile system is a man-portable air
Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad in collaboration with
defence system (MANPADS). These are short-range,
other DRDO laboratories and Indian Industry
lightweight and portable surface-to-air missiles that
Partners. They have a maximum range of 8
can be fired by individuals or small groups to destroy
kilometres and can engage targets at altitudes of 4.5
aircraft or helicopters.
km.

The blackbuck is found only in the It is a Schedule-1 animal according The animals are mainly seen in
Indian subcontinent. While males to the Wildlife Protection Act and three broad clusters across India the
have corkscrew-shaped horns and classified as ‘Least Concern’ on the northern, southern, and eastern
black-to-dark brown coats, the IUCN Red List regions. It is widespread in the
females are fawn-coloured. It is an states of Rajasthan, Gujarat,
antelope native to India and Nepal. Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
 44

Odisha, and other areas throughout

peninsular India.

Unlike in conventional direct current plating, the

coatings were virtually porosity free, crack free with
minimal hydrogen uptake. They were successfully
The process of Nickel alloy coating uses pulsed applied to die-casting components used in plastic
current electroplating, which is environmentally bottling industry, wherein the temperatures at the die
benign with high production capacity. In contrast to interface can be over 280°C. With numerous
conventional, direct current used for chrome plating applications in automotive, defense, and aerospace
for these coatings, the process know-how is ready for
transfer as a replacement for conventional chrome
plating.

Section 6A of Citizenship Act, 1955’ which has been referred to the Constitution Bench deals with:
Section 6A created a special provision for Assam by which persons who entered between January 1, 1966, and
March 25, 1971, and who are residing in the state, upon being detected as foreigners, will be allowed to register
Upon registration, such a person will have the same rights and obligations as a citizen of India, but will not be
entitled to be included in any electoral roll for a period of 10 years.

Delhi LG Technically, the Lieutenant Governor has executive control over only the three reserved subjects of
police, public order and land; all other subjects (transferred subjects) lie with the elected government.

Tamil Nadu Governor R. N. Ravi walked out of the Assembly after Chief Minister M. K. Stalin said only the
portions of the Governor’s speech prepared and approved by the State Cabinet.

Article 154 of the Constitution says “the executive power of the State shall be vested in the Governor and shall
be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with this Constitution”.
However, Article 163 states that the Governor shall exercise his functions with the aid and advice of the Council
of Ministers except for functions which require his discretion.

Further, Art 163 (2) states,”If any question arises whether any matter is or is not a matter as respects which the
Governor is by or under this Constitution required to act in his discretion, the decision of the Governor in his
discretion shall be final”.

The 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976, had made ministerial advice binding on the President but no
such provision has been made for the Governor. The Supreme Court of India, however, has in several landmark
judgements defined limits of the discretionary powers.

In the 2016 Nabam Rebia judgement, a five-judge Bench led by then Chief Justice of India, J. S. Khehar, said
that Article 163 of the Constitution does not give the Governor a “general discretionary power to act against or
without the advice of his council of ministers”.

In the Shamsher Singh & Anr versus State Of Punjab (1974), a seven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme
Court said that the President and the Governor shall exercise their formal powers in accordance with the advice
of their Ministers other than in some exceptional situations.
 45

The Sarkaria Commission had pointed out that the role of the Governor “is to see that a government is formed
and not to try to form a government”.

Regarding collegiums system : Article 141 of the Constitution mandates that a law declared by the Supreme
Court is binding on all courts, even the Supreme Court.

India has sought restoration of the preferential access to the US market that was revoked by Washington in
2019.

About GSP status:

GSP is the largest and oldest U.S. trade preference program. Established by the Trade Act of 1974, GSP
promotes economic development by eliminating duties on thousands of products when imported from one of
119 designated beneficiary countries and territorie

India was the largest beneficiary of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) status in 2017, with $5.7
billion worth of imports into the US given duty-free status.

The previous Trump administration had revoked the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) benefit, which
allows eligible developing countries to export duty-free goods to the U.S., for India.

Delhi MCD Polls Result: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s party won 134 of 250 wards, while the BJP
got 104, and the Congress came a distant third with just nine

What is the Human Rights Watch?

 Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organisation founded in 1978

as “Helsinki Watch,” initially aimed at investigating rights abuses in countries that signed the Helsinki
Accords.

o Currently, its ambit has expanded to about 100 countries worldwide.

o It is headquartered in New York City.

Recently, the Prime Minister of India flagged off the world’s longest river cruise, MV Ganga Vilas in
Varanasi.

 During the event, the Prime Minister also inaugurated Tent City in Varanasi and laid the foundation
stones for several other inland waterways projects.

 The cruise will be managed by private operators, the Inland Waterways Authority of India
(IWAI), under the Ministry of Shipping, Ports and Waterways (MoPSW) has supported the project. It
is headquartered in Noida with regional offices at Patna (Bihar), Kolkata (West Bengal), Guwahati
(Assam) and Kochi (Kerala)

 Besides connecting National Waterway 1 (NW-1) which includes Ganga and National Waterway
2 (NW-2) on Brahmaputra, the cruise will cross 27 river systems.
 46

 The Ganga - Bhagirathi-Hooghly River system between Haldia (Sagar) and Allahabad
(1620 km) was declared as NW-1 in 1986.

 The 51 days cruise is planned with visits to 50 tourist spots i

Kesavananda Bharati (9 December 1940 – 6 September 2020) was a Hindu monk who served as the
Shankaracharya (head) of Edneer Mutt, a Hindu monastery in Kasaragod district, Kerala, India from 1961
until his death.

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR):

● It is an Indian statutory body established by an Act of Parliament – the Commission for Protection of
Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005.

● The Commission works under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development and
became operational in 2007.

As defined by the commission, a child includes a person up to the age of 18 years.

JJ Act, 2015:

● The Ministry of Women and Child Development introduced the Act to replace the Juvenile Delinquency
Law and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000.

● One of the main provisions of the Act is that minors in conflict with the law between the ages of 16 and
18 can be tried as adults.
the World Economic Forum (WEF) has released the 18th Edition of Global Risks Report 2023 which seeks
that the world be prepared for ‘Natural disasters and extreme weather events’ in the next two years.

 The WEF report has been released ahead of its flagship Davos 2023 Meeting, which is titled
as Cooperation in a Fragmented World.
About WEF:

It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation (HQ: Geneva, Switzerland). The World Economic
Forum

Some major reports published by WEF are:

 Energy Transition Index.

 Global Competitiveness Report.
 Global IT Report
 WEF along with INSEAD, and Cornell University publishes this report.
 Global Gender Gap Report.
 Global Risk Report.
 Global Travel and Tourism Report.

The Union Cabinet approved the setting up of three new cooperative bodies — national multi-state
cooperative export society, national multi-state cooperative organic society and national multi-state
cooperative seed society — under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002.
 47

Will help in achieving the goal of “Sahakar-se-Samriddhi” through the inclusive growth model of
cooperatives.

Banks will be incentivized to promote Point of Sale (PoS) and e-commerce transactions using RuPay and
UPI (UPI lite and UPI 123 Pay)

 UPI LITE is a new payment solution (by NPCI) for low-value transactions that have been
set at below ₹ It works as an ‘on-device wallet’
 UPI 123Pay (by NPCI and RBI) is a new feature via which UPI may be used on feature
phones, enabling payments to be made without a connection to the internet.
 About UPI
 It is a real-time payment system (started in 2016) to link multiple bank accounts into a single
mobile application. It works by SIM binding and was allowed only for Indian mobile numbers but
now has been allowed for NRIs, NRE (non-resident external) and NRO( non-resident
ordinary) international mobile numbers from 10 countries including the USA, Canada, Australia etc.

About NPCI:
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organisation for operating retail
payments and settlement systems in India, is an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian
Banks’ Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, for
creating a robust Payment & Settlement Infrastructure in India.

 It has been incorporated as a “Not for Profit” Company under the provisions of Section 25 of
the Companies Act 1956 (now Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013)
 It facilitates payments such as UPI Payment, Bharat Bill Pay, RuPay Card, FASTag, NACH
etc.
 The current method to make green hydrogen:
 The conventional way to produce green hydrogen is electrolysis, where water is split into its constituent
elements by passing a large current through it. If both the electrolyser and the source of electricity
are green, the resulting hydrogen is also green.
 Currently, most of the hydrogen in India is produced by steam-reforming: methane is mixed with
water in a reactor at 800-900º C and 20-30 atmospheres of pressure to yield hydrogen and carbon
monoxide. The resulting hydrogen is thus ‘grey’.

Kollam will be officially declared India’s first Constitution literate district by Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi
Vijayan

The special address of the Governor is an important constitutional duty, which is performed with the aid and
advise of the Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister at the head. The constitutional role of the Governor is
that of an elder statesman who brings a sense of gravitas to this high office, and by his oath, must preserve,
protect and defend the Constitution and the law.

Article 176 of the Constitution requires the Governor to mandatorily address the Members of legislature at the
commencement of the first session of each year and to inform them of the causes of its summons. Clause two
says that the legislature will discuss the matters referred to in such an address. The “address” here means the
complete address and not a truncated or garbled version. Therefore, what the Governor reads before the
legislators is a complete address whose entire contents are to be mandatorily discussed by the legislators in the
House.

Here, the Constitution gives a specific direction to the House to find time to discuss the contents of the
Governor’s address. It is of special significance that the Constitution nowhere else says that the legislature must
 48

make rules for the allotment of time to discuss a particular matter other than the address by the Governor under
Article 176. This underscores the importance the Constitution attaches to such an address by the Governor.

It will become more clear when we consider Article 175 which says that the Governor may address the
legislature and for that purpose require the attendance of the members. The Governor’s address under Article
175 is not a mandatory address unlike under Article 176. Article 175 does not speak about any discussion of the
content of such an address; but Article 176 requires a discussion on the matters contained in the Governor’s
address. The reason behind the Constitution making such a distinction in two addresses by the same
constitutional authority, namely the Governor, to the same Members of the legislature, is that the address under
Article 176 contains the policies and programmes of the elected government of the State which is accountable to
the legislature. Executive accountability to the elected representatives of the people is the essence of
parliamentary democracy.

Governor acts as per Article 163 (1) [Council of Ministers to aid and advise Governor] of the Constitution.

Russia said on Friday its forces had wrested control of the war-scarred town of Soledar in east Ukraine,
Moscow’s first claim of victory in months of battlefield setbacks.

What are Local Bubbles?

 The Local Bubble is a 1,000-light-year-wide cavity or a superbubble. Other superbubbles also exist
in the Milky Way.

 The Local Bubble is a large, low-density region in the interstellar medium (ISM) of our galaxy,
the Milky Way.

o The interstellar medium is the material which fills the space between the stars.

 It's a cavity that is thought to have been created by a series of supernovae explosions that occurred
about 30 to 50 million years ago.

National Clean Air Programme?

 It was launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in
January 2019.
 It is the first-ever effort in the country to frame a national framework for air quality
management with a time-bound reduction target.
 It seeks to cut the concentration of coarse (particulate matter (PM) of diameter 10 micrometer or
less, or PM10) and fine particles (particulate matter of diameter 2.5 micrometer or less, or PM2.5) by at
least 20% in the next five years, with 2017 as the base year for comparison.

o Non-attainment cities are those that have fallen short of the National Ambient Air Quality
Standards (NAAQS) for over five years.
 NAAQs are the standards for ambient air quality with reference to various identified
pollutant notified by the CPCB under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,
 49

1981. List of pollutants under NAAQS: PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2, CO, NH3, Ozone, Lead,
Benzene, Benzo-Pyrene, Arsenic and Nickel.
What are the Target Levels?

 Current Scenario: The country’s current, annual average prescribed limits for PM2.5 and PM10 are
40 micrograms/per cubic metre (ug/m3) and 60 micrograms/per cubic metre.
 New Targets: The NCAP initially set a target of reducing key air pollutants PM10 and PM2.5 by 20-30%
in 2024, taking the pollution levels in 2017 as the base year to improve upon.
o In September 2022, however, the Centre moved the goalposts and set a new target of a 40%
reduction in particulate matter concentration, by 2026.
Initiatives Taken for Controlling Air Pollution?

 System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) Portal.
 Air Quality Index: AQI has been developed for eight pollutants viz. PM2.5, PM10, Ammonia, Lead,
nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, ozone, and carbon monoxide.
 Graded Response Action Plan (for Delhi).
 For Reducing Vehicular Pollution:
o BS-VI Vehicles,
o Push for Electric Vehicles (EVs),
o Odd-Even Policy as an emergency measure (for Delhi).
 New Commission for Air Quality Management
 Subsidy to farmers for buying Turbo Happy Seeder (THS) Machine for reducing stubble burning.
 National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP): Under NAMP, four air pollutants viz. SO2,
NO2, PM10, and PM2.5 have been identified for regular monitoring at all locations.

Zoji La?

 Zoji La is a high mountain pass located in the Kargil district of Ladakh.

 The pass links Leh and Srinagar and provides an important link between Union Territories of Ladakh
and Kashmir.
 Zoji la is known as the “Mountain Pass of Blizzards”.
 Zojila pass remains closed during winters due to heavy snowfall, cutting off Ladakh region from
Kashmir.
 In 2018, the Zojila tunnel project was launched. The tunnel is Asia's longest and strategic bi-
directional tunnel, which will provide all-weather connectivity between Srinagar, Kargil and Leh.

 Delhi’s State EIA Authority has asked the State Forest Department to take steps to contain and
exterminate 3 rapidly growing invasive tree species - Vilayati Kikar (Prosopis
Juliflora), Subabul (River tamarind) and Eucalyptus as they are adversely affecting the local ecology.
 Vilayati Kikar - the Mexican invasive species introduced by the British in 1930s, is the most
harmful. It is the only form of vegetation visibly thriving on the Delhi Ridge.
 50

 Eucalyptus, which came from Australia, is not invasive in nature, but uses a lot of water as it is a
fast-growing tree. It also shows allelopathic effects (releases compounds which make it difficult for
other native species to grow nearby).
 Subabul also comes from Mexico and was introduced by the forest department for fuel and fodder.
All three species are depleting the groundwater table.

Rare Earth Elements?

 About:
o They are a set of 17 metallic elements. These include the 15 lanthanides on the periodic table in
addition to scandium and yttrium that show similar physical and chemical properties to the
lanthanides.
 Significance:
o They are important in technologies of consumer electronics, computers and networks,
communications, clean energy, advanced transportation, healthcare, environmental mitigation,
and national defence, among others.
 Scandium is used in televisions and fluorescent lamps
 Yttrium is used in drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis and cancer.
o Rare earth elements are also used in space shuttle components, jet engine turbines, and drones.
 Cerium, the most abundant rare earth element, is essential to NASA’s Space Shuttle
Programme.
o Moreover, the push for switching from internal combustion cars to electric vehicles has also led
to a rise in demand for rare earth.
 Monopoly of China:
o China has over time acquired global domination of rare earths, even at one point, it
produced 90% of the rare earths the world needs.
 Today, however, it has come down to 60% and the remaining is produced by other
countries, including the Quad (Australia, India, Japan and United States).
 India has 6% of the world’s rare earth reserves, it only produces 1% of global output, and meets
most of its requirements of such minerals from China.
 Exoplanets are planets that orbit other stars and are beyond our solar system. The ‘Goldilocks Zone’
refers to the habitable zone around a star where the temperature is just right – not too hot and not too cold
– for liquid water to exist on a planet.

a strand of antimicrobial-resistant gonorrhea outbreak has hit Kenya.

 Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
o It can infect both men and women and can occur in the genitals, rectum, and throat.
o If left untreated, gonorrhea can cause serious health problems, including infertility and
an increased risk of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection.
 51

 According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is the second-most common disease to be
sexually transmitted across the world after chlamydia.
 Gonorrhea is typically treated with antibiotics, but the bacteria have become increasingly resistant to
many of the drugs that were once effective.
Microorganisms that develop antimicrobial resistance are sometimes referred to as “superbugs”.

o PARAKH has been launched as part of the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP)-
2020 that envisaged a standard-setting body to advise school boards regarding new assessment patterns
and latest research, and promote collaborations between them.
o It will act as a constituent unit of the NCERT.
o It will also be tasked with holding periodic learning outcome tests like the National Achievement
Survey (NAS) and State Achievement Surveys.
o It will work on three major assessment areas: large-scale assessments, school-based assessment, and
examination reforms.

Union Home and Cooperation Minister wished people on the occasion of Thiruvalluvar Day. In the present
time, the day is usually observed either on the 15th or 16th January in Tamil Nadu and is a part
of Pongal celebrations.

Thiruvalluvar, also called Valluvar, was a Tamil poet-saint. The period when he lived is debated, as is his
religious identity. He is thought to be linked to Jainism. However, Hindus have also claimed that
Thiruvalluvar belonged to Hinduism. He had contributed the Tirukkural or ‘Kural’ to the Sangam
literature.

Tirukkural is comprised of 133 sections of 10 couplets each is divided into three books:

 Aram (virtue),
 Porul (government and society), and
 Kamam (love).
The Tirukkural has been compared to the great books of the world’s major religions.

EVMs started being used on a larger scale in 1992 and since 2000, have been used in all Lok Sabha and State
Assembly elections. There have been three iterations of the machine with improved features, the latest one
being the M3 model which was manufactured from 2013 onwards.

The current EVM setup has a Balloting Unit (BU) which is connected to the VVPAT printer, both of which are
inside the voting compartment. The VVPAT is connected to the Control Unit (CU), which sits with the
Presiding Officer (PO) and totals the number of votes cast, on its display board. Only once the PO presses the
ballot button on the CU, does the BU get enabled for the voter to cast her vote by pressing the key
corresponding to the candidate on the ballot paper sheet pasted on the BU. The VVPAT, which is essentially a
printing machine, prints a slip with the poll symbol and candidate name, once the voter presses the key on the
BU. This slip is visible to the voter on the VVPAT’s glass screen for seven seconds after which it gets dropped
off in a box inside the VVPAT. Once a vote is cast, the BU becomes inactive till the PO schedules the next vote
by enabling it again from the CU.
 52

Indian EVMs are standalone, are not connected to the internet, and have a one-time programmable chip, making
tampering through the hardware port or through a Wi-Fi connection impossible.

the RVM can handle multiple constituencies (up to 72) from a single remote polling booth. For this, instead of
a fixed ballot paper sheet, the machine has been modified to have an electronic dynamic ballot display which
will present different candidate lists corresponding to the constituency number of the voter read by a
constituency card reader.

In a landmark shift, China’s population declines in 2022

India will overtake China as world’s most population nation this year. The number of births in China
was 9.56 million, a more than 10% drop from 2021.

What is the UNSC 1267 Committee?

 It was first set up in 1999 (updated in 2011 and 2015), and strengthened after the September, 2001
attacks.
 It is now known as the Da’esh and Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee.
 It comprises all permanent and non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council
(UNSC).
 The 1267 list of terrorists is a global list, with a UNSC stamp. It is full of Pakistani nationals and
residents.
 It is one of the most important and active UN subsidiary bodies working on efforts to
combat terrorism, particularly in relation to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
 It discusses UN efforts to limit the movement of terrorists, especially those related to travel bans, the
freezing of assets and arms embargoes for terrorism.

A wildlife team recently stumbled upon a spot-bellied eagle owl (Bubo Nipalensis) for the first time in the
Seshachalam forest, and for the third time in Andhra Pradesh. The bird makes a strange scream similar to
humans and it is hence called the ‘ghost of the forest’ in India and ‘devil bird’ in Sri Lanka,

The National Education Policy 2020 gives high priority to the acquisition of foundational literacy and numeracy
skills especially for children in early grades. “NIPUN Bharat” (where NIPUN is National Initiative for
Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy)

the 17th Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2022 was released by NGO Pratham, which highlights
the impact of the pandemic on education.

 The report unveils high enrolment of children in schools which is a good performance indicator for
government programmes like Nipun Bharat Mission.
What is ASER?

 The ASER, is an annual, citizen-led household survey that aims to understand whether children in
rural India are enrolled in school and whether they are learning.
 53

 ASER has been conducted every year since 2005 in all rural districts of India. It is the largest citizen-led
survey in India.
 ASER surveys provided representative estimates of the enrolment status of children aged 3-16 and
the basic reading and arithmetic levels of children aged 5-16 at the national, state and district level.

 The Western Ghats is one of four global biodiversity hotspots in India.

 The other three are the Himalayas, the Indo-Burma region and the Sundaland (includes
the Nicobar Islands).
 It is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

the Etalin hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh has been scrapped in its present form.

 The plan combined two run-of-the-river schemes with limited storage requiring concrete gravity dams
on rivers Tangon and Dri.
The Dir and Tangon river, both tributaries of the Dibang River (tributary of Brahmaputra) in Arunachal
Pradesh, India, have the following significance:

Forest Advisory Committee

 It is a statutory body which was constituted by the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980.
 It comes under the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF&CC).

Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve

 The Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Sanctuary was declared officially in 1978 and has been recognized by
the Project Tiger in 1983.
 Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve is the largest tiger reserve in India.
 In 1992, it was retitled as Rajiv Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary.
 The Tiger reserve is spread over 5 districts in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The area consists mostly of
the Nallamala Hills.
 The multipurpose reservoirs- Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar are located in the reserve.
 The Krishna River cuts the basin of this reserve.

Gram panchayats remain fiscally dependent on grants (both discretionary and non-discretionary grants) from the
State and the Centre for everyday activities. Broadly, panchayats have three main sources of funds — their own
sources of revenue (local taxes, revenue from common property resources, etc.), grants in aid from the Centre
and State governments, and discretionary or scheme-based funds. Their own sources of revenue (both tax and
non-tax) constitute a tiny proportion of overall panchayat funds.

In August 2022, inflation in Sri Lanka reached an all-time high of 64.3% as food prices rose by 84.6%
compared to a year ago. Damage caused by floods and economic losses in Pakistan amount to more than $30
billion with an estimated restoration cost of more than $16 billion.

three G20 emerging economies — India, Indonesia, and Brazil — collectively make up the G20 troika to be
followed by another important G20 developing member, i.e. South Africa, the G20 President for 2025.
 54

What is Ashtadhyayi?

 Written more than 2,000 years ago, Ashtadhyayi or ‘Eight Chapters', is an ancient text written by
the scholar Panini towards the end of the 4th century BC.
 It is a linguistic text that set the standard for how Sanskrit was meant to be written and spoken.
 It delves deep into the language’s phonetics, syntax and grammar, and also offers a ‘language
machine’, where one can feed in the root and suffix of any Sanskrit word, and get grammatically
correct words and sentences in return.
 The Ashtadhyayi laid down more than 4,000 grammatical rules.
o Later Indian grammars such as the Mahabhasya of Patanjali (2 nd century BC) and the Kasika Vritti
of Jayaditya and Vamana (7th century AD), were mostly commentaries on Panini.
 Panini probably lived in the 4th century BC, the age of the conquests of Alexander and the founding
of the Mauryan Empire, even though he has also been dated to the 6th century BC, the age of
The Buddha and Mahavira.
 He likely lived in Salatura (Gandhara), which today would lie in north-west Pakistan, and was
probably associated with the great university at Taksasila, which also produced Kautilya and
Charaka, the ancient Indian masters of statecraft and medicine respectively.
 By the time Panini’s great grammar, the ‘Ashtadhyayi’ was composed, Sanskrit had virtually reached
its classical form — and developed little thereafter.
 Panini’s grammar, which built on the work of many earlier grammarians, effectively stabilised the
Sanskrit language.

Indian Star Tortoise (Geochelone elegans)

o Indian star tortoises are found across the Indian subcontinent, more specifically, in the Central and
Southern parts of India, in West Pakistan and in Sri Lanka.
o It is typically found in dry, open habitats such as scrub forests, grasslands, and rocky outcroppings.
o IUCN Red List: Vulnerable

The subject of a census falls in the Union list and only Parliament can legislate on it.

Recently, the Prime Minister of India symbolically distributed Hakku Patra (land title deeds) to five families
of the Banjara (Lambani) community, a nomadic Scheduled Caste group, A title deed is a property
ownership document, and the bearer of the document owns the land.

district of Kollam (Kerala) has become the country’s first constitution-literate district.

BCG is currently the only licensed TB vaccine

Germany is under pressure to authorize sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine from other European nations.

The Centre has decided to nominate Assam’s Charaideo Maidams — the Ahom equivalent of the ancient
Egyptian pyramids — for the UNESCO World Heritage Site status this year.
 55

the Maidams, representing the late medieval (13th-19th century CE) mound burial tradition of the Tai Ahom
community in Assam, from among 52 sites across the country seeking the World Heritage Site tag.

The Ahom rule lasted for about 600 years until the British annexed Assam in 1826. Charaideo, more than 400
km east of Guwahati, was the first capital of the Ahom dynasty founded by Chao Lung Siu-Ka-Pha in 1253.

Out of 386 Maidams or Moidams explored so far, 90 royal burials at Charaideo are the best preserved, making
them showpieces of mound burial tradition of the Ahoms. The Charaideo Maidams enshrine the mortal remains
of the members of the Ahom royalty, who used to be buried with their paraphernalia. After the 18th century, the
Ahom rulers adopted the Hindu method of cremation and began entombing the cremated bones and ashes in a
Maidam at Charaideo.

“The nomination of the Charaideo Maidams has attained significance at a time when the country is celebrating
the 400th birth anniversary of Lachit Barphukan,” Mr. Sarma said. Lachit Barphukan was a legendary Ahom
general who fought the Mughals in 1671.

The average days of employment provided per household under the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment
Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is at a five-year low, this financial year.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins is set to become New Zealand’s next Prime Minister

India had set a target to eliminate measles and rubella (MR) by 2023,

Both measles and rubella can be prevented by just two doses of a safe and effective vaccine

China is constructing a new dam on the Mabja Zangbo river in Tibet, close to the tri-junction of India, Nepal
and Tibet, raising concerns since China has ramped up creation of military and dual use infrastructure and in the
eastern and western sectors of the LAC (Line of Actual Control).

o The Brahmaputra, known as Yarlung Tsangpo in China, is a 2,880 km long transborder river that
originates in the Mansarovar lake and flows 1,700 km within Tibet, 920 km in Arunachal Pradesh and
Assam and 260 km in Bangladesh. It accounts for nearly 30% of freshwater resources and 40% of India’s
hydropower potential.
o The dam is on the Mabja Zangbo river, a tributary of the Ganga.

the Supreme Court (SC) ruled that chargesheets are not ‘public documents’ and enabling their free public
access violates the provisions of the Criminal Code of Procedure (CrPC) as it compromises the rights of the
accused, victim, and the investigation agencies.

o A chargesheet, as defined under Section 173 CrPC, is the final report prepared by a police officer or
investigative agency after completing their investigation of a case.
 In the K Veeraswami vs Union of India & Others (1991) case, the SC ruled that the chargesheet is
a final report of the police officer under section 173(2) of the CrPC.
o A chargesheet must be filed against the accused within a prescribed period of 60-90 days, otherwise,
the arrest is illegal, and the accused is entitled to bail.
 56

on 21 January, the states of Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya observed their 51st statehood day. The three states
gained their statehood in 1972 under the North-Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) Act, 1971.

Employees' Pension Scheme?

 About:
o EPF Pension, which is technically known as Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS), is a social
security scheme provided by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
 The scheme was first launched in 1995.
o The scheme, provided by EPFO, makes provisions for pensions for the employees in the organized
sector after the retirement at the age of 58 years.
o Employees who are members of EPF automatically become members of EPS.
 Both employer and employee contribute 12% of employee’s monthly salary (basic wages
plus dearness allowance) to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) scheme.
 EPF scheme is mandatory for employees who draw a basic wage of Rs. 15,000 per month.
 Of the employer's share of 12 %, 8.33 % is diverted towards the EPS.
 Central Govt. also contributes 1.16% of employees’ monthly salary.

Norovirus is mostly spread through contaminated food and water. Its symptoms are vomiting and/or diarrhoea,
head and body aches

Q. does Parliament have unlimited power to amend the Constitution or is it subject to inherent
limitations?

The Internet Archive, a U.S.-based repository of webpage archives and media uploads by users around the
world, has taken down a widely circulated first episode of the BBC’s The Modi Question, In an order on
January 20, 2023, the government used emergency powers under the Information Technology Rules, 2021 and
Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 to direct Twitter and YouTube to disable access to the
documentary within India and prevent its re-upload.

Hundreds of vulnerable Olive Ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) have washed ashore along the coastline
between Kakinada and Antarvedi in the Godavari region of Andhra Pradesh during the ongoing annual breeding
season on the east coast.

There is a virtual war in the country now between elected governments in States and the Governors appointed
by the Centre,

National Tourism Day (January 25) and the Ministry of Railways, in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism,
is launching its Jagannath Yatra train package, an eight-day tour that begins in from Delhi, traverses Kashi,
Baidyanath Dham, Jagannath Puri, Bhubaneshwar and Konark, and ends at the Vishnupad temple in Gaya. All
this is linked to using Bharat Gaurav Trains (or theme-based tourist circuit trains) to highlight India’s rich
cultural heritage and history. The example given above is one of many cases of a Government of India ministry
other than the Tourism Ministry taking the initiative to showcase India’s rich heritage using a ‘whole of
government’ approach.
 57

In partnership with the Ministry of Education, the Tourism Ministry has begun establishing ‘Yuva Tourism’
clubs to nurture young ambassadors of Indian tourism.

Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) In December 2021, the Union Cabinet approved KBLP at a total cost of
₹44,605 crore. In this project, the national and the Madhya Pradesh governments will link the Ken river with
the Betwa river so that the latter can water the Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh. Ken, a non-perennial river,

KBLP was a “flagship” project of the national government and that it “is critical for the water security and
socio-economic development of Bundelkhand region”. The link will be in the form of a canal that will be fed by
the new Daudhan Dam on the Ken, to be built within the Panna Tiger Reserve. The national government has
said that the dam will generate 103MW of hydroelectric power. The linking canal will flow through Chhatarpur,
Tikamgarh and Jhansi districts, with the project expected to irrigate 6.3 lakh hectares of land every year.

downstream of the national park lies the Ken Gharial Sanctuary, created to protect the critically endangered
Gangetic gharial (Gavialis gangeticus). The destructive impact of the proposed dam on the flow of water into
and outside of this sanctuary should be immediately clear.

The Panna tiger reserve lost all of its tigers by 2009, requiring a remarkable effort spanning almost a decade to
reintroduce them. Panna is an exceptional tiger habitat because of its deep gorges, which will be drowned if a
new dam is built.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations

Jacinda Ardern replaced by Chris Hipkins as New Zealand PM

Earth’s inner core, a hot iron ball the size of Pluto, has stopped spinning faster than the planet’s surface and
might now be rotating slower than it, research suggested on Monday.

Workers who helped beautify Kartavya Path were declared ‘special guests’ this year

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to launch the Aditya-L1 mission by June or July
this year. Aditya-L1 is the first Indian space mission to observe the Sun and the solar corona.

The Aditya-L1 mission will be launched by ISRO to the L1 orbit (which is the first Lagrangian point of the Sun-
Earth system). L1 orbit allows Aditya-L1 to look at the Sun continuously.

Aditya-L1 has seven payloads in total, of which the primary payload is the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph
(VELC), designed and fabricated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru.

No other solar coronagraph in space has the ability to image the solar corona as close to the solar disk as Visible
Line Emission Coronagraph can. It can image it as close as 1.05 times the solar radius. It can also do imaging,
spectroscopy, and polarimetry at the same time, and can take observations at a very high resolution, or level of
detail, and many times a second,”

Sangolli Rayanna fought the British 40 years before the First War of Independence.

The Union government choosing to confer Padma Shri on him in the art category is an honour to the
Etikoppaka wooden toy craft, and it will go a long way in promoting the art the traditional toy industry that
 58

makes toys with soft wood and natural colours. hese toys are suitable for children as they do not have harmful
edges.

. This is because tritium’s half-life — the time it takes for its quantity to be halved through radioactive decay —
is 12-13 years.

India and Egypt on Thursday reiterated support for the Non-Aligned Movement. A joint statement issued after
the bilateral engagements for President Abdel Fateh el-Sisi, who was the chief guest at the Republic Day parade
here, said both countries expressed desire for exchange of technology between their defence industries.

“The two countries reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism, the principles of the United Nations
Charter, international law, the founding values of the Non-Aligned Movement, and respect for the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of all states,”

On the Occasion of Parakram Diwas (23rd January) 2023, 21 unnamed islands of Andaman and
Nicobar have been named after Param Veer Chakra awardees.

 Netaji’s Memorial, a National Memorial dedicated to Netaji will be built on Netaji Subhas Chandra
Bose Dweep.
 Parakram Diwas is celebrated to commemorate the 126th birth anniversary of freedom fighter Subhas
Chandra Bose

Besides renaming Ross Islands Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Dweep in 2018, Neil Island and Havelock
Island were also renamed Shaheed Dweep and Swaraj Dweep respectively.

Jagannath Temple?

 The temple is believed to have been constructed in the 12th century by King Anatavarman Chodaganga
Deva of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty.
 Jagannath Puri temple is called ‘Yamanika Tirtha’ where, according to the Hindu beliefs, the power of
‘Yama’, the god of death has been nullified in Puri due to the presence of Lord Jagannath.
 This temple was called the “White Pagoda” and is a part of Char Dham pilgrimages (Badrinath,
Dwaraka, Puri, Rameswaram).
 The temple is known for its unique architecture, which includes a massive compound wall and a
large temple complex with multiple towers, halls, and shrines.
 The temple's main attraction is the Annual Rath Yatra festival, in which the three main deities of the
temple, Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra are taken out in a grand procession on
a chariot.
 The temple is also known for its unique food offering, the Mahaprasad, which is prepared in the temple
kitchen and is distributed among the devotees.

Norovirus is a group of viruses that leads to gastrointestinal illness. It causes inflammation of the lining of
the stomach and intestines, in addition to severe vomiting and diarrhoea. Contaminated water or food is the
usual infective agent. The virus spreads through the faecal-oral route. Norovirus is resistant to many
disinfectants and can heat up to 60°C. Therefore, merely steaming food or chlorinating water does not kill the
virus. It can also survive many common hand sanitisers.
 59

While there is no specific treatment available to cure the virus, generic medications for diarrhoea and
vomiting can help cure the disease.

 'Skyglow' is one of the components of light pollution.

 The Skyglow, is an omnipresent sheet of light across the night sky in and around cities that can
block all but the very brightest stars from view.
 The brightening of the night sky over inhabited areas because of streetlights, security floodlights
and outdoor ornamental lights cause the Skyglow.

What is BharOS?

 About:
o It is an indigenous mobile operating system (OS), like Android or iOS. It is focused on privacy
and security.
 A mobile operating system is a software that is the core interface on a smartphone
like Android by Google and iOS by Apple, which help smartphone users interact with
their device and access its features, while ensuring safety.
o BharOS is a contribution towards the idea of a self-reliant India or ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ by
creating a secure OS environment for India-based users.
Features:
o Native Over the Air:

 BharOS would offer Native Over the Air (NOTA) updates, meaning that security updates and
bug fixes will be automatically installed rather than users having to check for updates and
implementing them on their own.
o No Default Apps:
 No Default Apps (NDA) setting, means that users do not have to keep or use pre-installed apps in
this mobile operating system.
o BharOS is based on Android Open-Source Project (AOSP) and is somewhat similar to Google
Android. However, it does not come preloaded with Google services like in regular Google
Android phones. So BharOS users are free to download only those apps that they like or prefer rather
than being forced.
o Android phone with stock OS usually have Chrome set up as default browser. BharOS makers are
looking to partner with DuckDuck Go for its default browser.
 DuckDuck Go is a privacy-focused browser with several privacy-centric features like
anonymous browsing mode and Privacy Grade.

o Sankhya Sagar - an artificial lake in Madhya Pradesh has virtually disappeared under a thick layer
of Water Hyacinth - an invasive aquatic plant. Sankhya Sagar was declared a Ramsar site in July
2022, and helps maintain the ecological balance of the Madhav National Park.
o The lake is home to 19 indigenous fish species and in turn piscivorous birds along with Marsh
crocodile (WPA 1972; Schedule I).
o Water Hyacinth, though, native to South Africa, has naturalised itself in many other parts of the
world. However, it can’t be outrightly placed in a harmful or useful category - on one hand, it acts
as a water purifier by removing heavy metals present in small quantities while on the other, once it
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covers the entire surface of a water body, it does not allow sunlight to penetrate the water and
also starts depleting oxygen.
o The water hyacinth in Sankhya Sagar is leading to the death of native species; its presence
also indicates high nitrogen levels in the lake.

What are Coral Reefs?

 About:
o Corals are marine invertebrates belonging to the class Anthozoa in the phylum Cnidaria.
 They typically live in compact colonies of many identical individual polyps.
 Coral reefs are underwater ecosystems made up of colonies of coral polyps.
o Coral polyps live in a symbiotic relationship with a variety of photosynthetic algae
called zooxanthellae, which live within their tissues.
 These algae provide the coral with energy through photosynthesis, while the coral
provides the algae with a protected environment and compounds, they need for growth.
 Types of Corals:
o Hard Corals:
 They extract calcium carbonate from seawater to build hard, white coral exoskeletons.
 They are in a way the engineers of reef ecosystems and measuring the extent of hard coral
is a widely-accepted metric for measuring the condition of coral reefs.
o Soft Corals:
 They attach themselves to such skeletons and older skeletons built by their ancestors.
 Soft corals are typically found in deeper waters and are less common than hard corals.
Initiatives to Protect Corals:

o Technological Intervention:
 Cyromesh: Storage of the coral larvae at -196°C and can be later reintroduced to the wild
 Biorock: Creating artificial reefs on which coral can grow rapidly

Private firms will soon be able to partner with Archaeological Survey of India for the upkeep of 1,000
monuments under the Monument Mitra Scheme, which involves adopting and maintaining heritage sites.

 Revamped scheme would be based on the Corporate Social Responsibility model and a new website
having the names of all the heritage sites, would also be launched.
What is the Monument Mitra Scheme?

 Monument Mitra' is the term coined for an entity partnering with the government under the 'Adopt A
Heritage' project.
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o It was launched under the Ministry of Tourism earlier and then transferred to the Ministry of
Culture.
 The project aims to develop monuments, heritage and tourist sites across India by inviting corporate
entities, public sector companies or individuals to 'adopt' them

India announced on Friday that it wants to modify the 62-year-old Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with
Pakistan, citing what it called Pakistan’s “intransigence” in resolving disputes over the Kishenganga and
Ratle hydropower projects, both in Jammu and Kashmir. The Indus treaty, that divided up the six
Himalayan rivers equally between India and Pakistan, allows India the unrestricted use of all water from
the 3 eastern tributaries of the Indus river (Sutlej, Beas and Ravi) while Pakistan receives use of the
western tributaries (Indus or Sindhu, Jhelum and Chenab).

Tamil is the oldest language of the world, and is a big treasure and source of pride, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi said in his address to students

Kanshi Ram, rose to become a Dalit icon working for their upliftment and political representation. He
also founded other Dalit-centric pressure groups such as the Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti (DS-
4) and the Minorities Communities Employees’ Federation (BAMCEF) in 1971. He later formed the
political party, BSP, in 1984, which tested electoral success in Uttar Pradesh and formed the government
on four different occasions between 1995 and 2012

Kerala-Poovar estuary and the Punchakkari-Vellayani wetland complex, Pazhanchira wetlands near
Attingal, The Akkulam wetlands, Kadinamkulam wetlands.

Data show that India, with nearly 18% of the world’s population, occupies about 2.4% of the total
geographical area and consumes 4% of total water resources. A World Bank report says that India is the
largest groundwater user. Groundwater is the backbone of India’s agriculture and drinking water security
in rural and urban areas, meeting nearly 80% of the country’s drinking water and two-thirds of its
irrigation needs. the Jal Shakti Abhiyan was launched subsequently to transform Jan Shakti into Jal
Shakti through asset creation, rainwater harvesting (‘Catch the Rain’ campaign) and extensive awareness
campaign. Initiatives have also been taken for the effective management and regulation of groundwater,
examples being the Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY) and the National Project on Aquifer Management
(NAQUIM). With the goal of “participatory groundwater management. It is important to ensure source
sustainability to provide safe drinking water to all rural households by 2024, under the Jal Jeevan
Mission.

West Bank on the edge after Israeli raids, rocket attacks

Recently, the Visible Line Emission Coronagraph (VLEC), the primary payload on board Aditya-L1, was
handed over to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA).

 ISRO is planning to launch the Aditya-L1 mission, first Indian space mission to observe the Sun by
June or July 2023 to observe the Sun and the solar corona.
 Aditya L1 will be launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) with 7 payloads
(instruments) on board.
What is L1?

 L1 refers to Lagrangian/Lagrange Point 1, one of 5 points in the orbital plane of the Earth-Sun
system.
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o Lagrange Points are positions in space where the gravitational forces of a two-body system like
the Sun and Earth produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion.
 These can be used by spacecraft to reduce fuel consumption needed to remain in position.
 A Satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 has the major advantage of continuously viewing the
Sun without any occultation/ eclipses.
 The L1 point is home to the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Satellite (SOHO), an international
collaboration project of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European
Space Agency (ESA).

Sand is classified as a “minor mineral”,

o Lumpy skin disease-- LSD is caused by infection with the Lumpy Skin Disease Virus (LSDV) in cattle or
water buffalo.
 The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that its mortality rate is less than 10%.
o The first reported outbreak of LSD occurred in Zambia in 1929, and it was initially believed to be
caused by poisoning or an allergic reaction to insect bites.
o LSD is primarily spread between animals through the bite of vectors, such as mosquitoes and flies
o Currently, India is administering the goat pox vaccine and sheep pox virus vaccines for LSD.
 It's a heterologous vaccine that offers cross-protection for cattle against the disease.
o Goat pox, sheep pox and LSD belong to the same capripoxvirus genus.
o It is not a zoonotic disease i.e. it cannot infect human beings
o Pashmina is a Geographical Indication (GI) certified wool that has its origin from Kashmir region
of India.
o The wool that is used in weaving the Pashmina Shawl is obtained from the Changthangi goats
(Capra Hircus) domesticated in Ladakh by the Changpa tribes.
 The Changpa are semi-nomadic community which inhabit Changthang (which is spread
across Ladakh and Tibet Autonomous Region) or other regions of Ladakh.
 The Changpa were classified as a Scheduled Tribe under the Indian Government's
affirmative action reservation program.
o Pashmina is one of the finest and highest quality wool in the whole world.

Similipal National Park (SNP) in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district Similipal derives its name from ‘Simul’ (silk
cotton) tree. It is part of the Similipal-Kuldiha-Hadgarh Elephant Reserve popularly known as Mayurbhanj
Elephant Reserve.

It was formally designated a tiger reserve in 1956 and brought under Project Tiger in the year 1973
and declared a biosphere reserve by the Government of India in June 1994. It is also a part of the UNESCO
World Network of Biosphere Reserve since 2009.
 63

 An artist from Andhra Pradesh was conferred Padma Shri – for his work on Etikoppaka wooden toy
craft which is also a GI-tagged product from the state The art of making traditional wooden
Etikoppaka toys is more than 400 years old.
 Also known as turned wood Lacquer craft.
 The toys are unique in shape and form.
 They are made of wood and painted with natural dyes
 The wood used is from the ‘Ankudi Karra’ (Wrightia tinctoria) tree which is soft.
 Other GI products from Andhra Pradesh Kondapalli toys, Tirupati laddu, Bobbili Veena,
Srikalahasthi Kalamkari, Uppada Jamdani sarees, and Shadow puppets.

e-SCR Portal:

 The portal is the repository of the electronic version of Supreme Court Reports (SCR)
 What is Short-Selling?
 Short selling, or shorting, is a trading strategy based on the expectation that the price of the security
will fall. While fundamentally it is based on the “buy low, sell high” approach, the sequence of
transactions is reversed in short selling — to sell high first and buy low later. Also, in short selling,
the trader usually does not own the securities he sells, but merely borrows them.
 After China, India (on SEBI’s recommendation) will become the second country in the world to start
the ‘trade-plus-one’ (T+1) settlement cycle in top-listed securities.

 What is the T+1 settlement cycle?
 64

 In simple terms, T+1 settlement means that securities transactions will reflect in the demat account after
a day instead of two days now under the T+2 cycle. If an investor buys a stock on Thursday, it would be
shown in the demat account on Friday.

Hundreds of vulnerable Olive Ridley Turtles ( Lepidochelys olivacea) have washed ashore along the
coastline between Kakinada and Antarvedi in the Godavari region

 Known for Arribada (Mass Nesting)

Protection Status:

 Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Scheduled 1

 IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
 CITES Appendix I
 The olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea
turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second-smallest[4][5] and most
abundant of all sea turtles found in the world. L. olivacea is found in warm and tropical waters,
primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, but also in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean. [6]
 This turtle and the related Kemp's ridley turtle are best known for their unique synchronised mass
nestings called arribadas, where thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay eggs.[
iving in tropical and warm waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans from India, Arabia, Japan, and
Micronesia south to southern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

An ancient terracotta temple in West Bengal’s Sundarbans, which has survived the ravages of time for a
millennia, is now facing a very modern threat.

The impact of climate change, especially the increase in air salinity, is gradually eroding the outer wall of Jatar
Deul, an 11th century Shiva temple, which is located at Raidighi in South 24 Parganas, only a few kilometres
from the sea.

Amphan, the tropical cyclone that ravaged coastal West Bengal, particularly the Sundarbans, in May
2020, had destroyed three trees at Jatar Deul,
Jatar Deul is traditionally connected to an inscription, no longer traceable, by one Raja Jayantachandra,
purported to have been issued in 975 AD. The Archaeological Survey of India website says that the
temple is datable to the 10th or 11th century AD on the basis of its architecture. the temple was facing
erosion because of air salinity
Jatar Deul is the tallest standing temple in the Sundarbans on the bank of the river Moni. The temple has
a curvilinear tower similar to temple architecture of the Nagara order of Odisha temples,

The Rashtrapati Bhavan gardens, popularly known as the Mughal Gardens, was renamed Amrit
Udyan On the occasion of the celebrations of 75 years of Independence as Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the
President of India is pleased to give a common name to the Rashtrapati Bhavan gardens as Amrit Udyan,
The garden is thrown open to the public for a limited period during spring each year.
Designed by Edwin Lutyens — the iconic garden is spread across 15 acres and it incorporates both
Mughal and English landscaping styles.
 65

The main garden has two channels intersecting at right angles dividing the garden into grid of squares
— a Charbagh (a four-cornered garden) — a typical characteristic of the Mughal landscaping. There
are six lotus-shaped fountains at the crossings of these channels rising to a height of 12 feet. The garden
houses nearly 2,500 varieties of dahlias and 120 varieties of roses.
The garden is designed in Persian or Mughal style. In fact, Edward Lutyens who designed the Viceroy’s
House, what we call Rashtrapati Bhavan, had deliberately used Mughal architectural details as part of the
British appeasement plan

anthropogenic interventions as the main reason for the plight of Munroe Thuruthu residents, Kerala’s
first set of climate refugees.
Ashtamudi Lake and the Kallada river

New Zealand’s largest city Auckland

Former Army officer Petr Pavel elected Czech Republic President

Ukrainian Army of striking a hospital in the eastern Lugansk region

The Lameta Formation, located in the Narmada Valley, is well-known for fossils of dinosaur skeletons
and eggs of the Late Cretaceous Period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago, Researchers
have uncovered 92 nesting sites containing a total of 256 fossil eggs in central India’s Narmada Valley
belonging to titanosaurs, which were among the largest dinosaurs to have ever lived. these dinosaurs
buried their eggs in shallow pits like modern-day crocodiles. egg-in-egg”, indicate that titanosaur
sauropods had a reproductive physiology that parallels that of birds and possibly laid their eggs in a
sequential manner as seen in modern birds. The presence of many nests in the same area suggests that
these dinosaurs exhibited colonial nesting behaviour like modern birds

oldest-known fossil of a worm-like amphibian known as a caecilian (Nature).

Progesterone treatment prior to breast cancer surgery is quite likely to increase the survival rate of
patients

Rajasthan has the most number of goats — the Marwari goat found here is hardy and well-adapted to the
climate of deserts. Another hardy breed, found in the dry regions of Maharashtra, Telangana and North
Karnataka is the Osmanabadi.

The Malabari (also called Tellicherry) of North Kerala is a prolific breed with low-fat meat, and shares these
traits with the beetal goat of Punjab.

The east Indian Black Bengal goat is a vital contributor to the livelihoods of the rural poor of Bangladesh. It
contributes over 20 million square feet of skin and hides to the world’s demands for leather goods, from
firefighters’ gloves to fashionable handbags. As many farmers lack the space or funds to rear cattle, the goat is
rightly called “the poor man’s cow”.

wild goats, from which domestic goats or sheep have evolved. These include the markhor and the Himalayan
and Nilgiri tahr.

The Jamunapari goats of Uttar Pradesh

What causes migrating birds to go astray?

 66

disturbances to Earth’s magnetic field can lead birds astray There is increasing evidence that birds can actually
see geomagnetic fields. But birds’ ability to navigate using geomagnetic fields can be impaired when those
magnetic fields are disturbed. Such disturbances can come from the sun’s magnetic field.

Bad weather can sometimes cause birds to become disoriented during their annual fall migrations, causing them
to wind up in territory they are unaccustomed to.

stock markets in India concluded its transition to the T+1 settlement regime. It has became the second largest
market after China to have made the transition ahead of the U.S., Europe and Japan which adhere to the T+2
settlement cycle.

why is a settlement not done instantly?

extremely tough considering the time required for brokers to crystalise the obligations and then clearing
corporations to settle

The size and operational capability of the individual broker is another important factor.

investor cannot directly buy or sell shares on a stock exchange. Registered members of a stock exchange, called
stock brokers, trade on an investor’s behalf. Even though individuals can open a demat account on their own by
contacting a depository participant (DP), they would require a trading account, which is provisioned by a SEBI-
registered broker, to purchase or sell shares.

it is likely that the asset’s price would deviate from the execution price.

The rotation of money would become swifter.

you would be keeping less margins with the broker, obligations would be a day shorter and receipts would also
come a day earlier than before. Overall, it would lead to some reduction in the overall margin obligations of the
retail investor or the trader.”

Why is Air India irked with DGCA penalty?

What are the rules regarding passenger behaviour on board a flight? Was there a delay in reporting the
recent urination incident? Who is responsible? Is the DGCA action justified? What have airline employee
unions alleged?

Rules identify a pilot as responsible for the safety of the flight and its passengers, and so a penalty is justified’

1 The rules recognise that an unruly passenger can jeopardise the safety of a flight and lay down
the duties of an airline in training its crew and developing SOPs to ensure timely identification
of potential unruly passengers at check-in, in the lounges, at the boarding gate or any other
place in the terminal building. It requires an airline representative to file an FIR once the
aircraft lands with the concerned security agency at aerodrome, to whom, the unruly passenger
shall be handed over. The airline is also expected to form an internal committee to probe the
incident.
2 The second defines the responsibility of a pilot-in-command (PIC) who has to “supervise and
direct the other members of the crew in the proper discharge of their duties in the flight
operations”. PIC is also “responsible for the safety of the passengers and cargo carried and for
the maintenance of flight discipline and safety of the members of the crew.”
 67

the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) was signed by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and then President of
Pakistan, Ayub Khan. The former Vice President of the World Bank, W. A. B. Iliff, also signed it.

The Indus river basin has six rivers — Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — originating from Tibet
and flowing through the Himalayan ranges to enter Pakistan, ending in the south of Karachi.

It allocated the three western rivers — Indus, Chenab and Jhelum — to Pakistan for unrestricted use, barring
certain non-consumptive, agricultural and domestic uses by India. Similarly, the three Eastern rivers — Ravi,
Beas and Sutlej — were allocated to India for unrestricted usage. It also required both the countries to establish
a Permanent Indus Commission constituted by permanent commissioners from both sides.

Kishenganga, a tributary of the Jhelum river, originates in J&K and joins the river in Pakistan occupied
Kashmir. The work for KHEP started in 2007, with a proposal to build a dam on the Kishenganga, diverting its
water for a 330 MW hydropower plant in Kashmir’s Bandipora and sending it back.

India’s 850 megawatt Ratle hydroelectric power project on the Chenab river

In a landmark judgment in the Babita Puniya case in February 2020, the Supreme Court directed that women
officers in the Army be granted permanent commission (PC) PC as well as command postings in all services
other than combat.

Bomb-carrying drones targeted an Iranian defence factory in the central city of Isfahan

the Zo Reunification Organisation (ZORO), representing the Chin-Kuki-Mizo communities, has sought the
help from India in ending the “policy of extermination” of Ethnic Minorities inhabiting the Chittagong Hill
Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh.

 More than 300 people belonging to the Chin-Kuki-Mizo group have taken shelter in Mizoram’s
Lawngtlai district since November 2022, following an alleged offensive by the Bangladesh army in
collusion with the Arakan Army, a Rohingya Muslim extremist group.
 The constitutional and human rights of the indigenous Kuki-Chin tribes, are being violated in the
CHT with impunity under a policy of the Bangladesh army to exterminate them.
 CHT is a 13,000 sq. km hilly and forested area in south-eastern Bangladesh, bordering
India's Mizoram and Tripura and Myanmar's Chin and Rohingya-inhabited Rakhine
States.
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 The Kuki-Chin tribes of the CHT have been demanding a separate State due to the large-scale influx
of non-tribal people into the hills. But the Bangladesh government chose to step up its oppressive
measures.
 India lacks specific legislation to address the problem of refugees, in spite of their increasing
inflow.
 India is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, the key legal documents
pertaining to refugee protection.
the constitution of India also respects the life, liberty, and dignity of human beings.
o The Supreme Court in the National Human Rights Commission vs. State of Arunachal Pradesh
(1996) held that “while all rights are available to citizens, persons including foreign citizens are entitled
to the right to equality and the right to life, among others.”
Article 21 of the Constitution encompasses the right of non-refoulement.
o Non-refoulement is the principle under international law which states that a person fleeing persecution
from his own country should not be forced to return to his own country.
o Refugees :- Partition refugees from Pakistan in 1947.
o Tibetan refugees that arrived in 1959.
o Chakma and Hajong from present day Bangladesh in early 1960s.
 Other Bangladeshi refugees in 1965 and 1971.
o Sri Lankan Tamil refugees from the 1980s.
o Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.

o Kelp forests are underwater ecosystems formed in shallow water by the dense growth of several
different species. Kelp forests are often referred to as “underwater rainforests” because of their
high biodiversity and productivity.
o Kelp are large brown algae that live in cool, relatively shallow waters close to the shore.
 69

o They attach to the seafloor and eventually grow to the water’s surface and rely on sunlight to
generate food and energy, kelp forests are always coastal and require shallow, relatively clear water.
o They provide underwater habitats to hundreds of species of invertebrates, fishes, and other algae
and have great ecological and economic value.
Government of India is organising the six-day mega event “Bharat Parv” event from January 26-31, 2023, as
part of the Republic Day celebrations.

 Bharat Parv started in 2016 and has been held annually at the lawns and Gyan Path in front of Red Fort
until 2020. In 2021, it was held virtually.

The Ministry of Tourism has been designated as the nodal ministry for the event.

A swallowtail butterfly disappearing from its previously known ranges from Myanmar and southern
China to Vietnam has been recorded for the first time in India.

The butterfly is “extremely rare” Noble’s Helen (Papilio noblei), identified from three locations in
the Namdapha National Park (Arunachal Pradesh).

Noble’s Helen is also found in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

Arunachal Pradesh also has a state butterfly - Kaiser-i-Hind.

Polar vortex

The term "vortex" refers to the counterclockwise flow of air that helps keep the colder air near the Poles.
It always exists near the poles but weakens in summer and strengthens in winter.

According to scientists, the extremely cold weather that Asia is witnessing is largely the result of what is
called a Polar Vortex. The term refers to an expanse of cold air that generally circles the
Arctic but occasionally shifts south from the North Pole

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday launched a website, [Link], which provides real-time
data on the sources of air pollution in the city and is expected to help the Delhi government frame effective
policies to curb it.

The website reflects data collected and processed by two laboratories — a ‘super site’ and a mobile laboratory.
The laboratories were used for the “real-time source apportionment study”, under which data on Delhi’s air
were collected over many months and a model (software) created, which shows the sources of air pollution by
using air from the surroundings as input.

Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) has come out with a management plan to eradicate Senna spectabilis,
the exotic invasive plant that is posing a severe threat to the State’s wildlife habitat.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has declared 2023 as the International
Year of Millets. Millets have special nutritive properties (they are high in protein, dietary fibre, micronutrients
and antioxidants) and special agronomic characteristics (drought-resistant and suitable for semi-arid regions).
 70

Two groups of millets are grown in India. Major millets include sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet, while
minor millets include foxtail, little millet, kodo, proso, and barnyard millet.

The real problems are: first, the decline in the area under millet cultivation, and, second, the low productivity of
millets

Four of the biggest tech companies in the U.S.— Google-parent Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook-
owner Meta accounted for 51,000 of the total tech layoffs announced in the last few months. According to
consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., tech sector layoffs in 2022 were up 649% compared to the
previous year.

between 30% to 40% of those laid off are Indian IT professionals, a significant number of whom are on H-1B
and L1 visas. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in
special occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. A sizeable number of them are now
scrambling for options to stay in the U.S. in order to find a new job before their work visas expire.

Analysts are near-unanimous in saying that big tech companies are “rightsizing” their growth, instead of
downsizing, tech companies who hired aggressively in the pandemic, probably envisioning rapid growth to be
the “new normal”, are now trying to shrink headcounts back to where they would have been if not for the hyper-
growth offered by the pandemic.

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai said on January 20, “Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of
dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face
today”.