CURRENT AFFAIRS DESTINATION FOR UPSC & STATE CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATIONS
IIT-Delhi is launching weekend lectures and laboratory demos titled ‘Sci-Tech Spins’ for high school students. Under ‘Sci-Tech Spins’, professors will engage with students sharing their research in science, technology and allied fields. The lectures will take students on “short, but riveting spins” into the fascinating world that surrounds us. The lectures will be informal and in a dialogical settings, with the hope to kindle interest in students. According to IIT-D, Read More …
Why in the news? Villagers in the vicinity of Deepor Beel Wildlife Sanctuary have written to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change seeking a realignment of a broad-gauge railway line, passing through the northern side of the wetland, to the southern, in compliance with a National Green Tribunal’s (NGT’s) order. What is Deepor Beel? Deepor Beel is a perennial freshwater lake in the state of Assam. Beel means Read More …
Why in the news? Several important crops such as maize, beans, squash, chilli peppers and vanilla originated in the historical region of Mesoamerica, is witnessing a decline in their wild relatives, according to a study published recently. Some 224 plants closely related to maize, potato, beans, squash, chilli pepper, vanilla, avocado, husk tomato and cotton were analysed by the researchers who conducted the study. The study found that 35 per Read More …
Why in the news? The National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) has recognised the Manda buffalo as the 19th unique breed of buffaloes found in India. Where is the Manda buffalo found? The Manda buffalo is found in the Eastern Ghats and plateau of Koraput region of Odisha. Both male and female of this breed are used for ploughing and agricultural operations in Koraput, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts. What Read More …
National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO), a Navratna CPSE under the Ministry of Mines has launched a platform ‘NALCO Micro And Small enterprise Yogayog Application’ (NAMASYA),. NAMASYA is a bi-lingual App developed exclusively for the benefit of the Company’s MSE Vendors. The NAMASYA App provides a platform to highlight the Company’s efforts towards development of MSEs. The App empowers MSEs with required information about vendor registration process, items which can be supplied Read More …
Chandigarh now has its first pollen calendar, which can identify potential allergy triggers and provide a clear understanding for clinicians as well as allergy sufferers about their causes to help limit their exposure during high pollen loads. Pollen calendars represent the time dynamics of airborne pollen taxa in graphical form in a particular geographical area. They yield readily accessible visual details about various airborne pollen taxa present throughout the year, Read More …
Coal India Ltd (CIL), under the Ministry of Coal has launched a new software named “Spectral Enhancement” (SPE), which will help in identifying thin coal seams under the earth crust and improve assessment of coal resources using seismic survey during coal exploration process. The launch of SPE software assumes significance as the present seismic survey techniques for coal resource exploration have limitations in identifying the thin coal seams under the Read More …
The Tamil Nadu State Assembly on September 4, 2021 declared 500 sq.km of the biodiversity-rich waters in the Palk Bay as India’s first dugong conservation reserve. The dugong reserve will span the northern part of the Palk Bay from Adiramapattinam to Amapattinam. The population of dugongs, as known as sea cows, in Indian waters has been dropping to dangerous levels. Studies have revealed that the proposed conservation reserve supports several Read More …
Why in the news? A 12-year-old boy infected with the Nipah virus died in a private hospital in Kozhikode on September 5, 2021. The boy showed symptoms of encephalitis and myocarditis – inflammation of the brain and heart muscles respectively. What is Nipah virus? Nipah is a zoonotic virus, which means it is transmitted from animals to human beings. The transmission happens mainly through consumption of contaminated food. Human-to-human transmission is also Read More …
Why in the news? On September 2, 2021 eight major banks in India — State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IDFC First Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank and Federal Bank — joined the Account Aggregator (AA) network. Objectives It promises to consolidate all financial data of users in one place and extend credit services to them based on that information rather than depend on collateral. Read More …
Why in the news? Elon Musk’s SpaceX announced on September 3, 2021 that ‘Inspiration4’, its first all-civilian, non-governmental spaceflight, is on track for launch on September 15. The Crew Dragon spacecraft is set to be launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida in the US. Four private citizens It will take a group of four private citizens into space for three days. All four seats on the spacecraft have Read More …
The two-seater Hansa New Generation (Hansa-NG) aircraft had a successful maiden flight on September 3, 2021 when it took off from the HAL airport and flew for about 20 minutes. Designed and developed by the CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) in Bengaluru, the aircraft was flown by test pilot Captain Amit Dahiya to an altitude of 4,000 feet and gained a speed of 80 knots before landing. The unique features of Read More …
