Science &technology

SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
9.1 SCIENCE and SPACE
➢ South Asia Satellite/GSAT-9 = a Geostationary Communication satellite launched by

ISRO to provide various communication applications over South Asian countries. Some
other applications include: Tele-medicine, Disaster Management, Banking, e-governance
etc + (India will set up five ground stations and more than 500 terminals in
five neighbouring countries – Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
+infrastructure is being created as an extension of the South Asia Satellite launched in
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2017)  
➢ Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle – Mark III/M1 (GSLV Mk-III/M1) = used for
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launching Chandrayaan-2 + placed the moon-bound spacecraft in a temporary orbit called
the Earth Parking Orbit (EPO) with perigee (closest distance from the earth) of 170 km
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and an apogee (farthest distance from the earth) of 45,475 km + The apogee of the EPO
was about 6,000 km more than originally envisaged. As a result, the number of earth-
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bound phase steps or manoeuvres needed to take the satellite to the highest orbit of
almost 1,44,000 km apogee has been reduced from six to five. The sixth would be a
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trans-lunar injection + maiden operational flight + After the satellite is placed in the Earth
Parking Orbit, the apogee is increased in steps to take it to the final earth-bound phase
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orbit of about 1,44,000 km. The satellite goes around the earth in elliptical orbits and to
increase the apogee, the satellite fires thrusters when it comes closest to the earth
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(perigee)
➢ Chandrayan-1 = Chandrayan-1 was launched by India in 2009 using PSLV-C11 + To
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prepare a three-dimensional atlas of both near and far side of the moon and chemical,
mineralogical and photo-geological mapping of moon + Detection of Water + Magma
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Ocean Hypothesis – It confirmed the Ocean Magma Hypothesis i.e. the moon was once
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completely in molten state + New Spinel-rich Rock – Data from Chandrayaan-1 have led
to detection of new spinel-rich rock type on lunar far-side + X-Ray signals detected– It
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detected x-ray signals during weak solar flares thus indicating presence of magnesium,
aluminium, silicon and calcium on lunar surface
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➢ Chandrayaan -2 Mission = the country first moon lander and rover mission + 2019
+ ISRO + The first Indian moon landing spacecraft of the Chandrayaan-2 mission will be
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known as ‘Vikram’ + It is ISRO’s first inter-planetary mission to land rover on any

celestial body + soft landing is the most challenging part of the mission + robotic rover,
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named Pragyan + The moon’s constantly sunny side gets light for 14 Earth days or one
lunar day. The lander and the rover are expected to work for just that duration + 3500 kg
+ will be launched on the heavy-lift GSLV-MK III rocket + The tests related to the lander
were conducted at the Challakere multi-agency campus where ISRO, DRDO, BARC
and the IISc facilities are located
➢ Challekere = place in karnataka + artificial lunar site created here to test the sensors of
Chandrayaan-2
➢ Manzinus-C and Simpelius-N = Craters on Moon + Vikram can land on any one of
these
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SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ Mare orientale basin and the Apollo crater = came from first moon image that was
captured by chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander from a height of about 2650km above the
lunar surface
➢ Chandrayaan-3 = country’s third lunar mission has been approved + the mission which
will cost around Rs 600cr, will also try to land in the lunar south pole like chandrayaan
➢ Thoothukudi = The Tamil Nadu government has started acquiring 2,300 acres of land
in Thoothukudi district for ISRO’s second launch port + Currently satellites are launched
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from the Sriharikota launch centre in Andhra Pradesh + Thoothukudi offers a locational
advantage to launch towards India’s South + When ready, the new port will handle
mainly the small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) that is under development + SSLVs are
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meant to put a payload of up to 500 kg in space
➢ Challakere = to be ISRO’s astronaut training hub + Karnataka + India’s world-class
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facility for training astronauts will come up at Challakere, a shrubby, arid oilseeds town
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on the Bengaluru-Pune NH4 in Chitradurga district of Karnataka
➢ Mitra crater = on the moon named after 20th century’s acclaimed radio
physicist Sisir Kumar Mitra
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➢ Why a crater on the moon is named ‘Mitra’? = Chandrayaan-2 captured images of
various craters on the moon while passing over its north polar region + It is named after
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noted Indian physicist Sisir Kumar Mitra  + He led the research in ionosphere–the upper
region of the atmosphere–and radiophysics + He was the first to introduce the teaching of
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radio communication in India + He wrote book, ‘Upper Atmosphere’ published in 1947s

in the field of ionosphere 
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➢ Lunar orbit Insertion or LOI = Chandrayaan-2 + For the first 24 days of its earth-
bound phase, the speed and range of the spacecraft were being boosted to push it towards
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moon. As it nears the moon, its handlers will do the reverse - lower its speed gradually
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until it circles the moon, pole to pole

➢ Protolunar Terrain Test facility (LTTF) = Bengaluru + has soil fetched from Tamil
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Nadu + few sites near Salem in Tamil Nadu had the anorthosite rock that some
what matches lunar soil in composition and features
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➢ On September 7, the Vikram Lander will have a soft landing so that it doesn’t kick up a
lot of lunar dust which could damage the instruments this process is called “15min
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window of terror”
➢ Of the 14 payloads aboard India’s second moon mission, four are from the SPL = Of the
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four, two — RAMBHA-LM (Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive Ionosphere

and Atmosphere-Langmuir Probe) and ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical
Experiment) — are on the lander, which is believed to have crash-landed during
Saturday’s soft-landing mission on the lunar south pole. RAMBHA, which is expected to
provide valuable information on the lunar ionosphere, is made up of two components;
one aboard the lander and the other, on the orbiter + On the bright side for the SPL, its
payload on the orbiter — CHACE-2 (short for Chandra’s Altitudinal Composition
Explorer) — is functioning perfectly
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ Geotail = The Sun emits the solar wind, which is a continuous stream of charged
particles (like electrons, protons, alpha particles etc) + These particles are present in the
upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the Corona + Since the Earth has a magnetic field, it
obstructs this solar wind plasma + This interaction results in the formation of a magnetic
envelope around Earth called magnetosphere + On the Earth side facing the Sun, this
magnetosphere is compressed into a region that is approximately three to four times the
Earth radius + On the opposite side, the envelope is stretched into a long tail, which
extends beyond the orbit of the Moon. It is this that is called the geotail + Chandrayaan-2
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had detected charged particles in Moon’s soil during the orbiter’s passage through the
“geotail” + CLASS, is an instrument on Chandrayaan-2, designed to detect signatures of
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elements in the Moon’s soil 
➢ Gaganyaan/Human Space Flight Programme (HSP) = ISRO + to send man in space
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by 2022+ will useGSLV MK III to uplift capsule +  10000 crore + 3 astronauts to orbit
the earth for 7 days from a distance of 300-400 km + unmanned Gaganyaan missions will
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be undertaken prior to sending humans, with first unmanned flight within 30 months  + In
2009, the Planning Commission gave the green light for the programme 
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➢ Gaganyaan National Advisory Council = It comprises of multiple senior officials like
Secretaries of Department of Space &Department of Science and Technology, Principal
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Scientific Advisor to PM, Former Chairman of ISRO etc + It discusses overall project
status of Gaganyaan + It stresses the need for setting priorities at various National
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Institutions including Industries to accomplish Gaganyaan

➢ Human Space Flight Centre(HSFC) = setup in Bengaluru + will carry out all activities
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related to the human programme + Under it will function the Gaganyaan Project
➢ “Vyom Mitra” = first Indian ‘woman’ to ride to space + This half-humanoid will
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simulate human functions before real astronauts take off + will be used in the first test
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flight of the human space mission, Gaganyaan

➢ India and Russia are stepping up cooperation in the space sector with Moscow extending
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help in four or five critical areas of India’s ambitious manned mission to

space, Gaganyaan. This includes training of Indian astronauts at Russian facilities
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➢ Indian Data Relay Satellite System (IDRSS) = India plans to ring in its own era of
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space-to-space tracking and communication of its space assets this year by putting up a
new satellite series called IDRSS + The IDRSS is planned to track and be constantly in
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touch with Indian satellites, in particular those in low-earth orbits which have limited
coverage of earth + In the coming years, it will be vital to ISRO, whose roadmap is
dotted with advanced LEO missions such as space docking, space station, as well as
distant expeditions to moon, Mars and Venus + It will also be useful in monitoring
launches + The first beneficiary would be the prospective crew members of
the Gaganyaan mission of 2022 + Work on the two IDRSS satellites planned initially has
begun+ The first of them will be sent towards the end of 2020 + U.S. and Russia started
their relay satellite systems in the late 1970s-80s and a few already have around 10
satellites each + IDRSS satellites of the 2,000 kg class would be launched on the GSLV
launcher to geostationary orbits around 36,000 km away
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ Bhuvan Panchayat v 3.0 = has been developed by National Remote Sensing Centre of
ISRO + user-friendly web Geo portal under ISRO’s SISDP project (Space Based
Information Support for Decentralised Planning) for better planning and monitoring of
government projects + SISDP project aims to assist Gram Panchayats at grassroot level
with basic planning inputs derived from satellite data for preparing developmental plans,
its implementation etc + It will provide geo-spatial services to aid gram panchayat
development planning process of Ministry of Panchayati Raj + For the first time,
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thematic database on high scale for the entire country is available with high integrated
High Resolution satellite data for planning + Bhuvan, is the national Geo-portal
developed and hosted by ISRO comprising of Geo Spatial Data, Services and Tools for
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Analysis
➢ GPS-aided GEO augmented navigation (GAGAN) = a joint project between ISRO and
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Airports Authority of India + to augmented the GPS coverage of particular region +
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aimed at improving the accuracy and integrity, primarily for civil aviation applications
and better air traffic management over Indian airspace
➢ Aditya L1 Mission = India’s first solar mission + will be launched in 2020 + will study
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the sun’s outer most layers:Photosphere (soft and hard X-ray), Chromosphere (UV) and
Corona (Visible and NIR) + It will collect data about coronal mass ejection, which will
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also yield information for space weather prediction + It is a joint venture
between ISRO and physicists from other institutes of India + Aditya- L1 satellite will be
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placed in the halo orbit around the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the sun-earth system +
Utility: The data from Aditya mission will be immensely helpful in discriminating
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between different models for the origin of solar storms and also for constraining how the
storms evolve and what path they take through the interplanetary space from the Sun to
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the Earth 
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➢ Mission Venus = with this plans to study the planet from an elliptical orbit that is closest
to Venus at 500 km and 60,000 km at the farthest end — similar to its Mars Orbiter
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Mission (MOM) of 2013 + mid-2023 + From the Moon orbiter mission Chandrayaan-1

in 2008 and MOM in 2013, the Venus voyage — if approved — would be ISRO’s third
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interplanetary dash 
➢ Project NETRA (Network for space object Tracking and Analysis)= ISRO + ISRO has
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initiated ‘Project NETRA’ – an early warning system in space to detect debris and other
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hazards to Indian satellites

➢ Cartosat-3 = an advanced earth imaging and mapping satellite + launched by PSLV-C47
vehicle alongwith 13 commercial nano satellites + Cartosat-3, with an ISRO-best
resolution of 25 cm, will be the first of a series of high resolution, third generation
satellites planned for observing the Earth.The satellite will be able to pick up objects of
that size (25 cm) from its orbital perch about 509 km away. This will make Cartosat-3
among the few sharpest, if not the best, civil earth imagers worldwide + the previous best
view was 65 cm + placed in a sun-synchronous polar orbit(SSPO) of 509 km at an
inclination of 97.5 degrees + Currently, WorldView-3, a satellite owned by U.S.
company Maxar, has the best ground resolution of 31 cm + an existing policy allows only
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
government and government authorised agencies to access ISRO's high-resolution

imageries below a resolution of 1 m + 9th satellite of CARTOSAT series + mission life
of the Cartosat-3 is 5 years + SSPO are polar orbits which are synchronous with the Sun
i.e. in these orbits, Earth's surface is always illuminated by the Sun at the same angle
when viewed from the satellite + 13 Commercial Nanosatellites include
12 SuperDove earth observation satellites named "Flock-4P", and a communication test
bed satellite called "MESHBED 
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CARTOSAT–1 = launched in 2005, was the first Indian Remote Sensing Satellite
capable of providing in-orbit stereo images + Cartosat-2 was launched in 2007, and
increases the imaging resolution to one meter + It was followed by six more spacecraft
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designated Cartosat-2A to 2F, which are believed to be primarily used for military
reconnaissance 
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➢ GSAT-30 = communication satellite + launched into space from the Guiana Space
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Centre in Kourou + 3,357-kg satellite will replace INSAT-4A, which was launched
in 2005 and marks the first mission of the year for Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) + The high-power satellite is equipped with 12 normal C
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band and 12 Ku band transponders + GSAT-30 will provide DTH [direct to home]
television services, connectivity to VSATs [that support working of banks] ATMs, stock
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exchange, television uplinking and teleport services, digital satellite news gathering and
e-governance applications. The satellite will also be used for bulk data transfer + ISRO
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opted for a foreign launch as the GSAT-30 is much heavier than the 2,000-kg lifting
capacity of its geostationary launch vehicle GSLV-MkII + While the newer and more
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powerful GSLV-MkIII can lift up to 4,000 kg, the space agency plans to save the two or
three upcoming MkIIIs for its first human space flight Gaganyaan of 2022 and two
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preceding crew-less trials

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➢ GSAT-7/ INSAT-4F/Rukmini Satellite = first advanced and full-fledged military

communications satellite + last of ISRO’s seven fourth-generation satellites + was
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Launched from the Kourou space port of French Guiana space in South America +
operational since 2013 
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➢ NaVIC = Global standards body 3GPP, which develops protocols for mobile telephony,
has approved India’s regional navigation system NaVIC[NaVIC already covered in
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earlier editions]
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Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS)/ NavIC (Navigation with

Indian Constellation) = a system based on seven satellites in geostationary and
geosynchronous orbits + It provides accurate positioning service, covering a region
extending to 1,500 km beyond Indian borders, with an accuracy greater than 20
metres; higher accuracy positioning is available to the security agencies for their use + In
2016, the system was renamed NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation)
➢ NAVIC as Allied System of USA = Recently, the US congress has agreed to designate
India’s NavIC as its allied navigational satellite system along with Galileo of European
Union and QZSS of Japan + Also, US designated Russia's GLONASS and
Chinese Beidou as a “non-allied system”. It means that US satellite navigation system
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
will not co-operate or exchange data with these satellite navigation systems + designation
of NAVIC as “allied system” is part of American effort to develop a prototype program
for Multi-Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver development 
➢ Indian Deep space network(IDSN) = Located at Byalalu near Bengaluru
➢ ISRO telemetry tracking & command network(ISTRAC) = Bengaluru, Karnataka
➢ Kulasekarapattinam in Tamil Nadu = Union Government is planning to set up a new
rocket launch pad here + At present, ISRO has two launch pads at Satish Dhawan Space
Centre (SDCC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh
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➢ Space Situational Awareness Control Centre = ISRO has laid the foundation stone for
the Space Situational Awareness Control Centre in Bengaluru + The control centre would
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host a range of activities related to the protection of Indian space assets from inactive
satellites, pieces of orbiting objects, near earth asteroids and adverse space weather
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conditions + It would also assimilate the tracking data of inactive satellites from
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indigenous observation facilities and generates useful information from bare observations
through analysis 
➢ 2015 MoU signed between the French (CNES) and Indian (ISRO) space agencies = It led
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to the finalizing of a joint mission of India’s Oceansat-3 satellite hosting France’s Argos
system for climate monitoring and tracking, scheduled to be launched in 2019 + It has
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also resulted in the third jointly developed satellite, Trishna, for thermal infrared
imaging
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➢ N. Korea’s 2017 nuclear test impact = ISRO uses satellite data to gauge the impact of
the test + test site was at Mount Mantap + impact was estimated by ISRO using the
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Bayesian modelling of InSAR data + InSAR refers to the interferometric synthetic

aperture radar and is a radar technique used to generate maps of how a place would look
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after an earthquake, or a detonation + While other groups have also used InSAR based

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approaches to estimate impact from a detonation, the ISRO group claims to have used a
mathematical technique called Bayesian inversion that can correct for errors associated
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with InSAR data + Scientists used images of the location after the explosion, sourced
from the ALOS-2, a Japanese satellite, and Sentinel 1B, a European radar imaging
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satellite. 
➢ Curiosity Rover = NASA + Mars + NASA Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)
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has detected the highest ever levels of methane in the course of its mission on
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Mars + reading taken at Gate crater

➢ Mars solar conjunction = Mars Solar conjunction for NASA’s Curiosity rover
and InSight lander happened recently + During Mars solar conjunction, Mars and Earth
will be on opposite sides of the Sun + Solar conjunction occurs every two years
➢ Salt lake on mars = According to recent study, Mars once had salt lakes that went
through wet and dry phases similar to those on Earth + This indicates that the red
planet’s climate ‘dried out’ a long time ago + Gale Crater — a basin that is being
explored with NASA’s Curiosity rover since 2012 — underwent a drying episode
possibly linked to the global drying of Mars. Liquid water on Mars may have become
unsustainable and evaporated as the planet’s atmosphere became thinner 
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ Dragonfly mission = NASA + will launch in 2026 and land in 2034 + to fly a drone
copter to Saturn’s largest moon titan in search of the building blocks of life + titan is the
only celestial body besides our planet known to have liquid rivers, lakes and seas on its
surface, through these contain like methane and ethane not water
➢ PUNCH mission = NASA + will image the Sun + This is a landmark mission that will
image regions beyond the Sun’s outer corona + PUNCH, which stands for “Polarimeter
to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere,” + The mission is expected to be launched in 2022
+ Indian scientist will be Co-Investor in NASA’s PUNCH mission
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➢ Parker Solar Probe = NASA + probe closer to the sun, endure heat to zoom through the
solar corona to study this outermost part of the stellar atmosphere that gives rise to the
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solar wind + The previous closest pass to the sun was by a probe called Helios 2 + The
distance of the earth from the sun is approximately 149.6 million km. + has done flyby
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of venus(done to slowdown the spacecraft enough to avoid gravitational pull of the Sun,
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during its first gravity assist from the planet)
➢ Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission = NASA’s MMS investigates how the Sun’s and
Earth’s magnetic fields connect and disconnect, explosively transferring energy from one
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to the other in a process that is important at the Sun, other planets, and everywhere in the
universe, known as magnetic reconnection + MMS reveals, for the first time, the small-
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scale three-dimensional structure and dynamics of the elusively thin and fast-moving
electron diffusion region
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➢ Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) = NASA mission that look for planets

orbiting the brightest stars in Earth’s sky + also provide insights into how our own solar
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system formed 
➢ Gj 357 d= TESS, NASA’s mission to search for exoplanets, may have found the first
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potentially habitable world = The super-Earth exoplanet is named Gj 357 d, which is only
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31 light years away

➢ Juno mission = NASA + Spacecraft to study Jupiter + solar-powered  + Juno spacecraft
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has beamed back new images of volcanic plumes on Jupiter’s moon Io, captured during

the mission’s 17th flyby of the gas giant 
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➢ Gravitational lensing = Recently, NASA announced plan to investigate how new stars
are born. For this, they will take the help of a natural phenomenon called “gravitational
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lensing” + This programme is called TEMPLATES (Targeting Extremely Magnified

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Panchromatic Lensed Arcs and Their Extended Star Formation) + It is a phenomenon,

which occurs when a huge amount of matter, such as a massive galaxy or cluster of
galaxies, creates a gravitational field that distorts and magnifies the light from objects
behind it, but in the same line of sight + objects act as natural, cosmic telescopes + As a
result, the galaxies appear much, much brighter than they actually are, because they’ve
been highly magnified up to 50 times + Applications of Gravitational
Lensing are:Study the galaxies, Observe invisible things in the Universe, Understand the
star formation, understand the past etc
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) = NASA + observed water molecules moving

around the dayside of Moon + LRO is a robotic mission that set out to map the moon's
surface. + first mission within the Lunar Precursor and Robotic Program (LPRP) 
➢ LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite) mission = of NASA +
for Moon + was carried out 10 years ago in a complex orbital dance of two “suicide”
spacecraft and one mapping satellite + crashing aircraft into the moon’s south pole,
spewed a plume of debris that revealed vast reserves of ice beneath the barren lunar
surface 
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➢ NASA ICON Mission = NASA has launched a satellite ICON to detect dynamic zones
of Earth’s Ionosphere + The satellite Ionosphere Connection Explorer (ICON) was
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launched from an aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean near the Florida coast + The ICON
satellite will study the Earth’s Ionosphere. It includes various layers of the uppermost
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atmosphere where free electrons flow freely 
➢ Osiris-Rex = by NASA + to study asteroid Bennu + to study material from the carbon-
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rich asteroid, which could hold evidence dating back to the beginning of our solar system
4.5 billion years ago + Water traces found on asteroid Bennu(found traces of hydrogen
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and oxygen molecules — part of the recipe for water and thus the potential for life —
embedded in the asteroid’s rocky surface) + Bennu orbits the Sun at roughly the same
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distance as the earth(Every 6 years,Bennu’s orbit brings it within 200,000 miles of
the Earth,which means it has a high probability of impacting Earth in the late 22nd
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Century) + site located near North pole of Asteroid BENNU is designated as

‘Nightingale’ has been selected for sample collection by mission known as OSIRIS-Rex
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by NASA + OSIRIS-Rex mission also selected ‘Osprey’ as a backup sample collection

site 
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➢ Shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM) database = NASA + Started in 2000 +

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International research effort that obtained digital elevation models on a near-global scale
from 56°S to 60°N, to generate the most complete high-resolution digital topographic
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database of Earth prior to the release of the ASTER GDEM in 2009 

➢ NASA Unveils First Electric Plane X-57 “Maxwell” powered by 14 motors 
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➢ SnowEx = It is a five year program initiated and funded by NASA + To address the most
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important gaps in snow remote sensing knowledge and thus lay the groundwork for a
future snow satellite mission
➢ Spitzer Space Telescope = is an infrared space telescope launched in 2003 & is planned
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to retire in 2020 + It is fourth & final of NASA Great Observatories program + Spitzer’s

discoveries extend to planets around other stars, to far reaches of the universe 
➢ ARTEMIS Mission =  is an ongoing crewed spaceflight program carried out
predominately by NASA, U.S. commercial spaceflight companies, and international
partners such as the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) + with the goal of landing “the
first woman and the next man” on the Moon, specifically at the lunar south pole region
by 2024 + The main objective is to measure what happens when the Sun’s radiation hits
our rocky moon, where there is no magnetic field to protect it  
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment = It is a joint research mission

between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) teams + It aims to study the
viability of diverting an asteroid by crashing a spacecraft into its surface + The project
aims to deflect the orbit of one of the two Didymos asteroids between Earth and Mars,
with an observer craft gauging the effect of the impact more effectively than ground-
based observers could manage
➢ Lunar Evacuation System Assembly, or LESA = is a pyramid-like structure whose
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purpose is to rescue an astronaut should he or she suffer an injury on the lunar surface +
Developed by the European Space Agency (ESA)
➢ International Space Station (ISS) = space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in
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low Earth orbit + 1998(expected to work till 2030) + in low earth orbit(sometimes can be
seen by naked eye) + serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory
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+ It is a joint project among five participating space agencies: NASA
(USA), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada) + China
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launched its first experimental space station, Tiangong 1, in September 2011
➢ Soyuz spacecraft = Russia + Soviet era spacecraft designed for the Soviet space program
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+ Soyuz is the only means of reaching the ISS since the U.S. retired the space shuttle in
2011
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➢ Fedor/Skybot F850 = Russia sent the humanoid robot Fedor, also known
as Skybot F850 to International Space Station. It will spend 10 days in space to assist
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astronauts + Fedor is Russia’s first robot in space + Previously in 2011, NASA sent
up Robonaut 2, a humanoid developed with General Motors and in 2013 Japan sent up a
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small robot called Kirobo, developed with Toyota which holds conversations in Japanese
➢ CHASER = European Space Agency (ESA) is planning to launch a four-armed robot,
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Chaser, to clean up Earth’s orbit in 2025 + Chaser is to be developed by a Swiss start-

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up ClearSpace under Clear Space-1 mission + The target is a piece of junk called Vespa,

around 800km above the Earth + More debris could lead to more collisions - a cascade
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effect known as the Kessler syndrome + (RemoveDEBRIS mission = satellite research

project intending to demonstrate various space debris removal technologies + mission is
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led by the Surrey Space Centre from the University of Surrey + Harpoon Capture: Which
will be launched at a target plate made of “representative satellite panel materials) 
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➢ Tiangong-2 = a space station program of China

➢ Chang’e-4 mission = by China + is the fourth mission in the country’s lunar mission
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series which is being named after the 'Chinese moon goddess' + is a first probe ever to
explore the dark side of the Moon(South pole = Aitken Basin) + touched down at a
targeted area near the moon’s south pole in the Von Karman Crater
➢ Chang’e-4 mission = by China + is the fourth mission in the country’s lunar
mission series which is being named after the 'Chinese moon goddess' + is a first probe
ever to explore the dark side of the Moon(South pole = Aitken Basin)
➢ Spektr-RG = Russia launched an all-sky-survey satellite + joint project between the
Russian and German + to conduct the first all-sky survey with an imaging telescope
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ Beresheet = Israel’s First Lunar Lander + So far, only three other nations have carried
out controlled “soft” landings on the moon – the United States, the former Soviet Union
and China  + It crashed on lunar surface
➢ Safir = first Iranian expendable launch vehicle that is able to place a satellite in orbit
➢ Longest single spacewalk by a woman = US astronaut Christina Koch has set the record
for the longest single spaceflight by a woman when she reached, and crossed, 289 days in
her current mission + The previous record for women was set by another American,
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Peggy Whitson, in 2016-2017 
➢ Starlink network project = seeks to build a 42,000-strong constellation aiming to supply
non-stop, low-cost Internet everywhere on Earth + American company SpaceX recently
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sent 60 small satellites (under 500 kg each) into Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
➢ “Oumuamua” = interstellar cigar-shaped object spotted in 2017[IMPORTANT]
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➢ COMET 2I/BORISOV = It has become the 2nd interstellar object to be identified till
date to have passed through our solar system(First was 1I/Oumuamua spotted in 2017) +
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Objects born in our solar system travel in elliptical orbits around the sun while interstellar
bodies follow the hyperbolic path (2I/Borisov has a more hyperbolic path than any other
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comet which has been studied to date) + Interstellar objects can provide unique data
about the star systems of their origin 
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➢ The Hubble space telescope revealed the presence of a black hole at the centre of the
galaxy NGC 3147 which is 130 million light years away
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➢ JW100 = jelly fish galaxy + JW100 is located far away in the galaxy cluster Abell 2626 +
Jellyfish galaxies are called so because they are shaped like discs that have many
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tentacle-like arms streaming away from the disc + The European Southern Observatory
has an international programme led by Bianca Poggianti of Padova Observatory, Italy, to
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observe 100 such gas-stripping jellyfish candidates using the MUSE Integral Field
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Spectrograph Chile. This programme is called GASP (Gas Stripping Phenomena in

galaxies with MUSE) + ASTROSAT of India joins this effort by contributing data from
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its Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) instrument 

➢ Milky way’s violent birth decoded = It was shaped as a result of collision with another
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smaller galaxy 10 bn years ago + The union of the Milky Way and the so-called dwarf
galaxy Gaia-Enceladus increased our galaxy’s mass by about a quarter and triggered a
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period of accelerated star formation lasting about 2 to 4 billion years + Galaxies of all
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types, including the Milky Way, began to form relatively soon after the Big Bang
explosion that marked the beginning of the universe some 13.8 billion years ago
➢ Ploonets = new class of celestial objects called ‘Ploonets’ + are the orphaned moons that
have escaped the bonds of their parent planet and start orbiting their stars instead
➢ Ryugu = asteroid + some 280 million + asteroid-exploring spacecraft, Hayabusa 2, was
launched by the Japan in 2014
➢ Sagittarius A = the massive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way
➢ K2-18b = Exoplanet which is 8 times the mass of earth and twice as big + Water has
been discovered for the first time in the atmosphere of an exoplanet with earth-like
temperatures that could support life as we know it, scientists have revealed + Of the more
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
than 4,000 exoplanets detected to date, this is the first known to combine a rocky surface
and an atmosphere with water + Discovered in 2015 + K2-18b is one of hundreds of so-
called “super-earths” — planets with less than ten times the mass of ours — spotted
by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft + K2-18b orbits a red dwarf star about 110 light years
distant — a million billion kilometres — in the Leo constellation of the Milky Way
➢ “51 Pegasi b” = It is a first-ever find of an exoplanet orbiting a solar type star + It is as
big as Jupiter(1300 times of earth volume) but is very close to its star + Big planets were
thought to be created far from their stars. How did “51 pegasi b” get so close? This
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question led to theories that described how large balls formed at the edges of their solar
systems, then spiraled inward 
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➢ Arrokoth = one of the thousands of known small icy worlds in the Kuiper Belt, the vast
“third zone” of the solar system beyond the inner terrestrial planets and the outer gas
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giant planets + Data from the newly named Arrokoth, has given clues about the formation
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of planets and our cosmic origins + It was discovered in 2014 by a New Horizons team
using the powerful Hubble Space Telescope + NASA launched the New Horizons
mission in January 2006. After crossing by Pluto in 2015, in January 2019 it flew
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by Arrokoth which was then provisionally named as Ultima Thule. This remains the
farthest flyby ever conducted + Arrokoth is a Native American term meaning “sky” in the
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Powhatan/Algonquian language + International Astronomical Union and Minor
Planets Center, the global body for naming Kuiper Belt objects, has officially named the
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New Horizons Kuiper Belt Flyby Object as 'Arrokoth'

➢ Dwarf planets in Solar System = Recently, the astronomers have suggested
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that Hygiea may possible be considered as a dwarf planet + Currently, there are officially

five dwarf planets in our Solar System, namely, Pluto, Eris, Makemake, Haumea and
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Ceres + International Astronomical Union sets four criteria for a dwarf planet, which are,
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it orbits around the Sun; it is not a moon; it has not cleared the neighbourhood around
its orbit and lastly it has enough mass that its own gravity pulls it into a roughly spherical
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shape + Hygiea, which was considered as an asteroid till now, lies in the asteroid belt
between Mars and Jupiter. Earlier it was thought that Hygiea qualifies only first three
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criteria + new observations made through the European Space Organisation’s SPHERE
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instrument at the Very Large Telescope (VLT), show that Hygiea satisfies the fourth
criteria too and thus qualifies to be classified as a dwarf planet  
➢ Accretion Disc = An accretion disk is a structure (often a circumstellar disk) formed by
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diffuse material in orbital motion around a massive central body. The central body is
typically a star. Friction causes orbiting material in the disk to spiral inward towards the
central body
➢ Asteroid named after Pandit Jasraj = The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has
named an asteroid/minor planet, discovered in 2006, after Indian classical singer
Pandit Jasra + He is the first Indian to receive this honour
➢ 75 Student Satellites Mission 2022 = Up to 75 tiny satellites built by students of Indian
universities could fly to the skies between late next year and 2022 in batches + ITCA, a
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
technology promotion body based in Bengaluru, has roped in around 40 engineering

colleges to form a consortium
➢ Habitable zone/ “Goldilocks zone” = is the range of orbital distances from a star at
which liquid water can exist on the surface of a planet +NASA reported the discovery of
an Earth-size planet, named TOI 700 d, orbiting its star in the “habitable zone”
➢ Quasars = extremely luminous active galactic nucleus, in which a supermassive black
hole with mass ranging from millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun is
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surrounded by a gaseous accretion disk
➢ ‘BIBHA’ and ‘SANTMASA’ = white yellow star in Sextans constellation and its
Jupiter-like exoplanets, which were hitherto named HD 86081 and 86081b, will now
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have Indian names, a/c to International Astronomical Union (IAU)
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9.2 General - SCIENCE
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➢ Positive co-activator4(PC4) = absence of this new protein is responsible for enhanced
autophagy + founded by JNCASR research team + first time any study has shown
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that genome organisation is directly responsible for autophagy regulation in cells
➢ Crispr-Cas9 = gene editing tool + an acronym for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short
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Palindromic Repeats, harnesses the natural defence mechanisms of bacteria to alter an
organism’s genetic code + It’s likened to a pair of molecular scissors, a cut-and-paste
technology, that can snip the two DNA strands at a specific location and modify gene
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function + The cutting is done by enzymes like Cas9, guided by pre-designed RNA

sequences, which ensure that the targeted section of the genome is edited out.
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➢ FnCas9 = new Cas9 protein, which binds and cuts the DNA, and is able to correct sickle
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cell anaemia mutation in patient-derived stem cells + The protein (FnCas9) is derived

from a bacterium — Francisella novicida 
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➢ Chinese scientist who created the world’s first gene-edited babies experiment, in which he

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sought to immunise a pair of twins from HIV by tinkering with a gene

called CCR5(However, while protecting against HIV, a deactivated CCR5 gene can also
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make people more susceptible to West-Nile Fever) 

➢ Arogyapacha(Trichopuszeylanicus) = Scientists decode genome + ‘miracle plant’ +
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known for its medicinal properties + endemic to the Agastya hills in the southern Western
Ghats + known for its traditional use by the Kani tribal community to combat fatigue +
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Studies have also proven its anti-oxidant, aphrodisiac, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory

anti-tumour, anti-ulcer, hepatoprotective and anti-diabetic properties.
➢ Arishtam, Kashayam,Lehyam = which are Ayurvedic preparations regulated by law +
Drug forms
➢ NAPRTI1 Gene = scientists find new gene linked to schizophrenia + collaborative effort
between Indian and Australian team aims to shed more light on the mental illness
➢ In 2014, a virus called crAssphage that infects bacteria was discovered as part of the
human body’s intestinal environment + Study suggests virus co-evolved with humans +
The virus is both highly abundant in the human gut and represents an entirely new viral
family
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ The Kank family of proteins, Kank1-Kank4, are characterized by their unique structure,

coiled-coil motifs in the N-terminal region, and ankyrin-repeats[Not much important,
Have very shallow idea]
➢ DNA methylation = process by which methyl groups are added to
the DNA molecule. Methylation can change the activity of a DNA segment without
changing the sequence. When located in a gene promoter, DNA methylation typically acts
to repress gene transcription
➢ Cytochrome b6f = one of the key component of photosynthesis + a protein complex that
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significantly influences plant growth by means of photosynthesis + With this
understanding and further research, larger plants that yield more food can be developed 
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➢ G-quadruplexes (G4-DNA) = genome rich in four-stranded DNA
made of guanine nucleotide base — G-quadruplexes (G4-DNA) — are more resistant to
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irradiation
➢ Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) protection in India = cyber-attacks
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on Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) + National Cyber Coordination Centre
received intelligence from a US-based cyber security firm that a ‘threat actor’ had
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breached and intercepted the “domain controllers” at the KKNPP and at ISRO +
government has designated the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection
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Centre (NCIIPC) of National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) as the nodal
agency under Section 70A (1) of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act 2008 for
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taking all measures including associated research and development for the protection of
CIIs in India 
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➢ “Dtrack” = Malware/Virus + It has been believed to be used to breach data

of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) 
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➢ Wannacry and notpetya = global ransomware attacks

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➢ Pegasus = Spyware + Code enters a phone through Whatsapp call(even if call is not

answered) + allegations over the breach of privacy of several Indian WhatsApp users
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using Israeli surveillance software Pegasus + This Sends the target’s Contacts, calls and
,messages to its controller + It can also work as the spy device by switching on the
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camera or microphone [VERY IMPORTANT] 

➢ StrandHogg = It is a Malware which allows real-time malware applications to pose
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as genuine applications and access user data of all kinds

➢ Juice jacking = type of cyber attack involving a charging port that doubles as a data
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connection, typically over USB + SBI has publicly issued a warning of ‘Juice Jacking’
through its twitter handle
➢ Buffer overflows = allow attackers to read or write data outside of the defined memory
boundaries of a particular program + Though mitigative measures exist, buffer overflow
vulnerabilities in general are complex, and are considered to be harder to detect and
exploit than other, more frequently occurring security flaws + here, the protections
offered by end-to-end encryption on the platform would be rendered ineffective — since
end-to-end encryption only refers to message contents being encrypted while they are in
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
transit — and since, with a buffer overflow, an attacker would be able to get access to the
buffer where data (including received messages) is stored
➢ India’s first proton therapy centre = opened in Chennai + for the treatment of Cancer +
name of the centre is Apollo Proton Cancer Centre (APCC) and is launched by Apollo
Hospitals Group. It is South Asia’s first such centre + India becomes 16th country in
the world[NOT First] to offer the therapy + proton therapy It is a type of radiation
therapy which uses protons rather than x-rays to treat cancer + (Bragg Curve describes
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energy loss of ionizing radiation during travel through matter)
➢ Train 18/Vande Bharat express= India’s first engine-less train + T-18 is a self-
propelled engine-less train (similar to the Metro trains) and is energy-efficient as its
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coaches will be fitted with LED lights + train is a 100% ‘Make in India’ project +
manufactured by Integral Coach Factory, Chennai + recently became India’s fastest train
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by hitting speeds of over 180 kmph during a trial run+ first locomotive-less train in the
country + first semi high-speed train 
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➢ Bharat stage VI(BS-VI) = India will move to Bharat Stage VI mass emission standards
for various classes of motor vehicles by April 2020 + India will skip BS-V + it also
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means higher vehicle prices and costs + As per Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) norms
for upgraded fuels sulphur content is reduced to 10 mg/kg max in BS-VI from 50 mg/kg
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under BS-IV. This key reduction in sulphur makes it possible to equip vehicles with
better catalytic converters that capture pollutants + BS-VI confers several benefits, the
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most important of which is limits set on Particle Number (PN) for engines, a reference to
direct injection engines that emit more particulates but are more efficient and release less
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carbon dioxide + there are lower limits for hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx)
in diesel engines and lower Particulate Matter limits for both petrol and diesel engines
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➢ SC bans sale of BS-IV vehicles from 2020 + country will have to shift to the cleaner
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Bharat-VI fuel from April 1, 2020 + Bharat Stage (BS) emission norms are standards

instituted by the government to regulate output of air pollutants from motor vehicles +
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The BS-IV norms have been enforced across the country since April 2017 + In 2016,

the Centre had announced that the country would skip the BS-V
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norms altogether and adopt BS-VI norms by 2020 

➢ India based neutrino observatory(INO) project = bodi west hills, Tamil nadu(Theni
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forest) + Neutrinos are nicknamed as ‘Blueprint of nature’+ When completed,

the main magnetised iron calorimeter experiment of this project will include the world’s
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largest magnet(four times larger than the magnet in compact muon solenoid detector at
CERN in Geneva,Swiz) + biggest experimental particle physics projects undertaken in
India + construction of an underground laboratory and associated surface facilities
at Pottipuram in Bodi West hills of Theni District of Tamil Nadu + construction of an
Iron Calorimeter (ICAL) detector for studying neutrinos, which will include the world's
largest magnet + setting up of National Centre for High Energy Physics at Madurai, for
the operation and maintenance of the underground laboratory + gaining urgency in the
recent years with China announcing the construction of a similar neutrino observatory in
Jiangmen province 
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ Kudankulam power plant = Tirunelveli,TN + It is the single largest nuclear power

station in India + KKNPP is scheduled to have six VVER-1000 reactors built in
collaboration with Atomstroyexport, the Russian state company and Nuclear Power
Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL)
➢ LIGO Project = The LIGO project operates three gravitational-wave (GW) detectors.
Two are at Hanford in the State of Washington, north-western USA, and one is at
Livingston in Louisiana, south-eastern USA 
➢ LIGO-India project =  proposed LIGO-India project aims to move one
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Advanced LIGO detector from Hanford to India + project, piloted by the Department of
Atomic Energy (DAE) and Department of Science and Technology (DST)+ LIGO-India
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project is an international collaboration between the LIGO Laboratory and three lead
institutions in the LIGO-India consortium: Institute of Plasma Research, Gandhinagar;
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IUCAA, Pune; and Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore +
The LIGO lab would provide the complete design and all the key detector components +
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 Indian scientists would provide the infrastructure to install the detector and it would be
operated jointly by LIGO-India and the LIGO Lab. 
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➢ India wing of the ambitious Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory
(LIGO) project = Hingoli district,Maharashtra + project involves constructing
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a network of L-shaped arms, each four kilometres long, which can detect even the faintest
ripples from cosmic explosions millions of light years away 
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➢ Kagra = Japan Gravitational Wave Detector

➢ Virgo Inferometer = European Gravitational Wave Detector + Located at Itlay
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➢ The event dubbed S190814bv = LIGO collaboration announced a super-event alert on

its GraceBD (gravitational wave candidate event database) + it is unlike any other
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events that has been detected so far + analysis suggests these originated from the collision
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of a black hole with “something else” the something else here could be a neutron star or a
black hole of low mass + Two of Indian telescopes- Astrosat and GROWTH-India seem
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to have missed observing the event + Unfortunately, Astrosat was in the south Atlantic
anomaly (SAA) at the time of the event
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➢ Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) = Defence Research and

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Development Organisation (DRDO) + indigenously developed + technology

demonstrator vehicle to prove a number of critical technologies for futuristic missions
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from Dr Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha

➢ GROWTH-India = India’s first robotic telescope + Global Relay of
Observatories Watching Transients Happen (GROWTH)-India + operational at
the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) in Hanule in Ladakh + fully
robotic telescope + funded by the Science and Engineering Board (SERB) of the
Department of Science and Technology + 70 cm telescope + primary objective of the
project is the time domain astronomy+ It is mostly an imaging telescope and
the spectroscopy (analysis) will happen at Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT)
➢ GM Cottonseeds = approved as food by U.S. regulators + Developers say it could be
used to tackle malnutrition + Ordinary cottonseed is unfit for humans and many animals
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
to eat because it contains high levels of gossypol, a toxic chemical + Scientists used so-
called RNAi, or RNA interference, technology to “silence” a gene, virtually eliminating
gossypol from the cottonseed. Gossypol was left at natural levels in the rest of the plant
because it guards against insects and disease
➢ Herbicide Tolerant (HT) Bt cotton = Hundreds of farmers joined in what they termed
as the ‘civil disobedience’ movement to protest central government’s indecisiveness in
approving the next generation of Genetically Modified (GM) cotton by sowing the seeds
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of the illegal HTBt cotton + Sowed illegally by farmers in Maharashtra + unauthorised
GM crop +only GM cotton permitted to be grown in India are hybrids/varieties that
contain ‘cry1Ac’ and ‘cry2Ab’ genes, isolated from the soil bacterium Bacillus
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thuringiensis (Bt) and coding for proteins toxic to bollworm insect pests + Ht-Bt Cotton/
BG Cotton – III, involves the addition of another gene, ‘Cp4-Epsps’ from another soil
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bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens + Ht-Bt cotton can tolerate Glyphosate, a
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herbicide variety, whose action kill only the weeds (Pink Bollworm), not the crop + In
India, Glyphosate is registered for use on tea and non-crop area
➢ Herbicide tolerant Bt (HTBT) or Bt3 cotton = unlicensed + farmers who sow this
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variety + Farmers additionally need to use glyphosate, a banned weed killer which the
Bt3 variety tolerates.
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➢ GM brinjal = Bacillus Thuringiensis Brinjal + Coalition for a GM-Free India
(CGFI) have alleged that Bt brinjal is being cultivated illegally in Haryana + created
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by India's seeds company Mahyco in collaboration with American multinational

Monsanto, claims to improve yields and help the agriculture sector
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➢ Terminator technology = seen in news for GM Crops + meaning seeds for GM crops
have been genetically modified so that resulting crops do not produce viable seeds of
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their own
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➢ India’s first indigenous fuel cell system = It is developed by Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR) in partnership with Thermax Ltd, a Punebased engineering
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firm + It is developed under the flagship program named New Millennium

Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI) + It will be a 5 kW fuel cell system
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and will use methanol/bio-methane to generate power with 70% saicre efficiency than
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other sources + (Fuel cell technology = A fuel cell is like a battery that generates
electricity from an electrochemical reaction + It uses a source of hydrogen as fuel but
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involves no Combustion + With the help of oxygen present in the air,

oxidation ofhydrogen atoms occur and in the process, electrons arereleased which flow
through an external circuit as an electriccurrent + The by-products of fuel cell include
heat and water + Fuel cells can vary from tiny devices producing only a few watts of
electricity, right up to large power plants producing megawatts)
➢ Iron ion battery  = IIT Madras has fabricated a rechargeable iron ion battery and
registered initial success + The iron ion battery is cost-effective and the amount of energy
that can be stored in the battery is also high + Iron has favourable physico-chemical
properties like lithium + Iron is more stable during the charging process and therefore
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
prevents short-circuiting of the batteries. This, when compared with the popular lithium
metal-based batteries helps cut down the cost and make it safer to handle
➢ Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) = a hybrid electric vehicle wherein, the internal
combustion engine is replaced with a fuel-cell stack. The onboard sources of power
include hydrogen as well as an advanced battery system + The fuel cell combines
hydrogen and oxygen to generate an electric current, water being the only byproduct +
Fuel cells generate electricity through an electrochemical process + And, there are
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no moving parts in the fuel cell, so they are more efficient and reliable by comparison +
Unlike a battery-electricity vehicle, it does not store energy and, instead, relies on a
constant supply of fuel and oxygen — in the same way that an internal combustion
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engine relies on a constant supply of petrol or diesel, and oxygen
➢ Microbial fuel cells = is a bio-electrochemical device that harnesses the power of
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respiring microbes to convert organic substrates directly into electrical energy + It
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transforms chemical energy into electricity using oxidation reduction reactions
➢ Sodium sulphur battery = conventional sodium sulphur batteries require very high
temperature (300 degree C) for operation + (IIT) Madras have designed a new
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sodium sulphur battery that can be operated at room temperature. By operating the
battery at room temperature, the team was able to achieve higher charge storage capacity
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(technically called the specific capacity) and nearly zero self-discharge when the battery
is not being used
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➢ Lithium sulphur battery = World’s most efficient Lithium sulphur battery developed in
Australia + Li-S batteries are generally considered to be the successors of the Lithium-
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ion (Li-ion) batteries because of their lower cost of production, energy efficiency and
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improved safety. Their cost of production is lower because sulphur is abundantly

available + there have been some difficulties when it comes to commercialising these
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batteries, mainly due to their short life cycle and poor instantaneous power capabilities  
➢
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5G = next generation cellular technology that will provide faster and more reliable
communication with ultralow latency + with 5G, the peak network data speeds are
expected to be in the range of 2-20 Gigabits per second (Gbps). This is in contrast to 4G
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link speeds in averaging 6-7 Megabits per second (Mbps) in India as compared to 25
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Mbps in advanced countries + But once 5G becomes commercial, users will be required
to change their current devices in favour of 5G-enabled ones + ultra low latency offered
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by 5G makes the technology desirable for such use cases. Latency is the amount of time
data takes to travel between its source and destination + even after the entry of 5G into
the Indian networks, the earlier generation mobile technologies (2G, 3G and 4G) will
continue to remain in use and that it may take 10 or more years to phase them out + South
Korea and the U.S. became the first countries to commercially launch 5G services +
Ericsson has also installed a 5G test bed at IIT Delhi for developing applications in the
broadband and low latency areas + Besides the spectrum, 5G will require a fundamental
change to the core architecture of the communication system. Simply upgrading the
existing Long Term Evolution core will not be able to support the various requirements
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
of all 5G use cases +Digital Communications Commission (DCC), the apex decision
making body at the telecom department oversee 5G trials
➢ New paper-based test kit for malaria detection = IIT Guwahati + One of the aptamers
selectively captures the antigen (P. falciparum glutamate dehydrogenase - PfGDH) from
the P. falciparum strains, while the other captures another antigen (Plasmodium
lactate dehydrogenase - PLDH) that is common to all the Plasmodium species.
➢ Hydrothermal Carbonisation Technology = IIT Kharagpur has developed
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Hydrothermal Carbonisation technology which can generate energy from solid
waste with high moisture content + technology is aimed at conversion of wet biomass
into hydro-char (a coal like fuel) under suitable temperature and pressure conditions
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➢ Bharati Script = Researchers from IIT Madras have already developed a unified script
for nine Indian languages, named the Bharati Script + Now, going a step further,
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developed a method for reading documents in Bharati script using a multi-
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lingual optical character recognition (OCR) scheme + OCR scheme involves first
separating (or segmenting) the document into text and non-text
➢ Integrated Road Accident Database (IRAD) = developed by the Indian Institute of
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Technology-Madras (IIT-M) and will be implemented by the National Informatics Centre
+ The project is being supported by the World Bank + The system will be first piloted in
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the six States + IT tool + central accident database management system that will help
in analysing causes of road crashes and in devising safety interventions to reduce such
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accidents in the country

➢ National Genomic Grid = which will study genomic data of cancer patients from India
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+ In a move to take cancer research to the next level and make treatment viable for
people of different economic classes, the government has plans to set up this + The grid
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to be formed will be in line with the National Cancer Tissue Biobank (NCTB) set up at
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the Indian Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

➢ IIT Hyderabad scientists convert fly ash into waterproofing material = Treating fly
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ash with stearic acid, used in soaps and shampoos, modified the nature of fly ash and
helped develop materials with contrasting adhesion behaviours — high adhesions like a
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rose petal and low adhesion like a lotus leaf + Heavy metals found in fly ash are nickel,
cadmium, arsenic, chromium, lead, etc—are toxic in nature
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➢ Indian brain atlas = IIIT-Hyderabad creates the first Indian brain atlas. It is named
as IBA100 +  Other brain atlases include Chinese, Korean and Caucasian + The first
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digital human brain atlas was created by the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) + The
atlas reveals that Indian brain is smaller in height, width, and volume compared to the
western and eastern population 
➢ IIT Mandi indicate that nanostructures made of gold embedded with silver show zero
resistance to the flow of electric current through them + this happens at the relatively
high temperatures, between 240 K and 275 K, that is, approximately between -33 degrees
Celsius and 2 degrees Celsius.
➢ Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay have found that
Irrigation and agriculture shift rainfall to north-western India = During the month of
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
September, agriculture lands are highly irrigated and the crops are matured. As a result,
there is maximum evapotranspiration taking place leading to highest contribution
of moisture from the land to the atmosphere + 50% of crop area is covered by paddy
where the fields are kept in submerged conditions. As a result, the contribution
of moisture from the land to the atmosphere is very different from what is followed in the
West, which is what the models used so far took into account
➢ C-DOT’s latest innovations = C-Sat-Fi (C-DOT Satellite WiFi) is based on the optimal
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utilization of wireless and satellite communication to extend connectivity to the unserved
areas including the remote islands and difficult terrains + Similarly, C-DOT’s
XGSPON (10 G Symmetrical Passive Optical Network) is an effective solution to fulfil
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the rapidly increasing demands of high network speeds emanating from the new
dimensions of user applications like IPTV, HD Video Streaming, Online Gaming etc +
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The third innovation, C-DOT’s Interoperable Set Top Box (CiSTB) will prove to be a
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boon to the dissatisfied customers who cannot change their Cable TV operator in view of
the recurring costs of setting and installing the physical infrastructure afresh
➢ Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) = which use a nicotine-laced liquid
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+ ENDS, including e-cigarettes, vape, e-sheesha, e-nicotine flavoured hookah and heat-
not-burn devices(BANNED BY HEALTH MINISTRY) + ENDS are also not
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approved as nicotine replacement therapy under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act + E-
cigarette use adversely affects the cardiovascular system, impairs respiratory immune cell
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function and airways in a way similar to cigarette smoking and is responsible for severe
respiratory disease. It also poses risk to foetus, infant, and child brain development +
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harmful health effects e-cigarettes pose to users, as well as passive exposure.

➢ Goldschmidtite = Recently, a new mineral, Goldschmidtite, has been discovered inside a
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diamond unearthed from a mine in South Africa + Goldschmidtite has high

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concentrations of niobium, potassium and the rare-earth elements lanthanum and cerium,
whereas the rest of the mantle is dominated by other elements, such as magnesium and
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iron
➢ Quit line number = to help smokers/Tabacoo takers to quit + India is only SAARC
in
country to have such number on tabacoo products 

➢ Black box = available in aircrafts + black box, being introduced for the first time by
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Indian Railways, has a powerful multi-dimensional communication interface to provide

information on passengers and coach condition on real-time basis 
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➢ Opto-electronic properties = combination of optics and electronics + key property of

these materials is photoluminescence, in which the material absorbs light and re-emits it
as a spectrum + Consisting of practically one layer of atoms, these materials are two-
dimensional in structure + Photoluminescence properties can be used in various devices
such as quantum LEDs which can be used in communication and computation, Solar
cells, laser diodes, optical fiber etc + material such as tungsten diselenide and
molybdenum diselenide are being studied keenly for their optoelectronics properties
➢ Plasmonic effect = The plasmonic effect is the interaction between free electrons in
metal nano particles and incident light
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ Ramanujan Machine = Scientists from Israel developed a concept they have named the
Ramanujan Machine + It is not really a machine but an algorithm, and performs a very
unconventional function
➢ What are the factors that may go to affect the body biology in space in contrast to these
on earth = zero gravity or micro gravity + exposure to ionising radiation or IR(This arises
from cosmic rays, solar flares and such, which will affect the circumnavigating astronaut.
On Earth, the atmosphere and the magnetic field of Earth protect us earthlings reasonably
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efficiently)
➢ India became the world's first to successfully perform a telerobotic coronary
intervention (robotic method of performing heart surgery. With the help of the internet
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and a robotic tower, a surgeon is able to treat patients from a distance) 
➢ Use of cryptocurrency Bitcoin emits 22 megatonnes of carbon dioxide annually, says a
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study + For a Bitcoin transfer to be executed and validated, a mathematical puzzle must
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be solved by an arbitrary computer in the global Bitcoin network. The network, which
anyone can join, rewards the puzzle solvers in Bitcoin + The computing capacity used in
this process — known as Bitcoin mining
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➢ Virtual biopsy device = scientist have developed + that can quickly and non-invasively
determine whether a skin tumour is cancerous and needs to be removed surgically +
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Using sound vibrations and pulses of near-infrared light + The first-of-its-kind
experimental procedure, called vibrational optical coherence tomography (VOCT),
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creates a 3D map of the legion’s width and depth under the skin with a tiny laser diode.
➢ Notice to airmen (NOTAM) = is a notice filed with an aviation authority to alert
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aircraft pilots of potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the
safety of the flight
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➢ Short waves radio transmission = transmission and reception of information by means

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of electromagnetic waves of about 10 to 100 m in length having frequencies of

approximately 3 to 30 megahertz + Radio waves in the shortwave band can be reflected
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or refracted by the ionosphere + Such wave propagation is called skywave or “skip"

propagation + refraction by ionosphere makes shortwave useful for very long distance
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communication, sometimes even beyond continents + Dearth of revenue from short wave
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transmission and dwindling audience with advent of digital mediums has called for
phasing out of SW transmitters + short wave is the only effective way to reach any part of
the world where FM and other modes don’t work
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➢ Medium wave radio transmission = It covers wavelength of 100 to 1000 metres and
frequency of 0.3 to 3 MHz + There is very little daytime reflection of medium wave radio
signal from the ionosphere resulting in a coverage of about 100 kms only + It is mostly
used for local broadcasting, particularly rural communities
➢ Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) = Russian/German high-energy astrophysics space
observatory planned to launch in June 2019
➢ Fast Radio Burst = In radio astronomy, a fast radio burst (FRB) is a transient radio pulse
of length ranging from a fraction of a millisecond to a few milliseconds, caused by some
high-energy astrophysical process not yet identified
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ Cosmic radio waves = In a first, Australian scientists have determined the precise
location of a powerful one-off burst of cosmic radio waves + A team of researchers made
a high-resolution map showing that the burst originated in the outskirts of a Milky Way-
sized galaxy about 3.6 billion light-years away
➢ Ozone pollution = Ozone is not directly emitted from any source. It is a secondary
pollutant + It is also the third most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide and
methane + Good ozone: Found in stratosphere, it protects the Earth's surface from
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dangerous ultraviolet light + Bad Ozone: Found in the troposphere (also known as
ground level ozone), it is man-made. The released nitrogen oxide (NOx),
carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds (VOC), (NOx, CO, and VOCs
l.c
are known as ozone precursors) combine chemically with oxygen to form ozone during
sunny days + (Gothenburg Protocol = It aims to abate Acidification, Eutrophication and
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Ground-level Ozone and is part of the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air
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Pollution)
➢ HCFC-141 b = India achieved complete phase out of HCFC-141 b, one of the most
potent ozone depleting chemical after Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) + used mainly as a
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blowing agent in the production of rigid polyurethane (PU) foams + It is not produced
in the country and all the domestic requirements are met through imports(issuance of
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import license for HCFC-141b has been prohibited) + complete phase out of HCFC-141
b is among the first at this scale in Article 5 parties (developing countries) under the
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Montreal Protocol + It Contributed 50 % of the consumption of ozone depleting

chemicals in the country + (Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control)
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Amendment Rules, 2019 = issued under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986) +
(HCFCs = are compounds containing carbon, hydrogen, chlorine and fluorine + are less
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stable than CFCs + have shorter atmospheric lifetimes than CFCs + HCFCs are also part
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of a group of chemicals known as the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) + HCFCs do

not usually dissolve in water, but do dissolve in organic (carbon-containing) solvents)
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➢ CAFÉ(Corporate Average fuel Economy) regulations = aims at lowering fuel

consumption (or improving fuel efficiency) of vehicles by lowering carbon dioxide
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(CO2) emissions + Corporate Average refers to sales-volume weighted average for every
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auto manufacturer. The norms are applicable for petrol, diesel, LPG and CNG passenger
vehicles + In India, CAFE regulations come into force into 2017
➢ Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS) = Central government wants to create a
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“repository of photographs of criminals in the country,” and wants to put a system in

place to track “missing children and unidentified dead bodies + National Crime Records
Bureau (NCRB) has invited bids to create such system
➢ Bio agents = Bio fertilizers such as azospirillum, azotobacter, rhizobium + Bio potash
and vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhiza + Biocontrol agents like pseudomonas and
trichoderma + Bio pesticides -beauveria, verticillium, pochonia, paecilomyces and
metarhizium
➢ Blockchain = It is a foundational technology or a platform that allows designing a secure
way to record transactions and circulate it among signatories, or any kind of target group
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
with an Internet connection. At its core it is an extremely democratic ledger that cannot
be arbitarily manipulated and easily shareable
➢ Red Mud = bauxite residue + Red mud is a solid waste generated during the
aluminium production by the Bayer process from bauxite + Red mud contains impurities
such as caustic soda and others minerals + It contains six major constituents – Silicon,
Aluminium, Iron, Calcium, Titanium and Sodium, apart from an array of minor elements
+ Due to its unique physical and chemical properties, red mud can be used in several
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aspects. Such as treatment of acidic soils, making crude and fine ceramics, for making
bricks, as a component in making cement, as an additive in ferrous metallurgy etc
➢ DNA = DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic Acid, a hereditary material in human and
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almost all the other organisms + Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (called nuclear
DNA) but some small amount of DNA can be found in Mitochondria (called
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mitochondrion DNA) + composed of two chains, which coil around each other to form a
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double helix carrying the genetic instructions used in the growth + It is made up of 23
pairs of chromosomes + information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four
chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T) + Human DNA
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consists of about 3 billion bases, and more than 99 percent of those bases are the same in
all people + An important property of DNA is that it can replicate, or make copies of
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itself
➢ Mexico’s prickly pear cactus = The pulp of the prickly pear is mixed with additives
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to produce sheets that can be used for packaging + A packaging material that is made
from the plant has been developed by a Mexican researcher and is offering a promising
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solution to one of the world’s biggest pollution conundrums

➢ “Truthful label seeds” = simply self-certified by the company + Government want to
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remove that category with the new law and mandate certification through a proper
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lab process for all seeds

➢ Soil worms or nematodes = Nematodes are roundworms + researchers found that there
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are about 57 billion nematodes for every human being on Earth

➢ Formalin = Formalin is 30-45% aqueous solution of Formaldehyde with
in
water+ presevant and disinfectant + a cancer-inducing chemical used illegally to preserve

fish + causes irritation in the eyes, throat, skin and stomach + continued exposure causes
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harm to the kidneys, liver and can even cause cancers + All life forms – bacteria, plants,
fish, animals and humans – naturally produce formaldehyde as part of cell metabolism +
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The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India(FSSAI) has banned formaldehyde
in fresh fish, while the International Agency for Research on Cancer labelled the
chemical a carcinogen in 2004
➢ Redshift = happens when light or other electromagnetic radiation from an object
undergoes an increase in wavelength + Astronomers also use redshift to measure
approximate distances to very distant galaxies
➢ South Atlantic anomaly (SAA) = SAA is a region above the south Atlantic Ocean
where there are a large number of charged particle that can damage sensitive instruments
all space telescope are shut down when they pass through the SAA
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ Subaru telescope =Maunakea, Hawaii + Twenty new moons have been discovered

around Saturn, taking its total number of moons to 82 + Now, Saturn overtook Jupiter in
terms of number of moon  
➢ Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) = TMT is a proposed astronomical observatory with an
extremely large telescope (30 m prime mirror diameter). It would be world’s largest
ground-based telescope + It is an international project being funded by
scientific organisations of Canada, China, India, Japan and USA + Planned location:
Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii in the US state of Hawaii  + Thought Works
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Technologies-based in Pune developed Telescope Common Software for This
➢ East Asian Observatory(EAO) = Formed by EACOA (East Asian Core Observatories
l.c
Association) for the purpose of pursuing joint projects in astronomy within the East
Asian region + East Asian observatories consortium of eight countries committed
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to build large telescope and pool resources + India in talks to be part of Asian
observatory + EAO is chartered as a non-profit Hawaii corporation  
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➢ India has become the first country in the world to issue Biometric Seafarer Identity
Document (BSID) + The issuance of SID involves the collection of biometric and
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demographic details of the seafarers, their verification and then issuance of the card to
them + The new card is in confirmation of the Convention No. 185 of the International
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Labour Organization on BSID. India ratified the Convention in 2015
➢ Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) finalised India’s first National Essential
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Diagnostics List (NEDL) + This list aims to bridge the current regulatory system’s gap,
which does not cover all the medical devices and in-vitro diagnostic device (IVD) + With
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this, India has become the first country to compile such a list that would provide
guidance to the government for deciding the kind of diagnostic tests that different
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healthcare facilities in villages and remote areas require

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➢ Helium hydride molecule(HeH+) = Scientists have spotted the helium hydride molecule
(HeH+) for the first time in space + The helium hydride ion or hydridohelium (1+) ion is
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a cation (positively charged ion) with chemical formula (HeH+) + It is the lightest
heteronuclear ion, and is believed to be one of the first compounds formed in the
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Universe after the Big Bang

➢ Hyperloop = It is a transportation system where a pod-like vehicle is propelled through a
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near-vacuum tube connecting cities at speeds matching that of an

aircraft + The hyperloop concept is a brainchild of Tesla founder Elon Musk
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➢ Certification of seeds to be made mandatory = The Centre is planning to

mandate uniform certification of seed by amending the Seeds Act, 1966 + More than half
of all seeds sold in India are not certified by any proper testing agency, and are often of
poor quality
➢ Sericin = it is a silk protein which is known to possess anti-oxidant and other
medicinal properties + They vary with source of silkworms and their availability depends
on the length of sericin peptides obtained during extraction + Uses: It could be used
for protection from oxidative damage, edema, erythema, sunburn, premature aging,
wrinkling, and skin cancer
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ ‘Fingerprint’ of Earth’s atmosphere = Astronomers at Canada’s McGill University

have made a “fingerprint” for the Earth, which could be used to identify a potentially life
sustaining planet beyond the solar system + Using observations of the Earth’s atmosphere
taken by the SCISAT satellite, researchers have constructed a transit spectrum of Earth -
a detail on the fingerprint-like unique composition of our planet’s atmosphere + The
findings can help in determining ‘biosignatures’ that astronomers need to look out for in
order to find Earth-like planets outside solar system
➢ Ancient DNA/aDNA = can be carefully extracted from archaeologically recovered
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bones, teeth or fossil plant remains. Small fragments are processed to sequence
the genome of those ancient organisms +aDNA becomes degraded, on account of its
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age and the climatic and soil conditions it was buried in + Scientists can trace the deep
ancestry of ancient individuals and assess how their genetic makeup is distinct on account
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of specific variant genes (alleles), mutations and other markers (99% of all human DNA
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is common) and see how this compares with that of modern groups
➢ Study on Iodised salt = The survey was conducted by Nutrition International in
collaboration with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) and the Indian
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Coalition for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD). The survey tested the
iodine content in samples of cooking salt from households to estimate the coverage of
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iodised salt + Iodine is a vital micro-nutrient for optimal mental and
physical development of human beings.Deficiency of iodine can result in a range of
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disabilities and disorders such as goitre, hypothyroidism, cretinism, abortion, still births,
mental retardation and psychomotor defects + Children born in iodine deficient areas may
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have up to 13.5 IQ points less than those born in iodine sufficient areas
+ Gujarat produces 71% of salt in the country, followed by Rajasthan at 17% and Tamil
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Nadu at 11%. The rest of the country accounts for a mere 1% of salt produced
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➢ Nutrition International, formerly the Micronutrient Initiative, is an international not

for profit agency based in Canada that works to eliminate vitamin and mineral
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deficiencies in developing countries

➢ Survey of India to deploy 300 drones for mapping country = India’s oldest scientific
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department, the Survey of India (SoI) — historically tasked with mapping the country —
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will for the first time rely on drones to map the country + Currently the best SoI maps
have a resolution of 1:2500, meaning a 1 cm on the map represents 2500 cm on
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the ground. The maps being prepared associated with the project(with help of
drones) will be of 1:500 resolution, meaning 1 cm will represent 500 cm + High-
resolution maps will facilitate digitisation of land titles in villages + SoI, which
is affliated to the Department of Science and Technology (DST)
➢ Digital Investigation Training and Analysis Centre (DITAC) = to deal with newer forms
of cyber threats + first such center was established in Haryana
➢ Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR) = If Implemented, India will be possibly the first
country in the world to implement a Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR) Policy on the
lines of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) + It is the confluence of scientific
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
knowledge with visionary leadership and social conscience + SSR is about building
synergies among all stakeholders in scientific knowledge community
➢ 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) =The 3rd Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP) unites 7 telecommunications standard development organizations (ARIB, ATIS,
CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC) + The project covers
cellular telecommunications technologies, including radio access, core network and
service capabilities, which provide a complete system description
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for mobile telecommunications + 3GPP currently has global navigation satellite system
support from BDS (Chinese), Galileo (European), GLONASS (Russia) and GPS (USA)
for cellular positioning systems
l.c
➢ Quantum supremacy = Quantum supremacy means that researchers have been able to
use a quantum computer to perform a single calculation that no conventional computer,
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even the biggest supercomputer, can perform in a reasonable amount of time + Google’s
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quantum computer, named Sycamore, claimed Quantum supremacy recently + Classical
computers process information in a binary format, called bits, which can represent either
a 0 or 1. Quantum computers, in contrast, use logical units called quantum bits, or qubits
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for short, that can be put into a quantum state where they can simultaneously represent
both 0 and 1 and their correlations + (Quantum computing in India = There
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are no quantum computers in India yet + In 2018, the Department of Science
& Technology unveiled a programme called Quantum-Enabled Science
09
& Technology (QuST) to accelerate research on Quantum computing )

➢ Ceramic membrane = Recently, Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute,
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Kolkata developed Ceramic Membranes for treatment of water contaminated with heavy
metals + It is prepared from a mixture of inorganic substances such as alumina and clay +
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This filter is able to segregate metals such as Iron, Arsenic, fluoride, Arsenic etc along
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with the other pollutants when water passes through these membranes.
➢ HD-3226 or PusaYashasvi = Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has released
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+ new variety of wheat + Its yield is comparable to or higher than other wheat varieties +
It also has higher content of protein and gluten (which contributes to strength and
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elasticity of the dough), apart from more zinc + The variety has also high levels of
resistance against all major rust fungi — yellow/stripe, brown/leaf and black/stem +
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Recent Crop/Horticulture Varieties From IARI Pusa Basmati 1718

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(Rice), PusaSambha 1850 (Rice), Pusa Aditi (Grape), Pusa Sona (Onion)
➢ Lignin = Lignin is a complex organic polymer rich in polyphenols with antimicrobial
qualities + It is found in almost all dry plants including crop residues and the woody bark
of trees + (Researchers have developed a lignin-based nanocomposite which could
potentially have commercial value. The lignin-based nanomaterial can act as additive in
coating and packaging materials)
➢ Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) tool = The PDNA tool was developed by the
UN Development Group, the World Bank and the European union + main goal is to
assess the full extent of a disaster’s impact, define the needs for recovery etc
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ MOSAiC expedition =  Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic

Climate (MOSAiC) will be the first year-round expedition into the central Arctic
exploring the Arctic + It will help scientists to better understand the impact of
climate change + One Indian is a part of 300 scientists team + whole expedition
is spearheaded by the Alfred wegner Institute in Germany 
➢ Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) = is an astronomical interferometer of 66
radio telescopes in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile,(which observe electromagnetic
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radiation at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths) + It may also help to explain how
smaller rocky planets manage to survive in the chaos of young systems 
➢ Akademik Lomonosov = the world's first floating nuclear power plant is operational
l.c
in Russia(2018) + Recently, this floating nuclear power plant completed its 5,000-km
journey along the Northern Sea Route. This has sparked fears among environmentalists
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over the safety of the Arctic region
➢ Aflatoxin-M1 = It contaminate plant and plant products + can be found in milk or
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milk products obtained from livestock that have ingested contaminated feed + more
dominant in processed milk than raw milk + India is the world’s largest producer of milk
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+ (Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide (many carbohydrates joined together in a molecular
chain) that is used as a food additive) + Recent National milk sample safety quality
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survey released by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) showed
the presence of contaminants like Aflatoxin-M1 and Maltodextrin in milk[IMP. TOPIC]
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➢ Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) prescribes a maximum residual
level (MRL) for some of the organophosphate pesticides used + It is known that
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organophosphate pesticides such as acephate, malathion, profenofos, chlorpyrifos

and quinalphos are used in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables
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➢ Dirac metals = Normal metals like gold and silver are good conductors of electricity. A
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key aspect that decides the quality of conduction is the way energy depends on
the momentum of electron + Dirac metals differ from normal metals in that the energy
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depends linearly on the momentum + This difference is responsible for their

unique properties + Semi-Dirac metals behave like Dirac metals in one direction and like
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normal metals in the perpendicular directions[IIT Bombay have discovered

special properties in a class of materials called “semi-Dirac metals” -> such materials
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would be transparent to light of a given frequency and polarisation when it is incident

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along a particular direction. The material would be opaque to the same light when it falls
on it from a different direction + Examples of semi-Dirac metals are systems such as
TiO2/V2O3 nanostructures] 
➢ IPv6 = it is a next generation Internet Protocol which is being promoted because of
the problem of IPv4 exhaustion + National IPv6 Deployment Roadmap version-II was
released in 2013 containing IPv6 transition guidelines/timelines   
➢ Edge computing = enables data to be analysed, processed, and transferred at the edge of
a network. Meaning, the data is analysed locally, closer to where it is stored, in real-time
without latency + The basic difference between edge computing and cloud computing lies
in where the data processing takes place  + In simple terms, cloud computing means
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of your computer's hard
drive + Edge computing, on the other hand, manages the massive amounts of
data generated by IoT devices by storing and processing data locally  
➢ Anthropogenic mineral = mineral that have been made on Earth, of substances formed
as a result of human activities such as mining and mineral processing + There are about
208 human-made minerals which have been approved as minerals by the International
Mineralogical Association + Example: Hydrotalcite are produced when asbestos tailings
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passively absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide + Other type is True mineral which
is naturally occurring and formed by geological processes either on Earth or in outer-
space. True minerals comprise the majority of the approximately 5,200 known minerals +
l.c
Example: Edscottite, recently in news, was discovered after an examination of
the Wedderburn Meteorite, a metallic-looking rock found in Central Victoria back in
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1951. It is made of iron and carbon, and was likely formed within the core of another
planet 
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➢ Elastocaloric effect = may help find alternatives to fluid refrigerants used in fridges and
air-conditioners. o It is because in the elastocaloric effect, the transfer of heat works much
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the same way as when fluid refrigerants are compressed and expanded
+ Elastocaloric materials are those solids, which are capable of stress-induced reversible
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phase transformations during which latent heat is released or absorbed +
The elastocaloric effect occurs when stress is applied or removed, and a phase
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transformation is induced 
➢ Asbestos in Baby Powder = Asbestos is a term used to refer to six naturally occurring
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silicate minerals + All are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fiber being
composed of many microscopic 'fibrils' that can be released into the atmosphere by
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abrasion and other processes + When asbestos is used for its resistance to fire or heat, the
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fibers are often mixed with cement or woven into fabric or mats. These
desirable properties led to asbestos being used very widely
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➢ Dark-fiber issue = Dark fiber refers to unused fiber-optic cable + Often times companies
lay more lines than what's needed in order to curb costs of having to do it again and
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again. The dark strands can be leased to individuals or other companies who want to
establish optical connections among their own locations  
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➢ Annular solar eclipse = happens when the Moon covers the Sun's center, leaving the
Sun's visible outer edges to form a “ring of fire” or annulus around the Moon. The
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characteristic ring of fire. The ring of fire marks the maximum stage of an annular solar
eclipse + Due to its geological positioning, Cheruvathur(Kasorgad district, Kerala) will be
the first place in India where it will be very visible Cheruvathur here is one of the three
places in the world where the eclipse will be most clearly seen + Observers will be able to
experience the “ring of fire” that is characteristic for this kind of solar eclipse + This is a
rare event that can be seen only along a relatively narrow strip on the earth’s surface. The
eclipse is also visible in other areas, but the moon will not move centrally in front of the
sun there and the “ring of fire” will not be visible 
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ Shape of Sun’s corona accurately predicted = Centre for Excellence in Space Sciences
(CESSI), IISER Kolkata, have succeeded in predicting the shape of Sun’s corona at the
time of the annular eclipse + second successful prediction, counting the last solar eclipse
that was viewed from South America on July 2 this year  + This was imaged by NASA
and European Space Agency’s space-based Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)
using the LASCO instrument + Predictive Solar Surface Flux Transport model
developed by the CESSI team can predict the shape of the corona well in advance + This
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time, since this was an annular eclipse with a ring of bright solar surface visible, the
corona was not directly observable. The only option was to use a coronagraph with an
occulting disc. “The only functional one in the world is in Hawaii in Mount Mauna
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Loa which has been having bad weather. Also it was night in Hawaii when the eclipse
happened 
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➢ Seismometer helps measure the magnitude of an earthquake while Piezometer is used to
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measure liquid pressure in a system by measuring the height to which a column of the
liquid rises against gravity 
➢ IS 10500:2012 = National standard for drinking water + Recently, report of the Ministry
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of Consumer Affairs red-flagged tap water quality in major Indian cities 
➢ Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis = that suggests an extraterrestrial body crashing to
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Earth almost 13,000 years ago caused the extinction of many large animals and
a probable population decline in early humans 
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➢ Messenger RNAs = is a large family of RNA molecules that convey genetic information
from DNA to the ribosome, where they specify the amino acid sequence of
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the protein products of gene expression. The RNA polymerase enzyme transcribes genes
into primary transcript mRNA leading to processed, mature mRNA 
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➢ SILAM (System for Integrated modeLling of Atmospheric coMposition) = A

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chemical-pollutants dispersal model developed by the Finnish Meteorological Institutes +

indicated that the plume of dust and smoke hanging over Delhi would travel towards east
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India, move into the Bay of Bengal and hike pollution levels as far away as Tamil Nadu 
➢ Real-time Train Information System (RTIS) = to monitor precise speeds
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and movement throughout the journey from first point to the destination + It has been
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developed by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CIRE) with the help of Indian
Space Research Organisation-Airports Authority of India’s GAGAN-Global Positioning
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System (GPS) aided geo-augmented navigation, originally developed for air traffic
management + 500 passenger locomotives of the South Central Railway (SCR) have been
fitted with the newly developed 
➢ Over-the-Top (OTT) platforms = deliver audio, video, and other media content via the
internet, eschewing the need for traditional platforms like cable, broadcast and
satellite television + also known as Online Curated Content Providers (OCCP) + Popular
OTT platforms in India include Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon prime etc + The mode of
transmission for OTT platforms is substantially different insofar as the content travels
through Internet service providers which are difficult to regulate. This makes the existing
broadcasting laws inapplicable to OTT services + OTT platforms contain contents which
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
are certified by the censor board of India, certified by the censor board of the
respective country of which the content belongs to, the content which is not certified by
any board and produced exclusively for apps such as Hotstar exclusive 
➢ Fugitive Particulate Matter (PM) Emissions = Air pollutants originating from spatially
distributed sources and wide array of activities (non-point sources) as opposed to specific
discharge point such as exhausts and stacks (such as a chimneys, pipe, vent, or duct)
(point sources) are called fugitive emissions 
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Recommended dietary allowance (RDA) = a daily ceiling on the amount of salt, fat,
carbohydrate and trans-fat + The RDA is based on scientific consensus and has
been agreed upon by expert bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and
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the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad (in India) + It says that, ideally, an
adult should consume no more than 5g of salt, 60g of fat, 300g carbohydrate and 2.2 g
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of transfat every day + Current Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling)
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Regulations, 2011 only require companies to disclose energy (kilo calories), protein,
carbohydrates, total fat, trans-fat and saturated fat(no disclosures on high salt content and
added sugar, and no compulsion on companies to disclose nutritional information on the
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front of the pack) + Food safety and standards(labeling and display) regulations,2018
suggested a packet should have clear information on how much nutrient, such as salt,
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sugar, contributed to recommended dietary allowance 
➢ Fog PASS Device is a Global Positioning System (GPS)  based hand held  portable 
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device  which  serves as  an aid for  the crew  

➢ Railway unveils new signalling system = project to modernise the signalling system,
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which was included in the works programme of 2018-19 + The modernisation of

the signalling system will include implementation of technologies such as the automatic
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train protection system that helps in adhering to permissible speed limits without driver
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intervention and the 4G-based mobile train radio communication system, which can be
used for emergency communications 
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➢ The new wagon — called BLCS (type A & B) = will help boost the cargo carrying
capacity by four times due to increased length of the train, use of double-stack containers
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and more payload carrying capability + being tested by Dedicated Freight Corridor
Corporation of India, Ltd. (DFCCIL) 
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➢ Hyperloop in India = Government of the Indian state of Maharashtra has approved Virgin
Hyperloop One's plans to develop a high-speed line between Mumbai and Pune 
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➢ IBM GRAF  = Global High-Resolution Atmospheric Forecasting System (GRAF) +

International technology company IBM plans to make a high-resolution weather
forecast model that will also rely on user-generated data to improve the accuracy of
forecasts available in India + can generate forecasts at a resolution of 3 kilometres. This
is a significantly higher resolution than the 12-kilometre models used by the India
Meteorological Department to generate forecasts 
➢ High-Level Committee (HLC) Recommendation = formed on the Supreme Court orders
in its report to give recommendations on how to control air pollution levels in the
national capital region (NCR) + Suggested Wireless Sensor Networks
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
(WSN) technology and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)(LiDAR is a high-end

application of LASER-based technology for monitoring pollution + technology may be
adopted for vertical monitoring at a few places to track transport of pollutants at higher
altitude) + Photocatalytic paints to be used on roads(paints contain titanium dioxide
(TiO2) which has a good oxidising potential and can remove pollutants such as volatile
organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides from the atmosphere in the presence of
sunlight and ultraviolet rays) + Anti-smog gun(device that sprays nebulised water
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droplets into the air through high pressure propellers, which help particles to settle down)
+ Smog towers(basically structures designed as large-scale air purifiers to reduce
pollution particles from the atmosphere + Supreme court has given the Centre and Delhi
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government three months to set up a 'smog tower' pilot project at Connaught Place, New
Delhi + In Delhi, company named Kurin Systems is also developing a 12-metre (40 ft)
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tall smog tower, called the Kurin City Cleaner) 
➢ National Guidelines for Gene Therapy-Product Development and Clinical Trials =
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published by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) + guidelines apply to all
stakeholders in the field of gene therapy + guidelines apply to all stakeholders in the field
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of gene therapy + Proposed establishment of Gene Therapy Advisory and Evaluation
Committee (GTAEC)- an independent body + It is mandatory for all institutions to
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establish an Institutional Bio-safety committee (IBSC) + All clinical trials are mandated
to be registered with Clinical Trials Registry-India (CTRI) + Gene Therapy refers to
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the process of introduction, removal or change in content of an individual’s genetic

material + The concept of germ-line gene therapy is to introduce gene modified cells into
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the germline, that can be transmitted vertically across generations + Somatic cell gene
therapy: It affects the targeted cells/tissue/organs in the patient, and is not passed on to
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subsequent generations. It is legal in India + Germ cells are cells that create reproductive
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cells called gametes. They are found only in the reproductive glands (ovaries in females
and testes in males.) + Retrovirus- family of viruses with RNA as genetic material that
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can integrate their genome into the DNA of host cells, they invade + Transgene- a genetic
material that is artificially introduced into the genome of another organism + A Gene
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Therapy Product (GTP) is defined as any biological entity, having the required gene, that
could introduce modifications in the genome for therapeutic benefit 
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➢ VoWiFi = VoWiFi is a Wi-Fi-based Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, which
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allows users to make high definition (HD) voice calls using Wi-Fi even in places with
poor or no cellular network + provides users with a shorter call connection time along
with superior call quality + Users don’t have to pay extra for these calls as it is using a
Wi-Fi network + Bharti Airtel recently introduced India’s first Voice over Wi-Fi
(VoWiFi). Reliance Jio also followed the suit  
➢ New definition of kilogram = The prototype of one kilogram (NPK-57) is now available
in India and placed at the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi + Scientists have
changed the way the kilogram is defined [Currently, it is defined by the weight of a
platinum-based ingot called “Le Grand K”.  Le Grand K has been at the forefront of the
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
international system of measuring weights since 1889] + But now, the kilogram will be
defined in terms of a tiny but unchanging value called the ‘Planck constant’ 
➢ Nuclear Magnetic Resonance test facility = CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad has announced that
the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) test facility at the institute has passed the US
Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) inspection with “no observations” + The
USFDA inspected the NMR facility and found the facility in an acceptable state of
compliance with regard to Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP). Accordingly,
it classified the facility as “no action initiated (NAI)” + The NMR spectroscopy is an
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important technique for structural characterization of pharmaceutical and other
chemical molecules + The technique is used in quality control and reserach for
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determining the content and purity of a sample as well as its molecular structure 
➢ Torrefaction Technology = to reduce stubble burning  + India tests
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Swedish torrefaction technology to reduce stubble burning + It is a thermal process used
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to produce high-grade solid biofuels from various streams of woody biomass
or agro residues + The end product is a stable, homogeneous, high quality solid biofuel
with far greater energy density and calorific value than the original feedstock 
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Head on Generation (HOG) technology = It is being adopted by the Indian Railways,
power supply is tapped from overhead power lines and distributed to train coaches +
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HOG-fitted trains do not require power from diesel generators and need only one
emergency generator car attached, instead of two regular generator cars + HOG system is
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free of air and noise pollution: It would bring down yearly CO2 and NOx emissions
➢ Desalination technology = To convert salt water into freshwater, the most prevalent
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technology in the world is Reverse osmosis (RO) + Osmosis involves ‘a solvent (such as
water) naturally moving from an area of low solute concentration, through a membrane,
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to an area of high solute concentration. A reverse osmosis system applies an external

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pressure to reverse the natural flow of solvent and so seawater or brackish water is
pressurised against one surface of the membrane, causing salt-depleted water to move
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across the membrane, releasing clean water from the low-pressure side’ + Seawater has
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) — a measure of salinity — close to 35,000 parts per
in
million (ppm), or equivalent to 35 g of salt per one litre/kg of water + Because RO plants
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convert seawater to fresh water, the major environmental challenge they pose is the
deposition of brine (highly concentrated salt water) along the shores which reduces the
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availability of prawn, sardine and mackerel (hyper salinity along the shore affects
plankton, which is the main food for several of these fish species) + Another problem is
that the pressure motors needed to draw in the seawater end up sucking in small fish and
life forms + there are concerns that desalinated water is short of vital minerals such as
calcium, magnesium, zinc, sodium, potassium and carbonates + The alternative
desalination technology used is thermal energy sourced from the ocean(There is a low-
temperature thermal desalination (LTTD) technique)
➢ FSOC technology = Free Space Optical Communication (FSOC) is an optical
communication technology that uses light to wirelessly transmit data to
telecommunication and internet applications
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ Polycrack technology = It is the world’s very first patented heterogeneous catalytic

process which converts multiple feedstocks into Energy (hydrocarbon liquid fuels, gas,
carbon as well as water) + The waste generated will become the feeder material for the
waste to energy plant + The energy which will be produced at the plant, will be in the
form of light diesel oil and this oil will be used to light furnaces + All the constituents are
converted to valuable energy therefore, making it a zero discharge process through the
plant + The country’s 1st Govt-owned Waste-to-Energy Plant was recently commissioned
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at Mancheswar Carriage Repair Workshop in Odisha
➢ Satcom technology = Recently, the Rajasthan government has started using satellite
communication technology on a broader scale to enhance the learning outcomes in
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educational institutions + initiative has been taken to provide the facility of Receive Only
Terminals (ROT) and Satellite Interactive Terminals (SIT) for getting the services of
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subject experts in the government schools and colleges + At present, there are over
hundred SITs and ROTs under CEC EDUSAT network, installed at various colleges, and
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Universities across the country + (CEC EDUSAT Network = one of the Inter-
University Centres set up by the University Grants Commission of India + EDUSAT is
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the satellite exclusively devoted to meet the demands of the educational sector, launched
by ISRO in 2004)
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➢ “Happy Seeder” = is one of the unique technique which is used for sowing wheat
without any burning of rice residue + eco-friendly for health of soil & saves water 
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➢ Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) = It is a by-product of the sugar industry + Formed

from molasses that are a residue of sugarcane processing+ It is the primary raw material
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for making alcoholic beverages + It has a neutral smell and taste and typically contains
over 95 per cent alcohol by volume   
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➢ FrogPhone = It is the world’s first solar-powered remote survey device that can be

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installed at any frog pond and which receives a 3G or 4G cellular network + Developed
by a team from various Australian institutions + These devices also allow for monitoring
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of local frog populations more frequently than before 

➢ Rare Earth Elements = The US Army plans to fund the construction of a Rare
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Earths processing facility to secure the domestic supply of minerals that are used to make
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military weapons and electronics + The decision comes after China threatened to stop
exporting Rare Earth materials to the US amid the ongoing trade war between the
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countries + The REMs have unique catalytic, metallurgical, nuclear, electrical, magnetic
and luminescent properties. While named ‘rare earth’, they are in fact not that rare and
are relatively abundant in the Earth’s crust 
➢ Trakea? = It is a unique barcoding software adopted by Haryana Police. Haryana Police
claims it is the country’s first police force to have introduced this unique barcoding for
forensic reports so that reports are not tampered with. 
➢ Microdots = Microdot technology involves spraying the body and parts of the vehicle or
any other machine with microscopic dots, which give a unique identification + These
microdot can be read physically with a microscope and identified with ultra violet light
source + Benefits: technology will help check theft of vehicles & use of fake spare parts 
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ ‘Virtual human’ NEONs = (NEO (new) + humaN) = The first project of Samsung’s Star
Labs, NEONs are being called the world’s first artificial humans
➢ Scientists have created high-resolution maps of points around the globe where
groundwater meets the oceans + the 1st such analysis of its kind that may help protect
both drinking water and the seas + nearly one-half of fresh submarine groundwater
discharge flows into the ocean near the tropics + regions near active fault lines send
greater volumes of groundwater into the ocean than regions that are tectonically stable
➢ Medicine Nobel Prize 2018 =  for research into how the body’s natural defences can fight
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cancer + discovery led to treatments targeting proteins (Example:  Protien  named  Ligand
 PD-1) made by some immune system cells that act as a “brake” on the
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body’s natural defences killing cancer cells
➢ Physics Nobel Prize 2019 = James Peebles awarded for discoveries in cosmology;
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Michel Mayor, Didier Queloz honoured for finding an exoplanet(“51 Pegasi b”) +
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Cosmology(helped in revealing the wonder of the evolution of the universe and
discovering planets + The Universe was in a hot and dense state, and 14 billion years ago
there was a “big bang” and then it started expanding and started cooling down + 4 lakh
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years later, “first rays” of light travelled through space.These rays still exist in the cosmos
and are omnipresent + pebbles interpreted the “first rays” and showed that in the
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universe just 5% known is matter, rest is unknown dark matter and energy) 
➢  Medicine Nobel Prize 2019 = given for discovering details of how the body’s cells
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sense and react to low oxygen levels, providing a foothold for developing new treatments
for anemia, cancer and other diseases + When the body detects that less oxygen
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is present, the kidneys release a hormone called erythropoietin, or EPO, which tells the
body to make more red blood cells to carry more oxygen around + It was founded that
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a protein called hypoxia-inducible factor, or HIF, rises when there’s less oxygen

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around.  
➢ Chemistry Nobel Prize 2019 = given on work for developing lithium-ion batteries,
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which have reshaped energy storage and transformed cars, mobile phones and many other
devices and reduced the world’s reliance on fossil fuels + lithium, the lightest metal, to
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give away its electrons to generate voltage[Lithium Battery is HIGHEST PROBABLE

TOPIC FOR PRELIMS 2020] 
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➢ Nobel Peace Prize 2019 = Ethiopia PM Abiy Ahmed wins Nobel Peace Prize + for his
efforts to resolve the long-running conflict with neighbouring Eritrea[LOCATE Eritrea
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on Map ] 
➢ Economics Nobel/ Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences 2019 = awarded
“for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty” + ‘Randomised control
trials’ (RCT) (‘Randomistas’ are proponents of RCTs to assess long-run
economic productivity and living standards in poor countries. Three randomistas, Abhijit
Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer, were awarded the 2019 Nobel prize in
Economics for their RCT-based studies on poverty worldwide) 
➢ George Schaller Lifetime Award = given for wildlife conservation + given by Wildlife
Conservation Science + first recipient of the award was given recently 
SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY
➢ Sakhrov Prize = given by European Parliament + to honour people defending human

rights 
➢ Women Transforming India (WTI) Awards 2019 = an initiative of government think-
tank Niti Aayog, to promote women entrepreneurs in India+ The WTI Awards, which
Niti Aayog organises in partnership with the U.N.
➢ 2019 Asia Game Changers Awards = given to a group of inspiring and path-breaking
women who are making a transformative impact in Asia and beyond  + In partnership
with Citi, Asia Society annually honors game-changing leaders from a broad geographic
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range and varied backgrounds; this year marks the first time that all of the honorees are
women 
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➢ Golden Leaf Award =Annual awards + were created to recognize professional
excellence and dedication in the tobacco industry by Tobacco Reporter, an international
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magazine in the year 2006 + Tobacco Board of India awarded this year 
➢ World Habitat awards 2019 = Recently, Odisha has won the 'World Habitat Award' for
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its ambitious initiative- Jaga Mission(It aims at transforming the slums
into liveable habitat with all necessary civic infrastructure and services at par with the
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better off areas within the same urban local body) + This award is given by World
Habitat, in partnership with United Nations Habitat, every year, in recognition of
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innovative programmes from across the world in the field of housing 
➢ World Habitat = It is an international not-for-profit organisation/foundation established
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in the United Kingdom + It works internationally to help bring the best housing to the
people who need it the most 
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➢ United Nations Habitat/United Nations Human Settlements Programme = It is the

United Nations agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General
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Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the
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goal of providing adequate shelter for all + It was established in 1978 as an outcome of
the first UN Conference on Human Settlements and Sustainable Urban Development
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(Habitat I) held in Vancouver, Canada, in 1976 + UN-Habitat is headquartered at the

United Nations Office at Nairobi, Kenya 
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DEFENCE
10.1 DEFENCE – Exercises a
➢ Garuda Exercise = Indian and French air force + week-long mega air exercise
➢ Bilateral Military exercises between India and France = Varuna(joint naval exercise)
+ Garuda(joint air exercise) + Shakti (joint army exercise)
➢ Exercise SHAKTI 2019 = biennial exercise between armies of India and France + It is
conducted alternately in India and France and was started in 2011 + The 2019 edition will
be conducted in Rajasthan
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➢ SAMPRITI-IX = bilateral defence cooperation endeavour between India and
Bangladesh +Latest edition will be the 9th edition and will be conducted in Meghalaya
➢ Indo–Thai CORPAT = It is 28th edition of India-Thailand Coordinated Patrol (Indo-
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Thai CORPAT) conducted between the Indian Navy and the Royal Thai Navy.
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➢ MAITREE-2019 = It is joint military exercise between India and Thailand.
➢ SITMEX 2019 = It is five-day exercise is aimed at bolstering the maritime inter-
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relationships amongst Singapore, Thailand and India
➢ Samudra Laksamana = The Indian Navy and Malaysian Navy had recently participated
in the bilateral exercise ‘Samudra Laksamana
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➢ Samudra Shakti = It is a bilateral maritime exercise between India and Indonesia + The
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latest edition is being held in Bay of Bengal 
➢ Counter-Terrorism Table-Top Exercise (CT-TTX) = first counter-terrorism exercise
for “Quad” countries (U.S., India, Japan and Australia) 
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➢ “Tiger Triumph” = maiden India-U.S. joint tri-services Humanitarian Assistance and

Disaster Relief (HADR) Exercise + The exercise is aimed at developing interoperability
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for conducting HADR operations + 9 day exercise conducted off Visakhapatnam and
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Kakinada coasts(Andhra pradesh) 
➢ YudhAbhyas 2019 = It is a joint military exercise between Indian and US armies.
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➢ Exercise Konkan 21 = between Indian and United Kingdom Navy 

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➢ Exercise Ekuverin 2019 = Tenth edition of the Joint Military Exercise Ekuverin between

the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Force will be held in Pune,
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Maharashtra + The 14 days Joint Exercise held alternatively in both countries

➢ AUSINDEX = bilateral naval exercise + Australia and India
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➢ Malabar 2019 = It is 23rd edition of trilateral maritime exercise between naval forces of
India, Japan and the United States which is being conducted off the coast of Japan
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➢ Dharma Guardian 2019 = It is a Joint Military Exercise between India and Japan +
annual training event which is being conducted in India since 2018
➢ Sahyog-Kaijin = joint coast guard exercise between India and Japan + latest edition is
being held in India
➢ INDRA 2019 = Indian Navy and the Russian Navy participate in the second edition of a
joint tri-services exercise 
➢ SLINEX 2019 = It is the bilateral maritime exercise between India and Sri Lanka
➢ KAZIND-2019 = It is a joint military exercise between India and Kazakhstan
DEFENCE
➢ Dustlik 2019 = first India-Uzbekistan Joint Exercise + The bilateral exercise will be

conducted at Chirchiq Training Area near Tashkent and will be focused on counter-
terrorism, in which “the two countries share a common concern 
➢ Exercise Nomadic elephant-XIV = Indo – Mongolian joint military training + conducted
in Oct at Bakloh, Himachal Pradesh 
➢ Exercise Eastern Bridge-V = It is a bilateral joint exercise between Indian Air Force and
Royal Air Force Oman (RAFO) 
➢ Surya Kiran- XIV = joint military exercise between India- Nepal  
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➢ Exercise Mitra Shakti-VII = joint military exercise between India-Sri Lanka  
➢ Exercise Za'ir-Al-Bahr = joint maritime exercise between the navies of India and
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Qatar  
➢ SCOJTEX- 2019 = The latest edition is being held in India + Shanghai Cooperation
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Organization Joint Exercise on Urban Earthquake Search & Rescue + Hosted by NDRF +
The participants of all 08 member countries namely China, India, Kazakhastan,
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Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan shall be participating in
this exercise
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➢ MILAN = Indian Navy is scheduled to host its largest multilateral exercise, MILAN off
the coast of Visakhapatnam in March 2020, for which 41 countries have been invited
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+ China has not been invited 
➢ Exercise Hand in Hand = annual + between India and China + held in Meghalaya 
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➢ INDSPACEEX = Indian armed forces are all set to conduct the country’s first-ever
simulated space warfare exercise “IndSpaceEx”
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➢ Shaheen VIII = Pakistan and China are conducting joint bilateral

aerial exercise Shaheen VIII (Eagle VIII)
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➢ 'Iron Union 12' exercise = joint military exercise between UAE and USA 
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➢ Sea Guardians 2020 = joint naval drill between Pakistan and China.
➢ TSENTR 2019 = It is part of the annual series of large scale exercises that form part of
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the Russian Armed Forces' annual training cycle. Apart from host Russia, military
contingents from China, India, Kazakhstan + Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and
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Uzbekistan will also take part in this mega event.

➢ Him Vijay Exercise = this exercise planned by India in the northeast will mainly test the
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war fighting abilities of the newly-raised 17 Mountain Strike Corps in Arunachal

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Pradesh.
➢ ‘Changthang Prahar’ = India  announced of an “all arms integrated” exercise
‘codenamed Changthang Prahar (assault)’ in a “super high altitude” area in Ladakh 
➢ Defence of Andaman & Nicobar Islands 2019 (DANX-19) = It is a large scale joint
services exercise, was recently conducted by Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) +
Carried out by Indian Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard 
➢ Exercise ‘Apharan’ = large scale Anti Hijacking Exercise conducted recently by the
Indian Navy in collaboration with Indian Coast Guard + preparedness to thwart any
attempt to hijack a merchant vessel etc + The latest edition was held in Kerala. 
DEFENCE
➢ Pacific Air Chiefs Symposium 2019 (PACS 2019) = latest edition is being held at Joint
Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii + Theme: ‘A Collaborative Approach to Regional
Security’ + India participated 
➢ Winged Raider Exercise = It is Indian Army’s biggest airborne exercise conducted
recently in the north-eastern theatre
➢ Operation Bandar = code name of Balakot strike
➢ Operation Sankalp = Indian Navy + to re-assure Indian-flagged vessels operating/
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transiting through persian gulf and gulf of Oman
➢ Operation sunshine 2 = by armies of India and Myanmar + targeting several militant
groups operating in Manipur, Nagaland and Assam + first phase of “Operation Sunrise”
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was conducted in February 2019 along the Indo-Myanmar border
➢ Operation Safed Sagar = code name assigned to the Indian Air Force’s role in acting
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jointly with Groundtroops during the Kargil war + It was the first large scale use of
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Airpower in the Jammu and Kashmir region since the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 +
(‘Operation VIJAY’ popularly known as the ‘Kargil War’ - > 20th Anniversary)
➢ Operation samadhan = Operation ‘SAMADHAN’ is the Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA)’s answer to the Naxal problem
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➢ Operation Sudarshan =Border Security Force (BSF) has launched a massive exercise,
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code named as Sudarshan, to fortify Anti-Infiltration Grid along Pakistan border in
Punjab and Jammu
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➢ Operation Number Plate = Launched by Railway Protection Force (RPF) + The aim is
to identify and verify all vehicles parked in Railway premises, circulating
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area, parkings and even in the ‘No Parking’ areas for longer duration 

➢ Operation Him Vijaya = conducted by Indian army + to test offensive capabilities
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against China in Arunachal Pradesh  

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➢ Operation Dolphin’s Nose = conducted by the Andhra Pradesh State, Naval and Central
intelligence agencies launched Operation Dolphin's Nose and unearthed the espionage
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racket + importance of the Eastern Naval Command (HQ at Vishakapatnam, AP) has
grown with the presence of the Ship Building Centre, which builds the Arihant-class
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nuclear submarines
➢  Operation Vanilla = Indian navy will perform HADR operations in Madagascar under
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‘Operation Vanilla’ + It has been launched to provide assistance to the affected

population of Madagascar post devastation caused by Cyclone Diane  
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10.2 DEFENCE - General
➢ ASRAAM missile = Indian Air Force (IAF) is looking to adopt a new European visual
range air-to-air missile across + Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile of European
missile-maker MBDA has been approved for Jaguar jets + It would be the first over-the-
wing-launched missile in the IAF inventory. All missiles are now fired from under
the wing + ASRAAM is widely used as a Within Visual Range (WVR) air dominance
missile with a range of over 25km + imaging infrared homing ("heat seeking") air-to-air
missile
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➢ Nag- Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) = NAG missile is a third-generation anti-tank

guided missile, which has top attack capabilities that can effectively engage and destroy
all known enemy tanks during day and night + Range: Minimum-500 metres and
Maximum- 4 kilometres + Developed by DRDO
➢ BrahMos = supersonic + medium-range(490 km) + liquid-fuelled ramjet-powered +
cruise missile that can be launched from sea, land and air. + two-stage missile, with a
solid-fueled first stage to bring it to supersonic speed + Surface-launched missiles can
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carry a 200-kg warhead, while the air-launched variant can carry a payload of 300 kg + It
is manufactured in Hyderabad by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between India’s
DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroeyenia + Thailand in talks with India to
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buy BrahMos cruise missiles
➢ MRSAM = MRSAM stands for medium range surface-to-air missile + Jointly developed
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by India and Israel + Supersonic missile system + The MR-SAM has strike ranges from
50 to 70 km + MRSAM is a land-based variant of the long-range surface-to-air missile
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(LRSAM) or Barak-8 naval air defence system, which is designed to operate from naval
vessels
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➢ Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air missiles (QRSAM) = India has successfully test-fired +
It has been developed to replace the ‘Akash’ missile defence system, and has 360-degree
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coverage + It uses solid fuel propellant and has a strike range of 25-30 km with capability
of hitting multiple targets + It is capable of hitting the low flying objects 
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➢ Advanced short-range air-to-air missile (ASRAAM) = ASRAAM is widely used as a

within visual range (WVR) air-dominance missile with a range of over 25 km. It will be
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the first wing-launched missile in the IAF inventory. All missiles are now fired from
under the wing. The IAF is looking to adopt the ASRAAM on its Su-30MKIs and
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the indigenous light combat aircraft

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➢ Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) = Indigenous + developed by

the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) + low-weight MPATGM
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will complement the Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missile to be procured from Israel 
➢ Spike missile = Indian Army places order for Israeli anti-tank Spike missiles + these
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missiles have capabilities of fire, observe, update, fire-and-forget as well as

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allowing attack of hidden targets.

➢ Astra Missile = Recently India successfully test-fired its first indigenous air-to-air
missile ‘Astra’ + It is designed and developed by DRDO + It works on beyond visual
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range air to air missile (BVRAAM) technology that enables fighter-pilots to shoot
precisely at the enemy targets which are beyond their visual range + speed over
4.5 mach + It has a feature of Electronic Counter-Countermeasures (ECCM)- that
improves the missile’s target tracking capability + It uses an inertial guidance system
with an active radar seeker with a homing range of 25 km and is extremely effective in a
multi-target scenario
➢ AGNI-II missile = surface-to-surface medium-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile
+developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) + It has
already been inducted into the armed forces + 20-metre-long, and has a strike range of
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2,000 km. It has a launch weight of 17 tonnes and can carry a payload of 1,000 kg + two-
stage missile + Recently, India successfully conducted the night trial of Agni-II missile
for the first time  
➢ Prithvi-II missile = It is a surface-to-surface tactical missile with a strike range of 350
km + It is India’s first missile indigenously developed by DRDO under prestigious
Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP) + It is capable of carrying
500 to 1,000 kg of warheads, both conventional as well as nuclear + The state-of-the-art
missile is powered by liquid propulsion twin engines. 
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➢ Akash Missiles = Indigenously developed + SRSAM(short range surface to air missile) +
include the seeker technology and posses a 360 degree coverage + Defence Research and
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Development Organisation (DRDO) developed Akash as part of the Integrated
Guided Missile Development Programme initiated in 1984 + It is made by Bharat
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Dynamics Limited (BDL) + Akash has a range of 25 km and can engage multiple targets
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at a time in all-weather conditions
➢ K-4 Missile = nuclear capable Intermediate-range submarine-launched ballistic missile
developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India to arm
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the Arihant-class submarines + The missile has a maximum range of about 3500 km +
Our Circular Error Probability (CEP) is much more sophisticated than Chinese
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missiles+ The CEP determines the accuracy of a missile. The lower the CEP, the more
accurate the missile is + INS Arihant, the first and only operational SSBN, is armed with
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K-15 Sagarika missiles with a range of 750 km  

➢ Pinaka rocket = by DRDO + a precision-guided missile, enhanced range and accuracy to
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hit targets + It is used to neutralize the enemy’s positions that are strategically important
for the enemy + The advanced versions can also be used to conduct surgical strikes even
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without entering into the enemy area + The second variant of Pinaka, known as Mark-II,
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has a maximum range of 75 km + DRDO is working with Israel’s IMI to

develop Pinaka Mark-III which will use IMI’s Trajectory Correction System (TCS) that
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will enhance the accuracy of the attack 

➢ S-400 triumf = long range air defence system consists of a surface to air missile that can
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attack UAVs , drones, cruise missiles + Russia + Range = 400km + Max. altitude =
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10000 ft + Max speed = 4800 m/s + has command control system, multiple radar units,
automated from acquisition to final engagement + 4th generation system in terms of its
combat capabilities + identified by NATO as the SA-21 Growler + world’s most
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dangerous such system

➢ Iron dome system, David’s sling and Arrow = of Israel + air defense systems
➢ Tor-M Air defence system = all-weather low to medium altitude, short-range surface-to-
air missile system designed for destroying airplanes, helicopters etc + Originally
developed by the Soviet Union under the GRAU designation 9K330 Tor, the system is
commonly known by its NATO reporting name, SA-15 "Gauntlet" + (This was used by
Iran, when it brought down Ukranian plane)  
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➢ Meteor missiles = They are beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles + Have a range of

150 km and no escape zone of 60 km + India has requested for an early delivery of
Meteor air-to-air missiles from France 
➢ Spyder = surface to air missile system + IAF’s Israeli-origin
➢ JL-3 = Ballistic missile + China has successfully tested its latest submarine
launched ballistic missile
➢ 'Strum Ataka' = anti-tank missile + Russia
➢ Avangard nuclear missile system = Russia
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➢ M1A2T Abrams tanks, Stinger missiles = U.S. state department has approved
the possible sale to Taiwan
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➢ Minuteman III = Intercontinental ballistic missile of USA 
➢ Shaheen-I = Pakistan successfully tests nuclear capable missile 
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➢ Ya Ali missile = air launched cruise missile built by Iran
➢ P-8I long-range maritime surveillance aircraft = P-8I aircraft is a variant of the P-8A
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Poseidon aircraft that Boeing developed as a replacement for the US Navy’s ageing P-3
fleet  + recently used by India for anti-piracy sorties from Salalah in Oman to patrol
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the Gulf of Aden + With this Indian Navy expands its mission-based deployments
(MBD) in the Indian Ocean region + This was the second time the P-8I operated from
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Salalah for anti-piracy this year + Under the MBD concept, the Navy now maintains a
ship at every choke point in the IOR at any point of time + the navy has deployed 73
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ships till date on anti-piracy patrols + P-81 has electro-optical and infra-red sensors to
penetrate thickly forested areas
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➢ C-17 aircraft = to be sold to India by USA + Boeing’s C-17 is a massive, long-haul

military transport aircraft
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➢ Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas = received the final operational clearance for
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induction into the Indian Air Force (IAF) as a weaponised fighter jet + indigenously built
fighter aircraft + designed by aeronautical development agency (ADA) + produced by
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Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) + single-seat + multi-role jet fighter + powered by

single engine + can also carry out mid-air refuelling + pegged as world’s smallest and
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lightest supersonic fighter aircraft in its class + limited reach of little over 400-km and
will be mainly used for close air-to-ground operations (unlike Russian-origin Sukhoi-
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30MKIs or Rafale which have deep strike capability into enemy territory due to
their long range) + equipped with state-of-the-art Satellite aided Inertial Navigation
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System + It is not the first indigenous fighter to be inducted into the IAF. In April 1967,
IAF had formed the first operational squadron with the indigenous HF-24 Marut fighter
➢ Naval variant of LCA Tejas = The naval variant of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)
Tejas made a successful short arrested landing on the Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF)
in Goa (INS Hansa Goa) + The Navy is currently operating Russian MiG-29K fighters
from INS Vikramaditya
➢ SARAS AIRCRAFT = The first-ever indigenous light passenger aircraft Saras will be
inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) from 2024 + This Saras Mk2 project is led by
the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-National Aerospace
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Laboratories (NAL). The first attempt to design and develop a multi-role transport
aircraft began in 1999 
➢ C-295 transport plane = Defence Ministry has concluded cost negotiations with Tata
and Airbus for the purchase of the Airbus C-295 transport aircraft as part of the long-
delayed Avro replacement programme of the Indian Air Force (IAF) + Tata-Airbus
aircraft will replace the Air Force’s ageing fleet of Avros 
➢ AMCA Project = to make Advanced medium combat aircraft + to make India’s next
indigenous fighter(is expected to make its first flight by 2032) + India’s only fifth
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generation aircraft programme  
➢ Kamov -226T utility helicopters = Agreement between India and Russia for 200
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such helicopters + 60 helicopters will be imported from Russia and at least another 140
will be built in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) with technology transfer
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+ will replace ageing cheetah and chetak flights + 600 Km range + top speed at 205km/h
+ can land safely even if one engine fails 
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➢ Mi-171A2 = passenger helicopter built by Russia for Indian private helicopter company
➢ Apache helicopters = It is the most advanced multi-role heavy attack helicopter in
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the world and are also known as ‘Flying Tank’. It is all weather helicopter + It has a
vertical rate of climb of over 2,000 feet per second and a maximum speed of 279km per
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hour + Recently, eight US made Apache helicopters (AH-64E) were inducted into
the Indian Air Force + India had signed a deal for 22 Apache helicopters with US
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Company, Boeing
➢ MH-60R multi-role helicopters (MRH) = USA + India is interested to buy
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➢ INS Rajali = located at Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu

➢ INS Viraat = centaur class aircraft carrier + commissioned in 1987 + decommissioned
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two year ago

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➢ INS Vikrant = to be delivered by 2021 + India’s first indigenous Aircraft carrier (IAC-I)
➢ INS Vikramaditya = India’s only aircraft carrier + It is a modified Kiev-class aircraft
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carrier + In service since 2013

➢ INS Sagardhwani = marine acoustic research ship of the Naval Physical &
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Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) + flagged off for a scientific venture in the northern
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Indian Ocean
➢ INS Nilgiri = It is designed indigenously by the Indian Navy's Directorate of Naval
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Design, New Delhi + It is the first major warship in India which is built using an
integrated construction methodology + It is the first of seven new stealth frigates under
Project 17 Alfa + Project 17Alfa frigates are a design derivative and upgrade of
the existing Shivalik class frigates with advanced features and indigenous weapons and
sensors for improved survivability, sea keeping, stealth and ship manoeuvrability
➢ INS Nilgiri = Navy’s first new stealth frigate, INS ‘Nilgiri’ + It is the first ship
of Project17A + Project 17A frigates is a design derivative of the Shivalik class stealth
frigates with much more advanced stealth features and indigenous weapons and sensors 
➢ Project 75I = Project of Indian Navy + follow-on of the Project 75 Kalvari-class
submarine for the Indian navy + is approved for six advanced submarines(6 diesel-
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electric submarines, which will feature advanced Air Independent Propulsion (AIP)
systems) worth ₹40,000 crore through the Strategic Partnership (SP) model of
the Defence Procurement Procedure 
➢ Project 75 = Six Scorpene-class submarines are currently being built under 'Project 75' of
the Indian Navy + The submarines, designed by French firm Naval Group are being built
by Mazagon Dock Limited in Mumbai + first of these, INS Kalvari was commissioned in
Dec 2017 and the second INS Khanderi is undergoing sea trials while the third
INS Karanj is under construction + The P75I project is part of a 30-year submarine
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building plan that ends in 2030. According to this, India has to build 24 submarines — 18
conventional submarines and six nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs)
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➢ Visakhapatnam warship = an under construction warship of the Indian navy
at Mazgaon Dockyard Ltd + It is the first of four stealth guided missile destroyers to be
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built under Project 15-B Class of the Indian Navy +Mormugao, Imphal and Porbandar are
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the others under construction.
➢ Sukhoi Su-57 = is a stealth, single-seat, twin-engine multirole fifth-generation jet fighter
being developed since 2002 + Russia
➢
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K9 Vaira-T self propelled artillery gun = from South Korea + Inducted into Army
+ 155-mm, 52-calibre self-propelled artillery gun + range of 40 km + 100 guns through
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private sector engagement  + With technology transfer from South Korea + India’s Larsen
and Toubro plans to achieve over 50% localisation by manufacturing the key components
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of these weapon systems domestically as part of ‘Make in India’

➢ Rafale deal = to but 36 flying conditions fighter jet from france by 2022 + RB 008 is the
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1st aircraft made under the agreement but will be the last to be delivered in 2022
+ MMRCA(Medium multi role combat aircraft) + Centre admitted that there was no
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sovereign guarantee from the French government on the deal for 36 Rafale jets 

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➢  RB-001 = It is first rafale received by India from france + In 2016, India and France

signed Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for 36 Rafale multi-role fighter jets
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➢ Astra Rafael Communication System (ARC) = positioned itself to become India’s first
private sector firm to manufacture cutting-edge software defined radios in multiple
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variants + A state-of-the-art 20,000 sq ft facility of an Indo-Israel joint venture to design,

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develop and manufacture tactical communication systems for the armed forces + facility
in Hyderabad
➢ Golden Arrows” = Indian Air Force (IAF) on Tuesday resurrected the Air Force Station
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(AFS) Ambala-based 17 Squadron ‘Golden Arrows’, which will operate the first
squadron of Rafale fighter jets in the near future
➢ Varunastra = DRDO + Indigenously-built + anti-submarine electric torpedo + India is
one of the eight countries to have the capability to design and build such a system
➢ Bhabha Kavach = India’s first Lightest and indigenous Bullet Proof Jacket
‘Bhabha Kavach’ from Ordnance Factory Board gets nod of MHA + jacket can withstand
7.62mm hard steel core or bullets fired from an AK-47 rifle + Bhabha Kavach only
weighs 9.2kg and is a major breakthrough for the Indian armed forces
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➢ Netra/Airborne Early Warning and Control System = DRDO + Airborne Early

Warning and Control System (AEWACS) is a project of India's Defence Research and
Development Organisation to develop an airborne early warning and control system for
the Indian Air Force. It is also referred to as DRDO NETRA AEW&CS system
➢ Phalcon airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) = Israel  
➢ Dhanush = indigenously upgraded variant of the Swedish Bofors gun imported in the
1980s + Dhanush is a 155 mm, 45-calibre towed artillery gun with a range of 36km and
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has demonstrated a range of 38 km with specialised ammunition. It is fitted with an
inertial navigation system having global positioning system-based gun recording and
auto-laying, an enhanced tactical computer for on-board ballistic computations 
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➢ Sarvatra Kavach = Army Design Bureau (ADB) excellence award for indigenously
developing Sarvatra bulletproof jacket that can provide protection against various
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ammunition including that of sniper rifles + project started in 2017 + it provides
protection from neck to ankle and upper arms 
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➢ MK-45 naval guns = The United States of America has approved the sale of thirteen +
The MK 45 is a naval artillery gun designed for use against surface warships, anti-aircraft
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and shore bombardment to support amphibious operations + It has a range of more than
20 nautical miles or 36 km 
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➢ AK-203 assault rifles = to be manufactured locally by an India-Russia joint venture (JV)
+ The rifles will be manufactured by the Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRRPL)
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at Korwa in Uttar Pradesh

➢ AK-103 assault rifles = India and Russia are close to concluding an Inter-Governmental
Agreement (IGA) for a multi-billion deal to locally bulk manufacture AK-103 assault
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rifles in India with technology transfer + to replace the indigenous INSAS (Indian
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National Small Arms System) rifles + AK-103 will be bulk produced by the OFB with
technology transfer
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➢ SIG716 assault rifles =  India inks contract for 72,000 assault rifles with Sig sauer of
USA + effective range of 500 m and weight of less than 3 kg + The new rifles will
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replace the Indian National Small Arms System (INSAS) rifles 

➢ ‘Falaq’ = radar system of Iran + Falaq is a mobile radar and a vehicle housing a control
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room, which is an improved version of the Gamma, a system of Russian origin

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➢ ICGS Varaha = It is a Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Vessel and fourth in the series of
seven 98-m such vessels + It has been designed and built indigenously by Larsen &
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Toubro (L&T) + It has capabilities to operate twin engine Advanced Light Helicopters
(ALH)
➢ ‘Annie Besant’ and ‘Amrit Kaur’ = Two Indian Coast Guard Ships (ICGS) — Annie
Besant and Amrit Kaur — were commissioned + I.C.G.S. Annie Besant will be based at
Chennai and I.C.G.S. Amrit Kaur will be based at Haldia
➢ Integrated battle group = The new concept of Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) which
the Army plans to create as part of overall force transformation + IBGs are brigade-sized,
agile, self-sufficient combat formations + Each IBG would be tailor-made based on
Threat, Terrain and Task and resources will be allotted based on the three Ts + they will
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be low on logistics, the source stated and added, “They will be able to mobilise within
12-48 hrs based on the location 
➢ Siachen Glacier = Siachen Glacier lies in Northern Ladakh in the Karakorams, a
mountain range originating from the Pamirs + Siachen is the largest glacier of
the Karakoram Range and second largest glacier in the world + Most of
the Siachen Glacier is disputed territory between India and Pakistan + The area of "Aksai
Chin" is also located in this area + India has held the glacier’s dominating heights since it
occupied them in 1984 under operation Meghdoot 
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➢ Goa Maritime Conclave = hosted recently by the Navy for Indian Ocean littoral states +
the major focus was on information-sharing. India offered to share real-time movement
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of maritime traffic 
➢ Mechuka  and Vijaynagar Advanced Landing Ground = Located in Arunachal
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Pradesh 
➢ Military  Nursing  Service =  celebrates 94th Raising Day + MNS is the only all women
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corps in the Armed Forces + It came into being on March 28, 1888 with the arrival of
first batch of 10 qualified British Nurses in Bombay (now Mumbai), to organise nursing
in Military hospitals in India. 
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➢ Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System(CIBMS) = Home ministry
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+ The concept of CIBMS is the integration of manpower, sensors and command and
control to improve situational awareness and facilitate quick response to emerging
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situations + The smart fencing is a web of surveillance, communication and data storage
devices. It will enable surveillance during difficult weather conditions and reduce
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the need for physical patrolling of the borders. It will rely on thermal imaging, infra-red
and laser-based intruder alarms to stop infiltration + The smart fencing project will
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initially be implemented to cover gaps in the physical fencing. Eventually, this

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technology will be implemented across the entire border  

➢ Computer & Information Security Advisory Group (CISAG) = part of Department of
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Atomic Energy (DAE)

➢ Winter-grade diesel = Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has launched for high altitude
in
regions like Ladakh + has a low pour point of -33° Celsius + Pour Point - It is
the temperature below which the liquid loses its flow characteristics 
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➢ National Institute for Research and Development in Defence Shipbuilding

(NIRDESH) = 2016 started + is India's first centre for research and development
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in defence shipbuilding + established at Kozhikode district of Kerala 

➢ Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) = under the aegis of the Ministry of Home Affairs and a part
of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), along with six other central security forces
in India (Assam Rifles, Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Central
Reserve Police Force, Indo Tibetan Border Police and National Security Guard) +
established in 1963 in the aftermath of the Chinese aggression in 1962 + currently
deployed at 2450 kms long Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders 
➢ Identification friend or Foe (IFF) system = There are a range of methods used to
identify friendly aircraft. These include visual sightings, radio transmission, designated
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entry and exit points for friendly aircraft and a transponder-based + With supersonic
aircraft and long range radars, the IFF system is the predominant method used in both
civil and military aviation to identify aircraft + IFF is a transponder-based identification
device that communicates with ground radars and exchanges encrypted codes to indicate
that the aircraft is a friendly one + Some modes of transponders also indicate the speed
and specific coordinates of the aircraft which are used by civil air traffic controllers to
identify commercial aircraft.
➢ Information Fusion Centre (IFC) = for the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) + 24/7 regional
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information  sharing center + Through this Centre, information on “white shipping”, or
commercial shipping, will be exchanged with countries in the region  to  improve 
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maritime domain awareness in the Indian Ocean + IFC has been established at the  Navy’s
 Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) in Gurugram + set up in 2018 as
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the single point center linking all coastal radar chain networks along the 7500 km Indian
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coastline + IFC has already built linkages with around 18 countries + India has started
sharing maritime data with the help of IFC 
➢ As per DPP-2016(Defence procurement procedure), there are two sub-categories of
‘Make’ Procedure:  
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• Make-I (Government Funded): It will involve Government funding of 90%, released
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in a phased manner.  
• Make-II (Industry Funded): Under this, private industry funds the research for the
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product on its own and develops a prototype. There will be no government funding  

➢ GOCO model = Army has started identifying potential industry partners to implement
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the Government Owned Contractor Operated (GOCO) model for its base workshops and
ordnance depots + GOCO model was one of the recommendations of the Lt. Gen.
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DB Shekatkar (Retd.) committee to “enhance combat capability and re-

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balance defence expenditure + In this model, Contractor operates facilities provided by

the Govt
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➢ Indian navy Environment conservation (INECR) = formulated by Indian

Navy towards achieving the goal of Clean and Green Navy + Under the INECR,
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numerous policies aimed at reduction of energy consumption and environment

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sustenance have been formulated and disseminated to all ships, as well as shore
establishments.
➢ Territorial Army = Territorial Army (TA) is a second line of defence after the Regular
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Indian Army + it is not a profession, occupation or a source of employment + organized

under the Territorial act,1948 
➢ National defence fund (NDF) = set up to take charge of voluntary donations in cash and
kind + established in 1962 + administered by an Executive Committee, with PM as
Chairperson + entirely dependent on voluntary contributions from the public and does not
get any budgetary support
➢ Air Traffic Flow Management - Central Command Centre (C-ATFM) = opened in
New Delhi + seeks to optimise utilisation of resources like airspace and aircraft at
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capacity-constrained Indian airports + India has now become the seventh country to have
a centralised air traffic flow management system
➢ Line of actual control (LAC) = demarcation line that separates Indian-controlled
 territory from Chinese-controlled territory in the former princely state of Jammu and
Kashmir, formed after the 1962 war
➢ “Software Defined” Radio (SDR) = The SDR has been designed and developed by
the Defence Research and Development Organisation, Bharat Electronics Limited and
the Navy’s Weapons Electronics Systems Engineering Establishment (WESEE). It will
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facilitate high-speed data and secure voice communication with anti-jamming capability
➢ Next Generation Maritime Mobile Coastal Batteries (NGMMCB-Long Range) = It
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has been developed and manufactured in India by Indo-Russia Joint Venture Company-
BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited. It will be fitted with supersonic BrahMos surface-
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to-surface cruise missiles and will be deployedalong the coast
➢ Mission Shakti =  Mission Shakti is a joint programme of the Defence Research and
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Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Space Research  Organisation  (ISRO)
 + anti-satellite (ASAT) missile test +  4thcountry in the world to demonstrate the
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capability to shoot down satellites in orbit(So far, only the United States, Russia and
China have this prowess) + scientists shot down a live satellite in the low earth orbit
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(LEO) at 300 km in space. Satellite downed by the ASAT missile was Microsat-R + India
has built the broad capabilities and building blocks to develop  ASAT missiles for some
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time as part of its Ballistic  Missile  Defence  (BMD)  programme + ASAT missile was
a modified exo-atmospheric interceptor missile of the BMD. A LEO of 300 km was
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chosen to “minimise” debris + Anti-satellite weapons provide the capability to shoot

down enemy satellites in orbit thereby disrupting critical communications and
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surveillance capabilities. ASAT missiles also act as a space deterrent in dissuading

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adversaries from targeting the country’s satellite network 

➢ Ordinance factory board = 41 factories + Ministry of defence + recruitment by UPSC +
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HQ at kolkata 
➢ No first use policy = It refers to a pledge or a policy by a nuclear power not to use
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nuclear weapons as a means of warfare unless first attacked by an adversary using

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nuclear weapons. Earlier, the concept had also been applied to chemical and biological
warfare + India first adopted a “No first use” policy after its second nuclear tests,
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Pokhran-II, in 1998 + In August 1999, the Indian government released a draft of

the doctrine which asserts that nuclear weapons are solely for deterrence and that India
will pursue a policy of “retaliation only”
➢ Cold start doctrine = India's 'Cold War doctrine,' or 'Proactive Strategy' as the Indian
Army calls it, is aimed at making swift and hard inroads into enemy territory, specifically
Pakistan + To prevent the outbreak of a nuclear war, such strikes will be 'limited' and
'calibrated'. Enemy territory can be struck within 72-96 hours of the directive. The idea
for the 'Cold Start' doctrine was fuelled by Operation Parakram, launched after the terror
attack on Parliament in December 2001
DEFENCE
➢ Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) = cabinet approved the creation of post + It will function

as the Principal Military Adviser to the Defence Minister and also as the Permanent
Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC)(CDS will be military advisor to the
Nuclear command authority, member of Defence acquisition council(DAC)) + CDS will
also head the Department of Military Affairs (DMA), to be created in the Ministry
of Defence, and function as its Secretary(Department of military affairs will deal with
Territorial army, Procurement(EXCEPT Capital acquisitions), Armed forces etc) + He
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will head the Chiefs of Staff Committee meetings + Various committees such as
the Kargil Review committee led by K Subramaniam, the Naresh Chandra committee of
2011 and Shekatkar committee recommended a permanent chairman + will be a four-star
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military officer + 65 set as maximum age of CDS 
➢ ‘Reverse tendering’ concept =A reverse auction is a type of auction in which
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the traditional roles of buyer and seller are reversed. Thus, there is one buyer and many
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potential sellers. In an ordinary auction (also known as a 'forward auction'), buyers
compete to obtain goods or services by offering increasingly higher prices
➢ No first use policy in other country = China was the first to pass such a resolution after
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it became a nuclear power in 1964 + United States has never declared a NFU policy +
Pakistan has made no such commitment + As of today, China and India are the only
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nuclear weapon states that have maintained an unconditional NFU pledge
➢ India’s Nuclear Doctrine = In 2003 India’s official nuclear doctrine was released + It
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spelled out two of the contingencies under which nuclear weapons were to be used(When
Indian territory is under a nuclear attack, or Indian forces that may be outside India are
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under attack) + The Indian doctrine also stated that it will not use nuclear weapons
against non-nuclear-powered states, and would strictly control the export of such
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materials and technologies + The onus of authorising retaliatory attacks was placed on
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the civilian political leadership, led by the Prime Minister

➢ ‘Open General Export Licence’ = to give India further access to the global market in
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defence sector + It will enable Indian companies to export certain equipment to identified
nations + The nations that India believes have the maximum potential of purchasing
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military equipment include Vietnam, Thailand, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, UAE

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and Malaysia
➢ Land warfare doctrine = Indian Army (IA) first came up with its declassified official
doctrine in 1998, and then again with a revised version in 2004. Subsequently, the IA
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came up with a sub-conventional warfare doctrine in 2006. The latest iteration of the IA
doctrine has been christened the Land Warfare Doctrine (LWD)-2018, and is a follow up
to the first-ever Joint Doctrine of the Indian Armed Forces (JDIAF) released in 2017
➢ National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) project = constituted to link all governmental
databases into create single source of comprehensive intelligence to be accessible
to intelligence agencies + office of NATGRID is attached to the Ministry of Home
Affairs+ The project, initially started in 2009, is an online database for collating scattered
pieces of information and putting them on one platform + At least 10 central agencies
like Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and others will have
DEFENCE
access to the data on a secured platform + The 10 user agencies will be linked
independently with certain databases that would be procured from 21 providing
organisations and include telecom, tax records, bank, immigration, etc. to enable
the generation of intelligence inputs + (An expression of interest (EOI) issued by
NATGRID in 2017 had said NATGRID is intending to set up an Entity Extraction,
Visualization and Analytics (EVA) system that would collect and analyse information
available from various data source
➢ Drone census = India’s first drone census by the Ministry of civil Aviation + DGCA
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issued the civil aviation requirements which regulates use of drones and provides the
process for obtaining unique Identification number Unmanned aircraft operator permit
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UAOP and other operational requirements + (Drone federation of India a non-
government, not-for-profit, industry-led body working in the unmanned aviation space) +
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(Recently Ministry of Civil Aviation announced a scheme providing a window up to
January 31, 2020 for voluntary registration of all drones and their operators.)
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➢ Digital Sky Platform = It is the first-of-its-kind national unmanned traffic management
(UTM) platform that implements “no permission, no takeoff” (NPNT) + UTM operates
as a traffic regulator in drone airspace to ensure that drones remained on the approved
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flight paths + Before every single flight, drone pilots are required to request permission to
fly via a mobile app, which will automatically process the request and grant or reject it
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CULTURE
11.1 CULTURE- Logically Arranged
➢ Maharaja Ranjit Singh = He overthrew the warring Misls and established a unified
Sikh empire after he conquered Lahore in 1799 + He was given the title Lion of Punjab
(Sher-e-Punjab) because he stemmed the tide of Afghan invaders in Lahore + The
maharaja was known for his just and secular rule; both Hindus and Muslims were given
powerful positions in his darbar + (A statue of Ranjit Singh, who ruled Punjab for almost
four decades (1801-39), was recently inaugurated in Lahore)
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➢ Swami vivekanand = This year is the 125th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s address
at Parliament of the World's Religions in 1893 held in Chicago + Some of great literary
works of Swami Vivekananda are Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga,
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My Master, Lectures from Colombo to Almora + philosophy was assimilation of
ideals prescribed in all religions + Disciple of ramakrishna (spread advaita vedanta to the
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west via ramakrishna mission ) + Followed Vedanta and yoga(READ MORE FROM
STATIC) 
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➢ Adi Shankaracharya = 8th century Indian philosopher and theologian who consolidated
the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta + He is reputed to have founded
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four mathas(LOCATIONS??) + beautiful hymn called “Saundarya Lahari” (READ
MORE FROM STATIC)
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➢ Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak = Father of Indian Unrest + Popularly known as
Lokmanya, and dedicated his life for the cause of “Purna Swaraj” (complete self-rule) +
One of the founders of the Fergusson College in Pune + Newspaper: Kesari in Marathi
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and Mahratta in English

➢ Chandra Shekhar Azad = Popularly known as ‘Azad’; It is believed that on being
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presented before a magistrate, he gave his name as “Azad” (The Free), his father’s name
as “Swatantrata” (Independence) and his residence as “Jail”. From that day he came to be
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known as Chandra Shekhar Azad among the people + Became extremely popular
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after Kakori Rail Dacoity in 1925 and assassination of policeman John Saunders in year
1928 + The Colt pistol of Chandra Shekhar Azad is displayed at the Prayagraj Museum +
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The Jallianwala Bagh tragedy which took place in 1919 was when he decided to join the
Non-Cooperation movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920 + He was the chief
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strategist of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA)

➢ Dr. Vikram Sarabhai = born in 1919 + considered as the father of India's space program
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+ He was instrumental in establishing the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in

Ahmedabad in 1947 + He also founded the Ahmedabad Textile Industry’s Research
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Association in 1947 + he established the Indian National Committee for Space Research
in 1962, which was later, renamed the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) + He
helped set up the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station in Thiruvananthapuram,
with its inaugural flight in 1963.It was later renamed as the Vikram Sarabhai Space
Centre (VSSC) + He along with other Ahmedabad-based industrialists played a major
role in the creation of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad + He had worked
on India's first satellite ‘Aryabhata’.
➢ Firoz Shah Tughlaq = The British called him the ‘father of the irrigation
department’ because of the many gardens and canals that he built
Contribution + He established the Diwan-i-Khairat — office for charity + He established
CULTURE
the Diwan-i-Bundagan — department of slave + He established Sarais (rest house) for the
benefits of merchants and other travellers etc.
➢ Tipu Sultan = became the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore after the death of his
father Hyder Ali in 1782 during 2nd Anglo-Mysore War + “Tiger of Mysore” +  because
of the help given by Nizam of Hyderabad and Marathas, in 4th Anglo-Mysore
War, Tipu was defeated and killed on 4 May 1799 while defending his fort of
Seringapatam + founder-member of the ‘Jacobin Club of Mysore’ that served allegiance
to the French + planted a LIBERTY TREE in Seringapatnam and declared himself
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Citizen Tipoo 
➢ Muhammad Iqbal/Allama Iqbal = written, “Saare jahan se acha” (known alternatively
as 'Tarana-e-Hind)( published in the weekly journal Ittehad on August 16, 1904) + wrote
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mostly in Urdu and Persian + Iqbal’s first published collection of poems came out in
1923 and is titled, “Bang-e-Dara” (Call of the Marching Bell) + participated in second
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and third session of Round Table Conference 
➢ Skandagupta = Skandagupta succeeded his father Kumaragupta I as the ruler of Gupta
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empire + He ruled from 455 A.D. to 467 A.D + The Gupta period is known as the golden
period of ancient Indian history and Skandagupta vikramaditya is known as the Saviour of
India as he successfully fought the battle against the invading Huns + Skandagupta issued
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five types of gold coins: Archer type, King and queen type, Chhatra type, Lion-slayer
type and Horseman type 
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➢ Veer Savarkar = formed a youth organization. Known as Mitra Mela(to bring in national
and revolutionary ideas) + He was against foreign goods and propagated the idea of
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Swadeshi + In his book, The History of the war of Indian Independence, Savarkar wrote
about the guerilla warfare tricks used in 1857 Sepoy Mutiny + The book was banned by
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Britishers, but Madam Bhikaji Cama published the book in Netherlands, Germany and

France, which eventually reached many Indian revolutionaries + He was arrested in 1909
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on charges of plotting an armed revolt against the Morle-Minto reform + He founded the

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two-nation theory in his book ‘Hindutva’ calling Hindus and Muslims two separate
nations +  In 1937, Hindu Mahasabha passed it as a resolution + In 2002, Port Blair
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airport at Andaman and Nicobar’s Island was renamed after Veer Savarkar International
Airport + Mr Savarkar was only an accused in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi,
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and Mr Godse was convicted (though he was acquitted due to lack of evidence, Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel was convinced that Savarkar was guilty) + He also Worked on
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abolishment of untouchability in Ratnagiri. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar also compared his

work to Lord Buddha 
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➢ Guru Ravidas = (1450 - 150) + He was a North Indian mystic poet and saint of the
Bhakti movement + Born in Varanasi to the ‘untouchable’ leather tanners caste + He is
believed to be a disciple of the bhakti saint-poet Ramanandaand a contemporary of the
bhakti saint-poet Kabir + One of his famous disciples was the
saint, Mirabai + Ravidas taught removal of social divisions of caste and gender, and
promoted unity in the pursuit of personal spiritual freedoms + Yielding to the protests
against the Supreme Court-directed demolition of a Guru Ravidas temple in south Delhi,
the Centre has agreed to allot the same site to the devotees to construct a temple  + He
said in his teachings that the only way to meet God was to free the mind from the duality
➢ Paramahansa Yogananda = (5 January 1893 – 7 March 1952) + he was an Indian
monk, yogi and guruwho introduced millions to the teachings of meditation and Kriya
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Yoga through his organization Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF)

/ Yogoda Satsanga Society (YSS) of India + He is considered as the “Father of Yoga in
the West.” + He published his book Autobiography of a Yogi in 1946 + Finance Minister
Releases Commemorative Coin on ParamahansaYogananda to Mark his 125th Birth
Anniversary.    
➢ Guru Nanak = founder and first Guru of Sikhism + born in 1469
at Talwandi Rai Bhoe (renamed later as Nankana Sahib) near Lahore + It is said that in
1499 he got enlightenment and heard ‘God’s Call’ to dedicate himself completely to the
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service of humanity + He undertook preaching tours (Udasis) to spread his message + In
the later years of his life, Guru Nanak settleddown at the township of Kartarpur ("creator's
town"), on the banks of river Ravi in Punjab + The recently
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inaugurated Kartarpur Corridor connects the Dera Baba Nanak Sahib Gurdwara in India's
state of Punjab to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur shrine in Pakistan + Gurdwara
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Darbar Sahib was ordered by Maharaja of Patiala between 1921-1929 + Guru Nanak died
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at the age of 70. He appointed Bhai Lena as his successor and renamed him as Guru
Angad + Guru Angad compiled the compositions of Guru Nanak, to which he added his
own in a new script known as Gurmukhi  + (Bidar =  a town in northeastern Karnataka  +
Guru Nanak is believed to have visited Bidar during the ‘dakshinapatha’ or his southern
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sojourn)
➢ Thiruvalluvar = Thiruvalluvar, also called Valluvar, was a Tamil poet-saint + believed
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to have lived between 3rd-4th century or 8th-9th century + He is thought to be linked to
Jainism. However, Hindus have also claimed that Thiruvalluvar belonged to Hinduism +
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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
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(virtue), Porul (government and society), and Kamam (love) 

➢ Lala Lajpat Rai = He founded the Indian Home Rule League of America in New York
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City in 1917 + He was elected President of the Indian National Congress during its
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Special Session in Kolkata in 1920, which saw the launch of Mahatma Gandhi’s Non-
cooperation Movement [READ MORE FROM STATIC] 
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➢ Who was Udham Singh = born in Sunam in Punjab’s Sangrur district in 1899 + He was a

political activist who got associated with the Ghadar Party while in the US + In 1934,
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Singh made his way to London with the purpose of assassinating O’Dwyer, who in 1919
had been the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab and unsurprisingly, Singh
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considered O’Dwyer to be responsible for the massacre + Instead of Dyer, who instructed

his men to open fire at the crowd gathered in Jallianwala Bagh, O’Dwyer is considered to
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be the actual perpetrator, since Dyer could not have executed it without his permission +
He was sentenced to death and was hanged on July 31, 1940 at Pentonville Prison
➢ Srinivasa Ramanujan = December 22nd is celebrated as National Mathematics Day in
the memory of Srinivasa Ramanujan. + The famous British mathematician Godfrey
Harold Hardy recognised his talent in 1913. It was a turning point in his life. Ramanujan
went to Cambridge, on Godfrey Harold Hardy’s invitation + Ramanujan’s legacy used in
signal processing, black hole physics etc
➢ Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya = He had served as the President of the INC on four
occasions + He was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 2014 + He was the editor
of a Hindi magazine, ‘Hindosthan’ + He became the editor of the ‘Indian Opinion’ in
1889. He also started a Hindi weekly ‘Abhyudaya’, an English daily ‘Leader’, a Hindi
CULTURE
newspaper ‘Maryada’ + Pandit Malaviya was instrumental in founding the Benares Hindu

University in 1916 + He was opposed to separate electorates to Muslims and the
Lucknow Pact + He was also against the INC’s participation in the Khilafat Movement +
He was a participant in the Second Round Table Conference in 1931 + He started the
Ganga Mahasabha to oppose construction of dams in the Ganga + He was also a social
reformer who opposed untouchability + He worked for the temple entry of Dalits
at Kalaram Temple at Nashik, Maharashtra. 
➢ Swami Shraddhanand = In the early 1880s, he came into contact with Swami
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Dayanand, founder of the Arya Samaj + He wrote book called “Hindu Sangathan” + He
called untouchability a “curse” and a “blot” on the reputations of the Hindus
➢ The ‘Brindavana’ (tomb) of Sri Vyasaraja Tirtha, a renowned saint of
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the Madhwa tradition + near Hampi + It is one of the nine such at Nava Brindavana, on
the banks of the Tungabhadra + Sri Vyasaraja Tirtha was the ‘Raja Guru’ of
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Sri Krishnadevaraya, the Vijayanagar Emperor. He was buried at Nava Brindavana in
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1539
➢ T N Seshan = Born in Thirunellai, Palakkad district of Kerala, he was awarded the
Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1996 + T N Seshan was credited for enforcing the model
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code of conduct to reign in muscle and money power during elections during his tenure
as the 10th CEC
➢
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Ashfaqullah Khan = along with Ram Prasad Bismil, was sentenced to death for
the Kakori conspiracy of 1925 + Kakori robbery was carried out to fund the activities of
the HSRA (Hindustan socialist and republican army) + Ashfaq composed poems mostly
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in Urdu and a few in Hindi, under the pen names Varasi and Hazarat + In the mid-
1920s, Ashfaqullah Khan and Ram Prasad Bismil went on to found HSRA(HSRA
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published its manifesto titled “The Revolutionary” in 1925)

➢ Savitribai Phule = She was an Indian social reformer, educationalist, and poet from
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Maharashtra + regarded as the first female teacher of India and the mother of Indian
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feminism + She and her husband (Jyotirao Phule) founded the 1st Indian girls' school in
Pune
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➢ Periyar E.V Ramasamy = started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam
+ He is known as the 'Father of the Dravidian Movement'  
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➢ Satnami Rebellion = The Satnami sect was founded by a saint named “Birbhan” in 1657

in Narnaul in Haryana. The major religious activity of this sect is to chant and meditate
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the true names {Sat-Nam} of God specially Rama and Krishna + This sect is thought to
be an offshoot of Ravidasi sect and comprised of lower strata of the Hindu society,
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particularly, leather workers, sweepers, carpenters, Goldsmiths etc + The followers of this

sect kept their heads shaven (thus called Mundiyas) and abstained from liquor and meat +
revolt of 1672 
➢ Third battle of Panipat = fought in 1761 + Fought between Maratha forces and invading
armies of Afghan general Ahmed Shah Abdali of Durrani Empire in 1761 + Abdali was
supported by two Indian allies—the Rohillas Najib-ud-daulah, Afghans of the Doab
region and Shuja-ud-Daula-the Nawab of Awadh + The Marathas were defeated in the
battle + (The First Battle of Panipat, in 1526, laid the foundation of the Mughal Empire in
India after its first ruler, Babur, ended the Delhi Sultanate) + The Second Battle of
Panipat, in 1556, cemented Mughal rule when Akbar fought off a threat from the
CULTURE
king Hemu ‘Vikramaditya’ + [FILM PANIPAT Starring Sanjay Dutt, UPSC asked

question in 2016 Prelims on Film released on mathematician]
➢ Bhima Koregaon battle = 1818 + battle was fought in Bhima Koregaon,( a district in
Pune) with a strong historical Dalit connection, 'between the Peshwa forces and the
British'(comprised mainly of Dalit soldiers)  
➢ Paika Rebellion = 200-years ago in 1817 + a valiant uprising of soldiers led
by Buxi Jagabandhu (Bidyadhar Mohapatra) + took place in Khurda of Odisha  
➢ Dixon plan of 1950 = not accepted by India + Owen Dixon — an Australian jurist
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chosen by the United Nations to mediate between India and Pakistan on the J&K issue +
Plan had assigned Ladakh to India and northern areas and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir to
Pakistan, besides splitting Jammu between the two. It had proposed a plebiscite in the
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Kashmir valley
➢ Dixon mission = 5 member Mission + It had members nominated by India and Pakistan,
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and three others, eventually brokered the cessation of hostilities from January 1, 1949
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+ Dixon Plan of 1950 led to partition of some areas of Jammu & Kashmir between India
and Pakistan (Ladakh to India, PoK and Northern Areas to Pakistan, with Jammu divided
between the two), plus a plebiscite in the Valley (that never happened)
➢ Nehru-Liaquat pact, 1950 = also known as the Delhi Pact + Expiration in 1956 + sought
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to provide certain safeguards and rights to religious minorities like unrecognition of
forced conversions, returning of abducted women,looted property etc + signed by Jawahar
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Lal Nehru and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan 
➢ ‘Satras’ (Vaishnav monasteries) and ‘Devalayas’ (temples) = satras were established
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by Assamese Vaishnavite monasteries for religious practices at the initiative of the Ahom
Kings of Assam in the middle of the 17th century to propagate neo Vaishnavism
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➢ Hayagriva Madhava temple = Hajo in Assam

➢ Sri Krishna temple, Guruvayur = Kerala
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➢ Sabarimala temple = kerala + forms part of periyar tiger reserve + lie on banks

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of Pamba river
➢ Mandalam makaravilakku season = Related to sabarimala temple,Kerala  
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➢ Niraputhari celebrations = which marks the beginning of the harvest season +

lord ayyappa temple at sabrimala, Kerala
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➢ Markandeshwar group of temples = Maharashtra + group of temples were built

between the 9th and 12th centuries + dedicated to Lord Shiva
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called Markandeshwar or Markandadeo temple on the banks of the Wainganga river +

They are famously known as the ‘mini Khajuraho’ or ‘Khajuraho of Vidarbha’. They
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belong to saiva, vaishnava and sakti faith + these belong to the Nagara group temples of
North India
➢ Kopeshwar temple = Maharashtra + It is at the border of Maharashtra and Karnataka
+ It was built in the 12th century by Shilahara king Gandaraditya between 1109 and 1178
CE + It is dedicated to Lord Shiva
➢ Jangubai Cave Temple and the Kaplai Caves = considered as a pilgrimage site by
aboriginal tribes like Gond, Pradhan and Kolam. These caves are located at Maharashtra -
Telangana border + (Kolam are a designated Scheduled Tribe in the Indian states
of Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra) 
➢ Sri Varadharaja Swamy temple = Tamil Nadu
➢ Sree padmanabhaswamy temple = Kerala 
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➢ Lakshmi Narasimha temple = 13th century temple + Karnataka + built during

the Hoysala rule in the early 13th century, is a ‘trikuta’ — a temple with three shrines 
➢ Lord Venkateswara temple = Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh 
➢ Shore Temple = It is a structural temple built between 700–728 AD with granite Blocks
+ It was built by Narasimhavarman II in Dravidian Style of Architecture + It has been
classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site + located near Chennai in Tamil Nadu
➢ Lingaraj Temple = Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva and is one of the oldest temples in
Bhubaneswar, the capital of the Indian state of Odisha
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➢ Atheeswarar Jain Temple = Tamil Nadu
➢ Phukche festival = organised on the Dalai lama’s birthday in Ladakh
➢ Tuluni festival = sumi tribe + Nagaland
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➢ Kharchi festival = Tripura + celebrated at Chaturdash Devata Mandir (14 Gods temple),
Old Agartala, Tripura to worship fourteen gods and mother earth + Puja is performed to
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wash out the sins and to clean the post menstrual phase of mother earth’s menstruation +
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It is performed 15 days after Ambubachi (annual festival held at Kamakhya temple,
Assam) + Animal sacrifice is also an important part of this festival
➢ Ashadhi Bij festival = Gujrat + arrival of rain is celebrated by Kutchi community
in Kutch region (desert area) of Gujarat @
➢ Wanchuwa festival = Assam + harvest festival + Tiwa tribes  
➢ Bathukaama festival = Flower festival + Telengana
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➢ Onam festival = annual Harvest festival in the state of Kerala
➢ Nuakhai = Harvesting festival of Odisha + It is also called Nuakhai Parab or Nuakahi
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Bhetghat
➢ Shirui lily festival = inaugurated in Manipur + to spread awareness about the endangered
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state flower ‘Shirui Lily’ as well as to promote Ukhrul district as a potential tourist

destination in Manipur + Shirui Lily, or Lilium mackliniae, is the State Flower of
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Manipur found only in the upper ranges of Shirui Hills in Ukhrul district of Manipur

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➢ Mandu Festival = Madhya Pradesh

➢ Nagoba jatara = Telangana + celebrated by Mesaram clan of Gond tribes + Also known
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as Keslapur jatara
➢ Rann Utsav = festival of Kutch, Gujarat
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➢ Bohag Bihu/Rongali Bihu/Xaat Bihu = festival celebrated in the state of Assam and
northeastern India, and marks the beginning of the Assamese New Year
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➢ Indian harvest festivals = Makar Sankranti(It is a harvest festival that is celebrated

across the country with different names) +Pongal(Tamil Nadu)+ Magha Bihu(In
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Assam and many parts of the North East) + Uttarayan(Gujarat) + Maghi(Punjab)

+ Saaji(Himachal Pradesh) + Kicheri(Uttar Pradesh)
➢ Lai Haraoba = ritualistic festival observed by Manipuri Meitei communities
➢ Zo Kutpui = event will witness various cultural programmes by different Mizo
tribes + Other important festivals of Mizoram: Mim Kut (celebrated in the months of
August and September, when the maize crop is ready for harvesting), Chapchar Kut
(celebrated in the month of March), Thalfavang Kut etc
➢ ‘Hingot Festival’ = annual festival in Indore, Madhya Pradesh + held a day after diwali 
➢ Chhath puja = an ancient festival, is meant to thank the Sun God for sustaining life
+ Chhath is an ancient Hindu Vedic festival historically native to the Indian subcontinent,
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more specifically, the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh and
the Madhesh region of Nepal 
➢ Epiphany festival = Christian feast day that celebrates revelation of God incarnate as
Jesus Christ
➢ Aadi Mahotsav = It is a joint initiative of Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of
India & Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) + The
theme of the festival is : “A celebration of the spirit of Tribal Craft, Culture and
Commerce” + The Mahotsav will comprise of display and sale of items of tribal art and
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craft, tribal medicine & healers, tribal cuisine etc
➢ Odisha Rasagola = has received the geographical indication tag + Odisha + both Odisha
and West Bengal have been contesting the origin of the Rasagola. Historical records
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submitted say the Odisha rasagola is associated with world famous Puri
Hagannath Temple
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➢ Kolhapuri chappal = granted GI tag + Maharashtra and Karnataka
➢ Palani Panchamirtham = Tamil Nadu + Got GI tag + first time a temple ‘prasadam’
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from Tamil Nadu has been bestowed with the GI tag.
➢ Tawlhlohpuan = Mizoram + Got GI tag + medium to heavy, compactly woven, good
➢
quality fabric from Mizoram @
Mizo Puanchei = Mizoram + Got GI tag + It is a colourful Mizo shawl/textile, from
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Mizoram + It is an important marriage outfit in the state
➢ Tirur = Kerala + Got GI tag + valued both for its mild stimulant action and medicinal
properties + It is unique for its significantly high content of total chlorophyll and protein
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in fresh leaves + It is also commonly used for making pan masala for chewing
+ Eugenol is the major essential oil in Tirur betel leaf contributing to its pungency
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➢ Dindigul lock = Got GI tag +Tamil Nadu

➢ Kandangi saree = Got GI tag + Tamil Nadu
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➢ To protect imitation of products by others, following handloom products of Kerala have

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been registered under Geographical Indications Act =  Kothampally dhoties and set

+ Balaramapuram saree and fine cotton fabrics + Kasargod saree + Kothampally saree
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+ Chendamangalam dhoti + Cannanore Home furnishing

➢ Patola Sarees = trademark saree of Gujarat, is considered to be very costly and worn
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only by royals or aristocrats + Got GI tag in 2013 + KVIC has inaugurated a first Silk
Processing Plant at Surendranagar in Gujarat  
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➢ Jnanpith Award = presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith + instituted in 1961

+ awarded to Indian citizens (no posthumous conferral) writing in Indian languages
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included in 8th Schedule of the Constitution of India and English (added after
49th Jnanpith Award) + A language which receives the Award in a particular year is not
eligible for consideration for the next two years + first recipient of the award was the
Malayalam writer G. SankaraKurup
➢ Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) Awards = organised by the
Department of Biotechnology, MoS&T
➢ Sahitya Akademi Awards = given only to Indian citizens for the most outstanding books
of literary merit published in India in last 5 years in any of the major Indian
languages recognised by the Akademi + Besides the 22 languages enumerated in the
Constitution of India, the Sahitya Akademi has recognised English and Rajasthani
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language + Sahitya Akademi award is the second-highest literary honour by the

Government of India, after Jananpith award  
➢ National Florence Nightingale Award 2019 = instituted in the 1973 by the Govt as a
mark of recognition for the meritorious services rendered by nurses to the society +
Florence Nightingale, (also called as Lady with the Lamp), was a British nurse,
statistician, and social reformer who was the foundational philosopher of modern nursing
+ WHO has also announced 2020 as the year of the nurse and mid-wife 
➢ Saraswati Samman = annual award given to an outstanding literary work in any Indian
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language mentioned in Schedule VIII of the Constitution and published in 10 years
preceding the specified award year + It is the highest recognition in the field of Indian
literature in the country and carries a citation, a plaque and award money of ₹15 lakh +
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The award is presented by the KK Birla Foundation
➢ Global Goalkeeper award = Prime Minister Narendra Modi, honoured with the “Global
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Goalkeeper” award + by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the Swachh Bharat
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Abhiyan
➢ Right livelihood award = also known as alternate nobel+  international award to
"honourand support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent
challenges facing us today." + by Right Livelihood Award Foundation
@
➢ International Hrant Dink Award = award that commemorates the memory of Turkish-
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Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was killed in 2007, in Istanbul + Since 2009,
the Hrant Dink Award is presented every year to individuals, organisations or groups that
work for a world free from discrimination, racism and violence, and who take personal
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risks for achieving those ideals, break the stereotypes and use the language of peace and
by doing so give inspiration and hope to others
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➢ SASTRA Ramanujan prize for 2019 = The prize carries a citation and an award of
$10,000 and is conferred annually on mathematicians from across the world who are less
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than 32 years of age, working in an area influenced by the genius Srinivasa Ramanujan +
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+ Every year, this prize is awarded by SASTRA University on its campus near
Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu, on Ramanujan’s birth anniversary, December 22 + (Fields
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Medal is also related to mathematics)

➢ Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar prize = Awarded by Council of Scientific and Industrial
in
Research(CSIR) + awarded annually for notable and outstanding research, applied or

fundamental, in the disciplines +Any citizen of India engaged in research in any field of
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science and technology up to the age of 45 years + Overseas citizen of India (OCI)
working in India are also eligible + Prize: The prize carries a cash component of Rs 5
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lakh each + Dr Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar was the Founder Director (and later first
Director General) of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) He played an
instrument role in the establishment of the National Research Development Corporation
(NRDC) of India
➢ Sangeet Natak Akademi = first national academy of arts setup by the Government of
India in 1952. It is registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1986 + It
functions as the apex body of the performing arts (forms of music, dance and drama) +
academy also collaborates with international organisation like the UNESCO to save the
cultural heritage of the country + Awards by Sangeet NatakAkademi : The Fellowship of
the Akademi, Sangeet NatakAkademi Awards, The Ustad Bismillah Khan YuvaPuraskar
etc
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➢ Sadikpur Sinauli = ancient site with chariots, swords and other objects pointing to the
presence of a warrior class around 4,000 years ago + Uttar Pradesh + could be declared a
site of national importance soon + located on the lest banks of Yamuna
➢ Buddhist relic unearthed in A.P. village = 3rd century A.D. relic + Buddhist relic has been
unearthed on the right bank of the Gundlakamma river,Andhra Pradesh + is carved with
half lotus medallions at the centre and top portions on all the four sides in the Amaravati
school of Art of the Ikshwaku times + pillars carved in the Ikshwaku style were earlier
noticed inside the Siva temple at Manikeswaram
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➢ Excavations at Bharati Huda = Odisha + site about 3600 years ago + excavation
confirmed that a separate ethnic group that was using non-black-and-red ware might have
existed during the early chalcolithic cultural horizon and a new class of ethnic group
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might have come into contact with the rural settlers at Bharati Huda during mature phase
of chalcolithic culture + radiocarbon ages were calibrated using oxcal software
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➢ Keeladi/Keezhadi findings date back to 6th century BCE + Keeladi-An Urban
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Settlement of Sangam Age on the Banks of River Vaigai + The results from the fourth
excavations suggested that the “second urbanisation [the first being Indus] of
the Vaigai plains happened in Tamil Nadu around 6th century BCE as it happened in the
Gangetic plains @
➢ Megalithic sword unearthed in Kannur village, Kerala = State Archaeology Department
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in Kozhikode has unearthed what it calls a Megalithic era iron sword, a chisel and a few
decorated pottery from a rock-cut cave at Pothuvachery in Kannur district + The 105-cm
sword, believed to be 2,500 years old
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➢ ‘Ancient River’ found in Uttar Pradesh = Union Water Ministry has excavated an old,
dried-up river in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) that linked the Ganga and Yamuna
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rivers. The aim is to develop it as a potential groundwater recharge source + The genesis
of the palaeochannel’s discovery followed a 2016 report of K.S. Valdiya Committee   
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➢ Relics found by ASI in Maharastra’s Phupgaon = evidence of an Iron Age settlement

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+ excavation also exposed antiquities like beads of agate-carnelian, jasper, quartz and
agate were collected + The river Purna, a major tributary of the river Tapi, has witnessed
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several archaeological sites on its either side of the banks

➢ Archaeological Survey of India has discovered the earliest epigraphic evidence so far for
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the Saptamatrika cult in Andhra Pradesh + It is also the earliest Sanskrit inscription to

have been discovered in South India as on date + Saptamatrikas are a group of seven
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female deities worshipped in Hinduism as personifying the energy of their respective

consorts. The inscription is in Sanskrit and in Brahmi characters and was issued
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by Satavahana king Vijaya in 207 A.D

➢ Gottiprolu:( in Andhra Pradesh) = Gottiprolu lies on the right bank of a distributary of
river Swarnamukhi + Excavation by Archaeological Survey of India in Gottiprolu,
Andhra Pradesh indicate it as a Trade Centre of Early Historic Period + Among many
other antiquities unearthed are one life size Vishnu sculpture and a wide variety of
pottery of the early centuries of current era + On the basis of the brick size and associated
findings they can be placed anywhere between 2nd – 1st century BCE or little later
(nearly 2000 years old )
➢ Archeological Survey of India (ASI) = Ministry of culture + It regulates all
archaeological activities in the country as per the provisions of the Ancient Monuments
and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, 1958 + It also regulates
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Antiquities and Art Treasure Act, 1972 + It was founded in 1861 by Alexander
Cunningham who also became its first Director-General + Under Section 4 of the Ancient
Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, 1958, ancient
monuments or archaeological sites which are of historical, archaeological or artistic
interest and which have been in existence for not less than 100 years may be declared as
of national importance + protection and maintenance of monuments declared as of
national importance is taken up by ASI
➢ Bojjannakonda = a Buddhist monastery dating back to the 3rd century BC,
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at Sankaram village in Visakhapatnam, A.P + After a sustained campaign, heritage lovers
and officials have been successful in almost stopping the stone-pelting ritual
at Bojjannakonda + The name Sankaram is derived from the term, ‘Sangharama’. The
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site is famous for many votive stupas, rock-cut caves, brick-built edifices, early historic
pottery, and Satavahana coins that date back to the 1st century AD +
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(Bojjannakonda and Lingalakonda are two Buddhist rock-cut caves on adjacent
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hillocks, situated near a village called Sankaram)
➢ Excavations at Moghalmari = Buddhist monastic site of the early medieval period in
West Bengal + have confirmed the presence of two monasteries — Mugalayikaviharika
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and Yajñapindikamahavihara + The presence of two monasteries dating to the same
period within a single compound is unique in eastern India. Earlier excavations had
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indicated the presence of two monasteries on the basis of the structural plan + The
monasteries at Moghalmari date from 6th century CE and were functional till the 12th
century CE + inscriptions are in Sanskrit and the script is a transitional phase between
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later north Indian Brahmi and early Siddhamatrika + famous Chinese traveller Xuanzang
(more widely identified as Huen Tsang), who visited India in the 7th century CE, referred
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to the existence of ‘ten monasteries’ within the limits of Tamralipta (modern day
Tamluk) + Buddhist monasteries have a definite hierarchy — Mahavihara, Vihara and
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Viharika — which is reflected in the inscriptions found

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➢ Bhogeswaram caves = rock art discovered in A.P + it belongs to the period between
6000 BC and 6th century AD + have rock art of Mesolithic Neolithic, and megalithic
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periods, as well as paintings from the historic period

➢ Ottamthullal = is a dance and poetic performance form of Kerala + It was introduced in
in
the 18th century by Kunchan Nambiar, one of the PrachinaKavithrayam (three

famous Malayalam language poets) + It is accompanied by a mridangam (a barrel shaped
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double headed drum) or an idakka (drum and cymbal)

➢ Thulabharam = a Hindu ritual in which a person is weighed against a commodity such
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as flowers, grains, fruits and similar articles in temples and the equal value or quantity is
offered as donation
➢ Bomkai, Kantha and ikat = Types of Saree + generally from Odisha
➢ Dokra metalwork = non–ferrous metal casting using the lost-wax casting technique
➢ Kondapalli toys = cultural icons of Andhra Pradesh + TellaPoniki wood, which gives
the toys their unique character. No other wood can be a replacement to make these toys
as TellaPoniki is malleable and can be easily chiselled into the desired shape
➢ Kolam = a traditional drawing thought to bring prosperity to homes + Kolam is a form of
drawing that is drawn by using rice flour, chalk, chalk powder or rock powder, often
using naturally or synthetically colored powders, in Sri Lanka, the Indian states of Tamil
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Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and some parts of Goa,
Maharashtra as well as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and a few other Asian countries
➢ Pulikali (Tiger Dance) = recreational folk art from the state of Kerala. It is performed by
trained artists to entertain people on the occasion of Onam, an annual harvest festival,
celebrated mainly in the Indian state of Kerala
➢ Theyyam = It  is a popular ritual form of worship of North Malabar in Kerala + The
dance or invocation is generally performed in front of the village shrine + There is no
stage or curtain or other such arrangements for the performance + The devotees would be
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standing or some of them would be sitting on a sacred tree in front of the shrine + The
performers of Theyyam belong to the lower caste community, and have an important
position in Theyyam 
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➢ Bhaona = traditional form of entertainment in Assam + played a major role in the neo-
Vaishnavite movement that Sankardeva started in Assam + generally have religious
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themes + Borgeet, a new form of spiritual music, and Bhaona, a mythology-based
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theatrical performance, and monastic dances that evolved into the
classical Sattriya + Sankaradeva also created the Brajavali, a literary language limited to
theatrical usage 
➢ Petta Thullal ritual = It denotes the beginning of the last leg of the annual Sabarimala
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pilgrimage season in Kerala + The presence of hazardous metals, including lead,
arsenic and cadmium in the colours used during the ritual, causes skin troubles as well as
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pollution + The usage of an organic vermilion has been suggested to minimize the
environmental impact  
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➢ Yakshagana = classical folk art form of the state of Karnataka + performance usually

depicts a story from the Hindu epics and puranas 
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➢ Hori habba = bull catching sport + karnataka

➢ Jallikattu = bull-taming sport + held as part of the Pongal festival, in Madurai district of
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Tamil Nadu  
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➢ Kambala = annual buffalo race + Karnataka  

➢ Kalaripayattu = one of the oldest martial art forms that originated in Kerala and dates
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back to the 3rd century B.C 

➢ Cultural Themes at 26th Republic day Parade = Kaksar folk Dance(performed by
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Abhujmaria tribe in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh) + Gramiya Kalai (folk arts of Tamil
Nadu) + Bhortal Nritya(Assam) + Lord Lingaraj’s Rukuna Rath Yatra(Lord Lingaraja
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is worshipped as both Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu (Harihara) at the Lingaraj temple in
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Bhubaneswar, Odisha) + Brahmotsavam(festival is celebrated in Tirumala Tirupati

temple,Andhra Pradesh) + Anubhav Mantapa(It is the Center for Experiences founded
by Basavaveshwara, showcasing the first Socio-religious centre of the 12th century
Kalyana Karnataka) + Living Root Bridges(Meghalaya) + 'Save the frog' campaign(of
the Goa Government) + ‘Back to village’ programme(J&K Govt) + Rani ki Vav – Jal
Mandir(In Gujarat and was Built in 1083 by Rani Udayamati in memory of her husband
King Bhimdev-I, son of Mulraj, founder of the Solanki dynasty; Rani Ki Vav also holds
the distinction of being a UNESCO World Heritage Site) + Tribal Museum of Bhopal
(showcasing Gond, Baiga, Korku, Rajwar, Sahariya, Bhil, Bharia tribes)
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➢ UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage = UNESCO has recognised the

“Nuad” Thai massage as part of its List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity +
Indian Intangible Cultural Heritages added into this list : Tradition of Vedic chanting,
Ramlila (the traditional performance of the Ramayana) , Chhau dance, Kumbh Mela etc
➢ Khon Masked Dance Drama = in Thailand + is a performing art which involve graceful
dance movements, instrumental and vocal renditions and glittering costumes that depict
the glory of Rama + It has no dialogues and background voices narrate the whole story of
Ramayana + Khon Ramlila of Thailand is included in the list of UNESCO’s Intangible
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cultural heritage + Culture Department of Uttar Pradesh government organised the
country’s first training and performance programme of KHON Ramlila in collaboration
with Thailand government 
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➢ Tanbo Art or rice paddy art = originated in Japan + huge replicas of famous paintings,
including Mona Lisa, by growing rice with fronds of different colours 
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➢ Indus inscriptions = Not deciphered yet + Indus inscriptions are one of the most
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enigmatic legacies of the Indus Valley civilisation which have not been deciphered due to
the absence of bilingual texts, extreme brevity of the inscriptions, and ignorance about
the language(s) encoded by the Indus script + A majority of the Indus Valley inscriptions
@
were written logographically (by using word signs) and not by using phonograms (speech
sounds units), claims a recent research paper
➢ Statue of unity = unveiled last year + dedicated to Sardar patel + 182m + tallest in the
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world + on the river Narmada(South gujarat) + 3000 crore project(funded for the most
part by the Gujarat government, with minor contributions from the Centre and Central
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PSUs) + use of Bronze,cement and steel + twice the size of statue of liberty +  statue was
designed by Padma Bhushan-winning sculptor Ram V. Sutar + 33 months of construction
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time 
➢ Virasat-e-Khalsa museum =Punjab + is all set to find a place in the Asia Book of
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Records for becoming the most visited museum in the Indian sub-continent on a single
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day + was built to commemorate the rich history and culture of Punjab and Sikhism and
was inaugurated in2011
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➢ Navroz = Iranian New Year + Part of Intanglible list of cultural heritage

➢ Bahrain temple project = Shreenathji temple + $4.2-million redevelopment project +
in
200 year old + between India and Bahrain + This is among the oldest temples in the
region and manifests the strong ties between India and Bahrain
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➢ Menhirs = new menhirs were found on the Pothamala hills on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu
border + These menhirs are the largest-ever recorded Menhirs in Kerala + Menhirs are
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monolithic slabs that are erected above the ground and may be small or gigantic in height
+ Menhirs are endemic to certain regions only and are a feature of megalithic culture 
➢ Rakhigarhi Project = successfully sequenced the first genome of an individual from
Harappa + study found that hunter-gatherers of South Asia had an independent origin,
and authored the settled way of life in this part of the world + study of DNA from skeletal
remains excavated from the Harappan cemetery at Rakhigarhi argues that the hunter-
gatherers of South Asia, who then became a settled people, have an independent origin. +
The researchers who conducted the study contend that the theory of the Harappans
having Steppe pastoral or ancient Iranian farmer ancestry thus stands refuted   
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➢ Nihangs = sikh religious warriors + (Fateh divas is celebrated a day after deepavali to

mark the arrival of 6th sikh guru hargobind in amritsar after his release from
the gwalior fort) 
➢ Matua Mahasangha = is a Hindu reform movement which has considerable number of
adherents in West Bengal as well as in Bangladesh + It is a religious sect
of Bangladeshi Dalits who predominantly belong to the Namasudra caste, a Scheduled
Caste group  
➢ ‘Graves’ of Chalukyan kings found in Karnataka = Chalukyan kings were famous for
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building gigantic temples with intricate architecture in places such
as Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal + Built between the sixth and eighth centuries, these
monuments are examples of the best of architecture of that era in the entire South India 
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➢ Please Prepare these HOT TOPICS from Static portion 
• Vaikom satyagraha 
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• Chalukyas 
• Mamallapuram complex(about all structures present inside)  
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• Vinayak Damodar Sarvakar(he was first to coin 1857 revolt as ‘First war of
Independence’) 
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• Jazia tax(Pakistan recently applied charge on pilgrimage to kartapur, being
dubbed as Jazia by some poeple) 
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• Skanda Gupta Vikramaditya(Last emperor to be given the title
of Vikramaditya) 
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➢ Mamallapuram(Architectural heritage of Mamallapuram) 

• Pancharathas (Five Rathas or Chariots) = These are monolithic rock cut structures
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named after the five Pandava brothers and Draupadi but they neither have anything to

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do with chariots nor probably with the Pandavas and these associations are purely of a
local character. 
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• Arjuna’s Penance = It is a 27m x 9m world largest bas-relief. It has over 100
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sculptures of Gods, Birds and Beasts and Saints + It is Popularly called

as Arjunan Penance (Tapas) + It is also known as the “Descent of the Ganges” 
• Varaha Cave = It is also called as Adhivaraha Cava Temple. It is a rock-cut
in
cave temple of the late 7th Century 

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➢ Urdu = official languages (under 8th schedule) under the Constitution of India + among
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the 15 Indian Languages written on the Indian Currency notes + It is one of the official
languages in states like Kashmir, Telangana, UP, Bihar, New Delhi and West Bengal +
Urdu is closely related to Hindi.They are very similar in phonology and grammar +
According to experts, the Urdu language originated and evolved in India from 6th to 13th
century A.D + Main dialects of Urdu are: Dehlavi, Rekhta etc + After its origin in Punjab,
Urdu got developed and flourished in Delhi along with part of Haryana state and some
states in South where it was developed in the form of ‘Dakhni (Deccani) language 
➢ Parliament House = was designed by the British architects Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir
Herbert Baker in 1912-1913 + Construction of the building began in 1921 and was
completed in 1927 + It is popularly believed that the circular structure of the 11th-
century Chausath Yogini Temple in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh may have
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inspired the design of Parliament House + The Chausath Yogini Temple, also known as

the Ekattarso Mahadeva Temple, is one of the few such Yogini temples in the country
which is in good condition. This fact defies the popular misconception that Parliament
House is colonial in nature + The Parliament House has a hybrid architectural style. It has
Hindu, Saracenic and Roman features + Recently, The Central government is considering
either redeveloping Parliament House or building a new structure 
➢ Neo-Assyrian Empire = that thrived between 800 and 600 BCE centred in northern Iraq,
extending to Egypt + may have collapsed due to a 60-year, climate related mega
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drought + was by far the largest empire in the region up to that time, controlling much of
the territory from the Persian Gulf to modern day Cyprus 
➢ Travellers in decoding Indian History = In the recently delivered Ayodhya judgement,
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Supreme Court took note of the account of three European travellers namely
Joseph Tieffenthaler, William Finch, and Montgomery Martin 
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1) Joseph Tiefenthaler = 18th-century missionary hailing from Italy who travelled in
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India for 27 year + he was commissioned at the famous observatory of Sawai Jai Singh,
the Raja of Jaipur, and was later attached at the Jesuit College in Agra + He also lived
in Awadh, where Ayodhya is located, for over five years + In his book
'Description Historiqueet Geographique Del‘inde', he gives details about his travels
@
to Ayodhya 
2) William Finch = He is known to have arrived in India in 1608 at Surat with Sir
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William Hawkins + He is said to give the earliest English language account of Kashmir,
as well as trade routes connecting Punjab and eastern Turkistan and western China +
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Finch visited Ayodhya between 1608 and 1611, and did not find any building of
importance of Islamic origin  
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3) Robert Montgomery Martin = Martin then went on to work in Kolkata where he

helped found the paper ‘Bengal Herald + He wrote the three-volume work ‘History,
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Antiquities, Topography and Statistics of Eastern India + He had written about the
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worship of Lord Ram in the Ayodhya region and destruction of temples and the erection
of mosques 
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➢ Kodavas = Kodavas (also known as Kogadu), a well-known martial community

in
of Coorg region in Karnataka + They worship weapons during the 'Kailpodh' festival +
They are known for its outstanding contributions to the country’s defence sector and
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hence, Coorg is also called the Land of Generals + high status given to women like no
child marriage, dowry is forbidden and widow remarriage is prevalent + Other
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important festivals celebrated by Kodavas are Puttari (to celebrate the first harvest of

paddy) and Kaveri Sankramana 
➢ What is the Danakil Depression = The Danakil Depression in northeastern Ethiopia is
one of the world’s hottest places, as well as one of its lowest, at 100 metres below sea
level + A new study says that active and naturally occurring life cannot be sustained at
Danakil + All the water entering Danakil evaporates, and no streams flow out from its
extreme environment. It is covered with more than 10 lakh tonnes of salt 
➢ “History of Growing burden of Cancer in India: From Antiquity to 21st century”
Study = The paper was published in the Journal of Global Oncology which is promoted
by the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The study has stated that while cancer-
like diseases were documented since antiquity, recording of cancer in India began in the
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19th century when the Western practices of biopsy and pathological examination came to
India during the colonial British regime + India's cancer burden will continue to increase
+ Cancer is primarily a disease of older people, hence, as life expectancy went up, cancer
incidences too went up + No evidence of Cancer in Indus valley sites 
➢ Some facts from History = Jinnah (and the Hindu Mahasabha) did not support the Quit
India Movement + Jinnah articulated the idea of Pakistan in the Lahore Resolution of
1940, the British endorsed the essence of it + Congress rejected the recommendations of
the Stafford Cripps mission that endorsed the idea of Partition + Jinnah called for “direct
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action” to realise the idea of Pakistan in 1946 
➢ Soangarh, Shamgarh, Battisgarh, Nirmal fort and Bangalpet fort = Telangana + All these
forts formed part of a defence mechanism built by French engineers who were in the
l.c
employ of Nizam II + The planning for these forts was done in such a manner that the
typical local topography featuring rocky hills and lakes were used as a
ai
natural defence system 
➢ Theory of the “descended larynx” = Study pushes back evolution of speech by 20,000
gm
years + according to which the larynx —commonly called the voice box — must be in a
low position to produce differentiated vowels before speech can emerge  
➢ The Indus valley civilisation which flourished in present day northwestern India and
@
adjacent Pakistan was the largest and oldest urban civilisation in the world. Nearly two-
thirds of the 1,500 archaeological sites of the Harappans occur on the dried up banks of
13
the Ghaggar river + Today, the Ghaggar is a seasonal, monsoon-fed river originating in
the sub-Himalayas + The Rig veda mentions a mighty, snow-fed river Saraswati on whose
09
banks the literature was supposed to be derived. Recent studies are

analyzing saraswati river could be the paleo-ghaggar 
al
➢ 'Saavira Bhavigala Saradara' (master of thousand wells) = Karnataka region

➢ Chaukhandi stupa = Sarnath, Uttar Prdesh + has been declared of national importance
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by the Archaeological survey of India + originally, stupa is said to be built by emperor

ar
Ashoka + Octogonal tower at the top is a mughal monument built in 1588 to

commemorate humayun’s visit
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➢ Buddhist circuit = Gaya, Patna and Varanasi are included in the circuit
➢ Yoga = word yoga was first mentioned in the Rigveda + philosophy science
in
and Grammer were first provided by Patanjali in his magnum opus, Patanjali yoga sutra.
➢ Kartarpur corridor = 4 km from the border with India + shrine on the banks of the Ravi
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river in Pakistan + Gurdwara was ordered by Maharaja of Patiala between 1921-1929 and
is believed to be place where Nanak ji spent about last 18 years of his life 
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➢ Sister-city agreement between Kobe(Japan) and Ahmedabad = This agreement will

formalize the relationship between the two cities, both of which are unique in their own
ways. While Kobe is the Creative Design City of Asia, Ahmedabad is India’s first World
Heritage City + After the agreement, a plan will be laid out on creating more
opportunities for cooperation between the two cities on the academic, cultural as well as
business fronts.
➢ DevNi Mori = Gujarat government’s plan to build the world’s second tallest statue of
Gautam Buddha + second tallest statue of Buddha (108 metres) in the world after the
Spring Temple statue in China (153 metres) + The proposed statue will be more in height
than the Thailand-based Sitting Buddha statue (92 metres)
CULTURE
➢ Bibi Ka Maqbara = commissioned by Aurangzeb in 1660 in the memory of his wife

+ Aurangabad, Maharashtra + ASI to carry out scientific conservation of monument +
structure, known as the ‘Taj of the Deccan’
➢ "Biplabi Bharat" Museum = Announced by PM + for showcasing India's Freedom
fighters
➢ Ramakrishna math = Belur ,West Bengal [PPREPARE Ramakrishna Mission]
➢ Currency building = built in 1833 metcalfe hall and Belvedere house + Kolkata + being
turned into museum now
om
➢ Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2020 = celebrated on 9th January every year to mark the
contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of India + 9th January
was chosen as the day to celebrate Mahatma Gandhi return to India
l.c
➢ World Hindi Day 2020 = celebrated on January 10 every year, marking the anniversary
of first World Hindi Conference which was held in 1975 by then Prime
ai
➢ National Hindi Diwas = every year on September 14. On that day in 1949, the
gm
constituent assembly adopted Hindi, written in Devanagari script, as the official language
of the Union.
➢ National Youth Day = 12 January + celebrated on Swami Vivekananda Jayanti
➢ National Girl Child Day (NGCD) = 24th January + We celebrate NGCD with
@
objectives of generating awareness on the issue of declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and
13
create a positive environment around valuing the girl child + National Girl Child Day was
first initiated in 2008 + The programme also observed anniversary of Beti Bachao Beti
Padhao (BBBP) Scheme
09
➢ Guru Gobind Singh = born at Patna, Bihar + He was the 10th Sikh guru +He named 
Guru Granth Sahib as the next Guru
al
➢ Thuglak = a Tamil magazine + Founded by the late Cho Ramaswamy

➢ Panchaloha = Panchaloha, also called Panchadhatu or Panchdhatu is a term for
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traditional five-metal alloys of sacred significance, used for making Hindu

ar
temple murtis and jewelry

➢ Padma awards = one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in
ag
three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, is awarded for exceptional and distinguished
service + Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of high order + Padma Shri for
in
distinguished service in any field + The awards were instituted in 1954 to recognize
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achievements in all fields of activities or disciplines where an element of public service is

involved + conferred on the recommendations made by the Padma Awards Committee,
sa
which is constituted by the Prime Minister every year and headed by the Cabinet
Secretary + Government servants including those working with PSUs, except doctors and
scientists, are not eligible for these Awards + total number of awards to be given in a year
(excluding posthumous awards and to NRI/foreigners/OCIs) should not be more than 120
+ award does not amount to a title and cannot be used as a suffix or prefix to the
awardees’ name + awardees are presented a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President
and a medallion + There is no cash prize
MAP POINTS
12.1 MAP Points
➢ (Mechuka advanced landing ground (ALG) = Arunachal Pradesh) + (Pari-Adi

Mountain = Arunachal Pradesh)
➢ Nilachal hills/Kamagiri Hills = Assam
➢ Kurangani hills and Vellingiri hills = Tamil Nadu
➢ Krishnapatnam port = Andhra Pradesh + private sector
➢ Kakinada Deep water port = Andhra Pradesh
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➢ Pallikaranai marshland= Chennai, Tamil Nadu
➢ Bahuda river mouth = Odisha
l.c
➢ Caranzalem beach = Goa
➢ Errum Manzil = Located in Telangana + Telangana govt was to construct Assembly on
ai
site + HC sets aside demolition of Errum Manzil
➢ Lawson bay beach = Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh
gm
➢ Rangdum monastery = Ladakh + Archaeological Survey of India is planning to declare
it a monument of national importance 
@
➢ Panna-Mukta and Tapti fields = offshore oil fields in Mumbai at Gulf of Khambat 
➢ Belum caves = Andhra Pradesh 
13
➢ Ramakrishna beach = Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh 
➢ Morjim Beach = Goa 
09
➢ Lawson’s bay = Visakhapatnam

➢ Subic Bay = bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines[Locate on
al
Map]
➢ Dzhezkazgan (Zhezkazgan) = Karaganda Region ->Kazakhstan
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➢ Golfinho-Atum gas field = Mozambique

ar
➢ Khartoum = City in Sudan

➢ Yellow Sea = surrounded by China, North Korea and South Korea(Mark on Map)
ag
➢ Sinai Peninsula = Egypt

➢ Amundsen sea[Locate on MAP]
in
➢ Strait of Hormuz[Locate on MAP]

➢ Kokuka Courageous = Japan’s vessel being attacked in Gulf of Oman
ch
➢ Fujairah port = UAE

➢ Chagangkha Lhakhang (temple) = Bhutan
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➢ LOOK ISRAEL PALESTINE MAP(ALSO MAP GOLAN HIEGHTS and WEST

BANK(Ramallah is in WB)(ALSO THE COUNTRIES TOUCHING)))
➢ Golan heights = Israeli seized from Syria in 1967 + bordering countries (Israel, Syria,
Jordan, Lebanon) + area houses the Jordan River’s drainage basin, Lake Tiberias,
the Yarmuk River + Israel's main source of fresh water (Sea of Galilee) is located a few
hundred metres to the east of the shore. 
➢ Garzweiler lignite coal mine = Germany
➢ Antigua and Barbuda[Locate on MAP]
➢ Rio Grande River = Southwest USA and N. Mexico
MAP POINTS
➢ Mount Etna = Italy + active composite volcano

➢ Taal Volcano = Island of Luzon, Phillipines + is classified as a “complex” volcano(A
complex volcano, also called a compound volcano)
➢ Mount Sinabung = composite volcano + Karo plateau Indonesia
➢ Mount Vesuvius = Active volcano in Itlay [Read Mount Etna from June Edition]
➢ Zamzam well = the holy city of Mecca + considered sacred by Muslims
➢ Ziklag = ancient philistine town located in Israel
➢ Prosecco hills = Italy + have been cultivated for centuries + added to the UNESCO world
om
heritage list + the grapes grown on hills produce the famous prosecco wine
➢ Bushehr nuclear power plant = Iran + Russian Built
l.c
➢ Taiwan[MARK AREA ON MAP]
➢ Hmeimim Airbase and the Tartus naval facility = Both located in Syria
ai
➢ Nangarhar province = Afghanistan
➢ Chevron oil field = California,USA + massive oil spill that damped oil and water into a
gm
California canyon + ( Cymric oil field -> California)
➢ Kankesanthurai and Hambantota port = Srilanka
@
➢ Neelum valley = Located in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir
➢ Incirlik airbase = Turkey
13
➢ Al-Asad air base and Erbil = Iraq
➢ Jeddah port = Saudi Arabia
09
➢ Sarakki lake = Bengaluru

➢ Azov sea = The sea is bounded in the northwest by Ukraine, in the southeast by Russia +
al
To the south it is linked by the narrow Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea, and it is

sometimes regarded as a northern extension of the Black Sea + Kerch Strait is the only
w
connection b/w the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov

ar
➢ Lake Baikal = Russia

➢ Kamchatka Island= Russia
ag
➢ Herat and Kandahar = City in Afghanistan +(Nangarhar = province in Afghanistan)

➢ Lower Subansiri Hydropower project = being built on the Arunachal Pradesh-Assam
in
border
➢ Bonavista Bay = Bonavista Bay (BB) is a large bay located on the northeast coast of the
ch
island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada

➢ Hamas =Gaza(Look Israel-Palestine MAP(ALSO MAP GOLAN HIEGHTS and WEST
sa
BANK(Ramallah is in west bank)(ALSO THE COUNTRIES TOUCHING))) + Hamas,

the Islamist militant group that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 
➢ Mettur Dam = Tamil nadu largest Dam + Cauvery river  
➢ Gandhamardhan hills = Odisha
➢ Miramar beach = Goa
➢ Kavalappara = Place in Kerala[Mark on map]
➢ Aksai Chin = disputed border area between China and India
MAP POINTS
➢ Shaksgam valley = along the India-China border + Indian territory gifted to China by
Pakistan + Trans-Karakoram Tract also known as Shaksgam or the Shaksgam Tract, is an
area north of the Karakoram
➢ Hong Kong and Brazil[MARK on MAP]
➢ Port Velho city = Brazil
➢ Lambahraun lava field = the foot of Iceland’s second biggest glacier, Langjokull, was
chosen as a stand-in for the red planet’s surface + Iceland + With its black basalt sand,
om
wind-swept dunes and craggy peaks + NASA to use lava field for Mars practice
➢ Kurds and Kurdistan = Area claimed in Turkey,Iran,Iraq and Syria 
➢ Apusiajik glacier = Glacier in Greenland
l.c
➢ Ports and Islands in news = Duqm port(Oman), Assumption Island(Seychelles), Changi
naval base(Singapore)
ai
➢ English Channel = The English Channel is a part of the Atlantic Ocean + It separates the
island of Britain (part of the UK) from northern France and joins the North Sea to the
gm
Atlantic Ocean + It’s approximately 350 miles long, and at its narrowest in the Strait of
Dover 
@
➢ Okjokull glacier =Iceland’s Okjokull glacier commemorated with plaque + The glacier
was officially declared dead in 2014 when it was no longer thick enough to move 
13
➢ Yellow river = 2nd largest river of China
➢ Shahid behesti terminal, Chabahar port and Farzad B gas plant = Iran 
09
➢ Abqaiq/Buqayq facility and khurais facility= location in Saudi Arabia [remember on

Map]
al
➢ City of Kunduz = Afganisthan

➢ Chao Phraya River = major river in Thailand
w
➢ City of Jaffna = Sri Lanka + Soon, fights will link Jaffna to Indian cities
ar
➢ Mt. Kun = It is the second-highest peak in between the Zanskar and Kargil regions
of Ladakh + The Indian Army recently conducted a mountaineering expedition to Mt.
ag
Kun + Nun is the highest peak in the part of the Himalayan range lying on the Indian side
of the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir
in
➢ Gandan Tegchenling Monastery = Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

➢ Pearl River = China  
ch
➢ Bhashan Char facility/Thengar Char = Refugee camp in Bangladesh(Rohingyas) + The

island was formed with the Himalayan silt in 2006 on the mouth of river Meghna 
sa
➢ Mount Kilimanjaro = the highest mountain in Africa at 5,895 m 

➢ Location in news of Syria = A'zaz(city) + Rojava(Syrian Kurdish region) +
Al Hasakah(city) +  Deir ez-Zur(city) + Raqqah(city) 
➢ En Esurthey = Israeli archaeologists unveiled the remains of a 5,000-year-old city at an
archaeological site known as En Esurthey. The discovery, which includes fortifications, a
ritual temple, is among the biggest from its era in the region. 
➢ Makunudhoo = westernmost atoll of maldives + China is making an observation post
here 
➢ Hulhumale = reclaimed island located in the south of North Malé Atoll, Maldives  
MAP POINTS
➢ Coco Island = Myanmar + china has presence here 

➢ Mt Paektu = Mount Paektu or Changbai (in Chinese) is a volcanic mountain that last
erupted over 1,000 years ago + Situated at the border between Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea and China + At a height of about 9,000 feet, it is also the highest peak
in the Korean peninsula. 
➢ Natanz facility = nuclear facility in Iran  
➢ Qeshm Island = formerly also known as Kishm, is an Iranian island in the Strait of
om
Hormuz 
➢ Two areas Ghumar and Baqoura = Jordan + treaty between Israel and Jordan took place
25 years to give it on lease to Israel 
l.c
➢ LOCATE ON MAP = Adriatic coast + Bolivia 
➢ White Island/Whakaari = New Zealand  
ai
➢ Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa[MARK ON MAP] 
➢ Gulf of Aden[MARK ON MAP] 
gm
➢ Sohae satellite launching site = North korea 
➢ Jaenschwalde Ost mine, Welzow-Sued mine, Lausitz basin = Located in Germany 
@
➢ Victoria falls = The flow of Victoria Falls has been reduced + falls are fed by Zambezi
river and define the boundary between Zambia and Zimbabwe + falls are also referred to
13
as “The Smoke that Thunders” and is a UNESCO WHS
➢ Ionian sea [Mark on Map, adjoining countries]
09
➢ Buenos Aires = Capital of Argentina[MAP]

➢ Jordan Valley[Mark on Map]
al
➢ Solomon Islands[Locate on MAP]

➢ Buriganga = river in Bangladesh that ranks among the most polluted rivers in the
w
country
ar
➢ Kuenga River = located in eastern Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region(Russia)

ag
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COMMITTEE
Committees in News
** Please Note : Other Committee/s are also covered at other various positions in the Book
➢ Kasturirangan committee = new education policy + set up after draft submitted by

T.S.R subramanian committee
➢ Abhay Karandikar panel = on offering experimental/trial spectrum for 5G
➢ Bimal Jalan committee = looking into the size of capital reserves that the RBI should
om
hold(appointed to recommend the economic capital frame work for the RBI)
➢ U.K Sinha Committee = committee formed by the reserve bank of India (RBI) +
l.c
recommend a RS 5000 Crore distressed asset fund for micro, small and medium
enterprises (MSMEs)
ai
➢ B. N. Srikrishna committee = to recommend Data Protection regime + The
recommendation of committee lead to “The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018”  +
gm
[Please note, there are 2 more committees under him : one on Arbitration Bill and other
on FSLRC ]
➢ H.R. Khan Committee = on Development of Corporate Bond Market in India
@
➢ S. sunder committee 2007 = on road safety
➢ Surjit Bhalla Committee = on Trade and Policy
13
➢ Dinesh sharma committee = to examine virtual currencies in India
➢ Akhilesh Ranjan task force = Task Force for drafting a New Direct Tax Legislation
09
➢ Subhash Chandra Garg committee = Inter ministerial committee + draft Payment and

Settlement System Bill, 2018, which seeks to setup independent Payments Regulatory
al
Board (PRB) with objectives of consumer protection, system stability and resilience,

Competition and Innovation 
w
➢ Y H Malegam committee = setup after PNB fraud by RBI in 2018 + to look into the
ar
entire gamut of issues relating to classification of bad loans, effectiveness of audits and
ag
rising incidents of frauds 

➢ Malimath report/Committee(Important) = reforms in criminal justice system(crime
investigation and punishment) + 2003  
in
➢ Amitabh Kant Panel = to expedite privatization of trains + Ministry of Railways

ch
constituted an empowered group of secretaries to work on the development of 50 railway

stations as well as handing over operations of 150 trains to private operators
sa
➢ Ramanujam Committee = set up by PMO + to identify Union-government statutes that

could be repealed
➢ Rajiv Gauba Committee = 2018 + to make recommendations for checking incidents of
mob lynching across the country
➢ Committee of Secretaries headed by Rajiv Gauba = to examine the financial stress in
the telecom sector, and recommend measures to mitigate it + The committee will also
look at demand of a reduction in the SUC and universal service obligation fund levy +
(Recently, the government also announced plans to merge the two telecom public sectors
units, BSNL and MTNL)
COMMITTEE
➢ Rajiv Gauba Committee = 2019 + Govt sets up panel of secretaries to help ease stress

in telecom sector
➢ J. Satyanarayana committee has recently submitted its report named National Digital
Health Blueprint (NDHB) to Ministry of Health + NITI Aayog mooted the idea of
National Health Stack (NHS) last year. NDHB is the architectural document for the
implementation of the NHS
➢ Mihir Shah Committee/National Water Policy (NWP) Committee = Recently, Union
om
Water Resources Ministry has finalised a committee to draft a new National Water Policy
(NWP)
➢ Aruna Sundaranjan = To review levies, including spectrum usage charge (SUC), and
l.c
promote ease of doing business in the telecom sector + 2019
➢ T Haque expert group/Panel/Committee = To review the existing agricultural tenancy
ai
laws of various states, the NITI Aayog had set up an Expert Committee on Land Leasing
gm
+ It drafted a Model Land Leasing law which seeks to create security among landowners
to lease-out agricultural land + However, land being a state subject many states are yet to
adopt the model law
@
➢ Lodha committee = on BCCI reforms + recommended legalisation of betting
➢ Tarun Ramadorai committee = Constituted by RBI in 2015 + to study various facets of
13
household finance in India
➢ Karapurkar and Sawant committees = to identify private forest lands in the Goa
09
➢ Bhore committee = 1943 + to assess health condition in India

➢ Beekeeping Development Committee = under the Chairmanship of Bibek Debroy
al
recommended to recognize honeybees as inputs to agriculture and considering landless

beekeepers as farmers + India has four major honey bee species; two domesticated
w
species Indian or Asian honey bee and European honey bee (introduced in India in
ar
20th century) and two wild species- rock honey bee and dwarf honey bee + China
ranked first in honey production + beekeeping is supplemental activity under National
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Horticulture Mission (NHM)

in
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SCIENCE &TECHNOLOGY

9.1 SCIENCE and SPACE

➢ South Asia Satellite/GSAT-9 = a Geostationary Communication satellite launched by

known as ‘Vikram’ + It is ISRO’s first inter-planetary mission to land rover on any

radio communication in India + He wrote book, ‘Upper Atmosphere’ published in 1947s

until it circles the moon, pole to pole

four, two — RAMBHA-LM (Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive Ionosphere

Institutions including Industries to accomplish Gaganyaan

flight of the human space mission, Gaganyaan

help in four or five critical areas of India’s ambitious manned mission to

Mission (MOM) of 2013 + mid-2023 + From the Moon orbiter mission Chandrayaan-1

hazards to Indian satellites

government and government authorised agencies to access ISRO's high-resolution

preceding crew-less trials

➢ GSAT-7/ INSAT-4F/Rukmini Satellite = first advanced and full-fledged military

Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS)/ NavIC (Navigation with

Bayesian modelling of InSAR data + InSAR refers to the interferometric synthetic

after an earthquake, or a detonation + While other groups have also used InSAR based

Mars + reading taken at Gate crater

➢ Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) = NASA mission that look for planets

31 light years away

has beamed back new images of volcanic plumes on Jupiter’s moon Io, captured during

lensing” + This programme is called TEMPLATES (Targeting Extremely Magnified

Panchromatic Lensed Arcs and Their Extended Star Formation) + It is a phenomenon,

➢ Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) = NASA + observed water molecules moving

Century) + site located near North pole of Asteroid BENNU is designated as

by NASA + OSIRIS-Rex mission also selected ‘Osprey’ as a backup sample collection

➢ Shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM) database = NASA + Started in 2000 +

database of Earth prior to the release of the ASTER GDEM in 2009

to retire in 2020 + It is fourth & final of NASA Great Observatories program + Spitzer’s

➢ Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment = It is a joint research mission

Chaser, to clean up Earth’s orbit in 2025 + Chaser is to be developed by a Swiss start-

up ClearSpace under Clear Space-1 mission + The target is a piece of junk called Vespa,

effect known as the Kessler syndrome + (RemoveDEBRIS mission = satellite research

➢ Tiangong-2 = a space station program of China

Spectrograph Chile. This programme is called GASP (Gas Stripping Phenomena in

its Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) instrument

New Horizons Kuiper Belt Flyby Object as 'Arrokoth'

that Hygiea may possible be considered as a dwarf planet + Currently, there are officially

technology promotion body based in Bengaluru, has roped in around 40 engineering

function + The cutting is done by enzymes like Cas9, guided by pre-designed RNA

cell anaemia mutation in patient-derived stem cells + The protein (FnCas9) is derived

➢ Chinese scientist who created the world’s first gene-edited babies experiment, in which he

sought to immunise a pair of twins from HIV by tinkering with a gene

make people more susceptible to West-Nile Fever)

Studies have also proven its anti-oxidant, aphrodisiac, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory

➢ The Kank family of proteins, Kank1-Kank4, are characterized by their unique structure,

➢ “Dtrack” = Malware/Virus + It has been believed to be used to breach data

➢ Wannacry and notpetya = global ransomware attacks

➢ Pegasus = Spyware + Code enters a phone through Whatsapp call(even if call is not

camera or microphone [VERY IMPORTANT]

as genuine applications and access user data of all kinds

Bharat-VI fuel from April 1, 2020 + Bharat Stage (BS) emission norms are standards

The BS-IV norms have been enforced across the country since April 2017 + In 2016,

norms altogether and adopt BS-VI norms by 2020

forest) + Neutrinos are nicknamed as ‘Blueprint of nature’+ When completed,

➢ Kudankulam power plant = Tirunelveli,TN + It is the single largest nuclear power

➢ Kagra = Japan Gravitational Wave Detector

➢ The event dubbed S190814bv = LIGO collaboration announced a super-event alert on

➢ Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) = Defence Research and

Development Organisation (DRDO) + indigenously developed + technology

from Dr Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha

by India's seeds company Mahyco in collaboration with American multinational

➢ South Asia Satellite/GSAT-9 = a Geostationary Communication satellite launched by

known as ‘Vikram’ + It is ISRO’s first inter-planetary mission to land rover on any

Mission (MOM) of 2013 + mid-2023 + From the Moon orbiter mission Chandrayaan-1

➢ GSAT-7/ INSAT-4F/Rukmini Satellite = first advanced and full-fledged military

Bayesian modelling of InSAR data + InSAR refers to the interferometric synthetic

after an earthquake, or a detonation + While other groups have also used InSAR based

➢ Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) = NASA mission that look for planets

has beamed back new images of volcanic plumes on Jupiter’s moon Io, captured during

➢ Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) = NASA + observed water molecules moving

Century) + site located near North pole of Asteroid BENNU is designated as

➢ Shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM) database = NASA + Started in 2000 +

database of Earth prior to the release of the ASTER GDEM in 2009 

to retire in 2020 + It is fourth & final of NASA Great Observatories program + Spitzer’s

up ClearSpace under Clear Space-1 mission + The target is a piece of junk called Vespa,

effect known as the Kessler syndrome + (RemoveDEBRIS mission = satellite research

its Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) instrument 

that Hygiea may possible be considered as a dwarf planet + Currently, there are officially

function + The cutting is done by enzymes like Cas9, guided by pre-designed RNA

cell anaemia mutation in patient-derived stem cells + The protein (FnCas9) is derived

➢ Chinese scientist who created the world’s first gene-edited babies experiment, in which he

sought to immunise a pair of twins from HIV by tinkering with a gene

make people more susceptible to West-Nile Fever) 

➢ The Kank family of proteins, Kank1-Kank4, are characterized by their unique structure,

➢ “Dtrack” = Malware/Virus + It has been believed to be used to breach data

➢ Pegasus = Spyware + Code enters a phone through Whatsapp call(even if call is not

camera or microphone [VERY IMPORTANT] 

Bharat-VI fuel from April 1, 2020 + Bharat Stage (BS) emission norms are standards

The BS-IV norms have been enforced across the country since April 2017 + In 2016,

norms altogether and adopt BS-VI norms by 2020 

forest) + Neutrinos are nicknamed as ‘Blueprint of nature’+ When completed,

➢ Kudankulam power plant = Tirunelveli,TN + It is the single largest nuclear power

by India's seeds company Mahyco in collaboration with American multinational

country to have such number on tabacoo products 

Indian Railways, has a powerful multi-dimensional communication interface to provide

water+ presevant and disinfectant + a cancer-inducing chemical used illegally to preserve

➢ Subaru telescope =Maunakea, Hawaii + Twenty new moons have been discovered

➢ Certification of seeds to be made mandatory = The Centre is planning to

➢ MOSAiC expedition =  Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic

would be transparent to light of a given frequency and polarisation when it is incident

➢ SILAM (System for Integrated modeLling of Atmospheric coMposition) = A

device  which  serves as  an aid for  the crew  

which was included in the works programme of 2018-19 + The modernisation of

➢ IBM GRAF  = Global High-Resolution Atmospheric Forecasting System (GRAF) +

(WSN) technology and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)(LiDAR is a high-end

➢ Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) = It is a by-product of the sugar industry + Formed

➢ FrogPhone = It is the world’s first solar-powered remote survey device that can be

of local frog populations more frequently than before 

a protein called hypoxia-inducible factor, or HIF, rises when there’s less oxygen

➢ Sakhrov Prize = given by European Parliament + to honour people defending human

➢ United Nations Habitat/United Nations Human Settlements Programme = It is the

➢ “Tiger Triumph” = maiden India-U.S. joint tri-services Humanitarian Assistance and

➢ Exercise Konkan 21 = between Indian and United Kingdom Navy 

➢ Exercise Ekuverin 2019 = Tenth edition of the Joint Military Exercise Ekuverin between

➢ Dustlik 2019 = first India-Uzbekistan Joint Exercise + The bilateral exercise will be

➢ Shaheen VIII = Pakistan and China are conducting joint bilateral

area, parkings and even in the ‘No Parking’ areas for longer duration 

against China in Arunachal Pradesh  

➢ Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) = Indigenous + developed by