Prelim Booster

News Discussion
28-May-2022
 Operation Namkeen
Under Operation Namkeen, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI)
has recovered 52 kg of cocaine, estimated to be valued at over Rs 500
crore in the international illicit market.

👉 About
◎ In order to interdict (Prohibit) the narcotic
drugs, “Operation Namkeen” was
launched by DRI.
◎ The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence
(DRI) is an Indian intelligence agency. It is
India's apex anti-smuggling intelligence,
investigations and operations agency.
 Operation Namkeen
◎ The Directorate is run by officers from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes
and Customs (CBIC).
◎ The DRI came into existence in 1957.
◎ DRI, under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC),
Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
◎ DRI enforces the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962 and over fifty other
allied Acts including the Arms Act, NDPS Act, COFEPOSA, Wildlife Act,
Antiquities Act etc.
 International Booker Prize
“Tomb of Sand’, has become the first book written in an Indian language to
be awarded the International Booker Prize.

👉 About
◎ Background è The International Booker
Prize began life in 2005 as the Man Booker
International Prize.
◎ The International Booker Prize is awarded
annually for a single book, translated into
English and published in the UK or Ireland.
 International Booker Prize
◎ Aim è This prize aims to encourage more reading of quality fiction from all
over the world and has already had an impact on those statistics in the UK.
◎ Prize Money è The vital work of translators is celebrated, with the £50,000
prize money divided equally between the author and translator.
○ Each shortlisted author and translator also receive £2,500.
◎ Novels and collections of short stories are both eligible.
Author Geetanjali Shree- It was translated into
American English in 2022 by a translator, Daisy
Rockwell.
 Project NIGAH
Delhi Customs Zone, a field formation under the Central Board of Indirect
Taxes and Customs, inaugurated project ‘NIGAH’ at Inland Container
Depots (ICD) Garhi Harsaru, Gurugram.

👉 About
◎ Project NIGAH is an initiative to track containers by
using ICTM (Inland Container Depots Container
Tracking Module) which will help in better visibility
of the container movement inside the ICD.
◎ It will help Customs to expedite long standing
containers and monitor timely clearances, thereby
enhancing Ease of Doing Business along with
ensuring lead preventive checks.
 Anangpal II: Tomar Dynasty
The National Monuments Authority (NMA) (set up for the protection and
preservation of monuments under the Ministry of Culture) has planned to
erect a statue of Anangpal Tomar II somewhere in central Delhi and
develop it into a tourist spot.
👉 About
◎ Anangpal II, popularly known as Anangpal Tomar,
belonged to the Tomar dynasty.
◎ Tomar dynasty ruled parts of present-day Delhi and
Haryana between the 8th and 12th centuries.
◎ He was succeeded by his grandson Prithviraj
Chauhan, who was defeated by the Ghurid forces
in the Battle of Tarain (present-day Haryana) after
which the Delhi Sultanate was established in 1192.
 Anangpal II: Tomar Dynasty
◎ The Tomar dynasty shifted its capital, to Dhillikapuri (Delhi) during the reign
of Anangpal II.
◎ The Vishnu Garud Dhwaj (iron pillar) in the Qutub complex was also
brought by King Anangpal Tomar II.

👉 Tomar Dynasty
◎ Tomara dynasty is one of the minor early medieval ruling houses of
northern India.
◎ According to bardic tradition, the dynasty was one of the 36 Rajput tribes.
◎ The history of the family spans the period between the reign of Anangpal,
who founded the city of Delhi in the 11th century CE, and the incorporation
of Delhi within the Chauhan (Chahamana) kingdom in 1164.
 Anangpal II: Tomar Dynasty
◎ Although Delhi subsequently became decisively a part of the Chauhan
kingdom, numismatic and comparatively late literary evidence indicates
that Tomara kings such as Anangapala and Madanapala continued to rule as
feudatories, presumably until the final conquest of Delhi by the Muslims in
1192–93.
 First Movers Coalition
India, along with Japan and Sweden, has joined the steering board of the
First Movers Coalition to decarbonise carbon-heavy sectors.

👉 About
◎ The First Movers Coalition is a global initiative
launched by the US and the World Economic Forum
(WEF) at COP26 (Glasgow).
◎ It is launched as a flagship public-private
partnership to clean up these most carbon-
intensive sectors; along with innovative Carbon
Removal technologies.
 First Movers Coalition
◎ It aims to harness the purchasing power of companies to decarbonize the
seven carbon-heavy industries and long-distance transport sectors
responsible for 30% of global emissions.
◎ [The industrial sectors that account for 30% of global emissions are
Aluminum, Aviation, Chemicals, Concrete, Shipping, Steel, and Trucking.]
◎ This Coalition aims to create early markets for clean technologies through
policy measures and private sector engagements.
◎ Working è The coalition's members have committed to purchasing a
percentage from suppliers using near-zero or zero-carbon solutions, despite
the premium cost.
 Pusa Soft Wheat 1
The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has developed a soft
wheat variety named Pusa Soft Wheat 1 (HD 3443).

👉 About
◎ Pusa Soft Wheat 1 (HD 3443) is India’s first soft
wheat variety.
◎ It is registered with the Protection of Plant
Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority.
◎ It is suitable for growing in all producing States.
◎ It has a productivity of over 5 tonnes per hectare
with protein content of 11.5% and gluten level of
8.9%.
 Pusa Soft Wheat 1
◎ Requirements è Soft wheat requires less grinding force as its flour has
smaller particle size and absorbs less water when kneaded into dough (गंथ
ू ा
हुआ आटा).
○ Soft wheat products like cake and biscuits, even noodles, need less
water to be absorbed by the flour for the best quality.
 Uighurs
A leak of thousands of photos and official documents from China’s Xinjiang
has shed new light on the atrocious methods used to enforce mass
internment (नजरबंद') in the region.

👉 About Uighurs
◎ There are about 12 million Uighurs, mostly
Muslim, living in north-western China in the
region of Xinjiang, officially known as the
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
◎ The Uighurs speak their own language, similar
to Turkish, and see themselves as culturally and
ethnically close to Central Asian nations.
 Uighurs
◎ They make up less than half of the Xinjiang population.
◎ In recent decades, there’s been a mass migration of Han Chinese (China’s
ethnic majority) to Xinjiang, and the Uighurs feel their culture and
livelihoods are under threat.
◎ In the early 20th Century, the Uighurs briefly declared independence, but
the region was brought under complete control of mainland China’s new
Communist government in 1949.

👉 Xinjiang
◎ Xinjiang lies in the north-west of China and is the country’s biggest region.
◎ It is a mostly desert region, producing about a fifth of the world’s cotton.
 Uighurs
◎ It is also rich in oil and natural gas and because of its proximity to Central
Asia and Europe is seen by Beijing as an important trade link.
 Try this PYQ 2018
Q. Very recently, in which of the following countries have lakhs of people
either suffered from severe famine/acute malnutrition or died due to
starvation caused by war/ethnic conflicts?
(a) Angola and Zambia
(b) Morocco and Tunisia
(c) Venezuela and Colombia
(d) Yemen and South Sudan

Ans (d
 Bhil Pradesh
The demands for a “Bhil Pradesh”, a separate state for tribal people in
western India, have of late begun to be raised again.

👉 About Bhil Pradesh

◎ It is a demand for a separate state for tribal
people in western India.
◎ The demand is to carve out a separate state
from 39 districts spread over four states: 16
in Gujarat, 10 in Rajasthan, seven in Madhya
Pradesh, and six in Maharashtra.
 Bhil Pradesh
◎ Bhil social reformer and spiritual leader Govind Guru first raised the
demand for a separate state for tribals back in 1913 after the Mangarh
massacre.

👉 The Mangarh massacre:

◎ The massacre, which took place six years before Jallianwalla Bagh and is
sometimes referred to as the “Adivasi Jallianwala”, saw hundreds of Bhil
tribals being killed by British forces on November 17, 1913 in the hills of
Mangarh on the border of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
 Bhil Pradesh
👉 Who are Bhils?
◎ Bhils or Bheels are an Adivasi ethnic group in West India. Bhils are listed as
tribal people of the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,
Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
◎ Bhils are one of the largest tribal group in India. They speak the Bhil
languages.
 Captain Abhilasha Barak
Captain Abhilasha Barak, created history by becoming the first woman
officer to join the Army Aviation Corps as a Combat Aviator (pilot).

👉 About Army Aviation Corps

◎ Army Aviation Corps is the
component of the Indian Army
which was established on 1st
November, 1986.
○ The Army Aviation Corps is
headed by a director-general at
the Army headquarters in New
Delhi.
 Captain Abhilasha Barak
◎ The Army Aviation Corps of the Indian Army primarily carries out the
evacuation of the injured troops during operations or health emergencies in
the high-altitude areas.
◎ The choppers of the Aviation Corps are also used for observation,
reconnaissance, casualty evacuation, combat research and rescue, and
essential load drops.
 Captain Abhilasha Barak
👉 Captain Abhilasha Barak
◎ She has been awarded the coveted wings along with 36 Army pilots during a
valedictory ceremony.
◎ Barak hails from Haryana and was commissioned into the Army Air Defence
Corps in September 2018.
◎ Captain Barak has been assigned to the second flight of the 2072 Army
Aviation Squadron that operates the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter
(ALH).
 Quick revision (True/False)

Question True / False

1. Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) -> Under Ministry of Home False
Affairs.

2. First Movers Coalition -> is a global initiative launched by the US and False
the UNEP at COP26 (Glasgow).

3. Uighurs -> living in north-western China in the region of Xinjiang. True

4. Anangpal II -> belonged to the Haryanka Dynasty. False

Captain Abhilasha Barak -> becoming the first woman officer to join True
5. the Army Aviation Corps as a Combat Aviator (pilot).
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