Syllabus: Environment conservation Context: Hollongapar sanctuary has become a ‘forest island’, a Wildlife Institute of India report said Primatologists have suggested rerouting a 1.65-km long railway track that has divided Hollongapar sanctuary in eastern Assam sanctuary dedicated to the western hoolock gibbon (Hoolock hoolock). Housing about 125 hoolock gibbons, India’s …

Syllabus:  Disaster and its management Tropical cyclones that originate near the Equator, while being devastating, have been unusually subdued in recent decades. Last major cyclone in India was Cyclone Okchi, which devastated parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka in 2017. A combination of global warming and a cyclical …

Syllabus:  General science Context: government tries to screen seven-crore tribal people for sickle-cell disease (SCD) and attempts to create a data bank of tribal people’s health. Sickle cell disease is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders that affect hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen through the body. It …

Syllabus:  Space technology Pragyan rover has confirmed the presence of sulphur on the moon’s surface, near its south pole. The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument aboard the rover has made the first-ever in-situ measurements on the elemental composition of the lunar surface near the south pole. The LIBS is a …

Syllabus: IR Context A three member UAE Navy Subject Matter Expert Delegation led by Colonel Dr Ali Saif Ali Mehrazi arrived India on 27 Aug 23 for four-day visit to specialised Meteorology, Oceanography and Weather Modelling units of Indian Navy (IN) at Kochi, Goa and New Delhi. This visit signifies …

Syllabus: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests. Context India and New Zealand sign MoU to boost cooperation in Civil Aviation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost cooperation in civil aviation The Government of India and the Government of New Zealand have signed a …

Why in news:  The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced that the Aditya-L1 mission, the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun, will be launched soon. About Aditya-L1 mission The Aditya-L1 mission will see the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) carry the 1,475-kg spacecraft to an elliptical orbit around the Earth. The …

Why in news: Punjab has been reeling under floods for well over a month now and the proposed solution to this is zoning of flood plains. Significance of flood plains: A river expands and contracts naturally over seasons and in different years. A flood plain is an area adjacent to the river which normally gets flooded when the …

Why in news:  Up to 10,000 emperor penguin chicks across four colonies in Antarctica’s Bellingshausen Sea may have died as the sea ice underneath their breeding grounds melted and broke apart in late 2022, according to a new study. About Emperor Penguins: The emperor penguin is the tallest and heaviest of all …

Syllabus: Indian culture Snapshot Today Onam is a festival only identified with Malayalis and Kerala. However it was once a big festive occassion across Tamil speaking regions as well. There are multiple ancient Tamil literary works that speak of grand celebrations of Onam nearly two millennia ago. Padmanabhan beautifully describes …