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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 …

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 …

Syllabus:  Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology. Context Amid Indigenous Tejas Mk-2 Development, SAAB Offers Single-Engine Gripen E For IAF’s 114 Advanced Fighter Jet Contract 114 Advanced Fighter Jet Contract Swedish aerospace company Saab has announced its intent to submit a proposal …

Syllabus: IR Context India and Greece are finding new ways to revive an age-old relationship Crux Speaking after a bilateral meeting with Greece’s Prime Minister last week, Prime Minister highlighted that India-Greece bilateral relations have neither been “diminished” nor has the warmth decreased despite no Indian Prime Minister having visited …

Syllabus: India and its neighbourhood- relations. Context India and Bangladesh held the fifth Annual Defence Dialogue on 28 August 2023 in Dhaka. Crux About the meeting Defence Secretary is on a two-day visit to Bangladesh on 27-28 August 2023, co-chaired the meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Lt Gen, Principal Staff …

Syllabus: Constitution of India Why in NEWS Chief Justice of India said Article 35A, which empowered the Jammu and Kashmir Legislature to define “permanent residents” of the State and provide them special privileges, denied fundamental rights to others. Article 35A Article 35A of the Indian Constitution was an article that …

Syllabus:  India and its neighborhood- relations. Context India and China have once again come away from their talks with starkly different views of their ties. Story so far The only talking point from last week’s brief conversation between Indian Prime Minister and Chinese President on the sidelines of the BRICS …

Syllabus:  Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes THE GIST The Sachar Committee was constituted by the UPA government to look into the social, economic and educational standing of Muslims in India. In a comprehensive 400-page report tabled …

Science behind it Source emits sound waves, and listens for their reflections by objects in their surroundings. Based on what the reflected waves, or echoes, sound like, the animal or device understands its environment. Animals that use echolocation emit high-frequency sound pulses beyond the range of human hearing. Bats – …

The human genome has 23 pairs of chromosomes, one inherited from each of our parents. The genome is the blueprint of our genetic makeup. As the cells divide, the DNA is copied with extremely high accuracy due to proteins that proofread and correct errors in the DNA. But despite this …

Syllabus:  Space technology Context: Aditya-L1 mission, meant to study the sun, lifts off in September. First space-based Indian mission to study the sun from a halo orbit around the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the sun-earth system. XL variant of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) to place the Aditya-L1 …

Syllabus:  Space technology Near side refers to the portion of the moon visible to us (about 60%). It is always the same side that is visible from Earth because the moon takes the same time to rotate about its axis as it does to circle around the Earth. The ‘new …

Syllabus: Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary Why in NEWS The Supreme Court on Friday asked Gauhati High Court Chief Justice to nominate one or more judicial officers in Assam to take charge of the pre-trial processes in 27 cases related to the ethnic violence in …

Context: Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) is set to complete by November the work to map water and sewer infrastructure in the city with the geographic information system (GIS) database and geo-tag the locations. executed under the Tamil Nadu Urban Flagship Investment Programme funded by the Asian …

Syllabus:  Green economy India’s experience has shown that climate action is only effective and embraced at scale if it aligns with the development aspirations of millions and contributes to economic growth. The green economy paradigm provides an optimistic pathway to align development and environmental outcomes. Example: building a solar park …

Syllabus : Security challenges and their management in border areas – linkages of organized crime with terrorism. Why in NEWS China’s Foreign Ministry said early on Friday that its President Xi Jinping told Prime Minister Narendra Modi during talks on Wednesday that both sides “should bear in mind the overall …

Context:  Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times. Why in NEWS A 28-foot Nataraja statue, meant to be placed at the venue of the G-20 Leaders’ Summit to be held next month in New Delhi, was sent by road …