Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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12th century Nishidhi stone inscription found in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district

News

• A Nishidhi stone inscription from the 12th century was found at Nandi Basaveshwara temple in Harakere village in Shivamogga taluk recently.

Beyond News

• The inscription is of 60 cm long and 15 cm wide and is chiselled from a schist rock slab.
• Nishidhi stone inscriptions are issued to commemorate Jain ascetics who perform Sallekhana vratha.
• According to the text of the inscription, a discipline of Nemideva, a Jain seer of Moolasangha took Sallekhana vratha here. The image of Nemideva preaching a couple on Sallekhana vratha has been carved on the inscription.
• The seer carried pinchi, a bunch of peacock feathers and kamandala. The umbrella, popularly known as mukkode, and the images of the sun and moon are intricately carved here.
• Based on the language used here, the historians have come to the conclusion that the inscription was issued in 12th century. The inscription found here proves that there was a strong influence of Jainism in the region. The Jain sculptures and inscriptions were also found in the past in Yalavatti, Purale and Hasudi villages in the vicinity.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

U.S. and India call for more joint air exercises

News

• As Cope India 2018 the 12-day joint exercise between the U.S. and Indian Air Force being held at the Kalaikunda air station in West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district draws to a close, officials of both countries called for such joint exercises to be held more frequently.

Beyond News

• More than 100 personnel of the U.S. Air Force, along with 400 personnel of the Indian Air Force, are participating in the exercise .
• The exercise follows the Joint International Air Drill of Pakistan and China, which began at the Shaheen VII airbase in Pakistan earlier this month.
• The U.S. Air Force has sent a dozen F-15 whereas the IAF is participating with a fleet of 10 Sukhoi 30, six Jaguars and four Mirage 2000. Along with the Kalaikunda Air Station, the exercise is being conducted from the adjoining Air Station Arjan Singh (located at Panagarh).
• The joint air exercise between the two air forces is being held after 13 years. The last time too it was held at the Kalaikunda Air Station in 2005.
• The collaborative and cooperative exercise over the past eight days involved formation of teams, comprising pilots and aircraft of both the air forces, participating in war games over the air space of Kalaikunda.

Indian diplomat walks out of SAARC meeting in Pakistan over PoK minister’s presence

News

• An official of the Indian High Commission in Pakistan staged a walkout during a SAARC meeting over the presence of a minister from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) at the event.
• Diplomat left the meeting to register India’s protest over the presence of PoK minister at the SAARC Chambers of Commerce and Industry meeting on the SAARC Charter Day in Islamabad.

Beyond News

• India considers Kashmir as its integral part and does not recognise any minister for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
• In 2016, India had pulled out of the 19th SAARC summit that was to be held in Islamabad after the deadly terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri.
• The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to attend. No SAARC meeting has happened ever since.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Nuclear-capable Agni-V successfully test-fired off Odisha

News

• India successfully test-fired nuclear-capable long-range ballistic missile Agni-V.
• The missile was launched from a canister on a road mobile-launcher from Dr. Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha.

Beyond News

• This is the third successful launch of Agni-V this year and the fifth launch of the missile in a canisterised form.
• Agni-V is an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) with a strike range of over 5,000 km and can reach most parts of China. The mission critical avionics were indigenously designed and developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad.
• The launch was a user-assisted trial and the launch operations were carried out and monitored by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) in presence of scientists from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• Agni series of missiles constitute the backbone of India’s nuclear weapons delivery which also includes the Prithvi short-range ballistic missiles and fighter aircraft.
• The submarine-based nuclear arsenal which assures second strike capability in the face of the proclaimed No-First-Use policy is taking shape with INS Arihant completing its first deterrence patrol recently.

Navy on a major capability upgrade

News

• In the backdrop of increasing responsibilities in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and increased Chinese presence increasing the tempo of overseas deployments and exercises to an all-time high, Indian Navy has embarked on a major capability upgrade.
• This year on an average 35 Navy ships were deployed every day.

Beyond News

• The Navy has undertaken 113 port calls including operational turnarounds this year and has participated in 21 exercises including the Indra series with Russia.
• With Navy ensuring the presence of atleast one major ship at all critical choke points in the IOR under its Mission Based Deployments, the operational requirements have significantly gone up.
• On the other hand, India has significantly increased its military to military engagement with friendly nations as part of its defence diplomacy and the Navy is at the forefront.
• The six submarines under Project-75I are being procured through the Strategic Partnership (SP) route for which the submarine specific guidelines are expected to be issued shortly taking the much delayed project forward.
• Process is also on for procurement of 57 carrier based fighter aircraft, 111 Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH), 24 Multi-Role Helicopters (MRH). There is a larger requirement of 123 MRHs which will fly from ship decks.
• The Navy currently has 117 ships, 15 submarines and over 200 aircraft and has set an ambitious target of 200-ship force by 2027.
• India has of late signed a series of logistics agreements US, France, Singapore and more in the offing which the navy expects will increase its reach and also offset the deficiencies in numbers in the near term.
• Navy has also signed white shipping agreements with 19 countries of which 12 have been operationalized for increased Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA).
• However, the force enhancements are contingent on increased budgetary allocation which has not seen a major increase over the years. Also all three services are on a major modernisation drive putting further pressure on the limited resources.

 NASA’s InSight lander captures sounds of Mars

News

• NASA’s new Mars lander has captured the first sounds of the “really unworldly” Martian wind.
• The Jet Propulsion Laboratory released audio clips of the alien wind.
• The low-frequency rumblings were collected by the InSight lander during its first week of operations at Mars.

Beyond News

• The wind is estimated to be blowing 10 mph to 15 mph (16 kph to 24 kph). These are the first sounds from Mars that are detectible by human ears.
• The noise is of the wind blowing against InSight’s solar panels and the resulting vibration of the entire spacecraft. The sounds were recorded by an air pressure sensor inside the lander that’s part of a weather station, as well as the seismometer on the deck of the spacecraft.
• The low frequencies are a result of Mars’ thin air density and even more so the seismometer itself it’s meant to detect underground seismic waves, well below the threshold of human hearing.
• The seismometer will be moved to the Martian surface in the coming weeks; until then, the team plans to record more wind noise.

China’s rover on mission to uncover moon’s ‘dark side’

News

• China launched a rover early destined to land on the far side of the moon, a global first that would boost Beijing’s ambitions to become a space superpower, state media said.

Beyond News

• The Chang’e-4 lunar probe mission named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology launched on a Long March 3B rocket from the southwestern Xichang launch centre at 1823 GMT.
• Unlike the near side of the moon that is “tidally locked” and always faces the earth, and offers many flat areas to touch down on, the far side is mountainous and rugged.
• It was not until 1959 that the Soviet Union captured the first images of the heavily cratered surface, uncloaking some of the mystery of the moon’s “dark side”.
• No lander or rover has ever touched the surface there, positioning China as the first to explore the area.

Extinction warning for Australia’s ‘rat kangaroo’

News

• A truffle-eating Australian marsupial known as the rat kangaroo has suffered a dramatic population decline and could become extinct without urgent action to save the species, a report warned.

Beyond News

• The World Wildlife Fund said only two populations of the northern bettong remained in the wet coastal tropics of northern Queensland state, numbering at most 2,500 individuals, down 70% in the past 30 years.
• The nocturnal, rabbit-sized bettongs are at risk from feral cats, land-clearing and wildfires, which have become more frequent and fierce in Queensland due to climate change.
• It was critical to establish an “insurance population” of the northern bettong, protected from pests and fire, and consider raising the species’ status from “endangered” to “critically endangered”.
• The northern bettong is one of the main animals which eat truffles, dispersing truffle spores across its habitat and maintaining a delicate ecological balance.

Over 100 new exoplanets discovered

News

• Scientists have discovered a cache over 100 new exoplanets using data from NASA’s Kepler Space telescope as well as ground-based observatories.

Beyond News

• The diverse planets are expected to play a large role in developing the research field of exoplanets and life in the Universe.
• Exoplanets, which revolve around stars other than the Sun, have been actively researched in recent years.
• Scientists at the University of Tokyo and National Institutes of Natural Sciences in Japan investigated 227 K2 exoplanet candidates using other space telescopes and ground-based telescopes.
• They confirmed that 104 of them are really exoplanets.
• Seven of the confirmed exoplanets have ultra-short orbital periods less than 24 hours. The formation process of exoplanets with such short orbital periods is still unclear.

New ammonia emission sources detected from space

News

• Scientists have developed the first global map of the distribution of atmospheric ammonia, and catalogued over 200 sources of the gas, two-thirds of which had never been identified before.
• Researchers analysed measurements taken by satellites between 2008 and 2016.

Findings

• The Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer allowed them to catalogue more than 200 ammonia (NH3) sources, two-thirds of which had never been identified before.
• These sources are essentially sites of intensive livestock production and industrial activity, according to the findings published in the journal Nature.
• For the last 12 years, the IASI interferometer on board three successive satellites have provided scientists with global data on various atmospheric components, including ammonia.
• Atmospheric ammonia merits particular attention because it breaks down into fine ammonium salt particles that degrade the quality of the air we breathe.
• Using the daily data on ammonia levels recorded by the interferometers over a period spanning nearly ten years, the researchers generated a map of the global atmospheric distribution of ammonia whose resolution is on the order of a square kilometre.

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