Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Mummy found in Russia

News

• Archaeologists have discovered the naturalised remains of a mummy, dating back about 2,000 years, in an ancient reservoir in Russia.

Beyond News

• According to the researchers, the remains found in an ancient gravesite near the Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam belong to a mummified young girl.
• They also found a belt with beads and a buckle made of jet, a vase resembling those used by Huns of the period, and a box made of birch wood that held a small mirror.
• The Huns lived in parts of what is now modern China and Siberia almost 2,000 years ago.
• They were migratory, and previous studies have shown they tended to mix with local people.
• Initial examination of the mummified remains revealed patches of skin, soft tissue and cloth remnants that appeared to be made of silk.
• The researchers noted that the clothing and materials in the grave indicate the girl was likely a nomadic Hun – likely one of high regard, and could have been part of the nobility.
• They also suggest that the vase contained what appeared to be a funeral meal and that a sack of pine nuts had been placed on her chest.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Nipah outbreak from fruit bats

News

• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has confirmed that fruit bats were the primary source of the Nipah outbreak in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts in Kerala, where 17 people died due to the virus earlier this year.

Beyond News

• Initially, a Central medical team had ruled out bats as the primary source of the infection after samples collected from bats in two Kerala districts tested negative.
• Later, another medical team, in its report to the Union Health Ministry, said bats could not be ruled out as the samples were collected from insectivorous bats, which were not known to be Nipah carriers.
• In the second round, samples from 55 fruit bats were collected and sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune.
• An ICMR official said the samples from fruit bats tested positive for the virus, confirming hat they were the source of Nipah infection in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts.
• The natural host of the virus are fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family, Pteropus genus. Intermediate hosts of this instance were found to be pigs.

EC launches app to report electoral malpractice

News

• The Election Commission launched an Android-based mobile application named “cVigil” for citizens to share proof of malpractices by political parties, their candidates and activists when the Model Code of Conduct is in force.

Beyond News

• The mobile application also facilitates sharing of geo-tagged photographic and video evidence without disclosing the identity of the sender.
• The uploaded information will be transmitted to the control room, and from there the field units or flying squads, mapped on a Geographic Information System, will be immediately alerted for further action.
• In case the complainant does not opt for anonymity, the person will also receive an action-taken report within about 100 minutes.
• The application, whose Beta version has now been released, will be made available for use during the four State Assembly elections scheduled for later this year.

Chinese Army team visits Delhi, Agra

News

• A high-level Chinese Army delegation is in India as part of the bilateral efforts to strengthen military-to-military ties.

Beyond News

• According to the Army, the Chinese delegation, led by Deputy Commander of the Western Theatre Command, visited Delhi and Agra before heading to the headquarters of the Sukna-based 33 Corps.
• This visit is seen as a major initiative to strengthen the relationship between the armed forcesof both nations.
• The Chinese delegation, comprising 10 senior military officials, has been interacting with senior Indian military leaders.
• The visit of the Chinese delegation to the local military headquarters is “a significant step towards increasing interactions at the level of military commanders, and implementation of various agreements to maintain peace.”

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Karnataka to survey farmers outside institutional credit system

News

• Karnataka government will launch a survey to identify farmers who are outside the ambit of the lending schemes of financial institutions.

Beyond News

• Of the 74 lakh farmers in the State, about 24 lakh have been found to be outside the institutional credit system.
• While there are 22 lakh farmers availing loans from the cooperative sector, around 28 lakh are availing credit facility from nationalised banks.
• Incidentally, 54 lakh farmers in the State fall in the ‘small and marginal farmer’ category with landholding of less than five acres.
• According to sources, the survey was perceived as necessary as during deliberations on farm loan waiver, many crucial issues, including secretaries of local cooperative banks indulging in fraudulent withdrawal in the name of gullible farmers, were noticed.
• In light of this, the government is mulling over transferring the loan waiver amount directly to the beneficiary’s account, to be later adjusted in the books.
• In a large number of cases, farmers’ loans have been renewed but without any genuine benefits.
• The State government is working on a scheme that could help lakhs of hawkers by providing institutional credit for the small amounts that they require to run their daily businesses.
• Mobile credit facility, for which cooperative societies would be roped in, is being considered. It will provide the needed capital even a thousand rupees  to help the beneficiaries run their business.

Century’s longest lunar eclipse on July 27

News

• The longest total lunar eclipse of this century would be visible from all parts of the country on July 27.

Beyond News

• The celestial body would also be tinged with a reddish hue, a phenomenon popularly referred to as a blood moon.
• The total lunar eclipse would last for one hour and 43 minutes while partial eclipses, which would precede and follow the total eclipse, would last more than an hour, he said.
• During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon’s disk can take on a dramatically colourful appearance from bright orange to blood red and more rarely dark brown to very dark gray, depending upon the part of the Earth’s shadow it would be passing through. This was the reason a totally eclipsed Moon, at times, was called as blood moon.

SpaceX delivers AI robot to space station

News

• The International Space Station got its first robot with artificial intelligence, along with some berries, ice cream and identical brown mice.

Beyond News

• The nearly 6,000-pound (2,700-kilogram) delivery includes the round robot Cimon, pronounced Simon.
• Slightly bigger than a basketball, the AI robot from the German Space Agency is meant to assist German astronaut Alexander Gerst with science experiments.
• Cimon’s brain will constantly be updated by IBM so its intelligence and role  keep growing.
• There are also genetically identical mice for a study of gut bacteria.
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