IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

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Exercise ‘HimVijay’

News

• The Army is scheduled to conduct a major Exercise ‘HimVijay’ beginning October in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam with its newly created Integrated Battle Groups (IBG) involving 15,000 troops.

HimVijay

• The Panagarh based 17 Mountain Strike Corps will conduct Exercise HimVijay spread over a month and half with three newly created IBGs.
• The IBGs are part of overall force transformation initiated by Army Chief. They are brigade-sized agile self-sufficient combat formations which can swiftly launch strikes against adversary in case of hostilities.
• Each IBG will have about 5,000 troops. They would be backed by tanks and artillery for operations in the mountains.
• The IAF will airlift troops to the areas located over 10,000 feet. Over the years, it has strengthened its strategic airlift capabilities with the induction of C-130 and C-17 aircraft in addition to its Russian origin An-32 and IL-76 aircraft.
• The Army began inducting the M-777 Ultra-Light Howitzers specially for high altitude areas and early this year the IAF began inducting Boeing Chinook CH-47F(I) heavy lift helicopters which can transport the M-777s.
• The Army has contracted for 145 guns and deliveries are slated to be completed by mid-2021 while all 15 Chinooks are scheduled to be delivered by March.

U.S. designates Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Noor Wali Mehsud as global terrorist

News

• The United States has slapped sanctions on the chief of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Noor Wali Mehsud and designated him as a global terrorist, as the Trump administration unveiled new tools to pursue terror suspects, their financiers and supporters globally.

Global terrorist

• Mehsud was designated as a ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’ by the U.S. Department of State on Tuesday, on the eve of the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
• Mehsud took over the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan following the death of Mullah Fazlullah in Afghanistan.
• Under Noor Wali’s leadership, TTP has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly terrorist attacks across Pakistan.
• The US actions seek to deny these terrorists the resources to plan and carry out attacks.
• All of their property and interests in property subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them.
• Mehsud’s designation came on the same day India described Pakistan as the “epicentre” of global terrorism.
• Since its establishment in 2007, the TTP has remained a potent threat and the most dangerous Islamist terrorist organisation in Pakistan. The TTP has been involved in more than 1,400 terrorist attacks in Pakistan over the last 12 years.
• Mehsud is among 12 Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) leaders of previously designated groups including TTP, Hizbullah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Islamic State (IS), IS-Philippines, ISIS-West Africa and an al Qaeda affiliated group fighting in Syria.

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India-Poland direct flight to be launched on September 12

News

• Economic ties between India and Poland will receive a boost with the beginning of direct flights from September 12.
• The direct flight will connect New Delhi with Warsaw and will operate five times a week.

Haryana first to invoke provisions of Mental Healthcare Act: official

News

• Taking a step forward in enforcing the provisions of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 in true spirit, Haryana has pioneered in registering a case under Section 100 of the Act that mandates protection and rehabilitation of a person with “’mental illness” found wandering or otherwise.
• State had invoked the provisions of the Act by incorporating Section 100 and related Sections in the FIR of a case where 23 inmates were rescued after a raid on an illegal de-addiction centre in Pinjore.

Mental Healthcare Act, 2017

• Section 100 (1) of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 mandates that every officer in-charge of a police station shall have a duty (a) to take under protection any person found wandering at large within the limits of the police station whom the officer has reason to believe has mental illness and is incapable of taking care of himself; or (b) to take under protection any person within the limits of the police station whom the officer has reason to believe to be a risk to himself or others by reason of mental illness.
• The sub clause (3) adds that every person taken into protection under sub-section (1) shall be taken to the nearest public health establishment as soon as possible but not later than twenty-four hours from the time of being taken into protection, for assessment of the person’s healthcare needs.

Centre to bring ordinance to ban e-cigarettes in country

News

• The Union Cabinet is likely to approve an ordinance prohibiting the manufacture and sale of e-cigarettes in the country.

E-cigarettes

• The law would make production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution or advertisements of e-cigarettes a cognizable offence.
• As per the draft bill, the offence will be punishable with jail up to one year or fine up to ₹1 lakh or both for first-time offenders, and jail of up to three years and fine up to ₹5 lakh for repeat offenders.
• Storage of e-cigarettes shall also be punishable with imprisonment up to six months or fine up to ₹50,000 or both.
• India has the second largest number of tobacco users (268 million ) in the world of these at least 12 lakh die every year from tobacco-related diseases.

Face-off between India, China soldiers in Ladakh ends after meeting: Army sources

News

• Soldiers of India and China were engaged in a face-off near Pangong Tso lake in eastern Ladakh, which ended after a local delegation-level meeting.

Face-off between India, China soldiers

• A delegation-level meeting was immediately called at the Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) point in Chusul, after which the issue was resolved.
• Bilateral relations between India and China have been tense after New Delhi revoked special privileges to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 last month.
• Beijing had specifically objected to the conversion of Ladakh into a Union Territory and also supported Pakistan’s diplomatic moves at the United Nations.
• Transgressions are a common feature along the unsettled Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the two sides have instituted several mechanisms to resolve such issues. BPMs by local commanders at designated points along the LAC are called by either side.
• While the LAC has remained largely peaceful, there has been a pattern of stand-offs ahead of major bilateral visits between the two countries.
• China holds a large part of Pangong Tso, which has seen face-offs in the past both over land and on the water as both sides patrol on speed boats.

 

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Indian peacekeepers in South Sudan awarded medals for their service

News

• Seventeen Indian peacekeepers deployed with the UN mission in South Sudan have been awarded medals in recognition of their service to the people in the world’s youngest country.

Indian peacekeepers

• The Indian police officers have served the UN and the people of South Sudan for almost a year. Their duties included protecting displaced civilians, community policing and building local police skills.
• In a moment of pride, the 17 Indian men and women police officers were awarded the UN service medals during a special ceremony at the UN House in Juba.
• India is among the largest troop contributing countries in the world to UN peacekeeping missions. As of March 2019, India is the second highest troop contributor to the UNMISS, with 2,337 troops deployed with the mission. In addition, India contributes 22 police personnel to the UNMISS.

Water found for first time on potentially habitable planet, says astronomers

News

• Astronomers have for the first time discovered water in the atmosphere of an exoplanet with Earth-like temperatures that could support life.

K2-18b

• K2-18b, which is eight times the mass of Earth, is now the only planet orbiting a star outside the Solar System, or ‘exoplanet’, known to have both water and temperatures that could be potentially habitable.
• The planet orbits the cool dwarf star K2-18, which is about 110 light years from Earth in the Leo constellation.
• The discovery is the first successful atmospheric detection for an exoplanet orbiting in its star’s ‘habitable zone’, at a distance where water can exist in liquid form.
• The team used archive data from 2016 and 2017 captured by the ESA/NASA Hubble Space Telescope and developed open-source algorithms to analyse the starlight filtered through K2-18b’s atmosphere.
• The results revealed the molecular signature of water vapour, also indicating the presence of hydrogen and helium in the planet’s atmosphere.

DRDO successfully tests indigenous anti-tank missile

News

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight tested an indigenously-developed low weight, fire and forget Man Portable Antitank Guided Missile (MPATGM) in the ranges of Kurnool.

Antitank Missile

• The missile was launched from a man portable tripod launcher, while the target was mimicking a functional tank. The missile hit the target in top attack mode and destroyed it with precision. All the mission objectives were met.
• This is the third series of successful testing of MPATGM. The missile is incorporated with state-of-the-art Infrared Imaging Seeker along with advanced avionics.
• The test paves the way for the Army to have developed third generation man portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile indigenously.

Cryodrakon boreas, the largest flying animal was a plane-sized reptile: study

News

• Scientists unveiled a new species of pterosaur, the plane-sized reptiles that lorded over primeval skies above T-rex, Triceratops and other dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous.

Cryodrakon boreas

• With a wingspan of 10 m and weighing 250 kg, Cryodrakon boreas rivals another pterosaur as the largest flying animal of all time.
• Its remains were first discovered more than 30 years ago in Alberta, Canada, yet elicited scant excitement because of the misclassification.
• Like other winged reptiles living at the same time, about 77 million years ago, C. boreas was carnivorous and probably fed on lizards, small mammals and even baby dinosaurs.
• There are more than 100 known species of pterosaurs.

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