- Mukurthi National Park, Tamil Nadu was especially created to protect its keystone species, the Nilgiri tahr.
- One of the three newly designated geological ages of the Holocene Epoch was named after Meghalaya. The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), a body of geological timekeepers, had divided the Holocene Epoch, which began 11,700 years ago, at the 8,200-year and 4,200-year points, thereby creating the Greenlandian, the Northgrippian and the Meghalayan Ages.
- The National Disaster Response Fund is financed through the levy of a cess on certain items, chargeable to excise and customs duty, and approved annually through the Finance Bill. Currently, the NDRF is funded through a National Calamity Contingent Duty levied on pan masala, chewing tobacco and cigarettes, and with budgetary provisions as and when needed.
- The India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway is a highway under construction under India’s Look East policy that will connect Moreh, India with Mae Sot, Thailand via Myanmar.
- SAAW (Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon) – indigenously designed guided bombs; Helina – indigenously developed helicopter-launched anti-tank guided missile. Both SAAW and Helina – were developed with assistance from the DRDO Research Centre ‘Imarat’ located in Hyderabad.
- The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), India’s next indigenous fighter, is under development. The AMCA will feature geometric stealth and will initially fly with two GE-414 engines. There are two major ways of making a military platform stealthier. One is geometric stealth and other is material stealth. In geometric stealth, the shape of the aircraft is designed at such angles so as to deflect away maximum radar waves thereby minimising its radar cross section. In material stealth, radar-absorbing materials are used in making the aircraft which will absorb the radio waves thus reducing the radar footprint. The AMCA will initially be based on geometric stealth. In the course of development, there are three critical technologies that need to be developed — stealth, thrust vectoring and super cruise. This is India’s only fifth generation aircraft programme following the decision not to go ahead with the fifth generation project with Russia.
- Operation Karuna launched by Indian Airforce was a major rescue and relief operation in flood-hit Kerala. Indian Navy had launched Operation Madad for rescue operations in Kerala. For the same purpose, Indian Army had launched Operation Sahyog.
- As per Central Pollution Control Board guidelines, water is fit for bathing when the amount of fecal coliform bacteria, found mainly in human faeces, is not more than 2,500 most probable number (MPN) per 100 ml, dissolved oxygen is not more than 5 mg per litre, bio chemical oxygen demand is less than 3 mg per litre and the pH level-measurement of how acidic the water is, is between 6.5 to 8.5.
- Extended reality is a term referring to all real-and-virtual combined environments and human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearables. It includes representative forms such as augmented reality, augmented virtuality and virtual reality.
- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has free trade agreements with six partners namely People’s Republic of China (ACFTA), Republic of Korea (AKFTA), Japan (AJCEP), India (AIFTA) as well as Australia and New Zealand (AANZFTA). The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is is essentially a deal between the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the other countries — Japan, China, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand – with which ASEAN has existing free-trade deals. The RCEP negotiations were launched by Leaders from 10 ASEAN Member States (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam) and six ASEAN FTA partners (Australia, People’s Republic of China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, and New Zealand) during the 21st ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in November 2012.
Categories: POINT IAS
POINT IAS 