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Art and Culture

UNESCO declares Gwalior as city of music

UNESCO has added ‘Gwalior’ in its Creative Cities Network as City of Music.

Gwalior as the City of Music:

• Gwalior is the second city in India to be designated as the ‘City of Music’ by UNESCO, after Varanasi in 2015.
• The city is widely regarded as the birthplace of Tansen, one of the greatest musicians and composers in Indian history, who was also one of the ‘Navratnas’ (nine jewels) in the court of Emperor Akbar.
• The city is also the origin of the Gwalior Gharana, the oldest and most influential school of Hindustani classical music.
• The city hosts one of the biggest annual music festivals in India, the Tansen Sangeet Samaroh, which attracts thousands of music lovers and artists from across the country and abroad.

Geography (GS-I)

Mars Solar Conjunction

Recently, the NASA has stopped sending commands to its fleet of robotic probes on or orbiting the Mars because of solar conjunction.

What is Solar Conjunction?

• About every 26 months, when Mars and Earth are on opposite sides of the Sun, communication between the two planets is disrupted.
• During the days surrounding such an alignment, called a solar conjunction, the Sun can disrupt radio transmissions between the two planets.
• Solar conjunction occurs every two years.

NASA’s Mars Mission:

• Perseverance Rover: It is a robotic explorer to land on Mars as part of NASA’s on-going Mars 2020 Mission.
• Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.
• The rover will collect samples of rock and soil, encase them in tubes, and leave them on the planet's surface to be returned to Earth at a future date.
• Launch: It was launched on July 30, 2020 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• Landing: Successfully landed on the surface of Mar's Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.

Polity and Governance  GS II

 PM KisanBhai Scheme

PM-KisanBhai Scheme

• This scheme aims to incentivize farmers to retain their produce for a minimum of three months post-harvest, granting them the autonomy to decide when and where to sell their crops.
• It seeks to break the monopoly of traders in setting crop prices, giving farmers greater control over their produce.
• This initiative grants farmers the autonomy to decide when to sell, in contrast to the current practice where most crops are sold around harvest, typically spanning 23 months.

Key Components

• Warehousing Rental Subsidy (WRS): Small farmers and farmer producer organizations (FPOs) can avail a WRS benefit of ?4 per quintal per month for a maximum of three months, irrespective of warehousing charges.
• Prompt Repayment Incentive (PRI): The government proposes to extend a 3% additional interest subvention under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme for farmers pledging their produce and obtaining loans at subsidized interest rates.

International Relations (GS-II)

India-US Commercial Dialogue

India and the US have signed an agreement to promote innovation through increasing cooperation among startups, addressing regulatory hurdles and sharing best practices on fundraising by entrepreneurs.

About:

• India and the US have signed an agreement to promote innovation through increasing cooperation among startups, address regulatory hurdles and share best practices on fundraising by entrepreneurs.
• The memorandum of understanding (MoU) on enhancing innovation ecosystems is made through an innovation handshake under the framework of India-US Commercial Dialogue.
• The MoU is signed with the objective to connect the two sides’ dynamic startup ecosystems, address specific regulatory hurdles to cooperation, share information and best practices for startup fundraising and promote innovation and job growth, particularly in Critical and emerging technologies (CET) as identified under India-US initiative for Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET).
• The MoU signals a joint commitment to strengthen the startup ecosystem in deep tech sectors and promote cooperation in critical and emerging technologies.

Location in News

Bhagwan Birsa Munda Sanctuary

Recently, on the 23rd foundation day of Jharkhand at the Raj Niwas, the Asola-Bhati Wildlife Sanctuary in the national capital will be renamed Bhagwan Birsa Munda Sanctuary.

About the sanctuary:

• The Asola-Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary has a unique place in India’s network for protected areas.
• It is the only protected area representing the north-eastern, rolling outliers as a landform of the country’s oldest hill ranges, the Aravallis.
• The sanctuary covers an area of 32 sq. kms and this urban sanctuary could be a role model for all the conservation work undertaken by the Department of Forests & Wildlife GNCT of Delhi.

Floral Diversity:

• The vegetation in the Wildlife Sanctuary is predominantly an open canopied thorny scrub. The native plants exhibit xerophytic adaptations such as thorny appendages, wax-coated, succulent and tomentose leaves.

SPECIES IN NEWS

Vairengte bent-toed gecko

The new species has been named ‘Cyrtodactylus vairengtensis’ after the town in Mizoram where it was found, while the common name suggested for the new species is ‘Vairengte bent-toed gecko’.

About the species:

• A team of scientists and researchers have discovered a new species of gecko endemic to Mizoram, taking the number of geckos native to the state to 6, and 22 across northeast India.
• The distinct feature of this new species is the number of femoral pores which distinguishes it from other members of the Cyrtodactylus family.
• Femoral pores are located on the underside of the hind legs in lizards that secrete a mixture of lipids and proteins and are thought to be used to attract mates and mark territories.