Art & Culture

In Srinagar, fighting seismic threats the Mughal style

Srinagar, placed on the National Center for Seismology’s Zone-V, can be saved in case of a natural calamity by reconnecting with older methods of architecture and construction. 

About Uroosi:

• Uroosi, a Mughal-era home architectural element, is one such.
• Uroosi are wooden shutters used as partition walls within homes, instead of concrete walls. 
• Uroosi is believed to be a Persian term meaning ‘hidden bride’. 

About DhajjiDiwari

• DhajjiDiwari or ‘patchwork quilt wall’ in Persian, is another indigenous technique of earthquake-resistant construction.
• A criss-cross of thin timber frames is filled with mud mortar, stone, and ballast, but this too is waning in Srinagar. 

International Relations

“DUSTLIK", joint military exercise between Indian and Uzbekistan

The fourth edition of "DUSTLIK", the joint military exercise between the Indian Army and the Uzbekistan Army started on in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand. 

• The first edition of the exercise was conducted in Uzbekistan in November 2019.
  • First edition- Uzbekistan’s Chirchiq Training Area.
  • Second edition- Foreign Training Node in Ranikhet, Uttarakhand
  • Third edition-Yangiarik, Uzbekistan
• Objective: to enhance cooperation, understanding, and interoperability between the two armies.

International Relations

World Government Summit

The World Government Summit 2023 recently held in Dubai. 

About

• The World Government Summit is an annual event held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 
• Theme 2023: Shaping Future Governments
• It brings together leaders in government for a global dialogue about governmental process and policies with a focus on the issues of futurism, technology innovation and other topics.

International Relations

First global summit on AI in military domain

At a time when the use of artificial intelligence has triggered a raging conversation all over - with ChatGPTcatching attention worldwide - the Netherlands hosted a two-day conference on risks, challenges, and responsibilities linked to the use of AI during a conflict. 

About:

• The responsible use of artificial intelligence in the military (REAIM 2023) is the first such summit.
• Held in: The Hague (often termed as "the international city of peace and justice")
• Co-host: Republic of Korea 
• The REAIM 2023 brings together governments, corporations, academia, startups, and civil societies to raise awareness, discuss issues, and possibly, agree on common principles in deploying and using AI in armed conflicts.
• An AI-powered weapon system could possibly make the army decide fast and be more efficient in a warzone. 

Polity and Governance

AI for live transcript of court hearings

In a first, the Supreme Court launched the use of Artificial Intelligence and technology powered by Natural Language Processing on a trial basis to provide live transcriptions of court hearings.

About:

• A screen displaying the live transcription of court proceedings, which faces the lawyers, has been placed in courtroom number.
• The SC also intends to publish transcripts of oral arguments on its website.
• This service is being provided by TERES, which has been providing similar services during arbitration proceedings.
• More recently, it had also provided transcription services during the Delhi Arbitration Weekend held from 17 to 19 February.

Polity & Governance

CCI invokes doctrine of necessity

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) invoked the doctrine of necessity to bypass the quorum to clear six deals.

About:

• The term Doctrine of Necessity is a term used to describe the basis on which administrative actions by administrative authority, which are designed to restore order, are found to be constitutional.
• It is an exception to the principle of 'Nemojudex in causasua'.
• ·The maxim on which the doctrine is based originated in the writings of the medieval jurist Henry de Bracton, and similar justifications for this kind of administrative action have been advanced by more recent legal authorities, including William Blackstone

Polity and Governance

Sansad Ratna Awards

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated fellow Members of Parliament who will be conferred the Sansad Ratna Awards 2023.

• The 13th edition of the award ceremony is set to be held this year on March 25 in New Delhi.

About:

• The Sansad Ratna Awards were instituted in 2010, inspired by the teachings of former President APJ Abdul Kalam, who launched the first edition of the Award function in Chennai.
• They seek to recognise and felicitate the top-performing MPs on the basis of their work in the apex legislative body.
• So far, 90 Parliamentarians have been given this award.
• The winners in 2023:
• The Jury Committee has chosen a total of 13 MPs and two parliamentary committees for the award.
• A lifetime award being presented for the first time this year.
• The jury committee comprises eminent Parliamentarians and (members of) civil society.
• It was chaired by Arjun Ram Meghwal (MoS, Parliamentary Affairs) and co-chaired by T S Krishnamurthy (Former Chief Election Commissioner of India).

Science & Technology

Chandrayaan-3 successfully completes crucial test

The Chandrayaan-3 lander has successfully completed the crucial EMI-EMC (Electro - Magnetic Interference/ Electro - Magnetic Compatibility) test at the U.R. Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru. 

About:

• Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.
• It consists of Lander and Rover configuration.
• It will be launched by GSLV MkIII from SDSC, Sriharikota.
• The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till 100km lunar orbit.
• The propulsion module has Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.

Science and Technology (GS-III)

Brain-inspired image sensor

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in a new study have shown how a brain-inspired image sensor can go beyond the diffraction limit of light to detect miniscule objects.

About the study:

• Miniscule objects include cellular components or nanoparticles invisible to current microscopes.
• This novel technique, which combines optical microscopy with a neuromorphic camera and machine learning algorithms, presents a major step forward in pinpointing objects smaller than 50 nanometres in size.
• The neuromorphic camera used in the study mimics the way the human retina converts light into electrical impulses, and has several advantages over conventional cameras.
• The neuromorphic cameras have a very high dynamic range (>120 dB), which means that you can go from a very low-light environment to very high-light conditions.

Environment

OmorgusKhandesh

‘OmorgusKhandesh’, anew beetle species has been discovered in India, according to a paper published in the New Zealand-based journal Zootaxa.

About

• OmorgusKhandesh is a necrophagous and also called a keratin beetle.
• This species belongs to the Trogidae family.
• During the decomposition of a body, blowflies are amongst the first ones to arrive in the early stages.
• Meanwhile, the final successional stage is with the arrival of the keratin feeders, thus their importance in forensic science.
• Significance: The beetle is important for forensic science as it helps detect the time of death of an animal or human. 

Environment

Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary

The Andhra Pradesh Forest Department is initiating a series of measures to develop Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary.

About:

• Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the heart of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
• Bordered by Simhachalam hill range on the West and Gambheeram reservoir on the North-east, the sanctuary is a tropical deciduous forest with a canopy of tree cover of mixed composition along with scrubland and meadows.
• The sanctuary holds a good number of faunal diversity including aves, reptiles and mammals.
• Kambalakonda’severgreen, deciduous forest has been under the control of the AP Forest Department since 1970. 
• In 2002, it was declared a wildlife sanctuary by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF), following which the Kambalakonda Eco Tourism Park was developed.

Environment

India’s first Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) Framework

India’s first Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) framework has been launched in Puducherry.

About           

• Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) framework aims to balance growth alongside sustainable management of ocean resources and coastal environment preservation.
• The framework is a part of the Indo-Norway Integrated Ocean Initiative.
  • Puducherry and Lakshadweep were chosen as coastlines to pilot the MSP initiative that grew out of a 2019 memorandum of understanding that envisaged India and Norway collaborating on implementing MSP in the oceanic space.

Environment

First synchronised vulture survey

The Kerala Forest and Wildlife department, along with its counterparts in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, is preparing to organise the first synchronised vulture survey in select regions of the Western Ghats on February 24, 25 and 26.

About:

• Every year the Forest departments in the three States organise separate surveys at different times to count the remaining vulture population in South India.
• The survey would simultaneously be organised in the three forest divisions, including the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and the South and North forest divisions.
• Each of the locations will be monitored by a five-member team, comprising a vulture expert; a forest beat officer, one or two volunteers and a forest watcher.

Declining Vulture population:

• Vultures faced a catastrophic population decline during the 2000s when the species was exposed to the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac used as a painkiller for cattle.
• South Asia had about four crore White-rumped vultures until the end of the 1990s.
• But the population has come down to fewer than 10,000.

Economy (GS-III)

Enemy properties

The Government of India has earned over Rs.3, 400 crore from disposal of enemy properties from 2018 to 2022, according to a report.

What are enemy properties?

• Enemy properties are classified as those properties which are left behind by people who took citizenship of Pakistan and China after leaving India during the partition and post the 1962 and 1965 wars.
• The Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI) has realised a total of Rs 3,407.98 crore from disposal of enemy properties which include 7,52,83,287 shares (for Rs.2,708.9 crore) of 152 companies in 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22, and Rs.699.08 crore as revenue receipts.
• Meanwhile, an Enemy Property Information System has been developed for effective preservation, management and speedy disposal of enemy properties.
• It is available to all stakeholders dealing with the subject matter.
• To ascertain the present status of immovable enemy properties, a latest survey and valuation report have been asked from all states and Union territories concerned.

Note: The highest number of enemy properties were found in Uttar Pradesh (6,255) followed by West Bengal (4,088), Delhi (659), Goa (295), Maharashtra (208), Telangana (158), Gujarat (151), Tripura (105), Bihar (94), Madhya Pradesh (94), Chhattisgarh (78) and Haryana (71 properties).