Vikram-S, India’s first private rocket, lifts off from ISRO spaceport

About Skyroot

• The company is based in Hyderabad.
• It builds state-of-the-art space launch vehicles for launching commercial satellites into space.
• It aims to disrupt entry barriers to cost-efficient satellite launch services and spaceflight by advancing its mission to make space flights affordable, reliable, and regular for all.

SHORT ARTICLES

Art & Culture

World Heritage Week

• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is observing the annual World Heritage week from November 19 to 25.
• At present, 3,691 monuments across India are protected by the ASI, with the highest number, 745, in Uttar Pradesh.
• The Member States of UNESCO adopted the World Heritage Convention in 1972.
  • India is a signatory to the World Heritage Convention.
• As of 2022, India boasts 40 World Heritage Sites located in India, out of which 32 are cultural, 7 are natural, and 1 is of mixed type. 

Polity & Governance

Madhya Pradesh Notifies PESA Rules

• Madhya Pradesh has notified its PESA Rules on the occasion of Janjatiya Gaurav Divas on 15th November 2022. 
• PESA is an Act to provide for the extension of the provisions of Part IX of the Constitution relating to the Panchayats to the Scheduled Areas.
• Out of the ten PESA States, eight States namely; Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana have framed and notified their State PESA Rules under their respective State Panchayati Raj Acts.
• Presently, 10 States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Telangana, have Fifth Schedule Areas in their respective States.

Economy

National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)

• 5th Meeting of Governing Council of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)
• NIIF is India’s first-ever sovereign wealth fund (SWF).
• The state-owned fund was set up by the Indian Government in the year 2015.
• The primary goal of setting up NIIF was to optimize the economic impact largely through investing in infrastructure-related projects.
• Currently, the NIIF is managing the
  • Master Fund
  • Fund of Funds
  • Strategic Fund

Environment

Red-crowned roofed turtle

• India has put forward a proposal to better protect a species of freshwater reptile called the red-crowned roofed turtle (Batagurkachuga) under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
  • CITES is an agreement regulating the movement across international borders of certain wild animal and plant species.
• The Batagurkachuga or the red-crowned roofed turtle is found in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
• In India, the Chambal sanctuary is among the last viable habitats. 
• The red-crowned roofed turtle is already classified as critically endangered under the IUCN Red List.

Science & Technology

North Korea's new Hwasong-17 'monster missile'

• North Korea test-fired its massive new Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
• The Hwasong-17 is nuclear-armed North Korea's biggest missile yet and is the largest road-mobile, liquid-fuelled ICBM in the world.
• Its diameter is estimated to be between 2.4 and 2.5 meters, and its total mass, when fully fuelled, is likely somewhere between 80,000 and 110,000 kg, according to 38 North, a U.S.-based program that monitors North Korea.
  
  
• Countries that have ICBMs:
• India, Russia, the United States, North Korea, China, Israel, the United Kingdom, and France.
• North Korea conducted the first successful test of its Hwasong-14 ICBM in July 2017.

Science & Technology

Antimalarial drug

• WHO launches new strategy to tackle antimalarial drug resistance in Africa.
• Malaria is an acute febrile illness caused by Plasmodium parasites, which are spread to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.
• There are 5 parasite species that cause malaria in humans, and 2 of these species – P. falciparum and P. vivax – pose the greatest threat. 
  • P. falciparum is the deadliest malaria parasite and the most prevalent on the African continent. 
  • P. vivax is the dominant malaria parasite in most countries outside of sub-Saharan Africa.