29 NOV 2023 | Daily Current Affairs | UPSC CDS CAPF NDA AFCAT SSB

1.What is Rythu Bandhu Scheme?

The Election Commission recently withdrew the permission given to the Telangana government to disburse financial aid to farmers under the Rythu Bandhu Scheme.

About Rythu Bandhu Scheme:

The Rythu Bandhu scheme, also known as the Farmer's Investment Support Scheme (FISS), is a welfare programme for farmers started by the Telangana government in 2018.
The objective of this scheme is twofold:
- to provide a timely cash grant for the initial investment needs of farmers
- to ensure that farmers do not fall into the debt trap.
Under the scheme, financial assistance of Rs 5,000 per acre per farmer each season is directly transferred to each farmer's account.
This financial support was distributed biannually, allocated for both the kharif and rabi harvests.
The assistance can be used for the purchase of inputs like seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, labour, and other investments in the field operations of Farmer’s choice for the crop season.
Eligibility:
- The scheme is open to all resident farmers in the state who own land.
- Farmers cultivating the land in the forest, a majority of them from Scheduled Tribe communities and having a Record of Forest Rights (ROFR) document, are also eligible to receive benefits under the scheme.
It is the country's first direct farmer investment support scheme where cash is paid directly to the beneficiary.

Source : Telangana polls: EC withdraws permission given to BRS to distribute funds under 'Rythu Bandhu' Scheme

2. Himalayan Black Bear

An animal keeper died after being attacked by a Himalayan black bear in the animal’s enclosure at Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP) recently.

About Himalayan Black Bear:

It is a subspecies of the Asian black bear.
Scientific Name: Ursus thibetanus laniger
Distribution:
- They live a lot in the Himalayas, in Tibet, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and China.
- In India, they are found throughout the Himalayas, from Jammu & Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, and in hilly regions of other northeastern states.
Habitat:
- The species prefers heavily forested, broadleaved, and coniferous forests as habitat.
- It uses orchards, agricultural fields, and human habitation to move between forest patches.
Features:
- It has soft and shiny hair, with a white V patch on its chest.
- On average, they range from 1.4 to 1.7 metres in length and weigh from 90 to 200 kg (the higher figure is only likely just prior to hibernation).
- Life span:25 to 30 years in the wild.
- Food: They are omnivorous creatures (like most bears). Their diet consists of acorns, nuts, fruit, honey, roots, and various insects such as termites and beetle larvae.
- Behaviour: Naturally diurnal, but many are largely nocturnal in order to avoid contact with humans.
- Conservation Status:
  - IUCN Red List: Vulnerable

Source : An animal keeper dies after being attacked by a Himalayan black bear at Visakhapatnam Zoo.

3. What is AstroSat?

India's first multi-wavelength space telescope, AstroSat, has successfully detected its 600th Gamma-ray Burst (GRB), an event named GRB 231122B.

About AstroSat:

It is India’s first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory aimed at studying celestial sources in X-ray, optical, and UV spectral bands simultaneously.
AstroSat, with a lift-off mass of 1515 kg, was launched by the Indian launch vehicle PSLV from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, on September 28, 2015, into a 650 km orbit inclined at an angle of 6 degrees to the equator.
The spacecraft control centre at Mission Operations Complex (MOX) of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru, manages the satellite during its entire mission life.
The minimum useful life of the AstroSat mission is around 5 years.
It carries a total of five scientific payloads, enabling imaging and studying the temporal and spectral properties of galactic and extra-galactic cosmic sources in a wide range of wavelengths on a common platform.
Scientific Objectives:
- To understand high energy processes in binary star systems containing neutron stars and black holes.
- Estimate magnetic fields of neutron stars.
- Study star birth regions and high energy processes in star systems lying beyond our galaxy.
- Detect new, briefly bright X-ray sources in the sky.
- Perform a limited deep-field survey of the Universe in the Ultraviolet region.

Source : India's Astrosat captures 600th mega explosion that rocked the universe

4. Zojila Pass

The Indian Army "forged thunderstorms" at 11,500 feet near the Zojila Pass to stay battle-ready as the harsh winter set in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

About Zojila Pass:

Zojila Pass, also known as ‘The Mountain Pass of Blizzards’, is a high mountain pass located in the Kargil district of Ladakh.
It is located on theSrinagar-Kargil-Leh highway (NH-1) at a height of 11,650 feet.
It lies in the Greater Himalayan Range.
The pass remains closed for almost half of the yeardue to heavy snowfall.
History:
- It was the site of the Indo-Pakistan War of 1947-48.
- It was captured by militias aided by the Pakistan Army in 1948, with the ultimate aim of capturing Ladakh.
- However, the pass itself was captured by the Indian Armyon 1st November 1948, in an assault codenamed Operation Bison.

What is Zojila Tunnel?

Location: It is an under-construction tunnel situated at an altitude of 11,578 ft (around 3,500 metres) on the Srinagar-Leh Highway in Jammu and Kashmir.
The tunnel would provide all-weather connectivity between Srinagar and Leh on NH-1.
Total Length: 14.15 km.
It will be India’s longest road tunneland Asia’s longest bi-directional tunnel.
It would be 9.5-meter wide and 7.57-meter high in the shape of a horseshoe.

Source : Army's Artillery Guns "Forge Thunderstorms" Near Zojila Pass

5. Gulf of Aden

A U.S. Navy warship responded to a distress call from a commercial tanker in the Gulf of Aden that had been seized by armed individuals recently.

About the Gulf of Aden:

It is an extension of the Indian Ocean, tucked between the Arabian Peninsula and the African continent.
The gulf is named after “Aden,” a port city on Yemen’s coast.
Borders: It is bounded to the south by Somalia and the Socotra Islands (part of Yemen), to the north by Yemen, to the east by the Arabian Sea, and to the west by Djibouti.
The gulf is connected to the Somali Sea to the south by the Guardafui Channel and to the Red Sea on the west by the Strait of Bab el Mandeb.
Size: It is approximately 900 km long and 500 km wide and covers roughly 410,000 square kilometers.
Depth: It has an average depth of 500 meters and a maximum depth of 2,700 meters.
The dominant relief feature of the gulf’s terrain is the Sheba Ridge, an extension of the Indian Ocean ridge system, which extends along the middle of the gulf.
It is also a critical part of the Suez Canal shipping route, which connects the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
Some of the major cities near the gulf include Aden, Mukalla, Ahnwar, Balhaf, Berbera, Bosaso, and Djibouti City.

Source : Tanker in the Middle East are safe from attackers after U.S. Navy responds, officials say

6. Green Leaf Volatiles (GLVs)

Recently, for the first time, scientists were able to visualise plants sensing compounds called green leaf volatiles (GLVs) released by other plants in danger.

About Green Leaf Volatiles:

It represents an important group of plant volatiles.
They consist of six carbon (C6) compounds, including alcohols, aldehydes, and esters, and are released from almost every plant.
The release of GLVs is caused by mechanical damage or herbivory by fungal or bacterial infection.
These are implicated in a panoply of interactions; they have been reported to repel or attract herbivores and their natural enemies.
Plants have two major defence mechanisms, involving a chain of molecular reactions.
The reactions are triggered when a plant is damaged and GLVs are released as by-products. (By mounting a defence response, plants can make themselves less palatable or even indigestible to the insect attackers.)
The molecular cascade is mediated by calcium, a common mediator of chemical and electrical signals found throughout biology.

What are Volatiles?

These are elements or compounds that change from solid or liquid state into vapour at relatively low temperatures.
The most common volatiles are carbon dioxide, nitrogen, ammonia, hydrogen, methane, sulphur dioxide, and water, which are abundant in nature and necessary for living organisms.

Source : Plants warn each other of danger, and now we can watch them

7. Sagittarius C (Sgr C)

Recently, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) captured a stunning image of the dense centre of the Milky Way galaxy with clarity never seen before.

About Sagittarius C (Sgr C):

It is the star-forming region known to be situated approximately 300 light-years from the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*.
It is revealing a bustling cluster of protostars within an infrared-dark cloud.
These nascent stars are in the process of accumulating mass, their outflows glowing intensely in the infrared spectrum, akin to embers in a cosmic bonfire.
The cloud that protostars are emerging from is so dense that the light from stars behind it cannot reach Webb.
Scattered throughout are smaller infrared-dark clouds, akin to celestial voids against the starry backdrop, signalling the birthplaces of future stars.
Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) has detected extensive emissions from ionised hydrogen on the periphery of the dark cloud, highlighted in a striking cyan hue.

Key facts about the James Webb Space Telescope

It was built in collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency(ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency.
It was launched in December 2021.
It is presently at a point in space known as the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point.
Lagrange Point 2 is one of the five points in the orbital plane of the Earth-Sun system.
It's the largest, most powerful infrared space telescope ever built.
Objectives: It will examine every phase of cosmic history, from the Big Bang to the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets to the evolution of our Solar System.

Source : The heart of the Milky Way galaxy has a mysterious structure

8. Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve

Researchers have discovered a new plant species in the genus ‘Impatiens’ (Balsaminaceae) in Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Tirunelveli.

About New plant species:

The species is named ‘Impatiens Karuppusamyi’ after S. Karuppusamy for his contributions to the taxonomy of South Indian angiosperms.
The plant is found only in the Agasthyamalai region in the southern Western Ghats.
The plant, which belongs to the scapigerous group (stemless group), is seen only during the monsoon season for a few weeks.
Impatiens is a genus of more than 1,000 species of flowering plants widely distributed throughout tropical Africa, Madagascar, India, Sri Lanka, and China.

Key facts about Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve

It is located in the Southern Western Ghats, in the Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu.
This reserve is a mixture of three main sanctuaries: Kalakkad Sanctuary, Mundanthurai Sanctuary, and a part of Kanyakumari Sanctuary.
Nestled between Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the Agastya Malai Hill Range forms the core area of the sanctuary and is part of one of the world's 18 biodiversity hotspots.
It is also known as the “River Sanctuary,"with as many as 14 rivers originating from this Tiger Reserve.
Flora: This region has vegetation types which gradually change from dry thorn forest to dry deciduous, moist deciduous and a patch of West Coast wet evergreen forests on the higher reaches of the reserve.
Fauna: Lion-tailed Macaque, Nilgiri Tahr, Nilgiri Pipit, Grey Headed Bulbul, Blue Winged Parakeet etc.

Source : Researchers discover new plant species in KMTR

9. What is Mycoplasma Pneumonia?

Recently, the authorities in China have reported an increase in the incidence of respiratory diseases and have attributed this to the circulation of various pathogens, such as mycoplasma pneumonia.

About Mycoplasma Pneumonia:

It’s a type of bacteria that acts more like a virus and spreads faster from person to person.
It infiltrates both sides of the lungs, increasing cough and breathing difficulties. It damages the lining of the respiratory system (throat, lungs, windpipe).
Symptoms
- It is not as rapidly infectious as a virus but it can affect our throat and our nasal cavities and descend to the lungs very quickly, causing pneumonia.
- Signs include the breakup of red blood cells, a skin rash and joint pain.
- Children may report a stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, watery eyes, wheezing, vomiting, and diarrhoea.
Who is at risk?
- The bacteria can cause pneumonia in any age group, especially in children, elderly or those with weakened lungs.
- Vulnerable groups, who already have respiratory issues, are prone to developing this infection in a severe form.
Treatment: There are multiple antibiotics that effectively cure this infection.

Source : China's mysterious disease outbreak: What’s Mycoplasma pneumonia, the bacteria that’s going around with a virus?

10. What is fibre optic cable?

Along with quantum optics, fibre optic communication stands on the cusp of a new era.

About Fibre Optic Cable:

Optical fibres are made of thin, cylindrical strands of glass.
The diameter of a typical fibre is close to the diameter of human hair.
These fibres can carry information, such as text, images, voices, videos, telephone calls, and anything that can be encoded as digital information, across large distances almost at the speed of light.
They are strong, light, and flexible, and ideal to be buried underground, drawn underwater, or bent around a spool.

How do optical fibres work?

These cables work basically on the principle of total internal reflection.
The signals encoded as electromagnetic waves can be fed into one end of an optical fibre, and they will reflect and bounce many times between the glass walls as they traverse several kilometres bearing the information in the signals.
A fibre optic communication system consists of three parts.
- A transmitter encodes information into optical signals (in the form of rapidly blinking light pulses of zeros and ones).
- An optical fibre carries the signal to its destination. There, a receiver reproduces the information from the encoded signal.
- Optical waves allow a high data transmission rate of up to several terabits per second in a single fibre.
Unlike radio or copper-cable communication, fibre cables are also insensitive to external perturbations such as lightning and bad weather.

How are these fibres developed?

Nowadays, glass fibres are manufactured using the fibre-drawing technique.
First, a thick glass rod, called a preform, of high purity and an engineered refractive index profile is prepared using chemical vapour decomposition.
The preform is heated to about 1,600 degrees C until it melts and is then drawn into a thin, long fibre.
The drawing process reduces the fibre’s diameter while maintaining its length. The drawn fibre is coated with a protective layer to enhance strength and durability.

Applications

Fibre optics technology has since been widely used in telecommunication, medical science, laser technology, and sensing.
Optical fibres are an essential part of this development in communication.

Source : What is fibre optic cables, and how do they work?

29 NOV 2023 | Daily Current Affairs | UPSC CDS CAPF NDA AFCAT SSB

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