16 DECEMBER 2023

Key details:

• The Basilica of Bom Jesus is one of the oldest churches in India.
• Set in Old Goa, this church is a living example of the rich history and cultural heritage of the region.
• This UNESCO World Heritage site was built in the 16th century.
• The iconic church is a pilgrimage centre

Architecture:

• The Basilica of Bom Jesus is a fine example of Baroque architecture.
• Built in 1594 and consecrated in 1605, this architectural marvel was designed by the Jesuit architect Giuseppe Castiglione.
• The distinctive facade is a blend of Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian architectural styles.
• The interior of the Basilica is adorned with exquisite frescoes and intricate woodwork.
• Resting place of St. Francis Xavier:
  • One of the most significant factors of the Basilica is its status as the final resting place of St. Francis Xavier, a revered missionary and co-founder of the Society of Jesus.
  • His mortal remains are here in a silver casket.
  • Every ten years, the casket is displayed to the public during the Exposition of the Sacred Relics, attracting pilgrims and tourists from around the world.

Well-preserved corpse:

• Despite being exposed to the elements and the tropical climate for centuries, St. Francis Xavier’s body has been remarkably well preserved.Topic 2 :Kempegowda International Airport

Why in news: Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru was recognized as one of the ‘World’s most beautiful airports’ and received the coveted ‘World special prize for an interior 2023.’

Key details:

• Earlier, Terminal 2 of the Bengaluru International Airport received the prestigious IGBC platinum certification from the Indian Green Building Council under the IGBC Green New Building Rating system.
  • The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has launched IGBC Green New Buildings rating system to address the National priorities.
  • This rating programme is a tool which enables the designer to apply green concepts and reduce environmental impacts that are measurable.
  • The rating programme covers methodologies to cover diverse climatic zones and changing lifestyles.
• Designed to accommodate 25 million passengers per annum in its first phase, T2 aims to blend functionality with aesthetic appeal, offering passengers an unforgettable experience through its insightfully curated art and decor elements.
• The sustainable design of T2, the world’s largest terminal pre-certified with a platinum LEED rating by the US Green Building Council before operational commencement, reflects the airport’s commitment to environmental responsibility.
  • LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the world’s most widely used green building rating system.
  • LEED certification provides a framework for healthy, highly efficient, and cost-saving green buildings, which offer environmental, social and governance benefits. 

LEED certification is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement.

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Topic 3: Central Industrial Security Force

Why in news: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to take security charge of the Parliament building from the Delhi Police.

About the Central Industrial Security Force:

Establishment:

• In June 1964, a devastating fire had broken out in Ranchi’s Heavy Engineering Corporation plant, with reports suggesting sabotage.
• This led to the appointment of the Justice Mukherjee Commission which recommended the establishment of a dedicated industrial protection force.
• Thus, the CISF was set up by an Act of Parliament on March 10, 1969.

Provides security to India’s industrial undertakings

• The CISF was created for the better protection and security of Industrial undertakings.
• It was first inducted at the Fertilizer Corporation of India manufacturing plant in Trombay, Maharashtra, on November 1, 1969.
• Initially, its remit was restricted to protecting government-owned industries, but this was expanded to include joint-ventures and private undertakings in 2009.
• It also provides consultancy services to the private sector.

One of seven Central Armed Police Forces

• It is one of seven Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• The other six being:
  • the Border Security Force,
  • the Indo-Tibetan Border Police,
  • the Sashastra Seema Bal,
  • the Assam Rifles,
  • the National Security Guard, and
  • the Central Reserve Police Force.

A dedicated fire wing

• ‘Security’ also includes fire coverage, especially given CISF’s origin story.
• A separate fire service cadre within the force was set up in 1991, which today is India’s largest, and best trained and equipped fire fighting force.
• It is also the only CAPF with a dedicated fire fighting wing.

Largest public-facing security force

• It is the CAPF with the largest public interface.
• Thus, not only do CISF personnel need to be highly trained and capable, they also need to have skills of dealing with the public, often massive crowds of people.

Entry into VIP security

• The CISF has also become involved in providing security cover to VIPs.
• This came after a parliamentary committee recommendation to the MHA in 2018 to relieve the burden on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), and the National Security (NSG).

Maritime expansion

• In 2012, the CISF had raised a unit of marine commandos to protect merchant vessels against piracy in the high seas.
• However, this plan was dropped in 2016, in light of the contentious Enrica Lexie case, in which two Italian marines shot and killed two Indian fishermen off the coast of Kerala in 2012.
• This exposed multiple legal tangles of deploying uniformed forces in the high seas, something which the government wanted to avoid.

Women power

• CISF has the largest percentage of women in its force, in comparison to all other CAPFs.
• The first batch of women constables was inducted in 1987, and the first woman officer joined as Asstt. Comdt in 1989.
• CISF is currently headed by Special DG Nina Singh, the first woman to occupy the post. 

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Topic 4 : Iceland volcano eruption

Why in news: A volcano known as Fagradalsfjall and located on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland, erupted recently after weeks of intense earthquakes and tremors.

Key details:

• This is the third time that the Fagradalsfjall volcano has erupted in the past two years.
• It had been dormant for over 6,000 years but became active in March 2021.
• Iceland is one of the most volcanically active regions on the planet.
• It witnesses an eruption every four to five years.
• However, since 2021 the frequency has spiked to almost one eruption per year.

What is a volcano?

• Volcanoes are openings, or vents where lava, tephra (small rocks), and steam erupt onto the Earth’s surface.
• Volcanoes can be on land and in the ocean.
• They are, in part, a result of their own eruptions but also the general formation of our planet, as tectonic plates move.
• They are formed when material significantly hotter than its surroundings is erupted onto the surface of the Earth.
• The material couldbe:
  • liquid rock (known as “magma”, when it’s underground and “lava” when it breaks through the surface),
  • ash, and/or
  • gases.
• The rise of magma can take place in three different ways:
  • First, when tectonic platesmove away from each other.
    • It is massive, irregularly shaped slabs of solid rock that carry both continents and oceans and are constantly in motion
    • The magma rises up to fill in the space.
    • When this happens underwater volcanoes can form.
  • Second, when the plates move towards each other.
    • When this happens, part of Earth’s crust can be forced deep into its interior.
    • The high heat and pressure cause the crust to melt and rise as magma.
  • Third is how magma rises at the hotspots.
    • Hot areas inside of the Earth, where magma gets heated up.
    • As magma gets warmer, it becomes less dense, leading to its rise.
• There are four main types of volcanoes:
  • cinder cones,
  • composite or stratovolcanoes,
  • shield volcanoes and
  • lava domes.
• Their type is determined by how the lava from an eruption flows and how that flow affects the volcano, and, as a result, how it affects its surrounding environment.

How do volcanoes erupt?

• Essentially, it’s a case of magma, or molten rock, below the surface of the Earth, bubbling up, rising and overflowing.
• The magma finds its way to vents in the volcano and gets spewed across the land and into the atmosphere.
• When magma erupts from a volcano, it is called lava.

Why is Iceland so volcanically active?

• There are two reasons for this.
  • Iceland sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (part of the longest mountain range in the world) in the North Atlantic Ocean, where the Eurasian and North American plates are moving apart a few centimetres every year.
    • This produces volcanic rift zones, regions where the Earth’s crust is being pulled apart and fractured, and here molten rock, or magma, rises up, and some reaches the surface and erupts as lava and/or ash.
  • The island sits over a hot zone (or hotspot, as mentioned before), which leads to enhanced volcanic activity in the region.Topic 5 : Operation Greens

Why in news: The government has been implementing a Central Sector Scheme Operation Greens (OG) under Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana since 2018-19.

About Operation Greens

• It is a price fixation scheme that aims to ensure farmers are given the right price for their produce.
• It focuses on organized marketing of Tomatoes, Onions and Potatoes (TOP vegetables) by connecting farmers with consumers.
• Nodal ministry: Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI)
• Aim:
  • Enhancing the value realisation of farmers and minimizing post-harvest losses.
  • To promote Farmer Producers Organizations (FPOs), agri-logistics, processing facilities and professional management.
• The scheme has two components:
  • Long Term Intervention-Integrated Value Chain Development Projects:
    • Enhancing value realisation of farmers by targeted interventions to strengthen production clusters and FPOs, and linking/ connecting the farmers with the market.
    • Reduction in post-harvest losses by creation of farm gate infrastructure, development of suitable agri-logistics, creation of appropriate storage capacity linking consumption centres.
    • Increase in food processing capacities and value addition in value chain by creating firm linkages with identified production clusters.
  • Short-Term Interventions:
    • The objective of the Scheme is to protect the growers of Eligible Crops from making distress sale and to reduce post-harvest losses

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Topic 6:  Gyrocopter

Why in news: To offer a novel experience to visitors, Uttarakhand is planning a breakfast tourism scheme, introducing gyrocopters which aims to combine the thrill of aviation with the serenity of nature.

About the scheme

• Uttarakhand already has The Himalayan AirSafari service, and the government aims to add one more element to it — breakfast in the clouds.
• In this, tourists will be flown to select locations difficult to reach by road, where they can enjoy a sumptuous breakfast along with the peace and quiet that comes from being close to nature
• This scheme will not be for mass tourism, but will only target elite tourists.
• Preserving the region’s ecology.
  • One option is that instead of permanent structures at these locations, locals provide authentic delicacies and temporary setups for the tourists.
  • This initiative can also bolster the local economy and foster partnerships between tourists and local communities.
• The tourism department is starting this scheme in a joint venture with the Civil Aviation Department, using their helipads as the starting point.

Introducing gyrocopters

• Recently, a trial run was done for India’s first-ever Himalayan AirSafari using gyrocopters.
• Gyrocopters are compact and agile aircraft which is a mix between a helicopter and an airplane.
• It has a big rotating blade on top, like a helicopter, but it does not use an engine to spin it.
• Instead, when it moves forward, the air pushes through the blades, making them spin, which helps it stay up in the air.
• Gyrocopters are generally considered safe and stable.
• They are also nimble and maneuverable, allowing pilots to fly closer to attractions.
• Gyrocopters don’t require extensive runways for take-off and landing, so they can operate from smaller airfields or even open spaces.Topic 7:  Namdapha flying squirrel

Why in news: A nocturnal flying squirrel has resurfaced in Arunachal Pradesh after going missing for 42 years.

Key details:

• The Namdapha flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus biswasi) was last described in 1981 based on a single individual found in the Namdapha Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang district.
• The Namdapha flying squirrel is an arboreal, nocturnal flying squirrel endemic to Arunachal Pradesh.
• No population estimate is available for B. biswasi, but the known habitat is tall Mesua ferrea jungles, often on hill slopes in the catchment area of Dihing River.
• It was the sole member in the genus Biswamoyopterus until the description of the Laotian giant flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus laoensis) in 2013.
• In 2018 a new squirrel was discovered in the same genus while studying specimens in their collection, called the Mount Gaoligong flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus gaoligongensis).

About the Namdapha Tiger Reserve:

• Namdapha National Park & Tiger Reserve is located in the Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh.
• The area covered by the Namdapha Tiger Reserve was originally a reserve forest.
• It was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary under the Assam Forest Regulation 1891 in 1972.
• It was later declared a National Park in 1983, under Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.
• In 1983 it was also declared as a tiger reserve under Project Tiger Scheme.
• Biogeographically, the area falls within the Eastern Himalayan biogeographic province of the Himalayas Biogeographic zone in the Indian Biogeographic Region which covers the Plaearctic Realm and the Indo-Malayan (Oriental) Realm. Topic 8: Watsonx.ai

Why in news: At the recent COP28, NASA and IBM announced that an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool called watsonx.ai would be available on the open-source AI platform Hugging Space.

About Watsonx.ai:

• Watsonx.ai will help users monitor the Earth from space, measuring environmental changes that have already happened while also making predictions about the future.
• Like Microsoft’s Bing, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and other chatbots, watsonx.ai is also built on a foundation model.
• It’s trained on a broad set of uncategorised data allowing the model to apply information about one situation to another.
• In the case of watsonx.ai, NASA provides the datasets (in terms of satellite images instead of words,) and IBM created the foundation model to interpret them.
• The model is also designed to be extremely simple to use.
• A user would merely need to select a location and a date, and the model will highlight changes in floodwater, reforestation efforts and other relevant factors.

How AI has helped in weather forecasting

• A key factor in understanding and combating climate change rests in our ability to predict weather patterns.
• In recent decades, weather prediction has improved rapidly with today’s six-day forecast as accurate as a five-day forecast 10 years ago.
• Hurricane tracks can be predicted with more accuracy three days in advance than they could 24 hours in advance 40 years ago.

Challenges:

• Access to that data is hard to come by.
• Analysing the same is an ever-harder task:
  • By 2024, scientists will have 250,000 terabytes of climate data sets to work with.
  • Climate data sets are massive and take significant time to collect, analyse and subsequently utilise to make informed decisions.

Impact:

• Efficient data usage:
  • This approach has the potential to minimise the amount of data cleaning and labelling needed to train a typical deep-learning model, and it could speed up geographical analysis by a factor of three to four.
• Lessening of effects of natural hazards:
  • Information from the visualisations may be used to lessen the effects of flooding, develop infrastructure, assist in disaster response, and safeguard the environment.
• More accuracy:
  • When this type of generative AI is used in weather forecasting in the future, it may be possible to anticipate hurricanes, droughts, and other catastrophic weather occurrences with greater accuracy.

AI and Climate change

• Transportation:
  • In the transportation industry, AI-enabled vehicles have the potential to minimise energy use by mapping and identifying the most efficient routes.
• Agriculture
  • In agriculture, 40 per cent of freshwater usage is wasted on average but with AI technology, farmers can optimise crop irrigation, reducing water wastage and leading to more productive harvests.
  • In India, AI-equipped peanut farmers have already witnessed a 30 per cent increase in yield.
• Cutting down emissions:
  • AI may also be used to assess emissions at the macro and micro levels, cut emissions and the impacts of greenhouse gases, and remove already-existing emissions from the environment.
  • AI may be utilised to help cut greenhouse gas emissions by five to 10 per cent of an organisation’s carbon footprint.