Guam Island
Syllabus: GS1/Geography
Context
- INS Shivalik reached Guam, for an Operational Turnaround on successful completion of the recently concluded world’s largest Multinational Maritime Exercise RIMPAC 2024.
Guam Island
- Location: It is an island territory of the United States of America, in the North Pacific Ocean.
- The Island is the largest, most populous, and southernmost of the Mariana Islands.
- Capital: Hagåtña (Agana)
- History: Guam remained under Spanish possession until 1898. However in the course of the Spanish-American War, the island was ceded to the United States.
- Native population: Ethnically called Chamorros, they are of Malayo-Indonesian descent with a considerable admixture of Spanish, Filipino, Mexican, and other European and Asian ancestries.
Exercise RIMPAC 2024
- It is a biennial event, hosted by the United States, that brings together naval forces from various countries to foster cooperative relationships and enhance maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region.
- It is the 29th exercise in the series that began in 1971.
- Theme: ‘Partners: Integrated and Prepared’
- It provides a unique platform for joint training, interoperability, strategic maritime partnerships, and trust-building among friendly foreign navies.
Source: TH
Revised Model Foster Care Guidelines
Syllabus: GS2/Governance
Context
- The Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry has released the revised model foster care guidelines.
Revised Guidelines
- It has broadened the scope of foster care in India by permitting single individuals — regardless of their marital status — to foster children, with the option of adoption after two years.
- This change represents a significant departure from the previous regulations, which restricted foster care to married couples.
- Individuals aged between 25 and 60 can now foster children, regardless of their marital status.
- This includes those who are unmarried, widowed, divorced, or legally separated.
- Single women can foster and adopt children of any gender, while single men are restricted to fostering and adopting male children.
- For married couples, a stable marital relationship of at least two years is now required before they can foster a child
Foster Care
- Foster care involves placing a child with either extended family members or unrelated individuals temporarily.
- Eligible children for foster care in India are typically over the age of six, residing in childcare institutions, and without suitable guardians.
Source: IE
Super Blue Moon
Syllabus GS3/Space
In News
- Raksha Bandhan (Rakhi) coincided with a “super blue moon”.
About
- Super Blue Moon: It is a rare event where the full moon is both a “blue moon” and a “super moon.”
- Super blue moons are rare, occurring roughly every 10 to 20 years.
- Super Moon: Occurs when the moon is closest to Earth in its elliptical orbit (perigee) and is also a full moon. It appears about 14% larger and 30% brighter than a full moon at apogee (farthest point)
- The term “supermoon” was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979.
- Blue Moon:Though the expression “once in a blue moon” implies a rare or unusual occurrence, a blue moon is not that rare an astronomical phenomenon. There are a couple of definitions of a blue moon.
- It is a second full moon in a single calendar month.
- Or The third full moon in a season with four full moons.
- The first recorded use of “Blue Moon” in English dates from 1528.
- Visibility: The moon won’t actually appear blue; the term “blue” refers to rarity, not color.
- The moon might appear more yellow or orange when closer to the horizon due to atmospheric scattering.
- Super Moon: Occurs when the moon is closest to Earth in its elliptical orbit (perigee) and is also a full moon. It appears about 14% larger and 30% brighter than a full moon at apogee (farthest point)
Source: TH
Snowball Earth
Syllabus: GS1/Geography
Context
- Scientists have discovered rocks marking the Snowball Earth moment on The Garvellach islands off the west coast of Scotland.
About
- These rocks likely formed during the Sturtian glaciation, one of the planet’s most severe ice ages, which occurred between 662 and 720 million years ago.
- This period is thought to have been crucial for the evolution of complex, multicellular life.
- Researchers believe these ancient rocks could signal the beginning of the Cryogenian Period.
- In geology, this important marker is known as a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP), often symbolized by a “golden spike” embedded in the rock.
- The big freeze, which covered nearly all the globe in two phases for 80 million years, is known as “Snowball Earth”, after which the first animal life emerged.
- Significance: Clues hidden in rocks about the freeze have been wiped out everywhere – except in the Garvellachs.
- Researchers hope the islands will tell us why Earth went into such an extreme icy state for so long and why it was necessary for complex life to emerge.
Source: TH
Namdhari Sect
Syllabus :GS 1/History
In News
- Hundreds of followers of two rival groups of the Namdhari religious sect clashed violently in Rania in Haryana’s Sirsa district.
About the Namdharis
- The sect was founded by Satguru Ram Singh of Baisakhi in 1857.
- He challenged the status quo, advocated social reform, and resisted the Raj in various ways.
- The British inflicted terrible punishments on the Namdharis and deported Ram Singh to Rangoon, from where he never returned.
- The Namdharis believe Ram Singh is still alive, and will return one day.
- Until then, they mourn his absence by wearing white.
- Believe system: Namdhari Sikhs consider the Guru Granth Sahib as the Supreme Gurbani, but they also believe in a living human Guru.
- The Namdharis consider the cow to be sacred, they are teetotallers, and avoid even tea and coffee.
- The sect’s sprawling headquarters is located in Ludhiana’s Bhaini Sahib near village Raiyaan, where Ram Singh was born.
- The sect has its deras across Punjab and Haryana, and has a presence in a few other countries, too.
Source :IE
Restoration of Banni Grasslands
Syllabus: GS3/Conservation
Context
- Researchers evaluated different areas within Banni for sustainable grassland restoration for ecological value.
Restoration of Banni Grassland
- Researchers grouped Banni’s prospective restoration zones into five categories based on suitability:
- Highly Suitable: About 937 sq. km (or 36%) of existing grassland falls into this category.
- Suitable: Another 728 sq. km (28%) qualifies here.
- Moderately Suitable: Covering 714 sq. km (27%).
- Marginally Suitable: A smaller area of 182 sq. km (7%).
- Not Suitable: Only 61 sq. km (2%) falls into this category.
- The first two categories—those “highly suitable” and “suitable” zones—make up nearly two-thirds of the entire Banni grassland.
Banni Grassland – It is nestled in Kachchh district in Gujarat, which is home to one of the largest tracts of grasslands in the country. – It is a mixture of two ecosystems, arid grassland and wetland. – This region is home to a nomadic pastoralist community, the Maldharis. – This community has to maintain their community forest rights. Conservation – Declared as Protected Forest in 1955 under Indian Forest Act, 1927. – Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has declared Banni grassland and Narayan Sarovar Sanctuary (both in Kutch) as the last remaining habitats of the cheetah in India. |
Waggle Dance & Circle Dance
Syllabus: GS3/ Environment
Context
- Recently scientists have flagged evidence of “problematic behavior” in scientific papers concerned with the honeybee waggle dance and co-authored by Mandyam Srinivasan.
About
- Bees use two kinds of dances to communicate information: the waggle dance and the circle dance.
- The purpose of either dance is for some honey bees to communicate to others the location of a flower patch with more nectar or pollen.
- One bee dances while the others watch it to figure out the directions.
Waggle dance
- During a waggle dance, the bees move in a figure of eight formation. The dance indicates both the distance and the direction to the patch.
- In this the straight line in the roughly figure of eight formation is called the waggle run.
Circle dance
- In a circle dance, the bees move in a circle.
- The dance indicates only the distance to the hive.
Source: TH
Operation Parakram
Syllabus: GS3/Defense
Context
- Recently, Former Chief General S Padmanabhan, who led the Indian Army in the ‘Operation Parakram’ against Pakistan, passed away.
About the Operation Parakram
- It was the second major military confrontation between India and Pakistan after both countries conducted nuclear tests in 1998.
- The first such conflict was the Kargil War in 1999.
- The trigger for Operation Parakram was a terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi on December 13, 2001, and subsequent attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.
- India attributed these attacks to two Pakistan-based terror groups: Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
- These groups were believed to be backed by Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Military Buildup
- In response to these attacks, India initiated a massive military buildup, deploying troops along the Indo-Pakistani border and the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed region of Kashmir, with codename Operation Parakram.
- The operation aimed to demonstrate India’s resolve and readiness for a potential conflict with Pakistan. Troops were positioned for an “eyeball to eyeball confrontation” with the Pakistani forces.
Legacy
- Operation Parakram remains a significant chapter in India-Pakistan relations. It highlighted the delicate balance between deterrence and the risk of escalation in a nuclear-armed region.
- Despite the military buildup, diplomatic channels ultimately prevailed, preventing a full-scale war.
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