Facts in News

                             Facts in News

UN Human Rights Council

• An inter-governmental body within the UN system.
• Membership: 47 States elected by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) based on Geography.
  • African States: 13 seats
  • Asia-Pacific States: 13 seats
  • Latin American and Caribbean States: 8 seats
  • Western European and other States: 7 seats
  • Eastern European States: 6 seats
• Membership Tenure: 3 years; no immediate re-election after serving two consecutive terms.
• Responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe.
• It has the ability to discuss all thematic human rights issues and situations that require its attention throughout the year.
• Created by: UNGA in 2006.
  • Replaced the former UN Commission on Human Rights.
• Secretariat: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
• Headquarter: Geneva, Switzerland.
• Procedures and Mechanisms associated with UNHCR:
  • Universal Periodic Review: Serves to assess the human rights situations in all UN Member States.
  • Advisory Committee: Serves as Council’s “think tank”.
  • Complaint Procedure: Allows individuals and organizations to bring human rights violations to the attention of the Council.
  • UN Special Procedures: Made up of special rapporteurs, special representatives, independent experts and working groups that monitor, examine, advise and publicly report on thematic issues or human rights situations in specific countries.
• It is in News due to
  • Indian Support to Srilanka on Tamil persecution Issue,
  • Indian allegation on Pakistan’s misuse of platform and
  • Sanyukt Kisan Morcha’s attempt to raise farm laws in the UN Human Rights Council.

Martian ‘Blueberries’

• In 2004, ‘Opportunity’ rover found several small spheres on the planet, informally named Martian blueberries.
• Mineral spectrometry revealed iron oxide compounds called haematites.
• Findings:
  • A recent study on Jhuran Formations (145 and 201 million years old) of Gujarat showed similarity between Haematite concretions in Kutch (India) and Mars.
  • They have similar morphology – spherical, often doublet and triplet – and similar mineralogy – a mixture of haematite and goethite.
• Significance:
  • The presence of haematites suggests that there was water present on Mars.
    • Haematite concretion [hard solid mass] forms due to precipitation from aqueous fluids.
  • They also indicate that the planet had an atmosphere with oxygen as haematites need oxygen to stabilise.
  • But the level of Oxygen can’t be determined.
  • Water is believed to have disappeared from Mars rocks about three billion years ago.
  • The Kutch area due to similarity with Martian formations could be a potential testing site for carrying out future Mars exploration studies on Earth.
• Martian analogue: Kutch area is a potential Martian analogue (similarity with Martian) locality.
  • 2016 study: Occurrences of hydrous sulphate in the Matanomadh area of Kutch, resemble Martian surficial processes.
    • The transformation from the wet and humid to dry and arid environment on Mars is mimicked by the history of Kutch.
  • The concretions in the Jhuran Formation.

Rakhigarhi

• The ancient sites of Rakhi-Khas and Rakhi-Shahpur are collectively known as Rakhigarhi.
• They are located in Haryana on the right bank of the now dried up Palaeo-channel of Drishadvati.
• 7 mounds are located here and depict sequential development of Harappan culture in the now dried up Saraswati basin.
• It is by far one of the largest Harappan sites in India.
• It was declared as one of 5 iconic archaeological sites located across five states by the Union Budget of 2020.
• For development of the sites and its environs, repairing of boundary walls, pathways, public amenities, solar lights, benches are being provided.
• Excavation is also proposed at the site to showcase the archaeological remains in a holistic manner.
• The funds will be met out within ASI Budget allocations.

Border Roads Organisation (BRO)

• It was conceptualised by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1960.
• It functions under the Ministry of Defence.
• Functions
  • Primarily meets the strategic/defence requirement towards infrastructure development of remote border areas of North and North East states.
  • Optimise potential and expertise through increased involvement in agency, transnational and national development projects.
  • To attain leadership in development, adoption, assimilation and use of state of the art technology.
• Role of the BRO
  • In Peace
    • Develop and maintain operational road infrastructure in border areas.
    • Contribute to socio-economic development of border states.
  • In War
    • Develop and maintain roads to keep line of control through in original sectors and re-deployed sectors.
    • To execute additional tasks as laid down by government contributing to war efforts.

What is Stripe?

• It is an  Irish-American financial services company mainly offers payments processing software and APIs for firms conducting business online through websites and mobile applications.
• Its customers include firms such as Amazon, Uber, Doordash, booking.com, Salesforce, Zoom, Slack, Shopify, Peloton, and several others across verticals such as e-commerce and retail, B2B platforms, SaaS platforms, B2C marketplaces, and nonprofits.

Rocket RH-560

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the sounding rocket (RH-560) to study attitudinal variations in the neutral winds and plasma dynamics from the Sriharikota spaceport.
  • ISRO has developed a series of sounding rockets called the Rohini series, important among them being RH-200, RH-300 and RH-560.
• Sounding rockets are one or two-stage solid propellant rockets used for probing the upper atmospheric regions and for space research.
  • ISRO started launching indigenously made sounding rockets in 1965 and the experience gained was of immense value in the mastering of solid propellant technology.
• They also serve as easily affordable platforms to test or prove prototypes of new components or subsystems intended for use in launch vehicles and satellites.

Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan Project

• It was launched by the President of India on 27th September 2017 on the occasion of World Tourism Day.
• It is a collaborative effort by the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Archaeological Survey of India and State/ UTs Government.
• The project aims to encourage companies from the public sector, private sector, trusts, NGOs, individuals and other stakeholders to become ‘Monument Mitras’ and take up the responsibility of developing and upgrading the basic and advanced tourist amenities at heritage/ natural/ tourist sites as per their interest and viability in terms of a sustainable investment model under CSR.
  • They would also look after the Operation & Maintenance of the same.