What is Hikikomori, the phenomenon that has 1.5 million Japanese living in isolation?

• It is a term used to describe people who have withdrawn from society, often for a period of six months or longer.
• It is associated with feelings of anxiety, depression, and social phobia.
• It is thought to be a response to the pressures of modern society, including high academic expectations, intense competition, and social isolation.
• Effects:
  • It can lead to further mental health problems, including depression and anxiety, and can make it difficult for individuals to reintegrate into society.
  • Hikikomori can also have long-term effects on individuals'' social and economic prospects, making it harder for them to find work or form relationships.
  • Hikikomori can lead to reduced productivity and can make it harder for individuals to contribute to the wider economy.
  • It can also exacerbate demographic challenges, including an aging population and a declining birth rate.

Mahavir Jayanti: Birth anniversary of Lord Mahavira

• Lord Mahavir was the twenty-fourth and the last Tirthankara of the Jain religion.
• He was born in 599 B.C. as a prince in Bihar, India.
• At the age of 30, he left his family and royal household, gave up his worldly possessions, including clothing and become a monk.
• He organized his followers, into a four fold order, namely monk (Sadhu), nun (Sadhvi), layman (Shravak), and laywoman (Shravika). Later on they are known as Jains.
• The ultimate objective of his teaching is how one can attain the total freedom from the cycle of birth, life, pain, misery, and death, and achieve the permanent blissful state of one''s self. This is also known as liberation, nirvana, absolute freedom, or Moksha.
• He explained that from eternity, every living being (soul) is in bondage of karmic atoms, that are accumulated by its own good or bad deeds.
• He preached that right faith (samyak-darshana), right knowledge (samyak-jnana), and right conduct (samyak-charitra) together will help attain the liberation of one''s self.

Tirthankaras

• In Jainism, those who have conquered their passions are called Jins.
• Those Jins who have founded religious orders are called Tirthankaras.

Kurmi community protests in West Bengal: Train services disrupted in Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore

• Kurmi is traditionally a non-elite tiller caste in the lower Gangetic plain of India, especially southern regions of Awadh, eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of Bihar.
• The Kurmis came to be known for their exceptional work ethic, superior tillage and manuring, and gender-neutral culture, bringing praise from Mughal and British administrators alike.
• Currently, in Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand, the Kurmi community is classified under the Other Backward Classes group with the Odisha government also recognising the community under the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes.
• State governments in Jharkhand and West Bengal have repeatedly recommended the inclusion of this community in the ST list.

Why the indigenous Idu Mishmis are protesting a proposed tiger reserve in Arunachal Pradesh

Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary:

• Location: It is located nearby Anini district, Arunachal Pradesh.
• It has been named after the Dibang River, a tributary of Brahmaputra River.
• It occupies part of the Eastern Himalayas, and is a massive spread of lofty mountains, snow covered peaks, deep gorges, lush forests and glistening rivers.
• Its altitude ranges between 1800m and 5000m.
• Flora:
  • The two main categories of vegetation are temperate broad leaved forest and temperate conifer forest (Rhododendra, Bamboo, Gregaria, Tsuga etc).
  • Alpine vegetation occurs at higher altitude with herbs, stunted trees and dwarf bushes.
• Fauna: Mishmi takin, asiatic black bear, tigers, gongshan muntjac, red panda, red goral and musk deer.

Hubble Telescope Finds Double Quasar in Early Universe

Quasar:

• A quasar is an extremely active and luminous type of active galactic nucleus (AGN).
• An AGN is nothing more than a supermassive black hole that is active and feeding at the center of a galaxy.
• The brightest quasars can outshine all of the stars in the galaxies in which they reside, which makes them visible even at distances of billions of light-years.
• Quasars are thought to form in regions of the universe where the large-scale density of matter is much higher than average.
• Most quasars have been found billions of light-years away.
• Quasars emit energies of millions, billions, or even trillions of electron volts. This energy exceeds the total of the light of all the stars within a galaxy.

What is the UN Water Conference and why is it so important?

W12+ Blueprint:

• It is a UNESCO platform that hosts city profiles and case studies of programs, technologies, and policies that address common water security challenges.
• It is an informational database for solutions to urban water challenges.
• Aim: To create a tool that provides insight into how to address common urban water challenges through easy-to-read case studies.
• Lessons learned from the other W12+ Programs will be incorporated and highlighted within the Blueprint.
• It will house information on best practices, encourage further knowledge exchange, and become a "virtual Hub" for urban water security solutions globally.
• Cities listed under this blueprint from India are Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Pune.

Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services deploys two more deep sea gliders into Bay of Bengal to study climate change

• Slocum gliders are a type of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that are capable of carrying out long-duration missions, spanning several months or even years, to collect scientific data from the ocean.
• Objective: To study the physical and biogeochemical parameters of the sea and get an insight into climate change.
• Features of the gliders
  • The state-of-the-art gliders are equipped with sensors to track temperature, salinity, chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen, and PAR – photosynthetic active radiation in the seawater among others.
  • The gliders have been deployed from the Ocean Research Vehicle ‘Sagar Manjusha’ of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) off the Chennai coast outside of the EEZ - exclusive economic zone boundary
  • These gliders can go underwater up to a depth of about 1,000 metres and will surface four to five times a day.
  • These gliders which run on the lithium-ion battery is they come with an extended battery life of nine months and more to cover both the north and south transect of the Bay of the Bengal.
  • They can travel up to 15 km a day.
  • The project comes under the ‘Deep Ocean Mission of the Ministry of Earth Science

INCOIS

• It was established as an autonomous body in 1999 under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
• Mandate: To provide the best possible ocean information and advisory services to society, industry, government agencies and the scientific community through sustained ocean observations and constant improvements through systematic and focused research.

Kerala High Court orders translocation of Arikompan to Parambikulam Tiger Reserve

Parambikulam Tiger Reserve:

• It is one of the premier Tiger Reserves of India and is endowed by nature in terms of species, habitat and ecosystem diversity.
• It is located in the Palakkad District of Kerala and lies in between the Anamalai Hills and Nelliampathy Hills of the Southern Western Ghats.
• Flora: It supports diverse habitat types namely; evergreen forests, moist and dry deciduous forests and grasslands.
• Fauna: Lion-tailed macaques, Malabar giant squirrel and Flying squirrel, Tarantula (large-bodied spiders) etc.
• There are several endemic, rare, endangered and threatened (RET) species of flora and fauna adding to the diversity of the Reserve. To name a few,
  • Coscinium fenestratum and Utleria salicifolia (the IUCN ‘red listed’ medicinal plants endemic to Anamalais)
  • Tomopterna parambikulamana (an endemic frog of Parambikulam)
  • Garra surendranathanii (an endemic sucker fish)

Landslide hits Subansiri Dam project

Subansiri Dam project:

• It is the biggest hydroelectric project undertaken in India so far.
• It is a run-of-river scheme on river Subansiri.
• Location: The Project is located near North Lakhimpur on the border of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
• **Capacity:**2000MW
• It is a concrete gravity dam 116 m high from river bed level.
• It is being developed by the state-run National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC).

Subansiri River

• It originates in the Tibet Plateau and is the largest tributary of the Brahmaputra River.
• The high topographic variation makes this river a potential zone for harnessing it for the hydropower

Gravity dam

• Gravity dams are massive structure dams which are constructed of concrete or stone masonry.
• This type of structure is durable and requires very little maintenance.

Three persons arrested for killing water snake near Arakkonam

Asiatic water snake:

• It is also known as the checkered keelback.
• It is a common species in the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae.
• Habitat: It is primarily found in freshwater bodies like rivers, lakes, and ponds.
• It is semi-aquatic and rarely ventures far from water. They lead a solitary life and are active both during the day and at night.
• It is non-venomous and is generally considered harmless to humans.
• It is oviparous which means that they lay their eggs.
• Distribution: The species is endemic to Asia and found in countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia etc,
• Conservation status:
  • IUCN: Least concern
  • CITES: Appendix III
  • Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule II

Wildlife Protection Act, 1972

There are Six Schedules in this act. These Schedules give a different standard of protection.

• The Listed breeds and types of animals in Schedule I and Part II of Schedule II get supreme protection. Offences under these are prescribed the highest penalties.
• Example: Himalayan Brown Bear, Indian Elephant etc.
• The Listed breeds and types of animals in Schedule III and Schedule IV are also secured, but the penalties are comparatively much lower.
• Example: Barking Deer, Falcons, Kingfisher, Tortoise etc.
• Schedule V: Includes the animals which can be hunted.
• Examples: Common Crow, Mice, Rats, Fruit Bats etc.
• The plants, trees and crops mentioned in Schedule VI are banned from Cultivation and Planting.
• Examples: Kuth, Red Vanda, Pitcher Plant etc.