Iran ''successfully'' tests kamikaze drone with 50-kg warhead

Meraj-532:

• It is a kamikaze drone equipped with a piston engine.
• It has a range of 450 km.
• It is capable of flying at a maximum altitude of 12,000 feet for three straight hours.
• It has a 50-kg warhead and can be assembled and prepared for flight easily, making it suitable for rapid reaction operations.

Kamikaze drone

• A kamikaze drone, also called a suicide drone or, more formally, a loitering munition, is an unmanned aerial vehicle that is designed to self-destruct after serving its purpose.
• They can hover around the target area for some time (much longer than a cruise missile) and attack only once a target is located.
• It may also feature a built-in warhead or payload, which is intended to detonate during the engagement.

Chinese planes cross Taiwan Strait median line

• Taiwan Strait, also called Formosa Strait, is a 180-kilometre-wide strait separating the island of Taiwan and continental Asia.
• The strait extends from southwest to northeast between the South and East China seas.
• The narrowest part is 130 km wide.
• It reaches a depth of about 230 feet (70 m) and contains the Pescadores Islands (which are controlled by the government of Taiwan).
• The chief ports are Amoy in mainland China and Kao-hsiung in Taiwan.
• Median line of the Taiwan Strait:
  • It is the informal dividing line in the Taiwan Strait between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.
  • It came about during the Cold War as a way to try and delineate the two opposing sides and reduce the risk of clashes
  • No agreement or treaty ever solidified its status. But over the decades, it helped keep Taiwan and China''s militaries apart.

Periyar Tiger Reserve gets top rank in management review, none ‘poor’

• Location: It is located in the Western Ghats of Kerala.
• It was declared a Tiger Reserve in 1978.
• It gets its name from the River Periyar, which has its origin deep inside the reserve.
• Two main rivers, Pamba and Periyar, drain the reserve.
• It is home to many tribal communities, including the Mannans and the Palians.
• Terrain: Hilly and undulatingwith a maximum altitude of 2016 m.
• Vegetation: It consists of tropical evergreen, semi-evergreen and moist deciduous.
• Flora:
  • There are more than 171 species of grasses.
  • Important flora includes teak, mangoes, rosewood, jamun, jacarandas, terminalias, tamarind, royal ponciana, bamboos etc.
• Fauna:
  • Includes Elephants, Wild Pigs, Sambar, Gaur, Mouse Deer, Dole or Barking Deer, Indian Wild Dog and Tiger.
  • The major four species of primates are also found at Periyar - the rare lion-tailed macaque, the Nilgiri Langur, Gee''s Golden Langur, Common Langur and Bonnet Macaque.
  • It Is also being considered the habitat of the elusive Nilgiri Tahr.

Int''l Trade Union Confederation calls WBG, IMF to overhaul multilateral system, act for sustainable recovery

• It is an organization established in 2006, that promotes the trade union movement.
• It represents 176 million workers in 161 countries and territories and has 325 national affiliates.
• Mission: Promotion and defence of workers’ rights and interests, through international cooperation between trade unions, global campaigning and advocacy within the major global institutions.
• Its main areas of activity include the following: trade union and human rights; economy, society and the workplace; equality and non-discrimination; and international solidarity.
• It is governed by four-yearly world congresses, a General Council and an Executive Bureau.
• It works closely with the International Labour Organisation and with several other UN Specialised Agencies.
• Headquarters: Belgium

PM inaugurates program ‘Commemoration of 50 years of Project Tiger’ in Mysuru, Karnataka

5th cycle of the All India Tiger Estimation:

• India''s tiger population rose by 200 in the past four years to reach 3,167 in 2022.
• According to the data, the tiger population was 1,411 in 2006, 1,706 in 2010, 2,226 in 2014, 2,967 in 2018 and 3,167 in 2022
• The number of tigers has almost doubled in the last two decades in the country.
• As many as 1,161 of India’s tigers are now in Central India, 824 in the Western Ghats, 804 in the Shivalik Range, 194 in the North-eastern states and 100 in the Sunderbans.
• The Western Ghats, which are home to the largest tiger population in the world, have shown a significant fall in the occupancy of tigers.
• Tiger occupancy has also declined in the states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana.
• The north-western states such as Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh now have more tigers outside reserves, requiring officials to step up habitat conservation.
• The period covered in the survey — 2018 to 2022 — also saw 551 tiger deaths, with 208 of them adults.

PM participates in 125th Anniversary celebrations of Sri Ramakrishna Math

Ramakrishna Movement:

• It was initiated by Swami Vivekananda to spread the universal message of Vedanta in the light of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhamsa (He was a teacher of swami Vivekanand)
• The main motto of this initiative is to work for the alleviating of the poor and the downtrodden with the motto ‘for one’s liberation and the good of the world’.
• With this aim, Swami Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission.
• The Ramakrishna Mission was formed in May 1897 with aims purely spiritual and humanitarian.

Vedanta

• Vedanta is one of the world’s most ancient spiritual philosophies and one of its broadest, based on the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of India.
• Vedanta affirms:
  • The oneness of existence,
  • The divinity of the soul, and
  • The harmony of all religions.

It was the second joint warmest March on record: Copernicus

Copernicus programme:

• It is the most ambitious Earth observation programme to date.
• It was previously known as the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme
• This initiative is headed by the European Commission (EC) in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA).
• Objectives: It will provide accurate, timely and easily accessible information to improve the management of the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security.
• Services provided by Copernicus fall into 6 categories: Land management, the marine environment, the atmosphere, emergency response, security and climate change.

Sentinel satellite

• European Space Agency is developing a new family of satellites, called Sentinels, specifically for the operational needs of the Copernicus programme.
• The Sentinels will provide a unique set of observations, starting with the all-weather, day and night radar images.

What was the U.N. water conference and what happened there?

Hydrological Status and Outlook System (HydroSOS):

• It is an important initiative envisioned by the Commission for Hydrology and is now overseen by the WMO Hydrological Assembly.
• Aim: To provide the crucial global scale information needed to help water users understand the current status of the world''s freshwater systems.
• The System will be delivered by National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), offering simple, accessible hydrological information to users such as government bodies, basin managers, funding institutions etc.
• It is being developed in phases, with the first one being a pilot phase (2017-2021).
• Under this phase, pilot basins have been identified in Africa and South Asia.

World Meteorological Organisation

• It is a specialized agency of the United Nations(UN).

• It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873.

• Established in 1950, WMO became the specialized agency of the UN for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences.

• Headquarters: Geneva,

• Currently, it has a membership of 187 countries.

• It is situated in the Taurus constellation, a staggering 6500 light-years distant from Earth.

• It was formed as a result of a supernova and possesses a mass equivalent to two Suns.

• The discovery of the object as a nebula is attributed to the English physician and amateur astronomer John Bevis in about 1731.

• It is one of the few astronomical objects from which radiation has been detected over the entire measurable spectrum, from radio waves through infrared and visible wavelengths to ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays.

Nebula

• The word nebula is derived from Latin which means a cloud.
• A nebula is a formation in space which is constituted mostly of helium, dust, and other gases in various concentrations.
• The shape and size of a nebula vary, and as such there can be various types of formations having different sizes.
• It is believed that they are formed by the collapsing of the interstellar medium, which then comes together because of the gravitational pull of the particles.
• Some of the most popular ones are Pelican, Crab, Eagle, and Ring Nebula, with Ring being among the most observed ones on the planet.

Prime Minister Modi interacts with elephant whisperers at Theppakadu elephant camp in Nilgiris

Mudumalai Tiger Reserve:

• It is located in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu state at the tri-junction of three states, viz, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• The name Mudumalai means the ancient hill range because it is as old as 65 million years when the Western Ghats were formed.
• It has a common boundary with Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (Kerala) on the West, and Bandipur Tiger Reserve (Karnataka) on the
• The Theppakadu elephant camp is a popular tourist attraction.
• Flora: A variety of habitats ranging from tropical evergreen forest, moist deciduous forest, moist teak forest, dry teak forest, secondary grasslands and swamps are found here.
• Fauna: Elephants, Gaur, Tiger, Panther, Spotted Deer, Barking Deer, Wild Boar, Porcupine etc.

Theppakadu elephant camp

• It is the oldest elephant camp in Asia. This elephant camp was established 100 years before.
• It is located on the bank of the river Moyar.
• In this elephant, camp elephants are mainly used in Human- Wild animal conflicts, Forest Mansoon patrolling, eco-tourism, elephant conservation, Education etc.