Rajasthan International Folk Festival

Rajasthan International Folk Festival, artists performed the Kalbeliya dance.

Kalbeliya Dance

• It is a folk dance from Rajasthan.
• It is well known by other names like ''Sapera Dance'' or ''Snake Charmer Dance''.
• It is particularly performed by a Rajasthani tribe called ''Kalbelia''.
• This dance has become so well-known throughout the world that this dance and its songs have been included in UNESCO''s representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2010.
• In Kalbelia dance, males play various traditional instruments and females perform the dance.
• It is one of the most sensuous dances among all Rajasthani dances.
• In this dance form, the main performers are female dancers who dance and swirl, replicating the movements of a serpent.
• The dancers wear brightly coloured skirts, blouses, and heavy jewellery.
• Instruments: The male musicians typically play the dhol (a drum), the pungi (a snake charmer’s pipe), and the khanjari (a tambourine).

World AIDS Day 2023: History, date, theme, preventive measures

World AIDS Day

• It is observed every year on December 1 to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS.
• The day is an opportunity to end stigmas associated with this disease, and this day also honours people who lost their precious lives and engage in lives that support HIV/AIDS research and advanced treatment.
• It was first observed in 1988, when the World Health Organisation (WHO) recognised the day.
• The theme of World AIDS Day 2023 is– “Let Communities Lead"

HIV/AIDS

• Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a chronic, potentially life-threatening condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
• HIV attacks the body’s immune system, making a person more vulnerable to other infections and diseases.
• If HIV is not treated, it can lead to AIDS.
• Transmission:
  • It is a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
  • It can also be spread by contact with infected blood, from illicit injection drug use, or by sharing needles.
  • It can also be spread from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding.
• Treatment:
  • There is currently no effective cure. Once people get HIV, they have it for life.
  • However, with proper medical care, HIV can be controlled. People with HIV who get effective HIV treatment (called antiretroviral therapy, or ART) can live long, healthy lives and protect their partners.

Show norms being complied with for event planned at sanctuary

Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary

• Location:
  • The sanctuary covers an area of 32.71 sq. km on the Southern Delhi Ridge of the Aravalli hill range on the Delhi-Haryana border.
  • It lies in Southern Delhiand the northern parts of Faridabad and Gurugram districts of Haryana state.
• It is also part of the Sariska-Delhi Wildlife Corridor, which runs from the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan to Delhi Ridge.
• Vegetation:
  • As per Champion & Seth (1968), the vegetation falls under the Northern Tropical Thorn Forests type.
  • The native plants exhibit xerophytic adaptations such as thorny appendages, wax-coated, succulent, and tomentose leaves.
• Climate: It is mainly influenced by its remote inland position and prevalence of air of continental character, which is characterized by extreme summer heat alternating with great winter cold.
• Flora: Consists of Prosopis juliflora as the dominant exotic species and Diospyros montana as the dominant native species in the sanctuary.
• Fauna: Golden Jackals, Striped-Hyenas, Indian crested-Porcupines, Civets, Jungle Cats, Snakes, Monitor Lizards, Mongoose etc.

Jellyfish with 240 tentacles discovered off Japan`s coast declared a new species

Santjordia Pagesi

• Santjordia pagesi, also called St. George’s Cross medusa jellyfish, is a newly discovered species of jellyfish.
• It is considered “rare” and has been found only in the Sumisu Caldera near the Ogasawara Islands, about 600 miles southeast of Tokyo, Japan.
• “Santjordia” refers to Saint George in Catalan, representing its cross-shaped stomach.
• Features:
  • It is considered large at 4 inches wide and 3 inches tall.
  • It boasts a circular body with around 240 tentacles.
  • Its body looks almost like a see-through cushion. It has a thick white ring running along its lower edge.
  • Smaller vein-like structures stretch from its prominent central stomach to the outer ring.
  • Its most distinctive feature is a bright red, cross-shaped stomach.
  • The jellyfish’s distinct features suggest it may possess a novel cnidarian venom.

Jellyfish

• A jellyfish is a type of marine animal belonging to the phylum Cnidaria, which includes creatures such as sea anemones, sea whips, and corals.
• Like all members of the phylum, the body parts of a jellyfish radiate from a central axis.
• These are found in oceans around the world and come in various shapes and sizes.
• Jellyfish have a soft, transparent, and umbrella-shaped bell that can pulsate for movement. Hanging from the bell are tentacles.
• Jellyfish have tiny stinging cells in their tentacles to stun or paralyse their prey before they eat them.
• Inside their bell-shaped body is an opening that is their mouth. They eat and discard waste from this opening.

INS Kadmatt conducts underway replenishment with Japan''s JS Towada in North Pacific

INS Kadmatt

• It is an indigenous stealth anti-submarine warfare corvette.
• It is the second of four anti-submarine warfare corvettes built for the Indian Navy by the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers of Kolkata under Project 28.
• It was commissioned into the Indian Navy in January 2016.
• The ship was inducted into the Eastern Naval Command of the Indian Navy.
• It has been named after the Kadmat Island of India''s Lakshadweep Islands.
• The primary role of the INS Kadmatt is in anti-submarine warfare—to protect ships in convoys and ports from enemy submarine attacks.
• Features:
  • Length: 109 m (358 ft)
  • Beam: 12.8 m (42 ft)
  • Speed: 25 knots (46 km/h)
  • Range: 3,450 mi (5,550 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h)
  • Complement: 180 sailors and 13 officers
  • The ship is fitted with state-of-the-art weapons, sensors, and machinery and is also designed to embark on the Sea king anti-submarine helicopter.
  • The ship also has on-board early warning, navigation, and fire control radars, besides underwater sensors and integrated communication and electronic warfare systems.
  • It produces low levels of radiated underwater noise, which reduces its chances of detection.
  • It is equipped with antiaircraft guns, torpedoes, and rocket launchers.

Indian Railways launches Gajraj Suraksha, a new AI-based tech to curb elephant-train collisions

Gajraj Suraksha

• It uses an AI-based algorithm and a network of sensitive optical fibre cables to detect elephants getting close to railway tracks.
• It aims to address the issue of elephant fatalities resulting from train accidents.
• Working
  • Gajraj Suraksha senses pressure waves generated by the movement of elephants along the tracks.
  • As elephants move, the optical fibres detect vibrations caused by their footsteps.
  • These vibrations trigger signals within the optical fibre network, enabling the system to identify the presence of elephants up to 200 metres ahead of their arrival on the track.
  • The OFC-based Intrusion Detection System works by sending alarms to station masters whenever movement is detected along the tracks.
• The network is designed in such a way that it can track the movement of the elephant with great accuracy and report it to nearby station masters.
• This allows them to promptly inform locomotive drivers in the affected areas.
• This quick communication ensures that trains can be slowed down or stopped, preventing potential collisions with elephants.
• Indian Railway is planning to introduce this system in West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Assam, Kerala, certain parts of Chhattisgarh, and Tamil Nadu.

Navy gets ready for its biggest naval exercise amid ocean engagements

Exercise Milan

• It is a biennial multilateral naval exercise that began in 1995.
• It has since significantly expanded in scope and scale to become the largest exercise held by India.
• It was started with the participation of only four countries, viz., Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand, in the 1995 edition, the exercise has since transitioned leaps and bounds in terms of the number of participants and complexity of exercises.
• Originally conceived in consonance with India''s ''Look East Policy, MILAN expanded in ensuing years with the Government of India''s ''Act East Policy'' and Security And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) initiative to include participation from other Friendly Foreign Countries (FFCs).
• The mid-planning conference of Milan-24 was held in October this year. The last edition of Milan, which is held off the coast of Visakhapatnam, saw participation from over 40 countries.

SAGAR initiative

• It is an Indian foreign policy doctrine that was introduced in 2015.
• The aim of SAGAR is to enhance cooperation and mutual trust between India and its neighbouring countries, particularly in the Indian Ocean region.
• The SAGAR policy has several components, including ensuring maritime security and safety, promoting sustainable development and economic growth, and strengthening cultural and people-to-people ties between nations.

Sugarcane byproduct pressmud can be a sweet spot for India''s compressed biogas sector

Press Mud

• It is often known as filter cake or press cake.
• It is the agricultural waste obtained when cane juice is repeatedly filtered before being sent for sugar extraction.
• The filters are cleaned periodically, and the waste is deposited in the yard of the mill.
• Nearly 3 to 4 percent of press mud is obtained when one tonne of cane is crushed.
• At present, mills recycle this agricultural waste as manure by composting it and supplying it to the farmers in the area.
• Benefits
  • It can be utilised as a feedstock for biogas production through anaerobic digestion and subsequent purification to create compressed biogas (CBG).
  • It is very useful for crops and horticulture because of its richness in various micronutrients.
  • It has been acknowledged as a valuable resource for green energy production.
• Issue with press mud: Storing press mud proves challenging as it undergoes gradual decomposition, resulting in the breakdown of organic compounds.

compressed biogas (CBG)

• It is produced naturally through a process of anaerobic decomposition from waste / bio-mass sources like agriculture residue, cattle dung, sugarcane press mud, municipal solid waste, sewage treatment plant waste, etc.
• After purification, it is compressed and called CBG, which has a pure methane content of over 95%.
• It is exactly similar to commercially available natural gas in its composition and energy potential. With calorific value (~52,000 KJ/kg) and other properties similar to CNG

COP28 talks open in Dubai with breakthrough deal on loss and damage fund

Loss and Damage Fund

• It was first announced during COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
• It is a global financial package to ensure the rescue and rehabilitation of countries facing the cascading effects of climate change.
• The term refers to the compensation that rich nations, whose industrial growth has resulted in global warming and driven the planet into a climate crisis, must pay to poor nations, whose carbon footprint is low but are facing the brunt of rising sea levels, floods, crippling droughts, and intense cyclones, among others.
• The changing climate has impacted lives, livelihoods, biodiversity, cultural traditions, and identities.
• Loss and damage is often categorised as either economic or non-economic.
  • Economic loss and damage are negative impacts that one can assign a monetary value to. These are things such as the costs of rebuilding infrastructure that has been damaged due to floods or the loss of revenue from crops that were destroyed due to drought.
  • Non-economic loss and damage are negative impacts where it is difficult or infeasible to assign a monetary value. These are things such as trauma from experiencing a tropical cyclone, loss of community due to displacement of people, or loss of biodiversity.
• The World Bank will oversee the loss and damage fund in the beginning, with the source of funds being rich nations such as the US, the UK, and the EU, as well as some developing countries.

PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana: Cabinet extends free foodgrain scheme for five years

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY)

• It was launched by the Indian government in April 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• It is designed to provide financial assistance to economically weaker sections affected by the pandemic.
• The scheme encompasses the distribution of 5 kg of free food grains each month, along with cash transfers to women and elderly individuals.
• It was introduced as part of the broader Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package, aiming to offer relief to those adversely affected by the pandemic, especially the poor and marginalised.
• As per the scheme, the government offers 5 kg of free food grains each month in addition to the subsidised ration given to families covered by the Public Distribution System under the National Food Security Act.
• Eligibility Criteria: The benefits of PMGKAY are accessible to families meeting specific eligibility criteria.
  • Families belonging to the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Households (PHH) categories will be eligible for the scheme. PHH is to be identified by State Governments/Union Territory Administrations as per criteria evolved by them. AAY families are to be **identified by States/**UTs as per the criteria prescribed by the Central Government:
  • Households headed by widows, or terminally ill persons, or disabled persons, or persons aged 60 years or more with no assured means of subsistence or societal support.
  • Widows, or terminally ill persons, or disabled persons, or persons aged 60 years or more or single women or single men with no family or societal support or assured means of subsistence.
  • Additionally, all primitive tribal households, landless agricultural labourers, marginal farmers, rural artisans/craftsmen such as potters, tanners, slum dwellers, and persons earning their livelihood on a daily basis in the informal sector like porters, coolies, rickshaw pullers, hand cart pullers, and other similar categories in both rural and urban areas are also eligible for the scheme.
  • All the citizens are eligible who belong to Below Poverty Line families.