Consider NGO plea to co-organise Shivaji Jayanti celebration with Maharashtra govt expeditiously: Delhi HC to ASI

• It is a large 16th-century fortress of red sandstone located on the Yamuna River in the historic city of Agra, west-central Uttar Pradesh.
• It is about 5 km northwest of its more famous sister monument, the Taj Mahal.
• It was built under the commission of Emperor Akbar in 1565.
• It was only during the reign of Akbar’s grandson, Shah Jahan, that the site took on its current state.
• It was the main residence of the emperors of the Mughal Dynasty till 1638, when the capital was shifted from Agra to Delhi.
• Features:
  • The fort is crescent-shaped, with a long, nearly straight wall facing the Yamuna river on the east side.
  • The fort houses a maze of buildings, including vast underground sections.
  • The outer wall is surrounded by a wide and deep moat on three sides.
  • The Agra Fort has four main gatewaysthe Khizri Gate, Amar Singh Gate, Delhi Gate and Ghazni Gate.
• The fort complex was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983.

DP World to develop container terminal at India’s Deendayal Port

• Deendayal Port (previously called Kandla port) is situated in the Kandla Creek and is 90 kms from the mouth of the Gulf Of Kachch in Gujarat.
• It is a protected natural harbour.
• It is recognized as one of the major ports in India.
• It was constructed in the 1950s as the chief seaport serving western India, after the partition of India from Pakistan left the port of Karachi in Pakistan.
• Deendayal Port is hub for major imports like petroleum, chemicals and iron also export grains, salt and textiles.
• It remains India’s biggest state-owned cargo handler by volume, but it has steadily lost market share to privately owned Mundra Port (India’s largest private port) 60km to the southwest.

C-DAC developing India''s first indigenous microprocessor

• It is the apex research and development wing of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
• It was established in the year 1988.
• Its main purpose was to carry out research and development in Electronics, IT and other associated areas.
• It was setup to build Supercomputers in context of denial of import of Supercomputers by USA.
• C-DAC build India’s first indigenously built supercomputer Param 8000 in 1991.

Param 8000:

• It is India’s first supercomputer.
• It was developed by C-DAC in 1991.
• PARAM 8000 is the first machine in the PARAM supercomputers series built from scratch in 1991.
• All the chips and other elements that were used in making of PARAM were bought from the open domestic market.
• Applications: long-range weather forecasting, remote sensing, drug design and molecular modelling.

Post Office Monthly Income Scheme (POMIS) Calculator 2023

• The deposit limit for the Post Office Monthly Scheme (POMIS) has been revised for a single account to Rs.4.5 lakh to Rs. 9 lakh and 15 lakh from Rs. 9 lakh for joint account holders.

Post Office Monthly Income Scheme (POMIS):

• It is a Government of India backed small savings scheme that allows the investor to invest a specific amount every month.
• Eligibility:
  • A resident of India. NRIs are not eligible to invest in this scheme
  • Individual above the age of 10 years.
• Number of holders: At least 1 and at most 3 individuals can hold post office MIS.
• Maturity Period: 5 years
• Maximum limit:
  • If you open an MIS scheme individually, then the maximum amount you can invest is 4.5 lakh. ( Increased to Rs.9 lakh in Budget 2023-24)
  • If the account is opened jointly, the investment limit will be 9 lakh. (Increased to Rs.15 lakh in Budget 2023-24)
• **Lock-in period:**On opening a Post Office Monthly Income Scheme, there will be a lock-in period of 5 years during which you cannot withdraw any money.
• Transferable: POMIS account is transferable from one post office to another.
• Premature withdrawal: Premature withdrawal is allowed after one year of opening the account with a penalty.
• Taxability: Any income from this scheme does not come under TDS or tax deduction.

India''s G20 Presidency: Gujarat''s Rann of Kutch To Host First Tourism Meet

• Dholavira is an archaeological site of immense importance associated with the Indus Valley Civilization.
• It represents the ruins of an ancient city of the Harappan civilization that was inhabited over a period of 1,200 years from 3000 BCE through 1800 BCE.
• Location: The site is located near the village of Dholavira, in the Kutch District of the Indian state of Gujarat.
• Dholavira is the fifth largest site of the Indus Valley Civilization in the sub-continent.
• It lies between two seasonal streams, the Mansar in the north and Manhar in the south.
• It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Sitein 2021.
• Features:
  • It comprises of two parts: a walled city and a cemetery to the west of the city.
  • The walled city consists of a fortified Castle with attached fortified Bailey and Ceremonial Ground, and a fortified Middle Town and a Lower Town.
  • The archaeological remains of the city of Dholavira include fortifications, gateways, water reservoirs, ceremonial ground, residential units, workshop areas, and cemetery complex, all clearly representing the Harappan culture and its various manifestations.
  • A series of reservoirs are found to the east and south of the Citadel.
  • The water system of Dholavira was very well planned with 16 reservoirs and water channels that stored water or diverted water from nearby rivulets.
  • Step wells leading to large public baths have also been discovered here.

Rann of Kutch

• It is a salt marshy land in the Thar Desert in the Kachchh district of western Gujarat.
• It lies between Gujarat in India and the Sindh province in Pakistan.
• The Rann of Kachchh is famous for its white salty desert sand and is reputed to be the largest salt desert in the world.

Bravehearts Vadivel and Sadaiyan shine a light for Irula cooperative

• Irulas are one of India’s oldest indigenous communities and they are a particularly vulnerable tribal group.
• They live primarily in the northern districts of Tamil Nadu, as well as in parts of Kerala and Karnataka.
• They speak Irula, which is related to Dravidian languages like Tamil and Kannada.
• Irulas have traditionally caught snakes and rats, but they also work as labourers.
• Irulas'' knowledge of snakes and snake venom is legendary.They can even locate snakes based on their tracks, smell, and droppings.
• The Irula Snake Catchers'' Industrial Cooperative Society is a major producer of anti-snake venom (ASV) in the country.

S&P Dow Jones Indices will remove Adani Enterprises from its sustainability indices. What does this mean?

• The index comprises global sustainability leaders as identified by S&P Global through its Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA).
• It represents the top 10% of the largest 2,500 companies in the S&P Global Broad Market Index (BMI) based on long-term economic, environmental and social criteria.

Corporate Sustainability Assessment

• It was founded in 1999 and serves as the foundation for the S&P Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
• It is now also the basis for many other Environment, Social responsibility, and (Corporate) Governance
• According to S&P Global, S&P acquired the CSA in 2019, which included the transition of the related ESG ratings and ESG benchmarking teams that now operate out of S&P Global Switzerland.
• It compares companies across 61 industries via questionnaires assessing a mix of 80-100 cross-industry and industry-specific questions.
• Based on their performance, companies receive scores ranging from 0 to 100.
• The percentile rankings for approximately 20 financially relevant sustainability criteria across economic, environmental and social dimensions.
• A growing number of companies participate in the assessment and use their results to benchmark their

Environment, Social responsibility, and (Corporate) Governance (ESG)?

• ESG is a framework that helps stakeholders understand how an organization is managing risks and opportunities related to environmental, social and governance criteria
• Over the last few years emerged as key themes for investors everywhere, including in India.
• The asset size of ESG funds — which incorporate environmental, social responsibility and corporate governance in their investing process — has ballooned in India,
• In 2021, the NSE launched NSE Prime, a framework that allows companies to submit to standards of corporate governance that are higher than those required by existing regulations.

Assam: Royal Bengal Tiger Found Dead in Orang National Park

• It is located on the north bank of the Brahmaputra River in the state of Assam.
• It was established as a sanctuary in 1985 and declared a National Park on 13 April 1999.
• It is also known as the mini Kaziranga National Park (IUCN site) since the two parks have a similar landscape made up of marshes, streams and grasslands and are inhabited by the Great Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros.
• It is also a Tiger Reserve of the country which was notified in 2016.
• Fauna: Rhinoceros, Tiger, Elephants, Hog Deer, Wild Pig, Civet Cat, One-Horned Rhinoceros.

Statement of the thirty-fourth Polio IHR Emergency Committee

• Vaccine-derived poliovirus is a well-documented strain of poliovirus mutated from the strain originally contained in the oral polio vaccine (OPV).
• OPV contains a live, weakened form of poliovirus that replicates in the intestine for a limited period, thereby developing immunity by building up antibodies.

Polio

• Polio is a crippling and potentially deadly viral infectious disease that affects the nervous system.
• There are three individual and immunologically-distinct wild poliovirus strains
  • Wild Poliovirus type 1 (WPV1)
  • Wild Poliovirus type 2 (WPV2)
  • Wild Poliovirus type 3 (WPV3)
• Symptomatically, all three strains are identical, in that they cause irreversible paralysis or even death. However, there are genetic and virological differences, which make these three strains separate viruses which must each be eradicated individually.
• How does it Transmit?: The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g. contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis.
• It largely affects children under 5 years of age.

Vaccines

• Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV):It is given orally as a birth dose for institutional deliveries, then primary three doses at 6, 10 and 14 weeks and one booster dose at 16-24 months of age.
• Injectable Polio Vaccine (IPV):It is introduced as an additional dose along with the 3rd dose of DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus) under the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).

Calm Asiatic black bears on a short fuse in Kashmir

• The Asiatic black bear is known as the Moon bear.
• The Asiatic black bear has 7 subspecies, out of which we find the Himalayan Black Bear subspecies in India.
• Features: The Asiatic Black Bear has a coat of smooth black fur and can be distinguished by a V of white fur on its chest.
• Range: The Asiatic black bear lives in a narrow band stretching from south-eastern Iran to Myanmar, across the Himalayan foothills.
• In India, it is found in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Sikkim, and the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
• The Asiatic black bear is omnivorous.
• Conservation status
  • IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
  • CITES: Appendix I
  • Wild Life Protection Act 1972: Schedule II