National Archives of India organizes exhibition  "Hamari Bhasha, Hamari Virasat" on the occasion of 75th International Archives Day

Gilgit Manuscripts

• It was written between the 5" -6" centuries CE, which is the oldest surviving manuscript collection in India.
• It was written on the birch bark folios documents written on pieces of inner layer of the bark of birch trees were found in Kashmir region.
• It contains both canonical and non-canonical Jain and Buddhist works that throw light on the evolution of many religious-philosophical literature.

Manuscripts

• A manuscript is a handwritten composition on paper, bark, cloth, metal, palm leaf or any other material dating back at least seventy-five years that has significant scientific, historical or aesthetic value.
• These are found in hundreds of different languages and scripts. Often, one language is written in a number of different scripts.
• For example, Sanskrit is written in Oriya script, Grantha script, Devanagari script and many other scripts.
• These are distinct from historical records such as epigraphs on rocks, farmans, revenue records which provide direct information on events or processes in history. Manuscripts have knowledge content.

Ishad mango from Ankola gets GI tag

• It is grown predominantly around Ankola, is tasty and contains a lot of pulp.
• It is said that the mango variety has been cultivated for the last 400 years.
• It has two variants — Kari Ishad, which has thin skin, more pulp and is sweeter, and Bili Ishad, which has thick skin and less pulp and sweetness.
• The Kari Ishad is accepted as one of the finest quality mangoes due to its unique aroma, luscious taste, high amount of pulp, shape, and size.

Geographical Indication Tag

• It is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
• This is typically used for agricultural products, foodstuffs, wine and spirit drinks, handicrafts and industrial products.
• The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 seeks to provide for the registration and better protection of geographical indications relating to goods in India.
• This GI tag is valid for 10 years following which it can be renewed.

Diego Garcia: The tropical island ''hell'' for dozens of stranded migrants

• It is a coral atoll, the largest and southernmost member of the Chagos Archipelago, in the central Indian Ocean.
• It is a part of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
• It consists of a V-shaped sand-fringed cay and its lagoon is open at the north end.
• This island was discovered by the Portuguese in the early 16th century.

Chagos Archipelago

• It is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and Mauritius claims the archipelago as its own.
• In 1810, Mauritius was captured by the United Kingdom and France ceded the territory in the Treaty of Paris.
• In 1965, three years before Mauritius got its independence, Britain separated the Chagos islands to carve out a ‘British Indian Ocean Territory’.
• In 1966, the UK leased Diego Garcia (the biggest island in the Chagos archipelago) to the US to create an air & naval base. For constructing the defence installation, the inhabitants of the island were forcibly removed. In 1968 Mauritius was granted independence.
• In June 2017, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on the ICJ to deliver an advisory opinion on whether the continued administration of the Chagos Archipelago by the United Kingdom following the 1968 decolonisation process of Mauritius was lawful.
• In February 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion that Britain has an obligation to end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago — home to the U.S. military base of Diego Garcia — and complete the process of decolonisation of Mauritius.

Centre to complete 3D digitisation of museums by year-end

JATAN virtual museum builder

• It is a digital collection management system for Indian museums.
• It has been designed and developed by the Human Centres Design and Computing Group, Centre for Development of Smart Computing, Pune.
• It is a client-server application with features such as image cropping, watermarking, unique numbering, and management of digital objects with multimedia representations.
• It can create 3D virtual galleries and provide public access through web, mobile or touchscreen kiosks.

3D scanning

• It means analysing a real-world object or environment to collect three-dimensional data on its shape and possibly its appearance.
• The collected data is then used to construct digital 3D models.

C-DAC

• 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 the context of the denial of the import of Supercomputers by the USA.
• C-DAC build India’s first indigenously built supercomputer Param 8000in 1991.
• Applications of Param 8000: long-range weather forecasting, remote sensing, drug design and molecular modelling.

Indonesia''s Anak Krakatau Volcano Erupts, Spews Ash, Lava

Anak Krakatau volcano

• This volcano island is located in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait between the main Java and Sumatra islands.
• Anak Krakatau, which means “child of Krakatau,” is the offspring of the famous Krakatau, whose monumental eruption in 1883 triggered a period of global cooling.
• It was the longest eruption since the explosive collapse of the mountain caused a deadly tsunami in 2018

Sunda Strait

• The Sunda Strait is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra.
• It connects the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean.
• Numerous volcanic islands lie in the strait.

Kosovar President Open To New Elections In Areas Of Northern Kosovo Where Clashes Occurred

Kosovo-Serbia tensions

• Kosovo is a mainly ethnic Albanian populated territory that was formerly a province of Serbia. It declared independence in 2008.
• Serbia has refused to recognize Kosovo’s statehood and still considers it part of Serbia, even though it has no formal control there.
• Kosovo’s independence has been recognized by about 100 countries, including the United States.
• Russia, China and five EU countries, most of them with separatist regions of their own, have sided with Serbia.
• The deadlock has kept tensions simmering and prevented full stabilization of the Balkan region after the bloody wars in the 1990s.
• What’s the latest flare-up about?
  • After Serbs boycotted last month’s local elections held in northern Kosovo, where Serbs represent a majority, newly elected ethnic Albanian mayors moved into their offices with the help of Kosovo’s riot police.
  • Serbs tried to prevent them from taking over the premises, but police fired tear gas to disperse them.
  • Serbs staged a protest in front of the municipality buildings, triggering a tense standoff that resulted in fierce clashes between the Serbs and the Kosovo peacekeepers and local police.
• How deep is the ethnic conflict in Kosovo?
  • The dispute over Kosovo is centuries old. Serbia cherishes the region as the heart of its statehood and religion.
  • Numerous medieval Serb Orthodox Christian monasteries are in Kosovo. Serb nationalists view a 1389 battle against Ottoman Turks there as a symbol of their national struggle.
  • Kosovo’s majority ethnic Albanians view Kosovo as their country and accuse Serbia of occupation and repression. Ethnic Albanian rebels launched a rebellion in 1998 to rid the country of Serbian rule.
  • Serbia’s brutal response prompted a NATO intervention in 1999, which forced Serbia to pull out and cede control to international peacekeepers.
• What is the situation locally?
  • There are constant tensions between the Kosovo government and the Serbs who live mainly in the north of the country and keep close ties with Serbia.
  • Attempts by the central government to impose more control in the Serb-dominated north are usually met with resistance from Serbs.

Neolithic-era celt found in Tamil Nadu''s Poothinatham village

Neolithic Age

• Neolithic, also called New Stone Age, is the final stage of cultural evolution or technological development among prehistoric humans.
• The Neolithic stage of development was attained during the Holocene Epoch(the last 11,700 years of Earth’s history).
• The starting point of the Neolithic is generally thought to have occurred sometime about 10,000 BCE.
• The Neolithic followed the Palaeolithic Period, or the age of chipped-stone tools, and preceded the Bronze Age, or the early period of metal tools.
• The Neolithic Revolution started in the Fertile Crescent, a region of the Middle East where humans first took up farming.
• The term Neolithic is most frequently used in connection with agriculture, which is the time when cereal cultivation was introduced.
• Features:
  • It was characterized by stone tools shaped by polishing or grinding, dependence on domesticated plants or animals, settlement in permanent villages, and the appearance of such crafts as pottery and weaving.
  • The houses were built of mud and reed and rectangular or circular shapes.
• Some of the important Neolithic sites in India include Mehrgarh, the oldest Neolithic site in the province of Pakistan called Baluchistan, Burzahom in Kashmir, Chiron in Bihar and Uttar in Andhra Pradesh, Edakkal caves in Kerala.

Wilful defaulters, fraudsters can go for compromise settlement: RBI

Wilful Defaulter

• They are considered as entities that do not pay back money despite the ability to do so.
• The concept of ‘Wilful Defaulter’ was introduced when the RBI, as per its power under Sections 21 and 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, issued the Master Circular, which defined Wilful Defaulter and detailed the measures to be adopted by the Banks and Financial Institutions (FIs**) to adjudge the instances of default**, i.e., whether the same is a wilful default or not.
• According to the RBI, a wilful default is deemed to have occurred in any of the following four circumstances:
  • When there is a default in repayment obligations by the unit (company/individual) to the lender, even when it has the capacity to honour the said obligations, there is a deliberate intention of not repaying the loan.
  • The funds are not utilised for the specific purpose for which finance was availed but have been diverted for other purposes.
  • When the funds have been siphoned off and not been utilised for the purpose for which it was availed. Further, no assets are available which justify the usage of funds.
  • When the asset bought by the lenders’ funds have been sold off without the knowledge of the bank/lender.
• Further, in cases where a letter of comfort or guarantees furnished by group companies of wilfully defaulting units are not honoured when they are invoked by the lender, then such group companies are also considered to be wilful defaulters.
• Consequences:
  • Banks and institutions are required to submit the list of suit-filed accounts of wilful defaulters at the end of every quarter to the Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd (CIBIL).
  • Banks also report the names of current directors as well as directors who were associated with the company at the time the account was classified as a defaulter. This helps to put other banks and institutions on guard against such individuals. This list can also include independent and nominee directors.
  • A wilful defaulter is not permitted to float any new business for a period of five years from the date of being declared a wilful defaulter.
  • Lenders are also expected to initiate legal process, which can include criminal proceedings, if necessary, against the borrowers/guarantors and foreclosure of recovery of dues is expedited.
  • Banks and institutions have been given the right to change the management of wilfully defaulting company.
• At present, there is no specific law for legal action against Wilful defaulters. Reserve Bank of India has framed rules defining wilful default, the process to be followed by banks for declaring borrower as “wilful defaulter”. Banks initiate action against such accounts under laws like SARFAESI Act, Companies Act, 2013, Fugitive Economic Offenders Act etc.

New Study Reveals How Much Neanderthal DNA Still Exists In Modern Humans

Neanderthals

• Neanderthals are our closest extinct human relative.
• Species: Homo neanderthalensis
• They lived throughout Europe and parts of Asia from about 400,000 until about 40,000 years ago.
• Neanderthals co-existed with modern humans for long periods of time before eventually becoming extinct.
• Features:
  • Some defining features of their skulls include the large middle part of the face, angled cheek bones, and a huge nose for humidifying and warming cold, dry air.
  • Their bodies were shorter and stockier than modern humans, another adaptation to living in cold environments.
  • But their brains were just as large as modern humans and often larger proportional to their brawnier bodies.
  • Their bones reveal that they were extremely muscular and strong, but led hard lives, suffering frequent injuries.
  • Neanderthals made and used a diverse set of sophisticated tools, controlled fire, lived in shelters, made and wore clothing, were skilled hunters of large animals and also ate plant foods, and occasionally made symbolic or ornamental objects.
  • Fossil evidence suggests that Neanderthals, like early humans, made an assortment of sophisticated tools from stone and bones. These included small blades, hand axe and scrapers used to remove flesh and fat from animal skin.
  • There is evidence that Neanderthals deliberately buried their dead and occasionally even marked their graves with offerings, such as flowers.

Japan intercepts Chinas’s Y-9DZ electronic-warfare aircraft over Pacific Ocean

Y-9DZ Electronic Warfare Aircraft

• The Y-9DZ is China’s newly developed electronic warfare version of the Y-9 aircraft.
• It is a medium-range, medium-sized tactical transport aircraft manufactured by the Shaanxi Aircraft Company.
• The Y-9DZ was initially spotted in 2017, and China officially unveiled this aircraft in 2019, along with another electronic warfare variant known as the Y-9G.
• The Y-9DZ variant is the most advanced intelligence-gathering aircraft developed by China.
• This aircraft is capable of flying various special missions, including electronic intelligence, communication jamming, psychological operations missions and even surveillance missions during search and rescue operations.
• Features:
  • It features state-of-the-art sensors and communication systems.
  • The Y-9DZ boasts two large rectangular-shaped ESM/ELINT (Electronic Support Measures and Electronic Intelligence) antennas on each side of the rear fuselage and a range of other antennas strategically placed throughout the aircraft.
  • An oval dish-shaped ESM antenna is positioned atop the vertical fin, while a SATCOM antenna sits on the mid-fuselage.
  • Presence of pipe-shaped antennas on the fuselage side suggests their purpose may be related to PSYOP operations (psychological operations).