17-year old swept away in Tungabhadra river

Tungabhadra River:

• It is a major river in the south Indian peninsula.
• It is a major tributary of the Krishna River.
• Origin:
  • It is formed by the union of two rivers, Tunga and Bhadra, hence the name.
  • Both the Tunga and Bhadra Rivers originate on the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats.
  • The two rivers merge at Koodli in the Shimoga district of Karnataka, giving birth to the Tungabhadra River.
• Course:
  • It flows in a more or less northwest direction before joining the Krishna River at Sangamaleshwaram in Andhra Pradesh.
  • The Krishna River finally ends in the Bay of Bengal.
• The river has a total length of 531 km and a catchment area of 28,000 sq. km.
• It flows through the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
• It is influenced chiefly by the South-West monsoon.
• Major Tributaries: Varada River and Hagari (Vedathy) River.
• The river has several dams and reservoirs built on it, including the Tunga Anicut Dam, the Bhadra Dam, the Hemavathy Dam, and the Tungabhadra Dam.
• History:
  • The Hindus consider this river sacred, and there is a mention of the river in Ramayana, where it is referred to as Pampa.
  • In historical times, the Tungabhadra River was known as the Varada River.
  • The river was an important source of water for the Vijayanagar Empire.
  • The city of Hampi, which was the capital of the Vijayanagar Empire, was located on the banks of the river.

Iran unveils upgraded hypersonic missile as Khamenei touts Israel ‘failure’

Fattah 2

• Fattah, which means conqueror in Farsi, is a hypersonic ballistic missile.
• It was developed by Iran. It is a new version of its first domestically made hypersonic ballistic missile named ‘Fattah’.
• Features:
  • It is equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) warhead that can manoeuvre and glide at hypersonic speed.
  • It uses a liquid-fuel rocket propellant.
  • The precision-guided two-stage missile can hit targets within a range of 1500 kilometres with a velocity of Mach 15 (fifteen times the speed of sound i.e., 18522 km/hr).
  • It can make quick turns to avoid defence systems.
  • It is equipped with a warhead that has a spherical engine running on solid fuel and movable nozzles that allow it to change course when outside the atmosphere to accurately help it evade air-defence systems.

Hypersonic Missile

• A hypersonic missile is a weapon system that flies at least at the speed of Mac 5, i.e., five times the speed of sound and is manoeuvrable.
• These missiles are extremely fast and far harder for surface-to-air missile defence systems to target.

Rajnath Singh unveils crest of Navy advanced warship ‘Imphal’

INS Imphal

• It is the third in the Visakhapatnam-class stealth-guided missile destroyers.
• It is among the largest destroyers constructed in India, with an overall length of 164 metres and a displacement of over 7500 tonnes.
• Speed: Over 30 knots (approximately 55 kmph).
• The ship is a potent platform capable of undertaking a variety of tasks and missions, spanning the full spectrum of maritime warfare.
• The ship boasts a high indigenous content of approximately 75%, which includes Medium Range Surface-to-Air missiles, BrahMos surface-to-surface missiles, Indigenous Torpedo Tube Launchers, Anti-Submarine Indigenous Rocket Launchers (Larsen & Toubro, Mumbai) 76mm Super Rapid Gun Mount (BHEL, Haridwar).
• The crest design depicts the Kangla Palace on the left and ‘Kangla-Sa’ on the right.
• The Kangla Palace is an important historical and archaeological site in Manipur and was the traditional seat of the past kingdom.
• With a dragon’s head and lion’s body, the ‘Kangla-Sa’ is a mythical being from Manipur history and is symbolic as the guardian/protector of its people. ‘Kangla-Sa’ is also the state emblem of Manipur.
• It is the first capital warship to be named after a city in the northeast, Imphal, the capital of Manipur.

NCC to celebrate 75th anniversary of its raising

National Cadet Corps

• It is a Tri-Services organisation, comprising the Army, Navy and Air Force, engaged in grooming the youth into disciplined and patriotic citizens.
• It came into existence under the National Cadet Corps Act XXXI of 1948 under the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
• It is a voluntary organisation that recruits cadets from high schools, colleges, and universities all over India.
• The cadets are given basic military training in small arms and parades. They are given preference in military service over normal candidates during selections.
• Aims
  • To develop qualities of character, courage, comradeship, discipline, leadership, secular outlook, the spirit of adventure and sportsmanship and ideals of selfless service among the youth to make them useful citizens.
  • To create a human resource of organised, trained, and motivated youth to provide leadership in all walks of life, including the Armed Forces, and be always available for the service of the nation.
  • To create a suitable environment to motivate the youth to take up a career in the armed forces.
• It is headed by the Director General (DG), an Army officer of the rank of Lieutenant General.
• Headquarters: New Delhi.

Comet spanning 3,50,000 km in size captured by India''s Himalayan Chandra Telescope

Comet P12/Pons-Brooks

• It is a celestial object that has been playfully nicknamed the ''Devil Comet'' or likened to the ''Millennium Falcon'' for its distinctive appearance.
• This comet, first discovered in the year 1812, completes an orbit around the Sun every 71 years. Its recent activity has been particularly striking, with multiple outbursts of gas and dust that have dramatically increased its brightness.
• The comet''s atmosphere, visible as a spherical halo, spans an impressive 3,50,000 kilometres in diameter,

Himalayan Chandra Telescope

• It is a 2-meter optical-infrared telescope named after Nobel laureate Subramaniam Chandrasekhar.
• It is at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) in Hanle, near Leh in Ladakh.
• It is currently the tenth-highest optical telescope in the world, situated at an elevation of 4,500 meters.
• The telescope isremotely operated using a dedicated satellite communication link from the Centre for Research & Education in Science & Technology (CREST), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore.
• Imaging instruments include a Faint Object Spectrograph, a near-infrared and an optical CCD camera.

Can the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund make a difference?

Experts said that the world’s new biodiversity framework fund lacks any real financial commitment to meet conservation targets.

Global Biodiversity Framework Fund:

• It was created to ramp up investment in nature restoration and renewal.
• It has been designed to mobilise and accelerate investment in the conservation and sustainability of wild species and ecosystems, whose health is under threat from wildfires, flooding, extreme weather, and human activity, including urban sprawl.
• The fund was established at the 7th Assembly of the Global Environment Facility in Vancouver, Canada.
• It will help countries achieve the 23 targets set under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF).
• The framework was adopted at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity last December.
• It will be managed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and raise funds through private, philanthropic, and government investments.
• This is a departure from GEF, which relied on just 40 donors for finance.
• It will also have access to funds earmarked for biodiversity conservation under GEF.
• The facility has a cumulative budget of $5.25 billion for 2022-26, of which 36 percent is earmarked for biodiversity.
• The remaining budget is for projects on climate change, pollution, land and ocean health.
• The GBF Fund Council will be open to representation by the following members,
  • 16 Members from developing countries
  • 14 Members from developed countries
  • 2 members from the countries of central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
• Decisions of the GBF Fund Council are to be taken by consensus, along the lines of the GEF Instrument.

Hero stones, inscriptions found in Sathya Sai district

Nolamba Dynasty

• They were one of the significant political powers in South India.
• The Nolambas ruled from the **8th to the 12th centuries C.**E. over an area traditionally called Nolambavadi, which extended over south-east Karnataka and parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
• They ruled first as feudatories to Pallavas, Chalukyas of Badami, Gangas, and Rashtrakutas, and later to Chalukyas of Kalyani.
• Nolambas commonly referred to themselves as Nolamba Pallava in several inscriptions.
• Their earlier capital was Chitradurga, which they later shifted to Hemavati in modern Andhra Pradesh. Hemavathi was the capital between the 8th and 10th centuries AD.
• Origin:
  • Mangala Nomabathi Raja (735–785 A.D.) was considered the founder of the Nolamba dynasty.
  • Inscriptional evidence suggests that they came into existence as governors when the Pallavas and Chalukyas were supreme powers.
  • With the seizure of Badami by the Pallava ruler Mamalla Narasimhavarman I, the Chalukyas ceded the territories that were ruled by the Banas and Vaidumbas to the Pallavas.
  • The Banas and Vaidumbas thus became feudatories of the Pallavas.
  • The Nolambas, who were perhaps related to the Pallava family, governed the region adjacent to these lands of Pallava feudatories, namely the Banas and Vaidumbas.
  • Sometime later, during the rule of Vikramaditya I, the Chalukyas regained their lost territories. The Banas and Vaidumbas thus had to change their political relationship back to the Chalukyas.
  • The Pallava chiefs, who were adjacent to the Banas and Vaidumbas, were defeated by the Chalukyas, who soon came under their protection. These Pallava chiefs soon came into existence under the name of “Nolambas”.
• Decline: Nolambas were overrun by the Ganga king Marasimha, who boasts of having destroyed the Nolamba family and had the title Nolambakulantaka.
• Three grand temple complexes that are attributed to this dynasty''s glory are the Kalleshwara Temple in Aralaguppe, the Bhoganandishwara Temple in Nandi, and the Ramalingeshwara Temple in Avani.
• The Nolambas were Shaivites, and the temples they built were dedicated to Lord Shiva.

Hammer Candlestick: What It Is and How Investors Use It

Hammer Candlesticks in Trading

• It is one of the most popular candlestick patterns traders use to gauge the probability of outcomes when looking at price movement.
• A hammer is a price pattern in candlestick charting that occurs when a security trades significantly lower than its opening but rallies within the period to close near the opening price.
• This pattern forms a hammer-shaped candlestick, in which the lower shadow is at least twice the size of the real body.
• The body of the candlestick represents the difference between the opening and closing prices, while the shadow shows the high and low prices for the period.
• The hammer candlestick occurs when sellers enter the market during a price decline. By the time the market closes, buyers absorb selling pressure and push the market price near the opening price.
• The close can be above or below the opening price, although the close should be near the open for the real body of the candlestick to remain small.
• Analysts view it as a potential bullish trend reversal indicator, mainly appearing at the end of a downtrend.
• It could be used as a leading intraday indicator to signal a change in bullish/bearish momentum.

NSI develops tech for prodn of Low GI sugar

International Sugar Organisation (ISO)

• ISO is an inter-governmental body completely devoted to improving conditions in the world sugar market.
• Its 87 member states represent 87% of global production, 64% of consumption, 92% of sugar exports, and 34% of sugar imports.
• ISO is based in London.
• The ISO exists to administer the internationally negotiated 1992 International Sugar Agreement (ISA), the objectives of which are:
• to ensure enhanced international cooperation in connection with world sugar matters and related issues.
• to provide a forum for intergovernmental consultations on sugar and on ways to improve the world sugar economy.
• to facilitate trade by collecting and providing information on the world sugar market and other sweeteners.
• to encourage increased demand for sugar, particularly for non-traditional uses.
• To fulfil these objectives, the ISO undertakes many distinct activities, including workshops, seminars, and its long-established and widely-recognized statistical and analytical work.

19th Working Party on Data Collection and Statistics of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission inaugurates today at Mumbai

Indian Ocean Tuna Commission

• It is an intergovernmental organisation mandated to sustainably manage highly migratory (tuna and tuna-like) fisheries resources in the Indian Ocean.
• The Agreement for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission was adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations at the 105th Session in Rome on 25 November 1993.
• The objective of the IOTC is to promote cooperation amongst contracting members to ensure, through appropriate management, the sustainable use of fishery resources.
• The Indian Ocean is the second-largest tuna fishery in the world.
• The IOTC currently has 31 contracting parties who are members of the IOTC and two cooperating non-contracting parties, Liberia and Senegal.
• Membership of the IOTC is open to:
  • Indian Ocean coastal countries
  • countries, or regional economic integration organisations, that are members of the UN
  • countries that are members of UN special organisations
  • countries that fish for tuna in the Indian Ocean
• India is a member of this organisation.
• Headquarters: Victoria, Seychelles