Deadly earthquake in Morocco damages heritage sites

High Atlas Mountains

• The High Atlas Mountains are a prominent mountain range in North Africa, primarily located in Morocco.
• Location:
  • The High Atlas Mountains are part of the Atlas Mountain Range, which stretches across Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.
  • It extends northeastward for 1000 km from the Atlantic Coast to the Moroccan-Algerian border.
• Geography:
  • They are characterised by their rugged and steep terrain.
  • They are known for their high peaks, deep valleys, and extensive plateaus.
  • The range includes several peaks over 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) in elevation, with Mount Toubkal being the highest at approximately 4,167 metres (13,671 feet).
• Cultural Significance: They have cultural significance in Morocco. The region is inhabited by Berber communities, and traditional Berber villages can be found throughout the mountains.
• Climate Divide: Its saw-toothed Jurassic peaks act as a weather barrier between the mild Mediterranean climate to the north and the encroaching Sahara to the south.

Morocco

• It is located in the northwest corner of Africa and is bordered by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
• Land Borders: It shares land borders with Algeria to the east and southeast and Western Sahara to the south.
• The High Atlas Mountains separate the mild coastline from the harsh Sahara.
• Sahara Desert: A significant part of Morocco is covered by the Sahara Desert.
• Climate: Morocco has a diverse climate, ranging from the Mediterranean along the coast to desert in the interior. The country experiences hot summers and mild winters in most regions.
• It was a French protectorate between 1912 and 1956.
• Capital: Rabat, which is located on the Atlantic coast.
• Largest City: Casablanca is the largest city in Morocco and serves as its economic and business hub.
• Official Languages: Arabic and Amazigh (Berber) are the official languages of Morocco. French is also widely spoken and used in business and government.
• Government:
  • Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament.
  • King Mohammed VI has been the reigning monarch since 1999.

TRIFED''s Artisanal Treasures Steal the Spotlight at G20 Summit

TRIFED''s Artisanal Treasures

• Longpi Pottery:
  • Named after the village of Longpi in Manipur, the Tangkhul Naga tribes practice this exceptional pottery style.
  • Unlike most pottery, Longpi does not resort to the potter’s wheel.
  • All shaping is done with the hand and with the help of moulds.
  • The characteristic grey-black cooking pots, the stout kettles, quaint bowls, mugs, and nut trays, at times with a handle of fine cane, are trademarks of Longpi.
• Chhattisgarh Wind Flutes:
  • Curated by the Gond Tribe of Bastar in Chhattisgarh, the ''Sulur'' bamboo wind flute stands out as a unique musical creation.
  • Unlike traditional flutes, it produces melodies through a simple one-handed twirl.
  • Beyond music, the ''Sulur'' serves utilitarian purposes, helping tribal men ward off animals and guide cattle through jungles.
• Gujarat Hangings:
  • It is curated by the Bhil & Patelia Tribe in Dahod, Gujarat.
  • They boast mirror work, zari, stones, and beads, evolving to suit contemporary fashion while preserving tradition.
• Rajasthan Artistry
  • Glass Mosaic Pottery captures the mosaic art style, meticulously crafted into lampshades and candle holders. When illuminated, they unleash a kaleidoscope of colours, adding vibrancy to any space.
  • Meenakari: Itis the art of decorating metal surfaces with vibrant mineral substances, a technique introduced by the Mughals. Delicate designs are etched onto metal, creating grooves for colours to nestle in. Each hue is fired individually, creating intricate, enamel-adorned pieces.
  • Metal Ambabari Craft: It is curated by the Meena Tribe and also embraces enamelling, a meticulous process that elevates metal decoration. Today, it extends beyond gold to metals like silver and copper.

World Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Day

• It is observed on the Seventh of September each year to raise awareness about Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
• The purpose of the day is to support efforts that will improve the quality of life for those who have dystrophinopathies through education, advocacy, and social inclusion.

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

• It is a rare genetic disorder that results from an X-chromosome mutation.
• It was first described by the French neurologist Guillaume Benjamin Amand Duchenne in 1860.
• It is characterised by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness due to alterations of a protein called dystrophin that helps keep muscle cells intact.
• It is a multi-systemic condition affecting many parts of the body, that results in the deterioration of the skeletal, heart, and lung muscles.
• It primarily affects males, while females are typically carriers.
• Symptoms
  • It can begin as early as age 2 or 3, first affecting the proximal muscles(those close to the core of the body) and later affecting the distal limb muscles (those close to the extremities).
  • Usually, the lower external muscles are affected before the upper external muscles.
  • The affected child might have difficulty jumping, running, and walking.
  • Other symptoms include enlargement of the calves, a waddling gait, and lumbar lordosis (an inward curve of the spine).
  • Later on, the heart and respiratory muscles are affected as well.
• Treatments: Presently available treatments are gene therapy, exon skipping, stop codon read-through and gene repair.

Overnight index swap rates at 10-month high; government bond yields rise

Overnight Index Swap

• It is a derivative instrument where returns under a fixed-rate asset are swapped against a predetermined published index of a daily overnight reference rate for an agreed period of time.
• The primary purpose of an OIS is to manage interest rate risk, particularly the risk associated with fluctuations in the overnight lending rate.
• An overnight index swap rate is calculated each day.
• This rate is based on the average interest rate institutions with loans based on the overnight rate have paid for that day.

OIS work

• These are instruments that allow financial institutions to swap the interest rates they are paying without having to refinance or change the terms of their existing loans.
• Typically, when two financial institutions create an overnight index swap, one of the institutions is swapping an overnight (floating) interest rate, and the other institution is swapping a fixed short-term interest rate.
• To get the swap rolling, both firms would agree to continue servicing their loans, but at the end of a specified time period, whoever ends up paying less interest will make up the difference to the other firm.

Derivative

• It refers to a type of financial contract whose value is dependent on an underlying asset, group of assets, or benchmark.
• Common derivatives include futures contracts, forwards, options, and swaps.

Lucy captures first image of Dinkinesh on its way to ancient asteroids

Dinkinesh asteroid

• It was discovered in 1999 by the LINEAR survey.
• Dinkinesh is a slow rotator with a moderately large light-curve amplitude.
• It is an S-type asteroid, which means it is composed mainly of silicates and some metal.
• It will be the first fly-by target of the Lucy mission on November 1, 2023, during its cruise to the Trojan Clouds.
• The observations were made by Lucy’s high-resolution camera, the Lucy Long Range Reconnaissance Imager ( L’LORRI instrument ).

Lucy Mission

• It was launched by NASA from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in 2021.
• It is a 12-year missionwhich will take close observations of nine of Jupiter’s Trojans and two main belt asteroids along with that.
• It is the first spacecraft sent to study the Trojan asteroids, which orbit the Sun in the same path that the planet Jupiter takes.
• It has recently captured images of Eurybates, Polymele, Leucus and Leucus asteroids.

Supreme Court Refers Sedition Law Challenge To Larger Bench, Says New Bill To Replace IPC Can''t Affect Past Cases

Section 124A of the IPC

• Section 124A of the IPC deals with sedition.
• History of Sedition Law:
  • Section 124Awas drafted by Thomas Babington Macaulay and included in the IPC in 1870.
  • The section was first included to address the growth of Wahabi activity between 1863 and 1870. The colonial authorities faced difficulty as a result of these actions.
  • Indian nationalist leaders were involved in some of the most well-known sedition cases of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
  • The earliest of these was Jogendra Chandra Bose''s trial in 1891. He served as the newspaper Bangobasi''s editor. He published a piece denouncing the Age of Consent Bill for endangering the faith and its coercive treatment of Native Americans.
  • In 1897, Bal Gangadhar Tilak''s articles in Kesari were the subject of legal action.
  • The other well-known case included Mahatma Gandhi''s 1922 sedition trial. Sedition, according to Gandhi, is "the prince among the political sections of the IPC meant to destroy the freedom of the citizen."
  • Post-Independence:
    • After independence, the term “sedition” was removed from the Constitution in 1948 after debate in the Constituent Assembly.
    • Jawaharlal Nehru proposed the first amendment to the Constitution in 1951, which limited freedom under Article 19 (1) (a) and gave the state the authority to impose “reasonable restrictions” on the right to free expression.
    • Indira Gandhi’s government made Section 124A a criminal offence for the first time in Indian history. The new Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which came into effect in 1974 and repealed the 1898 Colonial-Era Code of Criminal Procedure, made sedition a knowable crime.
• What does Section 124A state?
• It states, "Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the Government established by law in India shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, , or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, which fine may be added, or with fine."
• In simple words, this means anyone who attempts to create hatred, contempt, or disaffection towards the government can be punished under the sedition law.
• Punishment:
  • Sedition is a non-bailable offence.
  • Punishment under the law varies from imprisonment for up to three years to a life term and fine.
  • A person charged under this law can''t apply for a government job. They have to live without their passport and must present themselves in court as and when required.

Nifty crosses 20,0000-mark for first time; Sensex surges 528 points

Nifty

• NIFTY is a market index introduced by the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
• It is a blended word – National Stock Exchange and Fifty coined by NSE.
• Nifty was established in 1996 under the name CNX Nifty. Further, in 2015, it was renamed Nifty 50.
• NIFTY 50 is a benchmark-based index and the flagship of NSE.
• It represents the performance of the 50 largest and most actively traded stocks listed on the NSE.
• These 50 largest companies are from different industrial sectors and collectively represent the Stock Market and Economic Trends of India.
• It is one of the two main stock market indices in India, the other being SENSEX, a product of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Stock Index

• A stock index is a measurement of the changes that take place in the stock market.
• It measures price movement and market performance.
• To create an index, one has to group some stocks from a list of stocks with similar characteristics.
• This grouping of stocks can be based on the type of industry, total market capitalization, or size of the company.
• Calculation:
  • To calculate the value of the stock market index, one can use the values of the underlying group of stocks.
  • Any change in the value of the underlying stock also leads to a change in the stock index value.
  • If the price of most of the stocks rises, the index will again rise and vice-versa.
• Thus, an index is indicative of changes in the market.
• It reflects the overall market''s investment sentiment and price movements.

India, Saudi Arabia Agree to ''Accelerate'' $50 Billion West Coast Refinery Project

West Coast Refinery Project

• First conceptualised in 2014, the West Coast refinery project, also known as the Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. (RRPCL), was envisioned as India’s largest greenfield refinery with a capacity of 60 million tonnes per annum and is touted to become the largest integrated refinery and petrochemical facility in the world.
• Location: As the name implies, the project is supposed to be set up on India’s western coast, specifically in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra.
• The refinery is expected to produce around 1.2 million barrels of oil a day when completed, alongside the various petroleum products that will be produced by attached petrochemical plants.
• Three of India’s leading government-owned public sector undertakings in the oil and gas sector came together in a joint venture partnership called RRPCL.
• RRPCL is a 50:25:25 joint venture formed in 2017 by India''s three national oil companies, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL).
• In 2019, Saudi Aramco and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) decided to get involved as well, collectively acquiring a 50 percent stake in the project, which is estimated to be worth around Rs 3 lakh crore purely in set-up costs.

India-Russia mull speedy operations on new sea route

Eastern Maritime Corridor (EMC)

• The EMC is a proposed sea route between the Indian port of Chennai and the Russian port of Vladivostok.
• The corridor is estimated to bring down transportation time between Indian and Russian ports in the Far East Region by up to 40 percent (24 days from the current 40 days).
• The present trade route between Mumbai, India, and St. Petersburg, Russia, covers a distance of 8,675 nautical miles.
• The EMC will cover a distance of about 5,600 nautical miles, which is significantly shorter than the current route via the Suez Canal.
• Once complete, EMC will take 24 days, down from presently over 40 days, to transport goods from India to Far East Russia.
• For India, it will provide a shorter and more efficient route to access the markets of the Far East, such as China and Japan.

Vladivostok

• Vladivostok is a major city in Russia, located in the Far East of the country.
• It is located on the Golden Horn Bay, north of North Korea, and a short distance from Russia’s border with China.
• It is the largest port on Russia’s Pacific coast, and home to the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy.
• It is the eastern railhead of the legendary Trans Siberian Railway, which connects the Far East of Russia to the capital Moscow, and further west to the countries of Europe.
• At Vladivostok’s massive port, shipping and commercial fishing are the main commercial activities.

DEPwD Launches Transformative Programs to Empower persons with Disabilities

• MOU with Council of Architecture:
  • Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD ) has joined hands with the Council of Architecture (COA) to introduce universal accessibility courses within Bachelor of Architecture programs.
  • This collaboration extends to the development of a certified course for architects and civil engineers, equipping them with the skills to conduct accessibility audits in built environments, thereby ensuring compliance with accessibility standards.
• Releasing of Anonymous Data of UDID:
  • DEPwD''s release of anonymous data through the Unique Disability ID (UDID) portal for research purposes represents a significant leap in data-driven decision-making within the disability sector.
  • This initiative provides invaluable insights at various levels, facilitating a deeper understanding and informing targeted interventions.
• PM Daksh Portal:
  • It is a comprehensive digital platform designed to empower Persons with Disabilities in their pursuit of skill training and employment opportunities.
  • The portal offers seamless registration through UDID, access to location-based skill training options, a wide array of job listings from across India, and streamlined administrative processes.
• Pathways to Access:
  • Courts on Disability Rights: DEPwD has compiled notable judgements from India''s Supreme Court and High Courts concerning disability rights into a comprehensive booklet.
  • This resource serves as a valuable reference guide for persons with disabilities and stakeholders in the disability sector.
• Online Case Monitoring Portal by CCPD:
  • The Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD) has adopted a cutting-edge application for handling grievances filed by persons with disabilities.
  • This initiative streamlines the entire process, making it paperless and efficient. Key features include seamless online complaint filing, automated reminders, and simplified hearing scheduling.