Minister of Environment Forest and Climate Change addresses the special meeting of UN Country Team (UNCT) on CoP 27

• The United Nations Country Team (UNCT) exists in 132 countries, covering all of the 162 countries where there are United Nations programmes.
• The UNCT includes all the UN entities working on sustainable development, emergency, recovery and transition in programme countries.
• The UNCT is led by the UN Resident Coordinator, who is the representative of the UN Secretary-General in a given country.
• The UNCT ensures interagency coordination and decision-making at the country level. The goal is to plan and work together, as part of the Resident Coordinator system, to ensure the delivery of tangible results in support of the development agenda of the Government, including the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework—which guides the UN country team’s development programme cycle, in joint agreement with the host government.

The Resident Coordinator System

• It ensures the coordination of all organizations of the United Nations dealing with operational activities for development at the country level, regardless of the nature of their presence in the country.
• It encompasses the UN Resident Coordinator, the UN Country Team and Resident Coordinator’s Office and is served by the UN Development Coordination Office.

Delivery of the second ship of project 15b y 12705 (mormugao)

• The ship is 163 meters long and 17 meters wide, displaces 7400 tonnes when fully loaded, and has a maximum speed of 30 knots.
• Apart from myriad indigenous equipment in the ‘Float’ and ‘Move’ categories, the destroyer is also installed with the under-mentioned major indigenous weapons. The overall indigenous content of the project is approx. 75%.
  • Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missiles (BEL, Bangalore)
  • BrahMos Surface-to-Surface Missiles (BrahMos Aerospace, New Delhi)
  • Indigenous Torpedo Tube Launchers (Larsen & Toubro, Mumbai)
  • Anti-Submarine Indigenous Rocket Launchers (Larsen & Toubro, Mumbai)
  • 76mm Super Rapid Gun Mount (BHEL, Haridwar)

Project 15B

• Project 15B (P15B) / Visakhapatnam-class is the latest destroyer design currently under construction for the Indian Navy.
• These ships have been designed indigenously by the Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design, New Delhi. Each ship spans 163 meters in length and 17.4 meters in beam and displaces 7,300 tonnes.
• These ships will be propelled by four gas turbines to achieve speed in excess of 30 knots.
• According to the Indian Navy, the P15B destroyers incorporate new design concepts for improved survivability, seakeeping, stealth, and maneuverability.

ISRO places OceanSat-3, eight other nanosatellites in space - Hindustan Times

• Satellites in PSLV-C54 includes EOS-06 (Oceansat-3) plus eight nano satellites (BhutanSat, ''Anand'' from Pixxel, Thybolt, and Astrocast - four numbers from Spaceflight USA).

BhutanSat

• ISRO Nano Satellite-2 for Bhutan (INS-2B) spacecraft is configured with INS-2 Bus. INS-2B will have two payloads namely NanoMx and APRS-Digipeater. NanoMx is a multispectral optical imaging payload developed by Space Applications Centre (SAC).

Anand

• The Anand Nano satellite is technology demonstrator to demonstrate the capabilities and commercial applications of miniaturized earth-observation camera for earth observation using a microsatellite in Low Earth Orbit.
• This is a three-axis stabilized satellite consisting of a satbus, accommodating all subsystems like telemetry, tele-command, Electrical Power system, Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS), on-board computers etc.

Astrocast

• Astrocast, a 3U spacecraft is a technology demonstrator satellite for the Internet of Things (IoT) as the payload. There are 4 nos. of Astrocast Satellites in this mission. These spacecraft are housed within an ISISpace QuadPack dispenser.
• The dispenser protects the satellite from contamination.

Thybolt

• The Thybolt is a 0.5U spacecraft bus that includes a communication payload to enable rapid technology demonstration and constellation development for multiple users.
• It also demonstrates Store-and-Forward functionality for authorized users in the amateur frequency band. The satellites shall be deployed by using Dhruva Space Orbital Deployer to perform the specific mission operations for a minimum lifetime of 1 year.

RBI asks Paytm to reapply for payment aggregator licence

• A payment aggregator provides payment services to merchants and e-commerce sites by accepting payment instruments from customers. As a part of this, they pool the funds received from customers and transfer them to merchants after a certain time.
• The services include facilitating integrated payment options such as transactions of cash and cheque, and online and offline touch points, besides allowing bank transfers for merchants without the need to set up accounts directly with the bank.
• In a new set of guidelines issued in March 2020, the RBI mandated that all PAs shall be authorised by it. For this, the regulator instructed non-bank companies offering PA services to apply for authorisation by June 30, 2021, which was later pushed to September 30, 2021.
• The decision on granting the licence has come after a period of assessment of the applications. The norms made it important for all payment gateways to acquire a licence to continue. The few firms authorised to operate as payment aggregators in India will come under the direct purview of the RBI.

PM addresses Constitution Day celebrations in the Supreme Court of India

• India observes Constitution Day or Samvidhan Divas on November 26 every year in order to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India.
• On the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, the Union Cabinet decided to celebrate November 26 as Constitution Day.
• The Constituent Assembly adopted the present-day Constitution on November 26, 1949 but it was decided that it will come into effect after a gap of almost two months i.e. on January 26, 1950. During this two-month break, the members of the constituent assembly thoroughly read it in order to find any mistakes.
• The Constituent Assembly met for two years, eleven months and eighteen days, a total of 166 days, before adopting the Constitution.
• Initially, it had been written in both English and Hindi and had been signed by each member of the assembly.

Constitution of India

• The constitution is the largest written constitution in the world.
• The original copy had been written by hand.
• Each page of the constitution has a gold leaf frame while the opening page of each is adorned with some kind of artwork.
• Beohar Rammanohar Sinha and Nandalal Bose, who were artists from Shantiniketan, had decorated the original version of the Constitution.
• Prem Behari Narain Raizada was a talented calligrapher who had prepared the original copies of the constitution.

India wins IEC vice presidency and chair of Strategic Management Board for 2023-25 term

• IEC is an international standard setting body that publishes international Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies. These are known collectively as “electrotechnology”.
• It is a global, not-for-profit membership organization that brings together 173 countries and coordinates the work of 20 000 experts globally. It was founded in London and held its first meeting on 26 and 27 June 1906.
• IEC Standards provide instructions, guidelines, rules or definitions that are then used to design, manufacture, install, test and certify, maintain and repair electrical and electronic devices and systems.
• Standardization Management Board (SMB) is an apex governance body of IEC responsible for technical policy matters.

Sangeet Natak Akademi selects  102  artists of India for the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for the years 2019, 2020 & 2021.

• The Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, given to artists below the age of 40 years, was introduced with the objective of identifying and encouraging outstanding young talents in diverse fields of performing arts and giving them national recognition early in their life.
• The Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar carries a purse money of Rs. 25,000/-

Ustad Bismillah Khan

• The legendary shehnai player, Ustad Bismillah Khan was one of India''s most celebrated classical musicians.
• Bismillah Khan has been credited with taking the shehnai from the marriage mandap to the concert hall. He brought Shehnai to the center stage of Indian classical music with his concert in the Calcutta All India Music Conference in 1937.
• He was a recipient of many honors and awards. These include: Padma Vibhushan (1980), Padma Bhushan (1968), Padma Shri (1961), Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1956) etc.
• In 2001, Ustad Bismillah Khan became the third classical musician to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India''s highest civilian honour.

Who is Lachit Borphukan that PM Modi paid tribute to?

• Borphukan has always been revered in Assam as the warrior who defeated Mughal armies in the Battle of Saraighat in 1671.
• He was chosen as one of the five Borphukans of the Ahom kingdom by king Charadhwaj Singha, and given administrative, judicial, and military responsibilities.
• Unlike the Mughals who preferred battles in the open with their massive armies, Borphukan preferred guerrilla tactics which provided an edge to his smaller, but fast moving and capable forces.
• Lachit Borphukan died a year after the Battle of Saraighat from a long festering illness.

The Ahom kingdom

• The Ahom kingdom had been repeatedly attacked by the Turkic and Afghan rulers of the Delhi Sultanate and later by the Mughals.
• The Mughal-Ahom wars had been going on since 1615-16, with the first Mughal attack on Assam with a view to capturing the region. The Ahoms had ruled major parts of Assam for nearly 600 years, between 1228 and 1826.
• From 1615 to 1639, many battles would be fought between the two, and tired of war, both sides agreed to sign a treaty after the Mughals had advanced into Assam and captured Kamrup.

The Battle of Saraighat

• The Battle of Saraighat was a naval battle fought in 1671 between the Mughal Empire and the Ahom Kingdom on the Brahmaputra river at Saraighat, now in Guwahati, Assam, India.
• Borphukan was commander of the Ahom armies during the battle of Saraighat –. The battle, which took place during the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s reign, was seen as a decisive Ahom victory.

Department of Animal Husbandry to celebrate National Milk Day in Bengaluru to commemorate 101st birth anniversary of the “Father of the White Revolution in India”

• National Milk Day is celebrated in India on November 26 to honour the memory of Dr Verghese Kurien, who is fondly known as the father of the White Revolution.
• Kurien was also called the Milkman of India as his ideas and efforts to build a system of farmer cooperatives helped transform the country from an importer of dairy products to the world’s largest milk producer.
• For his relentless service to the dairy and farming communities, Kurien was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award (1963), Padma Shri (1965), Padma Bhushan (1966), World Food Prize (1989) and Padma Vibhushan (1999).
• National Milk Day raises awareness about the need for milk in human lives.
• India is the world’s largest milk producer, with 22 percent of global production, followed by the United States of America, China, Pakistan and Brazil.
  • According to the data available on the NDDB website, milk production in India has increased from 84.4 million tonnes in 2001-02 to 121.8 million tonnes in 2010-11 and 198.4 million tonnes in 2019-20.
• Since the 1970s, most of the expansion in milk production has been in South Asia, which is the main driver of milk production growth in the developing world.

India to have ‘tilting trains’ by 2026 to help maintain speed on curves

• It is a technology that enables trains to maneuver curves at increased speed, that too on regular tracks, just like a motorcycle on a winding road.
  • Vande Bharat trains, manufactured in India, will be equipped with the technology by 2025 that will improve their speed.
• Such trains are now operational in 11 countries - Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, the UK, Switzerland, China, Germany and Romania.

How does a tilting train work?

• When a train rounds a curve at speed, objects (and people) inside experience centrifugal force, which pushes them outwards.
• The effect can cause luggage inside to slide, seated passengers to feel squashed and standing passengers to lose balance. These trains are designed to counteract the effect by tilting the carriages towards the inside of the curve, thus compensating the g-force.
• There can be various mechanisms to neutralise the tilt force and achieve a balance. It further explains how motion sickness can be essentially eliminated by adjusting the timing of when the cars tilt.