Preliminary Pointers.

Typhoon Haikui

News: Around 3 p.m. on Sunday, the typhoon Haikui, which had wind speed of 155 kph (96 mph), made landfall in Taitung county on the country’s east coast, facing the Pacific.

About typhoons

  • Typhoons are types of storms. The storms are classified as hurricanes, typhoons, or cyclones depending on where they occur.
  • Tropical cyclones are the collective term for all of these different storm types.

What are tropical cyclones?

  • Tropical cyclones are powerful circular storms with winds of more than 120 kph and torrential rain that develop over warm tropical waters.
  • In the Northern Hemisphere, tropical cyclones move anticlockwise.
Various other name of typhoons in other regions are as follows

●      Typhoons: In the Pacific Ocean and China Sea.

●      Hurricanes: In the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean’s West Indian Islands.

●      Tornadoes: In the southern USA and the Guinean regions of West Africa.

●      Tropical cyclones: In the Indian Ocean region.

●      Willy-willies: In western Australia.

 

Naval Commanders’ Conference (NCC), 2023

News: The second edition of the Naval Commanders’ Conference, 2023, is scheduled to begin on Thursday, September 4 in New Delhi.

About NCC

  • The conference is the highest-level, twice-yearly event that promotes communication between the Naval Commanders and the formation of significant policy decisions.
  • The senior leadership of the Indian Navy will examine significant operational, materiel, logistics, training, and administrative tasks carried out over the preceding six months during the three-day conference, which is being conducted in a hybrid format.

Benefits of NCC

  • The Conference will offer a chance for senior government officials and naval commanders to connect institutionally in order to advance many inter-ministerial initiatives for the creation of a secure and safe maritime environment.
  • In accordance with the goal of achieving self-reliance by 2047, the Commanders will also assess the current Naval projects with an emphasis on boosting indigenization through Make in India.
INDIAN NAVY

●    About

○  The Indian Armed Forces’ naval branch is known as the Indian Navy.

○  It is a blue-water navy that patrols the Strait of Malacca, the Horn of Africa, and the Persian Gulf.

○  The Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy is the country’s President.

○  The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, is in charge of commanding the fleet.

●    Current Ensign

The current ensign features the Saint George’s Cross with the Tricolour in the canton (top left corner of the flag).

●   History

○  The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was founded in 1612, when the British and Portuguese participated in a naval battle, compelling the British to deploy a naval presence on India’s west coast on a regular basis.

○  The navy, formerly known as the Bombay Marine, changed its name to Her Majesty’s Indian Navy in 1834. The fleet took part in both the Second Anglo-Burmese War (1852) and the First Opium War (1840).

○  In 1877, it was known as Her Majesty’s Indian Marine. The Marine was later renamed the Royal Indian Marine, which took part in World War I, in 1892.

○  The RIN engaged in World War II with a small fleet but incurred casualties as well. Even after World War II, British officers dominated the RIN and no Indian held a senior position.

○  The Indian Navy’s first post-independence operation was the 1961 liberation of Goa from the Portuguese. Both the Indo-Pak Wars of 1965 and 1971 saw significant contributions from the navy.

G20 Technical Workshop on ‘Climate Resilient Agriculture’

News: Shoba Karandlaje, the union minister of state for agriculture and farmers welfare, officially opened the three-day G20 technical workshop on climate resilient agriculture at Shamshad in Hyderabad.

About G20 technical workshop: During this technical workshop, the G20 delegates will participate in a tour of the Indian Institute of Millets Research to get a sense of the scientific developments made in the field of millets research in honor of the International Year of Millet.

About G20

  • G20 is made up of 19 nations: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.
  • Around 85% of the global GDP, 75% of all international trade, and 2/3 of the world’s population are all represented by these members.
  • Along with these member nations, the G20 also annually welcomes special guests and international institutions including the UN, World Bank, IMF, OECD, ASEAN, etc. to take part in its meetings.
Climate Resiliant Agriculture (CRA)

About CRA:  CRA is a method of managing natural resources responsibly in order to increase agricultural revenue and productivity over the long term in climate-variable conditions.

Need of CRA: Extreme weather events deplete farm yield, while food price changes jeopardise food security and farm profitability. In order to combat climate change and achieve the SDGs, it is necessary to adapt the right mitigation technologies.

●  Methods used in CRA

a. Crops that can withstand certain conditions: Farmers in Aurangabad (MH) introduced green programme (BM 2002-1), a crop that is early maturing and drought-tolerant.

b. Tolerant breeds in livestock and poultry: Indigenous breeds are drought resistant, have the ability to swallow and digest low-quality feed, and are disease resistant.

c. Feed management: An adaptive method that can indirectly increase cattle production efficiency.

d. Water management/water-smart technologies: such as micro-irrigation, the cover-crop approach, deficit irrigation, precise crop water requirement estimation, etc.

e. Agro-advisory: Response farming (farming with advisories) is an integrative method that has previously been implemented in states such as Tamil Nadu.

●  Benefits of CRA

○  Enhanced climate stress tolerance in crops and livestock;

○  Decreases poverty and hunger (by preserving agricultural production);

○  A greater ability to access and use technology;

○  Increased usage of technology for resource conservation.

 

Lal Qila

History

  • Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal Emperor, relocated his empire’s capital from Agra to a newly built city in Delhi in 1638.
  • He gave the new capital city the name Shahjahanabad. He built the Red Fort, Lal Qila, and his palace from the ground up.
  • This fort, formerly known as Qila-i-Mubarak, which translates to “the Blessed Fort,” took eight years to construct.
  • Surprisingly, Shah Jahan never lived in this fort since, by the time it was finished, his son Aurangzeb had placed him under house imprisonment at the fort in Agra.
  • For around 200 years, the Mughal empire’s capital was the Red Fort. Several rulers lived in the fort at this time, including Bahadur Shah II, Jahandar Shah, Muhammad Shah, and Aurangzeb.
  • The last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, was crowned here in 1837, and the fort’s boundaries were the extent of his authority.

UNESCOs World Heritage Site (WHS)

  • Due to its magnificent architecture and historical significance, this famous building was included to Delhi’s list of UNESCOS WHS in 2007.
  • Controlling Authority: The Archaeological Survey of India currently has authority over the fort.
Salimgarh Fort

●  Constructed by: Salim Shah Suri, the son of Sher Shah Suri, constructed the fort in 1546 in Delhi to defend the Sur kingdom’s territory from Humayun’s army, who had been deposed six years earlier.

●  Strategic importance of fort: The fort was strategically situated on a riverine island that was bordered by the Yamuna and the Aravallis.  The defense, however, did not last long, as Humayun conquered Sikander Shah Suri in 1555 after returning from his self-imposed exile. Salim Shah didn’t survive long enough to see the fort’s completion.