TNPSC Current Affairs January 13, 2018

www.tnpsc.academy – TNPSC Current Affairs January 13, 2018 (13/01/2018)

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Topic: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times

Indian harvest festivals

The Harvest season is on and festivities have gripped the nation from the north to down south.

Various festivals across the nation:

Makar Sankranti: The festival of Makar Sankranti is being celebrated today when the Sun enters the Makar zodiac and the days begin to lengthen compared to nights.

Pongal: In South India and particularly in Tamil Nadu, it’s the festival of Pongal which is being celebrated over 4 days at harvest time.

Magha Bihu: In Assam and many parts of the North East, the festival of Magha Bihu is celebrated. It sees the first harvest of the season being offered to the gods along with prayers for peace and prosperity. People in Assam celebrate this festival wearing colourful and bright clothes.

Uttarayan: Gujarat celebrates it in the form of the convivial kite festival of Uttarayan.

Maghi: In Punjab, Makar Sankranti is celebrated as Maghi. Bathing in a river in the early hours on Maghi is important.

Saaji: In Shimla District of Himachal Pradesh, Makara Sankranti is known as Magha Saaji. Saaji is the Pahari word for Sakranti, start of the new month. Hence this day marks the start of the month of Magha.

Kicheri: The festival is known as Kicheri in Uttar Pradesh and involves ritual bathing.

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Topic: urbanization, their problems and their remedies

Urban heat island

Every winter, the whole of north India is covered by dense fog. But a phenomenon called urban heat island is burning holes in this grey shroud over New Delhi and other cities on the Indo-Gangetic Plain.

Impacts:

The urban heat island effect is so strong in Delhi, the largest city in the region, that it saw 50% less fog than surrounding areas.

In Delhi, the heat island effect also appears to be suppressing the very formation of fog.

Scientists found that while areas outside Delhi have seen a 20 per cent increase in fog in the period 2012-2016 compared with 2000-2004, Delhi itself did not see an increase.

Reasons behind this:

The analysis found a correlation between the size of the urban population and that of the fog hole.

Population size has been shown to be related to the intensity of urban heat islands since they are an indicator of urban growth.

Way ahead:

The findings from the study are important since dense and polluted winter fog envelopes north India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh every year from December to January severely affecting air quality and disrupting air, rail and road traffic.

The study will be very useful in understanding the process of why fog occurs and ultimately to predict its occurrence.

What is urban heat island effect?

The urban heat island is a phenomenon when the heat gets trapped near the earth’s surface as a result of a decline in green cover, rapid urbanisation, energy-intensive activities, and concrete structures.

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Topic: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space

Chandrayaan-2

To prepare for landing on the moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation is planning to conduct landing simulation tests for Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft at Mahendragiri in coming weeks.

About Chandrayaan-2:

Chandrayaan-2 includes soft-landing on Moon and moving a rover on its surface. It is an advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-1 mission. It consists of an orbiter, lander and rover configuration.

The Orbiter spacecraft when launched from Sriharikota will travel to the Moon and release the Lander, which will in turn deploy a tiny Rover to roam the lunar surface — all three sending data and pictures to Earth.

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Topic : Latest Diary of Events

Giant extinct bat burrowing bat fossil discovered in New Zealand

Fossilized remains of a giant burrowing bat, which lived on New Zealand between 16 and 19-million-years ago, have been found.

It is “the first new bat genus to be added to New Zealand’s fauna in more than 150 years”.

It has been given the name Vulcanops jennyworthyae, after team member Jenny Worthy who found the fossils.

Key facts:

The ancient bat would have hunted by air and by land, and its specialized teeth and large size would have helped it burrow under flora to satisfy its broad diet.

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Topic : Indian Defense, Army and Navy

INS Nirbhik, Nirghat decommissioned

The Indian Naval Ships Nirbhik and Nirghat have been decommissioned at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai, after a glorious 30 and 28 years respectively in the service of the nation.

Nirbhik and Nirghat in their new avatars were commissioned at Poti, erstwhile USSR on 21 Dec 1987 and 15 Dec 1989 respectively.

During their service over almost three decades, these ships have participated in numerous operations including Operations Parakram and Vijay.

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Topic : India and its Neighbouring Countries, Science and Technology

Rizhao – China

Rizhao is a new missile frigate commissioned recently by the People’s Liberation Army Navy.

Key facts:

Rizhao is a 140-metre-long and 16-metre-wide missile frigate designed and made by China.

The missile frigate is equipped with an advanced weapons systems and can attack enemy ships and submarines alone or in coordination with other naval forces.

The frigate was named after the city of Rizhao in Shandong Province.

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Topic : India’s Foreign Policy, India and its Neighboring Countries

SAREX-18 –  India & Japan

The Indian Coast Guard and Japanese Coast Guard arrived at the Chennai port ahead of a joint Search and Rescue exercise (SAREX-18).

The aim of the exercise was to augment operational level interaction and capacity building in areas of search and rescue, pollution response and maritime law enforcement.