16 July 2024, The Hindu
Existing structure at M.P.’s Bhojshala complex built using temple remains: ASI
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GS 1: Indian Culture – Salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture
- The existing structure at the Bhojshala complex in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district was constructed using remains of a temple that existed earlier at the site, said the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in its scientific survey report, which was submitted to the Indore Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday.
- The High Court had in March asked the ASI to undertake a scientific survey of the Bhojshala Temple-Kamal Maula Mosque complex.
- The aim of the survey was to unshackle the mystery that shrouds the structure and to determine the true nature and character of the site, the court had observed.
‘Big brother’ to ‘Brother’, a Nepal-India reset
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GS 2: International Relations- India and its neighbourhood
- Relations between India and Nepal have dipped severely since 2015 when Narendra Modi and Khadga Prasad Oli were both Prime Ministers.
- There is now opportunity to upgrade the relationship to ‘positive’ and ‘stable’ with Mr. Modi having reclaimed the top post a third time and as Mr. Oli too comes out on top, in a unique collaboration between his CPN-UML and the Nepali Congress.
- The bilateral turbulence started with adoption of the new Constitution by Nepal’s Constituent Assembly in 2015, which New Delhi had wanted reworked.
- Some politicians seem to have made promises to Mr. Modi in their New Delhi visits, but in the end they promulgated the draft unamended.
The Union Budget as litmus test of a rethink or stasis
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GS 3: Indian Economy - Government Budgeting.
- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is to present the Union Budget next week, on July 23.
- This time the government is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition government.
- The Budget is not just a revenue and expenditure statement of the government.
- It has to be understood as representing the policy and the politics of the incumbent government.
- Unlike in 2019, when the BJP had 303 seats in the Lok Sabha, it now has 240 seats. Coalition politics and the aspirations of the regional coalition partners cannot be ignored.
- The reduced seat tally for the BJP could suggest a resentment with and dissent against the economic policies adopted by the government during its second term in 2019-24.
- The general election this time was termed as ‘normal’, implying that the focus of the election campaign was around ‘bread and butter’ issues, unlike in 2014 and 2019, where it was said to be aspirational and emotive issues.
The toll that extreme heat takes on women
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GS 2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
- Extreme heat is our planet’s norm for now and perhaps for years to come.
- The warmest year on record was 2023.
- Temperatures in several parts of India during May-June 2024 were reported to be record-breaking.
- Women are disproportionately harmed by extreme heat, largely because of unequal power dynamics, gender norms, and unequal access to resources, as reflected in the Global Gender Gap Index that places India at 18th rank from the bottom.
- Perhaps we should be alarmed by the numbers — India is home to more than one-in-six women in the world — and extreme heat is now their reality.
100 years of EEG: how does it work and what is its significance?
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GS 3: Science and Technology- Recent developments and their applications and effects in everyday life
- The EEG is a marvel of physics and neurobiology that opens a simple window into the human brain.
- This window is often small and yet it reveals so much. But not least is the wonder that it reveals anything at all without having to break open the skull first.
- This year is the centenary of the first human EEG, produced by German physiologist Hans Berger.
- Berger’s feat was preceded by incremental but significant advances across Europe from the late 19th century.
- In 1875, British physician Richard Caton reported evidence of electrical activity in the brains of monkeys and rabbits.
- Fifteen years on, his Polish peer Adolf Beck found evidence of fluctuating activity in the brains of dogs and rabbits when he stimulated their senses.
‘India and Russia have doubled rupee-rouble payments in 2024’
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GS 2: International Relations- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting the Indian interests
- Donald Trump named right-wing Ohio Senator J. D. Vance as his running mate in the U.S. presidential election, rewarding a one-time harsh critic who became one of his most loyal supporters in Congress .Mr. Trump, 78, announced his pick on the first day of the Republican Party convention in Milwaukee, an extravaganza turbocharged by the attempted assassination of the former President.
ICAR to release 323 new varieties of 56 crops today
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GS 3: Agriculture: Major cropping patterns in various parts of the country, e-technology; Economics of animal rearing.
- The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will launch its ‘One Scientist-One Product’ programme on July 16 to improve research in the field of agriculture and animal husbandry.
- It will also formally announce the release of 323 varieties of 56 crops, including cereals, oilseeds, forage crops, and sugarcane, at a function in Delhi on Tuesday as part of the 96th foundation day of the institution.
- These crops include 289 climate-resilient varieties and 27 bio-fortified varieties.
RBI revises rules on fraud risk management
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Prelims syllabus: Current events of national and international importance.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday issued three revised master directions on fraud risk management for Regulated Entities such as commercial banks including regional rural banks and All India Financial Institutions; urban, state and central cooperative banks; and non-banking finance firms and housing finance companies.
- “These master directions have been prepared based on a comprehensive review of the earlier Master Directions, circular and emerging issues.
- These Master Directions are principle-based and strengthen the role of the Board in overall governance and oversight of fraud risk management in the Regulated Entities (REs),” the RBI said in a circular.
ISRO has a problem: many rockets, but too few satellites to launch
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GS 3: General awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nanotechnology, bio-technology
- In June, S. Somanath, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Secretary of the Department of Space, said ISRO’s launch vehicle capability was three-times the demand.
- Many experts in the spaceflight sector and beyond interpreted this to mean the space launch market was grim. Mr. Somanath also suggested strong demand was needed for launch vehicles from the domestic Indian market.
- India currently has four launch vehicles: the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), and the Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-3).
- These rockets can launch satellites weighing up to four tonnes to the geosynchronous orbit.
- India also relies on foreign launch vehicles, like Europe’s Ariane V and SpaceX’s Falcon 9, when a satellite weighs more than four tonnes.
