UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 23rd April 2023 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

Why in News?

A group of 14 trekkers, including 13 US nationals, were recently stranded at Pindari glacier after an avalanche hit Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar district.

Why in News?

The government in Assam is planning to construct a corridor at the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati on the lines of the Kashi-Vishwanath Temple Corridor in Varanasi.

• The project will transform the grandeur of this major ‘shakti peeth’ significantly while also improving the accessibility for differently abled and aged devotees and tourists manifold.

About Kamakhya Temple:

• Located on Nilachal Hill in Guwahati, Assam
• Considered one of the oldest and sacred places of worship.
• Millions of pilgrims and tourists visit the temple every year, especially during the Ambubachi Mela held in June every year.
  • Ambubachi Mela, is a four-day fair to mark the annual menstruation of the goddess
  • One of 51 shaktipeeths or seat of Shakti followers, each representing a body part of Sati, Lord Shiva’s companion. The temple’s sanctum sanctorum houses the yoni — female genital — symbolised by a rock.
  • Temple priests said the ritualistic fair celebrating the goddess’ period is one of the reasons why the taboo associated with menstruation is less in Assam compared to other parts of India.
  • The attainment of womanhood of girls in Assam is celebrated with a ritual called ‘Tuloni Biya’, meaning small wedding.
  • A centrepiece of Tantrik Shaktism cult in India
  • Nilachala Style of Architecture: It had been modelled out of a combination of two different styles, namely, the traditional nagara or North Indian and saracenic or Mughal.
  • The main temple is surrounded by individual temples dedicated to the ten Mahavidyas: Kali, Tara, Sodashi, Bhuvaneshwari, Bhairavi, Chhinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi and Kamalatmika.

Source: Hindustan Times

GS-II

Why in News?

IFAD President recently said that IFAD will set up a new framework to facilitate cooperation between small agricultural producers in developing nations and businesses in Japan and elsewhere

About International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD):

• It is an international financial institution and a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries.
• IFAD seeks to empower rural people to increase their food security, improve the nutrition of their families and increase their incomes through funding of grants and low-interest loans to several projects.
• Its projects and programmes are carried out in remote and environmentally fragile locations, including least-developed countries and small island developing States.
• IFAD is the only multilateral development institution that focuses exclusively on transforming rural economies and food systems.
• It is a member of the United Nations Development Group (UNDP).
• It was established as an international financial institution in 1977 through United Nations General Assembly Resolution.
• Headquarters: Rome, Italy.
• Membership: Currently, IFAD has 177 Member States, including India.
• The highest decision-making body is the Governing Council which meets every three years.

• Enhanced Linkages between Private Sector and Small-Scale Producers (ELPS) Initiative:

  • It is an initiative By IFAD in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan.
  • It aims to connect small-scale food producers and marginalised farmer groups in developing countries with larger agrifood companies to facilitate investment, capacity building and trade.
  • Small-scale producers can greatly benefit from the expertise, knowledge, and technologies of the private sector.

• Other Initiatives of IFAD:

  • Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP).
  • Agri-Business Capital (ABC) Fund.
  • Pacific Islands Rural and Agriculture Stimulus Facility.
  • Platform for Agricultural Risk Management.

Source: The Print

Why in News?

India's rank in the recently released World Bank's Logistics Performance Index 2023 has improved by six places.

About Logistics Performance Index (LPI):

• It is released by World Bank.
• It is an interactive benchmarking tool created to help countries identify the challenges and opportunities they face in their performance on trade logistics and what they can do to improve their performance.
• It measures the ease of establishing reliable supply chain connections and structural factors that make it possible, such as the quality of logistics services, trade and transport-related infrastructure, as well as border controls.
• Highlights of LPI 2023:
  • The LPI 2023 allows for comparisons across 139 countries.
  • The LPI 2023, for the first time, measures the speed of trade with indicators derived from big datasets tracking shipments.
  • Singapore and Finland are the most efficient and highest-ranked LPI countries as per the 2023 LPI.
  • India is ranked 38 out of 139 countries, climbing six places from the previous index.
  • Two major factors for India's jump in the index could be modernisation and digitalisation, which the report quotes as a reason for emerging economies like India to leapfrog advanced countries

Source: The Hindu

GS-III

Why in News?

SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest rocket, exploded during its first test-flight to space.

About Starship:

• SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket – collectively referred to as Starship.
• It is the first stage, or booster, of the Starship launch system.
• Powered by 33 Raptor engines using sub-cooled liquid methane (CH4) and liquid oxygen (LOX).
• The Raptor engine is a reusable methane-oxygen staged-combustion engine that powers the Starship system
• Super Heavy is fully reusable and will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere to land back at the launch site.
• Starship spacecraft is the second stage of the Starship system.
  • It is also capable of point-to-point transport on Earth, enabling travel to anywhere in the world in one hour or less.
• It is a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
• It is the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tons fully reusable and 250 metric tons expendable.

Objectives

• the goal is to make Starship reusable and bring down the price to a few million dollars per flight.
• The eventual objective is to establish bases on the Moon and Mars and put humans on the “path to being a multi-planet civilization

Source:  Indian Express

Why in News?

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is developing Snake-like Robot Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS). NASA plans to send EELS to Enceladus.

About Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS):

• EELS is a mobile instrument system built to explore internal terrain structures, assess habitability and ultimately search for evidence of life.
• It aims to examine the moon’s surface and determine whether life is present.
• EELS architecture is a snake-like, self-propelled robot.
• It uses first-of-a-kind rotating propulsion units that act as tracks, gripping mechanisms, and propeller units underwater, enabling the robot to access a plume vent exit and follow it to its ocean source.
• It can traverse ocean-world-inspired terrain and fluidized media.

Source:  Hindustan Times