Tiangong-2

• Tiangong-2 (“Heavenly Palace”) is a Chinese Space Laboratory.
• It is an experimental space station which carried out research and human operations in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
• It was launched on September 2016 and it was has deorbited on July 19, 2019 spent over 1,000 days in orbit.
• It was brought down to Earth in a controlled fashion and burned up over the South Pacific ocean by China.
• It followed the Tiangong-1, China’s first space station, which crashed into the southern Pacific Ocean on 2018.
• It deploys to space the first-ever ‘Cold Atomic Fountain Clock’ which has a higher precision than conventional atomic clocks.
• It detected 55 ‘gamma-ray bursts’ by a device names POLAR installed on the spacecraft.
• It also docked a micro-satellite that took high-resolution pictures of the connected space lab and Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft.

Deepfakes

• Deepfake is a combination of “deep learning” and “fake”.
• It is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) software that superimposes a digital composite on to an existing video (or audio).
• Deep fake seemingly creates real fakes and deceptive videos, which makes differentiating fake from real even more cumbersome and complex.
• Fake celebrity footages, propaganda videos or revenge porn are all outcomes of the deep fake technology.

Himalayan knotweed

• Himalayan knotweed (Persicaria wallichii) is a plant species in the knotweed family.
• It is a native to the Himalayas and it was originally introduced as an ornamental garden plant.
• It grows on stream sides, hedge banks, woodland edges, roadsides, railway banks and waste ground.
• Once established this plant grows into extremely dense stands that out-compete all native vegetation.
• It can grow to about 6 feet in height, alter natural ecosystems and are difficult to eradicate.
• It is among 27 different species of invasive flora identified by Keystone Foundation.
• It became the latest threat to ‘Nilgiris ecosystem’ and the rate at which they spreads becomes a serious cause for concern.
• It threatens the biodiversity along streams and rivers and the wetlands in the Nilgiris.

Kleptocracy

• It refers to the society whose leaders make themselves rich and powerful by stealing from the rest of the people.
• It is also known as “rule by thieves”.
• It is closely associated with military juntas, oligarchies, dictatorships and nepotism or autocratic regimes.
• Russia is often pointed out as an example of a modern kleptocracy.
• Africa has many of the world’s kleptocratic leaders, who have driven their economies into ruin.
• There is a common trend in Africa where the poorest and least developed countries are often kleptocracies.
• The US often portrayed as the model of true democracy, but in recent years, has been labeled as a kleptocracy.
• ‘Narco-kleptocracy’, also known as ‘Narco-economies’, are nations where drug money has compromised the integrity of the government.
• It is through bribing of senior government officials to allow the illegal drug trade to be conducted within the country. E.g Guinea, Panama, Tajikistan and Venezuela.
•  “Digital Kleptocracy” is a means by which rich tech companies mine poor people’s data.

Kalsubai

• Kalsubai is a mountain in the Western Ghats, located in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Its summit situated at an elevation of 1646 metres (5400 feet) is the highest point in Maharashtra
• The mountain range lies within the Kalsubai Harishchandragad Wildlife Sanctuary
• Kalsubai Peak is also known as the Mount Everest of Maharashtra

Crocodile 

• Odisha has renewed its effort to revive the population of gharials, a “critically endangered” species of crocodile, in their natural habitat by releasing five reptiles into the Satkosia gorge of Mahanadi, the southernmost limit of gharials’ home range in India.
• Odisha is the only State in India having all three species of gharial, mugger and saltwater crocodile.
• The State forest department began conservation of these crocodile species in 1975 by establishing three rearing centres

1. Tikarpada for gharials in Angul district
2. Ramatirtha for muggers in Mayurbhanj
3. Bhitarkanika for saltwater crocodiles in Kendrapara district.

PENCIL

• Union Minister for Labour & Employment informed Lok Sabha that 361 Complaints of Child Labour have been resolved via PENCIL (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour) Portal (pencil.gov.in).
• The PENCIL portal is an electronic platform that aims at involving Centre, State, and District Governments, civil society and general public in achieving the target of child labour free society.
• It is a portal on child labour elimination.
• PENCIL portal has five components

1. Child Tracking System
2. Complaint Corner
3. State Government
4. National Child Labour Project (NCLP)

• Each district will nominate District Nodal Officers (DNOs) who will receive the complaints.
• Within 48 hours of receiving complaints, DNOs will check genuineness of complaint and take rescue measures in coordination with police, if complaint is genuine.
• India has ratified the two Core Conventions of International Labour Organization (ILO) in June 2017 which shows the country’s commitment to a child labour free nation.

1. Convention 138 regarding admission of age to employment
2. Convention 182 regarding worst forms of Child Labour

Dracaena cambodiana

• It is a dragon tree species whose sap turns bright red after coming in contact with air discovered for the first time in India in the Dongka Sarpo area of West Karbi Anglong, Assam.
• The plant yields dragon’s blood, a bright red resin used since ancient times as medicine, body oil, varnish, incense and dye.

Coarse Cereals / Millets

• Coarse Cereals and Millets are the short duration warm weather (Kharif) crops used both as food and fodder.
• The coarse cereals and millets are grown in areas with high temperature and are called dryland crops because can be grown in areas with 50-100 cm rainfall.
• Jowar is the third most important food crop with respect to area and production.
• It is a rain-fed crop mostly grown in the moist areas which hardly needs irrigation.
• Major Jowar producing States were Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in 2011-12.
• Bajra grows well on sandy soils and shallow black soil.
• Major Bajra producing States were: Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana in 2011-12.
• Ragi is a crop of dry regions and grows well on red, black, sandy, loamy and shallow black soils.
• Major ragi producing states are: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh
• Top three states with maximum production of total coarse cereals are Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Rajasthan.

Namdapha National Park

• Namdapha National Park is large protected area in Arunachal Pradesh of Northeast India.
• Named after a river meandering through it, was declared as India’s 15th Tiger Reserve in 1983 with a core area of 1,808 sq km and a buffer zone of 177 sq km.
• Declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1972, it was elevated to a national park in the same year as it was made a tiger reserve.
• The tiger is one of 96 species of mammals found in Namdapha, which is divided into the Miao, Namdapha and Gandhigram ranges.
• The others include the endemic red giant flying squirrel, leopard, clouded leopard, snow leopard, Malayan sun bear, Asiatic black bear, hoolock gibbon, and capped langur.

Chorla Ghat

• Chorla Ghat is a nature destination located on the intersection of the borders of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
• It is a part of the Western Ghats in the Sahyadri mountain range and is at an elevation of 800 meters.
• Chorla ghat boasts of a few rare species of wild-life such as the barred wolf snake (Lycodon striatus) in its sub-tropical forests.

UN-SPIDER

• UN-SPIDER is a platform which facilitates the use of space-based technologies for disaster management and emergency response.
• It stands for United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response.
• It is a programme under the auspices of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Vienna, Austria.

Ream Naval Base

• Ream Naval Base is a facility operated by the Royal Cambodian Navy on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand in Cambodia.
• The Gulf of Thailand, also known as the Gulf of Siam, is a shallow inlet in the western part of the South China Sea.
• The gulf is surrounded on the north, west and southwest by Thailand, on the northeast by Cambodia and Vietnam.
• The South China Sea is to the southeast.
• Dara Sakor International airport being built by a Chinese company in Cambodia is in proximity to the Ream base.

Agreement on Reciprocal Logistics Support (ARLS)

• It is a Military Logistics Support Agreements (MLSA) between India and Russia.
• The Russian agreement gives India access to its facilities in the Arctic region which is seeing increased global activity as new shipping routes are opening up and resources are becoming available.
• The Indian Navy, with a significant strength of Russian origin warships, will be able to smoothly transit through for exercises or refits using the agreement while the air force will find it easier to deploy aircraft for joint exercises.
• Following the agreement, Russians could not only use ports like Mumbai and Visakhapatnam.
• Besides ports Russia would also be able to access airbases.
• India could do the same, when it came to Russian ports and airbases.
• This includes access to Northern route and ports in Russian part of Arctic.
• India is looking at an Arctic station in near future and Russia could be partner.
• Russia has also assured India access to energy resources in the vast Arctic region.

Kodaikanal Malai Poondu (Kodaikanal Hill Garlic)

• The Geographical Indications Registry has granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag to Kodaikanal Malai Poondu (Kodaikanal Hill Garlic). 
• Its scientific name – Allium Sativum.
• Garlic is known for its medicinal and preservative properties. It has anti-oxidant and anti-microbial potential, which is attributed to the presence of higher amount of organosulfur compounds, phenols and flavonoids compared to other garlic varieties.