CUSAT Stratosphere-Troposphere Radar 

• The new radar named – CUSAT Stratosphere-Troposphere Radar (CUSAT ST-205 Radar)- throws 205 MHz radio waves to detect the atmospheric perturbations.
• The radar designed and fabricated in India adds to the already available radars and Sonars to keep a close watch on the way winds move in the upper atmosphere.
• Weather radars detect perturbations in wind and water content of the atmosphere using the same principle.
• The radar scans the sky horizontally and vertically in small steps of 1 degree thus getting a three-dimensional picture of the atmosphere.
• While scanning it throws a pulse of radio waves of 200 to 205 MHz frequency at the atmosphere and waits for it to bounce back.
• The radar situated in Cochin University of Science and Technology in Cochin- a strategic place where the monsoon makes the first entry into the subcontinent, the new radar will add to further the precision of weather, especially the monsoon, in India.

Behdienkhlam

• Behdienkhlam is a major festival of the people in the Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya.
• It is celebrated to invoke the gods for a bumper harvest and drive away plague.
• It is the ritualistic expression of the relentless struggle of mankind to overcome the destructive forces of nature, including diseases, since the dawn of civilization.
• During the festival, decorated and colourful raths are immersed in ‘Wah Ainar,’ a muddy pool.
• The non-Christian ‘Pnar’ people who believe either in the traditional faith of ‘Niamtre’ or Hinduism observe this festival.

Bru community

• The Centre and the state governments of Tripura and Mizoram has recently signed an agreement for repatriation of Bru community from Tripura to Mizoram.
• The central government will provide financial assistance for rehabilitation of Bru community members in Mizoram.
• The Bru militancy was a reactionary movement against Mizo nationalist groups.
• Mizo nationalists had demanded in the mid-1990s that the Brus be left out of the state’s electoral rolls, contending that the tribe was not indigenous to Mizoram.
• In 1997, the murder of a Mizo forest guard at the Dampa Tiger Reserve in Mizoram allegedly by Bru militants led to a violent backlash against the community.
• It forced several thousand people belonging to Bru community to flee to neighbouring Tripura.
• The displaced Bru people from Mizoram have been living in various camps in Tripura since 1997.

Revenue status under FRA

• Three villages inhabited by the Tongia Scheduled Tribe in and around forests in Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh will be given the status of revenue village under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, (FRA).
• Kaluwala, Sodhinagar and Bhagwatpur were given the revenue status, which means that the village area will come under the revenue department instead of forest department.
• The FRA has a provision for turning forest villages into revenue villages so that civic facilities reach these areas.

Forest Rights Act (FRA)

• The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, is a key piece of forest legislation passed in India on 18 December 2006.
• It has also been called the Forest Rights Act, the Tribal Rights Act, the Tribal Bill, and the Tribal Land Act.
• Eligible People- 
  (a) Those who “primarily reside in forests” and who depend on forests and forest land for a livelihood.
  (b) Either the claimant must be a member of the Scheduled Tribes scheduled in that area or must have been residing in the forest for 75 years.

1st cyber-literate district

• Malappuram, Kerala is set to achieve a new distinction of being the first cyber-literate district in the country.

cVIGIL

• cVIGIL is a mobile app launched by Election Commission of India.
• It enables citizens to report on violation of code of conduct during elections.
• The application will be active only in States where elections have been announced.
• The moment a citizen exits an election-bound State, the app will become inactive.
• To prevent any misuse, the app will not allow uploading of the pre-recorded or old images and videos.
• The app will be made available for general use by all, from the forthcoming Assembly elections in the States of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan.

Koala bear

• Recently, an international team of scientists has successfully sequenced the whole genome of Koala bear.
• It is a tree-dwelling marsupial of coastal eastern Australia.
• They have exceptional parental care and strange eating habits that they enjoy the leaves of eucalyptus that would be toxic or even fatal to most mammals.
• They are born after just 34-36 days of gestation without an immune system and spend almost six months developing in the pouch.
• It is listed as “Vulnerable” under IUCN’s Red Data Book.

Pandharichi Wari

• “Pandharichi Wari” is Maharashtra’s 700 years old tradition in which devotees of Lord Vitthala called Varkari trace the route to Pandharpur.
• For this holy function Devotees from all over state gathers in Dehu and Alandi, the native places of Sant Tukaram Maharaj and sant Dnyaneshvar Maharaj in Pune district and the procession starts for its final destination, Pandharpur.