Current Affair 1:

Charbhag Style

 

 

Why in news?

Iconic Mughal Garden at Rashtrapati Bhavan was renamed ‘Amrit Udyan’ in keeping with the theme of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

 

Its architecture was based on the gardens of medieval Persia, particularly the char bagh (literally four gardens) structure, which Babur, the founder of the Mughal empire, described in his memoir Baburnama as his personal favourite.

 

Who brought Charbagh style to India?

 

Charbagh style was brought to India by the Mughals. Charbagh is a Persian-style garden layout, in which the main building is put at the centre of a quadrilateral garden, divided by walkways or flowing water into four smaller parts.

Ram Bagh was the oldest Mughal Garden in India, originally built by the Mughal Emperor Babur in 1528, in Charbagh style. Humayun’s tomb is the first garden tomb in India.

 

Humayun’s tomb was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. Humayun’s garden-tomb is an example of the charbagh (a four quadrant garden with the four rivers of Quranic paradise represented), with pools joined by channels. The garden is entered from lofty gateways on the south and from the west with pavilions located in the centre of the eastern and northern walls.

 

 

 

 

 

Current Affair 2:

Similipal National Park

 

 

Similipal National Park (SNP) in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district has turned out to be the hunting ground for animal poachers over the last few years. Since 2019, it has witnessed 11 elephant deaths - hunted mainly for ivory.

 

History:

Similipal derives its name from the ‘Simul’ (silk cotton) tree. It is part of the Similipal-Kuldina-Hadgarh Elephant Reserve popularly known as the Mayurbhanj Elephant  Reserve.

Location:It is situated in the northern part of Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district. Geographically, it lies in the eastern end of the eastern ghat.

Tribes:

Two tribes, the Erenga Kharias and the Mankirdias inhabit the reserve’s forests and practise traditional agricultural activities. Other dominant tribes include the Ho, Gonda, and Munda among others.

Flora: About 94 species of orchids and 3,000 species of plants. Among them, Sal is a dominant tree species in the park.

Forest: The forest is predominantly moist mixed deciduous forest with tropical semi-evergreen forest in areas with suitable microclimatic conditions and sporadic patches of dry deciduous forests and grasslands. It forms the largest watershed of northern Odisha.

 

 

 

 

Fauna: The park is home to the Bengal tiger, Asian elephant, gaur, and chausingha. It also has a sizeable population of reptiles, which includes the longest venomous snake, the King cobra, and the Tricarinate hill turtle. There are 55 species of mammals, 361 species of birds, 62 species of reptiles, 21 species of amphibians and many species of insects and micro fauna.

 

 

Status:

It was formally designated a tiger reserve in 1956 and brought under Project Tiger in the year 1973 and declared a biosphere reserve by the Government of India in June 1994. It is also a part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves since 2009.

What are other Major Protected Areas in Odisha?

Bhitarkanika National Park, Badrama WLS, Chilika (Nalaban island) WLS, Hadgarh WLS, Baisipalli WLS, Kotagarh WLS, Nandankanan WLS, Lakhari Valley WLS & Gahirmatha (Marine) WLS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current Affair 3:

Polar Vortex

 

 

Why in news?

Scientists say Asia’s extreme cold this year is largely the result of the so-called ‘polar vortex’, the same weather phenomenon that brought exceptionally cold weather to the United States last month.

What is Polar Vortex?

The polar vortex is a large area of low-pressure and cold air surrounding both of the Earth’s poles. It was also known as the Polar Pig. Many times during winter in the northern hemisphere, the polar vortex will expand, sending cold air southward with the jet stream.

Variation in polar vortex:

The polar vortex is held in place by the Earth’s rotation and temperature differences between the Arctic and mid-latitudes. When those variations (due to climate change) in temperatures grow, the polar vortex can shift south.

What is Vortex?

The term “vortex” refers to the counterclockwise flow of air that helps keep the colder air near the Poles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current Affair 4:

Aditya-L1

 

 

Why in news?

 

Recently, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was given the Visible Line Emission Coronagraph (VLEC), the primary payload on board Aditya-L1, by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA).

 

What is Aditya L1 mission ?

 

Aditya L1 shall be the first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun. Aditya L1 is a planned coronagraphy spacecraft to study the solar atmosphere which will be placed in a halo orbit around the first Lagrange (L1) point of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5-million-km from Earth.

The spacecraft carries seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic and particle and magnetic field detectors.

Aditya L1 will be launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) with 7 payloads (instruments) on board.

 

The 7 payloads include:

 

1. Visible Line Emission Coronagraph (VELC)

2.Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT)

3.Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS)

4.Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX)

5.High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS) 6.Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA)

7.Advanced Tri-axial High Resolution Digital Magnetometers

 

What are Lagrange points?

Lagrange points are points of equilibrium for small-mass objects under the influence of two massive orbiting bodies.Lagrange Points are positions in space where the gravitational forces of a two body system like the Sun and the Earth produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion. These can be used by spacecraft to reduce fuel consumption needed to remain in position.

 

Lagrange points are named in honor of Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Louis Lagrange.

 

 

 

Current Affair 5:

Short Selling

 

 

Why in news?

 

In the recent investigation of  Hindenburg Research, a short seller, declared short positions in Adani Group, suggesting stock manipulation and accounting fraud.

 

What is short selling?

 

Short selling, or shorting, on the other hand, is a trading strategy based on the expectation that the price of the security will fall. Hence Short selling occurs when an investor borrows a security and sells it on the open market, planning to buy it back later for less money.

 

While traditional investment strategy is based on the “buy low, sell high” approach, the sequence of transactions is reversed in short selling — to sell high first and buy low later.

 

Short selling is profitable when a trader speculates correctly, and share prices do fall below the market price at which a trader sold short. In that case, a trader gets to keep the difference between the selling price and purchasing price as profit.

 

Example of Short Selling for a Profit

Imagine a trader who believes that XYZ stock—currently trading at $50—will decline in price in the next three months. They borrow 100 shares and sell them to another investor. The trader is now “short” 100 shares since they sold something that they did not own but had borrowed. The short sale was only made possible by borrowing the shares, which may not always be available if the stock is already heavily shorted by other traders.

 

Pros and Cons of Short Selling

 

Pros

• Possibility of high profits
• Little initial capital required
• Leveraged investments possible
• Hedge against other holdings

 

Cons

• Potentially unlimited losses
• Margin account necessary
• Margin interest incurred
• Short squeezes

 

 

 

 

 

<< Previous Next >>