Prelims Factoids
Innovative Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) Inaugurated
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about RPAS + about Mahanadi coalfield)
What's the NEWS

• In a first, in Coal India Ltd. (CIL) under the Ministry of Coal, an innovative Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) at Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) was inaugurated
• Designed by the MCL's Innovation Cell and the Department of E&T, the portal named "Vihangam' for remote monitoring was created by a Mumbai-based start-up of drone manufacturing, robotics and automation.
• This state-of-art initiative will enable the Company to access real-time video through the internet and pave the way for other allied potential use-cases of drones in mines.

Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL).

• MCL was the first coal company to introduce environment-friendly Surface Mining technology in 1999.
• The biggest fleet of 66 Surface Miners is contributing 95 per cent of the total coal production of the company.

Prelims Factoids
Supporting Startups in Infrastructure
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the role of Invest India
What's the NEWS

• A virtual workshop on ‘Supporting Startups in Infrastructure' was organised by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance, and Invest India
• This workshop was an effort towards mainstream participation of startups in infrastructure, for sustainably and efficiently scaling up public infrastructure delivery.

Invest India

• It is the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of India, set up as a non-profit venture under the aegis of Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.
• It facilitates and empowers all investors under the ‘Make in India' initiative to establish, operate and expand their businesses in India.
• Invest India is envisaged as a one stop shop specially created to attract and retain high quality investments into India.
• It provides sector-and state-specific inputs, and hand-holding support to investors through the entire investment cycle, from pre-investment, decision-making to after-care.
• It provides comprehensive facilitation to investors interested in India, including strategic business advisory, policy guidance, location assessment, issue redressal and expansion support.

Bilateral Relations/Economy
11^th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) - highlights + about CFLI) + Mains ( GS III Economic development + GS II bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• The 11^th India-United Kingdom Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) was held virtually chaired by Indian Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs and the United Kingdom Treasury Chancellor
• The Dialogue, inter alia, covered discussions on economic cooperation on multilateral issues, including G20 and COP26.
• Private sector initiatives under India-UK Financial Partnership (IUKFP) and India-UK Sustainable Finance Working Group including its progress were also discussed.
• The Climate Finance Leadership Initiative (CFLI) India partnership was launched by both sides which aims to work with financial institutions, corporates, and existing sustainable finance initiatives to accelerate efforts to mobilise capital into India.
• The 11th Economic and Financial Dialogue concluded with adoption of Joint Statement on Climate Finance Leadership Initiative (CFLI) India partnership.

Climate Finance Leadership Initiative (CFLI) India initiative

• Objective - to boost investment in sustainable projects in India
• The Indian and UK governments agreed a new tie-up to finance inclusive, resilient and sustainable infrastructure in India by harnessing public and private capital to meet the country's low-carbon goals.
• CFLI India initiative, which is backed by the City of London Corporation and led by Bloomberg's CFLI, was announced at the 11th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD)
• The aim of the CFLI India project is to drive capital into India through public, private, and multilateral initiatives to help the country meet its 2015 Paris Agreement commitments, which include a pledge to reduce emissions intensity of GDP by 33-35 per cent by 2030.
• The Climate Finance Leadership Initiative is working to eliminate barriers to investment and create market conditions to drive more capital to green projects

Prelims Factoids
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR)
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about operational railway networks in hilly areas + about DHR)
What's the NEWS

• A section of people in the Darjeeling hills of West Bengal are protesting against the Centre's proposed monetisation of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railways (DHR).

Know! about Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR)

• The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) was built during the British period between 1879 and 1881.
• The Darjeeling Toy Train was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.
• A World Heritage Site is classified as a natural or man-made area or a structure that is of international importance, and a place that requires special protection.

There are 4 fully functional and operational railway networks in the hilly and hilly areas in India -

1. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) situated in the foothills of Himalayas in West Bengal
2. Nilgiri Hill Railway located in Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu
3. Kalka Shimla Railway located in the foothills of Himalayas of Himachal Pradesh
4. Matheran Railway located in Maharashtra

Prelims Factoids
Kashmir Pashmina Shawl
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Kashmir saffron)
What's the NEWS

• The Directorate of Handicrafts and Handlooms, Kashmir has announced Minimum Support Price (MSP) for hand made 'Pashmina Shawls' to "maintain the age old techniques".
• Kashmir's Pashmina Shawl is a Geographical Indication (GI)-certified product.
• Earlier, Kashmir saffron has got the status of GI tag.

Know! about Pashmina Shawl

• These shawls are made by two techniques, loom woven or 'Kani Shawl' and needle embroidery or 'Sozni Shawl'.
• The basic fabric used in these is of three types - Shah Tush, Pashmina and Ruffle.
• Shah Tush is also known as Ring Shawl. It is obtained from the rare Tibetan antelope.
• Pashmina is known as kashmere wool, it is obtained from a special goat (Capra hircus).
• The ruffle is spun from merino wool top.

Geographical Indication (GI) Certification

• GI is an indicator used to identify agricultural, natural and manufactured goods with special characteristics originating in a certain geographical area.
• The 'Goods Geographical Indications (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999' deals with the registration of Geographical Indications in relation to goods in India.
• Geographical Indications Registry is located in Chennai.
• The registration of a Geographical Indication is valid for a period of 10 years.
• It is also a part of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organization.

Powergrid Wins the Prestigious global ATD Best Award

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Association for Talent Development (ATD)
What's the NEWS

• Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID), a Maharatna CPSU under Ministry of Power, Government of India has been awarded the coveted "Association for Talent Development (ATD) 2021 BEST Award
• It secured 8th rank among the 71 organizations from around the globe, thus becoming the only PSU to win this award and one of the only two companies of India in Top 20.

Association for Talent Development (ATD)

• The Association for Talent Development (ATD, formerly ASTD) is the world's largest association dedicated to those who develop talent in organizations and ATD's BEST Award is the talent development industry's most rigorous and coveted recognition.
• The global program recognizes organizations that demonstrate enterprise-wide success through talent development.
• POWERGRID has won this International recognition for its diligent efforts in talent development practices and programmes.
• The talent development initiative in POWERGRID is driven by POWERGRID Academy of Leadership (PAL).
• PAL is POWERGRID's state-of-the-art Institute of Learning in Management and Technology catering to both domestic and international clients.
• At PAL,trainings and initiatives are organized for enhancing employee performance, boosting employee productivity, improving and strengthening company culture.

Space Awareness
Blue straggler

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about blue stragglers ) + Mains ( GS III awareness in the field of space)
What's the NEWS

• Blue straggler is a class of stars on open or globular clusters that stand out as they are bigger and bluer than the rest of the stars, have intrigued scientists who have for long probed their origin.

First-ever comprehensive analysis of blue stragglers

• Carrying out the first-ever comprehensive analysis of blue stragglers, Indian researchers found that half of the blue stragglers in their sample are formed through mass transfer from a close binary companion star, one third are likely formed through collisions of 2 stars, and the remaining are formed through interactions of more than 2 stars.
• A bunch of stars born at the same time from the same cloud form a star cluster. As time passes, each star evolves differently depending on its mass.
• The most massive and bright stars evolve and move off the main sequence creating a bend in their track, known as the turn off.
• Stars above this bend or brighter and hotter stars are not expected in a cluster, as they leave the main sequence to become red giants but further studies confirmed that these stars are indeed cluster members, and they were termed "Blue Stragglers
• The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), utilised the Gaia telescope launched in 2013 by the European Space Agency with its excellent positional accuracy to select the blue stragglers in clusters and understand how many such stars there are, where they are and how they are formed.
• It showed that these stars are primarily present in the older and massive star clusters. And due to their large mass, they are segregated towards the centre of the clusters.
• The researchers compared the mass of the blue stragglers to the mass of the turnoff stars (which are the most massive ‘normal' stars in the cluster) and predicted the formation mechanisms.

Miscellaneous
Milky Sea
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Milky Sea)
What's the NEWS

• In 1995, low-light satellite measurements provided the first observation of a Milky Sea off the coast of Somalia.
• This is a rare form where a broad and steady white glow is produced by the sea surface during the night. They are also called Marel.
• They are a rare nocturnal phenomenon in which the ocean's surface emits a steady bright glow.
• They can cover thousands of square miles but because of their remote and elusive nature, they are extremely difficult to study
• To date, only one research vessel has ever encountered a milky sea.

Possible Reasons - Know! the findings so far
bacteria growing on algae

• The research vessel collected samples and found a strain of luminous bacteria called Vibrio harveyi colonizing algae at the water's surface.
• Unlike bioluminescence that happens close to shore, where small organisms called dinoflagellates flash brilliantly when disturbed, luminous bacteria work in an entirely different way.
• Once their population gets large enough - about 100 million individual cells per milliliter of water - a sort of internal biological switch is flipped and they all start glowing steadily.
• About two or three milky seas occur per year worldwide, mostly in the waters of the northwest Indian Ocean and off the coast of Indonesia.

Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD)

• Another major reason is the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). The IOD during its positive phase corresponds to warm/humid conditions with warm pooling water over the western side of the Indian Ocean and cool/dry conditions with strong easterly winds in the eastern side.
• These winds lift cold, nutrient-rich coastal waters that flow with currents to the open ocean, leading to the occurrence of algal blooms over a wide area and potentially the origin of milky seas. There are favorable conditions for this.

Day/Night Band

• A new satellite technology, the 'Day/Night Band', is now being used to find the bright Milky Seas.
• Information relating to the presence of 'Milky Sea' has been primarily recorded through space satellites centered in major shipping lanes.
• It is planned as part of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
• The spectral response of the day/night band (DNB) is also sensitive to 'mesospheric airglow' emissions, which occur as both reflected light from clouds and direct uplift emissions into space.

Know! about Marine Bioluminescence

• Bioluminescence is the light produced by a chemical reaction within a living organism.
• A saprophytic relationship is formed between the luminous bacteria and the microalgae that are expressed at the macro level.
• Sometimes this condition persists for several days to weeks over an area of more than 100,000 sq km on the sea surface and flows calmly in the middle of prevailing ocean currents.

Education
THE World University Rankings 2022
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Times World University Rankings 2022 -highlights)
What's the NEWS

• India is home to 35 of the world's top 1000 universities, its second-highest total ever in the rankings (36 in THE World University Rankings 2020).
• The result of Times World University Rankings 2022 has been announced.

Times World University Rankings 2022 - highlights

• In the overall category, UK's University of Oxford has topped the list, while California Institute of Technology, Harvard University and Stanford University stand at second, third and fourth positions, respectively.
• Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru, at 301-350 position, is the only Indian institute in the top 350, followed by IIT Ropar, JS Academy of Higher Education and Research, IIT Indore, Allagappa University and Thapar University.
• While IISC Bangalore has been placed at 301-350, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar has been placed in the 351-400 bracket.
• As beyond 200, THE World University Rankings does not assign individual ranks but places institutions in brackets instead.
• Ten Indian universities, including Banaras Hindu University, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi Technology University (DTU), Jamia Millia Islamia and Panjab University have been placed in the 601-800 ranks.
• University of Delhi has been ranked on the 801-1,000 bracket.
• Times Higher Education's (THE) latest annual subject rankings include more than 1,600 universities from 99 countries and territories ranked across five areas -- Teaching (the learning environment); Research (volume, income and reputation); Citations (research influence); International outlook (staff, students and research); and Industry income (knowledge transfer).
• This year's ranking, analysed more than 108 million citations across over 14.4 million research publications and included survey responses from almost 22,000 scholars globally.

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