19 November 2023

• Sports: Australia defeated India by 6 wickets in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Travis Head scored 137 off 120 balls.
• Silkyara rescue: Day 8 of the rescue continued; manual digging by rat-hole miners began after the auger machine broke down again.
• International: The Israel-Hamas conflict extended into a second month; UN agencies warned of catastrophic humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
• State elections: Mizoram voted in its assembly election; Chhattisgarh had completed both phases; Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh would vote on 23 and 17 November respectively.
• Science: ISRO continued preparations for its XPoSat (X-ray Polarimeter Satellite) mission, with launch targeted before the end of 2023.

GS area: Sports/General Awareness

Australia defeated India by 6 wickets in the ICC Cricket World Cup Final held on 19 November 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. India batted first and scored 240 all out. Australia chased it down with 42 balls remaining.

• Player of the Match: Travis Head. He scored 137 off 120 balls, coming in early after Pat Cummins' tactical move and then dominating the chase.
• India's batting: Rohit Sharma scored 47 off 31 balls at the top. Virat Kohli scored 54. KL Rahul scored 66 off 107 balls.
• Marnus Labuschagne: scored 58 not out alongside Head to seal the win.
• Australia's World Cup record: sixth ODI World Cup title. Australia have won in 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015 and 2023.
• Tournament context: India had gone unbeaten through all ten group-stage matches, the only team to do so, before losing the final.
• Narendra Modi Stadium: largest cricket stadium in the world by seating capacity. Located in Motera, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

This was one of the most-watched sporting events in Indian television history. The match's outcome ended India's unbeaten run at a moment when a billion-plus viewers were watching.

Static linkage: General Awareness (Sports, International Sporting Events).

GS area: Disaster Management (Governance, Science and Technology)

The Silkyara tunnel rescue entered its eighth day. After the auger drilling machine broke down for the third time, manual diggers experienced in "rat-hole mining" were brought in to manually dig through the debris.

• Rat-hole mining: a manual coal extraction technique common in Meghalaya, where miners dig narrow horizontal tunnels (rat holes) into a hillside and extract coal. The National Green Tribunal banned it in 2014 for its dangerous and environmentally destructive nature.
• Why it was used here: despite being banned for coal mining, the manual technique was the only viable alternative when mechanical drilling failed. Workers can navigate tight, unstable passages that machines cannot.
• Progress: the rat-hole miners began making faster progress than the machines through the final metres of debris.
• Multiple routes: simultaneously, vertical drilling from the top of the hill was being attempted as a backup.

Static linkage: Disaster Management, Science and Technology, Environment.

GS area: Science and Technology (Space)

India's X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) was in final preparation for launch by end of 2023. It will be only the second satellite in the world with X-ray polarimetry capability, after NASA's IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, launched December 2021).

• Purpose: studying polarised X-ray emissions from celestial sources including black holes, neutron stars and pulsars.
• Context: IIT Guwahati and ISRO's UR Rao Satellite Centre had detected polarised X-ray emissions from an extragalactic black hole (LMC X-3) using IXPE, the first such detection outside our galaxy.
• Scientific importance: X-ray polarimetry reveals the geometry and magnetic fields around compact objects like black holes that ordinary imaging cannot.

Static linkage: Science and Technology (Space, Astronomy).

GS area: Polity (Elections, Northeast India)

Mizoram held its assembly election on 7 November 2023. Results would come on 3 December. The contest was primarily between the ruling Mizo National Front, the Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) led by former police officer Lalduhoma, and the Congress.

• Mizoram facts: 40 assembly seats. Predominantly Christian population. Shares borders with Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Indian states of Manipur, Assam, and Tripura.
• MNF: the dominant party since 2018, allied with BJP at the national level. Founded by Laldenga who negotiated the Mizo Accord 1986.
• ZPM: a newer party that positioned itself as a credible alternative on governance.
• Result (declared December 3): ZPM won, displacing MNF. Lalduhoma became Chief Minister.

Static linkage: Polity (Elections, Northeast India).

GS area: Internal Security (Insurgency, Northeast India)

The Mizoram election context brings the Mizo Accord 1986 to attention. The Accord ended two decades of armed insurgency by the Mizo National Front.

• Background: the Great Mizo Famine of 1959 (mautam, when bamboo flowers and seeds trigger a rat population explosion that destroys crops) triggered local resentment that the Centre ignored. MNF under Laldenga launched an armed movement in 1966.
• Accord (1986): MNF surrendered arms, Mizoram became a state (from Union Territory), and Laldenga became Chief Minister. A model peace agreement often cited alongside the Bodoland Accord and Nagaland ceasefire.
• Article 371G: provides special protections for Mizoram's customs, practices and land ownership.

Static linkage: Internal Security (Insurgency, Northeast India), Polity.

GS area: International Relations (West Asia)

UN agencies warned of catastrophic humanitarian conditions in Gaza by mid-November. The UNRWA reported that all 13 of Gaza's hospitals in the north had stopped functioning. The Rafah crossing remained the primary humanitarian corridor.

• UNRWA: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, established 1949. Provides education, health, relief and social services to Palestinian refugees.
• Humanitarian law: the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) protects civilians in armed conflict. It requires parties to allow humanitarian access and protect medical facilities.

Static linkage: International Relations (West Asia, Humanitarian Law).

• Silkyara rescue diet: the 41 trapped workers were receiving food through the 6-inch pipeline: khichdi, dry fruit, dry fruit bars, oral rehydration salts, medicines and psychological counselling through voice communication.
• PM SVANidhi scheme: the government's micro-credit scheme for street vendors provided loans of Rs 10,000, Rs 20,000 and Rs 50,000 to eligible vendors. Over 50 lakh loans disbursed as of November 2023.