Highlights
- Space: India launched its first analog space mission in Leh, Ladakh, simulating Mars and Moon conditions to support Gaganyaan preparation.
- Defence: Exercise Vajra Prahar and Exercise Garud Shakti demonstrated India's Special Forces interoperability with the US and Indonesia.
- Governance: EVMs were under public scrutiny again. Key facts: manufactured by BEL and ECIL, with VVPAT paper trails.
- Schemes: The Namo Drone Didi scheme gave SHG women drones for agricultural use under DAY-NRLM.
1. India's first analog space mission: Leh, Ladakh
GS area: Science and Technology
ISRO's Human Spaceflight Centre, with IIT Bombay and the University of Ladakh, launched India's first analog space mission at a high-altitude site in Leh.
- Analog mission: A ground-based simulation of extraterrestrial conditions. It tests habitat sustainability, human behaviour and mission protocols without leaving Earth.
- Why Ladakh: The terrain mimics the barren, rocky surface of Mars and the Moon. High altitude reduces atmospheric pressure toward space-like conditions.
- Gaganyaan: India's crewed space mission. The analog exercise feeds into astronaut training, life-support design and mission operations planning.
- ISRO's Human Spaceflight Centre: Based in Bengaluru. It manages the Gaganyaan programme including astronaut selection and training.
Static linkage: Space technology, Gaganyaan programme.
2. Namo Drone Didi: drones for SHG women
GS area: Government Schemes, Agriculture, Women Empowerment
The Namo Drone Didi scheme under DAY-NRLM puts agricultural drones in the hands of women's self-help groups.
- DAY-NRLM: Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Rural Livelihoods Mission. The Ministry of Rural Development runs it. It is the government's flagship programme for rural women's economic empowerment.
- Financial structure: 80 per cent Central Financial Assistance with a cap of 8 lakh rupees per drone.
- Interest subvention: 3 per cent on loans through the National Agriculture Infrastructure Fund.
- Training: 15-day operator training is provided. The drone comes with a 1-year warranty and 2-year maintenance support.
- Monitoring: IT-based MIS Drone Portal tracks deployment.
Static linkage: Rural development schemes, women empowerment, agricultural modernisation.
3. Electronic Voting Machines: the facts that matter
GS area: Polity (Elections)
EVMs were again in public debate around the Maharashtra and Jharkhand elections. The technical facts:
- Capacity: Each EVM unit records up to 2,000 votes.
- Memory: Uses encrypted memory. No wireless connectivity.
- Battery: Alkaline batteries chosen for reliability and a 5-year shelf life.
- Battery indicator: Reads 99 per cent when fully charged because it measures a voltage range of 8.2 to 7.4 volts, not a linear percentage.
- Manufacturers: Bharat Electronics Limited and Electronics Corporation of India Limited, both PSUs.
- VVPAT: Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail prints a slip showing the symbol voted. The voter can verify before the slip drops into a sealed box.
Static linkage: Elections, democratic institutions, Election Commission.
4. North Korea's Hwasong-19 ICBM
GS area: International Relations, Internal Security
North Korea tested the Hwasong-19, a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile.
- Solid fuel: Requires less preparation time than liquid-fuel missiles. The launcher can stay hidden longer before firing.
- Size: Over 28 metres long, making it larger than comparable ICBMs such as the US Minuteman III, Russian RS-24 Yars and Chinese DF-41.
- Strategic implication: Despite greater mobility, the sheer size makes detection by satellite easier.
- Comparables: The test came amid North Korea's expanded cooperation with Russia, which has drawn global concern about technology transfers.
Static linkage: International security, nuclear deterrence, Korean peninsula.
5. Defence exercises: Vajra Prahar and Garud Shakti
GS area: International Relations, Defence
Two joint exercises ran concurrently, underscoring India's bilateral security ties.
- Exercise Vajra Prahar 2024: India-US joint special forces exercise held in Idaho, USA. Indian Army Special Forces trained alongside US Army Special Forces (Green Berets). Focus areas: desert operations, joint missions and unmanned aerial system tactics.
- Exercise Garud Shakti 2024: India-Indonesia joint exercise held in Jakarta. Indian Parachute Regiment trained with Kopassus (Indonesian Special Forces). Focus areas: jungle terrain operations, counter-terrorism tactics and equipment interoperability.
- Strategic context: Both exercises advance India's Act East Policy and its Quad-aligned security partnerships.
Static linkage: Bilateral relations, military diplomacy, defence cooperation.
6. Digital India Common Service Centres
GS area: Governance, Social Justice
MeitY expanded Digital India CSCs across 10 districts including Pilibhit and Gorakhpur.
- Total centres: 4,740 in the project phase.
- Services offered: Aadhaar-related services, banking correspondents, telemedicine, tele-law consultations, and e-commerce access.
- Budget: 31.6 crore rupees for a 6-month period, extendable to 9 months.
- Mobile vans: GPS-enabled mobile CSCs reach villages without fixed centres.
- MeitY: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. It oversees the Digital India programme.
Static linkage: Digital India, e-governance, financial inclusion.
7. Briefly noted
- Black hole triple system: Astronomers identified the first known triple system involving a black hole, about 8,000 light-years away in the Cygnus constellation. The black hole V404 Cygni has a mass roughly 9 times the Sun. One star orbits it closely; a second orbits every 70,000 years. The system is thought to have formed through direct collapse rather than a supernova.
- Mount Annapurna: The world's 10th highest peak at 8,091 metres, located in Nepal's Gandaki Province. It sits inside the Annapurna Conservation Area of 7,629 square kilometres. Known as the "killer mountain" for its high fatality rate.
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