Rare Earth Metals Context: China’s dominance in the rare earth metals, key to the future of manufacturing, is posing a major concern for the West. About: Rare Earth Elements ⦁ They are a set of seventeen metallic elements. These include the fifteen lanthanides on the periodic table in addition to scandium and...
CHIME telescope Context: Scientists with the Canadian hydrogen Intensity mapping Experiment (CHIME) Collaboration have assembled the largest collection of Fast radio bursts (FRBs) in the telescope’s first FRB catalogue. Its significance: While catching sight of an FRB is considered a rare thing in the field of radio astronomy, prior...
Heritage Trees Context: The Maharashtra Cabinet has passed an action plan to protect and preserve trees older than 50 years in urban areas by terming them heritage trees. About: Concept of Heritage Tree Few important criteria for considering a tree as a "heritage tree" are: size, shape, rarity, aesthetical/historical values, association...
EnVision Mission to Venus Context: Recently, European Space Agency (ESA) has announced a new mission- EnVision mission to Venus. About: EnVision Mission It is an European Space Agency (ESA) led mission with contributions from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) It is likely to be launched sometime in the 2030s.Once launched on...
Bitcoin as legal tender Context: El Salvador, a small coastal country in Central America has become the first in the world to adopt Bitcoin, as legal tender. Legal tender is the legally recognized money within a given political jurisdiction. About: Bitcoin: Introduction: Introduced in 2009, it is a type of Cryptocurrency that enables instant...
Global Liveability Index Context: Auckland (New Zealand) has topped the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Liveability Index of 140 cities around the world. About: Global Liveability Index: The index takes into account more than 30 qualitative and quantitative factors spanning five broad categories: Stability(25%), Healthcare(20%), Culture and Environment(25%), Education(10%), and Infrastructure(20%). Due to...
Roadmap for Ethanol Blending in India Context: The central government has released an expert committee report on the Roadmap for Ethanol Blending in India by 2025. The roadmap proposes a gradual rollout of ethanol-blended fuel to achieve E10 fuel supply by April 2022 and phased rollout of E20 from April...
Dehing Patkai and Raimona National Parks Context Recently, the Assam government notified Dehing Patkai as the 7th National Park of the state. It was created shortly after Raimona reserve forest in western Assam’s Kokrajhar district was upgraded to a national park (6th) on the occasion of World Environment Day (5th June). About: National Park An...
Election Commissioner Context: Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Anup Chandra Pandey has been appointed as the new Election Commissioner The appointment of Pandey will restore the poll panel to its full strength as a three-member commission. About Election commission of India: The constitution under article 324 provides for an Election...
UN Security Council endorses Secretary General Guterres for second term Context: The UN Security Council has endorsed Secretary General Antonio Guterres for a second five-year term- from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2026. About: UN Secretary General: The UN Charter describes the Secretary-General as “chief administrative officer” of the Organization, who...
