UPSC Key- May 10, 2023: Know about Nagara style of Architecture, Land Ports Authority of India and Cyclone

Pakistan on boil after ex-PM Imran Khan is arrested from Islamabad High Court

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: India and its neighbourhood- relations.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested by paramilitary Rangers on Tuesday while he was present at the Islamabad High Court for the hearing of a corruption case, a day after he took on the country’s powerful army for allegedly hatching a plot to kill him. The arrest of the 70-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician comes a day after the powerful army accused Khan of levelling baseless allegations against a senior officer of the spy agency ISI. The chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who travelled from Lahore to the federal capital Islamabad, was undergoing a biometric process at the court when the Rangers broke open the glass window and arrested him after beating lawyers and Khan’s security staff, according to senior party leader Shireen Mazari.

• Who is Imran Khan?

• Why he is arrested?

• What is the Al-Qadir Trust case?

• Why is there political unrest in Pakistan?

• How does political unrest in Pakistan affects India?

• The current unrest in Pakistan could present a new challenges to the already strained relationship between India-Pakistan?

• The current unrest in Pakistan can put a damper on hopes for effective regional cooperation and commerce in South Asia-Discuss

• “The unrestrained powers and insatiable avarice of Pakistan’s ‘deep state’ are to blame for the majority of the country’s internal problems and subsequent instability”-How far you agree?

• “Pakistan is undeniably under the grip of escalating domestic insecurity and massive economic woes”-What is happening in Pakistan?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍IMRAN KHAN ARRESTED:WHAT IS THE AL-QADIR TRUST GRAFT CASE

‘The time schedule chasing me is Dec 2023. I don’t want to fail the nation; I want Lord installed here’

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: History of India

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies I: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times

• General Studies II: Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-India’s young are confident of the nation’s rise as a big power, of their ability to solve “the issues of the country,” and the Ram temple, under construction in Ayodhya, should become “one more reason for (them) being proud,” said veteran bureaucrat Nripendra Mishra who heads the construction committee of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.

• Who are the architects for the temple?

• Ram Mandir is one of the important Hindu temple-why?

• Know more about Architectural features of Ram Mandir

• What is the Nagara style of architecture?

• What are the features of Nagara style of temple architecture?

• What is the Dravidian architecture style?

• Nagara style of architecture and Dravidian architecture style-Compare and Contrast

• Nagara style of architecture is further divided into different schools of architecture based on region and geography-what are those different schools of architecture?

• What Supreme Court of India said on Ram Mandir Construction?

• Under what circumstances was the Places of Worship Act, 1991 law enacted, and how did the government justify it?

• The Places of Worship Act, 1991-Know the Key Provisions

• What Section 3 of the Places of Worship Act, 1991 is all about?

• Section 4(1) and Section 4(2) of the Places of worship act, 1991-Know the provisions

• Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi Verdict and Section 5 of the Places of Worship Act, 1991-Connect the Dot

• What did the Supreme Court say about the Places of Worship Act, 1991 in its Ayodhya judgment?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Meet the Sompuras, master architects who are building the Ram Temple in Ayodhya

EXPRESS NETWORK

India-Bangladesh shares deep ties, no one can break them, says Shah

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies II: India and its neighbourhood- relations.

• General Studies II: Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that India and Bangladesh share deep ties and no one can undermine the good bilateral relations between the two countries. Shah said this during his visit to the India-Bangladesh border at Petrapole in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of several projects of the Land Ports Authority of India and the Border Security Force (BSF).

• Land Ports Authority of India-Have you heard this before?

• What is Land Ports Authority of India?

• The Land Ports Authority of India or LPAI is a statutory body-True or False?

• What is the Land Port Authority of India Act 2010?

• How many land ports are there in India?

• What is the function of a land port?

• Land Ports Authority of India comes under which ministry?

• For both Delhi and Dhaka, the reinvention of the bilateral relationship has been one of the most significant successes of their recent foreign policies-Know bilateral relationship between India and Bangladesh

• Know bone of contention between India and Bangladesh

• Why did the National Register of Citizens in Assam and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act nationally have provoked concern in Dhaka?

• India’s take on long-standing territorial dispute with Bangladesh-Know the background

• Why engagement with Bangladesh is of the immense benefits of deeper economic for the India’s north-eastern states?

• Know in detail about India’s Water Disputes or rather India’s water issues with Bangladesh

• Where is Kushiyara River?

• Map Work-Kushiyara River (Mark both source and mouth)

• What was the Ganga water treaty between India and Bangladesh?

• According to many experts, the Teesta river remained the most contentious issue between two India and Bangladesh-Can you elaborate further on this?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Govt gives nod to Land Ports Authority

📍Behind churn in Bangladesh

GOVT & POLITICS

Cyclone Mocha likely to develop over Bay of Bengal today: IMD

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- A cyclone, which is most likely to swerve away from the Indian coast, is all set to develop over the southeast Bay of Bengal by Wednesday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said Tuesday. Once intensified, it is to be identified as Cyclone Mocha (pronounced as Mokha), a name suggested by Yemen.

• Know about Cyclone Mocha

• What has the IMD said about Cyclone Mocha?

• For Your Information-This will be the first cyclonic storm of the year. India has dual cyclone seasons – pre-monsoon (April-June) and post-monsoon (October-December). Of these, the most cyclone-prone months are May and November. Last May, around the same time, severe cyclone Asani came close to the Andhra Pradesh coast causing significant rainfall and gusting winds.

• How are Cyclones named?

• Do You Know-Cyclones that form in every ocean basin across the world are named by the regional specialised meteorological centres (RSMCs) and Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs). There are six RSMCs in the world, including the India Meteorological Department (IMD), and five TCWCs. As an RSMC, the IMD names the cyclones developing over the north Indian Ocean, including the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, after following a standard procedure. The IMD is also mandated to issue advisories to 12 other countries in the region on the development of cyclones and storms. In 2000, a group of nations called WMO/ESCAP (World Meteorological Organisation/United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), which comprised Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, decided to start naming cyclones in the region. After each country sent in suggestions, the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) finalised the list. This cyclone will be named Mocha (Mokha), a name suggested by Yemen after the Red Sea port city, which is known to have introduced coffee to the world over 500 years ago.

Table from 2020 on the list of cyclone names to be adopted along with their pronunciations. The order goes from left to right, column-wise.

• What is Cyclone?

• For Your Information-A “Cyclonic Storm’ or a “Cyclone” is an intense vortex or a whirl in the atmosphere with very strong winds circulating around it in anti-clockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere and in clockwise direction in the Southern Hemisphere. Tropical cyclones are also referred to as ‘Hurricanes’ over Atlantic Ocean, ‘Typhoons’ over Pacific Ocean, ‘Willy-Willies’ over Australian Seas and simply as ‘Cyclones’ over north Indian Ocean (NIO).

• Classification of cyclonic disturbances-how they are classified?

• Cyclone, Tornado, Hurricane and Typhoon-How they are different from each other?

• Cyclone and Super Cyclone-Compare and Contrast

• Cyclone and Anti-Cyclone-Compare and Contrast

• Types of Cyclones or Classification of Cyclones-Know in detail

• What are the Stages of Formation of Cyclones?

• Structure of Tropical Cyclone-Know in detail

• What are Air Masses and Fronts? How they associated with the formation of Cyclones?

• What is eye of the Cyclone?

• What is the average lifespan of a cyclonic storm?

• Storm Intensity, Expected Damage and Suggested Actions-Know in detail

• Deep Depression (DD), Cyclonic Storm (CS), Severe Cyclonic Storm (SCS), Very Severe Cyclonic Storm (VSCS), Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm (ESCS) and Super Cyclone (SuCS)-how they are different?

• India’s Vulnerability to Cyclones-Know in Detail

• Why October is month of cyclone for India’s eastern coast?

• The IMD issues warnings in four stages for the Indian coast-What are they?

• World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)-About, Role, Vision and Mission

• India Meteorological Department (IMD)-About, Role, Vision and Mission

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Aila, Amphan, Asani: What’s in a cyclone’s name?

📍Cyclone Mocha building over Bay of Bengal, says IMD: How are cyclones formed and named?

Previous Year Prelims Questions Covering the same theme:

📍Consider the following statements: (For Complete Question, Refer GS1 question Paper 2020)
1. Jet streams occur in the Northern Hemisphere only.
2. Only some cyclones develop an eye.
3. The temperature inside the eye of a cyclone is nearly 10°C lesser than that of the surroundings.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
📍In the South Atlantic and South-Eastern Pacific regions in tropical latitudes, cyclones do not originate. What is the reason? (UPSC Prelims GS1, 2015)
(a) Sea surface temperatures are low
(b) Inter-tropical Convergence Zone seldom occurs
(c) Coriolis force is too weak
(d) Absence of land in those regions

Previous Year Mains Questions Covering the same theme:
📍Tropical cyclones are largely confined to South China Sea, Bay of Bengal and Gulf of Mexico. Why? (GS-1, 2014)
📍The recent cyclone on the east coast of India was called “Phailin”. How are the tropical cyclones named across the world? (GS-1, 2013)

Baseless, says GSI on claims of lithium find in Rajasthan

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.

Main Examination: General Studies I: Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian sub-continent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India).

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Geological Survey of India (GSI) Tuesday said that reports of large lithium reserves being identified in Rajasthan were “baseless”. “Media reports published in various newspapers regarding the finding of large lithium reserves by the Geological Survey of India, in Degana area, Nagaur district, Rajasthan are completely baseless and misleading,” the survey organisation said. Earlier this year, 5.9 million tonnes of lithium reserves were found in Jammu and Kashmir by the GSI.

• What is Lithium?

• In the ‘Inferred reserve’, what is the meaning of ‘inferred’?

• For Your Information-The Geological Survey of India (GSI), an attached office of Ministry of Mines, carried out a G3 stage fairly advanced mineral exploration project during Field Season 2020-21 and 2021-22 in Salal-Haimna areas of Reasi district, Jammu & Kashmir and estimated an inferred resource of 5.9 million tonnes of lithium ore and the report has been handed over to the Government of the Union Territory of J&K. The estimated value of lithium at that site will be estimated on completion of further exploration.

• Why India wants Lithium?

• Some More Points-Lithium can be extracted in different ways, depending on the type of the deposit generally either through solar evaporation of large brine pools, or from hard-rock extraction of the ore. In India, there is some potential to recover lithium from brines of Sambhar and Pachpadra areas in Rajasthan, and Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. The major mica belts located in Rajasthan, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh and the pegmatite belts in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, alongside rock mining being undertaken at Mandya, Karnataka, are other potential geological domains of the country.

• Lithium-Know its uses and significance

• Lithium-Know issues and challenges

• What are Lithium ion batteries?

• Lithium ion batteries-how do they work?

• What is the Geographic Survey of India?

• Geological Survey of India GSI-Know its Role

• Under which ministry is the Geological Survey of India GSI?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Lithium ‘inferred’ in J&K — how significant is this find, what next?

EXPLAINED

Why question of ED chief’s tenure is back in SC

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Supreme Court on Monday said it might revisit its 2021 ruling that the tenure of a superannuated officer may be extended only in exceptional circumstances. In 2021, the court was dealing with the appointment of Sanjay Kumar Mishra, Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The SC on Monday reserved its judgment on a batch of petitions challenging the third extension given to Mishra.

• What should be the ED chief’s tenure?

• What SC has said?

• Why these days the Enforcement Directorate (ED), National Investigation Agency (NIA), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), are in the limelight?

• For your Information-Formed in 1956, the ED became a prime agency following enactment of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in 2002, implemented from July 1, 2005.

• What was the recent verdict of the Supreme Court (SC), in the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) sweeping powers under the PMLA.

• Over the past few years, major amendments in key Acts have given teeth to central agencies-Discuss

• Directorate of Enforcement (ED)-Role and Function

• Enforcement Directorate is a statutory body-True or False?

• Directorate of Enforcement (ED) comes under which Ministry or Organisation?

• The Directorate of Enforcement is a multi-disciplinary organization mandated with investigation of offence of money laundering and violations of foreign exchange laws. The statutory functions of the Directorate includes enforcement of certain acts-What are those acts?

• What makes Enforcement Directorate so powerful?

• The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA)-Know key highlights

• The Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA)- Know key highlights

• The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA)- Know key highlights

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍ED’s journey from a small enforcement agency to becoming the ‘new CBI’

Common uniforms at higher ranks of the Army: why, and what will change?

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– IN A move that seeks to establish a common identity for the Army’s senior leadership, all officers of the rank of Brigadier and above will wear a common uniform from August 1 this year, irrespective of their parent cadre and appointment. This ends the long-standing practice of officers donning different uniform and accoutrements reflecting various arms, regiments and services in the Army. For instance, officers of the parachute regiment wear a maroon beret, while those from the infantry, armoured corps, combat support arms and services wear green, black and blue berets, respectively.

• How will the uniforms worn by these senior Army officers change?

• For Your Information-All officers of the rank of Brigadier, Maj General, Lt General, and General will now wear berets (caps) of the same colour, common badges of rank, a common belt buckle, and a common pattern of shoes. They will no longer wear regimental lanyards (cords) on their shoulders. They will also not wear any shoulder flashes like ‘Special Forces’, ‘Arunachal Scouts’, ‘Dogra Scouts’, etc. Thus, there will be no item of uniform that will identify them as belonging to a particular Regiment or Corps. All officers of these higher ranks will dress alike in the same pattern of uniform.

• What is the present position on wearing such items in the Army?

• What is the reason for making the change?

• Is this the first time that this is being done?

• What is the tradition in other armies?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Brigadiers and above to have common uniform

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