About Madan Lal Dhingra

• He was an Indian revolutionary freedom fighter.
• He was born on 18 February 1883 in Amritsar.
• Dhingra received his early education in Amritsar and later moved to England for further studies. He enrolled at University College, London, where he studied engineering.
• While in England, Dhingra became deeply involved in the activities of the Indian independence movement.
• He came in contact with the revolutionaries like Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Shyamji Krishna Varma, the founder of Indian House, and several others.
• Curzon Wyllie's assassination:
  • On July 1, 1909, Madan Lal Dhingra assassinated Sir William Hutt Curzon Wyllie, a retired British Indian Army officer and a prominent official, during a public meeting in London's Imperial Institute.
  • During the trial, he claimed that he had murdered Curzon-Wyllie as a patriotic act and in revenge for the inhumane killings of Indians by the British Government in India.
  • He was found guilty and sentenced to death. 
  • He was hanged to death on August 17, 1909, at the age of only 24.
• He was disowned by his family for his anti-British leanings – so much so that even after his death his family refused to take his body.

Q1) Who was Shyamji Krishna Varma?

Shyamji Krishna Varma was born on 4th October, 1857 in Mandvi town of Kachchh district of Gujarat. He was one of the foremost freedom fighters in the history of the freedom movement of India with a high sense of patriotism and selfless service for the nation. He had organized a revolutionary center in “India House” at London and propagated the cause of India’s independence through his writings in his publication journal called The “Indian Sociologist”.

Source: Who was Madan Lal Dhingra, freedom fighter hanged at 24

About Kashmir Stag

• It is also called Hangul which is a subspecies of Central Asian red deer endemic to Kashmir and surrounding areas.
• It is found in dense riverine forests in the high valleys and mountains of Jammu and Kashmir and northern Himachal Pradesh.
• In Kashmir, it is found primarily in the Dachigam National Park where it receives protection.
• A small population has also been witnessed in Overa-Aru Wildlife Sanctuary in south Kashmir.
• Conservation status
  • IUCN: Critically Endangered
  • CITES : Appendix I

Key facts about the Dachigam National Park

• The actual beauty of the park lies in the deep valleys, rocky outcrops, steep wooded slopes and rolling alpine pastures.
• Being located in a mountainous area, Dachigam National Park faces a huge variation in altitude that ranges from 1600 m to 4200 m above sea level.
• This variation in altitude categorises Dachigam National Park into two regions- the upper region and the lower region.
• Flora: It is extremely rich in Wild Cherry, Pear, Plum, Peach, Apple, Apricot, Walnut, Chestnut, Oak and Willow etc.
• Fauna: Hangul (Kashmir Stag), Musk deer, Brown Bear, Leopards, Jungle Cats, Himalayan black bear, and a few species of wild goats like the markhor and ibex.

Q1) What are Alpine pastures?

Alpine pastures, also known as alpine meadows or high mountain pastures, refer to areas of land located at high elevations in mountainous regions where grasses, herbs, and other vegetation grow. These pastures are typically found above the treeline, where forests give way to open grassy landscapes due to the harsh environmental conditions.

Source: Census} Hangul population in J&K sees uptick, wildlife dept elated

About TAPAS UAV: 

• The Tactical Airborne Platform for Aerial Surveillance-Beyond Horizon-201 or Tapas BH-201 is a long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle.
• It was previously used to be referred as Rustom-II. 
• Features
  • Formerly known as the Rustom-2, the drone has a 20.6-meter wingspan and a maximum speed of 225 kmph.
  • It can cover a range of 250+ km using the C Band frequency data link developed by Defence Electronics Application Laboratory (DEAL) at DRDO.
  • It can also cover 1000+ km via SATCOM using the Kᵤ Band frequency and GAGAN system.
  • The medium-altitude, long-endurance drone has an impressive flight endurance of several hours and successfully completed its maiden flight in November 2016.
  • Its compact, lightweight design makes it easily transportable and deployable to remote locations.
  • Its real-time data collection and transmission provide valuable intelligence for decision-making.
  • It has a range of over 18 hours and altitude capabilities of up to 28,000 feet.
  • It has already completed more than 180 flights and will be live-streaming aerial and static displays at Aero India 2023.
• It is being developed in India by Aeronautical Development Establishment. 

Q1) What is DRDO?

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency of the Government of India responsible for the research, development, and design of technology and products related to defense and security. Established in 1958, DRDO's primary objective is to enhance the self-reliance and technological capabilities of India's defense forces.

Source: DRDO’s UAV Tapas crash in Karnataka village field, no collateral damage reported | Watch

About INS Trikand

• It is a Talwar-class guided-missile frigate of the Indian Navy.
• It is the third and final ship of the second batch of Talwar-class frigates ordered by the Indian Navy.
• It was built by the Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad, Russia.
• Commissioning:
  • INS Trikand was commissioned into the Indian Navy on June 29, 2013.
  • The ship is named after the Trikand Fort, which is located near Porbandar, Gujarat.
  • It is part of the Indian Navy's Western Fleet and operates under the Western Naval Command headquartered in Mumbai.
• Features:
  • The ship is equipped with advanced sensors and weapon systems.
  • It features various anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, torpedoes, and a 100mm main gun.
  • It incorporates stealth technology, including reduced radar cross-section, to enhance its survivability in hostile environments.
  • It is equipped with anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities, including ASW helicopters and torpedo launchers, which make it effective in countering underwater threats.
  • With a long reach and a state-of-the-art combat suite, the ship is designed to undertake a wide spectrum of naval operations.

Q1) What is a Torpedo?

A torpedo is a self-propelled underwater projectile designed to be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or even stationary platforms like coastal defense systems. Its primary purpose is to target and destroy enemy vessels or submarines. Torpedoes are often used in naval warfare for offensive purposes or as a defensive measure against incoming threats.

Source: INS Trikand docks in Iran as part of Indian Navy's operational deployment

About Tomahawk Missile

• It is a US-made long-range cruise missile used for deep land attack warfare.
• It can be launched from a ship or submarine and can deliver its warhead precisely to a target at a long range.
• It is used primarily by the U.S. and United Kingdom navies.

Features of Tomahawk Missile

• It is designed to fly at subsonic speed while maintaining a low altitude, making it difficult to detect on radar.
• It uses tailored guidance systems to maneuver while at such low elevations.
• It has an accuracy of about 5 meters (16 feet).
• The 6-meter (18.4-foot-) long missile has a range of up to 2,400 km (1,500 miles) and can travel as fast as 885 km (550 miles) per hour.
• Propulsion: It is powered by a solid propellant during its launch phase. Thereafter it is powered by a turbofan engine that does not emit much heat, which makes infrared detection difficult.
• It is capable of twisting and turning like a radar-evading fighter plane.
• It can carry either conventional or nuclear payloads.

Q1) What is a Cruise Missile?

A cruise missile is a guided, self-propelled, precision-guided munition that is designed to deliver a payload, such as explosives or other warheads, to a specific target with high accuracy. Unlike ballistic missiles, which follow a high trajectory and use gravity to descend upon their target, cruise missiles are low-flying, maneuverable, and powered throughout their flight.

Source: Australia to buy US Tomahawk missiles to boost long range strike capability

About Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden

• Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden, previously Model Floriculture Center, is a tulip garden in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.
• It is the largest tulip garden in Asia, spread over an area of about 30 hectares.
• It is situated on the foothills of the Zabarwan Range with an overview of Dal Lake.
• The garden was opened in 2007 with the aim to boost floriculture and tourism in Kashmir Valley.
• The garden is built on a sloping ground in a terraced fashion consisting of seven terraces.
• The garden houses about 48 varieties of tulip flowers. The garden also has several types of other flowers, including daffodils, hyacinths, roses, narcissus, and other ornamental plants.
• Tulip festival:
  • It is an annual celebration that aims to showcase the range of flowers in the garden as a part of tourism efforts by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.
  • It is organized during the onset of the spring season in Kashmir valley.

Q1) What are tulip flowers?

Tulips are a popular and widely recognized type of spring-blooming flower that belongs to the genus Tulipa. They are known for their bright, colorful, and cup-shaped flowers with a wide variety of vibrant hues, including red, yellow, pink, purple, white, and even multi-colored varieties. Tulips first grew in south-central Asia. People brought the flowers to Europe in the 1500s and later to many different parts of the world.

Source: Pictures: Srinagar’s Tulip Garden enters record books as Asia’s largest

About Acoustic Side Channel Attack: 

• This technique uses the sounds produced by typing on a keyboard to determine what keys are being pressed.
• By analysing these unique sounds, hackers equipped with the right tools can decode the precise letters and numbers being typed.
• Researchers investigated the use of audio recordings taken from Zoom video conferencing calls, smartphone microphones, and off-the-shelf equipment and algorithms to launch ASCA attacks.
• The study found that when trained on keystrokes by a nearby phone, the classifier achieved an accuracy of 95%, the highest accuracy seen without the use of a language model.
• Accuracy
  • When a deep learning model was trained on the data with default values, the model was able to acquire a meaningful interpretation of the data.
  • On a MacBook Pro, which features a keyboard identical in switch design to Apple’s models from the last two years, the model was able to achieve state-of-the-art accuracy with minimal training data.
  • Additionally, when the AI model was made to recognise keystrokes using audio captured through a smartphone microphone, it was able to achieve 95% accuracy.
• Implications 
  • This form of hacking could expose sensitive information like passwords and personal messages.

What are Side Channel Attacks (SCAs)?

• These are a method of hacking a cryptographic algorithm based on the analysis of auxiliary systems used in the encryption method.
• These can be performed using a collection of signals emitted by devices, including electromagnetic waves, power consumption, mobile sensors as well as sound from keyboards and printers to target devices.
• Once collected, these signals are used to interpret signals that can be then used to compromise the security of a device.

Q1) What is Hacking?

Hacking refers to the act of gaining unauthorized access to computer systems, networks, or digital devices with the intent of manipulating, stealing, or altering data or information.

Source: What are Acoustic Side Channel Attacks and how is AI used to increase its accuracy?

About Gene-edited Mustard: 

• India’s most significant domestically-grown oilseed is rapeseed-mustard.
• Issues with Mustard seeds
  • Mustard seeds have high levels of glucosinolates, a group of sulphur and nitrogen-containing compounds contributing to the characteristic pungency of their oil and meal.
  • Rapeseed meal is unpalatable to poultry and pigs, while having to be mixed with fodder grass and water for giving to cattle and buffaloes.
  • Besides reducing their feed intake, high glucosinolates are also known to cause goiter (swelling of neck) and internal organ abnormalities in livestock.
  • The dry seeds from the normal mustard (Brassica juncea) cultivated in India contain 120-130 parts per million (ppm or mg/kg) of glucosinolates. This is as against the sub-30 ppm levels in canola seeds.

A Gene Editing breakthrough

• The Glucosinolates are synthesised in the leaves and pod walls of mustard plants.
• Their translocation and accumulation in the seeds happens through the action of glucosinolate transporter or GTR genes.
• There are 12 such genes under two distinct classes of GTR1 and GTR2 with six copies each.
• Researchers edited 10 out of the 12 GTR genes in ‘Varuna’, a high-yielding Indian mustard variety.
• For this, they used CRISPR/Cas9 – a gene-editing tool deploying an enzyme, which acts as a “molecular scissors” to cut the DNA at precise targeted locations of the gene, and then letting the natural DNA repair process to take over.
• By doing this, their encoded proteins, responsible for transport of the glucosinolates to the seeds, were rendered non-functional.
• By lowering the glucosinolate content to the same dry seed weight concentration, the scientists have bred mustard lines whose oil and meal match the standard of canola-quality rapeseed (Brassica napus) in terms of pungency.
• The new GTR genes-edited mustard lines are transgene-free or non-genetically modified (GM).
• They contain no foreign genes like those of the Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria in cotton or Bar-Barnase-Barstar (isolated from other soil bacteria) in the GM hybrid mustard (DMH-11).

Q1) What are Proteins?

Proteins are complex organic molecules composed of amino acids, which are the building blocks of life. They are essential components of all living organisms and play a wide variety of crucial roles in biological processes.

Source: Gene-edited mustard: Less pungent, more useful

About Palm Cockatoo

• It is also known as the goliath cockatoo or great black cockatoo, is a large smoky-grey or black parrot of the cockatoo family.
• It has a very large black beak and prominent red cheek patches.
• Distribution:
  • It is native to New Guinea, Aru Islands, and Cape York Peninsula.
  • They occur in rainforests, such as gallery forests, forest edges, eucalypt and paperbark woodlands, monsoon woodlands, dense savannas and partly cleared areas.
  • They choose big trees for roosting and nesting.
• Threats
  • It is under threat by habitat loss through logging and seasonal fires, which each year destroy their nest trees in significant numbers. 
• Conservation status
  • IUCN: Least Concern

Q1) What is Eucalyptus?

Eucalyptus, commonly known as eucalypt, is a diverse genus of flowering trees and shrubs that belong to the family Myrtaceae. Native to Australia, eucalyptus trees are known for their rapid growth, distinctive fragrance, and valuable timber. They are also recognized for their essential oils, which have various practical and medicinal use.

Source: Assam police rescue six exotic ‘Palm cockatoo’; smugglers flee

About Coil Guns:

• It is a type of electromagnetic weapon capable of launching projectiles with extremely high speed in the blink of an eye.
• They are also known as Gauss guns or magnetic accelerators. 
• It operates on the principle of electromagnetic induction, applying the principles of electromagnetism to propel a projectile.
• How does it Works?
  • Coil guns feature a series of coils arranged along the barrel of the gun, each one constituting a stage. 
  • Each coil is energised one after another to create a magnetic field that can levitate and propel a projectile forward.
  • The projectile typically stays suspended in the centre of the coil during launch. 
  • The larger a coil gun, the better its ability to fire projectiles similar to those fired by traditional artillery. 
• Projectile:
  • The projectile used in a coil gun is typically a ferrous or magnetic object, such as a steel ball or a specially designed ferromagnetic projectile. T
  • This projectile needs to have magnetic properties to interact with the electromagnetic fields generated by the coils.
• Advantages over traditional artillery:
  • Higher launch speeds and a shorter preparation time. 
  • Coil guns do not use gunpowder or other chemical propellants, which means they produce no combustion byproducts.
  • High Precision: They can be highly accurate due to the precise control over the electromagnetic coils.
  • Low Recoil: They have much lower recoil compared to firearms.

Q1) What is Electromagnetism?

Electromagnetism is a branch of physics that deals with the study of the electromagnetic force, which is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It encompasses the interaction between electric fields and magnetic fields and how they influence the behavior of charged particles and objects.

Source: Chinese navy is testing the most powerful coil gun ever built: Details