About the UNDP and DAY-NULM partnership:

• Aim: To empower women to make well-informed career choices in the field of entrepreneurship.
• It will provide support for women looking to start and expand their enterprises such as the care economy, digital economy, electric mobility, waste management, food packaging and more.
• Focused on fostering entrepreneurship development and accelerating enterprise growth.
• Time-Period: It is a three-year project, extendable beyond 2025 which will cover eight cities in the initial phase.
• UNDP will offer national-level capacity-building support to DAY-NULM.
• This support will focus on knowledge generation and management, such as compiling compendiums of best practices related to urban poverty, to enhance the implementation of national-level schemes.
• UNDP will also contribute to the initiative by developing community business mentors called Biz-Sakhis in selected project locations.
• These mentors, who possess valuable business knowledge, can support new and existing enterprises, and serve as a resource for DAY-NULM at a later stage.

Key facts about the DAY-NULM

• It is a flagship mission under the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• It has the aim to uplift the urban poor by enhancing sustainable livelihood opportunities through skill development.
• Funding: It will be shared between the Centre and the States in the ratio of 75:25. For North Eastern and Special Categories – the ratio will be 90:10.

 

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Q1) What is Entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship refers to the activity of identifying, creating, and managing a business or venture with the aim of making a profit. An entrepreneur is an individual who takes on the role of organizing and operating a business, often assuming financial risks in the pursuit of new opportunities and innovative solutions.

Source: UNDP partners with DAY-NULM towards empowering women entrepreneurs

About Biodegradable Supercapacitor:

• A supercapacitor is an electrochemical charge storage device with a fast charging/discharging cycle, high power density and a longer lifecycle. 
• Features
  • This supercapacitor which can fully charge a device within 10 seconds, has been developed from seaweed (marine macroalgae).
  • The device is of high tensile strength and performance, as well as cost-effective, according to the researchers.
  • The product can be used in electronics, memory backup systems, airbags, heavy machines, electric vehicles, etc.; hence, it holds a huge business prospect. 

What is Seaweed?

• Seaweeds are macroalgae attached to rock or other substrata and are found in coastal areas.
• They are classified as Chlorophyta (green), Rhodophyta (red) and Phaeophyta (brown) based on their pigmentation.
• Among them, Chlorophyta holds more potential components like carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and bioactive compounds in the cell wall.
• Green seaweed has a high amount of a particular type of cellulose in its cell wall.

 

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Q1) What is Algae?

Algae are a diverse group of photosynthetic organisms that are found in aquatic environments such as oceans, lakes, rivers, and ponds. They can also exist in moist terrestrial habitats like rocks, soil, or even on the surface of trees. Algae are not classified as plants but are considered simple, plant-like organisms.

Source: Scientists from Gujarat Institute develop a biodegradable paper supercapacitor from seaweed

About Titanic Tourist Submersible:

• What it is? A submersible is a small boat or other craft, designed especially for research and exploration.
• It is more limited in its movement and how long it can stay underwater.
• A submersible needs a mother ship that can launch and recover it.
• These are small, limited-range watercrafts designed for a set mission, that are built with characteristics that allow them to operate in a specific environment
• These vessels are typically able to be fully submerged in water and cruise using their own power supply and air renewal system.
• While some submersibles are remotely operated and essentially manually controlled or programmed robots, these usually operate unmanned.
• Vessels like the missing Titan are known as human-occupied vehicles.

What is a submarine?

• It is a watercraft that is capable of independent operation under the sea.
• It does not require support ships because submarines can renew their air and power supplies independently.
• When the submarine is to dive water is filled in water tanks and it is made heavier.
• As soon as the average density of a submarine becomes greater than the density of seawater it sinks.

 

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Q1) What is Exploration?

Exploration refers to the act of discovering, investigating, or venturing into new territories, areas, or realms. It involves the systematic search or study of unfamiliar or unknown environments, whether physical, intellectual, or conceptual, in order to gain knowledge, understanding, or practical benefits.

Source: Titanic tourist submersible missing: Difference between a submersible and a submarine

About Ancient Maya city:

• It is located in the Balamku ecological reserve on the country's Yucatan Peninsula.
• This city has been named Ocomtun - meaning "stone column" in the Yucatec Maya language.
• This would have been an important centre for the peninsula's central lowland region between 250 and 1000 AD.
• The city includes large pyramid-like buildings, stone columns, three plazas with "imposing buildings" and other structures arranged in almost-concentric circles.
• It has a core area located on high ground surrounded by extensive wetlands.

Key Facts about Mayan Civilization

• The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica.
• Originating in the Yucatán peninsula around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras.
• Building on the inherited inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations, the Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing.
• The Maya were noted as well for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple pyramids, palaces and observatories, all built without metal tools.
• They were also skilled farmers, clearing large sections of tropical rainforest and, where groundwater was scarce, building sizable underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater.

Where is Yucatan Peninsula?

• It is a Northeastern projection of Central America which is lying between the Gulf of Mexico to the west and north and the Caribbean Sea to the east. 
• The peninsula is almost wholly composed of beds of coralline and porous limestone rocks.

  

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Q1) What is hieroglyphics?

It is composed of pictorial symbols or signs known as hieroglyphs, which represent both objects and ideas. The term "hieroglyphics" is derived from the Greek words "hieros" meaning "sacred" and "glyphein" meaning "to carve."

Source: Ancient Maya city discovered in a Mexican jungle

About Canary Island:

• It is an archipelago located  in the Atlantic Ocean
• It is about 1300 km South of mainland Spain and 115 km West of the African coast (Morocco).
• The Canaries comprise the Spanish provincias (provinces) of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. 
• These Islands were formed by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago. 
• Climatic condition: They have a subtropical climate. Temperatures are warm and show little seasonal variation.
• It has rich volcanic soils and mild temperatures that support a wide variety of vegetation that generally follows a zonal arrangement based on elevation.

What is an archipelago?

• An archipelago is a term used to describe a group or chain of islands that are closely scattered in a body of water, such as a sea, ocean, lake, or river.
• These islands are typically formed through geological processes such as volcanic activity, tectonic movements, or the accumulation of sediment

 

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Q1) What are Ocean currents?

Ocean currents are continuous, directed movements of ocean water. They play a crucial role in redistributing heat, nutrients, and dissolved gases around the globe, influencing climate patterns and affecting marine ecosystems. Ocean currents are primarily driven by a combination of factors, including wind, temperature differences, density variations, and Earth's rotation.

Source: More than 30 migrants were feared dead after a small boat headed for Spain's Canary Islands sank

Why in News?

• The water level of the Beki River is flowing above the danger level mark at several places across Assam.

About Beki River:

• The Beki river originates in Bhutan, and it is one of the right bank tributaries of the Brahmaputra river.
• This river is also known as the Kurisu river in Bhutan.
• A large portion of the Beki river flows in the state of Assam and ultimately mix with Bay of Bengal.
• It flows through the Manas National Park.
• The river and its drainage channels flow through the plains of Assam for about 85 km and drain an area of 26,243 sq. km. approximately.
• Beki river is rich in bio-diversities. It is the home of a variety of food fishes species, ornamental fishes species, amphibians, reptiles, birds, insects etc.
• Discharging a huge amount of water every year, the river turns dangerous during monsoon season.

 

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Q1) Which are the major tributaries of Brahmaputra river?

The tributaries namely Subansiri, Ronganadi, Dikrong, Buroi, Borgong, Jiabharali, Dhansiri (North) Puthimari, Manas, Beki, Aie, Sonkosh are the main tributaries on the North while the Noadehing, Buridehing, Desang, Dikhow, Bhogdoi, Dhansiri (South), Kopilli, Kulsi, Krishnai, Dhdhnoi, Jinjiran are the main tributaries on the south bank of the river Brahmaputra.

Source: Assam flood 2023 updates: Nearly 1.20 lakh people in 20 districts affected | Here are DETAILS

About Ambubachi Mela:

• Where: It is an annual Hindu fair held at the historic Kamakhya Temple.
• When: It is celebrated during the monsoon season that happens to fall during the Assamese month Ahaar, around the middle of June.
• Occasion: It is the celebration of the yearly menstruation course of goddess Maa Kamakhya.
• Other names: This mela is also known as Ameti or Tantric fertility festival since it is closely associated with Tantric Shakti cult prevalent in eastern parts of India.

Key facts about Kamakhya temple:

• Location: It is situated on Nilachal Hill and adjoining the southern bank of the Brahmaputra River in Guwahati,
• It is one of the most revered centres of Tantric practices.
• It is regarded as one of the oldest of the 51 Shakti Peethas in India.
• Temple Architecture:
  • It had been modelled out of a combination of two different styles namely, the traditional nagara or North Indian and Saracenic or Mughal style of architecture.
  • This unusual combination has been named the Nilachala Style of Architecture.
  • This is the only temple of Assam having a fully developed ground plan.
  • It consists of five chambers, garbhagriha or sanctuary, antarala or vestibule, Jagan Mohan or principal chamber, bhogmandir or ritual chamber and natmandir or opera hall for performing traditional dance and music associated with sukti temples.
  • It is interesting to note that the superstructure of each of the above chambers exhibits different architectural features.
  • While the main temple contains a modified Saracenic dome, the antarala carries a two-roofed design, the bhogmandir (also called pancharatna) with five domes similar in appearance to the main temple and the natmandir having a shell-roof with apsidal end similar to some of the impermanent namghars or prayer halls found in Assam.

 

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Q1) Where is Kamakhya temple located?

It is situated on Nilachal Hill and adjoining the southern bank of the Brahmaputra River in Guwahati. It is one of the most revered centres of Tantric practices. It is regarded as one of the oldest of the 51 Shakti Peethas in India.

Source: Ambubachi mela: Three camps set up for devotees