About Ahom Dynasty:

• The Ahom Dynasty (1228–1826, called Kingdom of Assam in medieval times) was a medieval kingdom in the Brahmaputra valley in Assam that maintained its sovereignty for nearly 600 years and successfully resisted Mughal expansion in North-East India. 
• It was able to establish its suzerainty over the Brahmaputra valley and had a profound effect on the political and social life in the region.
• The Ahom dynasty was established by Sukaphaa, a Shan prince of Mong Mao who came to Assam after crossing the Patkai Mountains.
• Though it came to be called the Ahom kingdom in the colonial and subsequent times, it was largely multi-ethnic, with the ethnic Ahom people constituting less than 10% of the population toward the end. 
• The people of the kingdom used to call them 'Chaopha' or 'Swargadeo'.
• The kingdom came under repeated Mughal attacks in the 17th century, and on one occasion in 1662,the Mughals under Mir Jumla occupied the capital, Garhgaon.
  • The Mughals were unable to keep it, and finally, during the battle of Saraighatin 1671, the Ahomsled by Lachit Borphukan successfully defeated the Mughals.
  • Borphukan is mainly known for his leadership in this battle. 
  • By 1682, the Mughal influence in the region was completely eradicated.
• Following a period of confusion, the kingdom got itself the last set of kings, the Tungkhungia kings,established by Gadadhar Singha.
• The kingdom became weaker with the rise of the Moamoria rebellion, and subsequently fell to a succession of Burmese invasions.
• With the defeat of the Burmeseafter the First Anglo-Burmese War and the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826,control of the kingdompassed into British (East India Company) hands.

What are Moidams of Ahom dynasty?

• The Moidams (also spelt as Maidam) are burial mounds of Ahom kings, queens, and noblesin Assam.
• The name "Moidam" comes from the Tai words "Phrang-Mai-Dam" or "Mai-Tam," meaning to bury and the spirit of the dead.
• These mounds are distinct for their architecture and reflect the Ahom’s foreign influences.
• They are found throughout upper Assam, with Charaideo, the first Ahom capital, being the main necropolis.
• Each Moidam has three main parts:
  • A vault or chamber where the body is placed.
  • A hemispherical earthen mound covering the chamber.
  • A brick structure (Chaw-chali) on top for annual offerings and an octagonal boundary wall with an arched gateway.
• Originally, vaults were made of wooden poles and beams but were replaced with stone and brick during the reign of King Rudra Singha (CE 1696-1714).

Inside the vault, the dead were buried with their belongings, including clothes, ornaments, and weapons.

Q1: What is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)?

It is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It was founded with the mission of contributing to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science and culture.UNESCO cultural conventions and projects provide platforms for international cooperation and establish a holistic cultural governance system based on human rights and shared values. UNESCO has 193 member States and 11 associate members.

Source: UNESCO adds Assam’s Ahom Dynasty Moidams to World Heritage list

About Yamunotri Dham:

• It is a part of Char Dham (along with Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath), the four mostrevered Hindu pilgrimages in the Himalayas. 
• It is situated at an altitude of 3,293 metres (10,804 ft) in the Garhwal Himalayas in District Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand. 
• It is surrounded by mountains on all sides and lies in close proximity of the Indo-China border.
• River Yamuna, the second most sacred river of India after the Ganges, originates in Yamunotri.
• The small mountain hamlet, with the Yamunotri Temple at its centre, is the commencing point of the Char Dham Yatra pilgrimage, which proceeds from Yamunotri to Gangotri and finally to Kedarnath and Badrinath. 
• Lodged in a narrow gorge, close to the source of the Yamuna, the Yamunotri Temple is dedicated to Yamuna.

Key Facts about Yamuna River:

• Yamuna River (also known as Jumna), is the major tributary of the Ganges River.
• Origin: It rises in the high Himalaya, in the Yamunotri Glacier, at the height of 4,421 meters. 
• Course: 
  • The 1,376 km long Yamuna flows solely through India, crossing three states: Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
  • After rising in the high Himalayas, it flows in a southerly direction swiftly through the Himalayan foothills and, exiting Uttarakhand, on to the Indo-Gangetic Plain,along the border between Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana state to the west.
  • The Eastern and Western Yamuna canals are fed from the river at that point.
  • The Yamuna then passes Delhi, where it feeds the Agra Canal.
  • South of Delhi, and now wholly within Uttar Pradesh, it turns southeastward.
  • Near Prayagraj (Allahabad), after a course of about 855 miles (1,376 km), the Yamuna joins the Ganges River.
  • The confluence of the two rivers is an especially sacred place to Hindus and is the site of annual festivals as well as the Kumbh Mela, which is held every 12 years.
• Tributaries:
  • Near Dehradun, the capital city of Uttarakhand, the Yamuna is joined by its biggest tributary, the Tons River.
  • The Chambal River is Yamuna’s biggest tributary on the right.
  • Other important tributaries of the Yamuna include the Hindon, Sarda, and Giri rivers on the right and Betwa and Sindh on the left.

Q1: Which are the major tributaries of the Ganges River?

Tributaries of Ganga include Ramganga, Gomti, Ghaghara, Gandak, Kosi and Mahananda from the left bank and Yamuna, Tamsa, Son and Punpun from the right bank.

Source: Structures near Yamunotri Dham area damaged after river swells due to heavy rain

Why in News?

• The rover has identified a rock named "Cheyava Falls" that exhibits intriguing characteristics, suggesting it may have hosted microbial life billions of years ago.
• Cheyava Falls, an arrowhead-shaped rock, was found on the northern edge of Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley that once channeled water into Jezero Crater, where Perseverance is working. 
• It is rich in chemical signatures and structures that may have been formed by life when the area contained running water.
• The rover's SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrumentdetectedorganic compounds in Cheyava Falls.
• These carbon-based molecules are considered the building blocks of life, although they can also be formed by non-biological processes.

About Perseverance Rover:

• Perseverance, nicknamed "Percy", is a semi-autonomous rover the size of a small car designed to explore the surface of Mars.
• It is part of NASA’s ongoing Mars 2020 Mission.
• Launch: It was launched on July 30, 2020, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• Landing: Successfully landed on the surface of Mar's Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021.
• Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.
  • The rover will collect samples of rock and soil, encase them in tubes, and leave them on the planet's surface to be returned to Earth at a future date.
• Features:
  • It is about 3 metres long, 2.7 metres wide, and 2.2 metres tall.
  • It is about the size of a car but weighs only about 1,025 kilograms with all instruments on board.
  • Power source: Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG). It converts heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity.
  • It has a rectangular body, six wheels, a robotic arm, a drill for sampling rocks, cameras and scientific instruments.

Q1: What is Ingenuity Mars Helicopter?

Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is a small, autonomous aircraft. that flew to Mars aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover. It was sent to Mars to perform experimental flight tests to determine if powered, controlled flight at the Red Planet was possible. Ingenuity’s mission is experimental in nature and completely independent of the rover’s science mission. Ingenuity was deployed to the surface on April 4, 2021.

Source: Perseverance rover finds rock that could reveal if Mars ever had life

About Climate Finance Action Fund: 

• It will be capitalised with contributions from fossil fuel producing countries and companies across oil, gas and coal, and Azerbaijan will be a founding contributor.
• It was launched within a package of 14 initiatives under the framework of the COP29 thematic days.
• It will be a catalytic public-private partnership fund, mobilising the private sector and de-risking investment.
• The fund will also contain special facilities with concessional and grant-based support to rapidly address the consequences of natural disasters in the developing countries in need.
• CFAF will become operational at the conclusion of the initial fundraising round, which seeks to capitalise the fund with $1 billion, and when 10 contributing countries committed as shareholders.
  • Fifty percent of the capital will be directed towards climate projects in developing countries that rely on support, across mitigation, adaptation, and research and development.
  • Fifty percent of the contributions will be allocated to helping meeting members’ the next generation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to keep the 1.5C temperature target within reach.
• Twenty percent of the revenues generated from investments will be deposited in a Rapid Response Funding Facility (2R2F) providing highly concessional and grant-based support.

The fund will be headquartered with its secretariat in Baku, Azerbaijan

Q1: What is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)?

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a treaty that establishes the legal framework for international cooperation on climate change. The UNFCCC's goal is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

Source: UN COP29 Azerbaijan: Will the new Climate Finance Action Fund (CFAF) help developing countries?

About GROWTH-India Telescope: 

• It is India's first fully robotic optical research telescope
• The telescope's primary mission is to observe explosive transients and variable sources, including near-Earth asteroids.
• Location: The telescope is located at the Indian Astronomical Observatory site at Hanle, Ladakh. Situated at 4500 meters above mean sea level, this is one of the highest observatory sites in the world and one of the best telescope locations in the country.
  • It joins The Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) the gamma-ray array telescope (HAGAR), and the imaging Cherenkov telescope (MACE) at this site.
• It was constructed through a partnership between the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), with support from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum.
• GROWTH-India project is part of an international network of observatories, known as the Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen (GROWTH).
  • It aims to provide continuous monitoring of interesting celestial events. The network's collaborative approach ensures that observations are not interrupted by daylight, allowing for comprehensive data collection.

Q1: What is an asteroid ?

An asteroid is a small, rocky object that orbits the Sun in our solar system. These celestial bodies vary in size from a few meters to hundreds of kilometers across. Most asteroids are found in the asteroid belt, a region of space between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, although some can be found throughout the solar system.

Source: Indian telescope in Ladakh captures building-sized asteroid zoom past Earth

About Cultural Property Agreement: 

• It is to prevent and curb the illicit trafficking of antiquities from India to the USA.
• It is aligned with the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, to which both countries are States party.
• It restricts the importation into the United States of certain archaeological material ranging in date from 1.7 million years ago through 1770 CE and certain ethnological material, which may include categories of civic, religious, and royal architectural material, religious material and ceremonial items, and manuscripts ranging in date from 2nd century BCE to 1947 CE.
• As per the agreement, the United States of America shall offer to return to India any object or material on the Designate List forfeited to the Government of the United States of America.
• It is to be noted that USA has already executed agreement with countries like -Algeria, Belize, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Jordan, Mali, Morocco, Peru and Turkey.
• Significance: The Agreement shall be helpful in quick seizure of Indian antiquities at US Customs and their repatriation back to India.

Q1: What is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)?

It is a specialized agency of the United Nations(UN). The constitution, which entered into force in 1946, called for the promotion of international collaboration in education, science, and culture. The agency’s permanent headquarters are in Paris, France.

Source: India, U.S. sign agreement to protect cultural heritage

About Steel Import Monitoring System’ 2.0 Portal: 

• It features API integration with multiple government portals, enhancing quality control and streamlining processes for improved efficiency and effectiveness.
• The portal boasts a robust data entry system, ensuring consistent and authentic data, which promotes transparency and accountability. Integration of various databases enable stakeholders to locate areas of risk and, thereby, permit better risk management.
  • Example: if an import consignment declares a particular source of import, which is not licensed by BIS, then Ministry will be enabled to not recommend its import. The detailed data will enable Customs to conduct better analysis and risk management of steel imports.
• SIMS was introduced in 2019, has played a crucial role in providing detailed steel import data to the domestic industry.
• Based on industry feedback, the Ministry has revamped the portal to develop a more effective SIMS 2.0, a significant step forward in monitoring steel imports and promoting the growth of the domestic steel industry.
• Significance: Availability of such detailed data not only provides input for policy making but also signals areas for production and growth to the domestic steel industry.

Q1: What is API integration?

It refers to the process of connecting two or more applications or systems by using APIs (Application Programming Interfaces)to exchange data and perform actions.

Source: Ministry of Steel Launches ‘Steel Import Monitoring System’ 2.0 Portal

About Liberia: 

• Location: It is located along the coast of western Africa.
• It is the only state in Africa which was never subjected to colonial rule and is Africa’s oldest republic.
• Land Boundary: It is bounded by Sierra Leone to the northwest, Guinea to the north, Côte d’Ivoire to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south and west.
• The Atlantic Ocean borders Liberia to the south-southwest.
• It has Cape Mount (about 1,000 feet in elevation) in the northwest, Cape Mesurado in Monrovia, and Cape Palmas in the southeast.
• Major Rivers: The Mano and Morro Rivers in the northwest and the Cavalla in the east and southeast are major rivers and form sections of Liberia’s boundaries.
• Natural resources: It has natural resources like Iron diamonds, gold, lead, manganese, graphite, cyanite

Q1: What are flash floods?

Flash floods are sudden and rapid floods that occur within a short period, typically within hours of heavy rainfall or other intense water accumulation events.

Source: Why Liberia might relocate its capital city Monrovia