About Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP):

• It has been an integral part of Bannerghatta National Park and emerged out as an independent establishment in 2002.
• It is in order to meet the growing demand for eco-recreation, eco-tourism, and conservation, an area of 545.00ha of forest from the National Park was set aside to constitute a biological park originally and later extended to 731.88ha.
• It is located about 22kms south of Bengaluru city, Karnataka.
• It has different units such as Zoo, Safari, Butterfly Park, and Rescue Centre (Conservation of Captive animals).
• It is the first biological park in India to have a fenced, forested elephant sanctuary. 

Key Facts about Bannerghatta National Park:

• Location: It is located near Bangalore, Karnataka, in the hills of the Anekal range.
• It was declared a National Park in 1974. 
• In 2006, India's first butterfly enclosure was inaugurated at the park.
• River: The Suvarnamukhi stream, the main source of water for the animals in the park, runs through the centre of the park.
• Vegetation: There are three types of vegetation that can be found: Dry Deciduous Scrub Forests, Southern Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests and Southern Tropical Moist Mixed Forests.
• Flora: Include Narcissus latifolia, Schleichera oleosa, Sandalwood, Neem, Tamarind, Bamboo, Eucalyptus, etc.
• Fauna: Prime habitat for several species, including the endangered Asian Elephant, Indian gaur, Tiger, Sambar deer, Spotted deer,Leopard, Wild dog, Wild pig, Sloth bear, Common mongoose, Pangolin, Slender loris, Black-naped hare, etc.

Q1: What is Eucalyptus?

Eucalyptus is a large genus of more than 660 species of shrubs and tall trees of the myrtle family (Myrtaceae). Some of the tallest trees in the world are eucalypti. It is native to Australia, Tasmania, and nearby islands. In Australia, the eucalypti are commonly known as gum trees or stringybark trees. Many species are cultivated widely in many areas of the world as shade trees or in forestry plantations.

Source: South India’s first leopard safari opens at Bannerghatta Biological Park

About Biomass briquettes: 

• These are made up of compact blocks of organic materials, such as agricultural residues, forestry wastes, or industrial by-products.
• Applications: These are used for heating, cooking fuel, and electricity generation usually in developing countries that do not have access to more traditional fuel sources.
• Advantages
  • Environment Friendly: Bio-briquettes can be created from easily available biomass waste often found in rural settings.
  • Affordable: These can be made by hand from any freely available organic matter, including invasive species and agro-waste.
  • Biomass briquettes are carbon-neutral, meaning they release no additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when burned.
  • By reducing reliance on fossil fuels, the adoption of biomass briquettes helps mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, thus contributing to climate change mitigation efforts.
  • By diverting residues towards productive use, biomass briquettes play a crucial role in waste management and carbon sequestration, further enhancing their environmental credentials.

Q1: What is Carbon neutrality?

It means having a balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere in carbon sinks. Removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and then storing it is known as carbon sequestration.

Source: How biomass briquettes are transforming supply chain dynamics towards sustainability?

About ULLAS-Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram:

• The Understanding Lifelong Learning for All in Society (ULLAS) is a centrally sponsored scheme implemented from 2022-2027.
• The scheme aligns with the recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
• Aim: It aims to empower those adults aged 15 years and above from all backgrounds who could not get due schooling and mainstream them with society to be able to contribute more to the growth story of the country.
• The scheme consists of five components
  • Foundational Literacy and Numeracy,
  • Critical Life Skills,
  • Basic Education,
  • Vocational Skills, and
  • Continuing Education.
• The ULLAS app can be used for registration of learners and volunteers either through self-registration or by surveyors.
  • It will serve as a digital gateway for learners to engage in diverse learning resources through the DIKSHA portal of NCERT.

What is the DIKSHA portal?

• It is a national platform for school education, an initiative of the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT), Ministry of Education.
• It provides e-content for schools via an online portal and a mobile application.
• It was developed based on the core principles of open architecture, open access, open licensing, choice and autonomy.
• It is built on open-source technology that is made in India and for India, incorporating internet-scale technologies and allowing for a variety of use cases and solutions for teaching and learning.
• Features
  • The core building blocks of DIKSHA comprise majority of National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) building blocks, having enabled some successful use-cases of NDEAR such as energised textbooks, online courses, content authoring, content sourcing, interactive quizzes, question banks, chatbot, analytics and dashboard.
  • To aid teaching and learning for Children With Special Needs (CWSN), a large number of audiobooks, ISL (Indian Sign Language) Videos, and a Dictionary have been made available on DIKSHA for CWSN.

Q1: What is National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)?

It is an organisation set up in 1961 by the Government of India to assist and advise the Central and State Governments on policies and programmes for qualitative improvement in school education.

Source: Ladakh Achieves Full Functional Literacy

About Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks and Systems (CCTNS):

• CCTNS was conceptualized by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the National e-governance plan of India and is being implemented as a "Mission Mode Project (MMP)" since 2009.
• It is an ambitious project that aims to put in place a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing at the police station level throughout the country.
• It aimed to interlink all police stations under a common application software for the purposes of investigation, data analytics, research, policymaking and providing Citizen Services such as reporting and tracking of complaints, requests for antecedent verifications by Police, etc.
• The records of crimes and criminals available at one police station will be accessible to any other police office.
• Objectives.
  • Make the Police functioning citizen-friendly and more transparent by automating the functioning of Police Stations.
  • Improve the delivery of citizen-centric services through effective usage of ICT.
  • Provide the Investigating Officers of the Civil Police with tools, technology, and information to facilitate the investigation of crimes and the detection of criminals.
  • Improve police functioning in various other areas such as Law and Order, Traffic Management, etc.
  • Facilitate interaction and sharing of information among Police Stations, Districts, State/UT Headquarters, and other Police Agencies.
  • Assist senior Police Officers in better management of Police Force.
  • Keep track of the progress of cases, including in Courts.
  • Reduce manual and redundant record-keeping.
• The project is being implemented with close collaboration between the States and the Union Government.
• The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is the central nodal agency that would manage CCTNS.

Key Facts about National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB):

• It was established in 1986 to act as a repository of information on crime and criminals. 
• It comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India.
• It was set up based on the recommendations of the Tandon Committee, the National Police Commission (1977-1981), and the Task Force of the Home Ministry.
• It is responsible for collecting and analysing crime data as well as serving as a repository of such information to aid investigators in tracing crimes and criminals.
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• The Central Finger Print Bureauunder the NCRB is a national repository of all fingerprints in the country.
• NCRB also compiles and publishes National Crime Statistics i.e. Crime in India, Accidental Deaths & Suicides, and also Prison Statistics. 
• NCRB also assists various States in capacity building in the areas of Information Technology, CCTNS, Finger Prints, Network security, and Digital Forensics.

Q1: What is a first information report (FIR)?

It is the information given to a police officer in writing as per the provisions of Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). From the point of view of an informant, the main purpose of an FIR is to set criminal law into motion. While for the police, the main purpose of an FIR is to obtain information about alleged criminal activity and take necessary steps to produce the perpetrator(s) before a court.

Source: With dummy FIRs and pocket guides, police get ready to switch to new criminal laws

About Spece MAITRI Mission:

• Space MAITRI (Mission for Australia-India's Technology, Research and Innovation), represents a major step forward in the strategic partnership between the two nations in the space domain.
• It aims to foster closer ties between commercial, institutional, and governmental space organizations from India and Australia.
• It focuses on debris management and sustainability, aligning with both nations' core values and objectives in promoting responsible space operations and mitigating the growing threat of space debris.
• Under this agreement, NewSpace India Limited will launch Australia’s Space Machines Company's second Optimus spacecraft in 2026.
  • The 450kg Optimus spacecraft, the largest Australian-designed and built spacecraft to date, will be launched on ISRO's Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV).

Key facts about NewSpace India Limited

• It is a commercial arm under Department of Space (DoS), Government of India.
• It was incorporated in March 2019 and was set up to take high technology space-related activities in India.
• Under the new space policy reforms announced by the Government of India in June 2020, NSIL is to undertake operational satellite missions on a “demand-driven” model.
• They are responsible to build, launch, own and operate the satellite and provide services to customers.
• It is headquartered in Bengaluru.

Q1: What are Small Satellite Launch Vehicles (SSLVs)?

SSLV is a 3-stage Launch Vehicle configured with three Solid Propulsion Stages and liquid propulsion-based Velocity Trimming Module (VTM) as a terminal stage.

Source: Collaboration Marks a New Era in Space Exploration

About TAPAS UAV:

• The Tactical Airborne Platform for Aerial Surveillance Beyond Horizon-201, or Tapas BH-201, is a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drone.
• It was previouslyreferred to as Rustom-II. 
• It was developed indigenously by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• Designed to fulfil the Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, Tracking & Reconnaissance (ISTAR) requirements of the tri-services, the Tapas UAV can effectively operate both day and night.
• Features:
  • It has an operating altitude of 30000 feet and an endurance of 24 hours.
  • It also projects a range of 250 km, which can carry a variety of payloads up to a maximum of 350 kg with a wing span of 20.6 metres.
  • Maximum speed: 225 kmph. 
  • It can be controlled remotely and also has the ability to execute pre-programmed flight plans autonomously with precision and flexibility.
  • It is equipped with enhanced aerodynamic configuration, digital flight control, navigation system, communication intelligence, medium and long-range electro-optic payloads, and synthetic aperture radar that will enable it to see through the clouds.

Q1: What is an unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)?

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is an aircraft that carries no human pilot or passengers. UAVs—sometimes called drones—can be fully or partially autonomous but are more often controlled remotely by a human pilot. RAND research has contributed to the public discussion on the use of drones for warfare and surveillance.

Source: Indian Air Force to Purchase of 10 Indigenous TAPAS Drones to Enhance Surveillance Capabilities

About Kalibr Missile:

• It is a family of Russian cruise missiles that can be launched from ships, submarines, containers, airplanes, or transport erector launchers.
• It has variants designed for anti-ship, anti-submarine, and land attack purposes.
• They were developed and produced by Russia's Almaz-Antey corporation.
• Features:
  • Depending on the variant, the Kalibr missile varies in mass and length, ranging from 1,300 kg to 2,300 kg and from 6.2 m to 8.9 m, respectively.
  • It has a diameter of 0.533 m and can carry a warhead weighing between 400-500 kg of high explosive or thermonuclear material.
  • The missile utilizes a multi-stage solid-fuel rocket engine, with some versions incorporating a turbojet engine or a solid-fuel rocket.
  • These missiles use inertial guidance with satellite navigation update.
  • They can accelerate in the terminal stage to supersonic speed to avoid enemy defenses.
  • Range: It varies between 200 km and 2500 km, depending on the type.

Q1: What is a Cruise Missile?

Cruise missiles are unmanned vehicles that are propelled by jet engines, much like an airplane. They can be launched from ground, air, or sea platforms. Cruise missiles remain within the atmosphere for the duration of their flight and can fly as low as a few meters off the ground. Flying low to the surface of the earth expends more fuel but makes a cruise missile very difficult to detect.

Source: Ukraine’s F-16 Airfields Are Burning; Reports Say Russia Strikes Ukrainian Bases With Kalibr Cruise Missiles

About Star Clusters:

• A Star cluster is either of two general types of stellar assemblages held together by the mutual gravitational attraction of its members, which are physically related through common origin.
• They are particularly useful to astronomers as they provide a way to study and model stellar evolution and ages. 
• The two basic categories of stellar clusters are open clusters, also known as galactic clusters, and globular clusters.
• Open (Galactic) Clusters:
  • Open clusters are so named due to the fact that the individual component stars are easily resolved through a telescope.
  • They are sometimes called galactic clusters due to their location on the dusty spiral arms on the plane of spiral galaxies.
  • Stars in an open cluster have a common origin: they formed from the same initial giant molecular cloud.
  • Open clusters contain from a dozen to many hundreds of stars, usually in an unsymmetrical arrangement.
• Globular Clusters:
  • Globular clusters contain several thousand to one million stars in a spherical, gravitationally-bound system. 
  • Located mostly in the halo surrounding the galactic plane, they comprise the oldest stars in the galaxy.
  • There is little free dust or gas found in globular clusters, so no new star formation is taking place in them.
  • Stellar densities within the inner regions of a globular cluster are very high compared with regions such as those around the Sun.
• In addition, groups called associations, made up of a few dozen to hundreds of stars of similar type and common origin whose density in space is less than that of the surrounding field, are also recognized.

Q1: What is a Spiral Galaxy?

Spiral galaxies are twisted collections of stars and gas that often have beautiful shapes and are made up of hot, young stars.  Most of the galaxies that scientists have discovered so far are spiral galaxies, as opposed to the other two main categories of galaxy shapes—elliptical and irregular. Approximately 60% of all galaxies are thought to be spiral galaxies. The Milky Way, the galaxy that includes Earth and our solar system, is an example of a spiral galaxy.

Source: Massive 5 star clusters discovered from the era when Universe was infant

About Exercise HOPEX: 

• It is the fourth joint exercise of IAF (Indian Air Force) and EAF (Egyptian Air Force) which was held in Egypt from 21 to 26 June.
• The aim of this exercise is to promote bilateral and regional cooperation, which is a symbol of the long-standing relations between the two countries.
• The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Rafale fighter jets are currently in Egypt for Ex- HOPEX. The C-17 Globemaster and IL-78 tankers are also participating in the weeklong exercise.

India and Egypt relationship

• Diplomatic relations between India and Egypt began on 18 August 1947 at the ambassadorial level.
• Both countries have cooperated closely on multilateral forums as founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement.
• In the year 2022, India and Egypt celebrated the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, which reflects the depth of the relationship.

Q1: What is Non-Aligned Movement?

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is an alliance of developing nations that refuses to identify with any major superpower. It was established in 1961 at the height of the Cold War. Whereas it started with the Bandung Conference held in Indonesia in 1955.

Source: Ex-HOPEX: India-Egypt Defence Cooperation Strengthens; IAF And Egyptian Air Force hold drill