DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS
1 – Durand Cup: GS I – Sports-related issues
Context:
- The Durand Cup, India’s oldest football tournament, began its “Trophy Tour” with the Chief of the Army Staff.
About:
- The Durand Cup, the third-oldest football competition in the world and the oldest in Asia, features top Indian football clubs from all throughout the country.
- It was planned by the Indian Armed Forces.
- Shimla hosted the first competition in 1888. It was quickly expanded to include teams from the civilian community after initially being restricted to British Indian Army soldiers stationed in India.
Three awards are given to the winning team, including:
- the Shimla Trophy, a rolling trophy first presented by the people of Shimla in 1904, the President’s Cup, a permanent trophy first presented by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, India’s first President, in 1956, and the Durand Cup, a rolling trophy and the original prize.
- The 132nd edition of the sport will feature 24 teams from countries including Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan.
- Foreign teams are returning to the competition after a 27-year absence.
- The competition, which is open to all club teams, is being hosted by the Durand Football Tournament Society (DFTS), which functions under the authority of the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
Source – The Hindu
2 – Light Combat Aircraft Tejas: GS III – Internal Security
About:
- It was given the name Tejas in 2003.
- It is designed to carry out the roles of strike, maritime reconnaissance, and air defence.
- The fourth-generation fighter Tejas Mk-1A Light Combat Aircraft was developed locally.
- Air-to-air refuelling (AAR) capability, the Electronic Warfare (EW) suite, and Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar are crucial operational capabilities.
The following features will be present in the Tejas Mk-1A:
- active electronically scanned array radar.
- A missile that cannot be seen.
- electronic weaponry arsenal.
- fuelling for flight.
- Tejas is an entirely armed, single-engine light fighter.
- Tejas aircraft, although being a lightweight, short-range aircraft, can transport the same variety of modern weaponry as can larger aircraft.
Source – The Hindu
3 – National Maritime Heritage Complex: GS I – Indian Culture
Context:
- In order to build the National Maritime Heritage Complex in Lothal, Gujarat, the government would spend $4,500,000,000.
The National Maritime Heritage Complex’s description:
- In Gujarat’s Lothal, it is a first-rate facility.
- The project will cost Rs 3,500 crore to develop, and work on it would start in March 2022.
In the waterfront complex, there will be:
- the world’s tallest lighthouse museum.
- largest outdoor aquarium in the world.
About Lothal:
- Lothal, which existed in the Bhl region of Gujarat, was one of the most far southern settlements of the Indus Valley civilization.
- The port city is believed to have been established approximately 2,200 BC.
- Beads, stones, and ornaments were traded in Lothal when it was a thriving commercial centre all the way to West Asia and Africa.
- Lothal, a combination of Loth and (s) thal, means “the mound of the dead” in Gujarati.
- Lothal was put forward as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in April 2014.
Project Sagarmala information:
- The Sagarmala project is a significant undertaking of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways.
- In 2015, it made its premiere.
- The main objective of this programme is the coordinated expansion of all maritime-related activities.
- Infrastructure will be put in place to hasten the delivery of goods to and from the ports.
- The Sagarmala project aims to invest in infrastructure to reduce domestic, EXIM (export-import), and freight logistics expenses.
Four project pillars are as follows:
- port modernization.
- linking at ports.
- ports are the engine of industrialization.
- Coastal neighbourhood construction.
Source – The Hindu
4 – Dark matter: GS III – Science and Technology
Context:
- The recently completed launch of the new Euclid satellite telescope is crucial for the study of dark matter.
In relation to Dark Matter:
- Dark matter is a term used to describe substances that do not reflect or absorb light.
- Dark matter is a mysterious and opaque substance that does not interact.
- We only comprehend, on average, 5% of the universe.
- The remaining 95 percent is made up of 68 percent dark energy and about 27 percent dark matter.
What is dark matter not?
- The absence of visible objects, such as the stars and planets that we can see, is indicated by darkness.
- It does not seem as dense clouds of baryon-based conventional matter, which is made up of minuscule particles.
- Dark matter cannot be antimatter since we are unable to see the unique gamma rays that emerge from the annihilation of antimatter with matter.
So what does it actually consist of?
- Humans are unable to see or detect this invisible substance because it does not interact with electromagnetic forces like visible light, X-rays, or radio waves.
- The gravitational attraction of dark matter, however, allows for the observation of some of its effects.
- According to the most popular explanation, it is made up of uncommon particles like axions or WIMPS (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles).
- Because it doesn’t absorb, reflect, or emit light, it is very hard to spot.
In relation to Dark Energy:
- In order to explain why the universe is expanding more quickly than before, scientists have proposed the presence of dark energy, a hypothetical form of energy.
- The “anti-gravity” force known as dark energy, which also stretches spacetime, exerts a continual negative pressure on the universe.
- Dark energy speeds up the separation of cosmic objects rather than pulling them together like gravity does.
Source – The Hindu
5 – Shakambari festival: GS I – Indian Culture
Context:
- The Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada will be decorated with fruits and vegetables to kick off the three-day Shakambari festival.
Details about the festival:
- The Shakambari Festival is held annually at the Vijayawada Kanaka Durga Temple.
- Throughout the three-day yearly celebration, the goddess Durga takes on the persona of Mother Shakambari.
- She is adorned with fruits, vegetables, and leaves.
- Goddess Shakambari Devi is the guise that Goddess Shakti has assumed.
- She is said to provide hungry people vegetarian meals.
- Since Shaka means vegetables and Ambari meaning who bears, Shakambari Ma is referred to as “the bearer of the greens.”
- The Goddess Durga/Adishakti is referred to be the supreme force and the creator of the cosmos in a Hindu philosophical text known as the Devi Mahatmya or Devi Mahatmyam.
- It appears in the Markandeya Purana.
- Devi Mahatmyam is also known as the Durg Saptashat and “ata Chand.”
In relation to the Temple:
- Sri Kanaka Durgamma Devasthanam, also referred to as the Kanaka Durga Temple, is a Hindu temple dedicated to the goddess Kanaka Durga.
- In popular culture, the god in this temple is often referred to as Kanaka Durga.
- Indrakeeladri Hills along the Krishna River in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, is where the temple is located.
Source – The Hindu
