What Are Phosphorus Rocks?: Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers informed Parliament that India will explore indigenous deposits of phosphatic rock, a step towards becoming AatmaNirbhar in fertilizer production. Phosphorus rocks or phosphate rocks are unprocessed ores. Phosphate rock deposits can be sedimentary (formed from sediment deposited by water or air) or igneous (having solidified […]
Category: Geography Current Affairs
Dholavira: UNESCO World Heritage
Dholavira: UNESCO World Heritage: Dholavira, the archaeological site of a Harappan-era city, received the UNESCO world heritage site tag. While Dholavira became the fourth site from Gujarat and 40th from India to make the list, it is the first site of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) in India to get the tag. The IVC […]
Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) Programme
Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) Programme: Under the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) programme, the government has given approval for establishing two additional facilities. In 2020, India filled its strategic petroleum reserves in view of the slump in crude prices. The new facilities will be commercial-cum-strategic facilities with a total storage capacity of 6.5 MMT (Million Metric […]
Typhoon Fabian
Typhoon Fabian: Typhoon In-fa, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Fabian, is an active and very large tropical cyclone inland over China. The system was first noted as an area of low pressure, located east of the Philippines on July 14. Favorable conditions helped the storm to intensify, becoming a tropical depression, two days later […]
Assam-Mizoram Border Dispute
Assam-Mizoram Border Dispute: Earlier in June this year, two abandoned houses along the Mizoram-Assam border were burned down by unidentified persons, fuelling tension along the volatile inter-state border. Now, early a month after this incident, the border dispute between the two neighbouring states has cropped up again, with both accusing each other of encroaching on […]
What is PDS 70?
PDS 70: Scientists for the first time have spotted a moon-forming region around a planet beyond our solar system – a Jupiter-like world surrounded by a disc of gas and dust massive enough that it could spawn three moons the size of the one orbiting Earth. The researchers used the ALMA observatory in Chile’s Atacama […]
Gaon Pradhans : Gaon Buras
The Gaon Buras: The Assam Cabinet announced that Gaon Buras, village-level functionaries of the district administration, will be called ‘Gaon Pradhans’. The government has reasoned that a number of young men (and women) become Gaon Buras, and thus, the word ‘Bura’ (meaning old in Assamese) is no longer appropriate. Gaon Buras are the village headmen. […]
Nord Stream 2 Pipeline : Russia and Germany
Nord Stream 2 Pipeline: The US, which had previously imposed sanctions to prevent the completion of a major new gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, has now signalled its approval for the project. The US and Germany reached a deal on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline – which significantly increases Europe’s energy dependence on Russia– […]
Liverpool: Not a World Heritage City
Liverpool: Liverpool has been stripped of its World Heritage status after a UN committee found developments threatened the value of the city’s waterfront. The decision was made following a secret ballot by the UNESCO Committee at a meeting in China. UNESCO had previously warned that the developments, including the new Everton FC stadium, had resulted […]
Kapu Community : Andhra Pradesh
Kapu Community Reservation: The Andhra Pradesh government has announced 10% reservation for the Kapu community and other Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) for appointments in the initial posts and services in the State government. This reservation is extended in accordance with the Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019. The Kapus are primarily an agrarian community based in […]