Category: Geography Current Affairs

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST): NASA is set to launch the large infrared James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) touted as the “premier observatory” of the coming decade later this year. Considered the successor of the Hubble Space Telescope, JWST will study various phases in the history of the universe, from the formation of solar systems […]

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 […]

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: 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 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: 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 […]

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 […]

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: 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– […]