Daily Current Affairs for UPSC IAS: 23rd June 2023

Ambubachi Mela:

Security arrangements were recently set up for devotees and tourists coming to the Kamakhya temple for the Ambubachi Mela.

• Ambubachi Mela is an annual Hindu fair held at the historic Kamakhya Temple.
• It is celebrated during the monsoon season that happens to fall during the Assamese month Ahaar, around the middle of June.
• It is the celebration of the yearly menstruation course of goddess Maa Kamakhya.
• This mela is also known as Ameti or Tantric fertility festival since it is closely associated with Tantric Shakti cult prevalent in eastern parts of India.

Kamakhya temple:

• It is situated on Nilachal Hill and adjoining the southern bank of the Brahmaputra River in Guwahati,
• It is one of the most revered centres of Tantric practices.
• It is regarded as one of the oldest of the 51 Shakti Peethas in India.

Titanic Tourist Submersible : Lost In North Atlantic With Five Passengers

The Titan, the vessel that went missing in the area of the Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic.

• A submersible is a small boat or other craft, designed especially for research and exploration.
• It is more limited in its movement and how long it can stay underwater.
• A submersible needs a mother ship that can launch and recover it.
• These are small, limited-range watercrafts designed for a set mission, that are built with characteristics that allow them to operate in a specific environment
• These vessels are typically able to be fully submerged in water and cruise using their own power supply and air renewal system.
• While some submersibles are remotely operated and essentially manually controlled or programmed robots, these usually operate unmanned.
• Vessels like the missing Titan are known as human-occupied vehicles.
• Submarine is a watercraft that is capable of independent operation under the sea.
• It does not require support ships because submarines can renew their air and power supplies independently.
• When the submarine is to dive water is filled in water tanks and it is made heavier.
• As soon as the average density of a submarine becomes greater than the density of seawater it sinks.

Ancient Mayan City : Discovered In The Jungles Of Southern Mexico

A previously unknown ancient Mayan city has been discovered in the jungles of southern Mexico by anthropologists.

• Ancient Maya city is located in the Balamku ecological reserve on the country’s Yucatan Peninsula.
• This city has been named Ocomtun – meaning “stone column” in the Yucatec Maya language.
• This would have been an important centre for the peninsula’s central lowland region between 250 and 1000 AD.
• The city includes large pyramid-like buildings, stone columns, three plazas with “imposing buildings” and other structures arranged in almost-concentric circles.
• It has a core area located on high ground surrounded by extensive wetlands.
• The Mayans are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica.
• Originating in the Yucatán peninsula around 2600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras.
• Building on the inherited inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations, the Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic writing.
• They were also noted for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple pyramids, palaces and observatories, all built without metal tools.

Global Gender Gap Index 2023:

India was ranked at 127 out of 146 countries in terms of gender parity — an improvement of eight places from last year, according to the recently published annual Gender Gap Report, 2023.

• India was ranked at 127 out of 146 countries in terms of gender parity, an improvement of eight places from last year.
• According to the report, India had attained parity in enrolment across all levels of education.
• India had closed 64.3% of the overall gender gap. However, it underlined that India had reached only 36.7 % parity on economic participation and opportunity.
• On political empowerment, India has registered 25.3% parity, with women representing 15.1% of parliamentarians — the highest for the country since the inaugural report in 2006.
• The index ranked India’s neighbours Pakistan at 142, Bangladesh at 59, China at 107, Nepal at 116, Sri Lanka at 115 and Bhutan at 103.
• Iceland is the most gender-equal country in the world for the 14th consecutive year and the only one to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap.
• Overall, the Southern Asian region has achieved 63.4% gender parity, the second-lowest of the eight regions.
• Global Gender Gap Report is released annually by the World Economic Forum (WEF) since 2006.
• It measures gender parity in 146 countries and across four areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment.

Sarmat Missile : Russia

Russian President recently said that, Russia’s new generation of Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying 10 or more nuclear warheads, would soon be deployed for combat duty.

• The RS-28 Sarmat is Russia’s new generation intercontinental ballistic missiles.
• It is named after the Sarmatian people of the fourth and fifth century BC. It has also been referred to in the West as the “Satan II”.
• It is capable of carrying 10 or more nuclear warheads.
• It is designed and built by the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau, Russia.
• It has a range of about 18,000 kilometres.
• It can travel at a maximum speed of 25,500kph.
• Launch weight: 208,100 kg
• It can carry a 10-ton payload and can load a wide variety of warhead options.
• It can reportedly load up to 10 large warheads, 16 smaller ones, a combination of warheads and countermeasures, or hypersonic boost-glide vehicles
• While the RS-28 Sarmat can be launched much like a regular ICBM, it is thought to be also capable of what is called fractional orbital bombardment.
• A fractional orbital bombardment means firing an ICBM into a low orbit of the Earth much lower than a conventional firing potentially in the opposite direction to the target.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission : Collaborative Partnership With UNDP

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) entered into a collaborative partnership.

• UNDP and DAY-NULM Partnership aims to empower women to make well-informed career choices in the field of entrepreneurship.
• It will provide support for women looking to start and expand their enterprises such as the care economy, digital economy, electric mobility, waste management, food packaging and more.
• It Focused on fostering entrepreneurship development and accelerating enterprise growth.
• It is a three-year project, extendable beyond 2025 which will cover eight cities in the initial phase.
• UNDP will offer national-level capacity-building support to DAY-NULM.
• This support will focus on knowledge generation and management, such as compiling compendiums of best practices related to urban poverty, to enhance the implementation of national-level schemes.
• UNDP will also contribute to the initiative by developing community business mentors called Biz-Sakhis in selected project locations.
• These mentors, who possess valuable business knowledge, can support new and existing enterprises, and serve as a resource for DAY-NULM at a later stage.
• DAY-NULM is a flagship mission under the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• It has the aim to uplift the urban poor by enhancing sustainable livelihood opportunities through skill development.

Integrated Simulator Complex (ISC) Dhruv:

India’s Defense Minister, inaugurated the Integrated Simulator Complex (ISC) ‘Dhruv’ at the Southern Naval Command in Kochi.

• This cutting-edge facility is equipped with state-of-the-art simulators developed indigenously and is set to revolutionise practical training in the Indian Navy.
• The simulators housed within the ISC ‘Dhruv’ will provide real-time experiences in navigation, fleet operations, and naval tactics, greatly enhancing the training process.
• These simulators will also be utilised to train personnel from friendly countries, strengthening defence cooperation.
• Among the simulators showcased, the Multi-Station Handling Simulator (MSSHS), Air Direction and Helicopter Control Simulator (ADHCS), and Astronavigation Dome garnered attention.
• The ship handling simulators, exported to 18 countries, highlight India’s prowess in simulator manufacturing, while the Astronavigation Dome, a first-of-its-kind in the Indian Navy, showcases the nation’s innovative capabilities.

Mesolithic Period Rock Painting : Found In Guntur, Andhra Pradesh

A Mesolithic period rock painting has been found in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh recently.

Mesolithic-era rock paintings in Guntur:-

• The time period of these paintings is estimated to be Mesolithic Age, roughly from 5000 BC.
• These paintings were made with “natural white kaolin and red ochre pigments”.
• Ochre: a pigment composed of clay, sand, and ferric oxide.
• Kaolinite: a soft, earthy, and usually white mineral produced by the chemical weathering of aluminum silicate minerals like feldspar.
• The social life and culture of the people who lived in the area are depicted through them.
• One of the paintings depicted a man catching a wild goat with his left hand while wielding a hook-like implement to control it.
• Another showed two couples standing with their hands raised while a child stood behind them.
• The paintings depicted a person tilling a piece of land.
• This can be an indication of a semi-settled life pattern in which members of this community cultivated crops.

Joyride At The Statue Of Unity:

The government has decided to restart the suspended helicopter joyride at the Statue of Unity.

• The Statue of Unity was built in honor of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
• Inaugurated On 31st October, 2018.
• It marked the 143rd birth anniversary of Sardar Patel.
• The Statue of Unity is the tallest statue in the world. It stands at 182-metre (600 feet aprox.)
• It is taller than China’s Spring Temple Buddha statue and almost double the height of the Statue of Liberty (93 meters tall) in the United States.
• In 2020 it was added to the ‘Eight Wonders’ of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
• It is Located in Sadhu Bet Island, Gujarat.
• The island is on the Narmada River.
• It is designed by Padma Bhushan recipient sculptor Ram V Sutar.
• The intricate bronze cladding work was done by a Chinese foundry, the Jiangxi Toqine Company (JTQ).