Prelims Oriented
Hornbill Festival
Context
- The 26th Hornbill Festival (2025) is ongoing in Nagaland, with day three showcasing cultural performances by 18 Naga tribal troupes at Kisama Heritage Village.
About the Hornbill Festival
- What it is
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- A premier cultural celebration of Nagaland, known as the “Festival of Festivals.”
- Highlights the heritage, traditions, and artistic diversity of all major Naga tribes.
- When and Where
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- Held annually from December 1–10 at Kisama Heritage Village, near Kohima.
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- History
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- Launched in 2000 by the Government of Nagaland.
- Aims to promote inter-tribal unity, preserve indigenous culture, and strengthen tourism.
- Named after the Hornbill, a revered bird symbolising valour, beauty, and tradition in Naga folklore.
- Key Features
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- Daily cultural events showcasing traditional dances, folk songs, war cries, and indigenous sports.
- Exhibitions of Naga wood carving, textiles, crafts, paintings, and sculptures.
- Food festivals, herbal medicine stalls, flower shows, and archery and wrestling events.
- Major attractions include the Hornbill International Rock Festival, Morung exhibitions, fashion shows, and large craft bazaars.
- Participation also comes from international partner nations and neighbouring northeastern States.
- Significance
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- Preserves and revitalises the cultural identity of Nagaland’s 17 major tribes.
- Provides a platform for inter-generational exchange, connecting village elders and youth.
- Enhances tourism and local economic activity, generating global cultural engagement.
- Strengthens Nagaland’s image as a centre of vibrant indigenous traditions.
PM-WANI Scheme
Context
- The government informed Parliament about rapid PM-WANI expansion, with over 3.9 lakh Wi-Fi hotspots deployed nationwide by November 2025.
About PM-WANI
- What it is
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- PM-WANI (Prime Minister’s Wi-Fi Access Network Interface) is a national public Wi-Fi framework.
- Enables low-cost, decentralised broadband through hotspots run by small local entrepreneurs.
- Implemented by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under the Ministry of Communications.
- Approved by the Union Cabinet on 9 December 2020.
- Aim
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- To democratise internet access, expand digital inclusion, and create a nationwide public Wi-Fi grid.
- Supports the objectives of the National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP) 2018.
- Key Features
- No licence or fee required for operating public Wi-Fi hotspots.
- Four-tier structure: PDOs provide Wi-Fi; PDOAs manage authentication; App Providers enable user access; C-DoT maintains the registry.
- FTTH connections now permitted for PDOs, reducing operational costs and improving viability.
- Roaming across PDOAs ensures seamless connectivity similar to mobile networks.
- Mobile data offloading allows telecom operators to divert traffic to Wi-Fi networks.
- User promotions permitted only with explicit consent, ensuring privacy.
- TRAI rule: retail fibre plans up to 200 Mbps must be sold to PDOs at no more than twice the consumer tariff.
- Significance
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- Helps bridge the digital divide, especially in underserved regions.
- Encourages local entrepreneurship, enabling lakhs of micro Wi-Fi providers.
- Strengthens access to digital payments, e-learning, telemedicine, and e-governance.
Tensor Processing Unit (TPU)
Context
- Google launched the Ironwood TPU at a critical stage when the global AI explosion is rapidly increasing demand for high-speed, specialised compute.
What is a Tensor Processing Unit (TPU)?
- A TPU is a custom application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) built by Google to accelerate machine learning tasks.
- It is designed specifically for deep neural networks and matrix-intensive operations central to modern AI.
Development Timeline
- TPUs were first deployed internally in 2015 to support Google’s TensorFlow workloads.
- They were later made available to external developers via Google Cloud in 2018.
How TPUs Work
- TPUs rely on large matrix-multiply units (MXUs) capable of executing tens of thousands of multiply-accumulate operations in each clock cycle.
- They convert inputs into matrices and vectors, process them in parallel, and send outputs back to AI models.
- High-bandwidth memory and specialised interconnects provide extremely fast data transfer—critical for training large neural networks.
Key Features
- Massive matrix multiplication using 128×128 ALU arrays enabling high parallelism.
- High throughput, suitable for large-batch workloads and long training cycles.
- SparseCores, specialised units supporting embedding-rich models such as recommendation systems.
- Optimised for TensorFlow, JAX, and PyTorch through Google Cloud’s AI ecosystem.
- Low power consumption and high efficiency due to removal of general-purpose circuitry.
Why TPUs Outperform CPUs
- CPUs offer flexibility but perform ML tasks more slowly due to limited parallelism and sequential instruction processing.
- TPUs deliver superior speed and efficiency in ML workloads through specialised matrix hardware and reduced power usage.
Why TPUs Outperform GPUs
- GPUs provide parallelism but retain general-purpose overhead not required for ML-specific tasks.
- TPUs achieve higher throughput, better matrix optimisation through dedicated MXUs, and stronger integration with ML frameworks.
- This makes them ideal for large language models (LLMs), computer vision tasks, and deep learning pipelines.
Indian Statistical Institute (ISI)
Context: Over 1,500 academics have raised serious concerns and staged protests in Kolkata against the Central government’s proposal to repeal the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) Act, 1959.
About the ISI
- The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) was founded by P.C. Mahalanobis on 17 December 1931 in Kolkata.
- Initially established as a society, ISI became central to India’s progress in statistical research, education, and training.
- The ISI Act, 1959 governs the Institute, its employees, students, and its governing body.
- The Act recognised ISI’s contribution to national development, granting it autonomy to fulfil its academic and research mandate.
- The Act declared ISI as an Institution of National Importance.
- It operates under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Salient Features of the ISI Act, 1959
- Authorises ISI to grant degrees and diplomas in statistics, mathematics, quantitative economics, computer science, and related subjects.
- Enables the Central government to provide grants, loans, and financial assistance to the Institute.
- Mandates qualified auditors to examine ISI’s accounts annually.
- Requires Central government approval for key decisions such as changing objectives, amending the memorandum, or disposing of major properties.
- Empowers the Central government to appoint committees to draft ISI’s programme of work and review its functioning.
- Allows the government to issue directions to the Institute and, under specific conditions, assume control of the ISI.
Alaknanda Galaxy
Context: Researchers at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics – TIFR, Pune have discovered a new spiral galaxy named Alaknanda.
About the Alaknanda Galaxy
- Located 12 billion light years away, exhibiting a classic spiral structure.
- Named after the Alaknanda River and the Hindi word for the Milky Way.
- Contains two well-defined spiral arms circling a bright central bulge.
- The galaxy spans nearly 30,000 light-years in diameter.
- It is a star-forming powerhouse, generating stars at 60 solar masses annually.
- It closely resembles the Milky Way’s structure and formed when our galaxy was only 10% of its current age.
- Discovery made using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
About Spiral Galaxies
- Spiral galaxies contain twisted collections of stars and gas, forming visually striking patterns.
- Consist of spiral arms extending from a central bulge, rich in gas, dust, and young luminous stars.
- The central bulge contains older, dimmer stars and typically hosts a supermassive black hole.
- Nearly two-thirds of spiral galaxies have a central bar structure, including the Milky Way.
- Stars in the disk orbit the bulge, producing the distinctive spiral-arm geometry.
- Spiral arms contain dense gas clouds where new stars form before their quick demise.
Ebola
- Ebola is a severe and often fatal disease caused by orthoebolaviruses (previously ebolaviruses).
- First identified in 1976 in the DRC and found mainly in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Classified as a hemorrhagic fever virus due to its ability to disrupt clotting and cause internal bleeding.
- Six virus species exist, but four infect humans.
- Named after the Ebola River near the village where it first emerged.
- Infects humans and other primates, including gorillas and chimpanzees.
Transmission
- Spread from wild animals such as fruit bats, porcupines, and non-human primates.
- Human-to-human transmission occurs through direct contact with blood, secretions, organs, or bodily fluids.
- Contaminated surfaces like bedding and clothing can transmit the virus.
- Ebola does not spread through air.
Symptoms
- Presents with fever, vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding, and may lead to death.
- Average fatality rate is 50%, with past outbreaks ranging from 25–90%.
Treatment
- No definitive cure exists; experimental treatments are still under evaluation.
- Two FDA-approved monoclonal antibodies (Inmazeb and Ebanga) treat the Ebola Zaire strain.
- Recovery depends on initial viral load, early intervention, age, and immunity.
- Current care focuses on fluid-electrolyte balance, blood transfusions, and plasma to manage bleeding.
