PIB Snippets
4 Quick Facts
UPSC Prelims & Mains
PIB Snippets — October 12, 2026
Today’s quick facts — the Indo-French TRISHNA satellite, global warming and sex reversal in agile frogs, Exercise INDRA 2026 at Vladivostok, and Jayaprakash Narayan’s birth anniversary
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Quick Facts: TRISHNA: Indo-French Thermal Imaging Satellite
Science and Technology
- TRISHNA (Thermal Infra-Red Imaging Satellite for High-resolution Natural Resource Assessment) is a joint mission of ISRO and the French space agency CNES. It is due for launch in the next 12–16 months.
- It will use thermal infrared imaging to monitor land and water resources, such as surface temperature and water stress.
- It is the third India–France satellite, after Megha-Tropiques (2011), which studies the tropical water cycle, and SARAL (2013), which measures ocean surface height using the ARGOS and AltiKa instruments.
Source: The Hindu
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Quick Facts: Global Warming Drives Sex Reversal in Agile Frogs
Species
- A study of agile frogs in Hungary, published in Science Advances, found that excessive heat at the tadpole stage can turn genetic females (XX) into fertile males.
- Sex-reversed males made up about 20% of wild populations but sired only 4% of egg clutches. Their offspring were also more vulnerable to heat and to ranavirus.
- Models suggest that some populations could disappear within 60–70 years as warming skews them towards males.
- About 40% of amphibian species face extinction risk, which makes amphibians the most threatened vertebrates on Earth.
Source: The Hindu
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Quick Facts: Exercise INDRA 2026 Begins at Vladivostok
Defence Exercises
- INS Sahyadri, a Shivalik-class stealth frigate, has arrived at Vladivostok for Exercise INDRA 2026, a bilateral exercise between the Indian Navy and the Russian Federation Navy.
- The exercise runs from 13 to 18 October 2026 and has a harbour phase followed by operations at sea.
- The deployment is in line with India’s MAHASAGAR vision and follows the 23rd India–Russia Annual Summit of December 2025.
Source: PIB
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Quick Facts: Jayaprakash Narayan Remembered on Birth Anniversary
Personalities
- Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan was born on 11 October 1902 at Sitab Diara in Bihar.
- He was a founder of the Congress Socialist Party (1934) and a key underground leader during the Quit India Movement.
- In 1974, he led the Bihar Movement and gave the call for “Sampoorna Kranti” (Total Revolution). He became the leading voice of the opposition during the Emergency.
- He was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1999.
Source: PIB
