PRELIMS
HUL DIWAS — SANTHAL REBELLION
Syllabus: GS1/History and Culture
Commemorates: The 1855 Santhal Hul (rebellion) led by Sidho, Kanho, Chand, and Bhairav Murmu, along with Phulo and Jhano.
Location: Damin-i-Koh, present-day Jharkhand.
Causes: Exploitation by British officials, landlords (zamindars), moneylenders (dikus), and alienation from land.
Nature of Revolt: Guerrilla-style peasant uprising with nearly 60,000 Santhals involved.
Significance:
- One of the first organized tribal uprisings.
- Laid the foundation for later protective land legislations:
- Santhal Parganas Tenancy Act, 1876.
- Chotanagpur Tenancy Act, 1908.
MY BHARAT 2.0 PLATFORM
Syllabus: GS2/Governance
Developed by: Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) + Digital India Corporation (DIC).
Purpose: To digitally engage, empower, and connect India’s youth.
Original Launch: 2023; current upgrade = MY Bharat 2.0.
Key Features:
- AI tools like Smart CV Builder, Chatbots, Speech-to-Text.
- Modular architecture for scalability.
- Over 1.76 crore youth and 1.19 lakh organizations already onboarded.
Objective: Align youth engagement with India@2047 vision; enable structured volunteering and civic learning.
CIVIL REGISTRATION SYSTEM (CRS) & SAMPLE REGISTRATION SYSTEM (SRS)
Syllabus: GS2/Governance
PRS:
Governed by: Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969.
Administered by: Registrar General of India (Ministry of Home Affairs).
Function: Continuous, compulsory registration of births, deaths, and stillbirths.
Significance: Generates data vital for health, social, and economic planning.
SRS:
Initiated: Pilot in 1964–65; full-scale from 1969–70.
Function: Provides regular demographic data such as birth and death rates.
Notable Issue: Bihar lags behind in CRS registration compared to other states.
KOMBUCHA
Syllabus: GS2/Health
Definition: A fermented, slightly effervescent tea drink made with a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY).
Origin: Northeast China (~220 BCE).
Health Claims:
- Claimed benefits: digestive health, immunity, metabolism
- Evidence: Limited; a Brazilian study found improved gut flora but no major impact on blood sugar/inflammation.
- India Market Growth: From $45 million (2020) to $102 million (2024), reflecting rising urban health awareness.
SEA SHIP OBSERVER MISSION — QUAD
Syllabus: GS2/Regional Groupings
Participants: India, Japan, USA, Australia.
Objective: First-ever ship observer mission under QUAD security cooperation.
Basis: Wilmington Declaration (2024).
India’s Relevance:
- Supports India’s SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) doctrine.
- Reinforces the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI).
Goal: Promote a rules-based maritime order in the Indo-Pacific.
ALTERMAGNETS
Syllabus: GS3/ S&T
Discovery by: S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences.
Significance:
- World’s first altermagnet showing Direction-Dependent Conduction Polarity (DDCP) – works as both p-type and n-type semiconductor.
- Possesses antiferromagnetic spin order but no net external magnetization.
Potential Use: Spintronics, quantum computing, low-energy electronics.
BOTRYTIS CINEREA
Syllabus: GS3/ Science and Technology
Type: Necrotrophic fungus (feeds on dead host tissue).
Agricultural Concern:
- Infects 200+ crops including strawberries, grapes, lettuce.
- Resistant to fungicides; causes grey mould disease.
Winemaking Use: Beneficial in controlled conditions to make sweet wines (e.g., Sauternes, Tokaji Aszú).
New Finding: Cannot be cloned as genetic material is spread across multiple nuclei.
INDIAN ENERGY STACK
Syllabus: GS2/ Governance, GS3/Infrastructure, Energy,
Announced by: Ministry of Power (17-member task force headed by Nandan Nilekani).
Objective: Create a unified Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for the energy sector.
Goals:
- Interconnect producers, consumers, grid operators, regulators.
- Enable peer-to-peer energy trading, carbon tracking, and data-driven decisions.
Need: Current energy sector suffers from fragmentation, data silos, and lack of interoperability.
AKASH AIR DEFENCE SYSTEM
Syllabus: GS3/ Defence
Developed by: DRDO + Bharat Dynamics Ltd. + Bharat Electronics Ltd.
Purpose: Medium-range, all-weather mobile SAM system.
Range: 4.5–25 km; altitude coverage: 100 m to 20 km.
Speed: Supersonic (Mach 1.8–2.5)
Recent News: Brazil expresses interest in acquiring the system ahead of 17th BRICS Summit.
Significance: Boosts India’s defence exports under “Make in India.”
GOSAT – GW SATELLITE (JAPAN)
Syllabus: GS3/Space
Full Form: Global Observing Satellite for Greenhouse gases and Water cycle.
Purpose: Monitor CO₂, methane, sea surface temperature, precipitation.
Replaces: Marks the final flight of Japan’s H-2A rocket; replaced by the H3 rocket.
Data Sharing: Will provide high-res climate data to agencies like NOAA (USA).
Significance: Part of global efforts to tackle climate change through satellite monitoring.
