PRELIMS
NASA’s IMAP Mission
Why in News: NASA launched the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) in September 2025 to study the heliosphere and solar wind.
About IMAP Mission
- Aim: To explore how charged particles travel/accelerate in space and map heliosphere boundaries.
- Orbit: Positioned at Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1 (L1), ~1.6 million km from Earth.
- Instruments: 10 in total – including IMAP-Lo, IMAP-Hi, IMAP-Ultra (neutral-atom detectors), sensors for solar wind, magnetic fields, and interstellar dust.
- Real-time data: Will support space weather prediction.
About the Heliosphere
- Formed by the solar wind – a stream of charged particles from the Sun.
- Functions as a protective bubble shielding planets from harmful cosmic rays.
- Boundary: The heliopause, where solar wind meets interstellar medium.
Significance
- Improves space weather forecasting (protection of satellites, communication, and power grids).
- Enhances astronaut safety for deep space missions.
- Provides insights into how stars form protective bubbles → implications for Earth’s habitability & exoplanets.
False Smut Disease
Why in News: In the 2025 kharif season, false smut disease (haldi rog) has severely affected Punjab’s paddy crops due to continuous rains and floods that blocked anti-fungal spraying.
About the Disease
- Caused by fungus Ustilaginoidea virens.
- Attacks paddy during flowering/maturing stage.
- Produces yellow-green spore balls on grains → lowers yield & quality.
- Thrives in high humidity and prolonged wet conditions.
Extent of Damage
- Paddy area in Punjab: ~32.5 lakh hectares.
- Loss estimates: 2–6% (PAU) vs up to 25% (field reports).
- ~5 lakh acres destroyed by floods across Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Kapurthala, Ferozpur.
Impact
- Procurement target: 180 lakh tonnes; early arrivals at mandis: 1.96 lakh tonnes.
- Floods & sand deposition also delaying rabi wheat sowing.
Issues & Concerns
- Delayed/diluted advisories from Punjab Agricultural University & Agriculture Dept.
- Warnings about other unreported diseases (e.g., Chinese dwarf disease).
- Raises need for better disease surveillance, farmer guidance, and resilient practices.
Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR)
Why in News: India launched its first indigenously developed vaccine Raksha-IBR against Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR).
About IBR
- Cause – Bovine Herpes Virus-1 (BHV-1).
- Nature – Highly contagious, endemic in India.
- Affects – Cattle of all ages.
- Symptoms – Respiratory illness, conjunctivitis, coughing, high fever (41–42°C), poor milk yield, loss of appetite, infertility, abortions.
- Transmission – Direct contact, aerosols, humans, contaminated equipment, semen/water.
- Impact – Severe economic losses in dairy sector due to reduced productivity and reproductive failures.
- Mortality – Morbidity up to 100%, mortality usually <2%.
Raksha-IBR Vaccine
- Developed by: Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL) in collaboration with National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
- Type: gE-deleted DIVA (Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals) marker vaccine.
- Significance: First indigenous vaccine → strengthens India’s livestock disease control and dairy industry resilience.
Siphon Desalination System
Why in News: IISc Bengaluru recently unveiled a siphon-powered desalination technology to produce potable water from seawater.
About Siphon
A siphon is an inverted U-shaped tube moving liquid from higher to lower reservoir without a pump, using gravity.
About the System
- Converts seawater into clean drinking water faster, cheaper, and more reliably than conventional solar stills.
- Capacity: Produces >6 litres potable water/m²/hour under sunlight.
- Scalability: Overcomes salt buildup & scaling limits → enables reliable solar desalination.
- Energy Source: Runs on solar or waste heat; uses low-cost materials (aluminium, fabric).
- Can handle highly saline water (up to 20% salt).
Key Components
- Composite siphon – fabric wick + grooved metallic surface.
- Evaporator–condenser pairs – multi-stage stacking, heat recycling.
- Ultra-narrow air gap – only 2 mm wide for efficient condensation.
Working Mechanism
- Fabric wick draws salty water from reservoir.
- Gravity flushes salt away before crystallisation.
- Thin film spreads on heated metal → evaporates.
- Vapour condenses across narrow air gap on cooler surface.
- Heat reused across stacked stages → boosts efficiency.
Inflation & RBI’s Consumer Confidence Index
Why in News: Retail inflation in India has sharply declined since August 2023 → below 2% in August 2025.RBI’s latest Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) shows improvement, especially in rural areas.
Retail Inflation (India)
- Measured by: CPI (Consumer Price Index).
- Published by: NSO, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
- Base year for CPI: 2012.
- Target under Monetary Policy Framework: 4% ± 2% (set by RBI & Government, 2016).
- Significance: High inflation reduces purchasing power → RBI uses repo rate to manage demand & prices.
Consumer Confidence Index (CCI)
- Released by: Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
- Frequency: Conducted bi-monthly in major cities.
- Benchmark:
- 100 = Neutral (above 100 → optimism, below 100 → pessimism).
- Parameters: Economic situation, employment, income, spending, price levels (current & 1-year ahead).
Rural vs Urban Trends (Aug 2025):
- Rural CCI: 100.9 (highest since survey began 2 yrs ago).
- Urban CCI: 96.9 (still negative).
Significance
- Declining inflation → boosts purchasing power, supports RBI’s rate cuts.
- CCI = forward-looking measure of consumer sentiment → useful for demand-side policy planning.
- Divergence between rural optimism and urban pessimism highlights uneven recovery.
