Daily Prelims Notes 10 December 2020
- December 10, 2020
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN
Table Of Contents
- INDUS VALLEY
- AIRAVATESVARA TEMPLE
- NORTHERN LIGHTS
- KLI PROJECT
- ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT ROJGAR YOJANA (ABRY)
- PM -WANI
- SINOPHARM VACCINE
- COUNTRY OF ORIGIN FOR E-COMMERCE ENTITIES
1. INDUS VALLEY
Subject: Culture
Context: A new study has found the presence of animal products, including cattle and buffalo meat, in ceramic vessels dating back about 4,600 years at seven Indus Valley Civilisation sites in present-day Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Concept:
- The study, which was published on Wednesday in the Journal of Archaeological Science and conducted as a part of the Two Rains project of the University of Cambridge and Banaras Hindu University, analyzed the lipid residue in pottery found at the ancient sites.
- About 50-60% of domestic animal bones found at Indus Valley sites come from cattle/buffalo, the study said. Also, the high proportions of cattle bones may suggest a cultural preference for beef consumption across Indus populations, supplemented by the consumption of mutton/lamb.
Features of Indus Valley Civilization
- 2700- BC.1900 ie for 800 years.
- On the valleys of river Indus.
- Also known as Harappan Civilization.
- Beginning of city life.
- Harappan Sites discovered by – DayaramSahni (1921) – Montgomery district, Punjab, Pakistan.
- Mohanjodaro discovered by – R. D. Banerji – Larkana district, Sind, Pakistan.
- The city was divided into Citadel(west) and Lower Town(east).
- Red pottery painted with designs in black.
- Stone weights, seals, special beads, copper tools, long stone blades etc.
- Copper, bronze, silver, gold present.
- Artificially produced – Faience.
- Specialists for handicrafts.
- Import of raw materials.
- Plough was used.
- Bodies were buried in wooden coffins, but during the later stages ‘H symmetry culture’ evolved where bodies were buried in painted burial urns.
- Sugar cane not cultivated, horse, iron not used.
- Indus Valley Sites and Specialties
HARAPPA
- Seals out of stones
- Citadel outside on banks of river Ravi
MOHENJODARO
- Great Bath, Great Granary, Dancing Girl, Man with Beard, Cotton, Assembly hall
- The term means ” Mount of the dead”
- On the bank of river Indus
- Believed to have been destructed by flood or invasion(Destruction was not gradual).
CHANHUDARO
- Bank of Indus river. – discovered by Gopal Majumdar and Mackey (1931)
- Pre-Harappan culture – Jhangar Culture and Jhukar Culture
- Only cite without citadel.
KALIBANGAN
- At Rajasthan on the banks of river Ghaggar, discovered by A.Ghosh (1953)
- Fire Altars
- Bones of camel
- Evidence of furrows
- Horse remains ( even though Indus valley people didn’t use horses).
- Known as third capital of the Indus Empire.
LOTHAL
- At Gujarat near Bhogava river, discovered by S.R. Rao (1957)
- Fire Altars
- Beside the tributary of Sabarmati
- Storehouse
- Dockyard and earliest port
- double burial
- Rice husk
- House had front entrance (exception).
ROPAR
- Punjab, on the banks of river Sutlej. Discovered by Y.D Sharma (1955)
- Dog buried with humans.
BANAWALI
- Haryana
- On banks of lost river Saraswathi
- Barley Cultivation.
DHOLAVIRA
- Biggest site in India, until the discovery of Rakhigarhi.
- Located in KhadirBeyt, Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. Discovered by J.P Joshi/Rabindra Singh (1990)
- 3 parts + large open area for ceremonies
- Large letters of the Harappan script (signboards).
The religion of Indus Valley People
- PashupathiMahadev (Proto Siva)
- Mother goddess
- Nature/ Animal worship
- Unicorn, Dove, Peepal Tree, Fire
- Amulets
- Idol worship was practised ( not a feature of Aryans)
- Did not construct temples.
- The similarity to Hindu religious practises. (Hinduism in its present form originated later)
- No Caste system.
Indus Valley Society and Culture
- The systematic method of weights and measures ( 16 and its multiples).
- Pictographic Script, Boustrophedon script – Deciphering efforts by I. Mahadevan
- Equal status to men and women
- Economic Inequality, not an egalitarian society
- Textiles – Spinning and weaving
- 3 types – burial, cremation and post-cremation were there, though burial was common.
- Majority of people Proto-Australoids and Mediterranean (Dravidians), though Mongoloids, Nordics etc were present in the city culture. Read more on races of India.
Subject: Art & Culture
Context: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is exploring ways to find a permanent solution to prevent flooding in the Airavatesvara temple in Darasuram, near Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district.
Concept:
- It was built by the Chola king Rajaraja II (1144-1173 CE):
- It is much smaller in size as compared to the Brihadisvara temple at Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram.
- The temple consists of a sanctum without a circumambulatory path and axial mandapas.
- The front mandapa is unique as it was conceptualized as a chariot with wheels.
- The temple entered the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1987 and is also a part of “Great Living Chola Temples” along with the Brihadisvara Temple at Gangaikondacholapuram and Tanjavur.
Subject: Geography
Context: Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, are usually witnessed far up in the Polar Regions or the high latitude regions of Europe, like in Norway. But, recently, they could be visible in southern regions, such as in the Pennsylvania in the US.
Concept:
- This is happening due to a solar flare, which emerged from a Sunspot. The flare is accompanied by a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) — a large bubble of radiation and particles emitted by the Sun that explodes into space at high speed.
- The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the electromagnetic storm could be growing to major status, causing the Northern Lights to be visible in more number of areas than usual.
AURORA
- Auroras occur when charged particles ejected from the Sun’s surface — called the solar wind — enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
- While flowing toward Earth, the fast-moving solar wind carries with it the Sun’s magnetic field, which disrupts the magnetosphere — the region of space around Earth in which the magnetic field of our planet is dominant.
- When the Sun’s magnetic field approaches Earth, the protective magnetic field radiating from our planet’s poles deflects the former, thus shielding life on Earth.
- However, as this happens, the protective fields couple together to form funnels, through which charged solar wind particles are able to stream down to the poles.
- At the north and south poles, the charged particles interact with different gases in the atmosphere, causing a display of light in the sky. This display, known as an aurora, is seen from the Earth’s high latitude regions (called the auroral oval), and is active all year round.
- In the northern part of our globe, the polar lights are called aurora borealis or Northern Lights, and are seen from the US (Alaska), Canada, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
- In the south, they are called aurora australis or southern lights, and are visible from high latitudes in Antarctica, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and Australia.
- Generally, the auroral oval is confined to the polar regions. But occasionally, the oval expands, and the lights become visible at lower latitudes. This happens during periods of high solar activity, such as the arrival of solar storms.
4. KLI PROJECT
Subject: Economy
Context: The Union Cabinet has given its approval for Provision of Submarine Optical Fibre Cable Connectivity between Mainland (Kochi) and Lakshadweep Islands (KLI Project).
Concept:
- The Project envisages provision of a direct communication link through a dedicated submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) between Kochi and 11 Islands of Lakshadweep viz. Kavaratti, Kalpeni, Agati, Amini, Androth, Minicoy, Bangaram, Bitra, Chetlat, Kiltan&Kadmat.
- The estimated cost of implementation is about Rs. 1072 crore including operational expenses for 5 years. The Project would be funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund.
- The project will vastly improve telecommunication facility in the Lakshadweep Islands by providing large bandwidth.
- The project is targeted to be completed by May 2023.
Implementation Strategy:
- Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has been nominated as Project Execution Agency and Telecommunications Consultant India Ltd. (TCIL) as the Technical Consultant of the Project to assist Universal Service Obligation Fund, Department of Telecommunications.
- The ownership of the asset under the project will rest with USOF, the funding agency, under DoT.
5. ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT ROJGAR YOJANA (ABRY)
Subject: Government Schemes
Context: The Union Cabinet has given its approval for Atmanirbhar Bharat RojgarYojana (ABRY) to boost employment in formal sector and incentivize creation of new employment opportunities during the Covid recovery phase under Atmanirbhar Bharat Package 3.0.
Concept:
Salient features of the Scheme:
- Government of India will provide subsidy for two years in respect of new employees engaged on or after 1st October, 2020 and upto 30th June, 2021.
- Government of India will pay both 12% employees’ contribution and 12% employers’ contribution i.e. 24% of wages towards Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) in respect of new employees in establishments employing upto 1000 employees for two years.
- Government of India will pay only employees’ share of EPF contribution i.e. 12% of wages in respect of new employees in establishments employing more than 1000 employee for two years.
- An employee drawing monthly wage of less than Rs. 15000/- who was not working in any establishment registered with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) before 1st October, 2020 and did not have a Universal Account Number or EPF Member account number prior to 1stOctober 2020 will be eligible for the benefit.
- Any EPF member possessing Universal Account Number (UAN) drawing monthly wage of less than Rs. 15000/- who made exit from employment during Covid pandemic from 01.03.2020 to 30.09.2020 and did not join employment in any EPF covered establishment up to 30.09.2020 will also be eligible to avail benefit.
6. PM -WANI
Subject: Government Schemes
Context: The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the proposal of DoT for setting up of Public Wi-Fi Networks by Public Data Office Aggregators (PDOAs) to provide public Wi-Fi service through Public Data Offices (PDOs) spread across the country.
Concept:
- This Public Wi-Fi Access Network Interface will be known as PM-WANI.
- PM-WANI eco-system will be operated by different players as described herein under:
- Public Data Office (PDO): It will establish, maintain, and operate only WANI compliant Wi-Fi Access Points and deliver broadband services to subscribers.
- Public Data Office Aggregator (PDOA): It will be an aggregator of PDOs and perform the functions relating to Authorization and Accounting.
- App Provider: It will develop an App to register users and discover WANI compliant Wi-Fi hotspots in the nearby area and display the same within the App for accessing the internet service.
- Central Registry: It will maintain the details of App Providers, PDOAs, and PDOs. To begin with, the Central Registry will be maintained by C-DoT.
- While no registration would be required for PDOs, PDOAs and App Providers will get themselves registered with DoT through online registration portal (SARALSANCHAR;) of DoT, without paying any registration fee.
- There shall be no license fee for providing Broadband Internet through these public Wi-Fi networks.
- The proposal will promote the growth of Public Wi-Fi Networks in the country and, in turn, will help in proliferation of Broadband Internet, enhancement of income and employment and empowerment of people.
Subject: Science & tech
Context :The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday officially registered the coronavirus vaccine produced by Chinese drug giant Sinopharm, saying it was 86% effective according to analysis of third-phase trials.
Concept :
- The vaccine has been undergoing third-phase trials in the Emirates since July, and it was approved for emergency use for healthcare workers in September.
- The announcement is a significant vote of confidence by the UAE’s health authorities in the safety and efficacy of this vaccine.
- China has four vaccine products in the final stages of development, three of which — including Sinopharm — use an inactivated form of the novel coronavirus to boost immunity.
- This means they only need to be refrigerated and can be easily distributed compared to jabs developed by rivals Pfizer and BioNTech or Moderna, which have reported efficacy of 95% and 94% respectively but need to be transported at minus 70 to 20 degrees Celsius.
8. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN FOR E-COMMERCE ENTITIES
Subject: Economics
Context: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Centre if e-commerce entities such as Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal, are complying with the requirement of displaying ‘country of origin’ on products offered for sale on their websites.
Concept:
- It has been stated that the laws relating to the issue were enacted under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 and the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011.
- Enforcement of the provisions of the Act and Rules is the responsibility of the States and UTs governments. Whenever violations are observed, the action could be taken by the legal metrology officials of the States/ UTs governments in accordance with the law.
Significance:
- The declaration of the country of origin of products will enable consumers to make an informed decision and action will be taken on firms for violating the rules according to the provisions of the Act.
- Enforcement of the mandate was important in the current scenario when citizens intend to comply with the central government’s appeal to promote and purchase Indian goods and not from some neighbouring countries.