Why in news?

• World Rotaract Day is celebrated on the 13th of March every year to acknowledge the services provided by the rotaractors across the world.
• The theme of World Rotaract Day 2022 is “Rotary Making a Difference”.
• World Rotaract Week will be held from 11 March 2022 to 18 March 2022.
• Rotary Club is the community service organization for young men and women. They take part in international service projects, in a global effort to bring peace and international understanding to the world.

What is Rotaract?

• Rotaract means rotary in action. Rotary is an organization of business and professional people who unite worldwide to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world.
• World Rotaract Day is commemorated to honour the beginning of the first such club, Rotary International, in 1968 at North Carolina, USA.
• Now it has transformed into a major Rotary-sponsored organization with more than 9,539 clubs spread around the world.

Why in news?

• Recently the European Space Agency (ESA) introduced its new one-of-a-kind mission named “Vigil”, which is meant to protect the Earth from ‘Vigil’ is derived from the Latin word ‘vigilia’ meaning wakefulness, while ‘vigilis exceptus’ means sentry, or guard.
• The mission was previously named “Lagrange” after the location the mission spacecraft will be sent but later the name has been changed to ‘Vigil’.
• The Vigil spacecraft will be launched to the fifth Lagrange(L5) point which is 150 million kilometres from both Earth and the sun.

Lagrange Points:

• Lagrange points are the locations in outer space that are gravitationally stable as compared to other locations.
• The L5 is the fifth Lagrange point which is located at an equal distance from both the Sun and Earth. The James Webb Space Telescope and the Gaia spacecraft, launched by ESA are located at the second Lagrange point (L2).

Functions of ESA Vigil:

• The spacecraft at L5 would stream a constant feed of near-real-time data on hazardous solar activity, before rolling into Earth’s view.
• The ESA Vigil positioned in an unvisited position in space will help to warn earth about the oncoming solar storms which can damage power grids, disrupt telecommunications and threaten satellites and the vital services they provide.
• This will provide more time to protect spacecraft in orbit, infrastructure on the ground and explorers now and in the future, unshielded by Earth’s magnetic field and vulnerable to our star’s violent outbursts.
• As part of ESA’s Vision for the future, the new Protect ‘accelerator’ will ensure the resilience of technologies on which modernity depends.
• ESA Vigil Mission Patch:
• The design of the patch features a stylised wing of protection which shelters Earth from the sun’s hazardous radiation.
• The L5 point is emphasised with the five stars shown just above the blue Earth.

Why in news?

• World Glaucoma Day is annually observed across the globe on 12th March to create awareness about Glaucoma, the one of the most common cause of irreversible blindness.
• World Glaucoma Week(WGW), a global initiative of the World Glaucoma Association (WGA) and World Glaucoma Patient Association is also annually observed to create awarenss about Glaucoma.
• The week highlights glaucoma as the leading cause of preventable irreversible blindness worldwide. WGW 2022 is celebrated from 6th to 12th March 2022.
• Theme: The theme of WGW 2022 is “The world is bright, save your sight”.

About Glaucoma

• Glaucoma is a group of eye conditions that damage the optic nerve.
• lt is a chronic, progressive, degenerative disorder of the optic nerve that produces characteristic visual field damage.
• It can occur at any age, but it is most common in older adults.
• It is estimated that around 80 million people have glaucoma worldwide. Approximately 50% of individuals with glaucoma are unaware that they have the disease.
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that 4.5 million people are blind due to glaucoma.
• In India (2019), glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness, with at least 12 million people affected and nearly 1.2 million people blind from the disease.

Why in news?

• As per astronomers, Space junk dug new crater on Moon.
• It was the first unintentional case of space Junk hitting the moon surface that created a new crater (around 65 feet wide) on Moon.
• Piece of space junk was part of Chang’e 541 -a lunar mission launched by the China.
• Craters on the moon are of a more permanent nature than those on earth. This Is because:
• Absence of atmosphere means there is no wind system on moon, and hence no cause for erosion of existing craters.
• Absence of tectonics prevents the moon’s surface from forming new rocks, or causing a shift in the existing surface patterns.
• Absence of volcanism makes it impossible for craters to be covered.
• Space debris, also called space Junk, artificial material that is orbiting Earth but is no longer functional.
• This material can be as large as discarded rocket stage or as small as a microscopic chip of paint.
• Space debris orbits around the earth at 25,265 kph in low Earth orbit.
• Risk associated with Space Debris: Astronaut suits/equipment are not designed to deal with it; re-entering into the earth may pose risk to life, Increase the cost of operation etc

Kessler Syndrome

• It is a phenomenon in which the amount of junk In orbit around Earth reaches a point where it just more and more space debris, causing big problems for satellites astronauts and mission planners.

Why in news?

• Wheat exports from India are expected to grow exponentially in the backdrop of Russia-Ukraine war as wheat crop from India will be available from early March as compared to other global wheat producers.
• Russia and Ukraine together account for a quarter of global wheat supply.
• So far, wheat exports from India have crossed historical high of 6.5 million tonnes achieved earlier in 2012-13 fiscal.
• This year, it is expected to exceed 10mt.

About Wheat

• It is the main cereal crop in India grown in the rabi (winter) season.
• India is the world’s second-largest producer of the wheat after china.

Climate requirement

• Can be grown in tropical and sub-tropical zones and also in temperate zone and cold tracts of far north.
• Requires cool, moist weather during the major portion of the growing period followed by dry, warm weather to enable the grain to ripen properly.
• Optimum temperature range: 20-25 C.
• During heading and flowering stages, excessively high or low temperatures and drought are harmful to wheat.
• Soils with a clay loam or loam texture, good structure and moderate water holding capacity are ideal for wheat cultivation.

Why in news?

• While addressing the National Youth Parliament Festival, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla said ‘nation first’ should guide youth in their every effort.

About National Youth Parliament

• Organised under Ministry of Parliamentary affairs.
• Objective -to strengthen the roots of democracy, inculcate discipline, tolerance and to enable students to learn about practices and procedures of Parliament.
• Programme envisages Kishore Sabha for the students of Class IX to Class XII and Tarun Sabha for the students of Under Graduate/ Post Graduate level.
• It is in existence since 1966, but recently to increase coverage, a web portal has been established.

Why in news?

• Santhali communities of Odisha and Jharkhand are changing their ways of painting Sohrai murals.

About Sohrai mural art

• It is painted on the mud wal and is a matriarchal tradition handed down from mother to daughter.
• Usually either monochromatic or colorful, with the use of natural pigments mixed in mud.
• The red line is drawn first as it represents the ‘blood of the ancestors; procreation, and fertility.
• It is performed during marriage and harvest seasons.
• It is continued since 10,000-4,000 BC which was prevalent into caves’ structure.
• In 2020, Jharkhand received a Geographical Indication tag for its Sohrai art.

Why in news?

• First ever Geographical Indication (GI) tagged Kashmir carpets flagged off to Germany.
• Department of Industry Promotion and Internal Trade granted GI tag to Kashmiri hand knotted carpets in 2016 but the registered carpets were certified from this year.
• History of Kashmiri carpet dates back to the period of the famous Sufi Saint and scholar, Hazrat Mir Syed All Hamdani (1341-1385 AD) of Persia.
• Kashmiri carpets are very similar to Iranian carpets, but in Kashmiri carpets weavers use a written set of codes and symbols for design patterns and colors, called Taleem.
• Taleem, a coded color chart indicates the number of knots to be woven in their respective colors.

Why in news?

• Awards are given to Indian citizens for the most outstanding books of literary merit published in India in the last 5 years.
• It covers the 22 languages enumerated in Constitution of India, and English and Rajasthani languages.
• The winners will be honoured with an engraved copper plaque, a shawl, and prize money of Rs 1 Iakh.
• Sahitya Akademi, India’s National Academy of Letters, is the central institution for literary dialogue, publication and promotion in the country.
• It was set up in 1954 and registered as a society under Societies Registration Act, 1860.

Why in news?

• Andhra Pradesh has retained its number one spot in the SKOCH State of Governance rankings for the second consecutive year. According to a release, the State retained the first rank for the second consecutive year. In 2020 too, Andhra Pradesh bagged top rank in governance. Andhra Pradesh was ranked at second position in 2018 and later it slipped to 4th position in 2019, according to Skoch.
• The second rank was bagged by West Bengal and Odisha was ranked 3, Gujarat was ranked 4 and Maharashtra was ranked 5.

SKOCH Governance Report Card for 2021:

• The SKOCH Group has released the SKOCH Governance Report Card for 2021 in New Delhi, ranking the states according to their performance in various projects at state, district, and municipal levels.