• Amid challenges like delayed rainfall and shortage of labour, farmers in several leading rice-growing States are shifting to direct-seeding method.
• Methods of planting rice
  • Transplanting Paddy: In transplanting paddy, farmers prepare nurseries where the paddy seeds are first sown and raised into young plants.
  • The nursery seed bed is 5-10% of the area to be transplanted.
  • These seedlings are then uprooted and replanted 25-35 days later in the field with standing water.
  • The standing water acts as herbicide and prevents growth of weeds by denying them oxygen in submerged stage.
  • Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR): In DSR, the pre-germinated seeds are directly drilled into the field by a tractor-powered machine.
  • There is no nursery preparation or transplantation involved in this method.
  • Farmers have to only level their land and give one pre-sowing irrigation.
  • In DSR as flooding of fields is not done during sowing, chemical herbicides are used to kill weeds.
• Advantages of DSR
  • Efficient, sustainable, and economically-viable rice production systems.
  • No significant reduction of yield under optimal conditions.
  • Conservation of water.
  • Saving on labour costs.
  • Reduce methane emissions due to a shorter flooding period and decreased soil disturbance compared to transplanting rice seedlings.
• Challenges
  • The seed requirement for DSR is also high, 8-10 kg/acre, compared to 4-5 kg/acre in transplanting.
  • The sowing needs to be done timely so that the plants have come out properly before the monsoon rains arrive.
  • Seeds exposed to birds and pests;
  • weed management;
  • higher risk of lodging, risk of poor or non-uniform crop establishment etc.

• India will train ASEAN women personnel under India-ASEAN Initiative for women in UNPK operations to expand India-ASEAN defence cooperation.
• The training will include two different initiatives–
  • Tailor-made courses for women peacekeepers of ASEAN member-states at Centre for UNPK in India.
    • Under this, total 20 peacekeepers would be trained.
  • ‘Table Top Exercise’ for women officers from ASEAN incorporating facets of UNPK challenges to be conducted.
• Women in Peacekeeping Forces
  • For the first time, an all-female Formed Police Unit (FPU) was deployed in Liberia in 2007.
  • As per UN, in 2020, out of approximately 95,000 peacekeepers, women constitute 4.8% of military contingents and 9% of formed police units.

ABOUT UNPK MISSION

• It aims to assist host countries to transition from situations of conflict to peace.
• It is guided by three basic principles:
  • Consent of parties;
  • Impartiality; and
  • Non-use of force except in self-defence and defence of the mandate.
• Peacekeeping operations get their mandates from UN Security Council.
• International Day of UN Peacekeepers is celebrated on 29^th May every year.
  • Theme for 2023- “Peace begins with me.”

The first UN peacekeeping mission named the ‘United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation’, or UNTSO, began operations in Palestine in 1948 on May 29.

• ISRO has recently launched a new satellite NVS-01.
• NVS-01 is first of the India’s second-generation satellites envisaged for NavIC (Navigation by Indian Constellation) services.
• It is built by ISRO’s UR Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru.
• NVS-01, weighing 2,232 kg satellite – heaviest in constellation, was launched using Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) rocket.
• For the first time, an indigenously developed Rubidium atomic clock is flown in NVS-01 to provide accurate locations.
• It has a mission life of over 12 years, longer than 10-year life of first-generation (existing) satellites.
• This series incorporates L1 band signals additionally which increases interoperability with other satellite-based navigation systems.

ABOUT NAVIC

• NavIC, earlier known as Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), is designed with constellation of seven satellites.
• Three satellites are placed in geostationary orbit and four satellites are placed in inclined geosynchronous orbit.
• At present, India uses its NavIC series of satellites for civilian (Standard Position Service) and defence navigation (Restricted Service) in the Indian mainland and 1500 kms beyond India’s borders.
• These two services are provided in both L5 and S band.
• The system is used in terrestrial, aerial, marine transportation, location-based services, personal mobility, resource monitoring, surveying and geodesy, scientific research

• An Interpretation Centre has been developed in the Sainj valley of the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) at Sainj Ropa.
• It gives information about the flora and fauna found in the GHNP.
• It will focus on orchids and medicinal plants, along with birds and beautiful locations.
• All four state symbols — the state bird, Western tragopan; state animal, snow leopard; state flower, pink rhododendron; and state tree, deodar — have been showcased with their descriptions.
• All four state symbols are found in this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• The bilateral exercise ‘Al Mohed Al Hindi 23’ is between Indian Navy and Royal Saudi Naval Force.
• It was held in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
• INS Tarkash, INS Subhadra and Dornier Maritime Patrol aircraft (MPA) participated in the exercise from the Indian side.
• The RSNF was represented by HMS Badr and Abdul Aziz, MH 60R helo and UAV.

• Kashmiri Pandits have embarked on the annual pilgrimage to Mata Kheer Bhawani or Ragnya Devi temple in Ganderbal, Jammu Kashmir.
• The history of Mela Kheer Bhawani dates back centuries, symbolizing the reverence and devotion of the people towards the divine Mother Ragnya Devi.
• It is observed on the Ashtami day during Shukla Paksha or waxing phase of moon in Jyeshta month (June – July).
• The temple gets its name from kheer, or milk and rice pudding, that pilgrims pour into the spring inside the temple complex as an offering to the goddess.
  • Legend has it that the water of the temple’s spring changes colour from white to red and black.
• It is the largest gathering of Hindus in Kashmir after the annual Amarnath Yatra.

• Iraq recently unveiled a $17 billion project named Route of Development project linking Europe, west Asia and Asia.
• It is an ambitious road and rail infrastructure project.
• It also envisage development of Grand Faw Port in the oil-rich south of Iraq linking it to the Turkish border.
• It also envisions facilitating the transportation of tourists and pilgrims to Shiite holy sites in Iraq and the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the Haj pilgrimage.

• The Academic Council of Delhi University recently passed a motion to remove a chapter on Pakistan’s national poet Muhammad Iqbal, also known as Allama Iqbal, from the political science syllabus.
• Born in 1877 in Sialkot in undivided India, Iqbal wrote the famous song ‘Saare jahan se achha’.
• He is also known for giving birth to the ‘idea of Pakistan’.
• He was knighted by King George V who gave him the title of “Sir” in 1922.
• His first book, Asrár-I Khudí (The Secrets of the Self), was published in 1915. It was followed by Ramuz-e-Bekhudi (The Mysteries of Selflessness) in 1918.

• Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recently confirmed that dengue’s infection geography has expanded from eight States in 2001 to across the country in the last two decades, with an 11-fold increase and repeated outbreaks.
• Dengue has now breached the country’s last bastion, Ladakh.
• It is now endemic in more than 100 countries, and according to the World Health Organization half of the world population now at risk.
• Reasons-The enhanced risk of dengue has been propelled by several factors, including climate change, urbanised environments that are temperature controlled, and increased travel.

ABOUT DENGUE

• Dengue is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus (Genus Flavivirus) transmitted by female mosquitoes, mainly of the species Aedes aegypti and to a lesser extent, Aedes albopictus.
  • These mosquitoes are also vectors of the chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika viruses.
• There are 4 distinct, but closely related, serotypes of the virus that cause dengue (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4).
  • Serotypes are separate groups within a species of microorganisms that all share a similar characteristic.
• Symptoms include sudden high fever, severe headaches, pain behind the eyes, severe bone, joint, and muscle pain, etc.
• There is no specific medicine to treat dengue infection.

• The resilient fabric of gongadi shawls of has been repurposed into all-weather shoes for farmers by three alumni of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.

ABOUT GONGADI SHAWLS

• Gongadi is a tough, traditional, all weather shawl/woolen blanket woven by the indigenous Kuruma and Kuruba pastoralist communities in Telangana.
• The wool of the indigenous Deccani sheep (known locally as Nalla gorrae) is used.
• The coarse woolen blanket is known for its durability and versatility and it does not fade but grows darker in time.
• It is produced organically, without using any dyes either natural or synthetic.