What Is Summer And Winter Solstice?

Solstice, an event that occur twice a year, where the Sun appears to reach its northern most or farthest point from an observer on earth or southern most or the closest point from an observer on earth.

The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year, and happens around 21 December in the Southern Hemisphere and 21 June in the Northern Hemisphere. The WInter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, and happens around 21 June in the Southern Hemisphere and 21 December in the Northen Hemisphere.

The exact date of each solstice changes by a few days each year, the orbital and rotational motion of the earth such as 'wobble" in the Earth's axis also contribute to the changing solstice dates. The solstices occur because the rotation axis of the Earth is tilted by an angle of 23.5 degrees from the vertical. If the Earth’s rotation was at right angles to the plane of its orbit around the Sun, there would be no solstice days and no seasons. The number of daylight hours received on each solistice directly corresponds to the distance of the observer on earth from the sun.

What is Smog Tower? How does it work?

Smog towers are structures designed as large-scale air purifiers to reduce air pollution. Smog towers work on the principle of HEPA filtration or air ionisation technology to remove PM2.5 particles. That is, air flowing through a smog tower passes through a filter to provide clean air coming out of it. These methods of cleaning air are scientifically well established and used widely for cleaning indoor air where the air exchange with the outdoors is minimal.

The first prototype of a smog tower was built in 2017 by Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde in Beijing as a demonstration and art project that Converts the carbon in filtered particles into diamonds. The device will be able to take in air from all 360-degree angles and generate 1,300,000 cubic metres of clean air per hour. The smog tower sucks the polluted air, which is purified by the multiple layers before re-circulated into the atmosphere.

To purify the air; the highly effective H14 grade Highly Effective Particulate Arrestance (HEPA) filter would be used. This filter can clean up to 99.99% Particulate Matter (PM) present in the air with the help of pre-filter and activated carbon.

It is the state bird of Madhya Pradesh.

Can you name it?

Facts ✅✅

Siachen Glacier in Nubra Valley has distinction of being largest glaciers outside polar and sub polar regions

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🔺Maareech

- It is an advanced anti-torpedo decoy system that is capable of being fired from all frontline ships.

-Inducted by the Indian Navy.

-Developed indigenously by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO)


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Facts✅✅

Only 3 states in North-East India have Tiger Reserves. They are in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.


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♦️ Coal Gasification & Liquefaction

🔹 Coal Gasification: The process of producing syngas, a mixture consisting carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), carbon dioxide (CO2), natural gas (CH4), and water vapour (H2O).

🔹 Benefits
1. Transporting gas is a lot cheaper than transporting coal.
2. Help address local pollution problems.
3. Has greater efficiency than conventional coal.

🔹 Coal Liquefaction: an alternative route to produce diesel and gasoline and makes economic sense only in a world of high crude oil prices.
1. liquefied coal emits twice as much CO2 as burning oil. It also emits a large volume of SO2.

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🔥National Investigation Agency (NIA)

● Works under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

● Established under the National Investigation Agency Act 2008.

● It is a central agency to investigate and prosecute offences:

-Affecting the sovereignty, security and integrity of India, security of State
- against atomic and nuclear facilities.
- smuggling in High-Quality Counterfeit Indian Currency.
- empowered the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act

● It is also the Central Counter Terrorism Law Enforcement Agency.

● empowered to deal with terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states.

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Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)

● The Union was established in 1889. Headquarters : Geneva, Switzerland.

● The national parliaments of 178 countries are its members.

● It has a permanent observer status in United Nations.

● The IPU promotes institutional values, democratic governance. It also promotes working with parliamentarians to respond to the needs and aspirations of the people.

● The IPU generates Global Parliamentary Report, It is jointly produced by IPU and United Nations Development Programme.

● The first report was published in 2012.