🔆Oleander flower : Why Kerala government banned its use as offering in temples

#gs3
#environment

@upsc_4_environment

🔆The 7th edition of India-France Joint Military Exercise SHAKTI commenced at the Joint Training Node in Umroi, Meghalaya recently.

📍 Exercise Shakti:

✅It is a biennial training event conducted alternatively in India and France.
✅Aim: To enhance the joint military capability of both sides to undertake multi-domain operations in a Sub-Conventional scenario under Chapter VII of the United Nations Mandate.
✅The joint exercise will focus on operations in the semi-urban and mountainous terrain. 
✅Objectives to be achieved from the joint training are a high degree of physical fitness, rehearsing and refining drills for operations at the tactical level, and sharing of best practices.
✅It will enable the two sides to share their best practices in Tactics, Techniques and Procedures for conducting joint operations

#gs3
#Security
#pib

Join @PIB_UPSC

🔆Exercise Tarkash:

✅It is the seventh edition of the Indo-U.S. joint counter terrorism exercise. It is held between the elite National Security Guard (NSG) and the U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) commenced on April 22, 2024.

✅Objective: The primary objective of the bilateral exercise is to build functional relation and enhance interoperability between the two special forces in conducting coordinated counter terror operations in urban counter terrorism contingencies.

✅It is also aimed at improving bilateral cooperation between India and the U.S. in matters relating to combating terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations,” a statement said.

✅It also involved sharing of best practices, tactics, techniques and procedures, over a wide spectrum of counter terror operations, in urban environment including close quarter battle, building intervention drills and hostage rescue operations etc.

#gs2
#ir
#Security

@upsc_4_ir

🔆Political party to be booked for money laundering

📍Why in news?

✅ The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has informed the Delhi high court that it will name the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) an accused in the ongoing money laundering investigation related to alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy scam.

✅ED said that it is planning to invoke Section 70 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to probe the role of AAP in this regard. Main allegation of the ED is that AAP was the recipient of the proceeds of crime in the excise scam.

📍Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002

✅Sec 3 of the Act defines offence of money laundering as –
whosoever directly or indirectly attempts to indulge or knowingly assists or knowingly is a party or is actually involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime and projecting it as untainted property shall be guilty of offence.

📍Laws under which a political party can be booked for money laundering

✅Section 70 of the PMLA, 2002
🔰It states that if a company commits a contravention of any provision of the Act, every person who was in charge of the company's business at the time of the contravention is also liable.
🔰The proviso to Section 70 states that the person in charge of the company's business can defend themselves by proving that the contravention took place without their knowledge or despite all due diligence.

📍Is political party a company?

🔰The political party is not a ‘company’ incorporated under the Companies Act 2013.
🔰However, the provision of PMLA under Section 70 has crucial explanation that could bring political party under the ambit of the anti-money laundering law.
🔰Explanation 1[1] --For the purposes of this section (i.e., Section 70 of PMLA) says that company means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals.
🔰The phrase ‘association of individuals’ can include political parties.
🔰A party, according to Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), is any association or body of individual citizens of India registered with the EC and calling itself a political party

#gs2
#prelims
#polity_governance

@upsc_polity_governance

#NISAR satellite
& it's uses
Tectonic activity
Weather forecast
Gauge the climate change
Agricultural yeild/productivity
Severe water distress area like Drought like Condition

📍NISAR Mission click here

#gs3
#prelims
#science_technology

@upsc_science_and_technology
@upsc_the_hindu_ie_editorial

🔆Kalamkari Paintings

✅Kalamkari is a painting done by kalam (pen). These paintings are made in Andhra Pradesh. It is hand painted as well as block printing with vegetable dyes applied on cloth. Vegetable dyes are used for colour in the Kalam Kari work. The pen used is made of sharp pointed bamboo, used to regulate the flow of colours.
✅A small place Sri-Kalahasti is the best known centre of Kalamkari art. This work is also found at Masaulipatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
✅Owing to Muslim rulers in Golconda, the Masulipatnam kalamkari was widely influenced by Persian motifs and designs.
✅This art is mainly related to decorating temple interiors with painted cloth panels, which was developed in the fifteenth century under the patronage of Vijaynagar rulers.
✅Subjects are adopted from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and Hindu religious mythology. This art form is a continuous legacy from father to son.
✅The outlines and main features are done using hand carved blocks. The finer details are later done using the pen.

🔆Three texts from Indian Knowledge system added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World(MoW).

1. Ramcharitmanas: Goswami Tulsidas
2. Panchatantra: Pt . Vishnu Sharma
3. Sahṛdayaloka-Locana: Acharya Anandvardhan

#prelims
#art_and_culture

Join @StudyToday1
@upsc_art_and_culture

🔆Igla-S air defence system

✅Russia recently signed a contract to supply Igla-S hand-held anti-aircraft missiles to India and has allowed the production of the Igla under license.

✅It is a man-portable air defence system (MANPADS) developed by Russia.
✅It is known in the West as SA-24 Grinch.
✅It entered service with the Russian Army in 2004.
✅It can be fired by an individual or crew to bring down an enemy aircraft.
✅It has the capability of bringing down low-flying aircraft. It can also identify and neutralise air targets, such as cruise missiles and drones.
✅It has an effective range upto 6 km.
✅The limiting altitude of effective target destruction for the "Igla-S" complex is 3.5 km.

#gs2
#ir
#Security

@upsc_4_ir

NORGES BANK - The central bank of Norway has excluded adani ports and special economic zone from its Government pension fund global

📍 Government Pension Fund

✅The Government Pension Fund Global was established after Norway discovered oil in the North Sea.
✅The fund was set up to shield the economy from ups and downs in oil revenue. While investing in companies, the fund considers environmental and social issues.
✅The fund itself may also decide to divest from companies that impose substantial costs on other companies and society as a whole, and so are not considered long-term sustainable.
✅As per the Norges Bank Investment Management website, the fund held 0.24 per cent stake in Adani Ports at the end of December 2023
✅The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global GPFG is one of the world’s largest fund, owning almost 1.5 percent of all shares in the world’s listed companies. It has holdings in around 9,000 companies worldwide

#gs3
#prelims
#economy

@upsc_4_economy

Consider the following statements:

1. She joined the freedom struggle after being inspired by Mahatma Gandhi.

2. She led a large procession that marched with the aim of taking over the Tamluk police station from British authorities.

3. The local people used to call her "Old Lady Gandhi."

🔆Open Network for Digital commerce

📍ONDC click here

#gs3
#prelims
#economy

@upsc_prep_squad
@upsc_4_economy