DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

Over 5,000 tourists visited Sula Vineyard facilities in Bengaluru and Nashik on December 24^th 2023, the most on a single day sale of ?85 lakh.

• Wine – An alcoholic beverage with alcohol content from 12% or more so of distilled spirits (all by volume).
• Production - India’s shares less than 1% in global production, while France, Italy, Spain and the US tops globally.
• Maharashtra holds 90% of India’s total wine production.

Over the last few years wine as a category has grown faster than Indian Made Foreign Liquor segment but its share in total alcohol sales in the country is still less than a 1%.

• Wine tourism – The growth of home grown brands and the availability of imported wines are driving travel interest to vineyards in India and overseas.
• Maharashtra’s Nashik is emerging as the ‘Wine Capital of India’
  • It receives more than 3.5 lakh visitors every year.

Sula, India’s largest wine producer, with its 1^st resort at its vineyard in Nashik. Over 3 days in 2023, it received 12,000 visitors who contributed ?2.28 crore in revenue.

• Steps taken – Reduction in duties and stepped-up marketing campaigns.
• Economic importance - According to International Spirits & Wines Association of India, wine tourism in Nashik has benefitted nearby villages by creating new opportunities like hotel properties, food industry, local farmers and retail merchants.
• It also helps Maharashtra to improve state GDP by nearly 20%.

Ghol fish, the State fish of Gujarat whose air bladder is used in the production of wine and beer.

Judima, a home-made rice wine of Assam’s Dimasa tribe has become the 1^st traditional brew in all of northeast to earn a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for its distinct sweet taste.

ISRO's XPoSat was successfully launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

About- India's inaugural scientific satellite to measure space-based polarization of X-ray emissions from celestial sources such as black holes and neutron stars in the medium energy band (8-30 keV).

• Orbit location - Low earth orbit (650 km), low inclination of 6 degree)
• Launch vehicle - PSLV C58
• Mission life - 5 years
• Payloads - The satellite carries 2 payloads.

XPoSAT is the 2^nd spacecraft in the world which will study celestial bodies using polarimetric techniques, after NASA's Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE).

PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM)

• The fourth stage of PSLV (PS4), also called the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM) will perform orbital experiments.Since this is the 3^rd time ISRO has used PS4 to exhibit orbital experiments, XPoSAT's PS4 is called POEM-3.
• The spent PS4 stage will be used to conduct in-orbit scientific experiments in microgravity conditions for an extended duration of 4-6 months.
• It derives power from the solar panels mounted around the PS4 tank and a Lithium-ion battery.
• POEM-3 is equipped with 10 payloads.

National Research Centre on Litchi (NRCL) has successfully expanded litchi cultivation in India by providing technical help, plants and training to farmers.

• It is a sweet juicy fruit which is also known as lychee or lichee.
• Scientific name – Litchi chinensis under soapberry family (Sapindaceae).
• It is a small, oval roundish fruit that is native to Southeast Asia.
• Growing conditions – A sensitive fruit influenced by temperature, rainfall, humidity and soil suitability as well.
• Climate changes can make the fruit to grow smaller, less sweet and juicy and crack.
• In India – It mainly grows in the foothills of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand.
• Commercial cultivation – More than 0.1 million hectares of land across 19 Indian states including Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Mizoram among others.
• Litchi harvest – It takes place in summer in North India while in Karnataka, it takes place in the winter.
• Production – Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Assam accounts for 78% of the total production in the country.
• Bihar alone produces 43% of total litchi and occupies nearly 35% of the area in India.

Muzaffarpur region of Bihar, the litchi capital of India.

• Popular varieties – Shahi litchi, China, Gandki Lalima, Gandki Sampada and Gandki Yogita.

Shahi litchifrom Bihar known for its sweet, juicy, unique flavour and aroma with pearly white aril has a Geographical Indication (GI) tag.

Litchi fruit contains a toxin, methylene cyclopropyl-glycine (MCPG), which is known to be fatal by causing encephalitis-related deaths. This is especially harmful when consumed by malnourished children.

• A savings or current account is treated as inoperative, if there are no ‘customer induced transactions’ in the account for a period of over 2 years.
• A customer induced transaction can be a financial transaction initiated by or done at the
  • Behest of the account holder by the bank or third party, or
  • A non-financial transaction, or

A KYC (know your customer) updation done in face-to-face physical mode or through digital channels such as internet banking or mobile banking application of the bank.

• RGIA in Hyderabad was ranked 2^nd among the top 20 global airports with the highest On-Time Performance (OTP), according to Cirium’s annual report released recently.
• On-time performance (OTP) is a measure of how punctual an airline's flights are compared to their scheduled times.

A flight is considered on-time if it arrives or departs within 15 minutes of its scheduled time.