DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

Recently, India’s Garba dance was included in the Intangible Cultural Heritage list by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO.

• It is a ritualistic and devotional dance performed throughout the State of Gujarat and across India.
• Garba – It is celebrated for 9 days during Navaratri festival and is dedicated to the worship of the feminine energy or Shakti.
• Garba dance – The cultural, performative, and visual expressions of this feminine energy are expressed through this dance.
• Participatory community event – It takes place within homes, temple courtyards, and public spaces in villages, urban squares, streets, and large open grounds.

Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) includes oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.

• It is included based on provisions of 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Garba of Gujarat is the 15th cultural item from India to make it to the UNESCO list. Kolkata’s Durga Puja was the last one added two years ago.

• Significance of inclusion – It will helps ensure the viability of Garba and inspires the community to continue with the knowledge, skills and oral traditions associated with it.

The United States' plans to build new nuclear gravity bomb will be designated as B61-13.

• Gravity bombs work by being pulled to the ground by the force of gravity instead of flying to the target on a powered missile.
• In this case, a bomber or an aircraft flies over the target and drops the bomb.
• These bombs do not consist of a guidance system and, hence, follow a ballistic trajectory.
• B61 – 13 - According to reports, the new bomb is estimated to be 360 kilotons, which is roughly 24 times powerful than the blast that destroyed Hiroshima.

The 2 bombs that the US dropped on Japan's Hiroshima was about 15 kilotons (or) 15 thousand tonnes (or kilotons) of TNT equivalent and Nagasaki was of 25 kilotons.

• The B61-13 will replace the 1980s era B61-7. The maximum yield of the B61-12 is 50 kilotons.
• The warhead reportedly had options, including 0.3kt, 1.5kt, 10kt, and 50kt.
• The B61-13 is intended to have the same yield as the B61-7, but with the modern safety, security, and accuracy features common to the B61-12 line currently in production.

• It is an initiative proposed by India to advance research in the field of millets and other ancient grains.
• The initiative's secretariat is based at the Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR) in Hyderabad.

Technical Support - International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), 1 CGIAR Centres, and other international organizations.

• The PC-7 is a low-wing, turbo-prop aircraft on which IAF pilots undergo basic training.
• It was developed from the piston-powered Pilatus P-3 aircraft and is manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft Ltd, Switzerland.
• The maximum operating speed of the aircraft is 556 km per hour, while the maximum range of the aircraft is 1,500 km.

There are 75 Pilatus PC-7 Mk II aircraft in service with the IAF.

• Baba Saheb Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar was born on 14^th April, 1891 and died on 6^th Dec, 1956 his death anniversary is observed as Mahaparinirvan Diwas across the country.
• His important works - In 1924 he started All India depressed classes association with Sir Chimanlal Setalvad.
• The Bahiskrit Bharat, newspaper was started in 1927 to address the cause of the depressed classes in view of the new reform.

He was conferred with the Title of Bodhisattva while he was alive.

• It is an initiative of creating mini forests in urban areas for the afforestation programme.
• Named after Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, this method involves planting 2 to 4 different types of indigenous trees within every square metre.
• In this method, the trees become self-sustaining don’t require regular manuring and watering and they grow to their full length within 3 years.

The methodology was developed in the 1970s, with the basic objective to densify green cover within a small parcel of land.

• Operation Nanhe Farishte is a Railway Protection Force (RPF) initiative to reconnect children who have been lost or separated from their families.
• The operation also rescues children who come into contact with Indian Railways and need care and protection.

The children are then handed over to authorities and returned to their families.

• Seismogenic liquefaction features like multiple sand dykes and sand sills have been identified by scientists in an active fault in northeastern region (NER), called Kopili fault (KF) zone.
• The Kopili Fault, a lineament situated in the northeastern region (NER), extends from the western part of Manipur to the tri-junction of Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh, and Assam.

It is one of the active fault that has experienced large earthquakes and falls into the Highest Seismic Hazard Zone V.