Prelim Bits 23-03-2018

BrahMos

• Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos was successfully flight-tested for the first time with an indigenous seeker.
• So far, the seeker, a critical technology in missiles, had come from Russia.
• The seeker was developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad, in collaboration with other DRDO labs.
• The seeker technology, which determines the accuracy of a missile, is a closely guarded secret.
• Click here to know about BrahMos.

Congo conflict

• An ongoing conflict between the Pygmies and the Bantus has displaced 67,000 people in Congo.
• Cohabitation has never been easy between the two communities, with the land-owning Bantus accused of exploiting the hunter-gatherers pygmies.
• Bantu peoples is used as a general label for the 300–600 ethnic groups in Africa who speak Bantu languages
• The ‘Pygmy’ peoples of central Africa are traditionally hunter-gatherers living in the rainforests throughout central Africa.
• The Pygmies’ nomadic lifestyle is increasingly under threat from deforestation, mining and extensive farming by the Bantus

Pacific Garbage Patch

• The vast dump of plastic waste swirling in the Pacific ocean is now bigger than France, Germany and Spain combined —is growing rapidly.
• The immense accumulation of bottles, containers, fishing nets and microparticles in the ocen is known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” (GPGP).
• The dump now contains around 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic, posing a dual threat to marine life.

1. Microplastics, tiny fragments of plastic smaller than 50mm in size that make up the vast majority of items in the GPGP, is a major contributer to bioaccumulation in the food web.
2. The other environmental impact comes from the larger debris, especially the fishing nets. The net fragments kill marine life by trapping fish and animals such as turtles in a process known as ‘ghost fishing’.

• At present, about 80,000 tons of buoyant plastic is in the GPGP.

Kawal Tiger Reserve

• Kawal tiger reserve is situated in Northern Telegana state.
• The wildlife sanctuary in Kawal is the catchment area of river Godavari and Kadam.
• The indiactor species of the sanctuary are Tiger and Nilgai.
• The reserve forms the southern end of the central Indian Tiger Reserve Landscpe.
• It is also linked to the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharastra to it north and Indrvathi Tiger reerve to its east
• The forest area found here is the southern tropical mixed dry deciduous forest and dry teak forest.

Dravidian Language Family

• A study has found that the Dravidian language family had originated about 4,500 years ago.
• The language family consists of 80 varieties spoken by nearly 220 million people across southern and central India.
• The Dravidian language family’s four largest languages — Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu — have literary traditions spanning centuries
• The geographical origin of the Dravidian language or its exact dispersal through time is not known with certainty.

Integrated Scheme for Development of Silk Industry

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had given its approval for Central Sector Scheme "Integrated Scheme for Development of Silk Industry".
• The core objective of the scheme is to improve the productivity and quality of silk through R&D intervention.
• It is expected to increase the silk production from the level of 30348 MTs during 2016-17 to 38500 MTs by end of 2019-20
• It will promote Women Empowerment and livelihood opportunities to SC/ST and other weaker sections of the society.
• It will be implemented by the Ministry through Central Silk Board (CSB).
• The Scheme has four components,

1. Research & Development (R&D), Training, Transfer of Technology and IT Initiatives
2. Seed Organizations and farmers extension centers
3. Coordination and Market Development for seed, yarn and silk products and
4. Quality Certification System (QCS) by creating amongst others a chain of Silk Testing facilities, Farm based & post-cocoon Technology Up-gradation, and Export Brand Promotion

• Brand Promotion of Indian silk will be encouraged through quality certification by Silk Mark.
• Efforts will be strengthened for collaborating with National Institute of Fashion Technology and National Institute of Design for support on design and product development.

Map of the day

Middle East Asia

• West bank and Gaza strip constitute Palestine.
• Armenia and Azerbaijan are land locked countries.

Source: PIB, The Hindu, Business Standard