Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) System

• AIP is the marine propulsion technology that allows a non-nuclear submarine to operate without access to atmospheric oxygen.
• The technology create energy by combining hydrogen and oxygen, with only water created as a by-product.
• Since these cells are extremely efficient and have minimal moving parts, they can also operate without increasing the acoustic signature of the submarine.
• Hydrogen fuel cells create no exhaust fumes which also eliminates the need to have special exhaust scrubbing and disposable machine parts.
• Fuel-cell based AIPs enable submarines to stay underwater for vastly longer periods of time than conventional diesel-electric submarines increasing their range and turning them into a far more potent and lethal adversary.
• Despite the advantage it offers them against conventional diesel-electric submarines, they still do not have the same endurance as nuclear submarines that do not need to surface at all.

Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF)

• It is a central sector scheme that will enable a financing facility of Rs.1 lakh crore for funding agriculture projects.
• It was launched in July 2020 for creation of post-harvest management infrastructure and community farm assets.
• AIF is providing all-round financial support to the farmers, Agri-entrepreneurs, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), Self Help Groups (SHGs), Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) and many others.
• It provides 3% interest subvention, credit guarantee support through Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme for loan up to Rs. 2 cores.

National Mission for a Green India (GIM)

• It is one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change.
• It aims at protecting, restoring and enhancing India’s forest cover and responding to climate change.
• The target under the Mission is 10 million hectares (Mha) on forest and non-forest lands for increasing the forest/tree cover and to improve the quality of existing forest.
• States with significant shortfall in tree cover include:
  • Andhra Pradesh, with a target of 186 ha but having only achieved 75 ha.
  • Uttarakhand with a target of 6,446 ha but only 1,505 ha achieved
  • Madhya Pradesh targeting 5,858 ha but delivering 1,882 ha
  • Kerala committing 1,686 ha but furnishing 616 ha
  • Punjab, unusually committed to 629 ha but having delivered 1,082 ha
• As per the India State of Forest Report-2021, forest and tree cover in the country increased by 2,261 square kilometre since the last assessment in 2019.
• Madhya Pradesh had the largest forest cover, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra.
• The top 5 States in terms of forest cover as a percentage of their total geographical area were Mizoram (84.53%), Arunachal Pradesh (79.33%), Meghalaya (76%), Manipur (74.34%) and Nagaland (73.90%).

Earth’s Inner Core

• The core-mantle boundary is positioned at the depth of 2,900 km.
• The inner core is in the solid-state whereas the outer core is in the liquid state.
• The core is made up of very heavy material mostly constituted by nickel and iron and hence it is also called the “nife” layer.
• The inner core can spin independently because it floats in the liquid metal outer core.
• Exactly how the inner core rotates has been a matter of debate.
• Recently scientists have found that the Earth's inner core rotating slower than surface.

Pashmina Shawls

• Pashmina comes from an animal fibre Cashmere, derived from the Changthangi goat of Ladakh.
• Changthang is the land of the nomads, located east of Leh, about 14600 m above sea level and winter temperature can drop to −400c.
• Changpa are herder nomadic tribes belong to the sub-sect of larger Buddhist community in the Ladakh.
• They rear sheep in harsh climates for meat and Pashmina goats for wool primarily.
• A GI Tag for Pashmina shawls was given in the year 2013 owing to its geographic origin and unique methods of making.