• Ministry of Earth Sciences had recently launched the mobile App "Mausam” for India Meteorological Department on its foundation day celebration.
• This Mobile App is dedicated to the general public and designed to communicate the weather information and forecasts in a lucid manner without technical jargons.
• Users can access observed weather, forecasts, radar images and be proactively warned of impending weather events.
• The mobile app has been designed and developed jointly by ICRISAT’s Digital Agriculture & Youth (DAY) team, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune and India Meteorological Department.

Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)

• The MoES was formed in 2006 by a merger of the India Meteorological Department, the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, the Earth Risk Evaluation Centre and the Ministry of Ocean Development.

• MoES-Knowledge Resource Centre Network (KRCNet) was launched recently on the Foundation Day of Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).

KRCNet

• Under the Digital India initiative of Government of India, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) aims to develop a World-Class Knowledge Resource Centre Network (KRCNet).
• Keeping in mind the spectacular developments in information technology, the traditional libraries of the MoES system will be upgraded into a top-notch Knowledge Resource Centres (KRC).
• KRCs will be connected with each other and integrated into the KRCNet portal.
• It will be a single point entry to the intellectual world of Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
• The resources and services of MoES system will be accessible 24X7 through a one point dynamic, updated and integrated KRCNet portal.
• A pilot project has been developed at MoES headquarters which will be integrated with other MoES institutes.

• Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has recently launched its innovation contest ‘Dare to Dream 2.0’ on the 5th death anniversary of former President and noted scientist Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
• The scheme is being launched for emerging technologies to promote the individuals & startups for innovation in defence and aerospace technologies in the country.
• Award money, up to Rs 10 lakh for startup and Rs 5 lakh to individual category, will be given to the winners.

• A recent study by the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, explores the elastic properties of rocks and seismicity in this easternmost part of India.
• It revealed that the area is generating moderate earthquakes at two different depths.
• Low magnitude earthquakes are concentrated at 1-15 km depth, and slightly higher than 4.0 magnitude earthquakes are mostly generated from 25-35 km depth.
• The intermediate-depth is devoid of seismicity and coincides with the zone of fluid/partial melts.

Background

• The exhumation and growth of the Himalaya is a continuous process that results predominantly from reverse faults in which the rocks on the lower surface of a fault plane move under relatively static rocks on the upper surface, a process called Underthrusting of the Indian plate beneath its Eurasian counterpart.
• This process keeps modifying the drainage patterns and landforms and is the pivotal reason for causing an immense seismic hazard in the Himalayan mountain belt and adjoining regions.
• It necessitates assessment and characterization of earthquakes in terms of cause, depth and intensity before construction activities are initiated.

Tuting-Tidding Suture Zone (TTSZ)

• TTSZ is a major part of the Eastern Himalaya, where the Himalaya takes a sharp southward bend and connects with the Indo-Burma Range.
• This part of the Arunachal Himalaya has gained significant importance in recent times due to the growing need of constructing roads and hydropower projects, making the need for understanding the pattern of seismicity in this region critical.

• Recently, Rajasthan Chief Minister called upon Governor and reiterated his request to summon the House.
• Under Article 174, a governor shall summon the House at a time and place, as she or he thinks fit.
• Article 174 (2) (a) says a governor may from “time to time” prorogue the House and 174 (2) (b) allows her or him to dissolve the Legislative Assembly.
• Article 163 says the governor shall exercise her or his functions with the aid and advice of the council of ministers.
• But it also adds that she or he would not need their advice if the Constitution requires her or him to carry out any function at her/his discretion.
• A 2016 verdict of the Supreme Court in the Nabam Rebia case, had expressly stated that a “governor can summon, prorogue and dissolve the House, only on the aid and advice of the council of ministers”.   

• Recently, number of fires increases in Brazil's Pantanal Wetland in 21 years.
• The Fires nearly doubled in the first half of 2020, compared to the same period last year.
• The Pantanal is the world’s largest tropical wetland and one of the most pristine in the world.
• It sprawls across three South American countries—Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay.
• The wetland has the largest concentration of crocodiles in the world and also home to the biggest parrot on the planet, the hyacinth macaw.
• It supports millions of people there, as well as communities in the lower Rio de la Plata Basin.
• Less than 5% of the Pantanal is protected, with parts that fall under an Ramsar agreement, and some that are UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Biosphere Reserves.
• Around 95% of the Pantanal is under private ownership, the majority of which is used for cattle grazing.    

• Recently, Israeli forces exchanged fire with Hezbollah militants along the volatile Israel-Lebanon border.
• Israel had been bracing for an attack since an Israeli airstrike in neighboring Syria killed a Hezbollah fighter.
• Hezbollah is a Shia Islamist political party and militant group based in Lebanon.
• Lebanon shares its border with Syria and Israel.
• It has a narrow coastal strip along the Mediterranean Sea.

• India’s first-ever COVID-19 Blockchain Platform, BelYo launched.
• BelYo uses the blockchain platform to convert COVID-19 related clinical and vaccination data of citizens currently from the physical form into digital assets.
• It can be retrieved by any contact tracing apps like Aarogya Setu via APIs.
• Using these APIs, an individual can scan and retrieve data as colour-coded results through a QR code.
• It will make the process 100% contact less and seamless at any point of entry during and post the COVID-19 crisis.
• It is developed by BelfricsBT, a global blockchain start-up, along with YoSync, a start-up incubated at IIITB-IMACX Studios. 

• International Tiger Day is celebrated on 29 July every year.
• Under the St. Petersburg Declaration, the 13 tiger range countries agreed to a Global Tiger Recovery Program.
• All the 13 countries with tiger populations at the time made a commitment to double wild tigers by 2022, Tx2.
• Nepal become first country in the world to double its tiger population as part of Tx2 program.