S. No.	Topic Name	Prelims/Mains
1.	IMO urged to act on Black Carbon Emissions	Prelims & Mains
2.	NASA’s VIPER Mission	Prelims & Mains
3.	SCO Peaceful Mission 2021	Prelims & Mains
4.	Assam-Mirzoram Border Dispute	Prelims & Mains
5.	State Food Safety Index (SFSI)	Prelims & Mains
6.	Sign Language Day	Prelims Specific
7.	Samudra Shakti	Prelims Specific
8.	Hybodont Shark	Prelims Specific
9.	Vishnuonyx	Prelims Specific

 

1. IMO urged to act on Black Carbon Emissions 

GS III

Topic Conservation related issues

• Why in News:
• With Arctic summer ice reaching its 12th lowest ever extent, the Clean Arctic Alliancehas called for urgent cuts to black carbon emissions from shipping, ahead of the 77th Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting (MEPC 77) at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in
• About the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC):
• In order to ensure that a proactive stance is taken by in order to protect and safeguard the interests of the marine environment and ecosystem, the IMO has established the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC).
• The committee seeks to provide a solution for the problem of air pollution caused by the constant and heavy traffic of ships in the oceanic areas.
• The committee in its sessions also seeks to provide required revisions to the existing MARPOL stipulations and guidelines.
• The creation and enforcement of PSSAs (Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas) and other special oceanic zones is also an area that is looked into by the environment protection organisation.
• What is black Carbon? What are the concerns?
• Black carbon results from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass.
• BC is produced both naturally and by human activities as a result of the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass.
• Primary sources includeemissions from diesel engines, cook stoves, wood burning and forest fires.
• It is a short-lived pollutant that is the second-largest contributor to warming the planet behind carbon dioxide (CO2).
• Prelims Hot-Link:
• Black Carbon.
• What is brown carbon
• Source – IMO Website

2. NASA’s VIPER Mission:

GS III

Topic Awareness in space

• Why in News:
• NASA has chosen a landing site for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER).
• The site is on the western edge of Nobile crater,near the lunar south pole. The crater was named after Italian polar explorer Umberto Nobile.
• Background:
• NASA, in July 2021, announced that it will launch its Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER,in 2023.
• NASA is undertaking the mission to understand if it is possible for human life to sustain there, by using locally available resources.
• About the mission:
• VIPER is a mobile robot.
• It is the first resource mapping mission on any other celestial body.
• NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) will be providing the launch vehicle and lander for what’s going to be a 100-day mission.
• Objectives of the mission:
• To explore the Moon’s South Pole region.
• Help create lunar resource maps.
• Evaluate the concentration of water as well as other potential resources on its surface.
• Significance of the mission:
• VIPER’s findings will inform “future landing sites under the Artemis program by helping to determine locations where water and other resources can be harvested” to sustain humans over extended stays.
• Source – The Hindu

3. SCO Peaceful Mission 2021:

GS II

Topic àBilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests:

• Why in News:
• Indian Military Contingent recently participated in the 6th Edition of Exercise SCO Peaceful Mission 2021at Orenburg, Russia.
• Exercise SCO Peaceful Mission:
• Joint Counter Terrorism Exercise PEACEFUL MISSION is a Multilateral Exercise, which is conducted biennially as part of military diplomacy between Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states.
• The aim of the exercise is to foster close relations between SCO member states and to enhance abilities of the military leaders to command multi-national military contingents.
• The exercise will enable sharing of best practices between the Armed Forces of SCO nations.
• About the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO):
• It is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation.
• It’s creation was announced on 15 June 2001in Shanghai (China) by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan.
• It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism.
• The SCO’s main goals are as follows:
• Strengthening mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states; promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, the economy, research, technology and culture, as well as in education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, and other areas; making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region; and moving towards the establishment of a democratic, fair and rational new international political and economic order.
• Membership:
• SCO comprises eight member states,namely the Republic of India, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan.
• Prelims Hot-Link:
• What is Shanghai Five?
• When was SCO charter signed and when it entered into force?
• SCO founding members.
• When did India join the group?
• Observers and dialogue partners of SCO.
• Permanent bodies under SCO.
• Official languages of SCO.
• Source – The PIB

4. Assam-Mizoram Border Dispute:

GS III

Topic: Internal Security related issues

• Why in News:
• The Chief Ministers of Assam and Mizoram have sought to ease tensionsalong the border.
• Recent incidents/developments: 
• The police forces of both States exchanged fires on July 26.
• This left six Assam policemen and a civilian dead and 60 others injured.
• Assam claimed the firing was one-sided and unprovoked, while Mizoram said they retaliated to the aggression by the Assam police.
• Origins of the dispute:
• The two States share a 164.6-km volatile border and the conflict is decades-old.
• At the center of the dispute are two notifications- 1875 and 1993
• Mizoram claims that the land is theirs is based on an 1875 notification,which came from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act of 1873.
• Assam claims that the land is theirs based on a 1933 notification that demarcated the Lushai Hills, which Mizoram was formerly known as, from the province of Manipur.
• Impacts of such incidents:
• After recent incidents, locals in Assam blocked the National Highway-306besides uprooting a stretch of the lone railway track connecting Mizoram.
• Transportation of people and goods to and from Mizoram had thus been affected.

What needs to be done:

• The Supreme Court should be approached for an amicable solution.
• CRPF forces should patrol and monitor the region under the direct supervision of the Union government should be increased.
• Avoid posting sensitive messages and make judicious use of social media platform” to prevent any possible escalation of the situation.
• Prelims Hot-Link:
• Border between Assam and Mizoram.
• Reasons for the Border dispute.
• North East states that have international borders.
• NH 306- location.
• Overview of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act of 1873.
• Source – The Hindu

5. State Food Safety Index 2021:

GS II

Topic Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

• Why in News
• Recently, the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare released the 3rd State Food Safety Index (SFSI).
• Highlights of the index:
• Among the larger states, Gujarat was the top ranking state, followed by Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• Among the smaller states, Goa stood first followed by Meghalaya and Manipur.
• Among UTs, Jammu & Kashmir, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and New Delhi secured top ranks.
• About the Index:
• The Index is a dynamic quantitative and qualitative benchmarking model that provides an objective framework for evaluating food safety across all States/UTs.
• The first State Food Safety Index for the year 2018-19 was announced on the first-ever World Food Safety Day on 7th June 2019.
• The index is developed by FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India)to measure the performance of states on five significant parameters of Food Safety.
• The parameters include Human Resources and Institutional Data, Compliance, Food Testing – Infrastructure and Surveillance, Training & Capacity Building and Consumer Empowerment.
• Prelims Hot-Link:
• About FSSAI
• About State Food Safety Index (SFSI).
• Source – The PIB

6. Sign Language Day:

Prelims Specific Topic

• Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC), an autonomous body within the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, will be celebrating ‘Sign Language Day’ on September 23, 2021.
• The theme for International Day of Sign Languages 2021is “We Sign For Human Rights”.
• The day was first celebrated in 2018 as a part of the International Week of the Deaf.
• September 23 was chosen because on this date the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD)was established in 1951.
• The use of sign languages has been recognised and promoted by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
• That is sign languages are equal in status to spoken language and obligates states parties to facilitate the learning of sign language and promote the linguistic identity of the deaf community.

7. Samudra Shakti:

Prelims Specific Topic

• Samudra Shakti is a bilateral exercise between the navies of India and Indonesia that was conceived in 2018.
• The exercise aims to strengthen the bilateral relationship, enhance mutual understanding and interoperability in maritime operations between the two navies.

8. Hybodont Shark:

Prelims Specific Topic

• In a rare discovery, teeth of new species of hybodont sharkof the Jurassic age have been reported for the first time from Jaisalmer by a team of the Geological Survey of India (GSI).
• Hybodonts, an extinct group of sharks, was a dominant group of fishes in both marine and fluvial environments during the Triassic and early Jurassic time.
• They became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous time 65 million years ago.

9. Vishnuonyx:

Prelims Specific Topic

• Researchers from the Universities of Tübingen and Zaragoza have discovered the fossil of a previously unknown species, which they have named Vishnuonyxneptuni,meaning ‘Neptune’s Vishnu’.
• Between 12.5 million and 14 million years ago, Vishnuonyx, members of a genus of otters,lived in the major rivers of southern Asia.
• Fossils of these now extinct otters were first discovered in sediments found in the foothills of the Himalayas. Now, a newly found fossil indicates it had travelled as far as Germany.
• This is the first discovery of any member of the Vishnuonyx genus in Europe; it is also its most northern and western record till date.