Category: POLITY

Context: The Supreme Court rejected a plea seeking to protect Hindutva ideologue V.D. Savarkar’s name under the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950.

Decoding the context: Appearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, petitioner said the court must allow him to set right and establish certain historical facts concerning Savarkar to stop misunderstandings about him.

Learning Corner:

• The Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950, prohibits the improper use of certain emblems, names, and symbols for commercial or other purposes to prevent misuse that could affect national dignity or public interest.
• Enactment: Passed in 1950 by the Parliament of India.
• Applicability: Extends to the whole of India and applies to Indian citizens, companies, or entities outside India.

Key Provisions

• Prohibited Items: The Act restricts the use of specific emblems and names listed in its Schedule, including:
  • National symbols like the National Flag, National Emblem, and the name “India.”
  • Names and emblems of the President, Prime Minister, Republic of India, and other constitutional authorities.
  • Names of international organizations like the United Nations, WHO, and UNESCO.
  • Historical figures or entities like Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (added to the Schedule to prevent misuse).
• Restrictions: Prohibits use in trademarks, business names, patents, or designs without prior permission from the Central Government or authorized entities.
• Exceptions: Use may be permitted for specific purposes (e.g., educational or cultural) with government approval.

Administration and Enforcement

• Authority: The Central Government (Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution) oversees implementation.
• Schedule Amendments: The Central Government can add or remove names/emblems from the Schedule via notification.

Source : The Hindu

Category: ENVIRONMENT

Context: May 28 is celebrated every year as World Dugong Day.

Decoding the context:  Once widespread in Indian waters, dugong numbers have fallen to an estimated 200 individuals, with both their population and geographic range on the wane.

Learning Corner:

• Dugongs (Dugong dugon) are the only herbivorous mammals found in India’s marine ecosystems. They are also known as the “sea cow.”
• Distribution: Found in warm, shallow waters of the Indo-Pacific, in India primarily in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, and Gulf of Kutch.

Ecological Role

• Diet: Exclusively herbivorous, feeding on seagrasses (e.g., Cymodocea, Halophila, Thalassia, Halodule), consuming 20–30 tonnes daily.
• Habitat: Restricted to shallow waters with seagrass beds, which they nurture by grazing, earning the title “farmer of the sea.”
• Seagrass Importance: Stabilizes seafloor, supports fisheries, captures carbon, and shelters marine life.

Biological Characteristics

• Lifespan: Up to 70 years.
• Reproduction: Slow reproductive cycle; maturity at 9–10 years, calving every 3–5 years.
• Behavior: Generally solitary or in mother-calf pairs; large herds rare in India compared to Australia.
• Unique Trait: Can digest cellulose, with rapidly regrowing teeth due to wear from seagrass consumption.

Conservation Status

• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable globally; In India, they are classified as ‘regionally endangered’.
• Legal Protection: Schedule I species under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, granting the highest level of protection.

Threats

• Habitat Loss: Seagrass meadows degraded by coastal development, port construction, dredging, land reclamation, and pollution.
• Fishing Practices: Dugongs are air-breathing mammals that must surface regularly. But once entangled in gillnets and trawl nets, they often drown before fishers can release them. 
• Boat Traffic: Collisions with fast-moving boats in Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, and Gulf of Kutch.
• Climate Change: Rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification, and cyclones affect seagrass ecosystems.
• Poaching: Illegal hunting persists, especially in remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Conservation Efforts

• Dugong Conservation Reserve: India’s first reserve established in 2022 in Palk Bay, Tamil Nadu (448.3 sq. km, with 122.5 sq. km of seagrass beds), identified as a dugong stronghold.
• India has been party to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals since 1983 and has also been a signatory to the Convention’s Memorandum of Understanding on Dugong Conservation and Habitat Management across their range since 2008.

Source : The Hindu

Category: GEOGRAPHY

Context:  Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang has urged the Centre to ensure that Mt. Khangchendzonga, the world’s third-highest peak, regarded as sacred by the people of the State, is made out of bounds for mountaineers.

Decoding the context: Climbing activities are banned in Sikkim, where the mountain is worshipped as a guardian deity, but are allowed from the Nepal side.

Learning Corner:

• Mount Khangchendzonga (also spelled Kanchenjunga), is the third highest mountain in the world.
• Elevation: 8,586 meters (28,169 feet).
• Location: Situated on the India-Nepal border, primarily in Sikkim (India) and Taplejung District (Nepal).
• Cultural Importance: The mountain is revered as the abode of the principal guardian and protector-deity of Sikkim, known as Dzoe-Nga. This sacred being is worshipped as the Pho-lha, or the chief of the entire assemblage of supernatural entities of Sikkim. These deities were recognised and anointed as the guardian deities of the land by Ugyen Guru Rinpoche, also known as Guru Padmasambhava, the Patron Saint of Sikkim.

Geographical Context

• Range: Part of the Himalayan mountain range.
• Coordinates: Lies in the eastern Himalayas, forming part of the border between Sikkim and Nepal.
• Four main glaciers radiate from the peak, pointing roughly to the northeast, southeast, northwest and southwest. The Zemu glacier in the northeast and the Talung glacier in the southeast drain to the Teesta River; the Yalung glacier in the southwest and the Kangchen glacier in the northwest drain to the Arun and Kosi rivers.

Khangchendzonga National Park (KNP)

• Establishment: Notified in 1977, expanded in 1997 to include Mount Khangchendzonga and surrounding areas.
• Location: Sikkim, covering ~1,784 sq. km, encompassing alpine meadows, glaciers, and the mountain’s slopes.
• UNESCO World Heritage Site: Designated in 2016 as a Mixed (Natural and Cultural) World Heritage Site, the first in India, for its unique biodiversity and cultural significance.
• Biodiversity: Home to endemic species like snow leopards, Himalayan tahr, red panda, and musk deer; includes diverse ecosystems from subtropical to alpine zones.

Source : The Hindu

Category: GEOGRAPHY

Context:  The intense storm that hit Delhi on Sunday appeared in an unusual shape in the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD’s) weather radar imagery. The storm looked like a crescent or an archer’s bow. In technical terms, such presentations of storms are called “bow echoes”.

Decoding the context: Meteorologists track bow echoes because they are often a precursor to more destructive windstorms. For instance, during the Sunday storm, Delhi witnessed winds reaching up to 100 kmph.

Learning Corner:

• A bow echo is essentially a line of storms, also called a squall line, on the radar that looks like a bow. Note that this squall line can sometimes be embedded in a larger squall line.
• A bow echo can extend from 20 km to 100 km, and last between three and six hours.

How does a bow echo form?

• When rain-cooled air comes down to the ground, and spreads out horizontally. As this happens, a boundary called the gust front is created between the rain-cooled air and warm-moist air on the surface.
• This front pushes up the warm-moist air into the atmosphere, which forms new thunderstorms. These new thunderstorms produce more rain, thereby creating more rain-cooled air, which helps the gust front to maintain its strength.
• As this process keeps repeating itself, there comes a point when there is an inflow of air on the trailing side of the line of storms and bends it like an archer’s bow. The cycle lasts as long as new thunderstorms keep forming at the front, helping the system grow and move forward with strong winds.

Source : Indian Express

Category: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Context: A team of researchers from the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences (SKUAST) in Srinagar has produced India’s first gene-edited sheep.

Decoding the context:  The breakthrough comes after the release of India’s first gene-edited rice variety recently.

Learning Corner:

• Breed: Local Merino lamb was used for the gene-editing experiment.
• The gene editing was performed using CRISPR-Cas9 technology.
• Target Gene: The team of researchers edited the myostatin gene of the lamb that is responsible for regulating the growth of muscle in the sheep.
• Outcome: The gene-edited sheep exhibits ~30% more muscle mass, with potential for higher meat yield (100 grams heavier than non-edited lambs within three months), while wool yield remains unaffected (2–2.5 kg).
• Non-Transgenic: The edited sheep contains no foreign DNA, distinguishing it from transgenic organisms, facilitating regulatory approval under India’s biotech policy framework.
• Achieved after four years of research, funded by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Source : Indian Express

Q1. Which of the following statements about India’s first gene-edited sheep is correct?

A) It was developed using transgenic technology to increase wool production.

B) The sheep was created by editing the myostatin gene using CRISPR-Cas9 technology.

C) It was developed by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 2024.

D) The gene-edited sheep contains foreign DNA to enhance disease resistance.

Q2.What is a Bow Echo in weather terminology?

A) A type of earthquake wave
B) A curved thunderstorm system seen on radar
C) A tropical cyclone formed near the equator
D) A sound pattern formed during high-altitude flights

Q3.Which of the following statements about Mount Khangchendzonga is correct?

A) It is the highest mountain peak in India, located entirely in Sikkim.

B) It is revered as the abode of Dzoe-Nga, the principal guardian deity of Sikkim.

C) Khangchendzonga National Park was designated as a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site in 2016.

D) The mountain is primarily located in the Western Himalayas.

Comment the answers to the above questions in the comment section below!!

ANSWERS FOR ’  Today’s – Daily Practice MCQs’ will be updated along with tomorrow’s Daily Current Affairs

Q.1) – d

Q.2) – b

Q.3) – a