1) Cyclone Mandous: it is a severe cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal
- Cyclones are caused by atmospheric disturbances around a low-pressure area distinguished by swift and often destructive air circulation.
- Cyclones are known as typhoons in the China Sea and Pacific Ocean; hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean; tornados in the Guinea lands of West Africa and southern USA; willy-willies in north-western Australia and tropical cyclones in the Indian Ocean.
2) Himalayan Medicinal Plants: Meizotropis pellita, commonly known as Patwa, is a perennial shrub with restricted distribution that is endemic to Uttarakhand. It is ‘critically endangered’. The leaves possess strong antioxidants, promising a natural substitute for synthetic antioxidants in pharmaceutical industries.
- Fritillaria cirrhosa (Himalayan fritillary) is a perennial bulbous herb. In China, the species is used for the treatment of bronchial disorders and pneumonia. The plant is also a strong cough suppressant. It is listed as vulnerable.
- Dactylorhiza hatagirea (Salampanja) is extensively used in Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and other alternative systems of medicine. It is listed as endangered.
3) Trisonic Wind Tunnel: it is a system to aid aerodynamic design of rockets and re-entry spacecrafts by characterising a scaled model by evaluating forces, moments, load distribution, unsteady pressures, acoustic levels etc.
- The tunnel can be used for testing various space vehicles in three flight regimes —subsonic, transonic and supersonic. The tunnel can simulate flight conditions from 0.2 times the speed of sound (68 m/s) to 4 times the speed of sound (1360 m/s).
- The trisonic wind tunnel was implemented through M/s Tata Projects India Ltd with the assistance of industries across the country.
- It is inaugurated at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) which is already equipped with a hypersonic wind tunnel
4) Air-Breathing Scramjet Engine: ISRO successfully conducted the hot test of scramjet engine.
- In an air-breathing scramjet engine, air from the atmosphere is rammed into the engine’s combustion chamber at a supersonic speed of more than Mach two.
- In the chamber, the air mixes with the fuel to ignite a supersonic combustion but the cruiser’s flight will be at a hypersonic speed of Mach six to seven.
- So it is called supersonic combustion ramjet or Scramjet.
5) Changes in tribe status, names etc:
- Narikoravan and Kuruvikkaran community: demanding ST status in Tamil Nadu
- Betta-Kuruba to be used as a synonym for the already categorised Kadu kuruba in the ST list of Karnataka.
Bhariya Bhumia tribe in the ST list of Chhattisgarh: add synonyms in devnagri script.
