Daily Prelims 13th February 2024

1. Whale Phishing:

• A whale phishing or whaling attack is a spear phishing attack that is aimed exclusively at a high-level executive or official.  
• The attacker typically impersonates a peer within the target’s organization, or an equal or higher-level colleague or associate from another organization. 
• Because whaling attacks target individuals who can authorize larger payments, they offer the potential of a higher immediate payoff for the attacker. 

2. Gravitational Lensing :

• Gravitational lensing occurs when a massive celestial body — such as a galaxy cluster — causes a sufficient curvature of spacetime for the path of light around it to be visibly bent, as if by a lens.  
• The body causing the light to curve is accordingly called a gravitational lens. 
• According to Einstein’s general theory of relativity, time and space are fused together in a quantity known as spacetime.  
• Within this theory, massive objects cause spacetime to curve, and gravity is simply the curvature of spacetime.  
• As light travels through spacetime, the theory predicts that the path taken by the light will also be curved by an object’s mass.  
• Gravitational lensing is a dramatic and observable example of Einstein’s theory in action. 

3. Event Horizon Telescope :

• The EHT is an international collaboration that has formed to continue the steady long-term progress on improving the capability of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at short wavelengths in pursuit of this goal.   
• This technique of linking radio dishes across the globe to create an Earth-sized interferometer, has been used to measure the size of the emission regions of the two supermassive black holes with the largest apparent event horizons: SgrA* at the center of the Milky Way and M87 in the center of the Virgo A galaxy.   
• In both cases, the sizes match that of the predicted silhouette caused by the extreme lensing of light by the black hole.  Addition of key millimeter and submillimeter wavelength facilities at high altitude sites has now opened the possibility of imaging such features and sensing the dynamic evolution of black hole accretion.   
• The EHT project includes theoretical and simulation studies that are framing questions rooted at the black hole boundary that may soon be answered through observations. 
• By linking together existing telescopes using novel systems, the EHT leverages considerable global investment to create a fundamentally new instrument with angular resolving power that is the highest possible from the surface of the Earth.  Over the coming years, the international EHT team will mount observing campaigns of increasing resolving power and sensitivity, aiming to bring black holes into focus. 

4. Nazool Land :

• Nazool land is government-owned property. However, usually it is not directly managed as state property. 
• It is often leased to entities for fixed periods, ranging from 15 to 99 years. 
• In case of lease expiry, one can approach the authority to renew the lease by submitting a written application to the revenue department of the local development authority. 
• The government can either renew or cancel leases. 
• Origin– Nazool land originated because kings and royals lacked documentation to prove ownership of lands seized during British rule. 

How is it governed? 

• While some states have issued government orders to frame rules for Nazool land. 
• The Nazool Lands (Transfer) Rules, 1956, is the law mostly used for adjudicating Nazool land. 

How does the government use Nazool land? 

• The government typically uses Nazool land for public purposes such as constructing schools, hospitals, Gram Panchayat buildings, etc. 
• Many cities in India have large portions of Nazool land used for housing societies, usually on lease. 

Edufacts 

1. Middle Class Housing Scheme :

Its announcement was made in the recent budget for FY 25.The government will start a program to assist middle-class individuals living in rented houses, slums, chawls, and unauthorized colonies to purchase or construct their own homes While it is part of the ‘housing for all’ policy, it’s not an extension of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). Its a new scheme where the government will define income levels, location, and accommodation types to identify beneficiaries. 

Note– There is no defined criteria for the identification of the middle class in India yet. 

2. Open Radio access Network (O-RAN) :

• It is not a technology but rather a continuous evolution in mobile network architectures that enables service providers to integrate non-proprietary subcomponents sourced from diverse vendors. 
• Features- ORAN features an open, multi-vendor architecture for deploying mobile networks, contrasting with the single-vendor proprietary architecture.  
• Conventional RAN vendor limitation– Traditionally, RAN infrastructure has been provided by a few major vendors, which has led to vendor lock-in and limited flexibility for network operators.  
• Software-Defined Collaboration– ORAN employs software to enable hardware from various manufacturers to collaborate effectively.  
• Protocol and Interface Openness– The main idea behind Open RAN is to ‘open up‘ the protocols and interfaces among different parts (such as radios, hardware, and software) in the RAN.   
• New solution for ORAN– Recently, the new ORAN base station solution is being designed and developed for commercialization by IIITB COMET Foundation (COMET), Bengaluru. Its aim is to create efficient wireless communication technology for 5G and 5G-Advanced radio networks. 

Note– COMET is one of the 25 Technology Innovation Hubs (TIH) established under the National Mission for Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). 

3. Dhokra Shilpkala Sculpture:

Places in News 

1. Red sea:

The Red Sea, one of the most saline bodies of water in the world, is an inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. 

Location/Map of Red Sea 

• The elongated and narrow-shaped basin extends between the Mediterranean Sea, to the north-west, and the Indian Ocean, to the south-east. 
• At the northern end, it separates into the Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Suez, which is connected to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. 
• At the southern end, it is connected to the Gulf of Aden, and the outer Indian Ocean, via the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. 
• It is surrounded by desert or semi-desert areas, with no major freshwater inflow. 

Six countries border the Red Sea : Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan, Eritrea, and Djibouti 

Mnemonic - YESS DE