- SLIM(Smart Lander for Investigating Moon): Japan recently landed a spacecraft called SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) on the lunar surface, becoming the 5th country after the Soviet Union, the US, China and India to achieve a soft landing on the moon.
SLIM was launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in September 2023 aboard the H-IIA rocket from the Tanegashima spaceport.It aims to demonstrate precision landing within 100 metres through new technologies.It also carried two mini robotic rovers developed by Sony and Tomy for reconnaissance.The mission aims to revitalise Japan’s space program which suffered setbacks like the failure of the flagship H3 rocket in March 2023.The mission aims to observe X-rays coming from deep space and to identify their wavelengths with unprecedented precision.It will use state-of-the-art spectroscopy to measure changes in the brightness of celestial objects at different wavelengths.It detects X-rays with energies ranging from 400 to 12,000 electron volts. (For comparison, the energy of visible light is 2 to 3 electron volts.)This range will provide astrophysicists with new information about some of the universe’s hottest regions, largest structures, and objects with the strongest gravity.
- Central Consumer Protection Authority: The Central Consumer Protection Authority issues notice to Amazon for sale of sweets under misleading name of Shri Ram Mandir Ayodhya Prasad. As provided in the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has been established w.e.f. 24th July, 2020. The objective is to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers as a class. It will have a Chief Commissioner as head, and only two other commissioners as members — one of whom will deal with matters relating to goods while the other will look into cases relating to services.
It will be empowered: To conduct investigations into violation of consumer rights and institute complaints / prosecution,
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- Order recall of unsafe goods and services,
- Order discontinuation of unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements,
- Impose penalties on manufacturers/endorsers/publishers of misleading advertisements.
Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
- Khelo India Youth Games – 2023: Tamil Nadu is hosting the sixth edition of the Khelo India Youth Games. This is the first time that Khelo India Youth Games are being held in South India. The Games will be played across four cities of Tamil Nadu, namely Chennai, Madurai, Trichy and Coimbatore from 19th to 31st January 2024.This edition of Khelo India Youth Games will see participation from over 5600 athletes with over 275 competitive events across 26 sports disciplines and 1 demo sport. Silambam, a traditional sport of Tamil Nadu, is being introduced as a demo sport for the first time in the history of Khelo India Youth Games and the sport of Squash shall be organised for the first time in this edition of the Games.
The Mascot: ‘Veera Mangai’. Rani Velu Nachiyar, fondly known as Veera Mangai, was an Indian queen who waged a war against British colonial rule.The logo: The figure of poet Thiruvalluvar.
Objective: To revive the sports culture in India at the grass-root level by building a strong framework for all sports played in our country and establish India as a great sporting nation.
It is an annual event. The first edition was held in 2018 in Delhi.
Organised by: Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports.
