1) Uroosi: One way of saving lives in case of a natural calamity is to reconnect with older methods of architecture and construction. Uroosi, a Mughal-era home architectural element popular in Kashmir, is one such method.
- Uroosis are wooden shutters used as partition walls within homes, instead of concrete walls. Uroosi work includes octagonal and decagonal ornamental pillars too.
- Jalali House is a landmark in Srinagar that has this architectural element.
2) Teja Red Chilli: also known as S-17 is one of the hottest varieties of red chillies produced in India.
- Teja chilli is a fine variety of Guntur chilli which is mostly produced in the southern states of India. Khammam district of Telangana is the largest producer of the Teja variety of red chilli.
- Teja red chillis are famous for their culinary, medicinal and other wide-ranging uses such as being the main ingredient in making pepper spray.
3) Autism Spectrum Disorder: ASD refers to a range of conditions characterised by some degree of impaired social behaviour, communication and language, and a narrow range of interests and activities that are both unique to the individual and carried out repetitively.
- It is a complex brain development disability which makes itself visible during the first 3 years of a person’s life. It is not mental retardation.
- There are probably many factors that make a child more likely to have an ASD, including environmental and genetic factors.
- Although autism is not curable, its symptoms can be addressed with appropriate interventions like evidence-based psychosocial interventions, behavioural treatment
- The Right of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 increased the types of disabilities from 7 to 21. It also added autism spectrum disorder among others
4) Munich Security Conference: The MSC was founded by a German official and publisher Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist at the peak of the Cold War (1947-1991).
- Starting in 1963, the conference initially only focused on military issues and was mainly attended by western countries and their high-profile officials, who “came together to display a united front in their struggle with Soviet communism”.
- After the end of the Cold War, the conference expanded its agenda that went beyond defense and security matters to include issues such as climate change and migration.
- It also started to invite leaders from eastern nations, including Russia, India and China.
- This year’s edition might entail a refocus on its goal- the security order in Europe, in the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war that began just days after the MSC 2022 was concluded.
5) Private placement of bonds: It is a sale of bonds to select investors and institutions instead of the open market. Typically, a private placement is defined as an issuance of securities to less than 50 persons.
- Investors in privately placed bonds usually include wealthy individuals and entities, mutual fund providers, insurance companies, and banking and financial institutions.
- Unlike a public offering, private placements are exempt from having to file an offer document with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for comments.
- A private placement may not involve any form of general announcement, solicitation, advertising, seminar, or meeting to publicize such an offering.
