•Indian troops stationed in the Maldives have begun withdrawing from the island nation, its defence authorities said, in line with President Mohamed Muizzu’s ‘India out’ promise to his supporters. •Ministry of External Affairs said a technical team from India had reached the Maldives to replace the troops that were stationed to operate the India-gifted aircraft …
•Onions and garlic both contain derivatives of sulphur-containing amino acids. •When an onion is sliced, one of these compounds, S-1-propenyl-cysteine sulphoxide, is decomposed by an enzyme to form a volatile compound called propanethial-S-oxide. •This is the irritant, or lacrimator (the name for any substance that causes tears to flow). •When the compound comes in contact …
•Recently, India loaded its long-delayed Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) vessel, coming to the cusp of stage II — powered by uranium and plutonium — of its three-stage nuclear programme. •By stage III, India hopes to use its vast reserves of thorium. •But the large-scale use of nuclear power is accompanied by a difficult problem: …
•Reprocessing technologies separate fissile from non-fissile material in spent fuel. •The material is chemically treated to separate fissile material left behind from the non-fissile material. •Importantly, reprocessing also yields weapons-usable (different from weapons-grade) plutonium. •The IAEA has specified eight kilograms of plutonium in which plutonium-239 accounts for more than 95% to be the threshold for …
•Elon Musk said he would make his Grok chatbot, a rival to ChatGPT, open source as his feud with OpenAI deepens. •The multi-billionaire unveiled Grok late in 2023 as he attempts to catch up with OpenAI which he helped create in 2015 along with its CEO Sam Altman, providing key financing in its early days.
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA), which represents industrialised countries, are sending divergent signals to investors on oil market strength in 2024 and, for the longer term, about the speed of the world’s transition to cleaner fuels. In February 2024, the IEA predicted demand will rise by 1.22 …
•The Supreme Court dismissed an application by State Bank of India (SBI) for time till June 30, 2024 to provide details of electoral bonds purchased anonymously and their encashment by political parties. •A five-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, which had on February 15 struck down the electoral bonds scheme as …
•Just days ahead of the announcement of Lok Sabha election, the Union Home Ministry notified the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024 that would enable the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed by Parliament in 2019. •Though the law facilitates citizenship to undocumented people belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Christian, and Jain communities from …
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the successful test-firing of Agni-5 ballistic missile with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under Mission Divyastra. •The flight test was carried out from Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha. •MIRV technology means single missile can carry multiple warheads •With …
