GK and Current Affairs Updates

Government of Kashmir is organizing National winter games in February 2016, at the famous Gulmarg ,ski-resort. Snow festival is also going to be celebrated in Gulmarg . Government is planning to develop Pahalgam as a winter destination by building a skating rink & installing a cable car lift. Kashmir will promote ‘Winter Kashmir’ this year.

About Gulmarg:
It is a hill station, a popular skiing destination & a notified area committee in Baramula district in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir.

Two butterfly parks are to be set up in Uttarakhand. One such will be developed at Lacchiwala in Dehradun & other at the Botanical Garden, Nainital.
These two places are he home to over 500 species of the flying insect out of 1300 found in country.Prominent among the butterfly species found in Uttarakhand are:
(a)    Indian Mormon.            (b)    Spotted swordtail.
(c)    Lime Butterfly.            (d)    Line Butterfly.

Other Butterfly parks in India:
1.    Bangalore
    India’s first butterfly park.

2.    Shimla
    (a)    India’s second butterfly park.
    (b)    Zoological survey of India found 14 species of butterflies in the cold desert or Lahaul& Spiti district.

3.    Sikkim
    (a)    India’s first open air butterfly park was establishment at Rangrang Sikkim.

According to the survey report, India overtakes China & becomes the biggest consumer of gold.India consumption is 642 tonnes in the first nine months of the year while on China part it is 579 tonnes.

Reason behind increase in demand are:
(a) again chosen a vehicle for the alternative investment as investors turned cautious of the equity market.
(b) Drop in gold in mid of July, increased the demand in the form of jewellery.
(c) The official depreciation of the yuan announced in August.

4^th edition of Sri Lanka India exercise started at Trincomalee. Sri Lanka. It is named as operation SLINEX.
Primary focus of the exercise:
(i)    Anti-piracy exercise.            (ii) Gun firings.
(iii)    Cross deck helicopter operations.      (iv) Anti-surface operations.

Naval ships joined  exercise:
India- Kora &Kirpan ,Savitri (offshore patrol vessel)

Exercise to be conducted:
1.    Harbour phase: In this participants will engage in professional, cultural & social interactions.
2.    Sea phase:Includes complex operations those are of primary focus of this exercise.

SLINEX: It is a series of bilateral maritime exercises between India and Srilanka initiated in 2005

Bronze age wealth was found in the warrior tomb in Pylos, Greece. It was dated as 3,500 yrs back. Wealth includes jewels, weapons, bronze, silver & gold vessels. In relation with the previous discoveries, it is concluded that tomb may have held a powerful warrior or king, or even a trader or a raider. Who died at about 30 to 35 years of age but who helped to lay the foundations of the Mycenean culture that later flourished in the region. Silver cups, bronze weapons, several pieces of carved ivory & precious stone beads were also found in the tomb. 
Bronze Age:
    It begins around 3000 BC in south Asia. 
    Chalcolithic Age is also known as bronze age. 
    Indus valley civilization was a part of it.
    This age was characterised by the use of copper & stone. 

Massive earthquake levelled in Afghanistan & Pakistan with a magnitude of 7.5 rictar scale. 
oEpicentre. -The epicentre of the earthquake was Hindu Kush mountains. It is long mountain range that stretches between central Afghanistan & northern Pakistan. 

What is Epicentre ?: It is the point on earth’s surface vertically above the focus of the earthquake. This is the point where intensity of earthquake is maximum. 

Government released first ever Hindi atlas book on India’s indigenous “Mars orbiter mission” (MOM). The purpose behind this is that Hindi will serve as a medium for spreading further awareness within the country about recent space missions, particularly MOM. Release was on the occasion of first meeting of reconstituted ‘Joint Hindi Salahkar Samiti’  of the department 
Some facts about mars Orbiter Mission. 
India’s first venture into the interplanetary space.

Aim : a. to explore & observe mars surface features. 
          b. Specific search for methane in the Martian atmosphere.

 Launching vehicle – PSLV C-25.
 Payloads of space craft :  (1) Mars colour Camera 
(2) Thermal Infrared Imaging spectrometer 
(3) Methane sensor for mars. 
(4) Mars Exospheric neutral composition Analyser. 
(5) Lyman Alpha Photometer. 

China successfully launched ‘Tianhui –1C’ mapping satellite. Launching was done from the Juiquan satellite launch centre in Gansu province. It was designed by set subsidiary of China Aerospace science & Technology Corp (CASTC). It is the third satellite in the Taiahui – 1 series first was launched in august, 2011. 
Applications:
It will be used for:
o    Scientific experiments 
o    Land resource surveys 
o    Mapping 
o    Crop yield estimation
o    Disaster Relief. 

October 27th marked as Infantry day by the Indian Army celebrated its 68th year in Jammu. This day is celebrated to honour the supreme sacrifice of the infantry in fighting the Pakistani raiders in Jammu & Kashmir in 1947. Infantry was konwn as “Queen of the Battle”.

History of Infantry day & its significance
On 27th October 1947, an Infantry company of the first Battalion of the Sikh regiment was airlifted from Delhi to Srinagar to liberate Kashmir from the invading tribals also were supported by Pakistan Army. This action was ordered by them Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru after Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession acceding Jammu Kashmir to India. In his message to the infantry, Lt Gen.Hooda, the senior most infantry officer in the region, complemented  all infantry men for their devotion towards duty & indomitable spirit while working under trying & difficulty conditions.  He acknowledged their tremendous contribution in maintaining the sanctity of the nation’s borders & fighting terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir. Another importance of this day is that, it was first time, an independent Indian nation was engaged  in operation against aggressor. 

New tortoise species, named Cerro fatal was discovered in Eastern Santa Cruz, Galapagos Island.These tortoises live in the arid region. Those who live in the moist region of western section of Santa Cruz, are called la Reserve.  
•    Facts of Cerro fatal tortoise.
1. They are  evolved about a half  million years ago. 
2. They are 14th confirmed species of Galapagos island.