Super Blood Blue Moon
- “Super Blood Blue Moon” is a rare cosmic event that combines an extra big Super moon, a Blue moon and a total lunar eclipse.
- Super moon – It occur when the full moon coincides with the Moon’s closest orbit point (perigee) to Earth.
- During a super moon, the moon appears 14% larger and 30% brighter.
- The farthest distance between the moon and the Earth is termed ‘apogee’, while the perigee is the nearest point.
- Lunar Eclipse – It occurs when the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are so aligned that the full moon passes through the shadow of Earth.
- The moon gliding into Earth’s shadow will gradually turn in to orange or red.
- This is because the sunlight passing through the Earth’s atmosphere break down and red part gets scattered by the atmosphere and falls on the Moon’s surface.
- For this reason, a totally eclipsed moon is called a “Blood Moon”.
- Blue Moon – It refers to the second full moon (or second lunar eclipse) in a month.
- The Moon does not turn blue but historically the second full Moon of an English calendar month is termed as a Blue Moon.
- Typically, it happens every two years and eight months.
- The world is going to witness this event on Jan 31st in parts of western North America, Asia, the Middle East, Russia and Australia.
VINBAX - 2018
- VINBAX is the military exercise between armies of India and Vietnam.
- It is the first ever such exercise boosting defence ties between the two countries.
- It is going to be held in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.
- The joint exercise has been especially designed to enable and train officers from Vietnam in United Nations Peace Keeping Operations.
India – Vietnam relations
- India and Vietnam had signed a protocol on defence cooperation in 1994.
- The partnership was thereafter elevated to strategic level in 2007.
- A pact on boosting bilateral defence cooperation was signed in 2009.
- The strategic partnership was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in September 2016.
Meghadootam
- Meghadootam (meaning cloud messenger) is a lyric love poem composed by Kalidasa about the 5th century AD.
- The poem recounts the expression of love by Yaksha to his wife at Alaka,Mt. Kailash through the cloud as a messenger.
- Most of the poem consists of a description of the landmarks, cities, and sights on the cloud’s journey to Alaka.
- Chhattisgarh state artistes performing dance based on Meghadootam in Republic day won prize in best tableau category.
Kalidasa
- Kalidasa is a great Sanskrit poet who lived in the court of Chandragupta II around 4th-5th century AD.
- He wrote plays, poems such as
- 3 plays - Malavikagnimitram, Abhijnanasakuntalam, vikramaorvasiyam
- 2 epic poems - Raghuvamsa, Kumarasambhava
- 2 minor poems – Ritusamhara, Meghadootam
Asia’s largest drip irrigation project
- Ramthal Marola project in Karnataka is the Asia’s largest drip irrigation project implemented with the help of technology from Israel firm.
- As a part of this drip irrigation scheme, every farmer will receive water through a cylinder installed in their respective farmlands.
- It also enables them to mix fertilisers and pesticides in the cylinder.
- The technology used in this project will also purify the wastage that flows in the backwaters of River Krishna.
Udangudi Power Project
- Coal-based supercritical Udangudi thermal power project is set to come up in Thoothukudi district of southern Tamil Nadu.
- BHEL and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) had signed a MoU to develop this power project in 2007.
- The estimated Rs.100-billion project is to be funded by Rural Electrification Corporation (REC).
Source: The Hindu, BusinessLine, Business Standard
