G20 is an international forum of the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies formed in 1999.
The Group was formed with an aim of studying, reviewing, and promoting high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability.
In addition to it, the group also hosts separate meetings of the finance ministers and foreign ministers.
The G20 has no permanent staff of its own and its chairmanship rotates annually between nations divided into regional groupings.
The members of the G20 consist of 19 individual countries plus the European Union (EU).
The 19 member countries of the forum are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.
List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is annually released by UNESCO.
This coveted list is made up of those intangible heritage elements that help demonstrate diversity of cultural heritage and raise awareness about its importance.
The list was established in 2008 when Convention for Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage came into effect.
It has two parts viz. Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of urgent safeguarding.
From India the Intangible Cultural Heritages added into this list include:
Tradition of Vedic chanting
Ramlila, the traditional performance of the Ramayana
Kutiyattam, Sanskrit theatre
Ramman, religious festival and ritual theatre of the Garhwal Himalayas.
Mudiyettu, ritual theatre and dance drama of Kerala
Kalbelia folk songs and dances of Rajasthan
Chhau dance
Buddhist chanting of Ladakh: recitation of sacred Buddhist texts in the trans-Himalayan Ladakh region, Jammu and Kashmir.
Sankirtana, ritual singing, drumming and dancing of Manipur
Traditional brass and copper craft of utensil making among the Thatheras of Jandiala Guru, Punjab
Yoga
Nawrouz
Kumbh Mela
BrahMos Supersonic Missile
Union Defense ministry approved military procurement of Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles for Navy’s two stealth frigates.
BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile being developed by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India and NPO Mashinostroeyenia (NPOM) of Russia.
The missile can be installed on ships, submarines, aircraft and ground vehicles and can be launched against ships and land-based targets.
The missile is named after two rivers, the Brahmaputra in India and the Moskva in Russia.
BrahMos has a flight range of up to 290km and can reach a maximum speed of Mach 3.
EX Konkan
Konkan is the naval exercise between India and United Kingdom.
The exercise is aimed at deriving mutual benefit from each other’s’ experiences and is indicative of continuing cooperation between two countries.
Bilateral KONKAN exercise was started in 2004 and since then has grown in scale.
EX Cope India
Cope is a bilateral exercise between Indian Air Force (IAF) and US Air Force (USAF).
The first such exercise was conducted at Gwalior IAF air force station in 2004.
Man-made-Diamonds
Lab-grown or man-made diamonds are exactly the same as a mined diamond.
They are not fake there is no chemical, visual or structural difference and they are both composed of incredibly pure crystal carbon as a single crystal.
Depending on color and size, it can take one-three months to create a lab-grown diamond, by simulating the conditions that it would take for a diamond to be formed naturally in earth.
Diamond can be formed by two process
HPHT (high pressure, high temperature): By subjecting a genuine diamond “seed” to extreme pressure and temperature, simulating the organic process and conditions in which they are created below the earth’s surface.
CVD (chemical vapor deposition): Similar to 3D-printing, where carbon is layered on top of a genuine diamond “seed” in a vacuum chamber.
