Indigenous Sports

• Gatka – Is a style of stick fighting between two or more practitioners, with wooden sticks (called Soti) intended to simulate swords.
• Its origination can be traced to Punjab.
• It was one of basic technique of self-defence for Sikh warriors during the martial period of great Sikh Gurus.
• It is primarily used as self-defence and practiced by the Gatkabaaz before opting for usage of sword/kirpan.
• In Gatka game, the ‘Stick’ and ‘Farri’ are used to substitute the sword and shield respectively for practice and safety purposes.
• The present form further perfected into a sport in the later 19th century which is performed and played in two sub-styles called Virasat (traditional) and Khed (sport) respectively since 1920.
• Thang Ta – “The Art of the Sword and Spear” is the traditional martial art of Manipur in Northeast India.
• It integrates various external weapons such as the sword, spear and dagger and so on with the internal practice of physical control through soft movements coordinated with the rhythms of breathing. 
• It is part of the great heroic tradition of Manipur.
• Kalaripayattu – It is considered among the oldest and most scientific martial arts in the world that was developed in Kerala.
• The primary aim is the ultimate coordination between mind and body.
• The training begins with an oil massage of the entire body until it is agile and supple.
• Feats like chattom (jumping), ottam (running) and marichil (somersault) are also integral parts of the art form.
• There are also lessons in using weapons like swords, daggers, spears, maces and bows and arrows.
• Mallakhamb – Is a traditional sport that originated in the Indian subcontinent and is the state sport of Madhya Pradesh.
• It is a form of aerial yoga or gymnastics performed on a vertical pillar (traditionally a sheesham or Indian rosewood pole polished with castor oil).
• It first gained widespread international attention on the side-lines of the Berlin 1936 Olympics.

Town Official Language Implementation Committee (TOLIC)

The ‘Rajbhasha Gaurav Samman’ for the year 2023-24 was recently awarded to the PSUs located in Visakhapatnam by Town Official Language Implementation Committee (TOLIC).

• Town Official Language Implementation Committee (TOLIC) can be constituted in all the cities of the country, where the number of the Central Government offices is 10 or more than that.
• The main objectives of the committees is to:
  • Review the implementation of Official Language Policy in the Central Government Offices/Undertakings/Banks and so on.
  • To promote its use so that the problems arising in its implementation could be solved.
• The objective of the committee doesn’t include to translate government documents into regional languages.
• Chairman – The committees are presided over by one of the senior most officers of the offices of the Central Government/Undertakings/Banks etc., located in that town.
• The chairman is nominated by Department of Official Language.
• Before being nominated, the willingness of the proposed Chairperson is obtained in writing regarding the chairmanship of the committee.
• Membership – Offices of the Central Government/Undertakings/Banks and so on located in the town are members of the committee.
• The senior most officers (administrative heads) of these offices are required to regularly attend the meetings of the committee.
• Member Secretary – The Chairman of the Committee nominates a Hindi expert with his consent, to the post of Member Secretary for the management of the Secretariat of the Committee.
• The Member-Secretary conducts the activities of the committee with the permission of the Chairman.

Dark Oxygen

In a recent study conducted by the scientists provides evidence that there’s an additional oxygen source on the planet apart from the oxygen produced from photosynthesis.

• Dark oxygen refers to oxygen produced in the deep ocean without photosynthesis.
• On the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), which spans 4.5 million square kilometres (1.7 million square miles) in the Pacific Ocean, there are coal-like mineral rocks, called polymetallic nodules.
• Polymetallic nodules typically contain manganese and iron and Scientists have found that these nodules produce oxygen without the process of photosynthesis.
• These nodules are located about 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) below the ocean surface, where no sunlight reaches.
• The nodules carry an electric charge, similar to an AA battery. This charge can split seawater into hydrogen and oxygen through a process called seawater electrolysis.
• This discovery challenges the previous understanding that all oxygen on Earth comes from photosynthetic organisms like plants and algae.
• The existence of dark oxygen raises questions about the origins of life on Earth and the potential for life on other planets.
• It suggests that oxygen-dependent life could have existed before the evolution of photosynthesis.

NOvA (NuMI Off-axis νe Appearance)

• NOvA (NuMI Off-axis νe Appearance) is designed to study neutrinos and determine their role in the evolution of the cosmos.
• Location – It is based in Minnesota, USA and is managed by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
• It creates a beam of neutrinos that travel 800 km to a 14,000-tonne detector.
• Scientific objective – NOvA aims to understand which neutrino type has the most mass and which has the least.
• This is crucial because neutrinos may get their mass through a different mechanism than other matter particles.
• Neutrino mass hierarchy – NOvA's data favors the "normal order" of neutrino mass hierarchy, though not conclusively.
• This order proposes that one of the three neutrino types is much heavier, while the other two have comparable lower masses.
• Significance – Understanding neutrino properties could answer many open questions in physics and potentially require changes to the Standard Model of particle physics.
• Relevance to India – While India planned its own neutrino observatory (India-based Neutrino Observatory), it currently faces an uncertain future.

State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) Report, 2024

• State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) Report, 2024 aids to provide a comprehensive global assessment of food security and nutrition.
• It monitors the progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of Zero Hunger (SDG 2) and related targets.
• It serves as a tool for policymakers, researchers, and development practitioners in their efforts to combat hunger and malnutrition.
• It was jointly prepared by:
  1. Agri-food Economics and Policy Division of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
  2. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
  3. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
  4. World Food Programme (WFP)
  5. World Health Organization (WHO)
• Key highlights of the report
• Foreign Direct Investments appear to be more clearly associated with increases in overweight, obesity and non-communicable disease prevalence than with changes in undernutrition.
• 63% of low, middle-income countries cannot finance their food security.
• Africa is the region with the largest percentage of the population facing hunger.
• Asia had the highest wasting levels among children under five.
• India – 55.6% of Indians unable to afford a healthy diet.
• In 2017, the proportion of the population not being able to afford a healthy diet in India was 69.5%.