INFOGRAPHIC

 UPSC GS MAINS IMPORTANT QUESTIONS Why is India taking keen interest in resources of Arctic Region? India's engagement with the Arctic dates back to nearly nine decades when it signed the 'Svalbard Treaty' in 1920 in Paris. India is already an observer at the Arctic Council- a forum of countries that decides on managing the region's resources. Opening of the Arctic sea has given way for resource mapping in the Arctic region. The arctic sea is estimated to have as much 10 to 20% of the world's oil and nearly 30 % of natural gas. Arctic regions have large minerals ,particularly the iron ore. Mineral exploration and exploitation is expected to pick up as Arctic shipping develops further in the future. Arctic region will emerge as a new source of fishing. The region is already being called the 'kitchen of Europe'. The releases of new lands as a result of melting ice will lead to development of agriculture in the region. A strategic trade partnership with South K

 UPSC GS MAINS IMPORTANT QUESTION What is India's plan to have its own space station and how it will benefit our space program? India plans to have its own space station , and modalities for it will be worked out after the first manned mission, Gaganyaan, scheduled for August 2022. According to Dr. Sivan, the proposed space station is envisaged to weigh 20 tonnes and serve as a facility where astronauts can stay for 15-20 days , and it would be placed in an orbit 400km above earth. Space technology impacts our lives in myriad ways, from communications, agricultural management, disaster management, land management, and national security.  A space station is a space craft which revolves around the earth and provides a small habitable space for few humans to live for a few days to carry out cutting edge scientific research in any environment that cannot be stimulated on earth.  The idea is to have "our own" space station where Indian Astronauts can fly regularly to conduct

 UPSC GS MAINS IMPORTANT QUESTIONS Do you agree that there is a growing trend of opening new sugar mills in the Southern States of India? Discuss with justification. Sugar mills are located near growing areas, because of the perishable nature of sugarcane and its weight losing tendency post harvesting. The last few decades has seen growing trend of opening new sugar mills in the southern part of India because of the following reasons: ⦿ Absence of loo and frost and the moderating effect of ocean makes south Indian ideal for sugarcane growth. ⦿ The sugarcanes of these areas have a higher sucrose content which makes better quality sugar. ⦿The relatively cooler climate in southern states ensures a longer crushing season for the producers. ⦿Sugarcane industry is a seasonal industry and is generally run by cooperatives. Southern states have well developed network of co-operatives. ⦿In North India, mills have to be closed during winters because of unavailability of raw material. But in South

 UPSC GS MAINS IMPORTANT QUESTIONS What are the consequences of spreading of 'Dead Zones' on marine ecosystem? Dead Zones are hypoxic(low-oxygen) areas in the world's oceans  and larger lakes. Aquatic and marine dead zones can be caused by the process of Eutrophication, triggered by an excess of plant nutrients ( nitrogen and phosphorous) from fertilizers, sewage, combustion emissions from vehicles and factories. The nutrients trigger a bloom of phytoplankton at the bottom of the marine food chain, allowing zooplankton to proliferate. As phytoplankton and zooplankton die and sink below the photic zone where photosynthesis can occur, a bloom of natural bacterial degradation exhausts water's dissolved oxygen.  Dead Zones have spread exponentially since the 1960's and have serious consequences for marine ecosystem functioning. Low oxygen levels recorded along the Gulf Coast of North America have led to reproductive problems in fish involving decreased size of reprodu

 UPSC GS MAINS IMPORTANT QUESTIONS Define Mantle Plume and explains its role in plate tectonics. A mantle plume is a large column of hot rock rising through the mantle. The heat from the plume causes rocks in the lower lithosphere to melt. The largest mantle plumes are presumed to form where a large volume of the mantle rock is heated at the core mantle boundary. Most volcanoes occur at plate boundaries, where two tectonic plates meet. But some volcanoes appear in the middle of the tectonic plate. In 1963, J. Tuzo Wilson proposed the mantle plume hypothesis to explain this phenomenon. Heat transferred from the plume raises the temperature in the lower lithosphere to above melting point, and magma chambers are formed that feed volcanoes at the surface. The area is known as hotspot or flood basalt . Hotspots exist in Hawaii and Iceland. The mantle plume hypothesis is useful in understanding the formation of volcanic chains, growth and breakdown of supercontinents, active rifting, the

 UPSC GS MAINS IMPORTANT QUESTIONS Krishnadeva Raya, the king of Vijayanagar, was not only an accomplished   scholar  himself but was also a great patron of learning and literature. Discuss . The reign of Sri Krishnadeva Raya stands out as the high point in the history of the Bijaynagar Empire .   He proved himself not only as a talented general and diplomat but also as an architect and city planner . He constructed the magnificent  city of Vijayanagaram .  He reserved much of the wealth for the promotion of scholarship . He ushered in the Golden Era of Telugu Literature, writing Amuktamalyada , a narrative poem describing the sorrow suffered by Godadevi when absent from her husband Vishnu. Krishnadeva Raya commanded fluency in many languages and poets of  Telugu, Sanskrit, Kannada and Tamil enjoyed his patronage. Krishnadeva Raya patronized  Kannada poets Mallanarya who wrote Veerasaivamirtha, Bhavachitaratna and Satyendra Cholakathe. Chatu Vitalanatha who wrote Bhaghavatha and T

UPSC GS MAINS IMPORTANT QUESTIONS  Write a note on Indian Green Energy Corridor to alleviate the problem of conventional energy. Green Energy Corridor - The green energy corridor project launched in 2013 at synchronizing  electricity produced from renewable sources, such as solar and wind, with conventional power stations in the grid. The voltage fluctuations is the main problem in integrating electricity generated from renewable source to conventional power grids. Due to varying voltage and supply, these conventional grids face difficulty in absorbing renewable energy. To tackle this problem, a planned transmission system under Green Energy Corridor Project is made dynamic to handle the voltage variations leading to all grids across the nation, which is pre requisite to achieve  the 175 GW target for renewable energy generation capacity by 2022. ⦿ Energy policy of India has mentioned that the expanding energy deficit which could not be fulfilled with conventional energy sources as

 UPSC GS MAINS IMPORTANT QUESTIONS What do you understand by 'The String of Pearls'? How does it impact India? Briefly outline the steps taken by India to counter    this. The term ' string of pearls' was coined to describe China's increasing forays into the Indian Ocean, discernible  through its efforts to establish 'nodes of influence' in the region, via an assertive diplomacy primarily geared towards strengthening  its economic and security ties with countries as diverse as Pakistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. According to theory of String of Pearls, China is engaged in a concerted strategy  of developing a string of naval facilities across the northern Indian Ocean that would be available for use by the Chinese navy in the event of a conflict. The 'String of Pearls' is part of a broader concern in India about China's role in southern Asia and the Indian Ocean Region. As India is getting choked by the 'String of Pearls' and is f3aced by s