Rapid Fire Current Affairs | 07 Feb 2023

North Star

Polaris, known as the North Star/Pole Star, is a very bright star (~2,500 times more luminous than the Sun) and is part of the constellation Ursa Minor (~323 LY away from the Earth).

Polaris is less than 1° away from the north celestial pole, almost in direct line with the Earth’s rotational axis, therefore, it appears to sit motionless in the northern sky with all the other stars appearing to rotate around it.Its position and brightness have allowed humans to use it for navigation since late antiquity. The elevation of the star above the horizon gives the approximate latitude of the observer. However, upon crossing the equator to the south, the North Star is lost over the horizon, and hence stops being a useful navigational aid.

Polaris seems to have been first charted by the Roman mathematician/astronomer Ptolemy (165 - 85 BC).

As per NASA, “North Star” is “a title that passes to different stars over time”; as the Earth’s axis of rotation wobbles, the celestial pole “wanders in a slow circle over the eons, sweeping past different stars”. About 14,000 years ago, the celestial pole pointed towards the bright star Vega, and “it will again point to Vega in about 12,000 years”.

Naval LCA Lands on INS Vikrant

The Naval variant of India’s indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) made its maiden landing on board the INS Vikrant, marking a milestone towards the Navy’s self-reliance plans. This was followed by a landing and take-off by a twin-engine MiG-29K fighter jet (Russian origin).

INS Vikrant, India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier commissioned in Sept 2022, is currently in the process of getting operationalised.

In Jan 2020, DRDO demonstrated a successful landing of Naval LCA on INS Vikramaditya along the lines of which the DRDO is in the process of developing a Twin Engine Deck- Based Fighter (TEDBF) for INS Vikrant.

Read More - INS Vikrant

Southern India’s First Industrial Corridor Project

The Prime Minister of India laid the foundation stone of southern India’s 1^st Industrial Corridor Project to be implemented at Tumakuru, spread over 8500 Acre of land, under the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor.

The Tumakuru Industrial Township has been planned in line with the principles of PM-GatiShakti to ensure last mile multimodal connectivity to the economic zone.

The Govt of India (via NICD and Implementation Trust) and the Govt of Karnataka are developing the Industrial Township at Vasanthanarasapura in 3 phases in Tumakuru district through the project Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).

Under the National Industrial Corridor Development (NICD) Programme, 32 greenfield industrial smart cities under 11 industrial corridors are being developed with world class Plug-n-Play infrastructure.

Read More - PM Gati Shakti

Yuva Sangam Portal

The “Yuva Sangam” registration portal was recently launched at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi.

Yuva Sangam is an initiative to build close ties between the youth of the Northeast Region and the rest of India under the spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat. Under this initiative, over 20000 youth will travel across India and gain a unique opportunity of cross-cultural learning. The program is an opportunity for the youth of NER to see India.

Read More - North-East India