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PRE-Cure (Relevant Current Affairs for UPSC Civil Services Examination) Weekly Compilation for 3rd Week of July 2020 (13th July - 18th July) Visit our website www.sleepyclasses.com or our YouTube channel for entire GS Course FREE of cost Also Available: Prelims Crash Course || Prelims Test Series T.me/SleepyClasses Table of Contents 1. Geography ........................................................................................................1 1.1.Uyghur Muslims ................................................................................................................1 1.2.Rewa Solar Project ............................................................................................................1 1.3.Bhashan Char Island ........................................................................................................2 1.4.Indian Trawlers in Sri Lanka ...........................................................................................3 1.5.UAE - Open-Sky Policy with India ................................................................................4 1.6.Karan-4 ...............................................................................................................................5 1.7.Sakteng Sanctuary ............................................................................................................5 1.8.Idlib .......................................................................................................................................7 1.9.Natanz .................................................................................................................................7 2. Polity, Governance & International Relations ......................................9 2.1.Iran drops India from Chabahar rail project ..............................................................9 2.2.Padmanabhaswamy Temple Judgement ....................................................................9 2.3.Election Commission and Delay in Elections .............................................................10 2.4.Disabled and SC/ST Quota .............................................................................................10 3. Economy ............................................................................................................12 3.1.“Solar Power and China” .................................................................................................12 3.2.“Rising FOREX and ECBs” ...............................................................................................13 4. Ecology & Environment ................................................................................14 4.1.Rewa Solar Project ............................................................................................................14 4.2.Ophiocordyceps nutans ..................................................................................................15 4.3.Dolphin Number Dips in Chambal River ....................................................................15 4.4.India’s 2018 Tiger Census Sets Guinness World Record .......................................16 4.5.Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary ................................................................................16 4.6.Ranthambore National Park ..........................................................................................18 4.7.CII-ITC Sustainability Award 2019 .............................................................................19 5. Science & Technology ....................................................................................20 5.1.Itolizumab Drug ................................................................................................................20 5.2.Kuaizhou-11 Rocket ........................................................................................................20 5.3.Comet C/2020 F3 (Neowise) ........................................................................................21 www.sleepyclasses.com Call 6280133177 T.me/SleepyClasses 1. Geography Click here to watch the following questions on YouTube 1.1.Uyghur Muslims • Uigurs, are a minority Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. • They are primarily confined in China’s north-western region of Xinjiang and is one of the largest Muslim group in that region. • The Uyghurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. They are considered to be one of China's 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities. • The Uyghurs are recognized by the Chinese government only as a regional minority within a multicultural nation. The Chinese government rejects the notion of the Uyghurs being an indigenous group • Since 2015, it has been estimated that over a million Uyghurs have been detained in Xinjiang re- education camps. • The camps were established under General Secretary Xi Jinping's administration with the main goal of ensuring adherence to national ideology. • Critics of China's treatment of Uyghurs have accused the Chinese government of propagating a policy of sinicization in Xinjiang in the 21st century, calling this policy an ethnocide or a cultural genocide of Uyghurs. 1.2.Rewa Solar Project • Recently, the Prime Minister has inaugurated the 750 MW (Mega Watt) solar project set up in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh. • It is Asia's largest solar power project. • It comprises three solar generating units of 250 MW each located on a 500 hectare of land situated inside a solar park (total area 1500 hectare). • India's commitment to attain the target of 175 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by 2022 including 100 GW of solar installed capacity. • It is the first solar project in the country to break the grid parity barrier. Grid parity occurs when an alternative energy source can generate power at a cost of electricity that is less than or equal to the price of power from the electricity grid. • It is also the first solar park in India to get World Bank funding. International Finance Corporation, a World Bank group company, has invested close to $440 million or Rs 2,800 crore in the project • This project will reduce carbon emission equivalent to approx. 15 lakh ton of CO2 per year, which is equivalent to planting 26 million trees. www.sleepyclasses.com Available on App Store Call 6280133177 and Play Store 1 T.me/SleepyClasses • It is also India’s first solar project to get funding from Clean Technology Fund (CTF), which is available at a rate of 0.25% for a 40-year period from the World Bank. The CTF promotes scaled-up financing for demonstration, deployment and transfer of low carbon technologies with a significant potential for long-term greenhouse gas emissions savings. • It has also received the World Bank Group President’s Award for innovation and excellence and was included in the book ‘A Book of Innovation: New Beginnings’. • It is the first renewable energy project to supply an institutional customer outside the state where it is produced. (In this case, power is supplied from Madhya Pradesh to the Delhi Metro) • The Project also exemplifies India’s commitment to attaining the target of 175 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by the year 2022; including 100 GW of solar installed capacity. 1.3.Bhashan Char Island • Bangladesh has announced that it will not move the Rohingyas settled on the Bhashan char island amid Corona pandemic. • Char Piya Island - Thengar Char Island.- (Bay of Bengal) • Himalayan silt in -2006 (40 km²) • Bhashan char is an uninhabited island where the government of Bangladesh has made shelter houses for one lakh Rohingya refugees. In June 2015, the Bangladeshi government suggested resettling Rohingya refugees on the island. Available on App Store www.sleepyclasses.com 2 and Play Store Call 6280133177 T.me/SleepyClasses • The proposal was characterized by the UN Refugee Agency as “logistically challenging”. • It is underwater from June to September annually because of the monsoon, and it has no flood fences. • The Bhashan Char falls in an ecologically fragile area prone to floods, erosion and cyclone. 1.4.Indian Trawlers in Sri Lanka Bottom-trawling • It is a fishing practice, which involves trawlers dragging weighted nets along the sea floor. It is known to cause great depletion of fishery resources. Katchatheevu Islands • K a t c h a t h e e v u i s a 2 8 5 - a c r e u n i n h a b i t e d v o l c a n i c i s l a n d administered by Sri Lanka and was a disputed territory claimed by India until 1976. The island is located between Neduntheevu, Sri Lanka and Rameswaram, India and has been traditionally used by both Sri Lankan Tamil and Tamil Nadu fishermen. • In 1974, then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi ceded Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka under the "Indo-Sri Lankan Maritime agreement" aimed at resolving the maritime boundaries in the Palk Strait. • Another agreement signed in 1976 restricted both the countries’ fishermen from fishing in the other’s exclusive economic zones. www.sleepyclasses.com Available on App Store Call 6280133177 and Play Store 3 T.me/SleepyClasses 1.5.UAE - Open-Sky Policy with India Chicago Convention • The Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention, established the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized agency of the UN charged with coordinating international air travel. • The Convention establishes rules of airspace, aircraft registration and safety, security, and sustainability, and details the rights of