Rung Community
Context: The Rung community opposed the installation of a concrete Shivling near Om Parvat, citing the need to protect their sacred natural landscape and traditions.
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About the Rung Community
- The Rung community (also known as Rang or Shauka) is an indigenous Scheduled Tribe (ST) of Uttarakhand, belonging to the broader Bhotiya tribal group and known for its trans-Himalayan heritage.
- Geographical Distribution: The community primarily inhabits the Vyans, Darma and Chaudans valleys of Pithoragarh district, located along the India–Nepal–Tibet tri-junction in the Kumaon Himalayas.
- Traditional Livelihood: Historically, the Rungs were trans-Himalayan traders, conducting trade with Tibet through high-altitude passes such as Lipulekh, and today depend on animal husbandry, handicrafts, medicinal plant collection and agriculture.
- Culture and Language: The community speaks Runglo (Rangkas), a Tibeto-Burman language, and celebrates the Kandali Festival every 12 years, reflecting its distinctive cultural heritage.
- Religious Beliefs: The Rungs practise a synthesis of Animism and Hinduism, worshipping Om Parvat, Adi Kailash, rivers and glaciers as natural manifestations of Lord Shiva, rather than through man-made religious structures.
- Conservation Practices: The community follows sustainable traditions such as seasonal transhumance, underground seed banks, and protection of sacred landscapes, contributing to biodiversity conservation in the Himalayas.
Gulf of Aden
Context: The Indian Navy recently thwarted a piracy attempt on MV Golden Arsenal in the Gulf of Aden, reinforcing maritime security in the Western Indian Ocean.
About the Gulf of Aden
- The Gulf of Aden is a strategically important deep-water basin in the Indian Ocean, serving as the maritime link between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.
- Location: The gulf lies between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, bounded by Yemen to the north, Somalia to the south, Djibouti to the west, and the Arabian Sea to the east.
- It connects the Red Sea through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and opens into the Somali Sea through the Guardafui Channel.
- Geological Features: It is a geologically young rift basin formed by the divergence of tectonic plates, with the Sheba Ridge, an active seafloor spreading centre, running through its centre.
- Major Ports: Important ports along the gulf include Aden and Mukalla (Yemen), Djibouti City (Djibouti), and Berbera and Bosaso (Somalia).
- It is one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors, carrying a significant share of global energy supplies and facilitating trade between Europe, Asia and Africa through the Suez Canal
Borjuli Wetland Declared as Biodiversity Heritage Site
Context: The Borjuli wetland in Assam has been notified as a Biodiversity Heritage Site (BHS) for conserving Oryza rufipogon.
About Biodiversity Heritage Site (BHS)
- It is a well-defined area of unique ecological, biodiversity, cultural, or aesthetic significance, notified under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, for biodiversity conservation.
- Legal Provision: Under Section 37 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, the State Government, in consultation with local bodies, may notify areas of biodiversity importance as BHS.
- First BHS in India: Nallur Tamarind Grove in Bengaluru, Karnataka, was designated as India’s first Biodiversity Heritage Site in 2007.
About Oryza rufipogon
- Oryza rufipogon is the wild progenitor (ancestor) of cultivated rice, Oryza sativa.
- It is a perennial wild rice species that reproduces through both seeds and rhizomes.
- Native to South and Southeast Asia, it naturally grows in marshes, wetlands, swamps, and shallow bodies of water.
- Key Characteristics: Resistant to pests and diseases.
- Tolerant to flooding and saline conditions.
- Agricultural Significance: A valuable genetic resource for developing climate-resilient, high-yielding, and nutritionally superior rice varieties.
Vikram-1
Context: Skyroot Aerospace has announced the launch window for Mission Aagaman, the maiden orbital test flight of Vikram-1, from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
About Vikram-1
- Vikram-1 is India’s first privately developed orbital-class launch vehicle, designed to place small satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
- It has been developed by Skyroot Aerospace, a Hyderabad-based private space startup under India’s reformed space sector.
- Key Features
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- Advanced Indigenous Technology: The rocket incorporates 3D printed liquid engine , carbon composite structures, and modular design to reduce manufacturing time, cost, and overall launch mass.
- Orbital-Class Launch Vehicle: Vikram-1 is capable of generating sufficient thrust and velocity to inject payloads into Earth orbit, unlike suborbital launch vehicles.
- Small Satellite Launch Capability: It can carry up to 350kg till low Earth orbit, and up to 260 kg to the sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), addressing the growing global demand for dedicated satellite launch services.
- An SSO is a near-polar orbit where a satellite passes over any given point on Earth’s surface at the same exact local mean solar time every day.
- Technology Demonstration Mission: Mission Aagaman will validate propulsion, stage separation, guidance, navigation, control systems, and overall vehicle performance before commercial launches.
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iSLEEPS (Polysomnography Dataset for Sleep Analysis in Ischemic Stroke Patients)
Context: NIMHANS and IIIT Hyderabad have launched iSLEEPS, Asia’s first open-access sleep database for ischemic stroke patients to advance stroke and sleep research.
About iSLEEPS (Polysomnography Dataset for Sleep Analysis in Ischemic Stroke Patients)
- iSLEEPS is Asia’s first open-access database of overnight sleep studies for ischemic stroke patients, jointly developed by NIMHANS, Bengaluru, and IIIT Hyderabad.
- An ischemic stroke occurs when a blood clot blocks or narrows an artery leading to the brain, cutting off vital blood and oxygen
- Publication: The dataset has been published in the Nature Portfolio journal Scientific Data and contains 100 overnight polysomnography (PSG) recordings collected between 2018 and 2021.
- Key Findings
- Comprehensive Sleep Dataset: The database includes annotated sleep stages, respiratory events, oxygen desaturation episodes, limb movements and clinical information based on American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2017) guidelines.
- High Burden of Sleep Disorders: Analysis found that 85% of stroke patients experienced some degree of sleep apnoea, highlighting the need for routine sleep assessment after stroke.
- It showed 38% having severe sleep apnoea, 23% moderate, 24% mild, and only 15% exhibiting normal breathing during sleep, underscoring the need for timely diagnosis and management in stroke rehabilitation.
- Sleep apnoea is a sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and restarts during sleep, reducing oxygen supply and disrupting normal restorative sleep.
- AI-enabled Research: The dataset has been used to evaluate AI models for automated sleep-stage classification, supporting the development of indigenous diagnostic tools.
- Open Research Resource: The anonymised database is publicly accessible, enabling global collaboration in stroke rehabilitation, sleep medicine and neurological research.
- Significance
- Better Stroke Care: The database will facilitate early diagnosis and management of sleep disorders, improving neurological recovery and reducing the risk of recurrent stroke.
- Strengthening Medical Research: It provides India’s first standardised open-access resource for AI-driven sleep research and evidence-based post-stroke care.
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About NIMHANS
- National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) is India’s premier institution for mental health, neurosciences, clinical care, education and research, functioning under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- Establishment: NIMHANS was established on 27 December 1974 through the merger of the All India Institute of Mental Health (1954) and the Mental Hospital, Bengaluru (1847).
- It was declared an Institute of National Importance under the NIMHANS Act, 2012.
3 Jul 2026
