UPSC Current Affairs 02 July 2026

• Helicopter-Only Operation: It is an advanced flight operation designed exclusively for helicopters utilizing global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).
• Two-Segment Approach: The flight consists of an initial instrument segment flown under Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) followed by a visual segment.
• Virtual Landing Target: Instead of navigating directly to a physical landing pad, the pilot executes an instrument approach to a designated "virtual point" in the sky (the Point-in-Space).
• Transition to Visual Flight: At this designated point (or Missed Approach Point), the pilot evaluates weather visibility to either complete the landing visually or initiate a missed approach protocol.

• No Ground Infrastructure Required: Unlike conventional commercial aviation landings, PinS does not require expensive ground-based radio navigation equipment at the landing site.
• High Trajectory Flexibility: Designers can position the virtual point anywhere around the site to navigate obstacle-rich environments like urban landscapes, skyscrapers, or mountain ranges.
• Global Standard Design: The procedure complies fully with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Standards and Recommended Practices.

• All-Weather Reliability: Minimises weather-related disruptions by allowing helicopters to operate safely under adverse or low-visibility conditions.
• Remote Accessibility: Bridges the gap between Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) networks and remote or strategically critical landing locations that completely lack traditional runways.
• Lower Obstacle Clearance Height (OCH): Moving the missed approach point away from surrounding ground obstacles allows pilots to descend safer and lower before committing to a visual landing.

• Emergency Medical Services (HEMS): Enables rapid air ambulance responses directly to remote hospitals or disaster zones without flight guidance limits.
• Disaster Relief and Defence: Increases the efficiency of supply drops and rescue missions in hilly, forested, or disrupted geographies.
• Connectivity and Tourism: Supports massive public infrastructure sectors, including corporate aviation, offshore drilling operations, and regional pilgrimage routes like the Char Dham services.

• Honouring Legends: Dedicated to paying tribute to eminent Indian musicians and artistes who shaped the country's musical heritage.
• Institutional Bond: Specifically honours musical maestros who remained deeply associated with Akashvani throughout their careers.
• Heritage Preservation: Aims to preserve the invaluable history of Indian classical and folk music for future generations.

• Portraits Displayed: Features portraits of 19 legendary personalities who received India's highest civilian honours.
• Bharat Ratna Laureates: Highlights iconic maestros including Vidushi M.S. Subbulakshmi, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Lata Mangeshkar, and Dr. Bhupen Hazarika.

• Dignitaries Present: Attended by Prasar Bharati CEO Gaurav Dwivedi and Akashvani & DD News Director General Rajiv Kumar Jain.
• A Heartfelt Homecoming: Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia called the event a "homecoming," noting his own career started with Akashvani's Children's Programme.
• Musical Tribute: Features a soulful celebratory flute recital performed by Pandit Rupak Kulkarni, a top-grade Akashvani artist and disciple of Pt. Chaurasia.

• Official Online Marketplace: Created for authentic handcrafted, handloom, and natural products made by rural women.
• Nodal Ministry: Developed by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD).
• Parent Scheme: Runs under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM).
• Elimination of Intermediaries: Operates with a zero-middlemen model to ensure fair remuneration reaches the artisans directly.

Platform Component	Core Function / Detail
eSARAS Web Portal	The central online hub (esaras.in) for listing and digital marketing.
eSARAS Mobile App	A customer-friendly app allowing users to buy products, rate items, and give direct feedback.
Fulfillment Centre	A dedicated facility used for systematic processing, packaging, and shipping of SHG goods.
ONDC Integration	Connects SHG products across 11+ commercial buyer apps, reaching over 20 crore shoppers.
UMANG Integration	Embeds eSARAS into India's central public service app to drive seamless public accessibility.
SARAS Shakti Collection	Premium curated gift lines tailored directly for corporate and institutional clients.
Physical Gallery	A permanent retail storefront located at Baba Kharak Singh Marg, New Delhi.

• Handloom & Women's Apparel
• Men's Apparel & Accessories
• Home & Living Utilities
• Personal Care & Cosmetics
• Traditional & Natural Food Items
• Kids' Toys & Accessories

• Digital Storefront Access: Empowers over 8.62 crore women SHG members with direct exposure to digital trade.
• Network Penetration: Spans across 7,627 blocks nationwide, supported by a vast network of 1.51 crore community cadres.
• End-to-End Support: Provides essential training in branding, standard packaging, and modern logistics management.
• Financial Autonomy: Boosts household income to help meet the goal of rural women saving at least ₹1 lakh annually.
• Cultural Preservation: Safeguards dying Indian craft traditions by giving indigenous artisans a sustainable livelihood.

• Acronym: Self-Help Entrepreneur-Livelihoods and Enterprise Application for Prosperity and Sustainability.
• Purpose: It functions as a unified digital application for tracking enterprise creation.
• Target Group: Women entrepreneurs associated with Self-Help Groups (SHGs) across rural India.
• Sectors Covered: It fully supports both farm and non-farm rural businesses.

• Developer: Built by the Digital India Corporation.
• Base Platform: Implemented using the LokOS platform architecture.
• LokOS Function: A digital system that tracks Community-Based Organisations (CBOs).
• Data Tracking: Captures financial transactions, member profiles, and livelihood progress.

• Entrepreneurship: Creating and strengthening women-led enterprises in village ecosystems.
• Value Chains: Integrating local rural producers into mainstream formal markets.
• Financial Inclusion: Enhancing banking access and credit linkage for SHG households.
• Data Decisions: Transitioning rural monitoring into an objective, data-driven system.

• Geographical Reach: Rolling out across 34 States and Union Territories.
• Administrative Aid: Assisting the respective State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs).
• Real-Time Data: Capturing immediate performance statistics of rural enterprises.
• Multi-Level Monitoring: Improving governance, local field planning, and national policy decisions.

• Journey Tracking: Monitors a woman's progress from profile setup to income tracking.
• Income Milestones: Systematically records benchmarks as women transition to earning over ₹1 lakh annually.
• Scale Capabilities: Designed as an integral mobile application to expand businesses at a national scale.

• Definition: GAGAN stands for GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation.
• Developers: A joint project developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
• Core Technology: It is a Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) that detects and corrects errors in standard GPS signals caused by atmospheric conditions, timing gaps, or orbital variations.
• Accuracy Peak: It reduces general GPS positioning errors, tightening accuracy up to approximately 1 metre for precision navigation.
• Operational Lifespan: The system has been fully operational since 2015.
• Global Standing: GAGAN makes India the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to achieve an operational SBAS, placing it alongside elite peers like the US (WAAS), Europe (EGNOS), and Japan (MSAS).
• Equatorial Landmark: It is the world’s first SBAS certified to operate effectively inside the challenging equatorial ionosphere region.

• Ground Reference Stations (INRES): 15 stations across India that continuously track GPS signals and flag discrepancies.
• Master Control Centres (INMCC): 2 centres that process data from INRES to calculate precise real-time signal corrections and integrity data.
• Land Uplink Stations (INLUS): 3 stations that beam the processed correction data from the ground up to the satellite network.
• Space Segment Payloads: 3 specialized GAGAN navigation payloads riding on India’s geostationary satellites: GSAT-8, GSAT-10, and GSAT-15.

• Bypassing Expensive Infrastructure: Eliminates the necessity for costly ground-based Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) at every runway.
• Boost for Smaller Airports: Empowers secondary regional airfields and remote terrains to handle all-weather jet landings safely without heavy tech infrastructure.
• Operational Efficiency: Lowers fuel consumption, prevents flight diversions in low visibility, and provides horizontal/vertical guidance down to 200 feet.
• Regulatory Mandate: Equipment compatibility is mandatory for all aircraft registered in India.

• GAGAN: Does not replace GPS. It is an augmentation utility that double-checks, corrects, and adds safety layer "integrity alerts" to existing GPS signals.
• NavIC: India's completely independent satellite constellation (regional GPS alternative) that functions natively on its own atomic clocks.

• Maritime Navigation: Guides coastal ships and provides the GEMINI device configuration to send real-time emergency disaster alerts to fishermen at sea.
• Indian Railways: Used for highly accurate track alignment audits and signalling automation near unmanned crossings.
• Roadways: Powers the upcoming Road Asset Management System (RAMS) across National Highways to regulate real-time traffic flow.
• Disaster Management: Operates the GAGAN Message Service (GMS) to broadcast instant satellite-based early warning alerts to citizens during earthquakes, floods, or cyclones.

• Parent Ministry: Launched by the Ministry of Education, Government of India, under the National Education Policy (NEP 2020).
• Regulatory Body: Directly monitored and managed by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
• Core Function: Acts as a virtual/digital storehouse that records, manages, and stores academic credits earned by students.

• Multiple Entry and Exit (MEE): Allows students to drop out of a degree programme in any year and re-enter later without losing their progress.
• Earn Certification on Exit: Exiting after 1 year awards a Certificate, after 2 years a Diploma, and completing the full term awards a Degree.
• Credit Redemption: Earned credits remain valid and active in the "bank" for a maximum shelf-life of 7 years.
• Inter-Institutional Mobility: Enables students to seamlessly transfer their academic credits if they switch from one college or university to another.
• Online Learning Inclusion: Students can fulfil up to 40% of their total course credits through recognized online platforms like SWAYAM.

• Digi Locker Ecosystem: The platform is deeply integrated with Digi Locker, giving students an authorized dashboard to track their credits safely.
• Unified Student Identity: Works hand-in-hand with the 12-digit APAAR ID card which maps a student’s lifelong educational achievements from school to higher learning.
• Data Transparency: Restricts higher education institutions from holding students' original credentials or holding them back against their will for financial exploitation.

• National Status: It holds the distinction of being the only Hindu temple in the entire country of Seychelles.
• Capital Landmark: The temple is located on Quincy Street in the heart of Victoria, the capital city of Seychelles.
• Geographic Backdrop: It sits dynamically near the iconic Sir Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke Market, framed by lush green tropical hills.
• Community Anchor: It serves as the primary spiritual and cultural hub for the local Hindu community, which comprises roughly 2% of the national population.

• Founding Committee: The temple's institutional journey began on June 10, 1984, when its first managing committee was organized.
• Construction: The structural monument was built by the local Hindu community and formally consecrated in 1992.
• Consecrations: The temple has undergone subsequent major consecration and renovation milestones in 2008 and 2013.

• Dravidian Style: The architecture strictly mirrors the traditional Dravidian style of South India, specifically reminiscent of Tamil Nadu temples.
• Tower Spire: The most famous feature is its exterior gopuram (entrance tower), which rises nearly 100 feet tall and is covered in colourful carvings of deities.
• Main Deity: The inner sanctum (garbha griha) houses the sacred idol of Lord Vinayagar (Ganesha), revered as the god of safety and prosperity.
• Other Shrines: The complex includes separate shrines dedicated to Murugan, Nataraja, Durga, Sreenivasa Perumal, Bhairava, and Chandekeswarar.

• Major Festivals: Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali, and the Kavadi festival are celebrated here with grand, vibrant public gatherings.
• Visitor Etiquette: The temple is open to all visitors and tourists for free, provided they strictly remove their shoes and headgear before entry.
• Operating Hours: It welcomes devotees daily from 6:00 AM to 12:00 PM and reopens in the evening from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM.

• Smallest Wild Canid: It is the smallest member of the dog family found in India.
• Scientific Name: Vulpes bengalensis.
• Alternative Name: Commonly referred to as the Indian Fox.
• Distinctive Tail: Its most prominent feature is a bushy tail with a distinctive black tip.
• Unique Build: It has an elongated muzzle, pointed ears, and a coat colour ranging from grey to pale brown.

• Endemic Range: It is native entirely to the Indian subcontinent, covering India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
• Preferred Landscape: It thrives in semi-arid plains, open short grasslands, scrublands, and fallow land.
• Avoided Areas: It completely avoids dense forest canopies and steep mountain ridges.
• Human Proximity: It acts as an "edge species," living comfortably in the buffer zones between agricultural fields and wilderness.

• Opportunistic Omnivore: It feeds dynamically on insects, rodents, small reptiles, wild fruits, and birds.
• Farmer's Friend: It benefits humans by acting as a natural pest control agent against agricultural rodents.
• Strict Monogamy: These foxes are known to pair for life.
• Complex Burrows: They dig underground dens with a central chamber and multiple escape openings to raise their pups.
• Active Hours: They are primarily crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) and nocturnal to dodge midday heat and humans.

• IUCN Red List: Categorised as Least Concern, though local populations are declining rapidly.
• Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Placed under Schedule II, ensuring strict legal protection against hunting and capturing.
• Primary Threats: Habitat conversion to irrigated farms, roadkill’s, and lethal diseases (like rabies and canine distemper) spread by feral stray dogs.

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