UPSC Current Affairs 13 September 2026

• Issuing Authority: The stamps were issued by the Department of Posts, Government of India.
• Bilingual Inscription: Each stamp features the official text "BRICS: Two Decades of Cooperation, 2006–2026" written in both English and Hindi ("ब्रिक्स: सहयोग के दो दशक, 2006–2026").
• Thematic Grounding: The designs reflect the official theme of India's 2026 BRICS Chairship: "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability".

• The First Stamp: Embodies the core foundational values of the alliance, highlighting a spirit of mutual respect, mutual understanding, and solidarity among member nations.
• The Second Stamp: Displays the official 2026 Summit Logo and visually captures India's distinct "humanity first" and "people-centric" approach to global governance.

• Historical Origins: The alliance originally began as "BRIC" and was formalized during the first meeting of Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York in September 2006.
• Name Change: The grouping was later renamed "BRICS" following the official inclusion of South Africa.
• Current Footprint: As of 2026, the expanded alliance comprises 11 major emerging market nations: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

• Head of the Year: The phrase Rosh Hashanah translates literally from Hebrew to mean the "head of the year".
• Birthday of the Universe: Jewish tradition holds that the holiday marks the anniversary of the creation of the world, specifically the day Adam and Eve were created.
• The Hebrew Calendar: It is observed on the first two days of Tishrei, which is the seventh month of the Hebrew lunisolar calendar.

• Day of Judgment: Also known as Yom Hadin, it is believed to be the day God judges humanity's deeds from the past year and writes their fates into the Books of Life and Death.
• Spiritual Renewal: The primary themes of the holiday focus on introspection, personal reflection, repentance (teshuvah), and turning over a new leaf.
• Cessation of Work: Observers refrain from creative work or regular professional obligations to attend lengthy, solemn synagogue services.

• Blowing the Shofar: The defining ritual is the sounding of the shofar (a trumpet crafted from a ram's horn). A total of 100 blasts are blown in a specific rhythmic sequence to act as a spiritual wake-up call to repentance.
• Tashlich Practice: On the afternoon of the first day, many walk to a natural body of flowing water to recite prayers and symbolically throw breadcrumbs into the water, representing the casting away of sins.
• Shanah Tovah Greet: The standard holiday greeting is "Shanah Tovah", which means "Have a good year" in Hebrew.

• Apples and Honey: Slices of apple are dipped in honey to symbolize the hope for a sweet and prosperous new year ahead.
• Round Challah Bread: Unlike the braided challah eaten on the regular Sabbath, Rosh Hashanah challah is baked into a round shape to represent the circular nature of time and the continuity of life.
• Pomegranates: These are eaten because they are rich in seeds, symbolizing a wish to be filled with as many merits and good deeds as there are seeds (traditionally believed to be 613, corresponding to the Torah's commandments).
• Fish Heads: Many families place the head of a fish on the holiday table to represent the goal of being "at the head, not the tail" (leaders rather than followers) in the coming year.

• National Importance: It is the first and only institute in the AYUSH sector to be granted the status of an Institute of National Importance (INI) by an Act of Parliament (ITRA Act, 2020).
• Parent Ministry: The institute operates as an autonomous body fully funded and administered under the Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India.
• Institutional Autonomy: Its INI status grants it total independence to design advanced curricula, set international education standards, and deploy independent evaluation methods.

• Amalgamation of Colleges: ITRA was formed in 2020 by merging four prominent legacy Ayurveda institutions on the Gujarat Ayurved University campus:
  • Institute of Post Graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda (IPGT&RA)
  • Shree Gulabkunverba Ayurved Mahavidyalaya
  • Indian Institute of Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical Sciences
  • Maharshi Patanjali Institute for Yoga Naturopathy Education and Research (MPIYNER)
• Infrastructure: The campus features 12 specialized departments, three clinical laboratories, three research laboratories, and vast botanical gardens.

• WHO Collaboration: ITRA is designated as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Traditional Medicines (Ayurveda), attracting scholars from Europe, Africa, and SAARC nations.
• Academic Firsts: It is the first Ayurvedic institution to offer short-term courses tailored for international students and the world's first to offer formal Diploma and Bachelor degrees in Ayurveda Pharmacy.
• Preservation of Heritage: The institute features a Central Library housing over 7,500 rare, historic manuscripts alongside a dedicated Dravyaguna Museum showcasing medicinal plant specimens.

• Ovum Pick-Up (OPU): Immature egg cells (oocytes) were extracted from genetically superior Badri donor cows using a non-surgical, ultrasound-guided procedure.
• In Vitro Fertilization (IVF): The collected eggs were fertilized in a controlled laboratory environment using high-quality semen from a superior Badri bull.
• Embryo Transfer: The resulting pure Badri embryo was grown in the lab before being implanted into a surrogate Sahiwal cow.
• Pure Genetic Lineage: Even though a Sahiwal cow gave birth to the calf, the calf is 100% pure Badri because its genetic material came strictly from Badri parents.

• Implementing Bodies: The project is a joint initiative by the ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (ICAR-NDRI), Karnal, and G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar.
• Funding and Location: The project began in 2023 with financial backing from the Uttarakhand Biotechnology Council, Haldi. The historic birth took place at the Academic Dairy Farm in Pantnagar.

• Faster Multiplication: Traditional breeding is limited by slow calving cycles, but OPU-IVF bypasses these hurdles to multiply elite female livestock lines rapidly.
• Preserving Climate Resilience: Badri cattle are small, hardy, and highly adapted to the harsh hilly terrain and agro-climatic conditions of the Himalayas.
• Economic Boost: Enhancing the genetic quality of Badri cows helps improve their milk yield and overall disease resistance, securing better livelihoods for local farmers.

• More Births Expected: A second surrogate cow is expected to give birth to another IVF-derived Badri calf within the next few days.
• Cloning Research: The scientific team is simultaneously working on cloning high-yielding Badri cows and has already successfully generated cloned embryos in the laboratory.

• Scientific Name: Equus ferus przewalskii or Equus przewalskii)

• The Last Truly Wild Horse: It is the only surviving, truly wild horse species remaining in the world today. Unlike modern "wild" horses (like the American Mustang), which are actually feral domestic horses, Przewalski's horse has never been successfully domesticated.
• Genetic Distinction: They possess 66 chromosomes, compared to the 64 chromosomes found in domestic horses. While they can interbreed with domestic horses to produce fertile offspring with 65 chromosomes, they represent a completely distinct evolutionary lineage.
• Physical Appearance: They have a small, stocky, and heavy build. They feature a large head, a thick short neck, short legs, and a distinctive upright, dark mane with no forelock. Their coats are typically dun (sandy or reddish-brown to cream) with a dark "eel" stripe running down the backbone.

• Native Range: Historically, they roamed extensively across the steppe grasslands and semi-deserts of Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and northern China.
• Climate Resilience: They are highly adapted to survive in harsh, barren terrains and extreme winter temperatures that can drop well below minus 30 degrees Celsius.
• Current Wild Sites: Today, free-ranging populations only exist within strictly managed reintroduction reserves in Mongolia (e.g., Khustain Nuruu National Park), China (e.g., Kalamaili Nature Reserve), and Central Kazakhstan.

• IUCN Status: Endangered.
• Extinction and Revival: Intense hunting, habitat loss, and competition with domestic livestock drove the species to complete extinction in the wild by the late 1960s. The entire modern global population of over 2,500 horses descends from just 12 to 14 individuals that survived in European zoos at that time.
• The Chernobyl Population: In an unusual twist of conservation history, 31 horses were released into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in 1998. Despite radioactive conditions, the population thrived in the human-free zone and nearly doubled within a decade.
• Current Threat: Their single greatest ongoing threat is a severe lack of genetic diversity stemming from their narrow genetic bottleneck, making them vulnerable to diseases and inbreeding depression.

• Unmanned Aircraft Profile: The missile features a broad, flattened, aircraft-like shape with faceted surfaces instead of a traditional cylindrical cruise missile body to lower its radar signature.
• Asymmetric Build: It is built with a trapezoidal nose, thick folding wings, a chin-mounted optical window, and a refined inverted-V tail.
• Composite Construction: The body utilizes multi-layer fiberglass and composite materials to keep production costs low and make it lightweight.

• Advanced Processing: The "K" (Kovyor) variant is the more premium model in the S-71 family, equipped with electro-optical guidance and higher onboard processing power compared to its simpler sister variant, the S-71M Monokhrom.
• Stand-Off Strike Power: With an estimated operational range of 300 to 350 km, it allows Russian jets to strike targets from safe, friendly airspace out of the reach of local air defence systems.
• Radar Evasion Flight Paths: The missile can cruise at high altitudes (around 8,200 meters) before dropping to low-level profiles of just 20–75 meters over land to escape continuous radar tracking.

• Code Name Meaning: "Kovyor" translates to "Carpet" in Russian, referencing its tactical intent for overwhelming force.
• Destructive Payload: It is built to house a 250-kilogram high-explosive fragmentation warhead integrated into its nose structure.
• Aviation Integration: It was purpose-built to complement Russia's fifth-generation Su-57 stealth fighter, though it can be adapted for external carriage on other aircraft.

• Author: Traditionally attributed to the ancient poet-philosopher Thiruvalluvar (also referred to as Valluvar).
• Format: It consists of 1,330 short couplets (known as kurals) categorized into 133 chapters. Each couplet follows a strict structure of exactly seven words spread across two lines.
• Age: Dated widely between 300 BCE and the 5th century CE. While traditional accounts link it to the Third Sangam period, linguistic analysis suggests a post-Sangam origin around 450–500 CE.

• Aram (Virtue): Focuses on personal ethics, moral conduct, compassion, truthfulness, and responsible domestic life.
• Porul (Wealth/Statecraft): Discusses public life, politics, royal governance, justice, diplomacy, economics, and warfare.
• Inbam or Kamam (Love): Covers human relationships, intimacy, and emotions, split into pre-marital (Kalaviyal) and marital (Karpiyal) love.

• Strict Secularism: The text lacks any regional, ethnic, or sectarian religious identity. It defines God universally as "pure intelligence" and focuses entirely on humanistic virtues rather than religious dogma.
• Key Virtues: It strongly advocates for non-violence (Ahimsa), moral vegetarianism, charity, gratitude, and self-restraint.
• Global Translations: Due to its universal applicability, it has been translated into more than 60 languages globally. PM Modi has previously released versions in languages ranging from Gujarati to Papua New Guinea’s Tok Pisin.

1. It has 66 chromosomes, compared to 64 in domestic horses.
2. It is classified as Endangered by the IUCN.
3. It became extinct in the wild by the late 1960s.

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