These current affairs are written in a easy to remember format and are useful for competitive exams like - UPSC Civil Services, UPPSC, BPSC, MPPPSC, State PSCs and other competitive examinations.
Global Innovation Index 2021
India has climbed two spots and has been ranked 46th in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2021 rankings.
The GII is launched by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations.
It is published in partnership with the Portulans Institute and other corporate partners.
Top Five: Switzerland, Sweden, U.S., and U.K., Republic of Korea.
Asian economies - the Republic of Korea (5th), Singapore (8th), China (12th), Japan (13th) and Hong Kong (14th).
Science & Tech
NASA's VIPER Mission
The NASA's upcoming Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will land at the Moon's South Pole, near the western edge of the Nobile Crater.
VIPER (rover), a part of the Artemis mission, is expected to launch by late 2023.
The mission aims to map and explore the South Pole's surface and subsurface for water and other resources.
It is the first resource mapping mission on any other celestial body.
The rover will take off for its destination in a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket by Astrobotic's Griffin lander under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative of NASA.
The Moon's South Pole is one of the coldest areas in our solar system, with no prior lunar missions having explored the region.
An impact crater, the Nobile Crater came into existence through a collision with another smaller celestial body.
Science & Tech
Shankhalipi script
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) discovered remains of an ancient temple dating back to the Gupta period (5th century) in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Etah district.
The stairs of the temple had shankhalipi inscriptions, which were deciphered by the archaeologists as saying, "Sri Mahendraditya", the title of Kumaragupta I of the Gupta dynasty.
Only two other structural temples from the Gupta age have been found so far - Dashavatara Temple (Deogarh) and Bhitargaon Temple (Kanpur Dehat).
Both Shankhalipi and Brahmi are stylised scripts used primarily for names and signatures.
Art & Culture
Plant Discoveries 2020: BSI
Botanical Survey of India (BSI), in its new publication Plant Discoveries 2020 has added 267 new taxa/ species to the country's flora.
India has about 45,000 species of plants, already identified and classified, which account for about 7% of the total plant species of the world.
About 28% of the Indian plants are endemic to the country.
22% of the discoveries were made from the Western Ghats followed by Western Himalayas (15%), Eastern Himalayas (14%) and Northeast Ranges (12%).
India is a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and is committed to work towards a global strategy of plant conservation.
Environment