What is the News ?

For the investigation of opto-electronic properties in a variety of materials, a new Laboratory of Advance Synthesis and Characterization (LASC) in Gujarat is creating LASC probe stations for universities in India and abroad.

Facts About:

Optoelectronics is typically regarded as a sub-field of photonics and is the study and application of electronic devices and systems that source, detect, and control light.

The term "light" in this context frequently refers to both visible light and invisible radiation, such as gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet, and infrared.

For their opto-electronic properties, materials like tungsten diselenide (WSe2) and molybdenum diselenide are being closely examined.

The ability of these materials to absorb light and reemit it as a spectrum is known as photoluminescence.

• Quantum LEDs, which can be used for computation and communication, are one example of a device that can make use of photoluminescence properties.

What is the News ?

The Union Tribal Affairs Ministry on Saturday declared "null and void" the suspension of the managing director of TRIFED.

Facts About:

The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation (TRIFED) is a national-level organization operating under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Its primary focus is on the development and marketing of tribal handicrafts and natural products.

Established in 1987, it became registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 1984 (now the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002).

TRIFED's main objectives include enhancing the capabilities of tribal communities, promoting their products, and creating marketing opportunities to ensure better prices for tribal products, ultimately improving their income sustainably.

Some of its key goals are:

• Enhancing the socio-economic welfare of tribal communities.
• Facilitating and providing services to improve production within tribal communities.
• Offering training to enhance artistic skills using modern technology, making tribal products more competitive in the global market.
• Promoting tribal art and crafts to provide a stable livelihood.
• Identifying target groups, monitoring activities, and providing input to the Ministry.

Under retail marketing, TRIFED is responsible for marketing of tribal products under the brand name "TRIBES INDIA."

It promotes and establishes a sustainable market through retail outlets, exhibitions like Aadishilp, Aadichitra, and OCTAVE, international fairs, and e-marketing.

The Government of India has also entrusted TRIFED with the implementation of the Minimum Support Price Scheme for Minor Forest Produce.

Headquarter: New Delhi

It continues to operate a system of Regional Offices throughout India and a collection of TRIBES INDIA Retail Outlets.

What is the News ?

The United Arab Emirates is leading the Global Cooling Pledge alongside the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) Cool Coalition during the COP28 Presidency.

Facts About:

• The Global Cool Coalition is a unified front that connects action across the Kigali Amendment, Paris Agreement, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• The aim is to increase aspiration, find solutions, and mobilize action to hasten the transition to clean and effective cooling.
• In addition to the UN, the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) all support it.
• It is composed of leaders from civil society, academia, and government from countries like Chile, Rwanda, and Denmark.

Why is it necessary?

• 2020 was the hottest year on record for the entire planet, after 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2015.
• By 2050, there will be 4.5 billion air conditioning units installed worldwide as a result of rising incomes and urbanization; India may account for one billion of those units.
• India's cooling demand will more than double in the next 20 years, with air conditioners alone consuming more than half of the total energy required for cooling in the country by 2037-38.
• The Union Environment Ministry in India has already launched a national cooling action plan on March 8, 2019.

What is the News ?

During the Little Ice Age (LIA), the Western Ghats in India bore the hallmark of moist conditions, according to a recent study.

Facts About:

• It revealed significant variations in rainfall patterns during that time period, challenging the conventional view of the Little Ice Age (LIA) as a uniformly cold and dry climate with reduced monsoon rainfall.
• It was proposed that the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone's (ITCZ) northward motion, positive temperature anomalies, an increase in the number of sunspots, and high solar activity may be responsible for climate change and an accelerated South West Monsoon.
• In general, they believed that the southward shift of the ITCZ, which was brought on by increased northward energy flux across the equator during a cold northern hemisphere, was to blame for the weakest phase of the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) across the Indian subcontinent during the Little Ice Age.
• The high-resolution palaeoclimatic records produced in the current study may be useful in developing paleoclimatic models for future climatic predictions as well as for scientifically sound policy planning.
• In order to better understand the current Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM)-influenced climatic conditions as well as potential future climatic trends and projections, knowledge and understanding of climate change and Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) variability during the Holocene could be of immense interest.

About the Little Ice Age:

• The Little Ice Age, which began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, came after the Mediaeval Warming Period (roughly 900–1300 CE) and came before the current warming period.
• It was one of the coldest times in the last 10,000 years, with the North Atlantic region experiencing the greatest cooling.
• Millions of people suffered and died as a result of this cold spell, whose precise timing scholars debate but which appears to have begun around 600 years ago.

              It is thought to have been the cause of crop failures, famines, and pandemics throughout Europe.

What is the News ?

Kerala Tourism has initiated a ?2.9-crore project to enhance civic amenities around Edakkal caves in Wayanad.

Facts About:

• These caves are situated on the magnificent Ambukuthi hills, 3,900 feet above sea level. The name Edakkal translates as "a stone in between."
• The ancient intricate stone carvings that are one-of-a-kind and come from the Neolithic and Mesolithic periods.
• The caves are two naturally occurring structures that are thought to have been created by a significant rock split.
• These include Neolithic-era pictorial writings that are thought to have been created at least 6,000 BCE.

Features:

• The Edakkal Caves are not actually caves, despite their name, as they also feature human and animal figures in addition to symbols and letters.
• They are a piece of a prehistoric rock shelter that naturally developed when one enormous boulder got wedged between two larger ones.

             These include human figures, animals, tools, vehicles, everyday objects, and scripts in various language scripts.

• The Muniyaras, or ancient burial sites, that have been discovered in these hills have yielded a rich collection of ancient earthenware and pottery.
• The variety of the engravings suggest that the Edakkal caves were inhabited several times at different points in history.