Current Affairs 12th Aug 2024 for UPSC Prelims Exam

Perseid Meteor

Context: The Perseid meteor shower which started in July is set to peak on August 11.

About Perseid Meteor

• The Perseid meteor shower is one of the year’s premier meteor showers, known for its bright meteors and high activity levels
• It peaks during mid-August each year and is considered to be among the best meteor showers.
• The Perseids are caused by the Earth slamming into the debris left behind by comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle.
• The Perseids shower itself doesn’t threaten the earth: most meteors burn up in the atmosphere.
• It is also one of the most plentiful showers with nearly 100 meteors seen per hour.
• The Perseids are special because they often generate fireballs.
  • Fireballs are big bursts of light and color that last longer than a regular shooting star.

HYV Seeds and Biofortified Seeds

Context: Prime Minister Narendra Modi released 109 high-yielding, climate-resilient, and biofortified seed varieties of agricultural and horticultural crops.

About High Yielding Variety Seeds HYV Seeds

• HYV seeds are resistant to insects and diseases and have a high-yielding capacity.
• These seeds are of better quality and are a better option for surplus and healthy production of crops.
• These seeds played an important role in India’s Green Revolution.

About Biofortification

• It is the process of improving the nutritional quality of food crops.
• This can be achieved through agronomic practices, conventional breeding or biotechnology-based approaches like genetic engineering and genome editing.
• Biofortification aims to increase nutrient levels in crops during plant growth rather than through manual means during the processing of the crops.

Gotipua Dance

Context: The Gotipua dance of Odisha is at risk of disappearing due to declining interest.

About Gotipua Dance

• Gotipua, refers to ‘one boy,’ has children trained in singing, dancing, yoga, and acrobatics within gurukuls or akhadas .
• They dress as girls and perform at temple festivals, social gatherings, and religious ceremonies.
• Gotipua is celebrated as the precursor to the classical Odissi dance form.
• In ancient times, the temples of Orissa had female dancers called “Devadasi or Mahari (in Orissa)” who were devoted to Lord Jagannath.
• Around the 16^th century, with the decline of the Mahari dancers, the class of these boy dancers came into existence in Orissa, to carry out the tradition.
• It is largely from the Gotipua dance that the present form of Odissi dance has been inspired.
• The journey for Gotipua dancers involves over 20,000 hours of rigorous training spanning 10 years, dressing as girls on stage, sacrificing their education, and staying away from their families.
• Children are initiated into the practice as early as five. By the time they are 16 and their bodies change, complex hand and body movements that require suppleness become difficult. That is their age of ‘retirement’

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