SOLAR SYSTEM

Solar System is the name given to the collection of heavenly bodies that encircle around the sun. Its has its center as sun. But the sun or solary system is not the center of Milky Way galaxy. Its is at the corner of the same. Solar system originate from the rotating disc of gases and cloud.

PLANETS:-

Planets in latin means wanderers as sometimes they get disappear from the view. But it is not true as the planets revolve around the sun in fixed orbit . All the planets are named after the romans gods.

planets are 

1. Mercury
2. Venus
3. Earth
4. Mars
5. Jupiter
6. Saturn
7. Uranus
8. Neputne

• The first two (Mercury and Venus) are called as the inferior planets as they are closure to the sun. Beyond earth (Mars to Neptune) they are called as superior planets.
• Inner planets are the planets from Mercury to Mars, while beyond that they are called as outer planet. Inner planets are dense rocky and consist of Iron and Rock. Outer planet composed mostly of hydrogen, helium, ammonia and methane. These planets are also called as Jovian as they resembles Jupiter. 
• Jupiter and Saturn are the planets that sends out the radio waves and can be picked up on the earth by radio telescopes.

Now Question arises is there any other planetary system in the universe like solar system.?

There is lot of probability that there must be planetary system in universe but till now no radio or optical evidence has been obtained.

Barnard's Star is the first star noted by the astronomers, as being likely to have a planetary system like solar. Barnard's star has the mass of about 1/6th to that of the sun. It is also known as flying star.

Stars Groups or constellations

As earth rotates from west to east the stars seem to be moving from east to west. During this journey earth seems to pass through lots of star groups which the people has named according to their convince. These groups of stars are known as constellations. There are about 12 constellations are known as signs of zodiac in Astrology. The relative distance between them does not change while there position in whole seems to be changed in relation to earth. One such star whoes position does not seems to be changed is Pole Star as it is in direction to the axis of earth rotation.

Cosmic Year

It is the time period in which the whole planetary system revolve around the center of galaxy. It is about 250 million years called cosmic year

Red Giant

It is observed that the sun has source of energy from the conversion of Hydrogen to Helium (currently sun has 70% of hydrogen and 28% of helium). Sun consumes about trillion pounds of Hydrogen per second at this rate it will consume all of its source in about 5 billion years and turn into Red Giant. At that stage sun will become swelled a hundred times in diameter and increased a thousand times in brightness. The nearest planet Mercury and Venus will get melt and all the water on earth will get evaporated. Slowly after million year more sun will lost its outer surface and only core will get left resembling mars.

Structure of Sun

Sun consist of central core and outer Photosphere (visible to naked eye), Chromosphere (red in colour) and  outer most layer corona (visible only on solar eclipse like diamond ring). The photosphere of the sun has the temperature of about 6000 degree celsius and it is called the temperature of sun.

                                                                                                                                To be continued.....

HISTORY
LECTURE 2
                                                        INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION    

1) Common  features of IVC are Sysematic town planning, use of brunt bricks in construction, underground drainage system , fortified citadel.
2) Main crops are Wheat, Barely, Rice, Dates, Mustard, Sesamum, Cotton (People of IVC were first in the world to produce cotton.)
3) Animals known to them are Sheep, Goat, Humped and Humpless Bull, Buffalo, Boar, Dog, Cat, Pig, Fowl, Deer, Tortoise, Elephant, Camel, Rhinoceros and Tiger were known to them ( Most of them were depicted on the seals) while of Cow and Lion are the animal which are not known to them and came in existence afterwards.
4) There were foreign trade with Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Bahrain (It means both the civilization were contemporary to the IVC)
5) Iron was the only metal not known to the IVC.
6) Sumerian or Mesopotamian text refers IVC as 'Meluha'
7) Barter system was common mode for exchange of goods. There is no evidence of Coins
8) In case of polity it was observed that Merchants were the ruling authority.
9) There is evidence or excavation of temples, so it can be concluded that Harappan people did not worshiped their gods in temples but idea of their religion is formed from the statues and figurines found.
10) Pahsupati Mahadev was considered as the god of Animals represented by Proto-Shiva figure sitting in the yogic posture and is surrounded by 6 animals (Elephant, tiger, rhino and buffalo surrounding him while two deer appear a his feet).
11) Humpless bull is represented in most of Indus Seals
12) Complete burial of the dead was common in North South direction i.e. head toward North.
13) Majority of the scholars believe that Dravidian were the maker of civilization.
14) Other contemporary civilization were Mesopotamian along river Tigris, China along river (Hwang Ho i.e. Yellow river) and Egypt along river Nile.
15) Script of IVC was Boustrophedon type and still undecipherable but most of letters represented fish.
16) Possible reasons for decline of the IVC were thought to be by Aryan Invasion, Floods, Earthquake or Fire.

• For any query to this lecture plz mail us on HMT_ravi@rediffmail.com

HISTORY
LECTURE 1
                                             INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION (2500BC-1750BC) 

1) Indus Valley Civilization was one of the oldest and advanced civilizations in the world. It named so because for the first time the settlement was found near the bank of river Indus (Note: The most of the settlement were around the river Saraswati so it is better to name the civilzation as Saraswati -Indus Civilzation) the Saraswati river was the main axis of civilization.
2) The dimensions of the IVC are: North (Manda in Jammu), South (Daimabad Maharashtra), East (Alamgirpur in Western UP), and West ( Suktagendor on Pakistan-Iran border).
3) For the first time the term Indus Valley Civilization was used by John Marshall.
4) Most Important port city of the civilization was Lothal (In Gujrat).

Clay Figure of Mother Goddess

5) Harappa  (Pakistan) was the first site in the civilization excavated by Daya Ram Sahani in 1921 it was located on the river Ravi.
     Important Archaeological Findings at Harappa
     a) 6 Granaries in row ( it is thinked that this was the place for the storage of Grains).
     b) Clay Figurine of Mother Goddess. (Female Deity)

     c) Copper made mirror and Dice (Dice shows that the were fond of the dice game)
6) Mohenjodaro  (Pakistan) was the second site (but the largest among all sites) to be excavated after Harappa by Sh. R.D. Banerjee in year 1927  located on Indus river.
     Important Archaeological Findings at Mohenjodaro
a) Great Bath, Great Grainery (It is important for students to note that Great Grainery is the Largest  building of civilization not the Great Bath)
b) Pashupati Mahadev seal (It shows that the people of IVC were worshipped this male deity)

Pashupati Mahadev

c) Bronze image of nude women dancer, Steatite image of beared man, Human skeleton huddled together, Clay figurine of mother goddess.
d) Fragment of woven cotton
7) Chanhudaro It was the city without citadel an Inkpot was found there, indicate that the were also had writing skills , Imprint of dog's paw on a brick shows that the dog was known to them.
8) Lothal was the port city and had a dockyard for the parking of ships. Here seals of Mesopotamia civilization were found shows that the people had trade with them. Remains of Rice husk were also found ( Its obvious as being the port city the region was full of water). Double burial was observed there (burring of male and female together).
9) Kalibanga:-  Ploughed field was found here showing the the people were known to agriculture.
Camel bones were also found indicates that the animal was known to them.
10) Dholavira this was the island city of the whole civilzation ( largest Indian site) and had a unique water harvesting system. It is the only site that was divided into 3 parts. A large Stadium was also excavated.
11) Surkotada was the site where the remains of horse were found.

To be Continued....
For any query mail at HMT_ravi@rediffmail.com

Kedarnath Singh received Jnanpith award 2013

President Pranab Mukherjee on 10 November 2014 conferred the 49th Jnanpith Award on eminent Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh at a function at Balyogi Auditorium, Parliament Library Building in New Delhi.

Kedarnath Singh was conferred with the country's highest literary award for his outstanding contribution towards Indian literature. As a poet, he has offered a rare assimilation of rhymes and lyrical prose, exploring both the realms of reality and fantasy with equal felicity. His poetry presents a collage of meaning, colours and acceptance.

Rafael Nadal Won French Open Title 

• Rafael Nadal (Spain) won the French Open title 2014 for the ninth time on 8 June 2014. He is the first men to win five French Open titles in a row. He won against Novak Djokovic (Yugoslavia) with 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, and 6-4 in the final.

• In women’s singles Maria Sharapova (Russia) won the title against Simona Halep (Romania) in the final. With this win she made fifth Grand Slam title.

Modi Meets Chinese Foreign Minister.

• Wang Yi, the Foreign Minister of China was on a two-day long visit to India from 8 June to 9 June 2014.
• He visited India in the capacity of Special Envoy of the President of China, Xi Jinping.
• The objective of the visit was to establish contact with the new Government of India led by Narendra Modi.
• During his visit, he also met Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi and discussed a wide range of issues related to trade, economy, border and people to people exchanges.

Some Key Points Of Discussions Are:-

• Respect the sensitivities and aspirations of their people as essential for expansion of bilateral relations.
• People to people exchanges like Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and the project about the Encyclopedia of India-China cultural contacts.
• Several issues of regional and international importance.

Kudankulam Became India’s First Nuclear Plant To Generate 1000 Mw Power. 

• Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant became India’s first nuclear plant to generate 1000 MW power. Unit I of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant reached its full capacity.
• With this, the total nuclear energy contribution will increase to 5789 MW. Work on the Unit-first of Kudankulam Plant was completed in 2013.
• Before Kudankulam, Tata Mundra project in Gujarat had the distinction of being the largest single generation unit in operation with 800 MW power capacities.

Important Information’s Related To Kundalkulam Power Plant. 

• Plans for the Kudankulam facility were first drawn up in 1988 with the help of Russia. It was supposed to open in 2011 but it was delayed due to the large public and neighboring country (Sri Lanka) protest.
• The plant is the 20th nuclear power station connected to India’s power grid.
• The Kudankulam nuclear plant project attained criticality in July 2013. Criticality is the point when a nuclear chain reaction becomes self-sustaining.
• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) are the key regulatory bodies that inspect all these nuclear power plant repeatedly.

Two Patrol Vessles Achook And Agrim Commissioned Into Indian Coastguard.

• Two ships ICGS Achook and ICGS Agrim, the fifth and sixth ships in a series of 20 fast patrol vessels have been inducted into the Indian Coastguard.
• These ships are new generation fast patrol vessels fitted with highly developed communication equipment and will be positioned in Mumbai.
• These fast petrol vessels are being built at Cochin shipyard which is also building India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier (INS Vikrant).

Chandrababu Naidu Takes Oath As Andhra Pradesh CM

• Head of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Nara Chandrababu Naidu (64) has been sworn-in as the first Chief Minister of the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh.
• Mr. Naidu was administered the oath of office by Governor E S L Narasimhan.
• Mr. Naidu has served as the CM of (united) Andhra Pradesh for 8 years (from 1995 to May 2004) – the longest tenure for any CM of Andhra.
• He has been elected as an MLA seven times and also holds the record as the longest-serving Leader of Opposition in Andhra Pradesh between 2004 and 2014.
• Post bifurcation, AP’s new geographical expanse is about 1.60 lakh sq km while its population is around 5 crore. Although Andhra Pradesh has been divided into Telangana and residuary Andhra, Hyderabad will remain the common capital for both states for next 10 years.
• He is the first CM of residual Andhra Pradesh post bi-bifurcation.

Ranjit Kumar Assumes Charge As Solicitor General.

• Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar on Monday assumed charge as the Solicitor General (SG), the second highest law officer of India.
• The government has also appointed six additional Solicitor General’s (ASGs).
• They said no final decision has been taken on the appointment of the new Attorney General.

Supersonic Cruise Missile Brahmos Successfully Test-Fired From INS Kolkata.

• India successfully test fired the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from indigenous INS Kolkata off the coast of Karwar in Karnataka.
• BrahMos missile with a speed of Mach 2.5 to 2.8 is the product of joint collaboration between India and Russia and has a range of 290-km.
• For the first time, the missile was test-fired from an indigenous warship that will be commissioned in Indian Navy in July 2014.
• So far BrahMos missile have been deployed on the Russia-built Rajput-class destroyers and Talwar-class frigates on the Navy.

Israel Chooses Hard-Liner Reuven Rivlin As President.

• Israel’s parliament on Tuesday chose Reuven Rivlin, a veteran nationalist politician and supporter of the Jewish settlement movement, as the country’s next president, putting a man opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state into the ceremonial but influential post.
• A former Speaker of the Knesset (Israel Parliament).
• He will replace Shimon Peres.

EU Hosted G-7 Summit for The First Time.

• The EU hosted the G-7 summit for the first time. As the meeting was due to be held in Sochi, Russia but following the violation of Ukraines Soverginity and territorial integrity which is against the principles of G-7 its members decided to expel the Russia from the group. The meeting was then scheduled to held in Brussels, Belgium.
• This was the 40th summit.
• The host leader of the 2014 summit was Herman Van Rompuy
• 39th Summit was held at Northern Ireland United Kingdom in 2013
• 41st will be hosted by Germany in 2015

Anti-Tobacco Advertisement Was Launched By Union Ministry.

The Price We Pay is the advertisement launched by Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the awareness about ill effects of tobacco. It’s a 4 minute video explaining all level effects of tobacco. According to survey it is observed that about 27.5 crore people of India consume tobacco.

 

Kawa Music Group Of Jaipur Is Set To Perform During The 20th Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2014.

Kawa music group of Jaipur, Rajasthan is all set to be performing at 20th CMG scheduled to be held at Glasgow, Scotland from 23 July to 3 August 2014.

Lithuania Will Adopt Euro As Single Currency From 1 January 2015.

According to European Union Commission’s Convergence Report 2014 it is revealed that Lithuania met all criteria to become the 19th country from 1st January 2015 to adopt Euro as single currency.

Sumitra Mahajan Elected 2nd Lady Speaker Of Lok Sabha.

• Sumitra Mahajan is the longest serving and eldest woman member of the house.
• She is MP form Indore and unanimously elected as the speaker of 16th Lok Sabha.
• She was elected after a motion moved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was adopted by voice vote called by pro tem Speaker Kamal Nath.

1st Speaker of Lok Sabha                    G.V. Mavalankar
1st woman Speaker of Lok Sabha      Meira Kumar

Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein Is The Next UN High Commissioner For Human Rights.

• Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein of Jorden is appointed by UN General Secretary Ban-Ki-Moon as next UN high commissioner for human right.
• He will replace Navanethem Pillay.

 

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport won Roll of Excellence award of ACI.

• Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), Hyderabad won the Roll of Excellence award.
• The award was given by Airport Council International (ACI) in Seoul, South Korea on 27 May 2014.
• RGIA won the award in the recognition of the airport being in the top three of the five airports in the world for five consecutive years in certain categories.

India has been elected to the Intergovernmental Committee for Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage for the next four years (2014-18).

• India won the election to this committee held on 4 June 2014 at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris by 135 votes against a total of 142 votes cast by Member States, who were present in the voting.
• India has got selected in this committee for second time, first time it was member of the committee from 2006 to 2010.

Nitin Gadkari Is The Next Union Minister of Rural Development.

Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari was given additional charge of the Ministries of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water and Sanitation on 4 June 2014.

• The additional charges given to Gadkari were with Gopinath Munde, who died on 3 June 2014 due to a car accident in New Delhi.
• He is also holding the Charge of Ministry of Transport.

Russia Lifted Arms Embargo On Pakistan

• Russia lifted arm embargo on Pakistan for supplying weapons and military hardware to Pakistan showing signs of its changing foreign policy.
• Russia is negotiation the sales of MI-35 helicopters to Pakistan.
• Russia has been India’s largest defence supplier.
• The deal raised controversy over changing Indo-Russia relationships.

Retired Indian Army Lt General appointed member of UN panel.

• Retired Indian Army Lieutenant General Abhijit Guha has been appointed member of a UN expert panel on peacekeeping that will advice the world body on how to use new technologies and innovations in that field.
• He is part of the five-member panel of experts appointed by Under-Secretaries- General for Peacekeeping Operations.
• The panel is headed by Ms. Jane Holl Lute (United States) and will release its final report by November 2014

Environment Day Celebrated Throughout The World.

• World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated every year on June 5 to raise global awareness to take positive environmental action to protect nature and the planet Earth. It is run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
• Theme for World Environment Day will focus on 'Small Islands and Climate Change', the official slogan and theme for the year 2014 was 'Raise Your Voice Not The Sea Level.
• The first Environment day was hosted in 1973.

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi sworn in as Egypt's president.

• Former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was sworn in as president of Egypt on Sunday in a ceremony with low-key attendance by Western allies concerned by a crackdown on dissent since he ousted Islamist leader Mohamed Mursi last year.
• Sisi won with 97% of the vote, followed three years of upheaval since a popular uprising ended 30 years of rule by former air force commander Hosni Mubarak.

 Petro Poroshenko sworn in as Ukraine president.

• Western-backed tycoon Petro Poroshenko vowed on Saturday to avert civil war and mend ties with Russia after being sworn in as Ukraine’s fifth post-Soviet president with the nation facing disintegration and economic collapse.
• The 48-year-old candy magnate dubbed the “chocolate king” first asked a packed session of parliament to observe a minute of silence for the 100 people killed in three days of carnage in Kiev.
• He replaced Viktor Yanukovych after being the Ukrainian parliament voted to remove him (Viktor Yanukovych) from his post, on the grounds that he was unable to fulfil his duties.

UN establishes ‘Nelson Mandela Prize’ to honour his achievements.

• The UN General Assembly has established an award in the honour of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela to pay tribute to his achievements and contributions.
• By terms of the resolution, the Assembly asked the Secretary-General, in consultation with the President of the Assembly, to establish within six months of adoption of the text the criteria and procedures for bestowing the prize.
• This is to be adopted by the Assembly no later than November 2014.

Check your gain.

1) Telangana become 29th sate of India on which of the following date
a) 1st June 2014
b) 2nd June 2014
c) 3rd June 2014
d) 4th June 2014

2) Which of the following state does not border Telangana?
a) Maharashtra
b) Karnataka
c) Tamil Nadu
d) Odisha

3) How many districts does Telangana have?
a)10
b) 12
c) 9
d) 11

4) International Wresting Tournament was held at which of the following place?
a) Rome, Italy
b) Naples, Italy
c) Foggia, Italy
d) Sassari, Italy

5) Which of the following effect is mainly responsible for the delayed monsoon in India?
a) La Nina
b) El Nino
c) Coriolis force
d) None of the above

6) Which of the following is appointed as the party leader of Congress in Lok Sabha?
a) Cpt Amrinder singh
b) Shashi Tharoor
c) Malikarjun Kharge
d) Rahul Gandhi

7) Recently, NDRI produces the clone of Murrah buffalo named as.
a) Seema
b) Sushma
c) Lalima
d) Purnima

8) Who is the chairman of the SIT formed on Black Money?
a) Justice Arijit Pasayat
b) Justice MB Shah
c) Justice Swatanter Kumar
d) Justice A.K. Ganguly

9) Which of the following is Union Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA)?
a) Ravi Shankar Parsad
b) Ananth Kumar
c) M Venkaiah Naidu
d) Ram Vilas Paswan

10) Mr. Arun Jaitley recently, appointed as India’s Governor on the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). ADB has it’s headquarter at which of the following place?
a) Manila, Philippines
b) Jakarta, Indonesia
c) Tokyo, Japan
d) Beijing, China