JUNE 2020 TEACHER REFERENCE PRESENTATION CLASS 7 onwards TABLE OF - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
JUNE 2020 TEACHER REFERENCE PRESENTATION CLASS 7 onwards TABLE OF CONTENTS JUNE 2020 CLASS 7 onwards Pick of the Month Gap Profiles Global Updates Point Nemo Rajkumari Amrit Tokyos Face Kaur Showing Festival Vishys
Pick of the Month
❖ Point Nemo
Gap Profiles
❖ Rajkumari Amrit Kaur
Global Updates
❖ Tokyo’s Face Showing Festival ❖ Vishy’s New Role ❖ GI Tags to new products ❖ Snippet: Salazar’s Pit Viper ❖ Snippet: Israel’s ‘Rehov Tagore’
Discover India
❖ Click Art Museum
Around the World
❖ Alexandria
Born This Month Gappenings
JUNE 2020
CLASS 7 onwards
Point Nemo, located in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, is the most distant place on Earth. Surrounded by more than 1,600 miles (around 2,250 km) of ocean in every direction, Point Nemo is farthest from land or island in any direction. There are no human inhabitants anywhere near Point Nemo.
Due to its remote location, Point Nemo has become an ideal spot to crash defunct rockets and satellites. The area, chosen as a ‘spaceship graveyard’ or ‘spacecraft cemetery’, lies four kilometres below the ocean’s surface and is home to defunct and old satellites, space stations, empty fuel tanks, etc. The remains spread across the ocean floor in bits. To prevent the build-up of dangerous orbital space junk that could collide with future satellites and rocket launches, numerous space agencies use the area as a dumping ground because the area has zero human inhabitants and no shipping lanes.
Space agencies all over the world have dumped over 200 spacecrafts into the region since 1971. Defunct satellites and spacecrafts usually burn up while entering the Earth’s atmosphere, however, large satellites or space stations do not completely burn before reaching the Earth’s surface. For such
By far the largest object to have descended at Point Nemo, was Russia's MIR space lab, in 2001.
Point Nemo is officially known as ‘the oceanic pole of inaccessibility’. In Latin, Point Nemo means ‘no one’. It is nicknamed Point Nemo in honour of Jules Verne's fictional submarine captain named Captain Nemo, who appears in two of Verne’s novels, ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea’ (1870) and ‘The Mysterious Island’ (1874).
❖ Point Nemo’s remoteness makes it an expensive and challenging destination for research. ❖ As Point Nemo is so distant from the nearest landmass, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are often the nearest humans to Point Nemo. The ISS orbits the Earth at a maximum of 258 miles (416 kilometres). ❖ Meanwhile, the nearest inhabited landmass to Point Nemo is over 1,670 miles (2,700 kilometres). ❖ To land in Point Nemo, space agencies must precisely time the descent of their vehicles to hit the water. ❖ Point Nemo sits within a current called the South Pacific Gyre, which steers away nutrient-rich waters, making it unsuitable for any sort of marine life to survive. It is referred to as the least biologically active region of the world ocean. ❖ Despite its secluded location, Point Nemo is plagued with plastic pollution.
In the 1990s, a mysterious underwater sound was picked up near Point Nemo. The sound, dubbed ‘The Bloop’ was louder than a blue whale. This lead to speculation that it was made by some unknown sea monster and left
learnt that it was the sound of a giant iceberg cracking and breaking away from an Antarctic glacier.
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was an extraordinary woman who fought for India’s freedom and welfare of the society. She also represented India on a global stage.
Amrit Kaur was born in Lucknow in 1889 into the royal family of Kapurthala, a part of undivided India. Being the only girl among the siblings, Kaur was schooled at one of the foremost institutions of England, the Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset. She later completed her graduation from Oxford University. She was influenced by people like Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a close friend of her father, and an influential member of the Indian National Congress, who visited her father regularly. She wanted to play an active role in the Indian Independence movement. She returned to India in 1918, after the death of her parents. She embarked on her journey of becoming a freedom fighter and a devoted social worker.
Amrit Kaur was greatly fascinated by Mahatma Gandhi’s
Mahatma Gandhi motivated her to join the Indian freedom struggle. She gave up her royal life and went to live in Gandhiji's ashram. She was part of the Quit India Movement and the Dandi March for which the British arrested her. She joined the Indian National
the purdah abolition, child marriage, right for women’s education, etc.
Post-independence, she became a part of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru’s
She was appointed as the Minister of Health. In that position, she founded the Indian Council for Child Welfare, to concentrate on the development and the upliftment of women, children and the poor. She was also President
Cross Society and Chief Commissioner of the St. John's Ambulance Brigade of India.
Image: Press Information Bureau of India
She was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha and served till her death in 1964. She was aged 75.
Shimla’s Manorville Mansion is a significant historical mansion as it once served as the residence of Rajkumari Amrit Kaur. It witnessed several important meetings between the then British officers and eminent Indian leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad, Sardar Patel and Pandit Nehru in 1945. Kaur donated this house to AIIMS as a holiday retreat and a rest home for its nurses! The main attraction of the mansion is the area where Mahatma Gandhi stayed.
❖ She was an avid sports enthusiast and enjoyed playing tennis, hockey and cricket. ❖ She loved music and could play the piano and the violin. ❖ She played an important role in the establishment of the ‘All India Institute of Medical Sciences’ (AIIMS), India’s premier medical institution, in New Delhi. ❖ One of her campaigns as Minister of Health was against malaria. ❖ She was the first Asian woman to be elected as the President of World Health Assembly, the governing body
❖ She was recently named by the TIME magazine among world's 100 powerful women.
Kids would be familiar with the ‘All India Institute of Medical Sciences’ (AIIMS) based in New Delhi. Introduce them to
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur.
Tokyo’s Sumida Aquarium, housed in a complex at the foot of the Tokyo Skytree tower, had organised a Face-Showing Festival for hundreds of spotted garden eels residing in its aquarium, in May 2020. Called ‘chin anago’ in Japanese, the spotted garden eels are extremely popular in Japan.
The aquarium staff observed a very odd behaviour among the hundreds of tiny spotted garden eels living in the tank ever since the aquarium was closed due to the coronavirus
largely human-free environment and had started to forget the existence of humans. The eels were also seen avoiding human caretakers since its closure. They were seen burrowing in the sand when staff members approached them to feed. Before the shutdown, the eels were accustomed to streams of people looking into their tanks and rarely hid when approached by visitors.
This behaviour of the eels was posing a great task for the caretakers as they were unable to feed the eels and monitor them. Aquarium officials were concerned the eels were reverting to their wild behaviour of burying themselves in the sand of the ocean floor at the sign of any threat.
To keep the eels socially engaged, the aquarium launched an event named ‘Face-Showing Festival’, which encouraged people from around the world to video call the eels in an attempt to re-familiarise them with
which happened for several days in May 2020, virtual visitors were asked to wave, show their faces, and speak quietly, as any loud noises could scare and upset the creatures. In this way, the eels could also see the callers. The staff felt this temporary solution would help both the eels and animal lovers to stay connected amid the lockdown time.
It was the aquarium's first attempt at re- familiarising animals to humans through technology. For the event, five tablet computers were placed in front of the aquarium. As soon as the event began, a flood of video calls came in from those hoping to interact with the eels from home. At first, the eels hid into the sand in surprise when seeing the images of participants waving. She was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha and served till her death in 1964. She was aged 75. at them on tablet screens, but they grew gradually accustomed and began to poke their heads timidly. The event attracted millions of video calls and live viewers from around the world.
❖ It is a small fish that looks like a worm. ❖ It lives in group at the sandy sea bottom in burrows. ❖ It looks like a plant, gently swaying in the current. ❖ It feeds on small organisms that float in the water current. ❖ When feeding, it rises out of its burrow, exposing up to two-thirds of its body. ❖ It escapes from its enemies by diving tail-first into the burrow.
The coronavirus outbreak has made us aware of the benefits of social distancing, but the same has adversely affected animals, especially the garden spotted eels in Japan, in a weird way. Read out the story to explain the above situation. Use this story to educate kids about the garden eels.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature in India, chess legend Viswanathan Anand, nicknamed ‘Vishy’, has been named as its ambassador for the Environment Education programme. In this role, he will support wildlife conservation and work to educate children across India on issues related to the environment and create awareness among the youth for protection of nature. Anand has been a nature lover and likes to connect with nature and protecting the environment for future generations.
The Environment Education programme is the oldest programme of WWF-India, which aims to reach out to children, youth and citizens of the country and generate critical thinking, problem-solving and enable the growth of environmentally-conscious individuals. World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF India), the Indian part of the WWF, was founded with the
wildlife and natural habitats. It was set up in 1969.
❖ He is the Brand Ambassador for the computer-training academy NIIT. ❖ (National Institute of Information Technology). ❖ At the age of 18, he received the Padma Shri. ❖ He is a recipient of the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan awards. ❖ He is the first recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India’s highest sporting honour.
Update the kids on chess legend Viswanathan Anand’s new role as a green warrior. Highlight on the aim of the conservation organisation, WWF India.
Some products such as the Manipur black rice, Gorakhpur terracotta and Kashmir saffron have bagged the Geographical Indication (GI) tag
identity in the market. They now join several
awarded the tag in the past such as Darjeeling Tea, Bikaneri Bhujia, Karnataka's Mysore Pak, Nagpur Orange, Kanchipuram Sarees of Tamil Nadu, and Madhubani Paintings, among others.
Manipur black rice, popularly known as 'Chakhao’, is a variety of rice having a special aroma. It is being cultivated for centuries with traditional practices in Manipur. The rice is suitable for making a dessert or a porridge and has also been used as part of traditional medicine. It is normally eaten during community feasts. This variety of rice rice has a fibrous bran layer and higher crude fibre content.
Gorakhpur terracotta is a centuries-
special soil found in Bhathat area of Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur district. The potters make various animal figures like, horses, elephants, camel, goat, ox, etc. with bare hands and use natural colour, which stays fast for a long time.
Did You Know
❖ The GI tag is an indication or mark awarded to products which have a specific origin. ❖ They are known to possess qualities due to the place where they are originally grown. ❖ The GI tag will increase the benefits of the producers and also attract international markets. Update the kids on some of the products that were given the GI tag recently. Explain the importance of this tag and how it helps the products gain international attention. Some of the major products of craftsmanship include the Hauda elephants, Mahawatdar horse, deer, camel, five-faced Ganesha, elephant table, chandeliers, hanging bells, etc. The Kashmir saffron, cultivated in the Kashmir Valley, is superior in quality due to its high aroma, dark red colour, long and thick thread. It also has a high medicinal value.
A new species of venomous green pit viper discovered in India has been named as the Salazar’s pit viper after Salazar Slytherin, one of the founders of the fictional Hogwarts School from the wizarding world of Harry Potter. The character Salazar Slytherin is capable of talking to snakes.
On account of the 159th birth anniversary of celebrated Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, the city of Tel Aviv in Israel named a street after him in memory of his valuable contribution in the field and to mankind. It was named ‘Rehov Tagore’; ‘rehov’ means street.
The Click Art Museum is India’s first 3D Art
interactive art museum was to give the visitors a funny and comical experience of art.
It was conceived and developed as the first 3D interactive 'Trick Art‘ museum in India, using 3D and optical illusion. The purpose of this form of art is to create the illusion that the Image is three dimensional when it is actually two dimensional. The paintings, which appear as objects, are done in tricky angles so that the visitor can also be a participant, making the art interactive.
Every piece of art here is complete only when the viewer enters the frame. While the art pieces have been painted on the walls, there are markings on the floor where a viewer must stand to be a part of the painting and from where a photographer must click the picture to include the person in the painting.
It was created by A. P. Shreethar, a renowned Indian artist, explorer and adventurer. Known for his work in the field of digital art, he is known for introducing various fascinating and alluring forms of art to India and his award-winning works are displayed in several countries. He created the Click Art Museum after getting inspired by similar 3D art museums in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
❖ It opened its first branch in Chennai, in 2016, and later at major metropolitan cities of India and at a few locations abroad. Visitors can take pictures, have fun and make noise, unlike other art galleries where silence and discipline are observed. ❖ Some of the paintings include Adam throwing his apple away, the Greek God Atlas offering a diamond, Bruce Lee delivering an angry kick, a dragon breathing fire, Mona Lisa pouring steaming coffee and playing music, and a bearded man awarding the visitor an Oscar.
❖ There are art installations such as Honey, Shrink Yourself, which make a person appear the size of a Lilliput, and a clever mix of 3D artwork which allows one to imagine drifting through the canals of Venice in a gondola.
Trick Art, also known as optical art, is a picture which tricks your eyes. Popular across the world, this art form has a history of over 2,000 years and was practised by popular artists, including Leonardo da Vinci. The term ‘Trick Art’ is derived from the French word 'Tompe-l’oeil', which means 'deceive the eye'. It was used in a number of western paintings for many years and is especially noted for the ceiling paintings.
Alexandria is a major port city in Egypt that lies alongside the Mediterranean Sea. It served as the capital of Egypt for many years. The modern city of Alexandria is built partially atop the famed ancient city. It was renowned throughout the ancient world as an international centre of culture and learning.
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is an impressive library that took inspiration from the famed ancient 'Library of Alexandria', which was a great centre of learning for several years until it burned down in the 3rd century. At present, the complex has become one of Egypt's major cultural venues, a stage for numerous international performers, and is home to a collection of museums.
Pompey's Pillar is the biggest memorial column signifying Roman victory over Egypt. Made of red granite, it is among the largest monolithic columns ever erected.
The Roman Amphitheatre is a large circular Roman theatre and the only one of its type to be found in Egypt. It is an impressively well- preserved structure. It was discovered by some workers while digging the site for construction. Further research and excavations are still being carried out, with these finds shedding new light on the complex.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria (also known as Pharos of Alexandria) was one of the Wonders of the Ancient World. Built on the Island of Pharos in Alexandria, it remained as one of the tallest buildings in the world for many centuries. It was damaged by several earthquakes and eventually became an abandoned ruin.
❖ The city was named after its founder, Alexander the Great. Though several cities were named after him, this city in Egypt thrived for many centuries and is prosperous even today. ❖ The city is also associated with Queen Cleopatra, the last pharaoh of ancient Egypt. ❖ Lying for centuries on the seabed, ruins from the Lighthouse of Alexandria were discovered by French archaeologists, in 1994. The ongoing discoveries are revealing details of the ancient city. ❖ The ruins of Queen Cleopatra's palace and temple complex are sunken in waters off the city of
❖ A museum is being planned in Alexandria that will take guests underwater to experience the sunken treasures around the coastal waters of the city.
04 June (1916)
Gaylord Anton Nelson
Founder of Earth Day Gaylord Anton Nelson was an American environmentalist who served as a United States Senator and Governor. He founded Earth Day. 20 June (1952)
Indian novelist Vikram Seth is a noted Indian novelist and poet. He has received several awards such as the Sahitya Academy Award and Padma Shri, to name a few. 06 June (1988)
Indian cricketer Ajinkya Madhukar Rahane is currently the vice-captain
cricket team in Test cricket. 02 June (1955)
Indian entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani is an Indian entrepreneur, who co-founded Infosys.
In 2007, the United Nations declared 2 October (Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary) as the International Day of Non-Violence. In 1983, India won its first Cricket World Cup. In 1974, Barcodes were used commercially for the first time on a pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum, in U.S.A.