Prelim Bits 15-03-2017

Shortest-Duration Cotton Variety

One of the main reasons for repeated failure of dryland cotton crop is its long duration i.e around 170-240 days.
This extends well beyond the monsoon months.
These plants then go without water during the crucial time of flowering and fruiting and suffer weak uptake of nutrients.
Central Institute for Cotton Research has developed what is reported to be the shortest-duration cotton variety in the world, tentatively named Yugank.
It requires only 100-120 days for maturity.
This could emerge as the solution to the problems of dryland cotton farmers.
Another advantage of shorter-duration cotton is that the fibre quality is better. The longer the duration, the weaker will be the fibre.

National Security Council (NSC)

NSC of India is an executive government agency tasked with advising the Prime Minister's office on matters of national security and strategic interest.
The members are the National Security Advisor (NSA), the Deputy National Security Advisor (DNSA), the Ministers of Defence, External Affairs, Home & Finance of the GOI.
It is the apex body of the three-tiered structure of the national security management system in India. The other two are the Strategic Policy Group and the National Security Advisory Board.
It was established in 1998.

Credible Minimum Deterrence

Credible Minimum Deterrence is the principle on which India’s nuclear doctrine is based.
It underlines no first use (NFU) with a second strike capability.
Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) is another doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender.

Oldest Plant Fossil

A pair of 1.6 billion-year-old fossils that appear to contain red algae was found in Chitrakoot in central India.
This might be the oldest plant-like life discovered on Earth.
The oldest known red algae until now was 1.2 billion years old.
Scientists generally agree that large multicellular organisms became common about 600 million years ago.
This discovery could lead experts to rewrite the tree of life.
The fossils were embedded in fossil mats of cyanobacteria, called stromatolites.
Stromatolites are layered mounds, columns, and sheet-like sedimentary rocks originally formed by the growth of layer upon layer of cyanobacteria.