International Organizations, Defence, Books & Authors, World History

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Pinaka is a multi-barrel rocket launcher (MBRL) developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) for the Indian Army. The DRDO began developing the Pinaka in the late 1980s as an alternative to Russian-made systems. The Pinaka can fire 12 rockets and is designed to engage targets at a range of up to 40 km. It was used extensively by the Army during the Kargil War.
The Pinaka is named after “Pinaka”, the bow of Lord Shiva.

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The Booker Prize is awarded annually to the best original novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Republic of Ireland, or Zimbabwe. It contributes greatly to promoting and acknowledging the literary work in English language and provides the authors a platform to showcase their talent to a larger audience.

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Exercise Ekuverin is a joint military exercise held between armies of India and Maldives since 2008.

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Oslo Accords or Oslo Process refers to two agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. First is the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington in 1993 and second is Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt in 1995. It resulted in recognition of Israel by the PLO and the recognition by Israel of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and as a partner in bilateral negotiations.

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Apartheid was a system of racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. The National Party governed South Africa from 1948 until 1994. During this time, South Africa was a partial democracy because non-white people were barred from voting after 1958.
The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) was a British organization that opposed the South African apartheid system. The AAM supported South Africa’s non-white population who were persecuted by the policies of apartheid.
Nelson Mandela was sworn in as President of South Africa in 1994. He was known for his internal resistance to apartheid.

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UN Mission named MONUSCO is located in Congo. It is acronym based on its French name (French: Mission de l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en République démocratique du Congo). It is a United Nations peacekeeping force in Congo.

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he Akash missile is considered the Indian Patriot. The Akash is India’s first indigenously produced medium-range surface-to-air missile. It can target aircraft up to 30 km (19 mi) away. The Akash can neutralize aerial targets such as fighter jets, cruise missiles, air-to-surface missiles, and ballistic missiles. It is in operational service with the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force.
The Akash was developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO). The Akash’s technology is close to the system of American patriot missiles.
The Patriot is an American missile system that was used successfully in neutralising the Iraqi Skud missiles during the first Gulf War in the 90s.

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The emperor of Vijayanagara Empire, Praudha Raya wrote the Ratiratnapradipika, a book on erotics.

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Muntra is a remotely operated tank operated by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It has been developed as an unmanned, remotely operated tank which has three variants – surveillance, mine detection and reconnaissance in areas with nuclear and bio-threats. Muntra-S is the country’s first tracked unmanned ground vehicle developed for unmanned surveillance missions while Muntra-M is for detecting mines and Muntra-N is for operation in areas where there is a nuclear radiation or bio-weapon risk.

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Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul TC, most commonly known as V. S. Naipaul, and informally, Vidia Naipaul, was a Trinidadian-British writer of works of fiction and nonfiction in English.