Explanation:

About ASER Survey
This is an annual survey (published by education non-profit Pratham ) that aims to provide reliable estimates of children’s enrolment and basic learning levels for each district and state in India.
ASER has been conducted every year since 2005 in all rural districts of India. It is the largest citizen-led survey in India.
It is also the only annual source of information on children’s learning outcomes available in India.
How is the survey conducted?
ASER tools and procedures are designed by ASER Centre, the research and assessment arm of Pratham.
The survey itself is coordinated by ASER Centre and facilitated by the Pratham network. It is conducted by close to 30,000 volunteers from partner organisations in each district.
All kinds of institutions partner with ASER: colleges, universities, NGOs, youth groups, women’s organisations, self-help groups and others.
The ASER model has been adapted for use in several countries around the world: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Pakistan, Mali and Senegal.
Assessment parameters

Unlike most other large-scale learning assessments, ASER is a household-based rather than school-based survey.
This design enables all children to be included – those who have never been to school or have dropped out, as well as those who are in government schools, private schools, religious schools or anywhere else.
In each rural district, 30 villages are sampled. In each village, 20 randomly selected households are surveyed.
Information on schooling status is collected for all children living in sampled households who are in the age group 3-16.
Children in the age group 5-16 are tested in basic reading and basic arithmetic. The same test is administered to all children.
The highest level of reading tested corresponds to what is expected in Std 2; in 2012 this test was administered in 16 regional languages.
In recent years, this has included household size, parental education, and some information on household assets.
Highlights of the 2020 Report
The survey shows a small shift in enrollment from private to government schools, across all grades and among both girls and boys.
The proportion of boys enrolled in government schools rose from 62.8% in 2018 to 66.4% in 2020.
The survey shows that while the proportion of children not currently enrolled for the 2020-21 school years is higher than the equivalent figures for 2018, for most age groups these differences are small.
Among enrolled children, more than 60% live in families with at least one smartphone. This proportion has increased enormously in the last two years, from 36.5% to 61.8% among enrolled children.
Whether acquired before or after school closures in March 2020, more than 80% children have textbooks for their current grade.
Data showed that at 50.6%, teachers who taught between Grades III to V were the best trained. Most teachers were in possession of phone numbers of at least 50% of their students.

What is BECA?

• BECA will help India get real-time access to American geospatial intelligence that will enhance the accuracy of automated systems and weapons like missiles and armed drones.
• Through the sharing of information on maps and satellite images, it will help India access topographical and aeronautical data, and advanced products that will aid in navigation and targeting.

Benefits of BECA

• This could be a key to Air Force-to-Air Force cooperation between India and the US.
• BECA will provide Indian military systems with a high-quality GPS to navigate missiles with real-time intelligence to precisely target the adversary.
• Besides the sailing of ships, flying off aircraft, fighting of wars, and location of targets, geospatial intelligence is also critical to the response to natural disasters.

What was the LEMOA about?

• LEMOA was the first of the three pacts to be signed in August 2016.
• LEMOA allows the militaries of the US and India to replenish from each other’s bases, and access supplies, spare parts and services from each other’s land facilities, air bases, and ports, which can then be reimbursed.
• LEMOA is extremely useful for India-US Navy-to-Navy cooperation since the two countries are cooperating closely in the Indo-Pacific.

Explanation:

What is Atlantification?

Streams of warmer water from the Atlantic Ocean flow into the Arctic at the Barents Sea.
This warmer, saltier Atlantic water is usually fairly deep under the more buoyant Arctic water at the surface.
Lately, however, the Atlantic water has been creeping up. That heat in the Atlantic water is helping to keep ice from forming and melting existing sea ice from below.
This process is called “Atlantification”.
The ice is now getting hit both from the top by a warming atmosphere and at the bottom by a warming ocean.

Reasons for it:

In the background of all of this is global climate change.
The Arctic sea ice extent and thickness have been dropping for decades as global temperatures rise.
As the Arctic loses ice and the ocean absorbs more solar radiation, global warming is amplified.
That affects ocean circulation, weather patterns and Arctic ecosystems spanning the food chain, from phytoplankton all the way to top predators.

Explanation:

About UAPA

The UAPA is aimed at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India
It is an upgrade on the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act TADA, which was allowed to lapse in 1995 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was repealed in 2004.
It was originally passed in 1967 under the then Congress government led by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Till 2004, “unlawful” activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory. Following the 2004 amendment, “terrorist act” was added to the list of offences.
Recent amendments
The Centre had amended UAPA, 1967, in August 2019 to include the provision of designating an individual as a terrorist.
Before this amendment, only organisations could be designated as terrorist outfits.

Explanation: Capturing carbon dioxide from the major stationary sources and its storage into deep geological formations is considered as a potential option for combating global warming. All the three given sites are potential carbon dioxide storage options. Carbon sequestration is a natural or artificial process by which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and held in solid or liquid form.