Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: White-Cheeked Macaque
Mains level: NA
In an important discovery, scientists have recorded presence of White-Cheeked Macaque (Macaca leucogenys) from central Arunachal Pradesh.
White-Cheeked Macaque
- White- Cheeked Macaques are distinct from other macaques found in the region by displaying white cheeks, long and thick hairs on the neck area, and a longer tail.
- The species was discovered in 2015 by a group of Chinese scientists from the Modog region in southeastern Tibet.
- This discovery was considered a significant breakthrough as far as primates are concerned.
Existence in India
- From India, the species has not been sighted or reported after a single incidence of photographic capture from Anjaw district, Arunachal Pradesh in 2015.
- The number of these mammals reported from India stands at 434.
- The significance of the discovery is that it marks a new addition to mammals of India.
Protection status
- It has NOT been yet included in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 of India.
- The potential threat to all species of macaques in the landscape is due to hunting by locals for consumption and habitat degradation due to urbanization and infrastructure development.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SWIFT
Mains level: US sanctions on Russia
As tensions peaks over Ukraine the United States could exclude Russia from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).
What is SWIFT?
- SWIFT is an international network for banks worldwide to facilitate smooth money transactions globally.
- It is basically a messaging network used by banks and financial institutions globally for quick and faultless exchange of information pertaining to financial transactions.
- The Belgium-headquartered SWIFT connects more than 11,000 banking and securities organization in over 200 countries and territories.
- First used in 1973, it went live in 1977 with 518 institutions from 22 countries, its website states.
What exactly is it?
- SWIFT is merely a platform that sends messages and does not hold any securities or money.
- It facilitates standardized and reliable communication to facilitate the transaction.
How does it facilitate banking?
- Each participant on the platform is assigned a unique eight-digit SWIFT code or a bank identification code (BIC).
- If a person, say, in New York with a Citibank account, wants to send money to someone with an HSBC account in London, the payee would have to submit to his bank the London-based beneficiary’s account number along with the eight-digit SWIFT code of the latter’s bank.
- Citibank would then send a SWIFT message to HSBC. Once that is received and approved, the money would be credited to the required account.
How is the organization governed?
- SWIFT claims to be neutral. Its shareholders, consisting of 3,500 firms across the globe, elect the 25-member board, which is responsible for oversight and management of the company.
- It is regulated by G-10 central banks from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, the UK, the US, Switzerland, and Sweden, alongside the European Central Bank.
- Its lead overseer is the National Bank of Belgium.
- The SWIFT oversight forum was established in 2012.
- The G-10 participants were joined by the central banks of India, Australia, Russia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, the Republic of Turkey, and the People’s Republic of China.
- Europe, Middle East, and Africa are highest contributors to SWIFT.
What happens if one is excluded from SWIFT?
- US excluding Russia from SWIFT could have serious repercussions on how Russian banks carry out international financial transactions.
- If a country is excluded from the most participatory financial facilitating platform, its foreign funding would take a hit, making it entirely reliant on domestic investors.
- This is particularly troublesome when institutional investors are constantly seeking new markets in newer territories.
- An alternative system would be cumbersome to build and even more difficult to integrate with an already expansive system.
Are any countries excluded from SWIFT?
- Iranian banks were ousted from the system in 2018 despite resistance from several countries in Europe.
- This step, while regrettable, was taken in the interest of the stability and integrity of the wider global financial system, and based on an assessment of the economic situation.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mission Indradhanush
Mains level: Universal vaccination
The Union Health Minister has launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 4.0.
About IMI 4.0
- The IMI 4.0 will have three rounds and will be conducted in 416 districts (including 75 districts identified for Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav) across 33 States and UTs, a Health Ministry statement said.
- It will immensely contribute in filling the gaps and make lasting gains towards universal immunisation.
- It will ensure that Routine Immunisation (RI) services reach the unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children and pregnant women” he said.
What is Mission Indradhanush ?
- With the aim to increase the full immunisation coverage, the PM launched Mission Indradhanush in December 2014.
- It aimed to cover the partially and unvaccinated pregnant women and children in pockets of low immunisation coverage, high-risk and hard-to-reach areas and protect them from vaccine preventable diseases.
- The first two phases of the Mission resulted in 6.7% increase in full immunisation coverage in a year.
Aims and objectives
- It aims to immunize all children under the age of 2 years, as well as all pregnant women, against eight vaccine-preventable diseases.
- The diseases being targeted are diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, measles, meningitis and Hepatitis B.
- In 2016, four new additions have been made namely Rubella, Japanese Encephalitis, Injectable Polio Vaccine Bivalent and Rotavirus.
- In 2017, Pneumonia was added to the Mission by incorporating the Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine under Universal Immunisation Programme
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Solar Storm
Mains level: NA
Spacex’s newest fleet of satellites is tumbling out of orbit after being struck by a solar storm.
Solar Storm
- A solar storm or a Coronal Mass Ejection as astronomers call it is an ejection of highly magnetized particles from the sun.
- These particles can travel several million km per hour and can take about 13 hours to five days to reach Earth.
- Earth’s atmosphere protects us, humans, from these particles.
- But the particles can interact with our Earth’s magnetic field, induce strong electric currents on the surface and affect man-made structures.
How did they impact SpaceX satellites?
- The issue came up due to increased drag created by the solar storm in the upper reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere.
- These storms cause the atmosphere to warm and atmospheric density at our low deployment altitudes to increase.
- In fact onboard GPS suggests the escalation speed and severity of the storm caused atmospheric drag to increase up to 50 percent higher than during previous launches.
History of solar storms
- The first recorded solar storm occurred in 1859 and it reached Earth in about 17 hours.
- It affected the telegraph network and many operators experienced electric shocks.
- A solar storm that occurred in 1921 impacted New York telegraph and railroad systems and another small-scale storm collapsed the power grid in Quebec, Canada in 1989.
- A 2013 report noted that if a solar storm similar to the 1859 one hit the US today, about 20-40 million people could be without power for 1-2 years, and the total economic cost will be $0.6-2.6 trillion.
Why are they a cause of concern?
- The Sun goes through an 11-year cycle – cycles of high and low activity.
- It also has a longer 100-year cycle.
- During the last three decades, when the internet infrastructure was booming, it was a low period.
- And very soon, either in this cycle or the next cycle, we are going towards the peaks of the 100-year cycle.
- So it is highly likely that we might see one powerful solar storm during our lifetime.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nuclear Fusion Reaction, ITER
Mains level: NA
Scientists in the United Kingdom have achieved a new milestone in producing nuclear fusion energy or imitating the way energy is produced in the Sun. The record and scientific data from these crucial experiments are a major boost for ITER.
ITER Project
- ITER is international nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject, which will be the world’s largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment.
- The goal of ITER is to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy for peaceful use.
Project details
- The project is funded and run by seven member entities—the European Union, India, Japan, China, Russia, South Korea and the United States.
- The EU, as host party for the ITER complex, is contributing about 45 per cent of the cost, with the other six parties contributing approximately 9 per cent each.
- Construction of the ITER Tokamak (doughnut-shaped apparatus) complex started in 2013 and the building costs were over US$14 billion by June 2015.
How does it work?
- Hydrogen plasma will be heated to 150 million degrees Celsius, ten times hotter than the core of the Sun, to enable the fusion reaction.
- The process happens in a doughnut-shaped reactor, called a tokamak, which is surrounded by giant magnets that confine and circulate the superheated, ionized plasma, away from the metal walls.
- The superconducting magnets must be cooled to -269°C (-398°F), as cold as interstellar space.
- Scientists have long sought to mimic the process of nuclear fusion that occurs inside the sun, arguing that it could provide an almost limitless source of cheap, safe and clean electricity.
- Unlike in existing fission reactors, which split plutonium or uranium atoms, there’s no risk of an uncontrolled chain reaction with fusion and it doesn’t produce long-lived radioactive waste.
Back2Basics: Nuclear Fusion
- Nuclear fusion is the process of making a single heavy nucleus (part of an atom) from two lighter nuclei. This process is called a nuclear reaction.
- The nucleus made by fusion is heavier than either of the starting nuclei. It releases a large amount of energy.
- Fusion is what powers the sun. Atoms of Tritium and Deuterium (isotopes of hydrogen, Hydrogen-3 and Hydrogen-2, respectively) unite under extreme pressure and temperature to produce a neutron and a helium isotope.
- Along with this, an enormous amount of energy is released, which is several times the amount produced by fission.
- Scientists continue to work on controlling nuclear fusion in an effort to make a fusion reactor to produce electricity.
How it is different from nuclear fission?
- Simply put, fission is the division of one atom into two (by neutron bombardment), and fusion is the combination of two lighter atoms into a larger one (at a very high temperature).
- Nuclear fission takes place when a large, somewhat unstable isotope (atoms with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons) is bombarded by high-speed particles, usually neutrons.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Unitary Digital Identity Framework (UDIF)
Mains level: India's UID technology
India has agreed to provide a grant to Sri Lanka to implement a ‘Unitary Digital Identity Framework’, apparently modelled on the Aadhaar Card.
What is UDIF?
- UDIF is apparently similar to India’s own Aadhaar.
- Under the proposed UDIF it is expected to introduce a:
- Personal identity verification device based on biometric data
- Digital tool that can represent the identities of individuals in cyberspace and
- Identification of individual identities that can be accurately verified in digital and physical environments by combining the two devices
(More updates awaited)
Why such move?
- SL has been receiving substantive economic assistance from India – totalling $ 1.4 billion since the beginning of this year.
- India is helping the island nation cope with its dollar crunch, and import food, medicines and fuel amid frequent shortages.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Paray Shikshalaya
Mains level: Open schools concept
The West Bengal government has launched ‘Paray Shikshalaya’ Initiative.
Paray Shikshalaya
- It is an open-air classroom in the neighborhood programme – for students from class 1 to 7.
- The aim of this initiative is to encourage students who dropped out of schools during the Covid-19 pandemic to continue their education.
Why was this initiative launched?
- In view of the rising demand for physical classes, the state government reopened schools.
- Classroom teaching could not be called on due to fear of spikes in covid cases.
- Hence, students are being called in batches.
Where were these classes held?
- Schools which do not have open-air spaces conducted the classes in neighbourhood parks and grounds.
- Local councilors and MLAs helped set up infrastructure in such parks like putting up makeshift shades and chairs, besides making mid-day meal arrangements for the students.
- Schools which have open-air spaces held the classes there.
- Benches were set up for students and blackboards were placed to provide a real classroom experience.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Operation AAHT
Mains level: Human trafficking preventive measures
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has launched a nationwide ‘Operation AAHT’ to curb human trafficking.
We can site such examples in essays as well as mains as initiatives for curbing human trafficking in India
Operation AAHT
- As part of this operation, special teams will be deployed on all long-distance trains/routes with focus on rescuing victims, particularly women and children, from the clutches of traffickers.
- The RPF will act as a bridge cutting across States to assist the local police in the mission to curb the menace.
- The infrastructure and intelligence network of the force could be utilized to collect, collate and analyse clues on victims, source, route, destination, popular trains used by suspects, identity of carriers/agents, kingpins etc and shared with other law-enforcing agencies.
Why need this mission?
- The Railways, which operate about 21,000 trains across the country daily, is the most reliable mode of transportation for the traffickers who often move their victims on long-distance trains.
- Thousands of Indians and persons from neighboring countries are trafficked every day to some destinations where they were forced to live like slaves.
- They are also being trafficked for illegal adoptions, organ transplants, working in circus, begging and entertainment industry.
Also read
[Burning Issue] Draft Anti-Trafficking Bill, 2021
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: mWRAPR
Mains level: NA
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) led start-up has launched mWRAPR, a biological transport and storage medium for genomic sequencing labs, biobanks, and research labs handling biological samples for molecular analysis.
mWRAPR
- It is India’s first indigenous bio-sample kit, a biological transport and storage medium.
- It would help in preserving genetic content in all types of biological samples, including microbiomes, saliva, cells, tissues, blood, body fluids, and fecal tubes.
- It is the only Molecular Transport Medium to be manufactured in India that competes with sample stabilisation and transporting media of notable foreign brands.
Significance
- The disruptions in global supply chain limits accessibility to materials for molecular diagnostics.
- India required to move to molecular tests (PCR/ RT-PCR test), but sample collection kits currently used were very cheap and not of molecular grade.
- RNA WRAPR is the kind of molecular grade sample collection medium that India needs right now.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kodiyal Theru
Mains level: NA
The annual Kodiyal Theru car (chariot) festival has begun in Mangalore, Karnataka.
Kodiyal Theru
- It falls in late January or early February in the Hindu month of Magha.
- It begins on Tritiya or the third day of the bright moon and ends on the seventh to be followed by Holi (Okuli) after the festival.
- For these six days, the Car Festival rules in the Car Street in front of the Venkatramana Temple in Mangalore.
- The Festival begins with the Dwajarohana or hoisting of the ‘flag’ – actually a framed picture of Garuda.
- This is done ceremoniously on the first day of the festival amidst the clanging of bells and the reverberation of drumbeats.
- The Garuda stays aloft for the rest of the festival until he is again lowered in an equally ceremonial manner on the day of the Holi and this is the concluding event of the festival.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Artificial Neural Networks (ANN)
Mains level: Artificial Intelligence
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in TH.
What are ANN?
- The concept behind an ANN is to define inputs and outputs, feed pieces of inputs to computer programs that function like neurons and make inferences or calculations.
- It then forwards those results to another layer of computer programs and so on, until a result is obtained.
- As part of this neural network, a difference between intended output and input is computed at each layer and this difference is used to tune the parameters to each program.
- This method is called back-propagation and is an essential component to the Neural Network.
Setting up of ANNs
- Instead of CPUs, Graphic Processing Units (GPU) which are good at performing massive parallel tasks can be used for setting up ANNs.
- A few free ANN frameworks are TensorFlow, Keras, PyTorch and Theano.
- These can be used for both normal Machine Learning tasks like classification or clustering and for Deep Learning/ANN tasks.
Why called Neural Network?
- Neuron is the building block of the brain and it inspired computer scientists from the 1950s to make a computer perform tasks like a brain does.
- It is not a simple problem and the clue to its complexity is in the brain structure.
Why ANN?
Ans. Making an artificial brain
- We need billions of artificial neurons if we were to build an artificial brain.
- With the increase in computing power, mimicking billions of neurons is now possible.
Popularity of ANNs
- Data Science, used interchangeably with Machine Learning, is the computer technology that uses data to detect patterns.
- Hand-written digit recognition is a good example of machine learning.
- However, in order for the computer to do this task, large amounts of sample data need to be manually labelled as examples of images of digits.
- The ANN mentioned above with its backpropagation does exactly this.
- This is why ANNs have become hugely popular in the past decade. This approach of using neural networks of many layers to automatically detect patterns and parameters is called Deep Learning.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Havana Syndrome
Mains level: NA
A recent US intelligence report says that ‘Havana Syndrome’ —a collection of symptoms and related brain injuries, reported by some US officials could be caused by pulsed electromagnetic energy or close-range ultrasound.
What is Havana Syndrome?
- ‘Havana Syndrome’ is a colloquial name given to a set of symptoms such as dizziness, hearing loss, headaches, vertigo, nausea, memory loss and possible brain injuries.
- It was first reported by 16 American Embassy staff and their family members in Havana, Cuba, in 2016-17.
- There have been other instances of the phenomenon, which has mostly impacted US officials.
What did the latest investigation find?
- Such cases have been caused by pulsed electromagnetic energy in the radio frequency.
- The results of the investigation did not point to who may have been behind the phenomenon, nor commented on their motivations.
- A partially redacted report summary finds that the symptoms of AHI are “genuine and compelling.”
What can be the other reasons?
- Psychosocial factors alone do not explain the core characteristics, the report finds, although they may cause other incidents or contribute to long-term effects.
- These other incidents could occur via hyper-vigilance or reactions to stress especially among individuals who are security-oriented.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vande Bharat Express
Mains level: Highs speed railways in India
Presenting the Union Budget for 2022-23, Finance Minister said 400 new energy-efficient Vande Bharat trains will be introduced in three years.
What is Vande Bharat Express?
- The Vande Bharat Express is a semi-high speed train designed, developed, and built by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF).
- Presently there are only two Vande Bharat trains that are running — Delhi to Varanasi and Delhi to Katra.
Key Features
- The current Vande Bharat trains have seating only in two classes — chair car and executive chair car. But Railways is planning to upgrade it.
- The trains have fully sealed gangways for a dust-free environment, modular bio-vacuum toilets, rotating seats in Executive Class, personalized reading lights, automatic entry/exit doors with sliding footsteps, diffused LED lighting, mini pantry, and sensor-based interconnecting doors in each coach.
- They are self-propelled trains that do not require an engine. This feature is called a distributed traction power system, which is increasingly becoming the norm the world over for passenger operations(Distributed power gives the train higher acceleration and deceleration compared to loco-hauled trains, which take a much longer time to reach top speed or to gradually come to a halt).
- 400 trains announced by the Finance Minister carry a potential investment of Rs 50,000 crore over the next three years, because of different specifications and also, inflation.
- The current Vande Bharat’s are being made at Rs 106 crore per trainset of 16 cars, at 2018 pricing.
Benefits of Vande Bharat Trains
1) Cuts Travel Time Drastically
2) Energy Efficient
3) Reduce Turnaround Time
4) Faster Acceleration and Deceleration among others.
Why High-speed rail projects are important for India?
- Improve India’s GDP: According to a study conducted by the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Hamburg in 2008, cities that are connected to HSR systems tend to witness a rise in their gross domestic product (GDP) by at least 2.7 percentage points compared to their neighbors that do not have an HSR station. The reason for the differential was improved market access.
- Role of the trains in India’s development: Being the third-largest network in the world under single management and
with over 68,102 route km IR strives to provide a safe, efficient, competitive, and world-class transport system.
- During FY21, IR carried 1.23 billion tonnes of
freight and 1.25 billion passengers. In addition, despite COVID -19 pandemic revenue earning freight loading (excluding loading by Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd. (KRCL) was 1230.9 million tonnes in 2020-21 as compared to 1208.4 million tonnes during2019-20. Passengers originating were 1250 million in 2020-21 as compared to 8086 million in 2019-20- Economic Survey 2021-22.
- Spin-off effect: It is about Rs 40,000 crore business opportunity that would also create 15,000 jobs and several spin-off benefits and act as a stimulus for the development of satellite towns.
- Boost to ‘Make in India’– it involves only about 15 percent import content which will further go down if production volumes increase.
- Environmental Benefits: More rail traffic translates to less automobile traffic, and by extension, less highway and city street traffic congestion, reduced air pollution. In addition, less congestion means less wear and tear on the roadways, which means that they require fewer repairs. According to the International Association of Railways (UIC), high-speed rail is eight times more energy-efficient than airplanes and four times more efficient than automobile use.
- Social Benefits: High-speed rail can promote a sense of social cohesion among residents, by bringing distant populated areas closer together.
- Global Experience: The High-Speed Railway has an economic multiplier effect. Since the introduction of the first Shinkansen (literally meaning ‘new main line’) in Japan in 1964, high-speed trains have proven to be an undeniable technological, commercial and popular success. Many countries like the UK, France, Germany, Spain, China, and most recently, the US have adopted the technology.
Challenges faced by the High-Speed Rail Projects
- Infrastructure Bottlenecks: India’s railway system is saddled with a two-pronged infrastructure deficit – aging infrastructure and the pace of new project execution struck by unforeseen circumstances related to socio-economic issues on land acquisition for new projects and escalating projects costs.
- New Technologies: For instance, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies which proposes to make travel as fast as 760 miles per hour, investing a humongous capital on bullet trains seems like an outdated investment.
- Political Will: The politics of Rail Bhavan and an unwillingness to accept the need for change have derailed the project execution.
- Short of Investments: For instance, the estimated cost of Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR is ₹1.1 lakh crore (US$17 billion) which is massively expensive. Though India receives funding from Japan (81%), the power demand and up-gradation of existing infrastructure will be more costly.
- Social Conflict: Development along the corridor will lead to an increase in urbanization, the fight for resources, and social conflicts due to the labor influx of the workforce.
- Legal Trouble: While farmers in Maharashtra are protesting on the ground, the farmers in Gujarat led by Gujarat Khedut Samaj (GKS)- fighting a case in the Gujarat High Court against the land acquisition for the bullet train project.
Way ahead
- Stakeholders approach: Politics and Policy have to be in sync for the railway modernization. In order to achieve the target, Railways will have to pool in all resources and multiple stakeholders, including private players to deliver the propulsion system and also carry out the assembling. The Policymakers and administration should give priority to systematic sustainable development work- the convergence of jal, jungle, jameen(water-forest-land is an asset for the Adivasi community).
- Regular Monitoring: To ensure the induction of these trains in the shortest time possible, as envisaged by Indian Railways.
- Technology Transfer: The government has to push for the technology transfer of HSR. This is because there is no mention of the transfer of technology anywhere in the agreement.
Conclusion
India aspires to become the third-largest economy in the next 25 years. It has already proven its prowess in the field of space and now is the time for furthering its international stature by joining the exclusive club of nations having a high-speed rail network, however, we should be careful not to confuse leapfrogging technology development with elitism, whether it is mobile phones, satellite launches, regional air connectivity, or high-speed rail. This high-speed rail project will therefore help the Indian Railways to become a global leader in scale, technology, and skill.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Categories of security
Mains level: Need for security to politicians
A noted Parliamentarian from Hyderabad has rejected the ‘Z’ category security by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) accorded to him.
Security Provisions in India
- In India, security is provided to high-risk individuals by the police and local government.
- The level of security needed by any individual is decided by the Ministry of Home Affairs, based on inputs received from intelligence agencies which include the IB and R&AW.
- Individuals such as PM, home minister, and other officials such as the National Security Advisor generally get security cover because of the positions they occupy.
- In addition to this, persons who are believed to be under threat also receive security cover.
What is ‘Z’ Category Security?
In India, the category covers are X, Y, Y-plus, Z, Z-plus, and SPG (Special Protection Group).
- X Category: The protectee gets one gunman. Protectees in the Y category have one gunman for mobile security and one (plus four on rotation) for static security.
- Y Plus category: It receives the cover of two gunmen (plus four on rotation) for mobile security, and one (plus four on rotation) for residence security,
- Z Category: It has six gunmen for mobile security and two (plus 8) for residence security. They get 10 security personnel for mobile security, and two (plus 8) for residence security.
- Z Plus Category: It is provided by National Security Guard commandos whereas the other category of security is provided by the Delhi police or the ITBP or CRPF personnel.
What about Special Protection Group (SPG) Cover?
- The SPG cover is meant only for the PM and his immediate family.
- After Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own security guards in 1984, the Rajiv Gandhi government decided to create a special cadre of security personnel for the PM.
- In March 1985, following the recommendations of a committee set up by the Home Ministry, a special unit was created for this purpose under the Cabinet Secretariat.
- This unit, initially called the Special Protection Unit, was renamed as Special Protection Group in April 1985.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chandrayaan-3
Mains level: Not Much
ISRO plans to execute the Chandrayaan-3 mission in August this year.
What is Chandrayaan-3 Mission?
- The Chandrayaan-3 mission is a follow-up of Chandrayaan-2 of July 2019, which aimed to land a rover on the lunar South Pole.
Chandrayaan-2: A quick recap
- Chandrayaan-2 consisted of an Orbiter, Lander and Rover, all equipped with scientific instruments to study the moon.
- The Orbiter would watch the moon from a 100-km orbit, while the Lander and Rover modules were to be separated to make a soft landing on the moon’s surface.
- ISRO had named the Lander module as Vikram, after Vikram Sarabhai, the pioneer of India’s space programme, and the Rover module as Pragyaan, meaning wisdom.
Utility of the Orbiter
- The Orbiter part of the mission has been functioning normally. It is carrying eight instruments.
- Each of these instruments has produced a handsome amount of data that sheds new light on the moon and offers insights that could be used in further exploration.
Inception of Chandrayaan 3
- The subsequent failure of the Vikram lander led to the pursuit of another mission to demonstrate the landing capabilities needed for the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission proposed in partnership with Japan for 2024.
Its design
- The lander for Chandrayaan-3 will have only four throttle-able engines.
- Unlike Vikram on Chandrayaan-2 which had five 800N engines with a fifth one being centrally mounted with a fixed thrust.
- Additionally, the Chandrayaan-3 lander will be equipped with a Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV).
Back2Basics: Chandrayaan-1 Mission
- The Chandrayaan-1 mission was launched in October 2008 was ISRO’s first exploratory mission to the moon, in fact to any heavenly body in space.
- The mission was designed to just orbit around the moon and make observations with the help of the instruments onboard.
- The closest that Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft came to the moon was in an orbit 100 km from its surface.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Definition of Forests
Mains level: Not Much
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change has informed about the criteria used to define forest in India.
Defining Forests universally
- As per the Conference of Parties (CoP) 9-Kyoto Protocol, the forest can be defined by any country depending upon the capacities and capabilities of the country.
- Forest- Forest is defined structurally on the basis of
- Crown cover percentage: Tree crown cover- 10 to 30% (India 10%)
- Minimum area of stand: area between 0.05 and 1 hectare (India 1.0 hectare) and
- Minimum height of trees: Potential to reach a minimum height at maturity in situ of 2 to 5 m (India 2m)
India’s definition of Forests
The definition of forest cover has clearly been defined in all the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) and in all the International communications of India.
- The forest cover is defined as ‘all land, more than one hectare in area, with a tree canopy density of more than 10 percent irrespective of ownership and legal status.
- Such land may not necessarily be a recorded forest area. It also includes orchards, bamboo and palm’.
Classification of forest cover
In ISFR 2021 recently published has divided the forest cover as:
- Inside Recorded Forest Area: These are basically natural forests and plantations of Forest Department.
- Outside Recorded Forest Area: These cover mango orchards, coconut plantations, block plantations of agroforestry.
Back2Basics: Forest Classification in India
The Forest Survey of India (FSI) classifies forest cover in 4 classes.
- Very Dense forest: All lands with tree cover (including mangrove cover) of canopy density of 70% and above.
- Moderately dense forest: All lands with tree cover (including mangrove cover) of canopy density between 40% and 70%.
- Open forests: All lands with tree cover (including mangrove cover) of canopy density between 10% and 40%.
- Scrubs: All forest lands with poor tree growth mainly of small or stunted trees having canopy density less than 10%.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ramsar Convention, Coringa WLS
Mains level: Not Much
Godavari Estuary in Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) is facing due ignorance despite meeting all nine criteria of Ramsar Convention.
Godavari Estuary
- The estuary, including 235.70 sq. km Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS), is one of the rarest eco-regions on the earth.
- It is also home to India’s second-largest mangrove cover after the Sundarbans.
- The CWS is inhabited by 115 endangered fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus), Olive Ridley turtles, Indian smooth-coated otter, and saltwater crocodiles.
What are the nine criteria laid out by Ramsar Convention?
- Criterion 1: “it contains a representative, rare, or unique example of a natural or near-natural wetland type found within the appropriate biogeographic region.”
- Criterion 2: “it supports vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered species or threatened ecological communities.”
- Criterion 3: “it supports populations of plant and/or animal species important for maintaining the biological diversity of a particular biogeographic region.”
- Criterion 4: “it supports plant and/or animal species at a critical stage in their life cycles, or provides refuge during adverse conditions.”
- Criterion 5: “it regularly supports 20,000 or more waterbirds.”
- Criterion 6: “it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of waterbird.”
- Criterion 7: “it supports a significant proportion of indigenous fish subspecies, species or families, life-history stages, species interactions and/or populations that are representative of wetland benefits and/or values and thereby contributes to global biological diversity.”
- Criterion 8: “it is an important source of food for fishes, spawning ground, nursery and/or migration path on which fish stocks, either within the wetland or elsewhere, depend.”
- Criterion 9: “it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of wetland-dependent non-avian animal species.”
Back2Basics: Ramsar Convention
- The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (better known as the Ramsar Convention) is an international agreement promoting the conservation and wise use of wetlands.
- It is the only global treaty to focus on a single ecosystem.
- The convention was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975.
- Traditionally viewed as a wasteland or breeding ground of disease, wetlands actually provide fresh water and food and serve as nature’s shock absorber.
- Wetlands, critical for biodiversity, are disappearing rapidly, with recent estimates showing that 64% or more of the world’s wetlands have vanished since 1900.
- Major changes in land use for agriculture and grazing, water diversion for dams and canals, and infrastructure development are considered to be some of the main causes of loss and degradation of wetlands.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Virtual Digital Assets
Mains level: Taxing crypto assets
Recently, The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued detailed guidelines on the Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) rule for Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs) such as cryptocurrencies .
What are Virtual Digital Assets?
- To define the term “virtual digital asset”, a new clause (47A) is proposed to be inserted into section 2 of the Act.
- A virtual digital asset is proposed to mean any information or code or number or token (not being Indian currency or any foreign currency):
- Generated through cryptographic means or otherwise
- Providing a digital representation of value that is exchanged with or without consideration with the promise or representation of having inherent value
- Functions as a store of value or a unit of account and includes its use in any financial transaction or investment, but not limited to, investment schemes
- Can be transferred, stored, or traded electronically.
- Non-fungible token (NFT) and; any other token of similar nature are included in the definition.
Why tax them?
- Popularity: Virtual digital assets have gained tremendous popularity in recent times and the volumes of trading in such digital assets have increased substantially.
- Growing market: Further, a market is emerging where payment for the transfer of a virtual digital asset can be made through another such asset.
- Increased transactions: There has been a phenomenal rise in such transactions and the magnitude and frequency of these transactions have made it imperative to provide for a specific tax regime.
- Prevalence of gifting: The gifting of virtual digital assets is also a popular mode of exchange.
Key takeaways from the FM’s speech
- The bill provides for the definition of virtual digital assets which is wide enough to cover emerging digital assets including NFT, assets in metaverse, cryptocurrencies, etc.
- This recognition of digital assets under income tax is NOT akin to granting legal status.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bomb Cyclone, Bombogenesis
Mains level: Not Much
Major cities such as New York and Boston in US are witnessing a “Bomb Cyclone” characterized by the explosive power of rapid drops in atmospheric pressure.
What is Bomb Cyclone?
- A bomb cyclone is a large, intense mid-latitude storm that has low pressure at its center, weather fronts and an array of associated weather, from blizzards to severe thunderstorms to heavy precipitation.
- It becomes a bomb when its central pressure decreases very quickly—by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours.
- When a cyclone “bombs,” or undergoes bombogenesis, this tells us that it has access to the optimal ingredients for strengthening, such as high amounts of heat, moisture and rising air.
Why is it called a bomb?
- Most cyclones don’t intensify rapidly in this way.
- Bomb cyclones put forecasters on high alert, because they can produce significant harmful impacts.
Its etymology
- The word “bombogenesis” is a combination of cyclogenesis, which describes the formation of a cyclone or storm, and bomb, which is, well, pretty self-explanatory.
- This can happen when a cold air mass collides with a warm air mass, such as air over warm ocean waters.
- The formation of this rapidly strengthening weather system is a process called bombogenesis, which creates what is known as a bomb cyclone.
How does it occur?
- Over the warmer ocean, heat and moisture are abundant.
- But as cool continental air moves overhead and creates a large difference in temperature, the lower atmosphere becomes unstable and buoyant.
- Air rises, cools and condenses, forming clouds and precipitation.
Where does it occur the most?
- The US coast is one of the regions where bombogenesis is most common.
- That’s because storms in the mid-latitudes – a temperate zone north of the tropics that includes the entire continental US – draw their energy from large temperature contrasts.
- Along the US East Coast during winter, there’s a naturally potent thermal contrast between the cool land and the warm Gulf Stream current.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Thirukkural
Mains level: Ancient sangam literature
President Ram Nath Kovind quoted a couplet from Thirukkural while addressing the joint Houses of Parliament for Budget Session.
What did the President quote?
- ‘Karka Kasadara Karpavai Kattrapin Nirka Atharku Thaka’ was the couplet chosen by him to reiterate the importance of the New Education Policy.
- The couplet insists on thorough and flawless learning and adhering to what one has learnt.
What is Thirukkural?
- The Tirukkuṟaḷ (meaning ‘sacred verses’), or shortly the Kural, is a classic Tamil language text consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or kurals, of seven words each.
- The text is divided into three books with aphoristic teachings on virtue (aram), wealth (porul) and love (inbam), respectively.
- Considered one of the greatest works ever written on ethics and morality, it is known for its universality and secular nature.
Three major parts of the book
- Aram : Book of Virtue (Dharma), dealing with moral values of an individual and essentials of yoga philosophy
- Porul : Book of Polity (Artha), dealing with socio-economic values, polity, society and administration
- Inbam: Book of Love (Kama), dealing with psychological values and love
Who authored it and when?
- Its authorship is traditionally attributed to Valluvar, also known in full as Thiruvalluvar.
- The text has been dated variously from 300 BCE to 5th century CE.
- The traditional accounts describe it as the last work of the third Sangam, but linguistic analysis suggests a later date of 450 to 500 CE and that it was composed after the Sangam period.
Cultural significance of Thirukkural
- The Kural is traditionally praised with epithets and alternative titles, including “the Tamil Veda” and “the Divine Book.”
- Written on the foundations of ahimsa, it emphasizes non-violence and moral vegetarianism as virtues for an individual.
- In addition, it highlights truthfulness, self-restraint, gratitude, hospitality, kindness, goodness, duty, giving, and so forth.
- It covers a wide range of social and political topics such as king, ministers, taxes, justice, forts, war, greatness of army and soldier’s honor.
- It emphasizes death sentence for the wicked, agriculture, education, abstinence from alcohol and intoxicants.
- It also includes chapters on friendship, love, sexual unions, and domestic life.
Read these quotes and bookmark them. They can be used in essays:
- Nothing is impossible for those who act after wise counsel and careful thought.
- Real kindness seeks no return.
- The only gift is giving to the poor; All else is exchange.
- Friendship with the wise gets better with time, as a good book gets better with age.
- Worthless are those who injure others vengefully, while those who stoically endure are like stored gold.
- Among a man’s many good possessions, A good command of speech has no equal. Prosperity and ruin issue from the power of the tongue. Therefore, guard yourself against thoughtless speech.
- A fortress is of no use to cowards.
- Even the ignorant may appear very worthy, If they keep silent before the learned.
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