Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) 2021
Mains level: Wetland conservation in India
The two-day Asian Waterbird Census-2020 was recently held in Andhra Pradesh.
Anyone can participate!
By using eBird and filling an additional site form, one can take part in this multi-country effort to document the state of our wetlands and waterbirds. To take part one simply visits a wetland and count the birds he/she see there.
Asian Waterbird Census
- The Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) takes place every January.
- The AWC was started in 1987, and many birders were initiated into bird counting and monitoring through this project.
- This citizen-science event is a part of the global International Waterbird Census (IWC) that supports the conservation and management of wetlands and waterbirds worldwide.
- The data collected each year is shared by Wetlands International with global conservation organisations such as IUCN and Ramsar Convention.
Why need such census?
- Waterbirds are one of the key indicators of wetlands health.
- Wetlands provide feeding, resting, roosting and foraging habitats for these charismatic species.
AWC in India
- In India, the AWC is annually coordinated by the Bombay Natural history Society (BNHS) and Wetlands International.
- BNHS is a non-government Organisation (NGO) founded in the year 1883.
- It engages itself in the conservation of nature and natural resources and also in the research and conservation of endangered species.
- Its mission is to conserve nature, primarily biological diversity through action based on research, education and public awareness.
Back2Basics: Waterbirds
- The term water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird is used to refer to birds that live on or around water.
- In some definitions, the term is especially applied to birds in freshwater habitats, though others make no distinction from birds that inhabit marine environments.
- Also, some water birds are more terrestrial or aquatic than others, and their adaptations will vary depending on their environment.
- These adaptations include webbed feet, bills, and legs adapted to feed in the water, and the ability to dive from the surface or the air to catch prey in water.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Dmitri Mendeleev, Periodic table
Mains level: NA
Mendeleev was a Russian chemist and inventor who formulated the Periodic Law and the Periodic Table of Elements.
Chemistry can, no wonder, find their place in exam if core Biology could do in 2020 CSP.
Q.Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding the general difference between plant cells and animal cells?
- Plant cells have cellulose cell walls whilst animal cells do not.
- Plant cells do not have plasma membrane unlike animals cells which do
- Mature plant cell has one large vacuole whilst animal cell has many small vacuoles
Select the correct answer using the given code below-
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Dmitri Mendeleev
- Mendeleev was born in the Siberian town of Tobolsk.
- In 1861, Mendeleev published a textbook named Organic Chemistry, which won him the Demidov Prize of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
- While explaining the chemical and physical properties of elements, he discovered similarities in the progression of atomic weights.
- He found that the order of atomic weights could be used to arrange the elements within each group and the groups themselves.
- Thus, Mendeleev formulated the periodic law. His Osnovy khimii (The Principles of Chemistry) became a classic, running through many editions and many translations.
The Periodic Law
- Using the Periodic Law, Mendeleev developed a systematic table of all the 63 elements then known.
- He even predicted the locations of unknown elements together with their properties within the periodic table.
- When these predicted elements, notably gallium ( 1875), scandium (1879), and germanium (1886) were discovered, Mendeleev Periodic Table began to gain wide acceptance.
- Incidentally, in 1870, German chemist Julius Lothar Meyer also published a paper describing the same organisation of elements as Mendeleev’s. But the latter is given credit for the table.
- In all, Mendeleev predicted 10 new elements, of which all but two turned out to exist. Element 101 is named Mendelevium in his honour.
Also read:
Mendeleev and his periodic table of elements
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
Mains level: Horn of Africa Region
Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt have agreed on to resume negotiations to resolve their decade-long complex dispute over the Grand Renaissance Dam hydropower project in the Horn of Africa.
Note: You never know when UPSC might switch map based questions away from the Middle East and SE Asia.
Considering this news, the UPSC may ask a prelim question based on the countries swept by River Nile/ various dams constructed/ landlocked countries in the African continent etc.
Also read
[Burning Issue] Ethiopian Crisis and the Geopolitics
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
- Spearheaded by Ethiopia, the 145-meter-tall (475-foot-tall) Grand Renaissance Dam hydropower project, when completed, will be Africa’s largest.
- Its construction was initiated in 2011 on the Blue Nile tributary of the river that runs across one part of Ethiopia.
- The Nile is a necessary water source in the region and Egypt has consistently objected to the dam’s construction, saying it will impact water flow.
- The long-standing dispute has been a cause of concern for international observers who fear that it may increase conflict between the two nations and spill out into other countries in the Horn of Africa.
What is the dispute about?
- The Nile, Africa’s longest river, has been at the centre of a decade-long complex dispute involving several countries that are dependent on the river’s waters.
- At the forefront of this dispute are Ethiopia and Egypt, with Sudan having found itself dragged into the issue.
- The main waterways of the Nile run through Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt, and its drainage basin runs through several countries in East Africa, including Ethiopia.
Concerns over the dam
- Given the dam’s location on the Blue Nile tributary, it would potentially allow Ethiopia to gain control of the flow of the river’s waters.
- Egypt lies further downstream and is concerned that Ethiopia’s control over the water could result in lower water levels within its own borders.
- In addition, Egypt proposed a longer timeline for the project over concerns that the water level of the Nile could dramatically drop as the reservoir fills with water in the initial stages.
- Sudan’s location between Egypt up north and Ethiopia down south has caused it to become an inadvertent party to this dispute.
- But that isn’t all; Sudan to is concerned that if Ethiopia were to gain control over the river, it would affect the water levels Sudan receives.
Why does Ethiopia want this dam?
- Ethiopia’s goal is to secure electricity for its population and to sustain and develop its growing manufacturing industry.
- Addis Ababa anticipates that this dam will generate approximately 6,000 megawatts of electricity when it is completed, that can be distributed for the needs of its population and industries.
- In addition to its domestic requirements, Ethiopia may sell surplus electricity to neighbouring nations like Kenya, Sudan, Eritrea and South Sudan, that also suffer from electricity shortages, to generate some revenue.
What lies ahead?
- Despite previous talks, the point of contention hasn’t changed: Egypt and Sudan are concerned about the filling and the operation of the dam.
- Ethiopia continues to insist that the dam is required to meet the needs of its population and has said that downstream water supplies will not be adversely affected.
- Cairo insists that the dam would cut its water supplies — concerning for a country that depends on the Nile for approximately 97% of its drinking water and irrigation supplies.
- Sudan believes that the dam will reduce flooding, but is concerned about the path forward if the negotiations end at a stalemate.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Trans fats
Mains level: Health threats posed by Trans Fats
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has capped the amount of trans fatty acids (TFA) in oils and fats to 3% for 2021 and 2% by 2022 from the current permissible limit of 5%.
New FSSAI norms
- FSSAI has acted in response to the amendment to the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulations.
- The country’s food regulatory body notified the amendment on December 29, more than a year after it issued a draft on the subject for consultation with stakeholders.
- The revised regulation applies to edible refined oils, vanaspati (partially hydrogenated oils), margarine, bakery shortenings, and other mediums of cooking such as vegetable fat spreads and mixed fat spreads.
- It was in 2011 that India first passed a regulation that set a TFA limit of 10% in oils and fats, which was further reduced to 5% in 2015.
What are Trans Fats?
- Artificial Trans fats are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid.
- Since they are easy to use, inexpensive to produce and last a long time, and give foods a desirable taste and texture, they are still widely used despite their harmful effects being well-known.
Why such a regulation?
- Trans fats are associated with increased risk of heart attacks and death from coronary heart disease.
- As per the WHO, approximately 5.4 lakh deaths take place each year globally because of intake of industrially-produced trans-fatty acids.
- The WHO has also called for global elimination of trans fats by 2023.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various parameters of the index
Mains level: Digital banking in India
The RBI has constructed a composite Digital Payments Index (DPI) with March 2018 as the base period to capture the extent of digitization of payments across the country.
Note various indicators of the DPI.
Digital Payments Index
- RBI-DPI will be published on the central bank’s website on a semi-annual basis from March 2021 onwards with a lag of four months.
- It comprises five broad parameters that enable the measurement of deepening and penetration of digital payments in the country over different time periods.
- The parameters are:
- Payment enablers (weight 25 percent)
- Payment infrastructure–demand-side factors (10 percent)
- Payment infrastructure – supply-side factors (15 percent)
- Payment performance (45 percent) and
- Consumer centricity (5 percent)
- Each of these parameters has sub-parameters which, in turn, consist of various measurable indicators, RBI said.
Why need such an Index?
- Digital payments in India have been growing rapidly.
- The DPI reflects accurately the penetration and deepening of various digital payment modes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IUC
Mains level: TRAI and its regulations of telecom services
The termination charge for wireless to wireless domestic calls has been zeroed from January 1 onwards. Until now operators paid Interconnection Usage Charges (IUC) of 6 paise per minute on mobile calls.
We are heading for 5G and yet we were indulged in 2G era spat. Sounds strange, but finally IUC got away….
Interconnection Usage Charge (IUC)
- IUC is the cost that a mobile operator pays to another operator for carrying through/ terminating a call.
- If a customer of Mobile Operator A calls a customer of Mobile Operator B and the call is completed, then A pays an IUC charge to B for carrying/facilitating the call.
- Essentially, it is the originating network compensating the receiving network for the cost of carrying the call. In India, IUC is set by the TRAI.
When was it introduced?
- IUC was introduced at a time when some operators had a larger network footprint compared to new players.
- In such a scenario, the larger operators had to be compensated for the investments it had to enable call completion. However, over the years this gap between operators has reduced.
- All the remaining operators have identical network footprint when it comes to voice calls.
- TRAI’s original deadline to phase out IUC was January 1, 2020.
What does it mean to Consumers?
- For mobile users, this means that all voice calls will be free from now on.
- While almost all operators had already started offering unlimited calls as part of their bundled pack, some were charging the 6 paise from consumers for paying IUC charges.
- From January 1, operators will stop collecting the charges.
- But other than that there will not be any significant gain for users. Tariff packs available in the market already offer data with unlimited voice calls.
What does the end of the IUC regime imply?
- For the operators, the end of the IUC regime will lead to easier operations.
- Many legal battles have been fought in the past over disputes related to IUC charges.
- Now, the operators can keep whatever money they collect from consumers without having to keep a tab on where the call is terminating.
- The change in the billing system will not have any significant impact on operators’ revenue.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Operation Meghdoot
Mains level: Not Much
Colonel Narinder ‘Bull’ Kumar (Retd.), instrumental in the Army launching Operation Meghdoot and securing the dominating heights of Siachen Glacier in 1984 has passed away at 87.
Operation Meghdoot
- Operation Meghdoot was the codename for the Indian Armed Forces’ operation to seize control of the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir, precipitating the Siachen conflict.
- The Siachen then had become a bone of contention following a vague demarcation of territories in the Karachi Agreement of July 1949.
- Executed in the morning of 13 April 1984, this military operation, launched on the highest battlefield in the world, was the first offensive of its kind.
- The operation preempted Pakistan’s impending Operation Ababeel and was a success, resulting in Indian forces gaining control of the Siachen Glacier in its entirety.
- Currently, the Indian Army remains the first and only army in the world to have taken tanks and other heavy ordnance up to such an altitude (well over 5,000 m or 16,000 ft).
Bull Kumar’s contributions
- Kumar, a legendary mountaineer who had spotted Pakistani activities around the Siachen glacier in 1984 that helped India secure it subsequently.
- He was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, in 1965.
- He was decorated with Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM), Kirti Chakra, and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM).
- The battalion headquarters on the glacier located close to an altitude of 16,000 feet is named “Kumar post” in his honor.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Digital Ocean platform
Mains level: India's deep ocean mission
The Ministry of Earth Sciences has inaugurated the web-based application “Digital Ocean” developed by INCOIS.
Digital Ocean
- Digital Ocean is a first of its kind digital platform for Ocean Data Management.
- The platform will be promoted as a platform for capacity building on Ocean Data Management for all Indian Ocean Rim countries.
- It would help share ocean knowledge about the ocean with a wide range of users including research institutions, operational agencies, strategic users, the academic community, and the maritime industry and policymakers.
- It also provides free access to information to the general public and the common man.
- It will play a central role in the sustainable management of our oceans and expanding ‘Blue Economy’ initiatives.
Its’ features
- It includes a set of applications developed to organize and present heterogeneous oceanographic data by adopting rapid advancements in geospatial technology.
- It facilitates:
- Online interactive web-based environment for data integration,
- 3D and 4D (3D in space with time animation) data visualization,
- Data analysis to assess the evolution of oceanographic features,
- Data fusion and multi-format download of disparate data from multiple sources viz., in-situ, remote sensing, and model data, all of which is rendered on a georeferenced 3D Ocean.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indian architecture
Mains level: Indian architecture and foreign influence
A controversy has been playing out over the last several days over a decision by the IIM Ahmedabad to bring down 18 dormitories built by legendary American architect Louis Kahn on the old campus.
This newscard is full of facts. But one must note the features of present-day Indian Architecture and the western influence on it.
Kahn, in fact, is one among several foreign architects whose work defines several Indian cities. Take a glimpse of all important architects and their works:
Antonin Raymond & George Nakashima
- Golconde, one of India’s first modernist buildings, was conceptualized in Puducherry by the founders of the experimental township of Auroville.
- Tokyo-based Czech architect Antonin Raymond was invited to design this space as a universal commune, and Japanese-American woodworker George Nakashima would complete it after Raymond left India.
- It is possibly India’s first reinforced concrete buildings, built between 1937 and 1945.
- Its façade creates the impression that one could open or shut these concrete blinds, without compromising on privacy, while the ascetic interiors helped provide a meditative atmosphere.
Otto Koenigsberger
- Berlin-bred Koenigsberger was already working for the Maharaja of Mysore in the late 1930s when he was commissioned by Tata & Sons to develop the industrial township of Jamshedpur in the early 1940s.
- He would later design the masterplan for Bhubhaneswar (1948) and Faridabad (1949).
- Having seen children and women walk large distances to reach schools and workplaces, he planned for schools and bazaars in the city center and for a network of neighborhoods.
- His friends Albert Mayer and Mathew Nowicki would go on to design Chandigarh.
- However, much before Koenigsberger, there was the Scottish biologist and geographer Patrick Geddes, who wrote town planning reports, from 1915 to 1919, for 18 Indian cities, including Bombay and Indore.
Frank Lloyd Wright
- Though the legendary American architect never built a structure in India, his influence was unmistakable.
- Two of his students, Gautam and Gira Sarabhai, founders of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, requested him to design the administration building for Sarabhai Calico Mills in 1946.
- It would possibly have been the city’s first high-rise with terraces and a podium.
- Padma Vibhushan Charles Correa, one of India’s finest architects and urban planners, was hugely influenced by Wright.
Le Corbusier
- Before Swiss-French painter-writer-architect Corbusier came on the scene in Chandigarh, there was Polish architect Mathew Nowicki, an admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright and American developer Albert Mayer.
- Nowicki’s death in a plane crash ended the commission, and Corbusier came on board.
- With English architect Maxwell Fry and his wife Jane Drew, Corbusier with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret would design many of Chandigarh’s civic buildings, from courts to housing.
- Corbusier’s modernist approach, without decoration, gave India its brutalist, bare concrete buildings.
- He won favour with the Sarabhai’s of Ahmedabad and built the Sarabhai House, Shodhan House, Mill Owner’s Association Building and Sankar Kendra. He is often called the “father of modern Indian architecture”.
Joseph Allen Stein
- He was invited by Vijayalakshmi Pandit in 1952 to come to India and establish the Department of Architecture and Planning at the West Bengal Engineering College.
- Though he also practiced briefly in Orissa and West Bengal, it’s in New Delhi where Stein left the deepest imprint.
- From the Triveni Kala Sangam, the High Commissioner’s Residence and Chancery for Australia, where his polygon-shaped masonry with local stone made its first appearance to ‘Steinabad’.
Louis Kahn
- The importance of being Kahn is never more real than now, as the American architect’s only project in India faces bulldozers.
- The design for IIM Ahmedabad (1962-1974) carried the essence of learning in the humility of its material, and the way spaces were managed.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Blue Flag Beaches
Mains level: Coastal conservation
The Environment Minister has virtually hoisted the international blue flags in 8 beaches across the country.
Try this PYQ:
Q. At one of the places in India, if you stand on the seashore and watch the sea, you will find that the seawater recedes from the shoreline a few kilometers and comes back to the shore, twice a day, and you can actually walk on the seafloor when the water recedes. This unique phenomenon is seen at:
(a) Bhavnagar
(b) Bheemunipatnam
(c) Chandipur
(d) Nagapattinam
About Blue Flag Certification
- This Certification is accorded by an international agency “Foundation for Environment Education, Denmark” based on 33 stringent criteria in four major heads i.e.
- Environmental Education and Information,
- Bathing Water Quality,
- Environment Management and Conservation and
- Safety and Services on the beaches.
- It started in France in 1985 and has been implemented in Europe since 1987, and in areas outside Europe since 2001 when South Africa joined.
- Japan and South Korea are the only countries in South and southeastern Asia to have Blue Flag beaches.
- Spain tops the list with 566 such beaches; Greece and France follow with 515 and 395, respectively.
Which are the 8 beaches?
The beaches where the International Blue Flags were hoisted are:
- Kappad (Kerala)
- Shivrajpur (Gujarat)
- Ghoghla (Diu)
- Kasarkod and
- Padubidri (Karnataka)
- Rushikonda (Andhra Pradesh)
- Golden (Odisha) and
- Radhanagar (Andaman & Nicobar Islands)
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Udham Singh
Mains level: Jallianwala Bagh massacre and its aftermath
December 26 was the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Udham Singh, who is known for avenging the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919.
Try this PYQ:
Q.The Ghadr (Ghadar) was a –
(a) Revolutionary association of Indians with headquarters at San Francisco.
(b) Nationalist organization operating from Singapore
(c) Militant organization with headquarters at Berlin
(d) Communist movement for India’s freedom with head-quarters at Tashkent
Who was Udham Singh?
- Singh, born in Sunam in Punjab’s Sangrur district in 1899, was a political activist who got associated with the Ghadar Party while in the US.
- The multi-ethnic party was believed to have communist tendencies and was founded by Sohan Singh Bhakna in 1913.
- Headquartered in California, the party was committed to the ouster of the British from India.
- In 1934, Singh made his way to London with the purpose of assassinating O’Dwyer, who in 1919 had been the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab.
Why did he consider O’Dwyer responsible for the massacre?
- O’Dwyer ordered Brigadier Reginald Dyer to Amritsar before the massacre; he was worried that there might be a second Indian mutiny, given the Hindu-Muslim unity and the demonstrations and strikes.
- Instead of Dyer, O’Dwyer is considered to be the actual perpetrator, since Dyer could not have executed it without his permission.
- On March 13, 1940, Udham Singh shot O’Dwyer at a meeting of the East India Association and the Royal Central Asian Society at Caxton Hill.
- He was immediately arrested and held in Brixton prison and was sentenced to death and was hanged on July 31, 1940, at Pentonville Prison.
A legend in India
- For avenging the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Singh is seen by many as a hero. Gandhi, though, had famously called Singh’s revenge as an “act of insanity”.
- While being on trial, he referred to himself as Mohamed Singh Azad, to symbolize Hindu-Sikh-Muslim unity in the fight for India’s freedom.
- In 1974, his remains were sent back to India and he was cremated in his village in Sunam.
- There have been several demands in the past few years for Udham Singh’s statue to be installed in Jallianwala Bagh and the Parliament complex.
- In 2018, his statue was installed at Jallianwala Bagh during Baisakhi.
- Udham Singh Nagar district in Uttarakhand is named after the freedom fighter.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BBX11 gene
Mains level: Genetics and its applications
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) have identified a gene that facilitates in the greening of plants.
It would be no surprise to expect a core Biology question in the coming years, if we look at this PYQ:
Q. Which of the following statements are correct regarding the general difference between plant cells and animal cells? (CSP 2020)
- Plant cells have cellulose cell walls whilst animal cells do not.
- Plant cells do not have plasma membrane unlike animals cells which do
- Mature plant cell has one large vacuole whilst animal cell has many small vacuoles
Select the correct answer using the given code below-
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
BBX11
- The synthesis of chlorophyll in plants is a lengthy, multi-step process.
- When a seedling emerges from under the soil it must quickly synthesize chlorophyll to start supporting its own growth.
- In order to facilitate the quick synthesis of chlorophyll, plants make a precursor of chlorophyll called ‘protochlorophyllide’ in the dark, which glows red when blue light is shone on the plant.
- As soon as the plant comes out into the light from under the soil, light-dependent enzymes convert protochlorophyllide to chlorophyll.
- The two proteins oppositely regulate the ‘BBX11’ gene to maintain optimum levels of ‘BBX11’.
How does it work?
- It plays a crucial role in regulating the levels of protochlorophyllide — an intermediate in the biosynthesis of the green pigment chlorophyll.
- The amount of protochlorophyllide synthesized needed to be proportional to the number of enzymes available to convert them to chlorophyll.
- If there is an excess of free protochlorophyllide, then exposure to light converts it into molecules that cause ‘photobleaching’.
- Thus, it is very important to regulate the amount of protochlorophyllide synthesized by the plant and here comes the vital plant played by the ‘BBX11’ gene.
- If it is less, plants are unable to efficiently ‘green’ in order to harvest sunlight.
Benefits of the research
- The study could have tremendous implications in the agriculture sector in tropical countries like India and can help provide leads to optimize plant growth under stressful and rapidly changing climatic conditions.
- Due to the rapidly changing climatic conditions, farmers in several states in India, especially in Maharashtra, are suffering huge losses in crop yields.
- This often leads to severe distress among the farming community as indicated by the high number of farmer suicides in Maharashtra for the past several years.
- Severe drought, high temperature and high light are some of the major reasons for crop failure. Young seedlings emerging out of the soil are extremely sensitive to high irradiance of light.
- This study can provide leads to optimize plant growth under these stressful conditions.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ammoni compounds and its uses
Mains level: Not Much
Two persons died and several took ill in a major ammonia gas leakage at a fertilizers unit at Prayagraj.
Try this PYQ:
Q. With reference to chemical fertilizers in India, consider the following statements:
- At present, the retail price of chemical fertilizers is market-driven and not administered by the Government.
- Ammonia, which is an input of urea, is produced from natural gas.
- Sulphur, which is a raw material for phosphoric acid fertilizer, is a by-product of all oil refineries.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1,2 and 3
Ammonia
- Ammonia is critical in the manufacturing of fertilizers and is one of the largest-volume synthetic chemicals produced in the world.
- More than 80 per cent of ammonia made is consumed in the manufacturing of fertilizer, and most of the remainder goes into the production of formaldehyde.
- A tri-hydroid of nitrogen (NH3), ammonia is a building block for ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) that is used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer.
Why is it harmful?
- According to experts in Chemistry, ammonia is stored for industrial use in liquid form under high pressure or in gaseous form at low temperature.
- In such cases, the cause of death is always suffocation as in the case of Prayagraj incident, the victims must have been very close to the point of a gas leak.
Effects on the human body
- Ammonia, even in moderate concentration, can cause irritation to eyes, skin, nose and throat.
- It interacts immediately upon contact with moisture present in the skin, eyes, oral cavity, and respiratory tract to form ammonium hydroxide.
- It is very caustic and disrupts the cell membrane lipids, ultimately leading to cellular destruction.
- As cell proteins break down, water is extracted, resulting in an inflammatory response that causes further damage.
Secretion in humans
- Ammonia, which is highly soluble in water, is found in soil, air, and water; it is naturally present in the body.
- It is secreted by the kidneys to neutralize excess acid.
- However, it is highly diluted when in the environment and does not affect the human body to a noticeable level.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Navratnas of Akbar
Mains level: Medieval arts and culture
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in The Hindu.
Try this PYQ:
Q.With reference to Mian Tansen, which one of the following statements is not correct?
(a) Tansen was the title given to him by Emperor Akbar.
(b) Tansen composed Dhrupads on Hindu gods and goddesses.
(c) Tansen composed songs on his patrons.
(d) Tansen invented many Ragas.
Who was Rahim?
- Dating back to 1598, during the rule of Akbar, Abdur Rahim Khan I Khanan was one of the Navratna in the court.
- Winning wars with his military training and hearts with his dohas and translated texts — he was a man who survived despite his father Bairam Khan’s assassination when he was just four.
- Meant to be a dedication of a husband to his wife, the tomb ended up housing his own remains too when he died in 1627.
His works
- Apart from writing various dohas, Rahim translated Babar’s memoirs, Baburnama from Chagatai language to the Persian language, which was completed in 998 (1589–90) AD.
- He had an excellent command over the Sanskrit language.
- In Sanskrit, he wrote two books on astrology, Khetakautukam and Dwatrimshadyogavali.
Why in news?
- The tomb is in a run-down situation but undergoing renovation.
- The historical and cultural significance is more than the archaeological and architectural significance, so restoring the dignity of the burial place has been very important.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Visva-Bharati University
Mains level: Nationalist education during freedom struggle
The Visva-Bharati University established by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore has completed its centenary.
Do you remember the scheme of education by Gandhi Ji, called Nai Talim?
Visva-Bharati University
- The university was set up by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1921 at Santiniketan, Bolpur in West Bengal’s Birbhum district.
- It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India.
- Until independence, it was a college. Soon after independence, the institution was given the status of a central university in 1951 by an act of the Parliament.
Its establishment
- The origins of the institution date back to 1863 when Debendranath Tagore was given a tract of land by the zamindar of Raipur, the zamindar of Kirnahar.
- He set up an ashram at the spot that has now come to be called chatim tala at the heart of the town.
- The ashram was initially called Brahmacharya Ashram, which was later renamed Brahmacharya Vidyalaya.
- It was established with a view to encouraging people from all walks of life to come to the spot and meditate.
- In 1901 his youngest son Rabindranath Tagore established a co-educational school inside the premises of the ashram.
What makes it special?
- Rabindranath Tagore believed in open-air education and had reservations about any teaching done within four walls.
- This was due to his belief that walls represent the conditioning of the mind.
- Tagore did not have a good opinion about the Western method of education introduced by the British in India; on this subject, Tagore and Gandhiji’s opinion matched.
- So he devised a new system of learning in Visva-Bharati. He allowed students to continue their course till the student and his teacher both are satisfied.
- At Visva-Bharati, if a course demanded by a student is not available, then the university will design a course and bring teachers for that course.
- The university would not be bothered by the consideration of whether there is a demand for the course.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Fastag
Mains level: RFID technology
From January 1, all lanes of National Highways will accept only electronic payments through FASTag.
Fastags work on a unique technology called RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). This has gone unnoticed in several competitive exams. Hence it is still relevant for the aspirants.
Also read
Fastags
- As per Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, since 1st December 2017, the FASTag had been made mandatory for all registered new four-wheelers and is being supplied by the Vehicle Manufacturer or their dealers.
- It has been mandated that the renewal of fitness certificate will be done only after the fitment of FASTag.
- For National Permit Vehicles, the fitment of FASTag was mandated since 1st October 2019.
What is ‘FASTag’?
- FASTags are stickers that are affixed to the windscreen of vehicles and use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to enable digital, contactless payment of tolls without having to stop at toll gates.
- The tags are linked to bank accounts and other payment methods.
- As a car crosses a toll plaza, the amount is automatically deducted, and a notification is sent to the registered mobile phone number.
How does it work?
- The device employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for payments directly from the prepaid or savings account linked to it.
- It is affixed on the windscreen, so the vehicle can drive through plazas without stopping.
- RFID technology is similar to that used in transport access-control systems, like Metro smart card.
- If the tag is linked to a prepaid account like a wallet or a debit/credit card, then owners need to recharge/top up the tag.
- If it is linked to a savings account, then money will get deducted automatically after the balance goes below a pre-defined threshold.
- Once a vehicle crosses the toll, the owner will get an SMS alert on the deduction. In that, it is like a prepaid e-wallet.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tso Kar Wetland Complex
Mains level: Ramsar wetlands in India
India has added Tso Kar Wetland Complex in Ladakh as its 42nd Ramsar site, which is a second one in the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh. With this, India now has forty-two Ramsar sites.
Try this PYQ:
In which one among the following categories of protected areas in India are local people not allowed to collect and use the biomass?
(a) Biosphere reserves
(b) National parks
(c) Wetlands declared under Ramsar convention
(d) Wildlife sanctuaries
Tso Kar Wetland Complex
- It is a high-altitude wetland complex, consisting of two principal waterbodies, Startsapuk Tso, a freshwater lake of about 438 hectares to the south, and Tso Kar itself, a hypersaline lake of 1800 hectares to the north.
- It is situated in the Changthang region of Ladakh.
- It is called Tso Kar, meaning white lake, because of the white salt efflorescence found on the margins due to the evaporation of highly saline water.
Ecological significance
- Wetlands provide a wide range of important resources and ecosystem services such as food, water, fibre, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, erosion control and climate regulation.
- They are, in fact, a major source of water and our main supply of freshwater comes from an array of wetlands which help soak rainfall and recharge groundwater.
- The Tso Kar Basin is an A1 Category Important Bird Area (IBA) as per BirdLife International and a key staging site in the Central Asian Flyway.
- The site is also one of the most important breeding areas of the Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis) in India.
Back2Basics: Wetlands
- A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded by water, either permanently or seasonally, where oxygen-free processes prevail.
- The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other landforms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil.
- Wetlands provide a wide range of important resources and ecosystem services such as food, water, fibre, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, erosion control and climate regulation.
What is the Ramsar Convention?
- The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is a treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of such sites.
- The convention, signed in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar, is one of the oldest inter-governmental accords for preserving the ecological character of wetlands.
- Also known as the Convention on Wetlands, it aims to develop a global network of wetlands for the conservation of biological diversity and for sustaining human life.
- Over 170 countries are party to the Ramsar Convention and over 2,000 designated sites covering over 20 crore hectares have been recognised under it.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Caspian Sea
Mains level: Ecocides and their impact
The Caspian is actually a lake, the largest in the world and it is experiencing a devastating decline in its water level that is about to accelerate.
Note the countries bordering the Caspian Sea: Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan. Or else remember the acronym ‘TARIK(h)’ (Hindi word for date).
You can frame a mnemonic statement of your choice. Do similarly for major lakes and inland seas. But dont let it move over TARIK pe TARIK!
Caspian Sea
- The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland body of water, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea.
- As an endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia.
- An endorheic basin is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but converges instead into lakes or swamps, permanent or seasonal that equilibrates through evaporation
- Its level is the product of how much water is flowing in from rivers, mostly the mighty Volga to the north, how much it rains and how much evaporates away.
- At the end of the century, the Volga and other northern rivers will still be there.
- However, a projected temperature rise of about 3℃ to 4℃ in the region will drive evaporation through the roof.
Now try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following has/have shrunk immensely/ dried up in the recent past due to human activities?
- Aral Sea
- Black Sea
- Lake Baikal
Select the correct option using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1 and 3 only
Why in news?
- By the end of the century, the Caspian Sea will be nine metres to 18 metres lower. That’s a depth considerably taller than most houses.
- The Caspian’s surface is already dropping by 7 cm every year, a trend likely to increase.
- It means the lake will lose at least 25 per cent of its former size, uncovering 93,000 sq km of dry land.
- If that new land were a country, it would be the size of Portugal.
Past strides in its level
- The Caspian Sea has a history of violent rises and falls.
- In Derbent, on the Caucasus coast of Russia, submerged ancient city walls testify to how low the sea was in medieval times.
- Around 10,000 years ago, the Caspian was about 100 metres lower.
- A few thousand years before that it was about 50 metres higher than today and even over spilt into the Black Sea.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Farmers’ Day
Mains level: Not Much
National Farmers’ Day, or Kisan Diwas, is celebrated across the country on December 23 to honour India’s farmers.
Do you think that the extraordinary haste with which the farm bills were pushed through both the Houses has created the present crisis?
National Farmers’ Day
- It marks the birth anniversary of the nation’s fifth PM Choudhary Charan Singh.
- In 2001, the government decided to recognise Choudhary Charan Singh’s contribution to the agriculture sector and welfare of farmers by celebrating his birth anniversary as Kisan Diwas.
- Since then, December 23 has been observed as National Farmers’ Day.
- Generally, awareness campaigns and drives are organised across the country to educate people on the role of farmers and their contribution to the economy.
Who was CCS and what was his connection with farmers?
- Chaudhary Charan Singh, who briefly served as PM between 1979 and 1980, is widely regarded as one of the country’s most famous peasant leaders.
- He was known for his pioneering work to promote the welfare of farmers and the agricultural sector.
- Charan Singh was no stranger to the struggles faced by the Indian farmer. He was born into a middle-class peasant family in Uttar Pradesh on December 23, 1902.
- Greatly influenced by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, he took an active part in the fight for independence.
- After that, his political career largely focused on socialism in rural India.
Major legislations
- He was behind several major farmer-forward Bills, including the Land Utilization Bill of 1939 and the Debt Redemption Bill in 1939.
- While serving as agriculture minister in 1952, he led UP in its efforts to abolish the Zamindari system.
- In fact, he went on to draft the UP Zamindari and Land Reforms Bill himself.
- On 23 December 1978, he founded the Kisan Trust — a non-political, non-profit making body — with the aim of educating India’s rural masses against injustice, and fostering solidarity among them.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Matter, Anti-matter
Mains level: Formation of the universe and the Big Bang
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in DownToEarth.
Try this PYQ:
Q.The known forces of nature can be divided into four classes, viz, gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force. With reference to them, which one of the following statements is not correct?
(a) Gravity is the strongest of the four
(b) Electromagnetism act only on particles with an electric charge
(c) Weak nuclear force causes radioactivity
(d) Strong nuclear force holds protons and neutrons inside the nuclear of an atom.
What is Antimatter?
- Antimatter is the opposite of normal matter. More specifically, the sub-atomic particles of antimatter have properties opposite those of normal matter.
- The electrical charge of those particles is reversed.
- Antimatter was created along with matter after the Big Bang, but antimatter is rare in today’s universe.
- To better understand antimatter, one needs to know more about the matter.
- The matter is made up of atoms, which are the basic units of chemical elements such as hydrogen, helium or oxygen.
Their existence
- The existence of antimatter was predicted by physicist Paul Dirac’s equation describing the motion of electrons in 1928.
- At first, it was not clear if this was just a mathematical quirk or a description of a real particle.
- But in 1932 Carl Anderson discovered an antimatter partner to the electron — the positron — while studying cosmic rays that rain down on Earth from space.
- Over the next few decades’ physicists found that all matter particles have antimatter partners.
- Scientists believe that in the very hot and dense state shortly after the Big Bang, there must have been processes that gave preference to matter over antimatter.
- This created a small surplus of matter, and as the universe cooled, all the antimatter was destroyed, or annihilated, by an equal amount of matter, leaving a tiny surplus of matter.
- And it is this surplus that makes up everything we see in the universe today.
Studying the difference between matter and antimatter
- A Quark is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter.
- Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei.
- The behaviour of quarks, which are the fundamental building blocks of matter along with leptons, can shed light on the difference between matter and antimatter.
- Since they are unstable, they will “decay” — fall apart — into other more stable particles at some point during their oscillation.
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