Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bioluminescence, Noctiluca Scintillans
Mains level: Not Much
The blooms of Noctiluca Scintillans, commonly known as “sea sparkle” are being witnessed along the coasts of Maharashtra and Karnataka.
A stand-alone species being mentioned in the news for the first time find their way into the prelims. Note this down.
Noctiluca Scintillans
- Scintillans is a bioluminescent specie that brightens the seawater during the night.
- It grazes on other micro-organisms such as larvae, fish eggs, and diatoms. But the unicellular phytoplankton that lives inside it can photosynthesize, turning sunlight into energy.
- They help their host cell survive even when food was scarce.
- Thus, N. Scintillans acts as both a plant and an animal
Threats posed
- According to marine experts, the phenomenon is an indicator of climate change.
- While smaller blooms may be harmless, slow-moving larger blooms may have an impact on deep-sea fishes.
- The toxic blooms of N. Scintillans were linked to massive fish and marine invertebrate kills.
- Though the species does not produce a toxin, it was found to accumulate toxic levels of ammonia, which is then excreted into the surrounding waters, possibly acting as the killing agent in blooms.
- They have displaced microscopic algae called diatoms, which form the basis of the marine food chain. This has deprived food for the planktivorous fish.
Back2Basics: Bioluminescence
- It is the property of a living organism to produce and emit light.
- Animals, plants, fungi and bacteria show bioluminescence. A remarkable diversity of marine animals and microbes are able to produce their own light.
- It is found in many marine organisms such as bacteria, algae, jellyfish, worms, crustaceans, sea stars, fish and sharks.
- Luminescence is generally higher in deep-living and planktonic organisms than in shallow species.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IoT , AI
Mains level: AI and its applications
An improvement in a Machine Learning (ML) model, called ‘federated learning’, is said to enable companies to develop new ways of collecting anonymous data without compromising their privacy.
Data privacy is the right of a citizen to have control over how personal information is collected and used. Data protection is a subset Right of Privacy under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
What is ‘federated learning’?
- Federated learning is an ML method used to train an algorithm across multiple decentralised devices or servers holding data samples.
- It doesn’t exchange data with the devices, meaning there is no central dataset or server that stores the information.
- Standard ML models require all data to be centralised in a single server. Implementation of federated learning eliminates the need for maintaining a storage hub.
- The term was first introduced in a 2016 Google study titled ‘Communication-efficient learning of deep networks from decentralized data.’
- Google emphasised mobile phones and tablets, stating that modern devices contain special features like speech recognition and image models that can store large amounts of data.
- Since then, Google has used the technique is various products, including Gboard, which provides text and phrase suggestions to the keyboard.
How this works
- Federated learning aims to train an algorithm, like deep neural networks, on multiple local datasets contained in local nodes, without explicitly exchanging data.
- The general principle involves simply exchanging parameters between these nodes. Parameters include a number of federated learning rounds, the total number of nodes, and learning rate.
- The distinct advantage of the model is its ability to reduce privacy and security risks by limiting the attack surface to only the device, rather than the device and the cloud, Google stated in the study.
Why need such technology?
- Smart home devices like speakers and smartwatches collect and share data with other devices and systems over the network.
- These Internet of Things (IoT) devices are equipped with sensors and software that store a user’s private information like body measurements and location.
- This large chunk of stored data is used by the device makers to improve their products and services.
Applications
- Federated learning is said to have application in healthcare, where hospitals and pharmaceutical companies can exchange data for treating diseases without sharing private clinical information.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Issues with simultaneous elections
Prime Minister once again raised the pitch for “One Nation, One Election” and a single voter list for all to prevent the impact of the model code of conduct on development works due to frequent elections.
Try this question:
Q.Discuss how a common electoral roll and simultaneous elections are ways to save the enormous amount of effort and expenditure on Elections in India. Also discuss the centralizing tendency behind the idea.
Elections in India
- Currently, elections to the state assemblies and the Lok Sabha are held separately — that is whenever the incumbent government’s five-year term ends or whenever it is dissolved due to various reasons.
- This applies to both the state legislatures and the Lok Sabha. The terms of Legislative Assemblies and the Lok Sabha may not synchronize with one another.
- For instance, Rajasthan faced elections in late 2018, whereas Tamil Nadu will go to elections only in 2021.
Simultaneous Elections
- But the idea of “One Nation, One Election” envisages a system where elections to all states and the Lok Sabha will have to be held simultaneously.
- This will involve the restructuring of the Indian election cycle in a manner that elections to the states and the centre synchronize.
- This would mean that the voters will cast their vote for electing members of the LS and the state assemblies on a single day, at the same time (or in a phased manner as the case may be).
Birth of the Idea: A backgrounder
- Simultaneous elections are not new to India. They were the norm until 1967.
- But following dissolution of some Legislative Assemblies in 1968 and 1969 and that of the Lok Sabha in December 1970, elections to State Assemblies and Parliament have been held separately.
- The idea of reverting to simultaneous polls was mooted in the annual report of the Election Commission in 1983.
- The Law Commission’s Report also referred to it in 1999.
- After PM floated the idea once again in 2016, the NITI Aayog prepared a working paper on the subject in January 2017.
What are the proposals under it?
There were two proposals to conduct elections synchronization in two batches.
- One proposal was to make the shift to simultaneous polls in a phased manner, where general elections, of few States and UT may be synchronised in 2019.
- For such a synchronization to happen, besides political consensus and extension of term up to six months in some states, amendments to the Constitution have to be made.
- Elections to the remaining States and UTs with will be synchronised by the end of 2021.
- Thereafter, elections to the Lok Sabha, all the State Legislative Assemblies and Union Territories (with legislatures) will be held simultaneously from 2024.
Advantages of simultaneous elections
- Reduce cost: The cost of an election has two components – one, expenditure incurred by the Election Commission and two, expenditure incurred by the political parties. A large number of government employees and public buildings are diverted from their regular responsibilities for election duties. Supporters of the simultaneous elections argue that it will reduce election expenditure in terms of finance and reduce diversion of human resources for election duties.
- Reduce disruption due to MCC: Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into operation during election season. MCC is seen as an obstacle to the government service delivery mechanism. Simultaneous elections may reduce such disruption.
- Reduce populism: During elections, political convenience takes precedence over public interest. To lure voters, political parties concede to popular demands without any consideration to public interest. Simultaneous elections reduce such opportunity for political parties.
- National prespective: Simultaneous election promotes national perspective over the regional perspective. This is important for the unity of the country.
- Strengthen National parties: Since it promotes national perspective, simultaneous elections strengthen national parties. This reduces mushrooming growth of political parties based on narrow vote bank politics.
- Strengthens federalism: Simultaneous elections bring States on par with the Center. If the elections are to be held simultaneously once in five years, the elected state governments cannot be dismissed easily. This reduces the anomalies created by the Article 356 (President’s Rule) of the Indian constitution and hence, it strengthens federalism.
- Stability: The simultaneous election once in five years provides stability to the governments. It allows the government to take difficult and harsh decision in larger public interest.
Arguments against simultaneous elections
- No guarantee that expenditure of the political parties will reduce: Simultaneous elections may reduce the expenditure incurred by the Election Commission. But there is no guarantee that expenditure of the political parties will reduce. Political parties may spend entire fund at once rather than in phases.
- Reduce importance of state elections: Center and States are equal and sovereign within their jurisdiction. Simultaneous elections may reduce the importance of state elections. Thus it affects the concept of federalism.
- Violates Article 83(2) and Article 172 : Article 83(2) and Article 172 of the Constitution requires that the Lok Sabha and State legislatures be in existence for five years from the date of its first meeting, “unless dissolved earlier”. Simultaneous elections ignore this phrase, as there would be no opportunity to dissolve Lok Sabha or State Assemblies.
- Negates NCM: A government can be in power as long as it enjoys the confidence of Parliament. Simultaneous elections can work only if governments last for a fixed tenure of five years regardless of confidence of Parliament. It negates the concept of ‘no confidence motion’ – an important tool for legislative control over the executive.
- Keep Government on toes: Elections are an important part of representative democracy. Simultaneous elections with fixed tenure of five years curtail people’s right to express their confidence or displeasure on the government.
- Ignores diversity: Simultaneous elections will relegate local issues or issues of state importance to the background. This completely ignores the diversity of the country.
- Logistical challenge: Holding simultaneous election once in five years may also face logistical challenges. For the free and fair conduct of the elections, security forces need to be deployed in large numbers. Given the current strength of security personnel, this may be a challenging task.
Way forward
- There needs to be a consensus and all hands on the deck to see whether the country suits for simultaneous elections.
- All political parties should at least cooperate in debating this issue, once the debate starts, the public opinion can be taken into consideration.
- India being a mature democracy, can then follows the outcome of the deliberation.
Shekhawat solution
- The former vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat proposed a solution. He called for a review of provisions of the no-confidence motion.
- He suggested that no-confidence motion must mandatorily be accompanied by an alternative government formation plan. This prevents premature dissolution of Lok Sabha on account of political instability.
- But critics point out that, this solution will take away people’s right to elect or dismiss a government.
Conclusion
- The constitution of India has essentially prescribed a federal structure of state governance.
- As we are aware that there are several levels of government such as Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha besides, state governments, Municipal Corporations and the Panchayats, which are forms of local governance.
- As a result the entire power is not concentrated with one government.
- But One Nation, One Election can lead to such concentration of power in a single hand.
- So the new government needs to ensure such vast power is not gathered by a single domain through One Nation, One Election.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Negative-Yield Bonds
Mains level: Not Much
China recently sold negative-yield debt for the first time, and this saw high demand from investors across Europe.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following is issued by registered foreign portfolio investors to overseas investors who want to be part of the Indian stock market without registering themselves directly?
(a) Certificate of Deposit
(b) Commercial Paper
(c) Promissory Note
(d) Participatory Note
What are Negative-Yield Bonds?
- These are debt instruments that offer to pay the investor a maturity amount lower than the purchase price of the bond.
- These are generally issued by central banks or governments, and investors pay interest to the borrower to keep their money with them.
Why do investors buy them?
- Negative-yield bonds attract investments during times of stress and uncertainty as investors look to protect their capital from significant erosion.
- At a time when the world is battling the Covid-19 pandemic and interest rates in developed markets across Europe are much lower.
- Hence, investors are looking for relatively better-yielding debt instruments to safeguard their interests.
Why is there a huge demand?
- While Europe, the US and other parts of the world are facing a second wave of Covid-19 cases, China has demonstrated that it has controlled the spread of the pandemic and is therefore seen as a more stable region.
- Many feel that European investors are also looking to increase their exposure in China, and hence there is a huge demand for these bonds.
- The fact that the 10-year and 15-year bonds are offering positive returns is a big attraction at a time when interest rates in Europe have dropped significantly.
- As against minus —0.15% yield on the 5-year bond issued by China, the yields offered in safe European bonds are much lower, between –0.5% and —0.75%.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chang E probe
Mains level: Various lunar missions and their success
China is preparing to launch an unmanned spacecraft to bring back lunar rocks, the first attempt by any nation to retrieve samples from the moon in four decades.
Try this PYQ:
Q.What do you understand by the term Aitken basin:
(a) It is a desert in the southern Chile which is known to be the only location on earth where no rainfall takes place
(b) It is an impact crater on the far side of the Moon
(c) It is a Pacific coast basin, which is known to house large amounts of oil and gas
(d) It is a deep hyper saline anoxic basin where no aquatic animals are found
Chang’e-5 Probe
- The Chang’e-5 probe, named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess, aims to shovel up lunar rocks and soil to help scientists learn about the moon’s origins, formation and volcanic activity on its surface.
- The goal of the mission is to land in the Mons Rumker region of the moon, where it will operate for one lunar day, which is two weeks long.
- It will collect 2 kg of surface material from a previously unexplored area known as Oceanus Procellarum — or “Ocean of Storms” — which consist of vast lava plain.
- The original mission, planned for 2017, was delayed due to an engine failure in China’s Long March 5 launch rocket.
- If successful, China will be only the third country to have retrieved samples from the moon, following the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.
Significance of the mission
- As per the Lunar and Planetary Institute, rocks found on the Moon are older than any that have been found on Earth and therefore they are valuable in providing information about the Earth and the Moon’s shared history.
- Lunar samples can help to unravel some important questions in lunar science and astronomy, including the Moon’s age, its formation, the similarities and differences between the Earth and the Moon’s geologic features.
- For instance, the shape, size, arrangement and composition of individual grains and crystals in a rock can tell scientists about its history, while the radioactive clock can tell them the rock’s age.
- Further, tiny cracks in rocks can tell them about the radiation history of the Sun in the last 100,000 years.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sentinel 6
Mains level: Sea level rise and climate change
The Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, designed to monitor oceans, was launched from the in California.
Try this MCQ:
The Jason Continuity of Service (Jason-CS) Mission recently seen in news is aimed at observing:
(a)Microgravity changes
(b)Sea level rise
(c)Cosmic radiation
(d)Space debris
Sentinel-6 Satellite
- This is a part of the next mission dedicated to measuring changes in the global sea level.
- It has been named after Dr Michael Freilich, who was the Director of NASA’s Earth Science Division from 2006-2019 and passed away in August this year.
What is the mission?
- The mission, called the Jason Continuity of Service (Jason-CS) mission, is designed to measure the height of the ocean, which is a key component in understanding how the Earth’s climate is changing.
- The spacecraft consists of two satellites, the other, called Sentinel-6B, to be launched in 2025.
- It has been developed jointly by the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA, and France’s National Centre for Space Studies (CNES).
What will the satellite do?
- The satellite will ensure the continuity of sea-level observations into the fourth decade and will provide measurements of global sea-level rise.
- Since 1992, high-precision satellite altimeters have helped scientists understand how the ocean stores and distributes heat, water and carbon in the climate system.
- Essentially, the satellite will send pulses to the Earth’s surface and measure how long they take to return to it, which will help scientists measure the sea surface height.
- It will also measure water vapour along this path and find its position using GPS and ground-based lasers.
Significance of the mission
- As per NASA, it is possible to observe the height of the oceans on a global scale and monitor critical changes in ocean currents and heat storage only from space.
- Data from satellites such as Sentinel-6 help scientists foresee the effects of the changing oceans on the climate.
- Further, in order to measure and track changes in the oceanic heat budget, scientists need to know the ocean currents and heat storage of the oceans, which can be determined from the height of the sea surface.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Exercise SITMEX
Mains level: NA
The second edition of the India, Thailand and Singapore trilateral naval exercise SITMEX-20 has concluded in the Andaman Sea.
Exercise SITMEX-20
- The SITMEX series of exercises are conducted to enhance mutual inter-operability and imbibing best practices between IN, Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and Royal Thai Navy (RTN).
- The first edition of SITMEX, hosted by Indian Navy, was conducted off Port Blair in September 2019.
- The 2020 edition of the exercise is being hosted by RSN.
- The maritime drill witnessed a variety of exercises including naval manoeuvres, surface warfare exercises and weapon firings.
- Besides improving inter-operability, SITMEX series of exercise also aims to strengthen mutual confidence and develop common understanding and procedures towards enhancing the overall maritime security in the region.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Location of Luxembourg
Mains level: Not Much
Prime Minister has pitched for strengthening ties to further ramp up economic engagement between India and Luxembourg.
Mark the location of Luxembourg. Since it is a landlocked country, there can be a question asking its bordering states.
Luxembourg
- Luxembourg is a small European country, landlocked by Belgium, France and Germany.
- It’s mostly rural, with dense Ardennes forest and nature parks in the north, rocky gorges of the Mullerthal region in the east and the Moselle river valley in the southeast.
- Its capital, Luxembourg City, is famed for its fortified medieval old town perched on sheer cliffs
Why Luxembourg?
- Luxembourg is one of the most important financial centres globally.
- Several Indian companies have raised capital by issuing Global Depositary Receipts at the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.
- Luxembourg-based investment funds hold substantial banking and asset management market share in portfolio investments in India.
- It is also the third-largest source of Foreign Portfolio Investments (FPI) in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Microwave weapons
Mains level: Not Much
The Indian Army has rejected a report in the British daily newspaper which claimed that the Chinese army had used “microwave weapons” to drive Indian soldiers away from their positions in eastern Ladakh.
The use of non-lethal weapons for violence and mob control is a contested issue. Can you suggest some alternatives to it apart from the use of water cannon and teargas?
What are “Microwave Weapons”?
- Microwave weapons are supposed to be a type of direct energy weapons, which aim highly focused energy in the form of sonic, laser, or microwaves, at a target.
- It uses a focussed beam of high-frequency electromagnetic radiation to heat the water in a human target’s skin, causing pain and discomfort.
- In a microwave oven, an electron tube called a magnetron produces electromagnetic waves (microwaves) that bounce around the metal interior of the appliance, and are absorbed by the food.
- The microwaves agitate the water molecules in the food, and their vibration produces heat that cooks the food.
- Food with high water content cooks faster in a microwave often than drier foods.
Which countries have these “microwave weapons”?
- A number of countries are thought to have developed these weapons to target both humans and electronic systems.
- According to a report, China had first put on display its “microwave weapon”, called Poly WB-1, at an air show in 2014.
- The United States has also developed a prototype microwave-style weapon, which it calls the “Active Denial System”.
How dangerous are these weapons?
- Concerns have been raised on whether they can damage the eyes, or have a carcinogenic impact in the long term.
- It is not clear yet how China intends to use such a weapon, and whether it can kill or cause lasting damage to human targets.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: mRNA
Mains level: Vaccination challenges for coronavirus
The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines which recently announced their success use the same technology, based on messenger RNA, or mRNA.
Try this PYQ first:
Q.‘RNA interference (RNAi)’ technology has gained popularity in the last few years. Why?
- It is used in developing gene silencing therapies.
- It can be used in developing therapies for the treatment of cancer.
- It can be used to develop hormone replacement therapies.
- It can be used to produce crop plants that are resistant to viral pathogens.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1, 2 and 4
(b) 2 and 3
(c) 1 and 3
(d) 1 and 4 only
What is mRNA?
- Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a single-stranded RNA (Ribo Nucleic Acid) molecule that is complementary to one of the DNA strands of a gene.
- The mRNA is an RNA version of the gene that leaves the cell nucleus and moves to the cytoplasm where proteins are made.
- During protein synthesis, an organelle called a ribosome moves along the mRNA, reads its base sequence, and uses the genetic code to translate each three-base triplet, or codon, into its corresponding amino acid.
What is the mRNA vaccine?
- Such vaccines make use of the messenger RNA molecules that tell the body’s cells what proteins to build.
- The mRNA, in this case, is coded to tell the cells to recreate the spike protein of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19.
- It is the spike protein — which appears as spikes on the surface of the coronavirus — that initiates the process of infection; it allows the virus to penetrate cells, after which it goes on to replicate.
- A coronavirus vaccine based on mRNA, once injected into the body, will instruct the body’s cells to create copies of the spike protein.
- In turn, this is expected to prompt the immune cells to create antibodies to fight it.
- These antibodies will remain in the blood and fight the real virus if and when it infects the human body.
Back2Basics: Ribo Nucleic Acid (RNA)
- RNA is an important biological macromolecule that is present in all biological cells.
- It is principally involved in the synthesis of proteins, carrying the messenger instructions from DNA, which itself contains the genetic instructions required for the development and maintenance of life.
- In some viruses, RNA, rather than DNA, carries genetic information.
- The type of RNA dictates the function that this molecule will have within the cell.
- Aside from the coding region of messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules that will be translated into proteins, other cellular RNA elements are involved in different processes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Indian diaspora in Gulf region
The United Arab Emirates will extend its “golden” visa system — which grants 10-year residency in the West Asian nation — to certain professionals, specialised degree-holders and others.
Do you know?
India is the world’s top recipient of remittances with its diaspora sending a whopping $79 billion back home in 2018 a/c to the World Bank.
Golden Visa Programme
- The “Golden Card” programme is open to investors and “exceptional talents” such as doctors, engineers, scientists, students and artists.
- The visa categories include:
- General investors who will be granted a 10 years visa
- Real estate investors, who can get a visa for 5 years Visa
- Entrepreneurs and talented professionals such as doctors, researchers and innovators: 10 years Visa
- Outstanding students — will also be permitted residency visas for 5 years
- All categories of visas can be renewed upon expiry.
Benefits for India
- The Indian expatriate community is reportedly the largest ethnic community in the UAE, constituting roughly about 30 per cent of the country’s population of around nine million.
- Though most of the Indians living in the UAE are employed, about 10 per cent of the Indian population constitutes dependent family members, according to the Indian Embassy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Map reading: Tristan Da Cunha
Mains level: Not Much
The isolated UK Overseas Territory of Tristan da Cunha, the world’s most remote human settlement, has been declared the largest fully protected marine reserves in the Atlantic Ocean at 687,000 square kilometres.
Note the location of Tristan da Cunha Islands in the Atlantic.
Tristan da Cunha
- Tristan da Cunha, which is inhabited by less than 300 humans is a small chain of islands over 6,000 miles from London in the South Atlantic and the water around the islands are considered to be the richest in the world.
- The mountainous archipelago is home to tens of millions of seabirds and several unique land birds that are comparable to the Galapagos island finches.
- The island group is also home to the World Heritage Site of Gough and Inaccessible Islands, which is one of the most important seabird islands in the world.
Significance of protection
- After joining the UK’s Blue Belt Programme, it will become the largest no-take zone in the Atlantic and the fourth largest on the planet.
- This will close over 90 per cent of their waters to harmful activities such as bottom-trawling fishing, sand extraction and deep-sea mining.
- The almost 700,000 square kilometres of the Marine Protection Zone (MPZ) is almost three times the size of the UK and will safeguard the future of sevengill sharks, Yellow-nosed albatrosses and rockhopper penguins.
- MPZs involve the management of certain natural areas for biodiversity conservation or species protection and are created by delineating zones with permitted and non-permitted areas within that zone.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Meteor terminology
Mains level: Not Much
The Leonid meteor showers are currently making their yearly appearance and will reach their peak in India on November 17 and 18. In August this year, there was another meteor called Perseids Shower.
Try this question from CSP 2014:
Q.What is a coma, in the content of astronomy?
(a) Bright half of material on the comet
(b) Long tail of dust
(c) Two asteroids orbiting each other
(d) Two planets orbiting each other
What is Leonid Meteor Shower?
- Meteor showers are named after the constellation they appear to be coming from.
- The Leonids originate from the constellation Leo the Lion– the groups of stars which form a lion’s mane.
- They emerge from the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which requires 33 years to revolve once around the Sun.
- These meteors are bright and among the fastest moving– travelling at speeds of 71 km per second.
- During this year’s showers, peaks of around 10 to 15 meteors are expected to be seen every hour.
- The Leonid showers include fireballs– bright and large meteors than can last longer than average meteors, and “earthgazers”– meteors which appear close to the horizon with colourful and long tails.
What is a meteor shower?
- On its journey around the Sun, the Earth passes through large swathes of cosmic debris.
- The debris is essentially the remnants of comets — great frigid chunks of matter that leave behind dirty trails of rocks and ice that linger long after the comets themselves have passed.
- As the Earth wades through this cloud of comet waste, the bits of debris create what appears from the ground to be a fireworks display in the sky — known as a meteor shower.
- Several meteor showers can be seen around the year. According to NASA, over 30 meteor showers occur annually and are observable from the Earth.
Back2Basics:
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gujarat Maritime Cluster
Mains level: Need for a Maritime Cluster in India
The Gujarat Maritime Cluster coming up in the GIFT (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) City at Gandhinagar will be a dedicated system to address logistics of ports and seaways.
Try answering this:
Q.What do you mean by Central Business Districts? How it is different from a Special Economic Zone (SEZ)?
What is a Maritime Cluster?
- The concept of the maritime cluster is new to India, but these clusters have been driving some of the most competitive ports of the world like Rotterdam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Oslo, Shanghai, and London.
- Simply put, a maritime cluster is an agglomeration of firms, institutions, and businesses in the maritime sector that are geographically located close to each other.
Gujarat Maritime Cluster
- While the project was conceptualized back in 2007, it received in-principle approval from the state government only in 2015.
- The Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB), a nodal agency of the Gujarat government, has been trying to develop such a cluster at GIFT City in the state capital Gandhinagar.
- This cluster will initially consist of Gujarat-based shipping lines, freight forwarders, shipping agents, bunker suppliers, stevedores, and shipbrokers with chartering requirements.
- In the second stage, the cluster would attempt to bring Indian ship owners, ship operators, Indian charterers and technical consultants scattered in cities like Mumbai, Chennai, and Delhi to Gujarat.
- Thereafter it would target to attract global players in the maritime sphere.
Need for a maritime cluster
- This project will try to bring back businesses that have migrated over the years to foreign locations due to the absence of the right ecosystem in the country.
- Gujarat has a lot of ports and handles 40 per cent of the country’s cargo, but it does not target the entire value chain.
- Since we didn’t have the ecosystem, a lot of Indian companies have moved to foreign locations. For instance, Adani Group has the biggest port in Gujarat, but for their chartering needs, they are based out of Dubai.
Back2Basics: GIFT City, Gandhinagar
- GIFT city is India’s first operational smart city and international financial services centre (much like a modern IT park).
- The idea for GIFT was conceived during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit 2007 and the initial planning was done by East China Architectural Design & Research Institute (ECADI).
- Currently approximately 225 units/companies are operational with more than 12000 professionals employed in the City.
- The entire city is based on concept of FTTX (Fibre to the home / office).The fiber optic is laid in fault tolerant ring architecture so as to ensure maximum uptime of services.
- Every building in GIFT City is an intelligent building. There is piped supply of cooking gas. India’s first city-level DCS (district cooling system) is also operational at GIFT City.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Crew-1 Mission
Mains level: Manned mission to space
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft will lift off carrying a crew of four people to the International Space Station (ISS) on a six-month-long mission.
What is the Crew-1 Mission?
- The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, whose objective is to make access to space easier in terms of its cost.
- This will carry four astronauts on NASA missions, maintaining a space station crew of seven to maximize time dedicated to scientific research on the orbiting laboratory.
- With this, the cargo and crew can be easily transported to and from the ISS, enabling greater scientific research.
- At the ISS, the crew will join the members of Expedition 64, the space station crew currently in residence at the ISS.
Mission goals
- The goals of the mission are the same as that of Expedition 1 that lifted off 20 years ago.
- NASA has called both of these ISS missions “historic”.
- At the ISS, the Crew-1 team will join members of Expedition 64 and conduct microgravity studies and deliver new science hardware to ISS.
- Once in orbit, NASA astronauts will collect samples to provide data to scientists back on Earth so that they can continue to study how dietary changes affect his body.
- The crew will also study the effects of dietary improvements on immune function and the gut microbiome and how those improvements can help crews adapt to spaceflight.
The term micro-g environment is more or less synonymous with the terms weightlessness and zero-g, but with an emphasis on the fact that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Thirty Metre Telescope
Mains level: Not Much
With regime change in the US, hopes have been raised for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) in Hawaii. India is one of the partners in the ambitious next-generation observatory project along with the US, Canada, China and Japan.
Try this PYQ:
Q.“Event Horizon” is related to:
(a) Telescope
(b) Black hole
(c) Solar glares
(d) None of the above
Thirty Metre Telescope
- The TMT is a proposed astronomical observatory with an extremely large telescope (ELT) that has become the source of controversy over its planned location on Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii.
- It is being built by an international collaboration of government organisations and educational institutions, at a cost of $1.4 billion.
- “Thirty Metre” refers to the 30-metre diameter of the mirror, with 492 segments of glass pieced together, which makes it three times as wide as the world’s largest existing visible-light telescope.
- The larger the mirror, the more light a telescope can collect, which means, in turn, that it can “see” farther, fainter objects.
- It would be more than 200 times more sensitive than current telescopes and would be able to resolve objects 12 times better than the Hubble Space Telescope.
Utility of the telescope
- One of its key uses will be the study of exoplanets, many of which have been detected in the last few years, and whether their atmospheres contain water vapour or methane — the signatures of possible life.
- For the first time in history, this telescope will be capable of detecting extraterrestrial life.
- The study of black holes is another objective.
- While these have been observed in detail within the Milky Way, the next galaxy is 100 times farther away; the Thirty Metre Telescope will help bring them closer.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GRACE FO mission
Mains level: Impact of climate changes on Cryosphere
The GRACE-FO mission has mapped deviation in Earth’s surface mass and spatial variations in the rate of sea-level rise between 1993 and 2018 using altimetric and gravimetric analysis.
Try this MCQ:
Q.NASA’s VIPER mission sometimes seen in news is related to the study of-
a)Moon
b)Venus
c)Sun
d)None of these
GRACE-FO Mission
- The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission launched in 2018 is a partnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ).
- It is a successor to the original GRACE mission, which orbited Earth from 2002-2017.
- It carries on the extremely successful work of its predecessor while testing a new technology designed to dramatically improve the already remarkable precision of its measurement system.
How did NASA measure this?
(1) Altimetric Study
- Altimetry missions are used to know the ocean surface topography — the shape and height of the ocean’s peaks and valleys.
- Radar altimeters continually send out pulses of radio waves (microwaves) that bounce off the surface of the ocean and reflect back toward the satellite.
- The instrument calculates the time it takes for the signal to return, while also tracking the precise location of the satellite in space. From this, scientists can derive the height of the sea surface directly underneath the satellite.
(2) Gravimetric Study
- Gravimetry is a process of using ice’s gravitational pull on a pair of satellites. It helps estimate ice loss and its contribution to sea-level rise.
- The twin satellites in each mission detect subtle shifts in Earth’s gravity field.
- The strength of gravitational forces is determined by mass, so changes in Earth’s gravity field indicate a change or redistribution in mass.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Other Service Providers (OSP)
Mains level: Various sectors of the economy
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has eased the rules for registration, submission of bank guarantee and other norms for other service providers (OSP) in the business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology-enabled services (ITes).
Recall your basics from NCERT books… Sectors of the Economy … More precisely, the Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary Sectors.
What are Other Service Providers (OSP)?
- OSPs or other service providers are companies or firms which provide secondary or tertiary services such as telemarketing, telebanking or telemedicine for various companies, banks or hospital chains, respectively.
- As computers made their foray into the Indian information technology space, a number of such OSPs, which were either voice or non-voice based, came into the market.
- The sector required minimal investment but gave great returns in business, which prompted a large number of individuals and companies to float other service providing firms.
Registration of OSPs
- The new telecom policy of 1999 suggested that all OSPs register themselves so that the government could keep a check on the usage of its resources.
- Since most of these firms used leased telephone lines, this in turn used the telecom spectrum auctioned by the DoT, hence facing the regulation.
- Further, the registration was also made mandatory to ensure that firms did not establish fake OSPs which swindled customers under the garb of providing telebanking and other such sensitive services.
What were the various registration norms for OSPs?
- To start services in India, OSPs had to register themselves with the DoT and declare to the government as to how many employees were working in the firm as well as the area of service it was engaged in.
- For example, if a firm wished to provide telebanking services, it had to tell the government the number of people working with the BPO and the state that firms catered to.
- Further, the OSPs also have to declare whether they were providing services to domestic firms or international firms, and the nature of services being offered.
Significance of the new guidelines
- The guidelines will make it easier for BPOs and ITes firms in many ways, such as cutting down on the cost of location, rent for premises and other ancillary costs such as electricity and internet bills.
- The doing away of registration norms will also mean that there will be no renewal of such licenses and therefore will invite foreign companies to set up or expand their other service providing units in India.
- This change, in line with the norms of countries in the West can also allow employees to opt for freelancing for more than one company while working from home, thereby attracting more workers in the sector.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UN ACABQ
Mains level: Success and failures of United Nations
In a significant victory for India at the United Nations, Indian diplomat Vidisha Maitra was elected to the U.N. Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ).
Try this PYQ:
Which one of the following is not related to the United Nations?
(a) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
(b) International Finance Corporation
(c) International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
(d) Bank for International Settlements
About UN- ACABQ
- It is a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly. The 193-member Assembly appoints members of the Advisory Committee.
- ACABQ consists of 16 members appointed by the Assembly in their individual capacity.
- Members are selected on the basis of broad geographical representation, personal qualifications and experience.
Its functions
- ACABQ ensures that fund contributions to the U.N. system are put to good effect and that mandates are properly funded.
- It examines, on behalf of the General Assembly, the administrative budgets of the specialised agencies and proposals for financial arrangements with such agencies; and to consider and report to the General Assembly on the auditors’ reports on the accounts of the UN and of the specialised agencies.
Why is the seat given to India?
- India has a stellar record of bringing professional auditing experience to the U.N. and contributing outstanding professionals to U.N. bodies.
- With India’s rising obligations in both assessed as well as voluntary contributions to the U.N., India holds key responsibility of administrative and budgetary management of U.N.
Significance of the move
- The victory gives a strong display of support by U.N. member states for India.
- It comes as India gets ready to sit in the U.N. Security Council as a non-permanent member for a two-year term beginning January 2021.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Einstein’s Eclipse
Mains level: General Relativity
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in the DownToEarth.
Einstein’s Eclipse
- Albert Einstein’s prediction of the bending of light by the gravity of the Sun, one of the components of his general theory of relativity, can be tested during a solar eclipse.
- Following an unsuccessful attempt to validate this prediction during the Solar eclipse of June 8, 1918, two expeditions were made to measure positions of stars during this eclipse.
- The eclipse presented a rare chance to verify one of the essential consequences of general relativity, the bending of light by gravity.
- Einstein’s theory predicted that rays of light passing near a massive body in space would be visibly bent as they followed the curve in space-time created by the body’s mass.
- In the case of a ray of light originating from a distant star and passing near the edge of the Sun, Einstein calculated a deflection of about 1.75 arc seconds.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following phenomena:
- Light is affected by gravity.
- The Universe is constantly expanding.
- Matter warps its surrounding space-time.
Which of the above is/are the predictions of Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, often discussed in media?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
What was studied during the eclipse?
- Einstein published his theory and predictions in 1915, and in 1919 the British physicist Sir Arthur Eddington took advantage of a total solar eclipse to attempt to detect the shifting images of stars near the limb of the sun.
- The problem was that during totality the sky does not get perfectly dark, and only a handful of stars were visible near the sun from which to make the measurement.
- The darkness of an eclipse, though, would allow the astronomers to observe and photograph the field of stars around the Sun.
- By comparing the photographs with reference images taken at night, it would be possible to measure how much the presence of the Sun had bent the stars’ light.
- Conveniently, a cluster of bright stars known as the Hyades would appear near the Sun during the eclipse.
Significance
- After several months of analysis, researchers announced in November that their findings supported the theory of general relativity.
- Media coverage tended to dwell on the recondite nature of Einstein’s work, emphasizing that there were only a handful of people in the world who could understand it.
- It could be argued that 1919 was the year when Einstein’s name became a byword for superhuman intellectual ability—making possible the small industry of Einstein-themed merchandise that still exists today.
Back2Basics: General Relativity
- Einstein’s theory proposes that gravity is not an actual force, but is instead a geometric distortion of space-time not predicted by ordinary Newtonian physics.
- The more mass you have to produce the gravity in a body, the more distortion you get.
- This distortion changes the trajectories of objects moving through space, and even the paths of light rays, as they pass close-by the massive body.
- Even so, this effect is very feeble for an object as massive as our own sun, so it takes enormous care to even detect that it is occurring.
- General Relativity predicts how much of this bending of light you should see given the mass of the object.
- Called ‘gravitational lensing’ it has been detected on the cosmological scale as entire clusters of galaxies distort the light from more distant galaxies behind them as this image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows.
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