Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Square Kilometre Array Observatory, Radio Telescopes
Mains level: Not Much
The Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) Council held its maiden meeting and approved the establishment of the world’s largest radio telescope.
Note all important telescopes in news and their features. Some of them are – Thirty Meter Telescope, Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, Spitzer, Chandra etc.
SKAO
- It is a new intergovernmental organisation dedicated to radio astronomy and is headquartered in the UK.
- At the moment, organisations from ten countries are a part of the SKAO.
- These include Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK.
What are radio telescopes?
- Unlike optical telescopes, radio telescopes can detect invisible gas and, therefore, they can reveal areas of space that may be obscured by cosmic dust.
- Significantly, since the first radio signals were detected by physicist Karl Jansky in the 1930s, astronomers have used radio telescopes to detect radio waves emitted by different objects in the universe and explore it.
- According to NASA, the field of radio astronomy evolved after World War II and became one of the most important tools for making astronomical observations since.
The Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, which was the second-largest single-dish radio telescope in the world, collapsed in December 2020.
Significance of SKA telescope
- The telescope, proposed to be the largest radio telescope in the world, will be located in Africa and Australia whose operation, maintenance and construction will be overseen by SKAO.
- Some of the questions that scientists hope to address using this telescope include the beginning of the universe, how and when the first stars were born and the life-cycle of a galaxy.
- It would explore the possibility of detecting technologically-active civilizations elsewhere in our galaxy and understanding where gravitational waves come from.
- As per NASA, the telescope will accomplish its scientific goals by measuring neutral hydrogen over cosmic time, accurately timing the signals from pulsars in the Milky Way.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Yuddh Abhyas
Mains level: NA
The 16th edition of Indo-U.S. joint military exercise ‘Yudh Abhyas’ is set to be held in Rajasthan between February 8 and 21.
Yudh Abhyas
- The exercise near the India-Pakistan border aims at enhancing cooperation and interoperability between the two armies and will focus on counter-terrorism operations under the UN mandate.
- The drill comes days after the air forces of India and France held a five-day joint exercise in Rajasthan in January.
- Exercise with U.S. Army is significant in terms of security challenges faced by both the nations in the backdrop of global terrorism.
- The joint military exercise will enhance the level of defence cooperation between both armies which will also foster the bilateral relations between both nations.
- It reiterates India’s key role as a key partner in the Indo-Pacific region.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various ports of Sri Lanka
Mains level: China as deterrent in India's neighbourhood policy
After the strong opposition from within, the Sri Lankan government was forced to revoke a 2019 agreement with India and Japan to develop the strategic East Container Terminal (ECT) at the Colombo Port.
Map Reading: Note all these major ports and try recalling their sequences in the clockwise and counter-clockwise direction.
What is the news?
- PM Mahinda Rajapaksa made a statement that the operation of the east terminal would be done by Sri Lanka Ports Authority on its own.
- Its cabinet has approved a proposal to develop the West Terminal at the Colombo Port as a PPP with India and Japan, which is seen as a bid to compensate India.
- It is unclear whether India would accept the latest proposal.
What is the Project?
- The tripartite agreement, signed by India, Sri Lanka and Japan, proposes to develop the ECT, which is located at the newly expanded southern part of the Colombo Port.
- The ECT is located 3 km away from the China-backed international financial city, known as Port City, currently being built in Colombo.
- A Chinese company was behind the controversial 2018 Hambantota port project, signed its first contract in the Port City last month.
- It is also on the map of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
India’s reaction
- A few weeks ago EAM S. Jaishankar visited Sri Lanka where he discussed the development of the stalled project.
- India’s first response was that the island nation should not be taking a decision in a unilateral manner on an existing tripartite agreement.
Compensatory offer to India
- After the decision on revoking the 2019 agreement, SL has approved another proposal to develop the west terminal of the Colombo port with Japan and India.
- Commercially, the west terminal offer is better for India as it gives 85% stake for developers of the West Terminal against the 49% in ECT.
Sri Lanka expects India to rethink. Why?
- Indian response to this compensatory offer is unclear since there was no formal communication by SL authorities.
- Geo-politically, west terminal is almost the same India considers the security aspect and the necessity to have a port terminal in Sri Lanka.
- There is no difference between East and West Terminals except for the fact that development of the ECT is partially completed while the development of the West Terminal has to start from scratch.
SL version of the revocation
- Incumbent PM Mahinda Rajapaksa said the pressure was immense on the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to cancel the 2019 agreement.
- The pressure was brewing so much that he was becoming so unpopular among the people.
- As per the agreement signed by the former Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe administration, India and Japan together were to hold 49% stake in ECT.
- What had finally made the government surrender before trade unions were the increasing support of many more sections in the society for the protests against privatization.
The inevitable factor: China
- This move can be easily interpreted as a reaction to Chinese communication to Sri Lanka.
- China has reportedly instigated trade unions and civil societies against this project.
Q.The threat of Chinese presence in South Asia can be tackled more effectively if India changes course in its dealings with its neighbours and becomes more sensitive to their concerns. Critically analyse.
Outcome: Souring of the ties
- For India, the strategic ECT project was important. Even the EAM has visited Colombo in January in this regard.
- Critics of the Sri Lankan government anticipate many national and international impacts surrounding the latest decision on ECT.
- Meantime, internationally an offended India can make life tough for Sri Lanka, isolating the tiny island nation, geo-politically and on the economic front.
- The economic isolation will not help Sri Lanka at a time when the country is taking steps to revive the economy amid a pandemic.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chauri Chaura Incident
Mains level: Mass movements for freedom struggle
PM will inaugurate the centenary Celebrations at Chauri Chaura at Gorakhpur Dist. Uttar Pradesh.
‘Chauri Chaura’ Incident
- The incident took place on 4 February 1922 at Chauri Chaura in the Gorakhpur district of the United Province.
- A large group of protesters participating in the Non-Cooperation Movement clashed with police who opened fire.
- In retaliation the demonstrators attacked and set fire to a police station, killing all of its occupants.
- The incident led to the death of three civilians and 22 policemen.
- Mahatma Gandhi, who was strictly against violence, halted the non-co-operation movement on the national level on 12 February 1922, as a direct result of this incident.
Try this PYQ:
Q.The ‘Swadeshi’ and ‘Boycott’ adopted as methods of struggle for the first time during the
(a) Agitation against the Partition of Bengal
(b) Home Rule Movement
(c) Non-Cooperation Movement
(d) Visit of the Simon Commission to India
Background
- In the early 1920s, Indians, led by Mahatma Gandhi, were engaged in a nationwide non-cooperation movement.
- Using non-violent methods of civil disobedience known as Satyagraha, protests were organised by the INC to challenge oppressive regulations such as the Rowlatt Act.
Course of the incident
- Two days before the incident, on 2 February 1922, volunteers participating in the Non-cooperation Movement led by a retired Army soldier named Bhagwan Ahir.
- The protest was planned against high food prices and liquor sale in the marketplace.
- Several of the leaders were arrested and put in the lock-up at the Chauri Chaura police station.
- In response to this, a protest against the police was called on 4 February, to be held at the local marketplace.
- Infuriated by the gunfire into their ranks, the crowd set the chowki ablaze, killing all of the Indian policemen and other staff trapped inside.
Aftermath
- Appalled at the outrage, Gandhi went on a five-day fast as penance for what he perceived as his culpability in the bloodshed.
- In reflection, Gandhi felt that he had acted too hastily in encouraging people to revolt against the British Raj without sufficiently emphasizing the importance of non-violence.
- On 12 February 1922, the Indian National Congress halted the Non-co-operation Movement on the national level as a direct result of the Chauri Chaura tragedy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Stardust-1, Biofuels
Mains level: Not Much
Stardust 1.O was recently launched from Maine, the US has become the first commercial space launch powered by biofuel.
UPSC may puzzle you with the following type of MCQ asking:
Q.Which of the following is the unique feature of the Stardust 1.0 Spacecraft recenlty seen in news?
(a) It is propelled by Bio-fuels.
(b) It has the largest payload capacity.
(c) It is re-usable launch vehicle.
(d) All of the above
What is Stardust 1.O?
- Stardust 1.O is a launch vehicle suited for student and budget payloads.
- The rocket is manufactured by bluShift, an aerospace company based in Maine that is developing rockets that are powered by bio-derived fuels.
- The rocket is 20 feet tall and has a mass of roughly 250 kg.
- The rocket can carry a maximum payload mass of 8 kg and during its first launch carried three payloads.
- The payloads included a cubesat prototype built by high-school students, a metal alloy designed to lessen vibrations.
Why such missions are important?
- Such efforts are a part of a growing number of commercial space companies that are working to provide easier and cheaper access to space to laypeople.
- It also makes access to space cost-effective for purposes of academic research, corporate technology development and entrepreneurial ventures among others.
Back2Basics: Biofuel
- Biofuels are obtained from biomass, which can be converted directly into liquid fuels that can be used as transportation fuels.
- The two most common kinds of biofuels in use today are ethanol and biodiesel and they both represent the first generation of biofuel technology.
- Ethanol, for instance, is renewable and made from different kinds of plant materials.
- Biodiesel on the other hand is produced by combining alcohol with new and used vegetable oils, animal fats or recycled cooking grease.
Categories of biofuels
Biofuels are generally classified into three categories. They are
- First-generation biofuels – First-generation biofuels are made from sugar, starch, vegetable oil, or animal fats using conventional technology. Common first-generation biofuels include Bioalcohols, Biodiesel, Vegetable oil, Bioethers, Biogas.
- Second-generation biofuels – These are produced from non-food crops, such as cellulosic biofuels and waste biomass (stalks of wheat and corn, and wood). Examples include advanced biofuels like biohydrogen, bioethanol.
- Third-generation biofuels – These are produced from micro-organisms like algae.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Neutrino, Supernovae
Mains level: NA
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in The Hindu.
Another space-based abstract terminology has appeared in TH.
What is the news about?
- Many stars, towards the end of their lifetimes, form supernovas – massive explosions that send their outer layers shooting into the surrounding space.
- Most of the energy of the supernova is carried away by neutrinos – tiny particles with no charge and which interact weakly with matter.
- Researching the mechanisms of the so-called Type II supernovas, a team from IIT Guwahati has come up with new insights into the part played by neutrinos in this dramatic death of massive stars.
What are Neutrinos?
- Proton, neutron, and electron are tiny particles that makeup atoms.
- The neutrino is also a tiny elementary particle, but it is not part of the atom.
- Neutrino has a very tiny mass, no charge and spins half.
- It interacts very weakly with other matter particles.
- Neutrinos come from the sun (solar neutrinos) and other stars, cosmic rays that come from beyond the solar system, and from the Big Bang from which our Universe originated.
- They can also be produced in the lab.
Their types
- Neutrinos come in three ‘flavours’, another name for ‘types’, and each flavour is associated with a light elementary particle.
- For instance, the electron-neutrino is associated with the electron; the muon-neutrino with the muon and the tau-neutrino with the tau particle.
What is Supernova?
- All the stars burn nuclear fuel in their cores to produce energy.
- The heat generates internal pressure which pushes outwards and prevents the star from collapsing inward due to the action of gravity on its own mass.
- But when the star ages and runs out of fuel to burn, it starts to cool inside.
- This causes a lowering of its internal pressure and therefore the force of gravity wins; the star starts to collapse inwards.
- This builds up shock waves because it happens very suddenly, and the shock wave sends the outer material of the star flying. This is what is perceived as a supernova. This happens in very massive stars.
Try this PYQ:
Q. Which of the following is/are cited by the scientists as evidence/evidence for the continued expansion of the universe?
- Detection of microwaves in space
- Observation of redshirt phenomenon in space
- Movement of asteroids in space
- Occurrence of supernova explosions in space code
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1, 3 and 4
(d) None of the above can be cited as evidence
The Type-II Supernova
- In stars that are more than eight times as massive as the Sun, the supernova is accompanied by a collapsing of the inner material of the dying star – this is also known as core-collapse supernova or Type II supernova.
Role of neutrinos
- The collapsing core may form a black hole or a neutron star, according to its mass.
- As they spew out of the raging supernova, the neutrinos can change from one flavour to another in a process known as neutrino oscillations.
- Due to the high density and energy of the supernova, it generates neutrino oscillations happening simultaneously over different energies (unlike normal neutrino oscillation), termed collective neutrino oscillation.
- The oscillation result may dramatically change when one allows the evolution with the angular asymmetry, the oscillations can happen at a nanosecond time scale, termed fast oscillation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Saturn's tilt
Mains level: NA
The tilt of the rotation axis of the gas giant Saturn may in fact be caused by its moons, space scientists have reported in the journal Nature Astronomy.
About Saturn
- Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter.
- It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine times that of Earth.
- It only has one-eighth the average density of Earth; however, with its larger volume, Saturn is over 95 times more massive.
Reasons for Saturn’s tilt
- Saturn’s axis interacted with the path of the planet Neptune and gradually tilted until it reached the inclination of 27 degrees observed today.
- This current tilt of Saturn’s rotation axis is caused by the migration of its satellites, and especially by that of its largest moon, Titan.
- Recent observations have shown that Titan and the other moons are gradually moving away from Saturn much faster than astronomers had previously estimated.
- By incorporating this increased migration rate into their calculations, the researchers concluded that this process affects the inclination of Saturn’s rotation axis.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which phenomenon has Venusian winds rotating 60 times faster than the planet below on the dark side?
(a) Super rotation
(b) Monrotation
(c) Dual rotation
(d) Macrrotation
Continuous tilting
- As its satellites move further away, the planet tilts more and more.
- In fact, Saturn’s axis is still tilting, and what we see today is merely a transitional stage in this shift.
- Over the next few billion years, the inclination of Saturn’s axis could more than double.
Why it matters?
- The decisive event that tilted Saturn is thought to have occurred relatively recently.
- For over three billion years after its formation, Saturn’s rotation axis remained only slightly tilted.
- It was only roughly a billion years ago that the gradual motion of its satellites triggered a resonance phenomenon that continues today.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Dark Matter
Mains level: Dark Matter, Black Holes
Space scientists from the University of Sussex have found a new way to know more about dark matter. They have narrowed down the range of masses within which particles that could make up dark matter may lie in.
What is the news about?
- Around 95 % of the Universe is unknown to human beings.
- It is often referred to as dark which has nothing to do with the colour of any substance but to do with the unknown nature of cosmic entities known as dark matter and dark energy.
Trending in news these days is the Quantum Technology. (as it used to be until last year were- the Internet of Things (IoT) CSP 2019, Artificial Intelligence (AI) etc.)
Must read all this news in a loop:
- National Mission on QC
- Quantum Coin
- Quantum Supremacy
- Quantum Entanglement
What is Dark Matter?
- Dark matter is composed of particles that do not absorb, reflect, or emit light, so they cannot be detected by observing electromagnetic radiation.
- Dark matter is a form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe and about a quarter of its total mass-energy density or about 2.241×10−27 kg/m3.
What does the research say?
- Scientists carried out the research using quantum gravity, a field of study that tries to combine two of Einstein’s concepts — quantum physics and general relativity theory of gravity.
- This is the first time anyone has thought of using what we know about quantum gravity to calculate the mass range for dark matter.
- Their research shows that the dark matter particles can neither be super light nor super heavy unless there is a force acting on it that is yet unknown.
Quantum gravity: The concept
- Quantum gravity is a field of theoretical physics that seeks to describe gravity according to the principles of quantum mechanics.
- Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics which describes nature at the smallest scales of energy levels of atoms and subatomic particles.
- Here quantum effects cannot be ignored, such as in the vicinity of black holes or similar compact astrophysical objects where the effects of gravity are strong, such as neutron stars.
Significance of the findings
- This might help in finding out more about this mysterious force. There are currently four known forces in the Universe — gravitational, electromagnetic, weak and strong.
- Scientists estimate that roughly 68 per cent of the Universe is made up of dark energy which is responsible for the accelerated expansion of the Universe.
- Another 27 per cent is a dark matter whose existence was inferred from the observation that ordinary matter in galaxies, including the Milky Way, is far less than that required by gravity to hold the galaxies together.
Why does the ‘Dark Matter’ matter?
- Dark matter’s gravitational effects are also necessary to explain the motions of clusters of galaxies and the structure of the entire Universe at the largest scale.
- On smaller scales, dark matter is too diffused to impact the motion of the Solar System, Earth or the origin and evolution of humans in any significant way.
- But the nature of that dark matter is still unclear. It is most likely made of particles that do not couple to light because of which humans cannot see them.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Patharughat uprising
Mains level: Peasants movements in colonial India
Twenty-five years before the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, more than a hundred peasants fell to the bullets of the British on January 28, 1894, in Patharughat, a small village in Assam’s Darrang district.
Make a note of all breakthrough peasants’ revolt in the nineteenth century. Also, try this PYQ:
Q.The demand for the Tebhaga Peasant Movement in Bengal was for-
(a) The reduction of the share of the landlords from one-half of the crop to one-third
(b) The grant of ownership of land to peasants as they were the actual cultivators of the land
(c) The uprooting of Zamindari system and the end of serfdom
(d) Writing off all peasant debts
Patharughat uprising
- After the British annexation of Assam in 1826, surveys of the vast lands of the state began.
- On the basis of such surveys, the British began to impose land taxes, much to the resentment of the farmers.
- In 1893, the British government decided to increase agricultural land tax reportedly by 70- 80 per cent.
- Up until then the peasants would pay taxes in kind or provide service in lieu of cash.
- Across Assam, peasants began protesting the move by organising Raij Mels, or peaceful peoples’ conventions.
The day of the massacre
- The unarmed peasants were protesting against the increase in land revenue levied by the colonial administration when the military opened fire.
- Despite these gatherings being democratic, the British perceived them as “breeding grounds for sedition”.
- On January 28, 1894, when the British officers were refusing to listen to the farmers’ grievances, things heated up.
- There was a lathi charge, followed by an open firing which killed many of the peasants present.
- Official records, as mentioned in the Darrang District Gazette, 1905, edited by BC Allen, placed the casualties in the Patharughat incident as 15 killed and 37 wounded.
Why was the incident significant?
- The incident was one of the most tragic and inspiring episodes in the saga of the Indian freedom movement.
- However, it rarely features in the mainstream historical discourse of the freedom struggle.
- For the larger Assamese community, Patharughat comes second only to the Battle of Saraighat, when the Ahoms defeated the Mughals in 1671.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Paris Club, G20
Mains level: Not Much
Chad has become the first country to officially request a debt restructuring under a new common framework “G20 Common Framework” introduced by China and other Group of 20 countries last year with the help of the Paris Club.
What is G20 Common Framework?
- G20 Common Framework is the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI).
- It was announced in November 2020 to deal with the issue of unsustainable debts faced by various countries as an impact of COVID-19.
What is the news?
- This official request of Chad for debt restructuring under the G20 common framework was notified by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- The creditors will now soon begin discussions on the first test of the new framework.
- The creditors will also ask China and other private-sector creditors to participate as agreed last year.
- A new four-year programme of Chad worth about $560 million under the Extended Credit and Extended Fund facilities was announced by IMF.
- Chad is under high debt like many other African countries.
Significance of the move
- This is the first time that a country has requested debt restructuring under the framework and the investors will now look at how the framework can work.
- Participation in China is also a question. Last year, G20 Common Framework brought non-members of the Paris Club- India, China, and Turkey to join the framework.
Back2Basics: Paris Club
- Paris Club is a club or group of officials from major creditor countries.
- It was established in the year 1956.
- It aims to find sustainable solutions to the difficulties faced by debtor countries in payments.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Virus mutation
Mains level: Vaccination challenges for coronavirus
SARS-CoV-2 variants have emerged independently in several countries, and research published over the past week indicates that the virus is changing more quickly than was once believed.
Try this PYQ:
Q.H1N1 virus is sometimes mentioned in the news with reference to which one of the following diseases?
(a) AIDS
(b) Bird flu
(c) Dengue
(d) Swine flu
Mutation of Virus
- Mutation, an alteration in the genetic material (the genome) of a cell of a living organism or of a virus that is more or less permanent and that can be transmitted to the cell’s or the virus’s descendants.
- Like all life, viruses carry a genetic code in the form of nucleic acids — either DNA or RNA.
- When cells multiply, the DNA within them replicates as well, to make copies for the new cells.
- During replication, random errors are introduced into the new DNA, much like spelling errors when we write.
- While the errors in DNA virus genomes can be corrected by the error-correcting function of cells in which they replicate, there are no enzymes in cells to correct RNA errors.
- Therefore, RNA viruses accumulate more genetic changes (mutations) than DNA viruses.
Effect of mutation on the virus
- Evolution requires not just mutations, but also selection.
- While most mutations are deleterious to the virus, if some allow a selective advantage — say better infectivity, transmission, or escape from immunity — then the new viruses out-compete the older ones in a population.
- The mutations can be synonymous (silent) or non-synonymous (non-silent); the latter also changes an amino acid (protein building block) at that position in the coded protein.
Mutations in COVID
- As of January 26, about 29,000 infections are attributed to UK variants from 63 countries, many due to local transmission.
Why is it harmful?
- Viruses with mutations within the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the Spike protein have the most potential to evade antibodies that develop as a result of natural infection or vaccination.
- The RBD binds the cellular receptor allowing the virus to infect cells, and anti-RBD antibodies neutralize the virus.
- Such mutations were recently found in variant viruses that emerged in the UK, South Africa and Brazil.
Testing of mutation
- Indirect tests are done in laboratories to assess if an emerging variant might escape antibodies developed after natural infection or vaccination.
- Serum (the blood components that contain antibodies) from recovered patients or vaccinated people, and antibodies are known to neutralize the original virus, are tested.
- Serial dilutions of the serum or antibodies are separately mixed with a fixed amount of the original and variant viruses, and the mixture is added to cells in culture.
- After a period of incubation, cells are washed and stained. Cells infected and killed by viruses multiplying within them appear as clear zones (plaques) on a dark background.
- The effectiveness of serum or antibody is expressed as an inhibitory concentration (IC) or plaque reduction neutralisation titer (PRNT) value.
- The IC50 or PRNT50 value is the reciprocal dilution of serum or antibody that neutralises 50 per cent viruses in the sample.
India’s response
- Only the UK variant viruses have so far been reported from India — and that too, in travellers.
- There is no reported local transmission, but considering its increased infectivity, this is likely to happen.
- The evidence so far suggests that current vaccines would still protect against the UK variant, even if with reduced efficacy.
- The evidence at this time, though of concern, does not indicate that current vaccines are failing.
- But this has to be watched carefully, and all efforts made to limit transmission between people, which drives mutations and the emergence of variants.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Non-price competition
Mains level: Data privacy issues
Data privacy can take the form of non-price competition and abuse of dominance can lower privacy protection, a study by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has said.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Right to Privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty. Which of the following in the Constitution of India correctly and appropriately imply the above statements?
(a) Article 14 and the provisions under the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution
(b) Article 17 and the Directive Principles of State Policy in Part IV
(c) Article 21 and the freedoms guaranteed in Part III
(d) Article 24 and the provisions under the 44th Amendment to the Constitution
What is Non-price Competition?
- Non-price competition is a marketing strategy “in which one firm tries to distinguish its product or service from competing products on the basis of attributes like design and workmanship”.
- It often occurs in imperfectly competitive markets as it exists between two or more producers that sell goods and services at the same prices but compete through non-price measures.
- Such measures include marketing schemes and greater quality or any sustainable competitive advantage other than price.
What is CCI’s observation?
- The CCI study made observations about non-price factors such as quality of service (QoS), data speeds etc. which are likely to be the new drivers of competitive rivalry between service providers in the telecom sector.
- CCI noted that an aspect of data in the context of competition in digital communications market is the conflict between allowing access and protecting consumer privacy.
Privacy at stake
- Abuse of dominance can take the form of lowering the privacy protection and therefore fall within the ambit of antitrust as low privacy standard implies lack of consumer welfare.
- Privacy can take the form of non-price competition, said the CCI.
- On other non-price factors of competition, CCI found that consumers ranked network coverage at the top followed by customer service despite their Privacy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NUE, Nitrogen's GHG potential
Mains level: Nitrogen pollution
A group of Indian scientists have found a way to improve crops by reducing wastage of nitrogen fertilizers applied to them.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following adds/add nitrogen to the soil?
- Excretion of Urea by animals
- Burning of coal by man
- Death of vegetation
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2, and 3
Nitrogen-Use Efficiency
- NUE is calculated as a ratio between nitrogen used and harvest: A higher number denotes low wastage.
- With the efficiency on the decline, farmers use more fertiliser in the hope of raising yield. This in turn worsens NUE.
- Crops generally use up 30 per cent of nitrogen fertilizer applied; the rest seeps into the environment, harming health and adding to climate change.
- Researchers were able to identify phenotypes or visibly identifiable features that determine the efficiency with which cultivated rice varieties (cultivars) use nitrogen.
- This efficiency is known as nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE).
- Cereals consume over 69 per cent of nitrogen fertilizers in India; rice tops the list with 37 per cent, followed by wheat (24 per cent).
Nitrogen Pollution: the reason behind
- Agriculture leads to 70 per cent of nitrous oxide emissions in India.
- Of this, 77 per cent is contributed by fertilizers, mostly urea, according to the Indian Nitrogen Assessment published in 2017.
- This greenhouse gas (GHG) is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
- It has replaced methane as the second-largest component of GHG emissions from Indian agriculture in the past 15 years.
Must read:
[Burning Issue] Nitrogen Pollution in India
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Exercise Kavach
Mains level: NA
A large scale all-services exercise ‘Exercise Kavach’ will be conducted next week under the aegis of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), the only Joint Forces Command of the country.
All-time generic question seeking ‘match the pairs’ can be asked from the news as such. Click here for more exercises.
Exercise Kavach
- The tri-services exercise aims to fine-tune joint war-fighting capabilities and SOPs towards enhancing operational synergy in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal.
- This exercise would involve assets of Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and Indian Coast Guard.
- The exercise involves synergized application of maritime surveillance assets, coordinated air and maritime strikes, air defence, submarine and landing operations.
- Concurrently Joint Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) exercise involving various technical, electronic and human intelligence from three services will be conducted.
- The ISR exercise will validate the capabilities of intelligence gathering from space, air, land and sea-based assets/ sensors, its analysis and sharing to achieve battlefield transparency.
- It would carry out amphibious landing operations, air landed operation, helicopters-borne insertion of Special Forces from sea culminating in tactical follow-on operations on land.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SOFR and various inter-bank rates
Mains level: Not Much
State Bank of India (SBI) has executed two inter-bank short term money market deals with pricing linked to SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate).
Try this PYQ:
Q.The money multiplier in an economy increases with which one of the following?
(a) Increase in the cash reserve ratio
(b) Increase in the banking habit of the population
(c) Increase in the statutory liquidity ratio
(d) Increase in the population of the country
What is SOFR?
- Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) is a secured interbank overnight interest rate.
- It is a replacement for USD LIBOR (London Inter-bank Offered Rate) that may be phased out end-2021.
- The overnight rate is generally the interest rate that large banks use to borrow and lend from one another in the overnight market.
Why SOFR?
- Global regulators decided to move away from the Libor, a vital part of the financial system after it was revealed in 2012 that banks around the world manipulated it.
- It also didn’t help that volume underlying the benchmark dried up.
- U.K regulators set the deadline at 2021 for financial firms and investors to transition away from the Libor.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tripuri Handloom
Mains level: Not Much
Tripura CM has of late made a statement to sport the Risa, a customary hand-woven cloth used by Tripura’s indigenous tribal communities.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following pairs:
| Sr. |
Tradition |
|
State |
| 1. |
Chapchar Kut festival |
: |
Mizoram |
| 2. |
Khongjom Parba ballad |
: |
Manipur |
| 3. |
Thang-Ta dance |
: |
Sikkim |
Which of the pairs given above is/are correct? (CSP 2018)
a) 1 only
b) 1 and 2
c) 3 only
d) 2 and 3
What is Risa?
- Risa is one of the three parts of customary Tripuri female attire, the other two being the Rignai and Rikutu.
- The Risa, which is essentially a customary hand-woven cloth, is used as headgear, stole, female upper cloth or presented to honour a distinguished recipient.
- The Rignai is primarily used to cover the lower part of the body and literally translates into ‘to wear’. The Rituku covers the upper half of the body, wrapping it all around.
- However, it is also used as a ‘chunri’ or a ‘pallu’ of the Indian saree. It is also used to cover the head of newly married Tripuri women.
Its cultural significance
- Apart from its beautiful designs, the Risa plays a host of crucial social utilities.
- Adolescent Tripuri girls are first given Risa to wear when she reaches 12-14 years in an event called Risa Sormani.
- The event involves prayers to a Lampra god, where her elder women pray for her wellbeing throughout her life.
- However, it is also used in religious festivals like the Garia Puja, a customary festival of the tribal communities, or as a head turban by male folks during weddings and festivals, as a cummerbund over dhoti or headscarf.
- The cloth is even used as a makeshift baby carrier on the mother’s back.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: 5G technology
Mains level: 5G technology and its rollout
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sought inputs from telcos and other industry experts on the sale and use of radiofrequency spectrum over the next 10 years, including the 5G bands.
Try this PYQ:
Q. In India, which of the following review the independent regulators in sectors like telecommunications, insurance, electricity, etc.?
- Ad Hoc Committees set up by the Parliament
- Parliamentary Department Related Standing Committees
- Finance Commission
- Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission
- NITI Aayog
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 1, 3 and 4
(c) 3, 4 and 5
(d) 2 and 5
What is 5G technology?
- 5G or fifth generation is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks.
- It mainly works in 3 bands, namely low, mid and high-frequency spectrum — all of which have their own uses as well as limitations.
Three bands of 5G
- The low band spectrum has shown great promise in terms of coverage and speed of internet and data exchange, the maximum speed is limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second).
- This means that while telcos can use and install it for commercial cellphones users who may not have specific demands for very high-speed internet, the low band spectrum may not be optimal for specialised needs of the industry.
- The mid-band spectrum, on the other hand, offers higher speeds compared to the low band but has limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of signals.
- Telcos and companies, which have taken the lead on 5G, have indicated that this band may be used by industries and specialised factory units for building captive networks that can be moulded into the needs of that particular industry.
- The high-band spectrum offers the highest speed of all the three bands, but has extremely limited coverage and signal penetration strength.
- Internet speeds in the high-band spectrum of 5G have been tested to be as high as 20 Gbps (gigabits per second), while, in most cases, the maximum internet data speed in 4G has been recorded at 1 Gbps.
Where does India stand in the 5G technology race?
- On par with the global players, India had, in 2018, planned to start 5G services as soon as possible, with an aim to capitalize on the better network speeds and strength that the technology promised.
- Indian private telecom players have been urging the DoT to lay out a clear road map of spectrum allocation and 5G frequency bands so that they would be able to plan the rollout of their services accordingly.
- One big hurdle, however, is the lack of flow of cash and adequate capital with some companies due to their AGR dues.
Global progress on 5G
- More than governments, global telecom companies have started building 5G networks and rolling it out to their customers on a trial basis.
- In countries like the US, some companies have taken the lead when it comes to rolling out commercial 5G for their users.
- A South Korean company, which had started researching on 5G technology way back in 2011, has, on the other hand, take the lead when it comes to building the hardware for 5G networks for several companies.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Thiruvalluvar
Mains level: Sangam Literature
The Prime Minister has extended his venerations to Thiruvalluvar on the Thiruvalluvar Day.
Read everything about Sangam Literature from your basic sources.
Who was Thiruvalluvar?
- Thiruvalluvar is fondly referred to as Valluvar by Tamils was born during 4th -5th century CE.
- His ‘Thirukkural’, a collection of 1,330 couplets (‘kurals’ in Tamil), are an essential part of every Tamil household.
- It holds importance in the same way the Bhagavad Gita or the Ramayana are in traditional North Indian Hindu households.
- Thiruvalluvar is revered as an ancient saint, poet, and a philosopher by Tamils, irrespective of their religion.
- He is an essential anchor for Tamils in tracing their cultural roots; Tamils are taught to learn his couplets word-for-word and to follow his teachings in their day-to-day living.
Also read:
Sangam era older than previously thought, finds study
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Curiosity rover, Martian Day
Mains level: Quest for extraterrestrial life
The Mars rover ‘Curiosity’ has completed 3,000 Martian days.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which region of Mars has a densely packed river deposit indicating this planet had water 3.5 billion years ago?
(a) Aeolis Dorsa
(b) Tharsis
(c) Olympus Mons
(d) Hellas
Curiosity Rover
- Curiosity is an SUV-sized Mars rover designed to explore the Gale crater on Mars as part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission
- The main mission of Curiosity was “to search areas of Mars for past or present conditions favourable for life, and conditions capable of preserving a record of life.”
- It has a suite of instruments:
- A gas chromatograph, a mass spectrometer, a tunable laser spectrometer, X-ray diffraction, fluorescence instrument help study the rocks
- The Mars Hand Lens Imager (for close-up pictures) and a Mast Camera (to take photos of the surroundings)
- An instrument named ChemCam to vaporize thin layers of Martian rocks.
- Radiation Assessment Detector to study the radiation environment at the surface of Mars
- Rover Environmental Monitoring Station to measure atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, winds, plus ultraviolet radiation levels
- Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons instrument to measure subsurface hydrogen
Back2Basics: Martian Day/ Sol
- Coincidentally, the duration of a Martian day aka ‘Sol’ is within a few per cent of that of an Earth day, which has led to the use of analogous time units.
- A sol is slightly longer than an Earth day. It is approximately 24 hours, 39 minutes, 35 seconds long.
- A Martian year is approximately 668 sols, equivalent to approximately 687 Earth days.
- Mars has an axial tilt and a rotation period similar to those of Earth.
- Thus, it experiences seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter much like Earth.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sulawesi Cave Paintings
Mains level: Not Much
A team of archaeologists in Indonesia has discovered what may be the world’s oldest known cave painting dating back to more than 45,000 years.
Try this PYQ:
Q.There are only two known examples of cave paintings of the Gupta period in ancient India. One of these is paintings of Ajanta caves. Where is the other surviving example of Gupta paintings?
(a) Bagh caves
(b) Ellora caves
(c) Lomas Rishi cave
(d) Nasik caves
Sulawesi Cave Paintings
- The cave painting depicts a wild boar endemic to the Sulawesi island of Indonesia, where the painting was found.
- The central Indonesian island, which occupies an area of over 174,000 sq. km, is situated between Asia and Australia.
- It has a long history of human occupation.
Significance of the painting
- The archaeologists’ note that the dated painting of the Sulawesi warty pig seems to be the world’s oldest surviving representational image of an animal.
- The painting was made using red ochre pigment and depicts a pig with a short crest of upright hairs and a pair of horn-like facial warts in front of the eyes.
- These pigs have been hunted by humans for tens of thousands of years and are the most commonly depicted animal in the ice age rock art of the island.
- It suggests that they have long been used as food and form a “focus of creative thinking and artistic expression” for people of that time.
Must read:
Chapter 1 | Stone Age – Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic
How did the archaeologists date it?
- The painting was first discovered in 2017 as part of surveys the team was carrying out with the Indonesian authorities.
- For these painting archaeologists used a method called U-series isotope analysis, which uses calcium carbonate deposits that form naturally on the cave wall surface to determine its age.
- They used a calcium carbonate deposit, also referred to as “cave popcorn” that had formed on the rear foot of one of the pig figures.
- They were able to figure out a minimum age for the painting at around 45,500 years, which means the painting was made before this.
Sulawesi: Oldest human habitat
Try memorizing these Islands of the Indo-Pacific in their East-West alternations.
- Sulawesi island contains some of the oldest directly dated rock art in the world and also some of the oldest evidence for the presence of hominins beyond the southeastern limits of the Ice Age Asian continent.
- Hominins include modern humans, extinct human species and our immediate ancestors.
- Homo sapiens are the first modern humans who evolved from their hominid predecessors between 200,000-300,000 years ago.
- It is estimated that these modern humans started migrating outside of Africa some 70,000-100,000 years ago.
- Even so, it is not yet clear as to when modern humans first colonised Sulawesi.
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