Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Generative AI
Mains level: AI, Machine Learning
Central idea: Google and Microsoft have added generative AI to their search engines and browsers, as well as to consumer products such as Gmail, Docs, Copilot 365, Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and more.
What is Generative AI?
- Like other forms of artificial intelligence, generative AI learns how to take actions from past data.
- It creates brand new content – a text, an image, even computer code – based on that training, instead of simply categorizing or identifying data like other AI.
- The most famous generative AI application is ChatGPT, a chatbot that Microsoft-backed OpenAI released late last year.
- The AI powering it is known as a large language model because it takes in a text prompt and from that writes a human-like response.
Generative AI products offered by Google and Microsoft
- Google and Microsoft have added generative AI to their search engines and browsers, as well as to consumer products such as Gmail, Docs, Copilot 365, Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and more.
- In Google’s Gmail and Docs, generative AI can help users write documents automatically, such as a welcome email for employees.
- Copilot 365, a feature of Microsoft 365 apps, can generate spreadsheets on command or even write an entire article on Word, depending on the topic.
- Both companies are making generative AI platforms and models a part of their cloud offerings, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
What are Google and Microsoft offering?
- In Google’s Gmail and Docs, generative AI will help users write documents automatically.
- For instance, an HR executive can simply ask the AI app to write a welcome email for employees, instead of typing out the document.
- Similarly, Microsoft has ‘Copilot 365’ for its Microsoft 365 apps, which includes Teams, Outlook, Word and Excel.
- Here, AI could generate a spreadsheet on command, or even write down an entire article on Word (depending on the topic).
- Copilot can also match entries on Calendar with emails, and generate quick, helpful pointers that a person should focus on in their meetings.
How can these developments impact human workforce?
- The technology is currently not very accurate and often provides incorrect responses, despite being popular.
- During the initial demonstrations of these products, Google and Microsoft were found to give inaccurate responses.
- While these products may have utility, they are not yet capable of replacing humans in the workplace.
- Humans are better suited to check information generated by AI.
Various challenges posed
- Bias: The data that is used to train generative AI systems can be biased, leading to biased outputs.
- Misinformation: Since generative AI systems learn from the internet or training data which itself may have been inaccurate, they could increase the spread of misinformation online.
- Security: Generative AI systems could be used to create deepfakes or other forms of digital manipulation that could be used to spread disinformation or commit fraud.
- Ethics: There are ethical concerns around the use of generative AI, particularly when it comes to issues like privacy, accountability, and transparency.
- Regulation: There is a need for regulatory frameworks to ensure that generative AI is used responsibly and ethically, and that it does not have any negative impacts on society.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Letter of Comfort
Mains level: NPA crisis
Central idea: The Finance Ministry has allowed central public sector firms (CPSUs) to issue letters of comfort with a condition that they should clearly state that the Government of India will not be liable for any consequences arising from such letters.
What is a Letter of Comfort?
- A letter of comfort is a support document issued to a borrower that adds some strength to the transaction when giving loans.
- Letter of comforts are usually issued by a third party or a stakeholder in the transaction.
- For instance, a holding company can give a letter of comfort on behalf of its subsidiary or a government can issue a letter of comfort for public sector enterprises.
- The letter of comfort can also be issued by banks, NBFCs and auditors.
Obligation status of LoCs
- The letter of comfort is not legally binding or an obligation by the holding company to repay the loans.
- It is just an assurance to the lender that the holding company is aware of the transaction, the policies of the subsidiary and its intentions in seeking a loan.
- This provides some comfort to the financial institution to lend money for short term or long term.
- One can say that the letter of comfort could become a moral obligation and not a legal one.
How is it different from letter of guarantee?
- A letter of comfort is different from a letter of guarantee.
- As spelled out in the name, the letter of guarantee acts as a commitment to the lender that the issuing company is taking responsibility for the repayment.
- It is also legally binding and the transaction becomes an obligation for the guarantor.
- Holding companies usually give letters of comfort when they are unable or unwilling to give letters of guarantees.
Try this MCQ-
Q. Which of the following statements is true about a Letter of Comfort?
A) It is a legally binding document that obligates the holding company to repay the loan.
B) It is issued only by banks and NBFCs.
C) It is an assurance provided by a third party to the lender that adds strength to the transaction when giving loans.
D) It is the same as a Letter of Guarantee in terms of its legal obligations.
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Background Radiation
Mains level: Not Much
Central idea: The article discusses a pan-India study conducted by scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) which found that background radiation levels in parts of Kerala are nearly three times more than what’s been assumed.
What is Background Radiation?
- Background radiation is a measure of the level of ionizing radiation present in the environment at a particular location which is not due to deliberate introduction of radiation sources.
- Background radiation originates from a variety of sources, both natural and artificial.
Nuclear Radiation and its Types
There are three main types of nuclear radiation: alpha particles, beta particles, and gamma rays.
1. Alpha particles are made up of two protons and two neutrons and are essentially helium nuclei. They have a positive charge and are relatively large and heavy, which means they can be stopped by a piece of paper or the outer layer of skin.
2. Beta particles are high-energy electrons that are emitted from the nucleus of an atom. They have a negative charge and are much smaller than alpha particles, which means they can penetrate through the skin and into the body.
3. Gamma rays are high-energy electromagnetic radiation, similar to X-rays. They are emitted from the nucleus of an atom and have no charge. They are extremely penetrating and can travel long distances through air and most materials, including the human body. |
How is it measured?
- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) specifies maximum radiation exposure levels and this has also been adopted by India’s atomic energy establishment.
- Public exposure shouldn’t exceed 1 milli-Sievert every year, those who work in plants or are by virtue of their occupation shouldn’t be exposed to over 30 milli-Sievert every year.
- Generally it is measured in nanogray per second. A (nGy/s) is a decimal fraction of the SI-derived unit of ionizing radiation absorbed dose rate.
Natural sources-
- Cosmic radiation
- Environmental radioactivity from naturally occurring radioactive materials (such as radon and radium)
Man-made sources-
- Medical X-rays,
- Fallout from nuclear weapons testing and nuclear accidents.
Factors affecting such radiation
- Natural background radiation is all around us.
- Background radiation varies from place to place and over time, depending on the amount of naturally occurring radioactive elements in soil, water and air.
- Weather conditions also affect radiation levels, as snow cover may shield these elements, and radioactive particulates can wash out of the air during rain storms.
- Cosmic radiation from the sun, our galaxy, and beyond is constantly around us and contributes to natural background radiation.
- Altitude and latitude can also influence the level of background radiation at any one site.
How threatening is it?
- All rocks and soils contain some trace amount of natural radioactivity and can sometimes be ingested or inhaled if disturbed.
- Radon is a gas that can concentrate indoors and be inhaled, along with its decay products.
- We can also ingest radioactivity from the food we eat and the water we drink.
- A number of factors determine the annual dose you and your family receive from background radiation.
- Typically, Gamma rays are a type of such radiation that can pass through matter unobstructed, and are harmless in small doses, but can be dangerous in concentrated bursts.
Findings of the BARC Study
- The study found that the average natural background levels of gamma radiation in India was 94 nGy/hr (nano Gray per hour) (or roughly 0.8 millisievert/year).
- The last study conducted in 1986 computed such radiation to be 89 nGy/hr.
- The study found that the levels in Kollam district, Kerala were 9,562 nGy/hr, or about three times more than what was assumed.
- This computes to about 70 milliGray a year, or a little more than what a worker in a nuclear plant is exposed to.
- This however does not necessarily mean that those at Kollam are being exposed to dangerous levels of radiation, as past studies have not found any higher rates of cancer or mortality.
Reasons for Higher Radiation Levels in Kerala
- The higher radiation levels in Kollam are attributed to monazite sands that are high in thorium, which is part of India’s long-term plan to sustainably produce nuclear fuel.
- Southern India has higher levels of radiation due to the presence of granite and basaltic, volcanic rock, which contains uranium deposits.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sugar cultivation in India
Mains level: Not Much
Central idea: India’s success story in sugar exports
- India’s sugar exports have soared from $810.9 million in 2017-18 to $4.6 billion in 2021-22, and could cross $5.5 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31.
- The increase is significant in quantity terms too, with India’s shipments increasing from a mere 0.46 lakh tonnes in 2016-17 to 110 lakh tonnes in 2021-22.
- India has gone from being a marginal player in sugar exports five years ago to No. 2 in the world currently, behind only Brazil.
Favourite destinations
- The biggest importers of Indian raw sugar were Indonesia (16.73 lt), Bangladesh (12.10 lt), Saudi Arabia (6.83 lt), Iraq (4.78 lt) and Malaysia (4.15 lt).
- The country also exported 53.71 lt of white/ refined sugar, the leading destinations for which included Afghanistan (7.54 lt), Somalia (5.17 lt), Djibouti (4.90 lt), Sri Lanka (4.27 lt), China (2.58 lt), and Sudan (1.08 lt).
- The highest decline in exports has been registered by the European Union (which produces sugar from beet, unlike India and Brazil that only crush cane): from 39.74 lt in 2017-18 to 8.02 lt in 2021-22.
Which grades of sugar does India export?
- Raw sugar is what mills produce after the first crystallization of juice obtained from crushing of cane.
- This sugar is rough and brownish in color, with an ICUMSA value of 600-1,200 or higher.
- ICUMSA is a measure of the purity of sugar based on color.
- This raw sugar is processed in refineries for removal of impurities and de-colorization.
- The end product is refined white cane sugar having a standard ICUMSA value of 45.
- Till 2017-18, India mainly shipped plantation white sugar with 100-150 ICUMSA value, also known as low-quality whites or LQW in international markets.
Reasons behind India’s surge in sugar exports
- Indian raw sugar is free of dextran, unlike Brazilian raws.
- Indian mills can supply raws with a very high polarization of 98.5-99.5%, which is higher than the polarization of raws from Brazil, Thailand, and Australia.
- Indian raws today fetch a 4% premium over the global benchmark (New York No. 11 futures contract) price, while LQW sells at a $40/tonne discount to the world price (London No. 5 futures) for 45 ICUMSA whites.
- Indonesia agreed to tweak its norms in December 2019 to enable imports from India, which further boosted India’s efforts to push exports of raws.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Starberry-Sense
Mains level: Not Much
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) have developed a low-cost star sensor for astronomy and small CubeSat class satellite missions.
What is Starberry-Sense?
- Based on commercial/off-the-shelf components, this star sensor costs less than 10% of those available in the market.
- It is made from a single-board Linux computer called Raspberry Pi, which is widely used among electronics hobby enthusiasts.
Benefits of Starberry-Sense
- Starberry-Sense can help small CubeSat class satellite missions find their orientation in space.
- The instrument can be used for CubeSats and other small satellite missions in the future.
- The position of stars in the sky is fixed relative to each other and can be used as a stable reference frame to calculate the orientation of a satellite in orbit.
Successful test
- The star sensor has successfully undergone the vibration and thermal vacuum test that qualifies it for a space launch and operations.
- These tests were conducted in-house at the environmental test facility located at the CREST Campus of IIA in Hosakote.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NRI, OCI, PIO
Mains level: E-Postal Ballot system
Central idea: The Election Commission of India (EC) has proposed to facilitate the electronically-transmitted postal ballot system for overseas Indian voters.
Why such a move?
- The total number of overseas voters on January 1, 2023, was over 1.15 lakh.
Measures taken
- The Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2018 was passed by the Lok Sabha in August 2018 on the recommendation of the EC.
- The Bill sought to enable overseas electors to cast their vote either in person or by proxy.
- However, it lapsed when the 16th Lok Sabha was dissolved as it was pending in the Rajya Sabha.
How can overseas voters currently vote in Indian elections?
- Prior to 2010, an Indian citizen who is an eligible voter and was residing abroad for more than six months, would not have been able to vote in elections.
- This was because the NRI’s name was deleted from electoral rolls if he or she stayed outside the country for more than six months at a stretch.
- After the passing of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2010, eligible NRIs who had stayed abroad beyond six months have been able to vote, but only in person at the polling station where they have been enrolled as an overseas elector.
- Just as any resident Indian citizen above the age of 18 years) is eligible to vote in the constituency where she/he is a resident, and overseas Indian citizens are also eligible to do so.
- In the case of overseas voters, the address mentioned in the passport is taken as the place of ordinary residence and chosen as the constituency for the overseas voter to enrol in.
How has the existing facility worked so far?
- Hike in voters: From merely 11,846 overseas voters who registered in 2014, the number went up to close to a lakh in 2019. But the bulk of these voters (nearly 90%) belonged to just one State — Kerala.
- Section 20-1A, Part III of the RP Act: It addresses this to some extent by qualifying “a person absenting himself temporarily from his place of ordinary residence shall not by reason thereof cease to be ordinarily resident therein.
- Proxyprovisions: The Bill provided for overseas voters to be able to appoint a proxy to cast their votes on their behalf, subject to conditions laid down in the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
- Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System: The ECI then approached the government to permit NRIs to vote via postal ballots similar to a system that is already used by service voters, (a member of the armed Forces of the Union; or a member of a force to which provisions of the Army Act, 1950 (46 of 1950) which is ETPBS. The ECI proposed to extend this facility to overseas voters as well.
What is ETPBS and how does it function?
- The Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 was amended in 2016to allow service voters to use the ETPBS.
- Under this system, postal ballots are sent electronicallyto registered service voters.
- The service voter can then download the ETPB(along with a declaration form and covers), register their mandate on the ballot and send it to the returning officer of the constituency via ordinary mail.
- The post will include an attested declaration form(after being signed by the voter in the presence of an appointed senior officer who will attest it).
- The postal ballot must reach the returning officer by 8 a.m.on the day of the counting of results.
- In the case of NRI voters, those seeking to vote through ETPBS will have to inform the returning officer at least five days after notification of the election.
Are postal ballots a viable means of voting?
- The ETPBS method allowed for greater turnout among service voters in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
- With the increasing mobility of citizens across countries for reasons related to work, the postal ballot method has been internationally recognized.
- A postal ballot mechanism that allows for proper authentication of the ballot at designated consular/embassy offices and an effective postal system should ease this process for NRIs.
Back2Basics: NRI vs OCI
Non-Resident Indian (NRI)
- To mention it, NRI is someone who is not a resident of India.
- However, the law is much more complicated and must be delved deeper to gain an inclusive insight into the sector.
- A person is considered a resident of India if he/she has been staying in India for a minimum tenure of 182 days during the previous financial year of a particular year. OR
- A person living in India for a total of 365 days during the previous four financial years and a minimum of 60 days during the last financial years is considered a citizen for a particular year.
- Now an NRI or a non-resident of India is eligible to pay charges for only the first two situations, which means either the income received or earned in India.
- Therefore, the NRI status also influences the enjoyable rights of that person.
Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)
- OCI is a card issued by the government of India that denotes that a non-resident or foreigner has been permitted to stay and work within Indian boundaries.
- Hence, this card provides foreigners with an immigration status without any limited tenure.
- There are cases where PIOs of specific categories are allowed for OCI cards that have migrated from India to foreign countries (except Pakistan and Bangladesh) if the other government agrees for dual citizenship.
- An individual holding an OCI card can be an overseas citizen of India in layman’s language.
- So an OCI is not a citizen of India, but the Indian government has given the cardholder permission to reside and work within the boundaries of India.
- Residents migrating from Pakistan and Bangladesh are not eligible for holding the OCI card. Even if their parents are citizens of both countries, the applicants will be denied having an OCI card.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: LTTD
Mains level: Desalination of seawater
The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) is making efforts to make its ongoing water provision project in Lakshadweep eco-friendly by eliminating emissions in its Low Temperature Thermal Desalination technology.
What is LTTD Technology?
- LTTD Technology is a desalination process that uses low-grade thermal energy, typically below 70°C, to evaporate seawater and produce fresh water.
- The technology is designed to be efficient and cost-effective, and it has been successfully used in various locations worldwide to provide potable water.
How does LTTD Technology work?
- LTTD Technology works by using a low-grade thermal source, such as warm seawater, to heat up a chamber containing seawater.
- As the seawater is heated, it evaporates and produces fresh water vapor.
- The vapor is then condensed and collected, leaving behind concentrated seawater, which can be discharged back into the ocean.
- The fresh water produced can be used for various purposes, such as drinking water, irrigation, or industrial applications.
Benefits of this technology
- One of the main benefits of LTTD Technology is that it uses low-grade thermal energy, which is readily available in many locations, especially in coastal areas.
- This makes it a cost-effective and sustainable way of producing fresh water.
- Additionally, LTTD Technology is modular and can be easily scaled up or down, depending on the water demand.
- It also has a relatively low environmental impact compared to other desalination technologies.
Challenges of LTTD Technology
- One of the main challenges of LTTD Technology is that it requires a constant source of low-grade thermal energy, which can be affected by weather conditions and seasonal changes.
- Additionally, the technology is relatively new and may require further research and development to optimize its efficiency and performance.
How is NIOT working to make LTTD Technology emission-free?
- NIOT is working on making LTTD Technology emission-free by using renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, to power the desalination process.
- The goal is to reduce the carbon footprint of the technology and make it more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Try this MCQ:
Q. The LTTD technology involves the use of which of the following processes to produce potable water?
A) Reverse osmosis B) Distillation C) Filtration D) Chlorination
Post your answer here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GPT-4
Mains level: Not Much
Central idea: OpenAI announced GPT-4 as the next big update to the technology that powers ChatGPT and Microsoft Bing.
What is GPT-4?
- GPT-4 is a large multimodal model created by OpenAI that accepts images as input, making it a more advanced version of GPT-3 and GPT-3.5.
- It exhibits human-level performance on various professional and academic benchmarks, and it can solve difficult problems with greater accuracy.
How is GPT-4 different from GPT-3?
- GPT-4 is multimodal, allowing it to understand more than one modality of information, unlike GPT-3 and GPT-3.5, which were limited to textual input and output.
- It is harder to trick than previous models, and it can process a lot more information at a time, making it more suitable for lengthy conversations and generating long-form content.
- It has improved accuracy and is better at understanding languages that are not English.
GPT-4’s abilities
- GPT-4 can use images to generate captions and analyses, and it can answer tax-related questions, schedule meetings, and learn a user’s creative writing style.
- It can handle over 25,000 words of text, opening up a greater number of use cases that include long-form content creation, document search and analysis, and extended conversations.
- It significantly reduces hallucinations and produces fewer undesirable outputs, such as hate speech and misinformation.
Multilingual abilities of GPT-4
- GPT-4 is more multilingual and can accurately answer thousands of multiple-choice questions across 26 languages.
- It handles English best, with an 85.5% accuracy, but Indian languages like Telugu aren’t too far behind either, at 71.4%.
Availability of GPT-4
- GPT-4 has already been integrated into products like Duolingo, Stripe, and Khan Academy for varying purposes.
- Image inputs are still a research preview and are not publicly available.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Antiquities
Mains level: Not Much
Central idea: Indian authorities are pushing for restitution of stolen antiquities and ancient religious artefacts.
What is an antiquity?
- An antiquity is defined by the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 as-
- Any coin, sculpture, painting, epigraph or other work of art or craftsmanship;
- Any article, object or thing detached from a building or cave;
- Any article, object or thing illustrative of science, art, crafts, literature, religion, customs, morals or politics in bygone ages;
- Any article, object or thing of historical interest that has been in existence for not less than one hundred years.
- For manuscripts, records or other documents of scientific, historical, literary or aesthetic value, this duration is not less than seventy-five years.
What do international conventions say?
- The UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property defined “cultural property” as the property designated by countries having “importance for archaeology, prehistory, history, literature, art or science.”
- The Convention further stated that “the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property is one of the main causes of the impoverishment of the cultural heritage of the countries of origin of such property and that international co-operation constitutes one of the most efficient means of protecting each country’s cultural property.”
- The General Assembly of the UN and the UN Security Council in 2015 and 2016 also raised concerns about the illicit international traffic of cultural items and related offenses.
- An INTERPOL report in 2019 indicated that almost 50 years after the UNESCO convention, the illicit international traffic of cultural items and related offenses is increasingly prolific.
What do Indian laws say?
- In India, Item-67 of the Union List, Item-12 of the State List, and Item-40 of the Concurrent List of the Constitution deal with the country’s heritage.
- The Antiquities (Export Control) Act was passed in April 1947 to ensure that no antiquity could be exported without a license.
- The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act was enacted in 1958.
- The Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 (AATA) was implemented on April 1, 1976, after an uproar in Parliament over the theft of a bronze idol from Chamba and some important sandstone idols from other places.
- Under the AATA, it is not lawful for any person other than the Central Government or any authorized agency to export any antiquity or art treasure, and no person shall carry on the business of selling or offering to sell any antiquity except under and in accordance with the terms and conditions of a license granted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
What is the provenance of an antiquity?
- Provenance includes the list of all owners from the time the object left its maker’s possession to the time it was acquired by the current owner.
How is ownership proved?
- The requesting party needs to furnish, at its expense, the documentation and other evidence necessary to establish its claim for recovery and return, according to the UNESCO 1970 declaration.
- In India, the first thing in order to prove ownership is the complaint (FIR) filed with the police. In many cases, there is no FIR for missing antiquities.
- However, other proof such as details mentioned by reputed scholars in research papers can also be helpful.
How to check for fake antiquities?
- Every person who owns, controls or is in possession of any antiquity shall register such antiquity before the registering officer and obtain a certificate in token of such registration under section 14(3) of the AATA.
- The National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities, launched in March 2007, has registered
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Alluri Sitharama Raju and Komaram Bheem
Mains level: Not Much
A Telugu movie with its story and characters rooted in the lives of Indian freedom fighters Alluri Sitharama Raju and Komaram Bheem is garnering attention on the global stage.
Who was Alluri Sitharama Raju?
- Raju is believed to have been born in Andhra Pradesh in 1897 or 1898.
- He is said to have become a sanyasi at the age of 18 and gained a mystical aura among the hill and tribal peoples with his austerity, knowledge of astrology and medicine, and his ability to tame wild animals.
- At a very young age, Raju channelled the discontent of the hill people in Ganjam, Visakhapatnam, and Godavari into an effective guerrilla resistance against the British.
Advent into revolutionary activities
- Colonial rule threatened the tribals’ traditional podu (shifting) cultivation, as the government sought to secure forest lands.
- The Forest Act of 1882 banned the collection of minor forest produce such as roots and leaves, and tribal people were forced into labour by the colonial government.
- While the tribals were subjected to exploitation by muttadars, village headmen commissioned by the colonial government to extract rent, the new laws and systems threatened their way of life itself.
- Strong anti-government sentiment, shared by the muttadars who were aggrieved by the curtailment of their powers by the British, exploded into armed resistance in August 1922.
Contribution to freedom struggle
- The Rampa or Manyam Rebellion continued in the form of a guerrilla war until May 1924, when Raju, the charismatic ‘Manyam Veerudu’ or Hero of Jungle, was finally captured and executed.
- The Rampa Rebellion coincided with Mahatma Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement.
- Raju often talked of the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi, said he was inspired by the Non-Cooperation Movement, and persuaded people to wear khadi and give up drinking.
- But at the same time, he asserted that India could be liberated only by the use of force, not non-violence.
Who was Alluri Sitharama Raju?
- Raju is believed to have been born in Andhra Pradesh in 1897 or 1898.
- He is said to have become a sanyasi at the age of 18 and gained a mystical aura among the hill and tribal peoples with his austerity, knowledge of astrology and medicine, and his ability to tame wild animals.
- At a very young age, Raju channelled the discontent of the hill people in Ganjam, Visakhapatnam, and Godavari into an effective guerrilla resistance against the British.
Advent into revolutionary activities
- Colonial rule threatened the tribals’ traditional podu (shifting) cultivation, as the government sought to secure forest lands.
- The Forest Act of 1882 banned the collection of minor forest produce such as roots and leaves, and tribal people were forced into labour by the colonial government.
- While the tribals were subjected to exploitation by muttadars, village headmen commissioned by the colonial government to extract rent, the new laws and systems threatened their way of life itself.
- Strong anti-government sentiment, shared by the muttadars who were aggrieved by the curtailment of their powers by the British, exploded into armed resistance in August 1922.
Contribution to freedom struggle
- The Rampa or Manyam Rebellion continued in the form of a guerrilla war until May 1924, when Raju, the charismatic ‘Manyam Veerudu’ or Hero of Jungle, was finally captured and executed.
- The Rampa Rebellion coincided with Mahatma Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement.
- Raju often talked of the greatness of Mahatma Gandhi, said he was inspired by the Non-Cooperation Movement, and persuaded people to wear khadi and give up drinking.
- But at the same time, he asserted that India could be liberated only by the use of force, not non-violence.
And who was Komaram Bheem?
- Komram Bheem was born in the Gond tribal community at Sankepally village in Komarambheem District, which was renamed after him in 2016.
- Bheem’s family’s land was occupied by a jagirdar who was an informer of the Nizam, which led to him killing the jagirdar in a fit of rage.
- To avoid authorities, he went to Assam and worked as a labourer in coffee and tea plantations for five years.
- Despite being illiterate, Bheem learned to read and write and became aware of movements like Birsa Munda’s.
Resistance against the Nizam government
- The Nizam government collected taxes in the name of “Bambram” and “Dupapetti” from people grazing cattle and collecting firewood for cooking.
- Bheem spread the message of “Jal, Jangal, Zameen” among tribal people in opposition to this tax collection.
- He trained tribal people to fight with weapons, and villages in Adilabad were ready with the help of a guerrilla army composed of Gond and Koya communities’ men.
Death and legacy
- Despite their efforts, Nizam’s army overwhelmed the tribal resistance.
- Bheem died at their hands in the Jodeghat forest.
- Bheem’s message of “Jal, Jangal, Zameen” has become a clarion call for indigenous people’s rights to natural resources, used in many parts of India to date.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Oscar Award
Mains level: India's cultural prowess and acceptance in the west
A notable Indian song and a documentary has won the Oscar Award this year.
What are Oscar Awards?
- The Oscar Awards, also known as the Academy Awards, are an annual awards ceremony honouring excellence in the film industry.
- The awards are presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), a professional honorary organization of over 9,000 members.
- The first Oscars ceremony was held in 1929, and the awards are now widely considered to be the most prestigious awards in the film industry.
- The ceremony typically takes place in late February or early March, and is broadcast live on television in over 225 countries and territories worldwide.
How are the winners decided?
- Awards are given out in various categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and many more.
- Nominees and winners are chosen by AMPAS members who work in various branches of the film industry, including actors, directors, writers, and producers.
- Winning an Oscar can have a significant impact on a filmmaker’s career, as it is widely seen as a mark of prestige and can lead to increased funding and opportunities for future projects.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Lightening
Mains level: Not Much
Central idea: A few states have requested lightning to be declared a natural disaster due to the high number of deaths caused by it in the country.
Why discuss this?
- Around 2,500 people die every year due to lightning.
- Present norms consider cyclones, droughts, earthquakes, fires, floods, tsunamis, hailstorms, landslides, avalanches, cloudbursts, pest attacks, frost, and cold waves as disasters covered under the State Disaster Response Fund.
- Deliberations are necessary as it is a policy issue.
What is lightning?
- Scientifically, lightning is a rapid and massive discharge of electricity in the atmosphere some of which is directed towards earth.
- The discharges are generated in giant moisture-bearing clouds that are 10-12 km tall.
- The base of these clouds typically lie within 1-2 km of the Earth’s surface, while the top is 12-13 km away.
- Temperatures in the top of these clouds are in the range of –35° to –45°C.
Its formation
- As water vapour moves upward in the cloud, the falling temperature causes it to condense.
- As they move to temperatures below 0°C, the water droplets change into small ice crystals.
- They continue to move up, gathering mass until they are so heavy that they start to fall to Earth.
- This leads to a system in which, simultaneously, smaller ice crystals are moving up and bigger crystals are coming down.
- Collisions follow and trigger the release of electrons, a process that is very similar to the generation of sparks of electricity.
- As the moving free electrons cause more collisions and more electrons, a chain reaction ensues.
- This process results in a situation in which the top layer of the cloud gets positively charged, while the middle layer is negatively charged.
- The electrical potential difference between the two layers is huge, of the order of a billion to 10 billion volts.
- In very little time, a massive current, of the order of 100,000 to a million amperes, starts to flow between the layers.
Types of lightning
- Broadly, there are three forms of lightning:
- Inter-cloud
- Intra-cloud
- Cloud-to-ground
- It is the cloud-to-ground form of lightning that kills humans, as well as animals and livestock, and can substantially damage property.
- While the Earth is a good conductor of electricity, it is electrically neutral.
- However, in comparison to the middle layer of the cloud, it becomes positively charged.
- As a result, about 15%-20% of the current gets directed towards the Earth as well.
- It is this flow of current that results in damage to life and property on Earth.
How intensely does it strike?
- A typical lightning flash is about 300 million volts and30,000 amps.
- To put it in perspective, household current is 120 volts and 15 amps.
- A flash of lightning is enough to light a 100-watt incandescent bulb for about three months.
Why does lightning kill so many people in India?
- The reason for the high number of deaths is due to people being caught unawares and more than 70% of fatalities happened due to people standing under isolated tall trees.
- About 25 per cent of the people were struck in the open.
- Also, lightning is the direct promulgation of climate change extremities.
Mitigating lightning incidents
- Lightning is not classified as a natural disaster in India.
- But recent efforts have resulted in the setting up of an early warning system that is already saving many lives.
- More than 96% of lightning deaths happen in rural areas.
- As such, most of the mitigation and public awareness programmes need to focus on these communities.
- Lightning protection devices are fairly unsophisticated and low-cost. Yet, their deployment in the rural areas, as of now, is extremely low.
- States are being encouraged to prepare and implement lightning action plans, on the lines of heat action plans.
- An international centre for excellence on lightning research to boost detection and early warning systems is also in the process of being set up.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Least Development Countries
Mains level: NA
Central idea: Bhutan will become the seventh country to graduate from the United Nations’ list of Least Developed Countries (LDC) on December 13, 2023.
What is a Least Developed Country (LDC)?
- The LDCs are developing countries listed by the UN that exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development.
- The concept first originated in the late 1960s and was codified under UN resolution 2768 passed in November 1971.
- According to the UN, an LDC is defined as “a country that exhibits the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development, with-
- Low levels of income, human capital and economic diversification,
- High levels of economic vulnerability, and
- A population that is disproportionately reliant on agriculture, natural resources, and primary commodities.
Criteria for LDCs
- The UN identifies three criteria for a country to be classified as an LDC:
- It must have a gross national income (GNI) per capita below the threshold of USD 1,230 over a three-year average.
- It must perform poorly on a composite human assets index based on indicators including nutrition, health and education.
- It must demonstrate economic vulnerability such as being prone to natural disasters and possessing structural economic constraints.
- Countries must meet a selection from all three criteria simultaneously and are reviewed on a three-year basis by the UN.
How many countries are LDCs?
- Currently, the UN lists 46 countries that qualify as LDCs.
- Of those, 33 are from Africa, nine from Asia, three from the Pacific and one from the Caribbean.
- At the UN 2021 triennial review of LDC countries, the organisation recommended that Bangladesh, Laos, and Nepal be removed from the list.
How does a country get off the LDC list?
- To graduate from the LDC list, a country must meet certain criteria in the three areas stated before namely, income, human assets, and economic vulnerability.
- A nation must have a GNI per capita of at least USD 1,242 for two consecutive triennial reviews in order to meet the income requirement.
- The nation must also show that this level of income can be sustained over the long term.
- A nation also must show that it has improved its ability to withstand external economic shocks like natural catastrophes or shifts in commodity prices in order to pass the economic vulnerability test.
How did Bhutan get off the LDC list?
- Bhutan was included in the first group of LDCs in 1971. It fulfilled the requirements for graduation in 2015 and 2018.
- Bhutan’s economy grew more than eight times in the last 20 years, from under USD 300 million in 2000 to USD 2.53 billion in 2017.
- The percentage of people living in poverty decreased from 17.8 per cent in 2003 to 1.5 per cent in 2017.
- The percentage of people living below the national poverty line decreased from 23.2 per cent in 2007 to 8.2 per cent in 2017.
What economic measures did it take?
- Hydropower exports: Bhutan increased exports of hydropower to India, which now accounts for 20 per cent of its economy.
- Brand Bhutan: Bhutan established Brand Bhutan to diversify exports and target high-end markets with specialised exports of high-value, low-volume Bhutanese goods from sectors including textiles, tourism, handicrafts, culture, and natural resources.
- Tourism promotion: It emerged out to be an all-season tourist destination in South Asia.
Advantages of being an LDC
- LDCs enjoy duty-free and quota-free (DFQF) access to the markets of developed countries.
- LDCs are also eligible for loans with special terms for development, which include loans with a lower interest rate and a longer repayment time than those given to other nations.
- The term “Official Development Assistance” (ODA) or “aid” is frequently used to describe this form of support.
Way forward for Bhutan
- As such, advancing out of the list is often only the first step in overall development.
- Graduation from LDC status is not the end of the road, but the beginning of a new journey.
- It is a time when a country needs to redouble its efforts to build its productive capacities, diversify its economy, and create new opportunities for employment and income generation.
Back2Basics: Defining a country’s ‘Development’
- There are no WTO definitions of “developed” or “developing” countries.
- Developing countries in the WTO are designated on the basis of self-selection although this is not necessarily automatically accepted in all WTO bodies.
- The WTO however recognizes as least-developed countries (LDCs) those countries which have been designated as such by the United Nations.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Adenovirus
Mains level: NA
Central idea: 19 children below the age of five years have died in State-run institutions due to acute respiratory infection (ARI) caused by Adenovirus.
What is Adenovirus Infection?
- Adenoviruses are common viruses that typically cause mild cold or flu-like illness and are usually spread from an infected person to others by close personal contact
- The virus is transmitted through the air by coughing and sneezing and also by touching an object or surface with adenoviruses on it
- While the virus can affect people of any age group, children with low and compromised immunity are at a higher risk
- Symptoms of the viral infection, other than common cold or flu-like symptoms, include acute bronchitis, pneumonia, pink eye (conjunctivitis), and acute gastroenteritis
Reasons for outbreak in Bengal
- Doctors claim that it is the recombinant strain which is the reason for the spike in infections and deaths.
- Most of the children who have been infected by the virus are less than three years old and were born during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Children who are in the age group of six months to preschool are most susceptible to viral infection.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sicke Cell Anaemia
Mains level: Read the attached story
Central idea: The Health Ministry of India set a target to scan one crore people for sickle cell disease in 2022-23. However, with only two weeks left in the fiscal year, the Ministry has completed only 1% of the target.
What is Sickle Cell Anaemia?
- Sickle Cell Anaemia is a genetic blood disorder that affects the haemoglobin molecule in red blood cells.
- People with sickle cell anaemia have abnormal haemoglobin that causes their red blood cells to become sickle-shaped, rigid and sticky.
- These abnormal cells can clog small blood vessels, leading to excruciating pain, organ damage, and a higher risk of infections.
- Sickle cell anaemia is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern, which means that a person must inherit two copies of the mutated gene, one from each parent, to develop the disease.
- There is no cure for sickle cell anaemia, but treatments are available to manage its symptoms and complications.
How widespread is it in India?
- Sickle cell anaemia is prevalent in some parts of India, particularly in tribal and rural areas.
- According to the ICMR, sickle cell trait is present in about 20-22% of the tribal population in central India, and the disease is present in about 3-5% of the same population.
- It is estimated that there are about 30 million carriers of the sickle cell trait in India, and around 1.5-2 lakh sickle cell disease patients.
- The disease is most commonly found in the states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Gujarat.
Recent discussions
- India aims to eradicate sickle cell anaemia by 2047, Finance Minister announced during her Budget 2023 speech.
- Under the new scheme, 70 million people up to the age of 40 years in affected tribal areas will be screened for the disease.
- The Health Ministry has assigned tentative State-wise screening targets to the States for timely completion of the exercise.
- The Ministry is working to create and maintain a central registry for all screened persons to prevent patients from slipping through the cracks.
Current status of screening
- Only 1,05,954 people have been screened so far, out of which 5959 people, or 5.62% of those screened were found to be carrying sickle cell disease traits.
- Regular and timely screening of the population is important, as in a previous screening exercise of over 1.13 crore people in 2016, up to 9,49,057 (8.75%) tested positive for the sickle cell trait, and up to 47,311 of these ended up with full-blown sickle cell disease.
Way forward
- Increased screening: Achieving the goal of eliminating sickle cell anaemia would involve screening at least seven crore people under the age of 40 years in multiple phases by 2025-26.
- Creating awareness: The Health Ministry is working to create awareness amongst those who carry the sickle cell trait to refrain from marrying another person who also carries the trait.
- Targeted assessment: Pregnant women are a priority group for immediate screening, and in the long-term, screening of targeted population of unmarried adolescents between 10 to 25 years will be undertaken.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Fluorescence Microscopy
Mains level: NA
Central idea: Researchers at Winona State University, Minnesota, have created a design for a rudimentary fluorescence microscope.
Why in news?
- The development can be put together at a cost of $30-50 (Rs 2,500-4,100) using products purchased on online marketplaces.
- The device aims to democratize access to fluorescence microscopy.
What is Fluorescence Microscopy?
- An optical microscope views an object by studying how it absorbs, reflects or scatters visible light.
- A fluorescence microscope views an object by studying how it reemits light that it has absorbed, i.e. how it fluoresces.
- The object is illuminated with light of a specific wavelength.
- Particles in the object absorb this light and reemit it at a higher wavelength.
- These particles are called fluorophores; the object is infused with them before being placed under the microscope.
How does it work?
- The setup consists of two plexiglass surfaces, an LED flashlight, three theatre stage-lighting filters, a clip-on macro lens, and a smartphone.
- The smartphone (with the lens attached) is placed on one surface that is suspended at a height (say, a foot above).
- The second sheet is placed below and holds the object.
- One of the stage-lighting filters is held between the flashlight and the object and the other two were held between the object and the smartphone.
- The sources of illumination were also LED flashlights emitting light of correspondingly different wavelengths.
Key observations
- With this setup, the researchers were able to image the creatures’ brain, spinal cord, heart, and head and jaw bones.
- They were able to zoom in and out using the smartphone camera and the clip-on lens.
How accessible is this?
- Using a ‘glowscope’ still requires access to fluorophores, suitable biological samples, the know-how to combine the two, and some knowledge of physics to work out which LED flashlight to buy.
- The Foldscope was truly remarkable because all its required components were simple to understand.
- However, the fact that a simple fluorescent microscope can be set up with a few thousand rupees means researchers can prepare samples and take them to schools, where students can observe them.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Landslide Atlas of Indi
Mains level: Heavt rain induced disasters
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently released the Landslide Atlas of India to identify landslide hotspots in the country.
What are Landslides?
- Landslides are natural disasters that occur in mountainous terrains where soil, rock, geology, and slope conditions are conducive.
- A landslide is the sudden movement of rock, boulders, earth, or debris down a slope.
- They can be triggered by natural causes such as heavy rainfall, earthquakes, snowmelting, and undercutting of slopes due to flooding.
- They are extremely hazardous, posing a threat to human and animal lives, damaging property, roads, and bridges, disrupting communication lines, and snapping power lines.
- Landslides are broadly classified based on the type of materials involved, the type of movement of the material, and the type of flow of the material.
Why do they occur?
- Landslides are natural disasters that occur mainly in mountainous terrains due to conducive conditions of soil, rock, geology, and slope.
- Heavy rainfall, earthquakes, snow-melting, and undercutting of slopes due to flooding can trigger landslides.
- Anthropogenic activities such as excavation, cutting of hills and trees, excessive infrastructure development, and overgrazing by cattle can also cause landslides.
Factors contributing
- The main factors that influence landslides include lithology, geological structures like faults, hill slopes, drainage, geomorphology, land use and land cover, soil texture and depth, and weathering of rocks.
- Rainfall variability pattern is the single biggest cause for landslides in India, with the Himalayas and the Western Ghats remaining highly vulnerable.
India’s vulnerability to landslides
- India is considered among the top five landslide-prone countries globally, where at least one death per 100 sq. km is reported in a year due to a landslide event.
- Approximately 12.6% of the country’s geographical land area (0.42 million sq km) is prone to landslides, with 66.5% of landslides reported from the North-western Himalayas, 18.8% from the North-eastern Himalayas, and 14.7% from the Western Ghats.
Risks in specific states
- Mizoram recorded the highest number of landslide events in the past 25 years, with 12,385 events, of which 8,926 were recorded in 2017 alone.
- Nagaland and Manipur also reported a high number of landslide events during the 2017 monsoon season.
- Uttarakhand and Kerala reported the highest number of landslides, with Uttarakhand experiencing 11,219 events since 1998, and Kerala making inhabitants significantly vulnerable to fatalities, despite fewer events.
Classification and Mapping of Landslides
- Landslides are broadly classified based on the type of materials involved, type of movement, type of flow of the material, and whether they spread laterally.
- The Landslide Atlas of India maps landslides mainly based on events and seasons.
- The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) used a landslide database created from 1998 to 2022 using aerial and high-resolution satellite images.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Megha Tropiques Satellite, Controlled re-entry
Mains level: Space junk clearing
ISRO attempted a controlled re-entry of the Megha Tropiques-1 satellite with leftover fuel to lower the orbit and reduce space debris.
Megha Tropiques Satellite
- The weather satellite Megha Tropiques-1 was developed as a joint mission by Indian and French space agencies.
- It was launched aboard a PSLV by the space agency in 2011.
- And, although the planned mission life of the satellite was only three years, it continued providing data on water cycle and energy exchanges in the tropics for nearly a decade.
How was the satellite brought down?
- With over 120kgs of fuel remaining in the satellite even after being decommissioned.
- ISRO determined that there was enough to attempt a controlled re-entry.
- When the satellites re-enter the atmosphere, the friction causes it to heat up to extreme high temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius.
- Without a heat shield, 99% of a satellite gets burnt up whether in a controlled re-entry or an uncontrolled one.
Significance of the move
- This was the first time that ISRO attempted such a manoeuvre to clear out space debris despite the satellite not being built to do so.
- Usually, satellites are left in their orbit and because of the gravitational pull of the earth, they come down to the atmosphere over years and years.
Why did ISRO attempt a controlled re-entry?
- ISRO attempted the control re-entry to demonstrate and understand the process of doing so.
- Keeping space clean is crucial with multiple spacefaring nations and private entities launching satellites.
- Thousands of objects are flying around in low earth orbits, including old satellites, parts, and rocket stages.
- Even small debris can destroy active satellites due to high speeds.
- Kessler syndrome is a scary scenario where space debris collisions create more debris.
What happens to satellites usually?
- A controlled re-entry like the one attempted by Isro earlier this week is possible only for satellites in the low-earth orbit – at about 1,000 kms over the surface of the earth.
- These manoeuvres, however, are not usually attempted because fuel reserves have to be maintained in the satellite after mission life is over.
- And, this is impossible for satellites placed in geo-stationary or geosynchronous orbit – where time taken by the satellite to orbit the earth matches Earth’s rotation.
- Such satellites are at altitudes of nearly 36,000 kms.
- For attempting to bring down a satellite from such as orbit, a huge fuel reserve would be needed. This will only make the satellite heavier and costlier at launch.
Also read-
[Sansad TV] Perspective: Cluttered Space
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IBEX
Mains level: Not much
NASA has announced that its Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft is fully operational after the mission team successfully reset it.
Edge of Solar System: Heliopause
The edge of the Solar System, also known as the heliopause, is the point where the solar wind from the Sun meets the interstellar medium. Here are some key points about the edge of the Solar System:
- The heliopause is the boundary where the Sun’s solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium.
- The Voyager 1 spacecraft crossed the heliopause in 2012, becoming the first man-made object to leave the Solar System.
- The exact location of the heliopause is not well defined and varies based on the strength of the solar wind and the density of the interstellar medium.
- The interstellar medium beyond the heliopause is composed of plasma, magnetic fields, and cosmic rays from other stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
- The edge of the Solar System is being studied by NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission, which is mapping the boundary region where the solar wind meets the interstellar medium.
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Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX)
- IBEX is a small NASA spacecraft designed to map the boundary where winds from the Sun interact with winds from other stars.
- The spacecraft is about the size of a bus tire and its instruments look towards the interstellar boundary while it is on its nine-day orbit around our planet.
- It was launched in 2008 and has spent nearly 15 years in space already.
Purpose
- The purpose of IBEX is to study the interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium and to map the boundary of the solar system.
Technology
- IBEX uses two neutral atom imaging cameras to detect energetic neutral atoms that are created at the boundary of the heliosphere.
- The cameras are mounted on a spinning spacecraft, allowing them to scan the sky and build up a map of the boundary.
Discoveries
Since its launch, IBEX has made several important discoveries, including:
- The first direct measurements of the interstellar wind, which flows into the solar system from the direction of the constellation Scorpius.
- The discovery of a “ribbon” of energetic neutral atoms that stretches across the sky, which may be caused by the interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium.
Current Status
- IBEX is still in operation and continues to gather data about the interstellar boundary.
- Its mission has been extended several times, with the most recent extension running until 2023.
Significance
- IBEX’s findings have increased our understanding of the interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium.
- It has helped to refine models of the heliosphere and the solar system’s place in the galaxy.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kodaikanal solar observatory
Mains level: NA
The Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KoSO) has been observing the Sun for over a century.
Why in news?
- Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KoSO) has been observing the Sun for over a century
- KoSO has captured images of sunspots and recorded changes in the Sun’s behavior
- Solar physicists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) have digitized 1.48 lakh solar images captured since 1904
A Brief History of Kodaikanal Solar Observatory
- KoSO is one of the world’s oldest observatories studying the Sun.
- Norman Pogson, astronomer and Government Astronomer of the Madras Observatory, proposed the idea of taking pictures of the Sun using a 20-inch telescope.
- The Madras Observatory was set up as the private effort of an official of the British East India Company in 1786.
- The decision to establish a solar observatory was taken in 1893, and Kodaikanal in present-day Tamil Nadu was chosen for its high altitude and dust-free environment.
- The Solar Physics Observatory opened on April 1, 1899, and was later named KoSO.
- The Bhavnagar Telescope, named after the Maharaja of Bhavnagar, was one of the more famous instruments at KoSO during the early decades of its operation.
- A 15cm telescope was used to capture solar images onto a photographic film or plate.
- Solar magnetic plages and prominences were recorded since 1911, taken on photographic films and plates.
Solar Observations, One Every Day: How They Are Taken
- White light images of the Sun have been captured every day since 1904 using a 6-inch telescope
- Visible light images reveal sunspots on the surface of the Sun.
- One image is taken daily around 8 am, which has been a fixed routine for over a century now
- Each observation accompanies the corresponding date and time, which is key for calibration purposes later.
- These plates or films are sent to the darkroom and developed either the same day or the next day
- Once the film has been developed, the date and time of observation are written on the plate and entered in the logbook.
- These plates or films are kept in an envelope with the handwritten date and time of observation and stored carefully in humidity-controlled rooms.
Arrival of New Technology and the Process of Digitization
- Between 1904 and 2017, all solar observations were traced onto photographic films and plates
- A new telescope mounted with CCD cameras has taken over and, since 2017, continued to observe the Sun.
- Digitization of the records was initiated in 1984 by Prof J C Bhattacharyya, and others continued the effort.
- In 2018, digitized solar observations for the period 1921-2011 were made available to the scientific community.
- Raw and calibrated data for the period of 1904 to 2017 were added, and the digitization process is nearly complete.
- KoSO is now home to a digital repository of a whopping 1.48 lakh solar images adding up to 10 terabyte of data.
- These include 33,500 white-light images (showing sunspots), 45,000 images of the Ca II K spectral line (which reveals plages), and 70,000 H-alpha photographic plates that show prominences.
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