Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Positive Pay Mechanism
Mains level: Not Much
The new ‘Positive Pay’ mechanism was recently introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Try this PYQ:
With reference to digital payments, consider the following statements:
- BHIM app allows the user to transfer money to anyone with a UPI-enabled bank account.
- While a chip-pin debit card has four factors authentication, BHIM app has only two factors of authentication.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (CSP 2018)
a) 1 only
b) 2 only
c) Both 1 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2
What is the move?
- Issuers will be able to send all details to their bank, thereby ensuring faster clearance of cheques above Rs 50,000.
- All cheques will be processed as per the information sent by the account holder at the time of issuance of cheques.
- This will cover approximately 20 per cent of transactions by volume and 80 per cent by value.
- It will make cheque payments safer and reduces instances of frauds.
What is Positive Pay Mechanism?
- Positive Pay is a fraud detection tool adopted by banks to protect customers against forged, altered or counterfeit cheques.
- It crosses verifies all details of the cheque issued before funds are encashed by the beneficiary.
- In case of a mismatch, the cheque is sent back to the issuer for examination.
- By following such a system, a bank knows of a cheque being drawn by the customer even before it is deposited by the beneficiary into his/her account.
How does the mechanism work?
- Under Positive Pay feature, the issuer will first share the details of the issued cheque like cheque number, date, name of the payee, account number, amount and the likes through his/her net banking account.
- Along with this, an image of the front and reverse side of the cheque is also required to be shared, before handing it over to the beneficiary.
- When the beneficiary submits the cheque for encashment, the details are compared with those provided to the bank through Positive Pay.
- If the details match, the cheque is honoured. However, in the case of mismatch, the cheque is referred to the issuer.
- In this way, any cheque where any sort of fraud has happened cannot be cleared at all and hence, a depositor’s money can be protected.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mauritius oil spill
Mains level: Chemical disasters these days
A Japanese ship recently struck a coral reef resulting in an oil spill of over 1,000 tonnes into the Indian Ocean near Mauritius.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Recently, “oil zapper’’ was in the news. What is it? (CSP 2011)
(a) It is an eco-friendly technology for the remediation of oily sludge and oil spills.
(b) It is the latest technology developed for undersea oil exploration.
(c) It is a genetically engineered high biofuel-yielding maize variety.
(d) It is the latest technology to control the accidentally caused flames from oil wells.
What caused the Mauritius oil spill?
- A Japanese vessel struck a coral reef resulting in an oil spill of over 1,000 tonnes into the Indian Ocean.
- The ship was carrying an estimated 4,000 tonnes of oil.
- The accident had taken place near two environmentally protected marine ecosystems and the Blue Bay Marine Park Reserve, which is a wetland of international importance.
How dangerous are oil spills?
- Oil spills affect marine life by exposing them to harsh elements and destroying their sources of food and habitat.
- Further, both birds and mammals can die from hypothermia as a result of oil spills.
- For instance, oil destroys the insulating ability of fur-bearing mammals, such as sea otters.
- It also decreases the water repellency of birds’ feathers, without which they lose their ability to repel cold water.
Some major incidents
- Some of the world’s largest oil spills include the Persian Gulf War oil spill of 1991 when more than 380 million gallons of oil was poured into the northern Persian Gulf by Iraq’s forces.
- The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is also considered to be among the largest known accidental oil spills in history.
- Starting April 20, 2010, over 4 million barrels of oil flowed over a period of 87 days into the Gulf of Mexico.
How is the oil spill cleaned?
- There are a few ways to clean up oil spills including skimming, in situ burning and by releasing chemical dispersants.
- Skimming involves removing oil from the sea surface before it is able to reach the sensitive areas along the coastline.
- In situ burning means burning a particular patch of oil after it has concentrated in one area.
- Releasing chemical dispersants helps break down oil into smaller droplets, making it easier for microbes to consume, and further break it down into less harmful compounds.
- Natural actions in aquatic environments such as weathering, evaporation, emulsification, biodegradation and oxidation can also accelerate the recovery of an affected area. But these occur differently in freshwater and marine environments.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National flag
Mains level: NA
The final design of the Indian National Flag, hoisted by PM Nehru on August 16, 1947, at Red Fort, had a history of several decades preceding independence.
Note various personalities involved in the development of our National flag. It may be no wonder to accept a personality-based question on such topics.
Story of our National Flag: A timeline
(1) Public display for first time
- Arguably the first national flag of India is said to have been hoisted on August 7, 1906, in Kolkata at the Parsee Bagan Square (Green Park).
- It comprised three horizontal stripes of red, yellow and green, with Vande Mataram written in the middle.
- Believed to have been designed by freedom activists Sachindra Prasad Bose and Hemchandra Kanungo, the red stripe on the flag had symbols of the sun and a crescent moon, and the green strip had eight half-open lotuses.
(2) In Germany
- In 1907, Madame Cama and her group of exiled revolutionaries hoisted an Indian flag in Germany in 1907 — this was the first Indian flag to be hoisted in a foreign land.
(3) During the Home Rule Movement
- In 1917, Dr Annie Besant and Lokmanya Tilak adopted a new flag as part of the Home Rule Movement.
- It had five alternate red and four green horizontal stripes, and seven stars in the saptarishi configuration.
- A white crescent and star occupied one top corner, and the other had Union Jack.
(4) Final version by Pingali Venkayya
- The design of the present-day Indian tricolour is largely attributed to Pingali Venkayya, an Indian freedom fighter.
- He reportedly first met Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa during the second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), when he was posted there as part of the British Indian Army.
- Years of research went into designing the national flag. In 1916, he even published a book with possible designs of Indian flags.
- At the All India Congress Committee in Bezwada in 1921, Venkayya again met Gandhi and proposed a basic design of the flag, consisting of two red and green bands to symbolise the two major communities, Hindus and Muslims.
(5) During Constituent Assembly
- On July 22, 1947, when members of the Constituent Assembly of India, the first item on the agenda was reportedly a motion by Pandit Nehru, about adopting a national flag for free India.
- It was proposed that “the National Flag of India shall be horizontal tricolour of deep saffron (Kesari), white and dark green in equal proportion.”
- The white band was to have a wheel in navy blue (the charkha being replaced by the chakra), which appears on the abacus of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Greater Male Connectivity Project
Mains level: India-Maldives Relations
India will fund the implementation of the Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP) in the Maldives with $500 mn packages.
Try this question from 2014:
Which one of the following pairs of islands is separated from each other by the ‘Ten Degree Channel’?
(a) Andaman and Nicobar
(b) Nicobar and Sumatra
(c) Maldives and Lakshadweep
(d) Sumatra and Java
About Greater Male Connectivity Project
- The GMCP will consist of a number of bridges and causeways to connect Male to Villingili, Thilafushi and Gulhifahu islands that span 6.7 km.
- It would ease much of the pressure of the main capital island of Male for commercial and residential purposes.
- When completed, the project would render the Chinese built Sinamale Friendship bridge connecting Male to two other islands, thus far the most visible infrastructure project in the islands.
- At present, India-assisted projects in the region include water and sewerage projects on 34 islands, reclamation project for the Addl island, a port on Gulhifalhu, airport redevelopment at Hanimadhoo, and a hospital and a cricket stadium in Hulhumale.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BRR
Mains level: Not Much
In efforts to have a single source for all non-financial disclosures by corporates, a government-appointed panel has made various proposals on business responsibility reporting, including putting in place two formats for disclosing information.
Try this PYQ:
Which one of the following is not a feature of Limited Liability Partnership firm? (CSP 2010)
(a) Partners should be less than 20
(b) Partnership and management need not be separate
(c) Internal governance may be decided by mutual agreement among partners
(d) It is corporate body with perpetual succession
What is the Business Responsibility Report (BRR)?
- Business Responsibility Report is a disclosure of the adoption of responsible business practices by a listed company to all its stakeholders.
- This is important considering the fact that these companies have accessed funds from the public, have an element of public interest involved, and are obligated to make exhaustive disclosures on a regular basis.
- BSR is to be submitted as a part of the Annual Report.
- It contains a standardized format for companies to report the actions undertaken by them towards the adoption of responsible business practices.
- It has been designed to provide basic information about the company, information related to its performance and processes, and information on principles and core elements of the BSR.
SEBI recommendations for BSR
- As per the report, reporting may be done by top 1,000 listed companies in terms of their market capitalization or as prescribed by markets regulator SEBI.
- The reporting requirement may be extended by MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) to unlisted companies above specified thresholds of turnover and/ or paid-up capital.
- The panel has suggested two formats for disclosures — a comprehensive format and a “lite version” — and also called for the implementation of the reporting requirements in a gradual and phased manner.
- Smaller unlisted companies may adopt a lite version of the format, on a voluntary basis.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Plant growth hormones
Mains level: Not Much
A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal, has conducted a study on seed germination that could have a major impact on agriculture.
What is the study about?
- The study aims to determine the optimum timing of seed germination and thus ensure high plant yields.
- It focused on the interplay between plant hormones like abscisic acid (ABA) which inhibit the sprouting of the seed and environmental cues like light (which promotes the sprouting process) and darkness.
Note the following plant hormones and their functions:
|
Hormone
|
Function
|
| Ethylene |
Fruit ripening and abscission |
| Gibberellins |
Break the dormancy of seeds and buds; promote growth |
| Cytokinins |
Promote cell division; prevent senescence |
| Abscisic Acid |
Close the stomata; maintain dormancy |
| Auxins |
Involved in tropisms and apical dominance |
What is Abscisic Acid?
- Humans have glands that secrete hormones at different times to stimulate body processes such as growth, development, and the breaking down of sugars.
- Plants also have hormones that stimulate processes that are necessary for them to live.
- Abscisic acid is a plant hormone involved in many developmental plant processes, such as dormancy and environmental stress response.
- Abscisic acid is produced in the roots of the plant as well as the terminal buds at the top of the plant.
Function of Abscisic Acid
Abscisic acid is involved in several plant functions.
- Plants have openings on the bottom side of their leaves, known as stomata. Stomata take in carbon dioxide and regulate water content. Abscisic acid has been found to function in the closing of these stomata during times when the plant does not require as much carbon dioxide or during times of drought when the plant cannot afford to lose much water through transpiration.
- One of the crucial functions of abscisic acid is to inhibit seed germination. Abscisic acid has been found to stop a seed from immediately germinating once it has been placed in the soil. It actually causes the seed to enter a period of dormancy.
- This is of great benefit to the plants because most seeds are formed at the end of the growing season, when conditions would not be favorable for a new plant to sprout. The abscisic acid causes the seed to wait until the time when conditions are more favorable to grow. This ensures greater success in the plant’s ability to grow and reproduce successfully.
- ABA functions in many plant developmental processes, including seed and bud dormancy, the control of organ size and stomatal closure. It is especially important for plants in the response to environmental stresses, including drought, soil salinity, cold tolerance, freezing tolerance, heat stress and heavy metal ion tolerance.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Galaxies, Milky Way
Mains level: Not Much
SPT0418-47, a golden halo glinting 12 billion light-years away is the farthest galaxy resembling our Milky Way was recently spotted by astronomers.
Try this PYQ:
Which of the statements about black holes in space is/are correct? (CSP 2016)
- It is a region in space where the pulling force of gravity is so strong that light is not able to escape.
- It can result from the dying stars.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
SPT0418-47
- The galaxy, called SPT0418-47, is so far away that it took billions of years for its light to reach Earth and so our image of it is from deep in the past.
- It was picked up by the powerful Alma radio telescope in Chile using a technique called gravitational lensing, where a nearby galaxy acts as a powerful magnifying glass.
- This was when the Universe was 1.4 billion years old — just 10% of its current age — and galaxies were still forming.
- It has features similar to our Milky Way — a rotating disc and a bulge, which is the high density of stars packed tightly around the galactic centre.
What makes it special?
- This is the first time a bulge has been seen this early in the history of the Universe, making SPT0418-47 the most distant Milky Way look-alike.
- Thus the infant star system challenges our understanding of the early years of the Universe.
- Researchers expect these young star systems to be chaotic and without the distinct structures typical of mature galaxies like our Galaxy.
- This unexpected discovery suggests the early Universe may not be as chaotic as once believed and raises many questions on how a well-ordered galaxy could have formed so soon after the Big Bang.
Back2Basics: Milky Way
- The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy’s appearance from Earth.
- It appears like a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye.
- From Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within.
- Galileo Galilei first resolved the band of light into individual stars with his telescope in 1610.
- Until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought that the Milky Way contained all the stars in the Universe.
- Following the 1920 Great Debate between the astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis, observations by Edwin Hubble showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hornbill
Mains level: NA
A study based on satellite data has flagged a high rate of deforestation in a major hornbill habitat in Arunachal Pradesh.
Try this PYQ:
Q. In which of the following regions of India are you most likely to come across the ‘Great Indian Hornbill’ in its natural habitat? (CSP 2016)
(a) Sand deserts of northwest India
(b) Higher Himalayas of Jammu and Kashmir
(c) Salt marshes of western Gujarat
(d) Western Ghats
About Great Indian Hornbill
IUCN status: Vulnerable (uplisted from Near Threatened in 2018), CITES: Appendix I
- The great hornbill (Buceros bicornis) also known as the great Indian hornbill or great pied hornbill, is one of the larger members of the hornbill family.
- The great hornbill is long-lived, living for nearly 50 years in captivity.
- It is predominantly fruit-eating, but is an opportunist and preys on small mammals, reptiles and birds.
- Its impressive size and colour have made it important in many tribal cultures and rituals.
- A large majority of their population is found in India with a significant proportion in the Western Ghats and the Nilgiris.
- The nesting grounds of the birds in the Nilgiris North Eastern Range are also believed to support some of their highest densities.
Their ecological significance
- Referred to as ‘forest engineers’ or ‘farmers of the forest’ for playing a key role in dispersing seeds of tropical trees, hornbills indicate the prosperity and balance of the forest they build nests in.
Threats
- Hornbills used to be hunted for their casques — upper beak — and feathers for adorning headgear despite being cultural symbols of some ethnic communities in the northeast, specifically the Nyishi of Arunachal Pradesh.
- Illegal logging has led to fewer tall trees where the bird’s nest.
Back2Basics: Hornbill Festival
- The Hornbill Festival is a celebration held every year from 1 – 10 December, in Kohima, Nagaland.
- The festival was first held in the year 2000.
- It is named after the Indian hornbill, the large and colourful forest bird which is displayed in the folklore of most of the state’s tribes.
- Festival highlights include the traditional Naga Morungs exhibition and the sale of arts and crafts, food stalls, herbal medicine stalls, flower shows and sales, cultural medley – songs and dances, fashion shows etc.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Meteor terminology
Mains level: Not Much
The Perseids meteor shower is going to be active from August 17-26.
Try this question from CSP 2014:
Q.What is a coma, in the content of astronomy?
(a) Bright half of material on the comet
(b) Long tail of dust
(c) Two asteroids orbiting each other
(d) Two planets orbiting each other
What is the Perseids meteor shower?
- The Perseids meteor shower peaks every year in mid-August. It was first observed over 2,000 years ago.
- The Perseids occur as the Earth runs into pieces of cosmic debris left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle.
- The cloud of debris is about 27 km wide, and at the peak of the display, between 160 and 200 meteors streak through the Earth’s atmosphere every hour as the pieces of debris.
- They travel at the speed of some 2.14 lakh km per hour; burn up a little less than 100 km above the Earth’s surface.
What are Meteor Showers?
- Meteors are bits of rock and ice that are ejected from comets as they manoeuvre around their orbits around the sun.
- As meteors fall towards the Earth, the resistance makes the space rocks extremely hot and, as meteorites pass through the atmosphere, they leave behind streaks of glowing gas that are visible to the observers and not the rock itself.
- Meteor showers, on the other hand, are witnessed when Earth passes through the trail of debris left behind by a comet or an asteroid.
- When a meteor reaches the Earth, it is called a meteorite and a series of meteorites, when encountered at once, is termed as a meteor shower.
- According to NASA, over 30 meteor showers occur annually and are observable from the Earth.
Where do the Perseids come from?
- The comet Swift-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1862 by Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle, takes 133 years to complete one rotation around the sun.
- The last time it reached its closest approach to the sun was in 1992 and will do so again in 2125.
- Every time comets come close to the sun, they leave behind dust that is essentially the debris trail, which the Earth passes through every year as it orbits around the Sun.
Back2Basics:
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mount Sinabung
Mains level: Not Much
The Mount Sinabung volcano in Indonesia has erupted spouting ash at least 5,000 metres high into the sky.
In the Philippines, a volcano called Taal on the island of Luzon; 50 km from Manila has recently erupted in January. Note all such recent eruption in news.
Also, try this PYQ:
Consider the following statements:
- The Barren Island volcano is an active volcano located in the Indian Territory.
- Barren Island lies about 140 km east of Great Nicobar
- The last time the Barren Island volcano erupted was in 1991 and it has remained inactive since then.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (CSP 2018)
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1 and 3
Mount Sinabung
- It is a Pleistocene-to-Holocene stratovolcano in the Karo plateau of Karo Regency, North Sumatra, Indonesia.
- It is created by the subduction of the Indo-Australian Plate under the Eurasian Plate.
- It erupted in 2010 after a 400-year-long hiatus and has been continuously active since September 2013.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BSISO
Mains level: Indian monsoon and its prediction
Researchers at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad have reportedly found a way to better forecast the Boreal Summer Intra-Seasonal Oscillation (BSISO).
Try this PYQ:
Q.With reference to ‘Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD)’ sometimes mentioned in the news while forecasting Indian monsoon, which of the following statements is/are correct? (CSP 2017)
- IOD phenomenon is characterized by a difference in sea surface temperature between tropical Western Indian Ocean and tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean.
- An IOD phenomenon can influence an El Nino’s impact on the monsoon.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
What is BSISO?
- The BSISO of the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) is one of the most prominent sources of short-term climate variability in the global monsoon system.
- It is the movement of convection (heat) from the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific Ocean roughly every 10-50 days during the monsoon (June-September).
- Compared with the related Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) it is more complex in nature, with prominent northward propagation and variability extending much further from the equator.
- It represents the monsoon’s ‘active’ and ‘break’ periods, in which weeks of heavy rainfall give way to brilliant sunshine before starting all over again.
- The active phase also enhances monsoon winds and hence the surface waves.
Why predict BSISO behaviour?
- Some phases of boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation or BSISO induce high wave activity in the north Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea, the researchers claimed.
- Wave forecast advisories based on the BSISO would be more useful for efficient coastal and marine management.
- This finding has a great significance in developing seasonal and climate forecast service for waves and coastal erosion for India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Handloom, Swadeshi Movement
Mains level: India's handloom sector
Yesterday, August 7th was celebrated as the National Handloom Day. It was in 2015, the first National Handloom Day was celebrated.
Try this PYQ:
What was the immediate cause for the launch of the Swadeshi movement? (CSP 2010)
(a) The partition of Bengal done by Lord Curzon.
(b) A sentence of 18 months rigorous imprisonment imposed on Lokmanya Tilak.
(c) The arrest and deportation of Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh; and passing of the Punjab Colonization Bill.
(d) Death sentence pronounced on the Chapekar brothers.
Why 7th August?
- With the partition of Bengal, the Swadeshi Movement gained strength.
- It was on August 7, 1905, that a formal proclamation was made at the Calcutta Town Hall to boycott foreign goods and rely on Indian-made products.
What is handloom?
- While different definitions for the word have evolved since the Handloom (Reservation and Articles for Production) Act, 1985, where ‘handloom’ meant “any loom other than power loom”, in recent years it has become more elaborate.
- In 2012, a new definition was proposed: “Handloom means any loom other than power loom, and includes any hybrid loom on which at least one process of weaving requires manual intervention or human energy for production.”
Back2Basics: Swadeshi Movement
- Credit to starting the Swadeshi movement goes to Baba Ram Singh Kuka of the Sikh Namdhari sect, whose revolutionary movements which heightened around 1871 and 1872.
- It gained momentum with the partition of Bengal by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon in 1905 and continued up to 1911.
- It was the most successful of the pre-Gandhian movements.
- Its chief architects were Aurobindo Ghosh, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, Babu Genu.
- Swadeshi, as a strategy, was a key focus of Mahatma Gandhi, who described it as the soul of Swaraj (self-rule). It was strongest in Bengal and was also called the Vandemataram movement in India.
Important phases of the Movement
- 1850 to 1904: developed by leaders like Dadabhai Naoroji, Gokhale, Ranade, Tilak, G. V. Joshi and Bhaswat K. Nigoni. This was also known as the First Swadeshi Movement.
- 1905 to 1917: Began in 1905, because of the partition of Bengal ordered by Lord Curzon.
- 1918 to 1947: Swadeshi thought shaped by Gandhi.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Kavkaz 2020
Mains level: NA
In a resumption of bilateral and multilateral military exercises which were deferred due to coronavirus (COVID-19), India will take part in the Russian Kavkaz 2020 strategic command-post exercise next month.
Go through the list for once. UPSC may ask a match the pair type question asking exercise name and countries involved.
https://www.civilsdaily.com/prelims-spotlight-defence-exercises/
Kavkaz 2020
- The Kavkaz 2020 is also referred to as Caucasus-2020.
- The exercise is aimed at assessing the ability of the armed forces to ensure military security in Russia’s southwest, where serious terrorist threats persist and preparing for the strategic command-staff drills.
- The main training grounds that will be involved are located in the Southern Military District.
- The invitation for participation has been extended to at least 18 countries including China, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey apart from other Central Asian Republics part of the SCO.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SN5 Starship
Mains level: Commercial crew programme by SpaceX
SpaceX has successfully test-launched its “Mars ship”, a stainless steel test vehicle called SN5, and which is a part of the Starship spacecraft.
Elon Musk’s aerospace company has been putting continuous wins on the board ever since it became the first privately funded group to put a payload in Earth orbit.
What is Starship?
- Designed by SpaceX, Starship is a spacecraft and super-heavy booster rocket meant to act as a reusable transportation system for crew and cargo to the Earth’s orbit, Moon and Mars.
- SpaceX has described Starship as “the world’s most powerful launch vehicle” with an ability to carry over 100 metric tonnes to the Earth’s orbit.
- Starship has been under development since 2012 and is a part of Space X’s central mission to make interplanetary travel accessible and affordable and to become the first private company to do so.
So what all can Starship do?
- SpaceX is planning its first cargo mission to the red planet by 2022 and by 2024, the company wants to fly four ships including two cargo and two crewed ones to Mars.
- Once functional, the Starship spacecraft will enter Mars’ atmosphere at a speed of 7.5 km per second and will be designed to withstand multiple entries.
- Starship is also expected to help carry large amounts of cargo to the Moon, for human spaceflight development and research.
- Beyond the Moon, the spacecraft is being designed for carrying crew and cargo for interplanetary missions as well.
A quest for reusability
- Therefore, the company is working on building a fleet of reusable launch vehicles, capable of carrying humans to Mars and other destinations in the solar system.
- Reusability is at the heart of making interplanetary travel accessible.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Lt. Governor and its appointment
Mains level: Administrative differences in governance of UTs
A veteran politician has been appointed as Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which one of the following suggested that the Governor should be an eminent person from outside the State and should be a detached figure without intense political links or should not have taken part in politics in the recent past? (CSP 2019)
(a) First Administrative Reforms Commission (1966)
(b) Rajamannar Committee (1969)
(c) Sarkaria Commission (1983)
(d) National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (2000)
Office of the Lt. Governor
- A Lt. Governor is the constitutional head of the union territories in India.
- She/he is appointed by the President of India for a term of five years and holds office at the President’s pleasure.
- Since the union territories of Delhi, J&K and Puducherry have a measure of self-government with an elected legislature and council of ministers, the role of the lieutenant governor there is mostly a ceremonial one, akin to that of a state’s governor.
- In Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Ladakh however, the lieutenant governor holds more power, being both the head of state and head of government.
- The other three UTs—Chandigarh; Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu; and Lakshadweep—are governed by an administrator.
Some related facts
- Unlike the lieutenant governors of other territories, they are usually drawn from the IAS or IPS.
- Lieutenant governors do not hold the same rank as a governor of a state in the list of precedence.
- Since 1985 the Governor of Punjab has also been the ex-officio Administrator of Chandigarh.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bru Tribals
Mains level: Bru-Reang Repatriation Agreement
Non-Brus of Tripura has proposed six places for settling the displaced Brus from Mizoram and set a limit for the number of families to be accommodated in two subdivisions that have borne the brunt of the 23-year-old refugee crisis.
Try this PYQ:
Q. With reference to ‘Changpa’ community of India, consider the following statement:
- They live mainly in the State of Uttarakhand.
- They rear the Pashmina goats that yield fine wool.
- They are kept in the category of Scheduled Tribes.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (CSP 2014)
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Who are the Brus?
- Reangs or Brus are the second largest ethnic group in Mizoram.
- Their exodus in 1997 was spurred by violent clashes in Mamith subdivision, a Reang-dominated area when they demanded the creation of an autonomous council that was vehemently opposed by Mizo groups.
- Around 34,000 people were forced to live in sub-human conditions in tents in Tripura. No solution could be reached all these years.
- These people were housed in temporary camps at Kanchanpur, in North Tripura.
Read the complete thread here:
[Burning Issue] Bru– Reang Repatriation Agreement
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pokkali Rice
Mains level: Coastal farming and various hurdles
Farmers from West Bengal are betting on the Pokkali variety of rice from Kerala to tide over a crisis-like situation created by severe seawater incursion into paddy fields in vast areas of the Sundarbans after the cyclone Amphan.
Try this MCQ:
Q.Which of the following is the striking feature of the Pokkali Rice recently seen in the news?
a) It is bio-fortified rice for treating malnutrition
b) It is a saltwater resistant variety of rice
c) It is healthy rice used to treat diabetes
d) None of these
Pokkali Rice
- The Pokkali variety of rice is known for its saltwater resistance and flourishes in the rice paddies of coastal Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts.
- The uniqueness of the rice has brought it the Geographical Indication (GI) tag and is the subject of continuing research.
- It had been in the news because of its uniqueness and also because a group of people in Kerala have been trying to revive the cultivation of the rice variety in the State.
Why introduce in Sunderbans?
- About 80% of the rice paddies in the Sundarbans faced the problem of the saltwater incursion.
- If the Pokkali experiment succeeds, it would be a good step to turn around the fortunes of the farmers.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pyrolysis
Mains level: Not Much
Plastic from used personal protective equipment (PPE) can be transformed into renewable liquid fuels using chemical a process called pyrolysis, says a new study.
Try this PYQ:
Q.In the context of which one of the following are the terms ‘pyrolysis and plasma gasification’ mentioned? (CSP 2019)
(a) Extraction of rare earth elements
(b) Natural gas extraction technologies
(c) Hydrogen fuel-based automobiles
(d) Waste-to-energy technologies
What is Pyrolysis?
- Pyrolysis is the thermal decomposition of materials at elevated temperatures in an inert atmosphere.
- It involves a change in chemical composition. The word is coined from the Greek-derived elements pyro “fire” and lysis “separating”.
- It is most commonly used in the treatment of organic materials. It is one of the processes involved in charring wood.
- It is considered as the first step in the processes of gasification or combustion.
How does it work?
- In general, pyrolysis of organic substances produces volatile products and leaves a solid residue enriched in carbon, char.
- Extreme pyrolysis, which leaves mostly carbon as the residue, is called carbonization.
- The process is used heavily in the chemical industry, for example, to produce ethylene, many forms of carbon, and other chemicals from petroleum, coal, and even wood, to produce coke from coal.
Applications
- Aspirational applications of pyrolysis would convert biomass into syngas and biochar, waste plastics back into usable oil, or waste into safely disposable substances.
Limitations and Concerns
- The technology requires drying of soil prior to treatment.
- Limited performance data are available for systems treating hazardous wastes containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, and other organics.
- There is concern that systems that destroy chlorinated organic molecules by heat have the potential to create products of incomplete combustion, including dioxins and furans.
- These compounds are extremely toxic in the parts per trillion range.
- The molten salt is usually recycled in the reactor chamber. However, depending on the waste treated (especially inorganics) and the amount of ash, spent molten salt may be hazardous and require special care in disposal.
- Pyrolysis is not effective in either destroying or physically separating inorganics from the contaminated medium.
- Volatile metals may be removed as a result of the higher temperatures associated with the process, but they are not destroyed.
- When the off-gases are cooled, liquids condense, producing an oil/tar residue and contaminated water.
- These oils and tars may be hazardous wastes, requiring proper treatment, storage, and disposal.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: HEFA
Mains level: Higher education infra development
The JNU has got approval for a fund from the Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA) for the construction of new infrastructure.
Try this PYQ:
What is the aim of the programme ‘Unnat Bharat Abhiyan’? (CSP 2017)
(a) Achieving 100% literacy by promoting collaboration between voluntary organizations and government’s education system and local communities.
(b) Connecting institutions of higher education with local communities to address development challenges through appropriate technologies.
(c) Strengthening India’s scientific research institutions in order to make India a scientific and technological power.
(d) Developing human capital by allocating special funds for health care and education of rural and urban poor, and organizing skill development programmes and vocational training for them.
About HEFA
- HEFA is a joint venture company of Canara Bank and Ministry of Human Resource Development.
- It provides financial assistance for the creation of educational infrastructure and R&D in India’s premier educational institutions.
- All the Centrally Funded Higher Educational Institutions will be eligible to join as members of the HEFA.
- For joining as members, the educational institution must agree to escrow a specific amount from their internal accruals for a period of 10 years to the HEFA.
Funding pattern of HEFA
- HEFA will have an authorized capital of 2,000 crore rupees and the government equity would be 1,000 crore
- It also mobilizes CSR funds from Corporates/PSUs which will, in turn, be released for promoting research and innovation in these institutions on a grant basis.
- The principal portion of the loan will be repaid through the ‘internal accruals’ of the institutions earned through the fee receipts, research earnings etc.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Demo 2 Mission
Mains level: Commercial space flights
Two NASA astronauts returned to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) in a dramatic, retro-style splashdown, their capsule parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico to finish an unprecedented test flight.
We can get a match the pair type question in prelims asking various space missions and their purposes. Make note of similar space missions from here.
Crew Dragon
- Crew Dragon is a part of the Dragon 2, a class of reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX.
- It is the fifth class of US spacecraft to take human beings into orbit, after the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs.
- The rocket, named Falcon 9, which carried the spaceship into the orbit, was also built by SpaceX.
- It is done under the Demo-2 Mission of NASA and SpaceX.
Demo-2: What is the mission?
- The Demo-2 mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program with the aim of developing reliable and cost-effective access to and from the ISS.
- Essentially, the lift-off is a flight test to certify if SpaceX’s crew transportation system can be used to ferry crew to and from the space station regularly.
What makes it a special event?
- It was the first splashdown by U.S. astronauts in 45 years, with the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to carry people to and from orbit.
- The last time NASA astronauts returned from space to water was on July 24, 1975, in the Pacific to end a joint U.S.-Soviet mission known as Apollo-Soyuz.
- The return clears the way for possible tourist flights in the near future.
Back2Basics: SpaceX
- Space Exploration Technologies Corp., trading as SpaceX, is a private American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation Services Company headquartered in Hawthorne, California.
- It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs to enable the colonization of Mars.
- It has developed several launch vehicles and the Dragon spacecraft.
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