National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 22nd February 2020

by Mentors4ias · February 22, 2020

Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF)

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: NASA’s Kepler mission observed a dip in the host star’s light, suggesting that the planet was crossing in front of the star during its orbit. Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF) has confirmed that there is an exoplanet.

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HPF is an astronomical spectrograph, built by Penn State University scientists, and recently installed on the 10m Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory in Texas.
The instrument is designed to detect and characterise planets in the habitable-zone the region around the star where a planet could sustain liquid water on its surface around nearby low-mass stars.
The newly confirmed planet, called G 9-40b, is the first one validated by HPF. It is about twice the size of Earth, and orbits its star once every six Earth-days.

How it works:

A spectrograph is an instrument that splits light into its component wavelengths. Scientists then measure the properties of light over a specific portion of the spectrum, and draw conclusions on what is responsible for the trends they observe.
Kepler’s observations alone were not enough to confirm a planet. It was possible that a close stellar companion was responsible for the dip in the star’s light.
Precision spectroscopic observations from HPF ruled out this possibility.
Shooting a high-power laser into the air, researchers generated a “laser guide star”, and subsequent observations found no evidence of blending of light or other stellar companions.
Finally, using HPF, an analysis of a set of radial velocities helped provide estimates for the planet’s mass.

Source: Hindu

Worldwide Educating for the Future Index (WEFFI) 2019

Topic: Reports and Indices

In News: India improved five ranks to 35th in Worldwide Education for the Future Index 2019, as per a report published by The Economist Intelligence Unit. Finland was at the apex of the index, with strengths across each category followed by Sweden.

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India ranked 35th on the overall index in 2019 with a total score of 53, based on three categories – policy environment, teaching environment and overall socio-economic environment. The country ranked 40th with an overall score of 41.2 across categories in 2018.
In 2019, India scored 56.3 in policy environment falling from a 61.5 score in 2018. India’s score of 52.2 in the teaching environment category and 50.1 in the socio-economic environment category increased significantly from 32.2 and 33.3 in 2018 respectively.
The index ranks countries based on their abilities to equip students with skill-based education.
The report analyses education system from the perspective of skill-based education in areas such as critical thinking, problem-solving, leadership, collaboration, creativity and entrepreneurship, as well as digital and technical skills.

Shortcomings:

The 2018 WEFFI report had highlighted the shortcomings in India’s education system emphasizing upon its inability to utilise the opportunity of internationalising its higher education system.
A decentralised education system is another shortcoming of India’s education policy according to the 2019 report.

Source: HBL

Tilhan Misiion

Topic: Government Schemes

In News: The government will launch Tilhan Mission to make the country self-reliant in oilseed production.

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India is the fourth largest vegetable oil economy in the world after the USA, China and Brazil.
The oilseeds account for 13% of the cropped area in the country. It is not sufficient to manage the oil demand.
India is the largest importer of palm oil in the world.
Total Oilseeds production in the country during 2019-20 is estimated at 34.19 million tonnes which is higher by 2.67 million tonnes than the production of 31.52 million tonnes during 2018-19.
Further, the production of oilseeds during 2019-20 is higher by 4.54 million tonnes than the average oilseeds production.

Source: Hindu

Buddha Nullah River

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: The Punjab cabinet approved fund for rejuvenation of the highly-polluted Buddha Nullah river.

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The main source of pollution in Buddha stream was the discharge of waste from industries, dairies and some slums.
The pollution in the Buddah Nullah is a major threat to public health and environment and the main sources of pollution in the nullah are direct flow of pollutants by industries and dairies.
Also, treated effluents from existing STPs, based on UASB technology, does not meet the required quality and overflow from sewer lines add to the problem.

· Buddah Nullah is a seasonal tributary of Sutlej.

Source: The Hindu

Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission

Topic: Government Schemes

In News: Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission has completed 4 years.

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It was launched with a mission to bring about comprehensive changes in rural areas that have reached the threshold of development.
It is a central sector scheme with centre state funding ratio of 60:40.
The objective of the National Rurban Mission (NRuM) is to stimulate local economic development, enhance basic services, and create well planned Rurban clusters.

The larger outcomes envisaged under this Mission are:

Bridging the rural-urban divide-viz: economic, technological and those related to facilities and services.
Stimulating local economic development with emphasis on reduction of poverty and unemployment in rural areas.
Spreading development in the region.
Attracting investment in rural areas.

Rurban Cluster:

· A ‘Rurban cluster’, would be a cluster of geographically contiguous villages with a population of about 25000 to 50000 in plain and coastal areas and with a population of 5000 to 15000 in desert, hilly or tribal areas.

· As far as practicable, clusters of villages would follow administrative convergence units of Gram Panchayats and shall be within a single block/tehsil for administrative convenience.

Source: Hindu

Great Indian Bustard, Asian Elephant get international protection

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: The Great Indian Bustard, Bengal Florican and Asian Elephant have been included in the UN Convention on migratory species’ Appendix 1 on India’s proposal, which was accepted unanimously at the 13th Conference of the Parties to the Conventional on Migratory Species (CMS) held in Gandhinagar.

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The development is important as it will ensure that these endangered species will be safe even while migrating to countries outside India.
The Indian elephant has been declared as a National Heritage Animal, and is provided with the “highest degree” of legal protection through the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972.
After being added in the CMS, the Indian Elephant will be able to cross the borders of the country and return safely. Moreover, intermixing of the animal with the sub-populations of elephants in Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh will help widen the gene base of the populations.
Apart from this, it will also reduce the man-animal conflict, which occurs at several places in the migratory route of the elephants.
Major challenges in ensuring the conservation of the Asian elephant are habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching and illegal trade, and human-elephant conflic
Great Indian Bustard: A critically endangered species which is dependent on conservation, the Great Indian Bustard often moves across boundaries. However, it is exposed to threats like hunting in areas surrounding the Indo-Pak boundary and power-line collisions in India.
With the inclusion of the Great Indian Bustard in CMS, the species will be able to cross the border while efforts to conserve it are facilitated by the international conservation bodies and international laws and agreements.
Presently, the Great Indian Bustard only has 100-150 individuals remaining, and the species has been mainly restricted to Rajasthan’s Thar desert. The population of this species declined by 90 per cent within a mere 50 years.
Bengal Florican: It is a critically endangered species. It also moves across international borders. It also faces threats while crossing boundaries, like changes in land use and collision with power transmission lines at the Indo-Nepal border.
The population of the Bengal Florican has declined, majorly due to loss of habitat and hunting. The Bengal Florican does not breed in areas outside the Protected Areas in the subcontinent any more, with the exception of a few areas in Assam.