National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 14th June 2019
Information Fusion Centre for Indian Ocean Region
Topic: International Relations
In News: The Indian Navy is hosting a maritime information sharing workshop under the aegis of the Information Fusion Centre — Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) at Gurugram.
More on the Topic:
- Over 41 delegates from 29 countries of the IOR are participating in the two-day event.
- In the course of two days, the workshop aims to acquaint participants about IFC-IOR and its information sharing mechanisms and promote sharing of best practices in this field. This aims to yield better response to the myriad security and safety challenges that IOR faces.
- Issues such as maritime terrorism, piracy, human and drug trafficking, humanitarian assistance as well as disaster relief and the legal perspective of combating these challenges would be looked into.
About Information Fusion Centre:
- The IFC-IOR is being established with the vision of strengthening maritime security in the region and beyond, by building a common coherent maritime situation picture and acting as a maritime information hub for the region.
- The IFC has been established at the Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) in Gurugram, which is the single point centre linking all the coastal radar chains to generate a seamless real-time picture of the nearly 7,500-km coastline.
- Through this Centre, information on “white shipping”, or commercial shipping, will be exchanged with countries in the region to improve maritime domain awareness in the Indian Ocean.
Significance:
- The IOR has a diverse set of littorals and island nations, each with their unique needs, aspirations, interest and values.
- It is necessary to counter the Rise in maritime piracy in the region.
- IFR-IRO would also ensure that the entire region is benefited by mutual collaboration and exchange of information and understanding the concerns and threats which are prevalent in the region.
Source: The Hindu
The Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma telescope
Topic: Science and Technology
In News: A joint team of German-Russian scientists is all set to launch next week a space telescope, which will create a three-dimensional (3D) X-ray map of the universe and unveil unknown supermassive black holes, dark energy and stars.
More on the Topic:
- The telescope, named Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG), will be launched into space on a Russian-built Proton-M rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
- The four-year mission will survey the entire sky eight times and track the evolution of the universe and dark energy a mysterious repulsive force that is accelerating its expansion.
- Besides, it also aims to detect up to three million supermassive black holes many of which are unknown and X-rays from as many as 700,000 stars in the Milky Way. The telescope is the first to be sensitive to high-energy ‘hard’ X-rays and map the entire sky.
- The SRG will also find how dark matter the main engine of galaxy formation is spread in the universe.
- X-ray sky surveys have also been conducted by previous missions, but they were not able to map the entire sky.
Source: The Hindu
India’s Own Space Station
Topic: Science and Technology
In News: Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO) announced its ambitious plan to put up a space station in the next decade.
More on the topic:
- The idea is to build the space station in the next seven years, and launch it by 2030.
- India doesn’t plan to carry out research experiments from the Internation Space Station (ISS), and wants to build its own facility. It’ll be a hub for microgravity research.
- Engineers at the agency have also been quietly working on a space docking experiment (Spadex) for three years that allows astronauts to transfer from one spacecraft to another. It can also aid the refueling and transfer of materials from the space station.
- ISRO‘s also planning to send an Indian to space by 2022, as part of its mission Gaganyaan. The central government has already allotted Rs 10,000 crore ($1.43 billion) for this mission.
- The agency has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Air Force to select suitable candidates for the mission.
- The shortlisted candidates will receive basic training in India, and subsequently, move on to special space flying training abroad.
- If India successfully launches the space station, it’ll be the second country in the world have a functioning space station in orbit. Plus, a successful crewed mission will see it in the company of the US, Russia, and China the only other nations to send people to a space station.
Source: The Hindu
Global Peace Index
Topic: Important Reports
In News: As per a report released by the Australian think tank Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), India’s ranking in global peace index has slipped five places to 141 among 163 countries.
More on the Topic:
- Despite tall claims about India being a shantipriya desh (peace loving country), it’s ranking in the Global Peace Index has slipped down.
- While Iceland remains the most peaceful country, Afghanistan is the least peaceful nation, according to the report.
- In 2018, India ranked at 136th among 163 countries.
- IEP ranks countries according to their level of peacefulness based on three thematic domains the level of societal safety and security, the extent of ongoing domestic and international conflict and the degree of militarisation.
- In South Asian countries, Bhutan topped the index with 15th rank, followed by Sri Lanka 72, Nepal 76 and Bangladesh 101. Terror-ridden Pakistan has been ranked 153rd on the index.
- As per the report, Iceland remains the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008. It is joined at the top of the Global Peace Index (GPI) by New Zealand, Austria, Portugal, and Denmark.
- Afghanistan is now the least peaceful country in the world, replacing Syria, which is now the second least peaceful. South Sudan, Yemen, and Iraq comprise the remaining five least peaceful countries.
- India, Philippines, Japan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Pakistan are the nine countries with the highest risk of multiple climate hazards, highlighted the report.
- India has the 7th highest overall natural hazard score, the report’s findings said.
- India, the US, China, Saudi Arabia, and Russia are the top five countries with the largest total military expenditure, it added.
- South Asia’s score for every indicator in ongoing conflict is less peaceful than the global average, with four out of six deteriorating last year.
- Pakistan, India and Afghanistan have improved only in the deaths from internal conflict with fewer fatalities than the previous year.
- While global peacefulness improved for the first time in five years, as per the index findings, the world remains less peaceful than a decade ago.
- This year’s report includes new research on the possible effects of climate change on peace. Since 2008, global peacefulness has deteriorated by 3.78 per cent, the report revealed.
Source: The Hindu
Jnanpith Award
Topic: Awards and Honours
In News: Renowned English fiction writer Amitav Ghosh was recently felicitated with 54th Jnanpith Award. He is the 1st English language writer to become a Jnanpith laureateast.
More on the Topic:
- The Jnanpith Award is one of the prestigious literary honours in the country. The award was instituted in 1961.
- Any Indian citizen who writes in any of the official languages of India is eligible for the honour.
Source: The Hindu
Asiatic golden cat
Topic: Environment and Ecology
In News: The coat of Asiatic golden cat comes in five other shades besides the golden colour in Arunachal Pradesh, scientists have discovered.
More on the Topic:
- Its coat comes in six types: cinnamon, golden, gray, melanistic, ocelot and tightly rosetted.
- The Asiatic golden cat (Catopuma temminckii) is listed as near threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of threatened species.
- It is found across eastern Nepal through north-eastern India to Indonesia.
- Scientists believe that the wide variation displayed in the cat’s coats provides them with several ecological benefits such as occupying different habitats at different elevations from wet tropical lowland forests to alpine scrubs and providing camouflage while preying on pheasants and rabbits.
Source: The Hindu
Blight disease in rice
Topic: Environment and Ecology
In News: Scientists unravel fungus responsible for Sheath Blight disease in rice.
More on the Topic:
- A strain of Rhizoctonia solani is the fungal pathogen that causes the dreaded Sheath Blight disease in rice.
- The researchers have identified several genes and gene families in the strain that might account for their disease aggressiveness. This genomic insight is expected to help develop rice varieties resistant to sheath blight disease.
- Sheath Blight disease is a major issue in rice cultivation. It can cause up to 60 per cent reduction in rice yield.
- It is difficult to breed disease resistant rice varieties, as there is lack of natural source of disease resistance.
Source: Down to Earth
