Daily Current Affairs MCQ - Feb 9, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

DRDO signed an MoU with Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru for creation of JATP–Center of Excellence (JATP – CoE) in the premises of IISc to expand the scope and objective of existing Joint Advanced Technology Program.

• The JATP-CoE located in the campus of IISc, Bengaluru will enable Directed Basic & Applied Research and engage with premier research institutes through multi-disciplinary & multi-institutional collaboration.
• The focused research efforts at the centre will lead to the realization of indigenous technologies in the critical areas to develop state of art technologies.
• As per the MoU, DRDO will support JATP in equipping it with advanced and unique research facilities that will enable the faculty and scholars to conduct advanced research. DRDO will facilitate advanced research to utilize technology outcome in the futuristic applications.
• JATP was created by President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam in 1983 (while leading IGMDP program), where the DRDO scientists actively collaborated with the faculty of IISc to work on various missile technologies.
   

Minister of Culture and Tourism informed Parliament about the Measures taken by the Government to preserve and promote India's traditional cultural heritage.

• The Ministry of Culture formulated a scheme titled “Scheme for Safeguarding the Intangible Heritage and Diverse Cultural Traditions of India” to promote the rich Intangible Cultural Heritage of India.

• India has successfully inscribed 13 Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) elements in the UNESCO Representative list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity under the 2003 Convention.

• As the first step towards making a National Inventory of ICH, the Ministry of Culture (MoC) has put up a list in April 2020 on its website called “National list for ICH”.

• The National list of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of India is an attempt to recognize the diversity of Indian Culture embedded in its Intangible Heritage.

Following UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, this list has been classified into five broad domains in which Intangible Cultural Heritage is manifested:

1. Oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

2. Performing Arts

3. Social practices, Rituals and Festive events

4. Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the Universe

5. Traditional Craftsmanship

The U.S. announced plans to reengage with the much-maligned UN Human Rights Council that former President Donald Trump withdrew from almost three years ago.

• The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system.

• Location: It meets at the UN Office at Geneva.

• Establishment: It was founded in 2006. It replaced the former United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) that had been strongly criticised for allowing countries with poor human rights records to be members.

Functions:

• It investigates allegations of breaches of human rights in UN member states.

• It also addresses important thematic human rights issues such as freedom of expression, women's rights, LGBT rights, and racial and ethnic minorities' rights.

• The UNHRC works closely with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Membership:

• The Council is made of 47 Member States, which the UN General Assembly elects. The Council's Membership is based on equitable geographical distribution.

• Members of the Council serve for a period of three years and are not eligible for immediate re-election after serving two consecutive terms.

• India has been elected to the UNHRC for a period of three years beginning January 1, 2019. India had previously been elected to the UNHRC for the 2011-2014 and 2014-2017 terms.

A glacier break is suspected to have caused the flash floods in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli.

• When glaciers melt, the water in glacial lakes accumulates behind loose, natural “glacial/moraine dams” made of ice, sand, pebbles and ice residue.

• A GLOF refers to the flooding that occurs when the water dammed by a glacier or a moraine is released suddenly.

• Unlike earthen dams, the weak structure of the moraine dam leads to the abrupt failure of the dam on top of the glacial lake, which holds a large volume of water.

• A failure of the dam has the potential of releasing millions of cubic metres of water in a short period, causing catastrophic flooding downstream.

Reasons

• Glacial retreat due to climate change occurring in most parts of the Hindu Kush Himalaya has given rise to the formation of numerous new glacial lakes, which are the major cause of GLOFs.

• An “Inventory and Monitoring of Glacial Lakes / Water Bodies in the Himalayan Region of Indian River Basins” found that there are 352, 283 and 1,393 glacial lakes and water bodies in the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra basins respectively.

Recommendation

• NDMA has recommended the use of Synthetic-Aperture Radar imagery to automatically detect changes in water bodies, including new lake formations, during the monsoon months.

A team of scientists at the Berkeley Lab has reported some of the properties of element 99 in the periodic table called “Einsteinium”, named after Albert Einstein.

• With this new study published in the journal Nature last week, researchers have been able to characterise some of the properties of the element for the first time.

• It was discovered in 1952 in the debris of the first hydrogen bomb (the detonation of a thermonuclear device called “Ivy Mike” in the Pacific Ocean).

• The most common isotope of the element, einsteinium 253 has a half-life of 20 days.

• Because of its high radioactivity and short half-life of all einsteinium isotopes, even if the element was present on Earth during its formation, it has most certainly decayed.

• This is the reason that it cannot be found in nature and needs to be manufactured using very precise and intense processes.

A chameleon discovered in the island country of Madagascar by scientists from Germany and Madagascar may be the world’s smallest adult reptile. The discovery has been reported in the journal Scientific Reports.

• The team found one male and one female of the species, named Brookesia nana, during an expedition in 2012. The male has a length (snout to vent) of 13.5 mm and a total length of 21.6 mm when the tail is included.

• Previously, the chameleon species Brookesia micra was thought to be the smallest. The average length of adults of this species is 16 mm (29 mm with tail), while the smallest adult male has been recorded at 15.3 mm.

• Reptiles come in a wide size range. The longest, the reticulated python, at 6.25 m is almost as long as 289 Brookesia nanas.

• Madagascar is home to tiny lizards and also the smallest species of snakes. One possible reason for such small species is the so-called “island effect” that causes species on small islands to get smaller.

Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Gabon is lying on the west coast of Africa.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to the historic “martyr” town of Dhekiajuli in Assam, to lay the foundation stone for two medical colleges and launch a road and highway project.

• Dhekiajuli is associated with the Quit India Movement of 1942

• Dhekiajuli was home to possibly the youngest martyr of the Indian freedom struggle.

• On September 20, 1942, as part of the Quit India movement, processions of freedom fighters marched to various police stations across several towns in Assam.

• These squads, which were known as ‘Mrityu Bahini’, or death squads, had wide participation — including women and children — and set out to unfurl the tricolour atop police stations, seen as symbols of colonial power.

• The British administration came down heavily on them. In Dhekiajuli, at least 15 people were shot dead, three of them women, including the 12-year-old Tileswari Barua.

• September 20 has for long been observed as Martyrs’ Day in Dhekiajuli town.

• Recently, the Dhekiajuli police station was accorded heritage status and restored by the Assam government.

In a development that could ratchet up tensions between the United States and Germany, the consortium building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has said that it has resumed work on the controversial project.

• In 2015, Gazprom and 5 other European energy firms decided to build Nord Stream 2, valued at around $11 billion.

• The 1,200 km pipeline will run from Ust-Luga in Russia to Greifswald in Germany and carry 55 billion cubic metres of gas per year.

• The under-construction pipeline will run along with the already-completed Nord Stream 1 system, and the two together will supply an aggregate of 110 billion cubic metres of gas to Germany per year.

• The pipeline falls in German and Danish territory, and all but 150 km of pipes for the project have already been laid.

• Nord Stream 2 has drawn criticism from the US, where it is believed that the project would increase Europe’s dependence on Russia for natural gas, thus boldening its President Vladimir Putin. Currently, EU countries already rely on Russia for 40% of their gas needs.

Government of India informed Parliament about the initiatives to Promote Farm Mechanization.

• A special dedicated scheme ‘Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM)’ has been introduced by Government of India in 2014-15.

• The scheme aims to make farm machines accessible and affordable for the small and marginal farmers (SMFs) by establishing Custom Hiring Centers(CHCs) , creating Hubs for hi-tech & high-value farm equipment and Farm Machinery Banks.

• Distribution of various subsidized agricultural equipment and machines to individual farmers is also one of the scheme's activities.

• For 2021-22 Rs. 1050 crore budget has been allocated for SMAM which is more than the previous year.

• Agricultural mechanization is crucial in the agriculture sector as it contributes to improving the efficiency and effectivity of the inputs used in crop production, thereby increasing the productivity of crops. This also reduces drudgery associated with various farm operations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the World Sustainable Development Summit 2021 on 10th February.

• The Summit's theme is ‘Redefining our common future: Safe and secure environment for all’.

• It is the 20th edition of The Energy and Resources Institute’s (TERI) flagship event

• The Summit will bring together a wide number of governments, business leaders, academicians, climate scientists, youth, and the civil society in the fight against climate change.

• India’s Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Ministry of Earth Sciences are key partners of the Summit.