3rd & 4th January 2021 Currents Affairs Analysis - IASToppers
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3rd & 4th January 2021 Currents Affairs Analysis
By IASToppers' Editorial Team | 2021-01-04 17:00:00
Polity & Governance
Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act
Recently, The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has declared entire Nagaland as disturbed area under
the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).
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About Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act
In 1958, AFSPA was passed by the Parliament in the wake of increasing violence in the North-
eastern States, which the State governments found difficult to control.
AFSPA gives armed forces the power to maintain public order in disturbed areas.
At present, it is in forced in the states of-
Assam
Nagaland
Manipur (Except the Imphal municipal area)
Arunachal Pradesh
Only 3 districts- Tirap, Changlang and Longding.
A 20-km belt bordering Assam.
Jammu & Kashmir
What are Disturbed Areas?
The state or central government considers those areas as disturbed- by reason of differences
or disputes between members of different religious, racial, language or regional groups or
castes or communities.
AFSPA empowers the Governor of the state or Union territory to issue an official notification to
declare an area as a disturbed area.
The disturbed region has to maintain status quo for a minimum of three months, according to
The Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) Act, 1976.
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Authority to armed forces in disturbed areas
Prohibit a gathering of five or more persons in an area.
Use force or even open fire after giving due warning.
Arrest a person and to enter or search premises without a warrant in case of reasonable
suspicion exists.
Ban the possession of firearms.
[Ref- The Hindu]
Government Schemes & Initiatives
Assistance to Disabled persons for purchasing / fitting of aids / appliances (ADIP)
scheme
Minister of for Social Justice and Empowerment of Punjab recently e-inaugurated a Distribution camp
for free distribution of Aids & Assistive devices at Block level.
It was done among the identified Senior citizens under Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana (RVY) and
Divyangjans under ADIP Scheme of Government of India.
Aim:
To empower them and bring them into the main stream of the society.
Spreading the awareness about the welfare schemes run by central government for Divyangjan.
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Status of disability in India:
After implementation of Rights to Persons with Disabilities 2016:
The categories for disability has increased from for 7 to 21.
Increased reservation for Divyangjan in government jobs from 3% to 4%.
Reservation in higher education is increased to 5%.
Assistance to Disabled persons for purchasing / fitting of aids / appliances
(ADIP) scheme:
ADIP is a scheme initiated by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of
India.
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Objectives:
Assist the needy disabled persons in procuring durable, sophisticated and scientifically
manufactured, modern, standard aids and appliances.
To promote their physical, social and psychological rehabilitation, by reducing the effects of
disabilities and enhance their economic potential.
Features:
The aids and appliances supplied under the Scheme shall conform to Bureau of Indian
Standards (BIS) specifications to the extent possible.
The scheme is implemented through implementing agencies such as the NGOs, National
Institutes under this Ministry and ALIMCO (a PSU).
Quantum of assistance and income limit under the ADIP scheme:
[Ref: PIB]
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Environment, Ecology & Disaster Management
Community fishing banned at Assam Ramsar site
The Kamrup (Metropolitan) District Administration has prohibited community fishing at Deepor Beel in
Guwahati, Assam.
Reason: To prevent mass fishing in the Deepor Beel. Mass fishing is illegal under the Wildlife
(Protection) Act, 1972.
Moreover, it is also losing connectivity with small rivers like Kalmoni, Khonajan and
Basistha that used to flow via the river Mora Bharalu channel through Guwahati.
About Deepor Beel:
It is a permanent freshwater lake.
It is located in Guwahati, Assam.
It is also recognized as a wetland under the Ramsar Convention.
It is Assam’s only Ramsar site.
Significance of the wetland:
The Deepor Beel wetland is a source of livelihood for fourteen indigenous villages.
Freshwater fish is a vital protein and a source of income for the community.
Flora: Giant water lily, Water hyacinth; aquatic grass
Fauna: Beel; Spot-billed pelican; Lesser adjutant stork; Baer’s pochard; Pallas’ sea eagle;
Greater adjutant stork; Siberian crane
Bird Life International has declared Deepor Beel as an Important Bird Area (IBA) with high
priority for conservation.
About Ramsar Convention:
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It was signed in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran.
It came into force in 1975. In India, it came into force on 1st February, 1982.
It is one of the oldest inter-governmental accord for preserving the ecological character of
wetlands.
It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands.
A wetland is a place where the land is covered by water, either salt, fresh or somewhere in
between.
Aim: to develop and maintain an international network of wetlands which are important for the
conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the maintenance of
their ecosystem components, processes and benefits.
India has 41 wetlands, the highest in South Asia, in the list of recognized sites of international
importance under the treaty of Ramsar Convention.
Wetlands declared as Ramsar sites are protected under strict guidelines of the convention.
Over 170 countries are party to the Ramsar Convention.
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[Ref: The Hindu]
Bilateral & International Relations
India set to begin its two-year tenure as non-permanent member of UNSC
India will begin its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council
(UNSC) on January 1.
Why in news?
India will sit as non-permanent member in UNSC for the eighth time.
On January 1, India, Norway, Kenya, Ireland and Mexico will join non-permanent members
Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam and the five permanent
members China, France, Russia, U.K. and the U.S.
India will be UNSC President in August 2021 and will preside over the council again for a month
in 2022.
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India’s agenda at UNSC:
India will promote diversity at United Nations (UN).
It will emphasise on a greater need for cooperation in the council.
It will try to reinforce multilateralism.
India’s priorities:
Terrorism
Peacekeeping
Maritime security
Reformed multilateralism
Technology
Women, youth and developmental issues
India will promote UNSC reforms.
United Nations Security Council (UNSC):
What: A premier global body for maintaining international peace and security,
Objective:
Impose binding obligations on the 193 UN member states to maintain peace.
Assesses threats to international security, addressing issues that include civil wars,
natural disasters, arms control, and terrorism.
Organisation:
The UNSC held its first session on 17 January 1946 at London. Since its first meeting, It
has taken permanent residence at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
It also travelled to many cities, holding sessions in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1972, in
Panama City, Panama, and in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1990.
Structure:
In its initial form, the SC was formed of 11 members, among them 5 permanent ones
and 6 non-permanent ones.
In 1963 the Charter of the United Nations (UN) has been amended in order to allow an
increase of the number of non-permanent members from 6 to 10.
The five permanent members—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the
United States—collectively known as the P5. Any one of them can veto a resolution.
The council’s ten elected members, which serve two-year, non-consecutive terms, are
not afforded veto power.
[Ref: The Hindu]
The UK-Spain pact that saves Gibraltar from a hard Brexit
Spain has struck a deal with the UK to maintain free movement to and from Gibraltar .
Gibraltar, being a strategic area, has been the subject of intense dispute between Spain and
Britain for centuries.
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The status of Gibraltar:
Gibraltar is a small portion of land on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula that Britain
controls but Spain claims as its own.
It is connected to Spain by a small strip of land and surrounded by sea on three sides.
It is the only opening from the Atlantic Ocean into the Mediterranean Sea, making it a key
location on the shortest sea route between Europe and Asia via the Suez Canal.
Gibraltar fell into British hands after a war in 1713, and has since remained with Britain despite
several attempts by Spain to retake it.
When Britain joined the EU in 1973, Gibraltar was a “crown colony”, but was reclassified as a
British Overseas Territory in 2002.
Currently, the territory is self-governing in all aspects, except for defence and foreign policy,
which are managed by London, and Gibraltarians have British citizenship.
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The Spain-UK post-Brexit deal:
Free movement of vessels will now continue, as Gibraltar is being placed in the Schengen area,
with Spain acting as a guarantor.
The Schengen passport-free zone includes 22 countries from the EU, and four others –Norway,
Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The UK has never been a part of this zone.
The EU will now place Frontex border guards for the next four years to ensure free movement
to and from Gibraltar, and the territory’s port and airport would become the external borders of the
Schengen area.
Although the deal covers free movement, it does not address the sovereignty dispute between
Spain and the UK.
[Ref: Indian Express]
Geophysical phenomenon
Deaths due to lightning strikes dip by 37%
According to a report published by the Climate Resilient Observing Systems Promotion Council
(CROPC), the number of deaths due to lightening reduced to 1,771 from 2,800 between April 1, 2018 to
March 31, 2019.
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The report pointed out several loopholes in the government’s approach towards the problem
while praising certain measures taken by the authorities.
Highlights of the report:
According to the report, lightning-linked fatalities formed 33% of total deaths in natural
disasters, according to data for the corresponding period in 2019-20.
More than 60% of deaths in lightning incidents in 2019-20 were reported from Uttar Pradesh
(293), Madhya Pradesh (248), Bihar (221), Odisha (200) and Jharkhand (172).
Odisha saw over 11.20 lakh lightning strikes but only 200 casualties.
During Cyclone Fani, the state saw more than one lakh intense lightning strikes on May
3 and May 4 in 2019.
Odisha had zero casualty, mainly due to all 891 cyclone shelters being fitted with
Lightning Arresters.
What is lightning?
Lightning is a very rapid and massive discharge of electricity in the atmosphere, some of
which is directed towards the Earth’s surface.
These discharges are generated in giant moisture-bearing clouds that are 10-12 km tall.
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How dangerous is lightning?
Lightning is the biggest contributor to accidental deaths due to natural causes, but the least
Studied atmospheric phenomena in the country.
Several thousand thunderstorms occur over India every year and each can involve several —
sometimes more than a hundred — lightning strikes.
Indian Institute of Tropical Management (IITM) Pune, works full-time on thunderstorms and
lightning.
How does a Lightning strike?
The moisture-bearing clouds where lightning generates are 10-12 km tall. The base of these
clouds lies within 1-2 km of the Earth’s surface while their top is 12-13 km away.
Temperatures towards the top of these clouds are in the range of minus 35 to minus 45
degrees Celsius.
As water vapour moves upward in the cloud, the falling temperature causes it to condense
and heat is generated in the process, which pushes the molecules of water further up.
As the water vapour moves to temperatures below zero degrees Celsius, the water droplets
change into small ice crystals.
The water vapour continue to move up, gathering mass — until they are so heavy that they start to
fall to Earth.
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This leads to a system in which, simultaneously, smaller ice crystals are moving up and
bigger crystals are coming down.
Thus as a result of collisions, the electrons are released, the moving free electrons cause more
collisions and more electrons, and a chain reaction starts.
Formation of an Electrical Potential Difference:
As a result of the process, 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.
An enormous amount of heat is produced, and this leads to the heating of the air column
between the two layers of the cloud.
As the heated air column expands, it produces shock waves that result in thunder.
How does this current reach the Earth from the cloud?
The Earth is a good conductor of electricity but 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.
Need for scientific approach:
The report points out the need to have improved forecasting systems and lightning protection
devices in place to avoid casualties.
It also stresses the need to notify these fatalities as a disaster in order to have a more
comprehensive approach across states.
[Ref: The Indian Express]
Science & Technology
Six space missions to look forward to in 2021.
Various space agencies around the world have planned 6 major six space missions in 2021.
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About Artemis 1
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Artemis 1 is the first flight of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-led,
International Artemis Program to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024.
It will consist of an un-crewed Orion spacecraft that will reach the farthest distance into
space with human transportation facility.
The mission is aimed to-
Help to evaluate how the spacecraft performs in deep space.
Serve as a precursor to later crewed lunar missions.
Mars Missions
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By United Arab Emirates
The Arab world’s first, the Al Amal (Hope) spacecraft is scheduled to arrive in Mars
orbit.
It will spend two years monitoring the Martian weather and disappearing atmosphere.
By China
The Tianwen-1 mission to Mars consists of an orbiter and a surface rover.
Successful landing on Mars surface will make China the 3rd country to land anything on
Mars surface.
It has several objectives including-
Mapping the mineral composition of the surface.
Searching for sub-surface water deposits.
By United States
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Perseverance rover
will land at Jezero Crater and search for any signs of ancient life which may have been
preserved in the clay deposits there.
It will store a cache of Martian surface samples on board and will return samples of
Mars to Earth.
Chandrayaan-3
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to launch its third lunar mission.
It will consist of only a lander and rover.
It is planned to touch down in the lunar south pole’s Aitken basin, with an aim to find deposits
of subsurface water ice.
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James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope and will
be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket.
It has a bigger mirror of 6.5-metre diameter for improving image resolution and seeing finer
detail on the infrared wavelength band to observe really distant objects in the space.
Mission:
The primary mission is look at light from galaxies at the edge of the universe to get information
about how the first stars, galaxies and planetary systems formed.
Also include some information about the origin of life
Imaging exoplanet atmospheres in high detail.
[Ref- Down to Earth]
Key Facts for Prelims
Mannathu Padmanabha Pillai
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Mannathu Padmanabhan was a social reformer and a freedom fighter from the state of Kerala.
He is recognized as the founder of the Nair Service Society (NSS), which claims to represent the
Nair community.
He fought for social equality, the first phase being the Vaikom Satyagraha, demanding the
public roads near the temple at Vaikom be opened to low caste Hindus.
He revived the old concept of village societies, the Karayogams, which practically set the tenor of
family and village life.
In 1959, he led a united opposition against the State Communist Ministry, which became known as
the Vimochana Samaram (liberation struggle). The cause of the Vimochana Samaram was the
introduction of an Education Bill by the Minister of Education.
[Ref: PIB]
Police K-9 Cell
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A special ‘Police K9 Cell’ for police dogs was established in November 2019 under the Police
Modernization Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Mandate: Mainstreaming and Augmentation of Police Service Canines (K9s) in India.
Canines can be used effectively to detect drugs and in the fight against terrorism.
[Ref: PIB]
National Metrology Conclave 2021
National Metrology Conclave 2021 is being organised by Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL), New Delhi.
It is entering into its 75th year of inception.
The theme of the conclave is ‘Metrology for the Inclusive Growth of the Nation’.
About the National Metrology Conclave:
The main focus of the conclave is to strengthen the role of precision measurements in various
segments which has a direct implication in the economic growth of the county.
Metrology plays a vital role for the development of technology, industries, quality
products, economy, trade and sustainable society.
The recent advancement in various fields have put pressing demands on “National Metrology
Institutes (NMIs)” for the realization of the standards of physical and chemical measurements
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with highest level of accuracies and traceability to the International System (SI) of units.
It would mainly focus on establishment & development of Primary Standards, Quality Systems
& Standardization, Accreditation & Conformity Assessment, Regulations & Legal
Metrology, Education & Awareness, etc.
Objective of Advances in Metrology (AdMet):
To provide a healthy platform for metrologists, technocrats, researchers and students of
various NMI’s, laboratories & institutions.
To participate and share their knowledge & experience, identify thrust R&D areas and foster
collaborations with the fellow scientists from all over the world.
Bharatiya Nirdeshak Dravya (BND):
CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, India (NPLI) is committed to ensure the quality of
products in every manufacturing and consumer sector by providing International System
of Units (SI), traceable measurements and enhancing quality life of citizens through
metrology.
NPLI has recently released two very important certified Reference Materials (RMs) as Bharatiya
Nirdeshak Dravyas (BNDs).
NPLI has started Certified Indian Reference Material program around 1986 and more than 31
certified reference materials are already in the market.
Recently, the Govt. of India has supported NPLI to strengthen its BND program by developing
BNDs in the area of AYUSH, Materials, Nanotechnology, Medicine, Food & Agriculture and
Biologics.
[Ref: PIB]
January Perihelion
On January 2, 2021, Earth was closer to the sun in its elliptical orbit, marking an annual event known as
perihelion.
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About ‘Perihelion’:
Earth's orbit is not a perfect circle, meaning sometimes the planet is a bit closer to our star, and
sometimes it is farther away.
Commonly it is believed that the distance of the earth from the sun decides the season or
temperature on the earth. But this is not true.
The axial tilt (approx. 23.5 degrees) of the earth on its axis while revolving around the Sun
regulates seasons on the earth with one of the hemispheres facing away or towards the Sun.
So, while the earth is closest to Sun this time in January, it is winter in India and countries in
Northern Hemisphere, it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
Perihelion also marks the moment when the Earth is moving at its fastest in its orbit around the
sun.
[Ref: Earthsky.org]
Woolly Rhino from the Ice Age found in Russia
A well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino with many of its internal organs still intact has been recovered
from permafrost in Russia's extreme north (Yakutia).
The animal was discovered on the bank of the Tirekhtyakh river in the Abyisk district in Yakutia.
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Woolly Rhino:
It is an extinct species of rhinoceros that was common throughout Europe and Northern Asia
during the Pleistocene epoch and survived until the end of the last glacial period.
It was covered with long, thick hair that allowed it to survive in the extremely cold, harsh
mammoth steppe.
It had a massive hump reaching from its shoulder and fed mainly on herbaceous plants that
grew in the steppe.
It weighs around 1800-2700 kg.
Both the sexes had two horns.
Front horn was longer than the back horn.
Pleistocene Epoch:
A time period that began about 2.6 million years ago and lasted until about 11,700 years
ago.
The most recent Ice Age occurred then, as glaciers covered huge parts of the planet Earth.
The Pleistocene Epoch is the first in which Homo sapiens evolved, and by the end of the
epoch humans could be found in nearly every part of the planet.
It was followed by the current stage, called the Holocene Epoch.
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[Ref: The Hindu]
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