UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 11-12-2020

India Water Impact Summit

• It is organised by the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (cGanga).
• The summit’s focus is to host multi-country dialogue to build up India's international collaborations in the water sector.
• The primary purpose of this conference is to have comprehensive analysis and review of river rejuvenation and local river.
• The theme of the fifth edition of the summit was based on the concept of "Arth Ganga", river conservation synchronised development.
• The 'Arth Ganga' initiative would economically enhance the villages which are situated near the Ganges.

NB-IoT Network

• Skylotech India has partnered with BSNL to launch a satellite-based narrowband IoT network in India.
• This is the world’s first satellite-based NB-IoT network.
• It will connect with BSNL’s satellite ground infrastructure and provide pan-India coverage, including Indian seas.
• This technology supports the Telecom Department and NITI Aayog’s plan of bringing indigenous IoT connectivity to India’s core sectors.
• It will transform India’s lives and domestic industries like agriculture, railways and fisheries.
• Also, Skylo would help provide critical data for the logistics sector to enable effective distribution of Covid-19 vaccine in 2021.

Aerosols in IGP

• Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) is located south and upwind of the Himalayan foothills.
• A team under the Dept. of Science & Technology Climate Change program has found that high aerosol loading in IGP has increased the high rainfall events in the foothills of the Himalayan Region.
• They have found that the particulate emissions can alter the physical and dynamical properties of cloud systems.
• These alterations, in turn, amplify rainfall events over orographic regions downwind of highly polluted urban areas.
• The team found clear associations between high precipitation events, high aerosol loading, and high moist static energy (MSE) values.
• (MSE of an air mass includes the potential energy due to its height above the ground and the latent heat due to its moisture content).

Beresheet 2

• Israel launched the Beresheet 2 project (Beresheet means "Genesis").
• This project will be made up of three adjacent spacecrafts.
• It aims at landing an unmanned craft on the moon in 2024, after a previous such mission had crashed into the lunar surface.
• The original Beresheet was a spacecraft built by Israeli NGO SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries.
• It had reached the moon in April 2019, but suffered an engine failure as it prepared to land.
• Israel would become the fourth nation to land on the moon, only after Russia, the US and China.

Molnupiravir

• The antiviral drug Molnupiravir, or MK-4482/EIDD-2801, has been shown to stop the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in 24 hours.
• This is the first oral drug to rapidly block SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
• The drug stops replication of the copies of the virus’s RNA in the cell.
• Indian researchers plan to apply to the drug regulator to conduct human trials with the drug.

Emissions Gap Report 2020

• This annual report is released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
• It measures the gap between anticipated emissions and levels consistent with the Paris Agreement goals of limiting global warming this century to well below 2°C and pursuing 1.5°C.
• The year 2020 is on course to be one of the warmest on record, while wildfires, storms and droughts continue to wreak havoc.
• The findings from the report are:
  1. Record high GHG emissions: These emissions continued to grow for the third consecutive year in 2019.
  2. Record carbon emission: Fossil CO2 emissions dominate total GHG emissions and consequently the growth in GHG emissions.
  3. Forest fires increasing GHG emissions: Since 2010, GHG emissions have grown at 1.3% per year on average.
  4. G20 countries: They account for the bulk of emissions.
  5. Slowing GHG emission rate: This is happening. But, GHG emissions are declining in OECD economies and increasing in non-OECD economies.
  6. Consumption-based emissions: Rich countries have higher consumption-based emissions than territorial-based emission.
  7. COVID-19 impact: CO2 emissions could decrease by about 7% in 2020 compared with 2019 levels due to COVID-19.
  8. Other GHGs level: Although CO2 emissions will decrease in 2020, the resulting atmospheric concentrations of major GHGs and nitrous oxide continued to increase in both 2019 and 2020.
  9. Net zero level: 126 countries covering 51% of GHG emissions have net-zero goals that are formally adopted, announced or under consideration.
• Another major UNEP report is Global Environment Outlook.

Source: ANI, Economic Times, PIB, First Post, The Indian Express, Down To Earth