Marine Cloud Brightening
Australia’s Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program is exploring whether cloud brightening could reduce coral bleaching.
- Cloud brightening is a phenomenon that occurs when aerosols are injected into clouds by natural events such as volcanic eruptions.
- Marine Cloud Brightening – Also called as cloud whitening or cloud brightening, it was originally proposed by John Latham in 1990 to control global warming by altering Earth’s energy balance.
- It is a solar geo-engineering technique that involves spraying sea salt into low-lying clouds to increase the reflectance of cloud cover that will reduce the amount of incoming solar radiation striking the surface.
- Spraying large quantities of microscopic seawater droplets will create extra droplets and make the cloud brighter.
- Sea salt scatters light directly and provides additional shade.
- Significance – It is a way to shield parts of ocean (absorbs approximately 93% of incident solar radiation) from extreme heat.
- Modelling studies suggest that it could delay the expected decline in coral cover.
- It will be short-lived and reversible as sprayed particles persist in the atmosphere for few days.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates humanity’s unintentional release of aerosols offsets around 30% of the warming effect due to greenhouse gases.
References
- The Hindu| Marine Cloud Brightening
TV- D1 Mission
ISRO is set to launch its first-ever test flight, TV-D1, for the Gaganyaan mission, marking a pivotal moment in India's pursuit of human spaceflight.
- Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1) is an abort test that will evaluate the crew module's readiness for the Gaganyaan mission.
- TV- D1 features a single-stage rocket powered by liquid propellants for this mission.
- It carries payloads including the
- Crew Module (CM)- It will take the crew to the space which is under development and is being tested.
- Crew Escape System (CES)- In case of any damage to the rocket, the crew will have to be taken away from the rocket and saved.
- This flight simulation replicates an abort condition during the ascent trajectory, corresponding to a Mach number of 1.2, mirroring conditions in the Gaganyaan mission.
Gaganyaan envisages demonstration of human spaceflight capability to an orbit of 400 km for a 3 days mission and bring them back safely to earth, by landing in Indian sea waters.
Other Modules of Gaganyaan Mission
- ECLSS - Environmental control and life support systems will be used for controlling the temperature, oxygen, wastage process, vibration, fire hazards and many other things.
- IVHMS - Integrated Vehicle Health Management System will sense an imminent failure and take abort action autonomously.
References
- The Hindu| TV-D1 Mission
The National Programme on AI (NPAI)
7 working groups of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had submitted the 1st edition of IndiaAI report.
- Umbrella programme by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)
- Aim - For leveraging transformative technologies to foster inclusion, innovation, and adoption for social impact
- Content repository for NPAI - INDIAai (The National AI Portal of India)
- Components
- India Datasets Platform - It will be one of the largest collections of anonymized datasets that will be used by Indian researchers to train their multi parameter models.
- India AI Compute Platform- It is a public-private partnership project that will create substantial GPU (Graphics processing unit) capacity for our startups and researchers.
- India AI will also support the development of AI chips in partnership with the Semicon India program.
INDIAai portal is an initiative of MeitY, National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM)
Reference
- PIB| IndiaAI Report
Election Seizure Management System (ESMS)
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has developed Election Seizure Management System (ESMS) for real-time updates.
- A tech platform for real-time updates on seizures from the field by state and central enforcement agencies.
- Objective - To check the flow of illegal cash, drugs and freebies such as sarees, liquor etc. thereby ensuring free and fair elections
- Features –It ensures seamless coordination and intelligence sharing amongst enforcement agencies.
- It will be used for the 1st time during the State Assembly Elections that are scheduled for November 2023 in the 5 states of Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana.
- It will also monitor action taken by Central and State enforcement agencies against such offences.
- Nodal agencies – State nodal officers, District nodal officers and flying squad teams.
Formed on 25th January 1950, ECI is a 3-member constitutional autonomous body to conduct and regulate elections to the offices of the President and Vice-President of India, Parliament, State Legislative Assemblies and Legislative Councils.
Use of technology in Indian elections
- cVIGIL Application – For filing Model Code of Conduct Violation)
- Suvidha Portal – For online nomination, permission etc for political parties and candidates.
- GARUDA – Geographical Asset Reconnaissance Unified Digital App helps in coordination between Booth Level officers (BLOs).
- Linking of Aadhaar with voter ID
- ETPBS – Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System enables the entitled service voters to cast their vote.
- A voter verification system that uses biometric software, such as facial recognition.
Reference
- Financial Express| ESMS
Ethics Committee in Parliament
Recently, Lok Sabha speaker has referred a complaint against sitting Member of Parliament (MP) to the House Ethics Committee.
- Each house of the parliament have their own ethics committee.
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Rajya Sabha
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Lok Sabha
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Constitution
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1997
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2000
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Composition
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10 members including chairman
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15 members including chairman
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Appointment
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Nominated by Rajya Sabha Chairman
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Nominated by Lok Sabha Speaker
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Term
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Not exceeding 1 year
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Not exceeding 1 year
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- Functions of Ethics Committee
- To oversee the moral and ethical conduct of the Members of Parliament.
- To examine the cases referred to it (by Speaker in LS and by Chairman in RS) with reference to ethical and other misconduct of Members.
- To formulate a code of conduct for members and suggest amendments to the code of conduct from time to time.
- To tender advice to members on questions involving ethical standards either suo motu or on receiving specific requests
- Complaints of ethics – Any person can make a complaint or the committee may also take up matters suo motu.
- It may be for alleged unethical behaviour or breach of Code of Conduct by a member or alleged incorrect information.
- Punishment for malpractice – Committee can recommend imposition of one or more of the sanctions like censure, reprimand, and suspension for a specific period.
In the case of the Ethics Committee, only an MP can be examined for misconduct whereas both MPs and non- MPs can be accused of breach of privilege by the Privileges Committee.
References
- Indian Express| Referral of complaint to Ethics Committee
- Lok Sabha| Ethics Committee in Parliament
Other Important News
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Ayurveda Day
- Celebrated on November 10 since 2016 as a mark of respect to Lord Dhanvantari, God of Ayurveda.
- 2023 Theme – “Ayurveda for One Health” with tag line ‘Ayurveda for everyone on every day’
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Yashasvini
- Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF’s) all women motorcycle cross-country expedition.
- Starts from Srinagar, Shillong, and Kanyakumari and will converge at the Statue of Unity in Kevadia, Gujarat.
- Organised by - CRPF with the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
- Objective - To spread the message of Nari Shakti, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, unity, integrity and women empowerment.
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WHO’s Southeast Asia Regional Office (SEARO)
- SEARO is one of the 6 WHO Regions and its establishment was approved at the 1st World Health Assembly in 1948.
- It has 11 Member States - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste.
- It is based in New Delhi and has 8 flagship priorities.
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Apna Chandrayaan
- It is a webportal launched by the Ministry of Education.
- It has activity-based support material such as quiz , puzzles, etc for school students on Mission Chandrayaan-3.
- It was developed by NCERT under the aegis of the Department of School Education & Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education.
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Balfour Declaration
- The Declaration was a public statement issued in 1917 by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community.
- The statement, for the first time, promised British support for a “Jewish national home” in Palestine, at the time a British Mandate.
- It went on to be the basis of the creation of Israel, 30 years later.
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