UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 25-05-2020

Domicile Regulations in J&K

• Domicile - The country that a person treats as their permanent home, or lives in and has a substantial connection with.

• In colloquial sense it is a place where one make their permanent home and where one is considered to be a permanent resident. An example of one’s domicile is the home state where one live.

• In March 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Adaptation of State Laws) Order.
• Through the order, the MHA amended 109 laws and repealed 29 laws of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir.
• The MHA amended a 2010 legislation, the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Decentralization and Recruitment Act), by substituting the term “permanent residents” with “domiciles of UT [Union Territory] of J&K.”
• The 2010 Act pertained to employment in the Civil Services comprising “district, divisional and State” cadre posts.
• Earlier, only permanent residents of J&K were eligible to apply for gazetted and non-gazetted posts.
• The domicile rules as defined under the amended order will determine recruitment to all government posts in J&K from now on.
• The order defines domiciles as anyone “who has resided for a period of 15 years in the UT of J&K or has studied for a period of seven years and appeared in Class 10th/12th examination in an educational institution located in the UT of J&K or who is registered as a migrant by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrants)”.
• It said that children of central government officials including the all India services, public sector units, autonomous body of Centre, Public Sector Banks, officials of statutory bodies, central universities and recognized research institutes of the Centre who have served in J&K for a “total period of 10 years” will be domiciles.
• The domicile status also applies to “children of such residents of J&K who reside outside J&K in connection with their employment or business or other professional or vocational reasons but their parents should fulfil any of the conditions provided”.
• It will allow West Pakistan refugees and children of women who married non-locals to apply for jobs in J&K.
• The power to issue domicile certificates has been vested in the tehsildar (revenue officer).
• J&K administration notified the J&K grant of domicile certificate procedure rules, 2020 to issue the certificates within 15 days, saying the officer not able to do so will be penalised ₹50,000 of his or her salary.
• Residents of J&K who live outside the erstwhile State can get domicile certificates by simply producing their Permanent Residence Certificate (PRC), ration card copy, voter card or any other valid document.
• Those migrants not registered with the Relief and Rehabilitation department can do so by providing documents such as electoral rolls of 1988, proof of registration as a migrant in any State in the country or any other valid document.
• There is a provision to get the certificate online too.

Shahi Lichi

• Shahi litchi is unique fruit from Bihar, due to attractive appearance and delicious pearly white aril.
• Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Samastipur, Champaran, Begusarai districts and adjoining areas of Bihar have favourable climate for this fruit.
• Shahi litchi, katarni rice, Zardalu/jardalu mango and magahi paan (betel vine) are food items from the state of Bihar which has been awarded GI tag.
• Bihar produces 40% of the litchi grown in the country, in which 60% are Shahi litchis.

Zardalu Mango

• "Zardalu Mango/ Jardalu Mango" of Bhagalpur (Bihar) are famous in world by virtue of its unique fragrance.
• This mango variety is known for its light yellow skin, and sweetness.
• Jardalu mango was first planted in Bhagalpur region by Maharaja Rahmat Ali Khan Bahadur of Kharagpur.
• Jardalu mango from Bhagalpur had found a preferred place on the dining tables of different Prime ministers, the Presidents of India, Lok Sabha Speakers, vice-presidents of India and other dignitaries at national and state level.
• Recently department of Posts, Government of India and Department of Horticulture, Government of Bihar have joined hands to supply ''Shahi Lichi'' & "Zardalu Mango" to the people at doorstep. 
• Customers can place order on website "horticulture.bihar.gov.in" online.

Industry status to sports

• Mizoram has a pool of footballers playing for premier clubs across the country.
• The State has also done well in hockey and weightlifting in recent years.
• To tap the potentials of players, Mizoram Cabinet has granted industry status to sports, a move aimed at generating employment.
• Mizoram government seek to invest more in sports for the generation of employment and increasing value.
• The industry status would help the state to meet the requirements of sportspersons and others involved in the sector.
• Sports investors and promoters will benefit from it but the sportspersons will be the ultimate beneficiaries.
• The status would ensure sustainability, proper registration and management of sports.

African Swine Flu

• African Swine Flu is a highly contagious and fatal animal disease that infects and leads to an acute form of hemorrhagic fever in domestic and wild pigs.
• It was first detected in Africa in the 1920s.
• The mortality is close to 100% and since the fever has no cure, the only way to stop its spread is by culling the animals.
• ASF is not a threat to human beings since it only spreads from animals to other animals.
• ASF is a disease listed in the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Terrestrial Animal Health Code and thus, reported to the OIE.

• Due to ASF outbreak, Farm sector has been hit severely across 10 districts of Assam, Along with ASF Assam is also facing widespread of Japanese Encephalitis and Dengue.

Japanese Encephalitis

• Japanese encephalitis is a virus spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes.
• The infection found in Asia and the west Pacific that can cause brain swelling.
• It's more common in rural and agricultural areas.
• Most cases are mild, only 1 in 250 suffer serious illness.
• Rarely, it causes serious brain swelling with a sudden headache, high fever and disorientation.
• Treatment involves supportive care and a vaccine named JEEV or JEVAX is available for the disease.
• No Human to Human transmission is proved in the spread of the disease.

Dengue Fever

• Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus.
• Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection.
• These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash.
• Recovery generally takes two to seven days.
• In a small proportion of cases, the disease develops into severe dengue, also known as dengue hemorrhagic fever, resulting in bleeding, low levels of blood platelets and blood plasma leakage, or into dengue shock syndrome, where dangerously low blood pressure occurs.
• Dengue is spread by several species of female mosquitoes of the Aedes type, principally A. aegypti.
• A vaccine for dengue fever has been approved and is commercially available in a number of countries.
• As of 2018, the vaccine is only recommended in individuals who have been previously infected or, in populations with a high rate of prior infection by age nine.
• Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is recommended instead of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for fever reduction and pain relief in dengue due to an increased risk of bleeding from NSAID use.
• Dengue is classified as a neglected tropical disease.

Puthimari River

• The Puthimari River rises in Assam, India.
• It is a tributary of the Brahmaputra River, the fourth largest in the world.
• The Puthimari is known for its floods and high sediment load.
• Recently it is in news for flooding after Amphan cyclone.

Jia-Bhoreli River

• The Kameng River was previously named Bhareli River, now called Kameng in Arunachal Pradesh and Jia Bhoreli in Assam.
• It originates from the glacial lake below snow-capped Gori Chen mountain in Tawang district on the India-Tibet border in South Tibet.
• It is one of the major tributaries of the Brahmaputra River, joining it at Tezpur, just east of the Kolia Bhomora Setu bridge.
• The Kameng forms the boundary between East Kamemg District and West Kameng Districts and is also the boundary between the Sessa and Eaglenest sanctuaries to its west and the Pakke tiger reserve to the east.
• The Dafla Hills are east and the Aka Hills (home of Aka tribe) are west of the Kameng River.

One in a Million Super- earth

• Researchers have found a new “one in a million” Super-Earth planet towards the genre of the galaxy.
• The new finding states that the size and orbit of this planet are comparable to that of Earth.
• The newly discovered planet is among only a handful of extra-solar planets that have been detected with both sizes and orbits close to that of Earth.
• As per the research, the host star of the new planet is about 10 per cent the mass of our Sun, which in turn makes a ‘year’ on the planet of approximately 617 days.
• Researchers also said that the new planet would have a mass somewhere between the Earth and Neptune, and would orbit at a location between Venus and Earth from the parent star.
• Researchers discovered this using the gravitational microlensing technique.

Gravitational Microlensing Technique

• Gravitational microlensing is an astronomical phenomenon due to the gravitational lens effect.
• It can be used to detect objects that range from the mass of a planet to the mass of a star, regardless of the light they emit.
• Typically, astronomers can only detect bright objects that emit much light (stars) or large objects that block background light (clouds of gas and dust).
• These objects make up only a minor portion of the mass of a galaxy. Microlensing allows the study of objects that emit little or no light.
• In the recent research the combined gravity of the planet and its host star caused the light from a more distant background star to be magnified in a particular way, telescopes distributed around the world were used to measure the light-bending effect.

• The microlensing effect is rare, with only about one in a million stars in the galaxy being affected at any given time, this type of observation does not repeat, and the probabilities of catching a planet at the same time are extremely low.

Botanical Survey of India

• Botanical Survey of India (BSI) was founded in 1890, is Government of India Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change's organization for survey, research and conservation of plant resources, flora and endangered species of India.
• It collects and maintains germplasm and gene bank of endangered, patent and vulnerable plant species.
• Key national survey institutes of India

1. BSI- Botany
2. ASI - Archaeology,
3. FiSI - Fisheries,
4. FSI - Forests,
5. GSI - Geology,
6. IIEE - Ecology,
7. NIO - Oceanography,
8. RGCCI - Population survey and language survey,
9. Survey of India - Cartography
10. ZSI - Zoology.

New Plant species from Western Ghats

• A team of scientists of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) have reported the discovery of three new plant species from the evergreen forest patches of the southern end of the Western Ghats in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• The three new species are

1. Eugenia sphaerocarpa of the Myrtaceae or Rose apple family - is growing in the Kakkayam area of the Malabar wildlife sanctuary, it is a showy lemon-yellow spherical fruit.
2. Goniothalamus sericeus of the Annonaceae family of custard apple - found in the Kanyakumari wildlife sanctuary,TN, It has matre flowers with characteristic greenish-yellow to beige petals are fragrant while the fruits are very showy and an attractive golden yellow in colour.
3. Memecylon nervosum of the Melastomataceae (Kayamboo or Kaasavu in local parlance) - The species has showy purplish-blue flowers and mauve to purplish red fruits.

Source: PIB, the Hindu, Hindustan Times, Indian Express