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UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 30-11-2020

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November 30, 2020

National Maritime Domain Awareness Centre

  • Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) will become a National Maritime Domain Awareness (NDMA) centre.
  • IMAC will become a multi-agency centre with the presence of stakeholders in NDMA.
  • Approved by the Defence Acquisition Council in 2012, IMAC became operational in 2014.
  • It is the nodal agency for maritime data fusion set up after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
  • Located in Gurugram, IMAC tracks vessels on the high seas.
  • It gets data from the coastal radars, white shipping agreements, Automatic Identification Systems transponders fitted on merchant ships, air and traffic management system and global shipping databases.
  • It is the nodal centre of the National Command Control Communication and Intelligence System (NC3I).

Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT)

  • GMRT has been awarded with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) status for its novel engineering, advanced technology and scientific contributions made in the field of radio astronomy.
  • Pune-based GMRT is an array of 30 antennas positioned in a ‘Y’ fashion.
  • Operated by the TIFR – National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), it was the brainchild of late Govind Swarup.
  • Extensively used for studying the universe in low frequency since 2000, the telescope has been instrumental in many path-breaking discoveries.
  • Recently, the facility underwent its first upgrade that allows researchers to see much deeper into the universe.
  • Demonstration of generation and reception of radio waves by J C Bose (1895) and the discovery of the Raman Effect by C V Raman (1928) have been the only IEEE milestone winners from India, till date.

IEEE

  • IEEE is the world’s largest technical body publishing research from the fields of engineering and computing.
  • Also, it awards standards to institutions and organisations involved in these fields.
  • It considers an institution for the milestone on the basis of engineering, science, and computational facilities it offers for not less than 25 years.

Sea Sparkle Bloom in Karnataka

  • The bloom of Noctiluca Scintillans, known as “sea sparkle” has been witnessed in the Karnataka coast for about a month.
  • The bioluminescent green dinoflagellate N. Scintillans also brightened the sea water during night.
  • It has displaced microscopic algae called diatoms (basis of the marine food chain), which has deprived food for the planktivorous fish.
  • The species was found to accumulate toxic levels of ammonia.
  • It is then excreted into the surrounding waters, possibly acting as the killing agent in blooms.
  • N. Scintillans acts as both a plant and an animal.
    1. It grazes on other micro-organisms such as larvae, fish eggs, and diatoms.
    2. The phytoplankton that live inside it can photosynthesise, turning sunlight into energy.
  • To know more about bioluminescence, click here.

Disqualification of MLA

  • India’s first Member of Parliament to have been disqualified from the Lok Sabha has now been disqualified as an MLA in Mizoram.
  • Lalduhoma was a retired IPS officer who was in charge of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s security.
  • In 1988, he became the first MP to have been disqualified under the Anti-Defection Law for giving up membership of the Congress (I).
  • Now, Mizoram Assembly Speaker debarred Lalduhoma from the House.
  • Disqualification was on the ground that he had declared himself as a representative of a party despite being elected as an independent candidate.

SilverLine

  • Kerala has informed NITI Aayog that the semi high-speed rail SilverLine from Kochuveli (Tirvandrum) to Kasaragod is viable and feasible.
  • Terming the cost realistic, it said 70% of alignment traversed “at grade” compared with the 100% alignment via viaduct and tunnels of other projects.
  • By going for “at grade” alignment instead of the initial proposal of an elevated corridor, the cost had been brought down.
  • On NITI Aayog’s concern over cost of land acquisition and displacement, the government said costlier and built-up areas had been avoided.
  • The process of granting administrative sanction for land acquisition had commenced.
  • Maximum possible revenue generation would be explored and modes adopted by the Kochi Metro would be looked into.
  • The government submitted that the project was self-sustainable.

 

Source: The Hindu, The Indian Express

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