TNPSC Current Affairs May 12, 2020

www.tnpsc.academy – TNPSC Current Affairs May 12, 2020 (12/05/2020)

 

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Topic: Latest diary of Events

Mission Sagar

India has launched Mission Sagar to assist island nations in the Eastern Indian Ocean.

About Mission Sagar:

Mission Sagar has been launched as part of the government’s outreach initiative towards five Island nations in the Indian Ocean amidst the ongoing COVID-19.

Under the mission, Indian Naval Ship Kesari has departed for Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros, to provide food Items, COVID-related medicines including HCQ tablets and special Ayurvedic medicines with medical assistance teams.

Also, as part of the mission, INS Kesari would enter the Port of Male in the Republic of Maldives, to provide them 600 tons of food provisions.

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Topic: India and its Neighbouring Countries

India- China Border dispute

Rekindling tensions over boundary claims, Indian and Chinese troops have clashed at two points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) recently, leaving personnel injured on both sides.

What’s the issue?

The incidents took place in the Naku La sector and in a contested area near Pangong Tso, a lake in Ladakh.

But the Army played down the two incidents as “temporary and short-duration face-offs” that were resolved by “local commanders as per mutually-accepted protocols” through dialogue and flag meetings. These kinds of incidents do occur as boundaries are not resolved.

Where is Naku La?

Naku La sector is a pass at a height of more than 5,000 metres above Mean Sea Level (MSL) in the state of Sikkim. It is located ahead of Muguthang or Cho Lhamu (source of River Teesta). The other passes located in the state of Sikkim are Nathu La Pass and Jelep La Pass.

Pangong Tso lake:

It is a 135-km long lake, located in the Himalayas at the height of approximately 4,350 m, stretches out from India to China. One-third of water body, its 45 km stretch, is in Indian control while the rest of the 90 km is under Chinese control. It is formed from Tethys geosyncline. It is a salt water lake.

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Topic: India and its Neighbouring Countries, Latest Diary of Events

India- Nepal border dispute

Inauguration of the new link road from India to China to shorten the travel time for pilgrims to Kailash Mansarovar.

Key facts:

The link road starts from Dharchula in Uttarakhand and runs 80 km to the Lipulekh pass. It has been built by the Border Roads Organisation.

What’s the issue now?

Nepal has claimed that the ‘Link Road’ connecting to Lipulekh passes through Nepali territory.

Nepal claims that India’s move marks a breach of the agreement reached between the Indian Prime Minister and Nepal PM in 2014 which sought to work out the outstanding boundary issues on Kalapani (where Lipulekh lies) and Susta.

India’s response:

The Ministry of External Affairs of India has clarified that the link road passing through Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district lies completely within the territory of India.

India has also clarified that the new link road follows the pre-existing route used by the pilgrims of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.

India has stated that the boundary delineation exercise with Nepal is ongoing, and that India is committed to resolving outstanding boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue and in the spirit of our close and friendly bilateral relations with Nepal.

Where is the disputed territory located?

Kalapani is located at an altitude of 3600m on the Kailash Manasarovar route. It borders Uttarakhand in India and Sudurpashchim Pradesh in Nepal.

Since the Indo-China war of 1962, Kalapani is controlled by India’s Indo-Tibetan Border Police.

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Topic: Latest Diary of Events

National Technology Day – May 11

Since 1999, May 11 is celebrated as National Technology Day to mark India’s technological advancements.

This year, on behalf of the Ministry of Science & Technology, Technology Development Board (TBD) has organised a conference to celebrate the day.

The theme of the conference is ‘Rebooting the Economy through Science, Technology and Research Translations titled RESTART’.

Significance of the day:

On May 11, 1998, India detonated three nuclear bombs in the Indian Army’s Pokhran Test Range.

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam lead the Indian team of scientists to successfully test-fire the Shakti-1 nuclear missile at Rajasthan’s Pokhran test range.

Two days later, the country successfully tested two more nuclear weapons as a part of the same Pokhran-II/Operation Shakti initiative. After these tests Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared India a nuclear state, making it the sixth country to join the ‘nuclear club’ of nations.

Hansa 3, India’s first indigenous aircraft was first tested on the same day in 1998 in Bangalore.

Successful test firing of Trishul, a short range missile made in India, was also done on the same day.

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Topic: Science and Technology

What is ultraviolet germicidal radiation (UVGI)?

Scientists are studying the use of ultraviolet germicidal radiation (UVGI) to detect Coronavirus in schools, restaurants and other public places.

Through this method, ultraviolet (UV) lights would be able to disinfect contaminated public spaces to stop the transmission of the virus.

What is UV light?

UV light from the sun has shorter wavelengths than visible light and, therefore, is not visible to the naked eye. The full spectrum of UV radiation is sourced from the sun and can be subdivided into UV-A, UV-B and UV-C rays.

In this spectrum, UV-C rays are the most harmful and are completely absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere.

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Topic: Latest Inventions on Science and Health

COVID Kavach Elisa

Developed by National Institute of Virology, Pune. It is India’s first indigenous antibody-based ELISA test kit for diagnosis of novel Corona Virus. It can test around 90 samples in approximately two and half hours. The technology has been transferred to pharmaceutical manufacturing companies for mass-scale production.

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Topic: Latest Inventions on Science and Health

Defence Research Ultraviolet Sanitiser (DRUVS)

Developed by Hyderabad based Research Centre Imarat (RCI), a DRDO lab. It is an automated contactless UVC sanitisation cabinet. It has been designed to sanitise mobile phones, iPads, laptops, currency notes, cheque leafs, challans, passbooks, paper, envelopes, etc.

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Topic: Latest Inventions on Science and Health

CSIR approves project to develop ‘hmAbs’ that can neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in patients

Approved by CSIR through its New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI) programme.

The project aims to generate hmAbs to SARS-CoV-2 from convalescent phase of COVID-19 patients and select high affinity and neutralizing antibodies.

The project also aims to anticipate future adaptation of the virus and generate hmAbs clones that can neutralize the mutated virus so that could be readily used for combating future SARS-CoV infections.

The project will be implemented by National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), IIT-Indore and PredOmix Technologies Pvt. Ltd. with Bharat Biotech International Ltd. (BBIL) as the commercialization partner.

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Topic: Latest Inventions on Science and Health

SwasthVayu

National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), Bangalore has developed BiPAP ventilator named SwasthVayu. It is a non-invasive breathing support device, for the use of non-critical non-ICU cases of Covid-19.

BiPAP stands for Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure. It is a type of positive pressure ventilator.