TNPSC Current Affairs October 14, 2020

www.tnpsc.academy – TNPSC Current Affairs October 14, 2020 (14/10/2020)

 

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Topic: India and its Foreign Relations

India-Mexico

Recently, the 5th meeting of the India-Mexico Bilateral High-Level Group (BHLG) on Trade, Investment and Cooperation has been held through video conference.

On 1st August 2020, India and Mexico celebrated the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between them.

Key facts:

Both sides discussed a number of bilateral ongoing and outstanding issues, ranging from Audio-visual Co-production, Bilateral Investment Treaty, market access for agricultural products, a cooperation framework on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) measures, cooperation in the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and exploring ways to promote tourism and people-to-people contact.

They also agreed to expand and diversify the bilateral trade relationship through enhanced cooperation in pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, healthcare, agro-products, fisheries, food processing and aerospace industry, etc.

Two Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) have been signed, to foster the cooperation in the domains of:

Electronics, Computer Software and Telecommunications and Information Technologies.

Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology.

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Topic: Latest Diary of Events

World Mental Health Day 2020

World Mental Health Day is observed on 10th October every year, with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health.

2020 Theme: “Mental Health for All, Greater Investment – Greater Access”

The Big Event for Mental Health: It is the first ever global online advocacy event on mental health, hosted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the day.

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Topic: Profile of States

AMRUT Mission

Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh have been appreciated for the progress made under AMRUT Mission (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation).

Both the states were also requested to initiate activities under the “Catch the Rain” campaign. The objective of this campaign is to conserve/harvest every drop of water. This campaign incorporates rainwater harvesting in all the structures of the cities.

Status of AMRUT Mission in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh:

Himachal Pradesh is ranked 15th and Uttarakhand 24th in AMRUT’s National rankings (performance-based). Odisha topped the rankings.

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Topic: Geographical Landmarks

Mars Opposition

Due to the ‘opposition’ effect, Mars will look much brighter and bigger than usual in October 2020.

Key facts:

About Opposition: Opposition, in astronomy, is the circumstance in which two celestial bodies appear in opposite directions in the sky.

Examples:

The Moon, when full, is said to be in opposition to the Sun; the Earth is then approximately between them.

A superior planet (one with an orbit farther from the Sun than Earth’s) is in opposition when Earth passes between it and the Sun.

The opposition of a planet is a good time to observe it, because the planet is then typically at its nearest point to the Earth for a given year and because it is close, the planet appears brighter in the sky.

The planets Venus and Mercury, whose orbits are smaller than Earth’s, can never be in opposition to the Sun.

 

 

About Mars Opposition: Mars and the Sun are on directly opposite sides of Earth.

Timing:

About every 26 months, the Earth passes between the Sun and Mars, this is when the three are arranged in a straight line. In 2020, while Mars’ closest approach to Earth was on 6th October, the opposition happened on 13th October.

Mars’s next close approach will happen on 8th December, 2022, when the planet will be 62.07 km away from the Earth.

Significantly, the closest distance is relative and hence can vary.

As per NASA, Mars made its closest approach to Earth in 2003 in nearly 60,000 years and it won’t be that close to the planet until 2287.

This is because the orbits of Earth and Mars are not perfectly circular and their shapes can change slightly because of gravitational tugging (pulling) by other planets. For instance, Jupiter influences the orbit of Mars.

Significance:

Mars will outshine Jupiter, becoming the third brightest object (moon and Venus are first and second, respectively) in the night sky during the month of October.

During Opposition, Mars appears as a bright star to the unaided eye and when viewed from a telescope, it grows dramatically in size. Using a telescope shows more of the planet’s details such as dark and light regions, the solar ice caps and Mars’ surface.

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Topic: Latest Diary of Events

Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN)

The eVIN network is being repurposed for the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine.

About eVIN:

The eVIN is an innovative technological solution aimed at strengthening immunization supply chain systems across the country. This is being implemented under the National Health Mission (NHM) by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

It aims to provide real-time information on vaccine stocks and flows, and storage temperatures across all cold chain points in the country.

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Topic: New inventions on Science and Technology

Fly Ash

NTPC Ltd. under Ministry of Power, has started to collaborate with cement manufacturers across the country to supply fly ash as part of its endeavour to achieve 100% utilisation of the by-product produced during power generation.

What is Fly Ash? Popularly known as Flue ash or pulverised fuel ash, it is a coal combustion product.

Composition:

Composed of the particulates that are driven out of coal-fired boilers together with the flue gases.

Depending upon the source and composition of the coal being burned, the components of fly ash vary considerably, but all fly ash includes substantial amounts of silicon dioxide (SiO2), aluminium oxide (Al2O3) and calcium oxide (CaO), the main mineral compounds in coal-bearing rock strata.

Minor constituents include: arsenic, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, hexavalent chromium, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, thallium, and vanadium, along with very small concentrations of dioxins and PAH compounds. It also has unburnt carbon.

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Topic: Awards and Honors, International Events

Earthshot Prize

Launched by PRINCE William and The Royal Foundation. It offers £50m (US$65m) in funding for solutions to the environmental and climate crises.

It aims to provide an incentive to find solutions to repair the planet over the next decade.

To improve living standards globally and find environmental solutions that work on every level through new ways of thinking, new technologies, systems, and policies.

The prize is centred around five Earthshot challenges:

Protect and restore nature.

Clean our air.

Revive our oceans.

Build a waste-free world.

Fix our climate.

The prize is open to anyone – individuals or teams – which could comprise engineers, activists, schools, economists, governments, banks, businesses, and regions.  The prize money will be used to support the projects to help scale the work.

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Topic: Discovery of Rare Species, International Events

Murder hornets and Furry puss caterpillars

Furry puss caterpillar:

Named after the far less vicious house cat. It is essentially a southern flannel moth in its larva stage. After metamorphosis, the insect no longer poses a threat. The caterpillar is widely regarded as one of the most poisonous of its kind in the United States.

Murder hornet:

Native to East Asia and Japan, these predators are infamous for ruthlessly ripping apart honeybees and decimating their hives. However, they also pose a threat to human beings. Their potent stingers deliver venom.

 

 

Why these species are in news?

Rise in the population of both insects in the United States.

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Topic: Latest inventions on Science and Technology

Aquaponics

Aquaponics is an emerging technique in which both fishes as well as the plants are grown in an integrated manner.

The fish waste provides fertilizer for growing plants. The plants absorb nutrients and filter the water. This filtered water is used to replenish the fish tank. This is an environment friendly technique.