TNPSC Current Affairs December 14, 2020

Topic: Welfare Oriented Govt Schemes and their Utilities

Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure

All the States except Tamil Naduhave availed benefits of the scheme for “Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure”. The scheme was announced by the Ministry of Finance as a part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package.

Key facts:

Background: As part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package, the government had announced that the Centre will offer Rs. 12,000 crore special interest-free 50-year loan to states, exclusively for capital expenditure.

Aim: To boost capital expenditure by the State governments which are facing a difficult financial environment this year due to the shortfall in tax revenue arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Three Parts:

Part–I of the scheme covers the north-eastern region (Rs. 200 crores).

Part-II is for all other States (Rs. 7500 crores).

Part-III of the scheme is aimed at pushing various citizen-centric reforms in the States.

Under this Part, an amount of Rs. 2000 crores is earmarked.

This amount will be available only to those States which carry out at least three out of the four reforms specified by the Ministry of Finance on the reform-linked additional borrowing permissions.

Four Reforms: One nation one ration card, ease of doing business, urban local body/ utility reform and power sector reforms.

Status:

The Ministry of Finance has approved Rs. 9,879.61 crore worth of capital expenditure proposals of 27 States. Of this, Rs. 4,939.81 crore has been released as the first instalment.

The capital expenditure projects have been approved in diverse sectors such as health, rural development, water supply, irrigation, power, transport, education, urban development.

_

Topic: Latest Diary of Events

National Energy Conservation Day 2020

The National Energy Conservation Day is organized on 14th December every year by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) with an aim to showcase India’s achievements in energy efficiency and conservation. The National Energy Conservation Awards are given on the occasion.

Energy Conservation:

It is any behavior that results in the use of less energy. Turning the lights off when leaving the room and recycling aluminum cans are both ways of conserving energy.

_

Topic: Discovery of Rare Species

Myristica Swamp Treefrog

Recently, Myristica swamp treefrog has been recorded for the first time in Kerala’s Thrissur district.

Scientific Name: Mercurana myristicapalustris

 

Key facts:

These are endemic to the Western Ghats. Rare arboreal species (Pertaining to moving about, living in or among trees). Active only for a few weeks during their breeding season.

Unique Breeding Behaviour:

The breeding season, unlike for other frogs, starts in the pre monsoon season (May) and ends before the monsoon becomes fully active in June.

Before the end of the breeding season, the female frogs along with their male counterparts descend on the forest floor.

The female digs the mud and lays eggs in shallow burrows in mud. After breeding and egg laying, they retreat back to the high canopies of the tree and remain elusive till the next breeding season.

Myristica Swamps:

The Myristica swamps are tropical freshwater swamp forests with an abundance of Myristica trees. Myristica trees are the most primitive of the flowering plants on earth.

The evergreen, water-tolerant trees have dense stilt roots helping them stay erect in the thick, black, wet alluvial soil. The trees form a fairly dense forest with a closed canopy. The swamps are typically found in valleys, making them prone to inundation during monsoon rains.

_

Topic: International Events

Red Channel Agreement

The Red Channel Agreement was signed between the World Health Organization and IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) to implement the Emergency Medical Team Initiative.

What is Emergency Medical Team Initiative?

The initiative will strengthen the delivery of health and emergency medical services during humanitarian crisis. This will enable the organizations to standardize emergency health response and also increase capacity building efforts.

The Agreement will allow WHO to provide increased support to Red Crescent Societies and National Red Cross societies.

The agreement will bring more synergies between the two international organizations particularly in standards, coordination and accountability.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

IFRC is a humanitarian aid organization that carries out relief operations assisting victims of disasters. It works to strengthen the capacities of its members. Around 192 countries are members of IFRC. The headquarters of IFRC is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

After first world war, representatives from the National Red Cross societies of the allied powers came together to strengthen and unite the existing Red Cross Societies.

The decisions at IFRC are taken based on the International Humanitarian Law

_

Topic: International Events

Chang’e-5 probe

Chinese spacecraft carrying rocks and soil from the moon has begun its journey back to Earth, putting China on course to become the first country to successfully retrieve lunar samples since the 1970s.

 

What Next?

A successful landing in Inner Mongolia would make China only the third country to have retrieved lunar samples after the United States and the Soviet Union. The plan was to collect 2 kg (4.4 lbs) of samples, although it has not been disclosed how much was actually gathered.

Background:

The Chang’e-5 was launched on Nov. 24 and a lander vehicle touched down on the moon on Dec. 1. The mission was expected to take around 23 days in total.

The objective of the mission was to bring back lunar rocks, the first attempt by any nation to retrieve samples from the moon in four decades.

About Chang’e-5 probe:

It is an unmanned spacecraft by China. The probe is named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess. The rocket comprises of four parts: an orbiter, a returner, an ascender and a lander.

The Chang’e-5 mission is expected to realize four “firsts” in China’s space history:

The first time for a probe to take off from the surface of the Moon.

The first time to automatically sample the lunar surface.

The first time to conduct unmanned rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit.

The first time to return to Earth with lunar soil samples in escape velocity.

_

Topic: Places in News, Profile of States

Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve

Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve can now be explored by boats while bicycle tracks are also being finalised. One can go trekking too. But the new activities are beyond the 1,302 sq km Kaziranga’s core area of 482 sq km.

 

Key Facts:

It is a national park in Assam. Formed in 1908 on the recommendation of Mary Curzon, the park is located in the edge of the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspots – Golaghat and Nagaon district.

It hosts two-thirds of the world’s great one-horned rhinoceroses. It is a World Heritage Site. It is also recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International for the conservation of avifaunal species.

Much of the focus of conservation efforts in Kaziranga are focused on the ‘big four’ species— Rhino, Elephant, Royal Bengal tiger and Asiatic water buffalo. Kaziranga is crisscrossed by four main rivers — Brahmaputra, Diphlu, Mora Diphlu and Mora Dhansiri.

_

Topic: Geographical Landmarks

Planet Nine

Planet Nine is a hypothetical planet that is said to be 10 times the size of the Earth and orbits far beyond Neptune a highly eccentric orbit around the Sun. It was first proposed in 2012 to explain perturbations in the orbits of draft planets beyond Neptune’s orbit, which are called Kuiper Belt objects.

Its existence is yet to be confirmed. Recently, an exoplanet 336 light years from the Earth was found to have Planet Nine-like characteristics in its star system. It has been named HD106906 b. This newly discovered object is found to influence the behaviour of various objects its system just like Planet Nine in the solar system.

The HD106906 b is eleven times the mass of Jupiter. It is unusually far from its pair of host stars just like planet nine. The binary star of HD106906 b is 15 million years old, while the sun is 4.6 billion years old.

What is Planet Nine?

It is not a new discovery. Planet nine had appeared in the images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004. According to Astronomer, the objects in Kuiper belt are peculiarly designed due to Planet Nine. Also, in 2018, the astronomers found a peculiar object called the 2015 BP519 orbiting the solar system. The object was peculiar as it orbited the solar system at a tilt of 54 degree Celsius as compared to other planets. The tilt will be unexplained without planet nine.

The astronomers believe that the interactions between the giant plants in the solar system such as Neptune, Jupiter might have kicked the Planet Nine out of the inner solar system.

Why is the new Exoplanet compared to Planet Nine?

Both the newly discovered exoplanet and planet nine are far out in their stellar systems. They orbit their respective stars at an extreme tilt. They are both massive to influence the behaviour of other objects.

_

Topic: Awards and Honours

Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians

The Ramanujan Prize for Mathematicians for the year 2020 was presented to Dr Carolina Arajuo. She is a mathematician from the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, Rio de Janerio, Brazil.

About the Ramanujan Prize for Mathematicians:

It is the prize funded by the Department of Science and Technology in collaboration with International Centre for Theoretical Physics and International Mathematical Union. The funds are provided through the Albel Funds.

The prize is awarded every year to young mathematicians who are less than 45 years of age to conduct outstanding research in a developing country. The award is presented in the memory of Srinivasa Ramanujan. It is also called the ICTP Ramanujan Prize. This award is presented by the International Centre of Theoretical Physics located in Italy.

Dr Carolina Arajuo:

 

She is the first non-Indian women mathematician to receive the prize.

She has specialised in birational geometry, algebraic geometry, Fano varieties and foliations.

Also, she is the Vice President at the International Mathematical Union.

_

Topic: International Events

International Climate Ambition Summit

The Paris Climate Agreementcompleted its fifth anniversary. Paris Agreement aims to limit the increase in global warming temperatures well below two degrees Celsius, a target the world is yet to achieve. To commemorate the occasion, the United Kingdom had called for a Global Climate Summit. It is also called International Climate Ambition Summit.

The International Climate Action Summit was organised and co-hosted by United Nations, United Kingdom and France, in partnership with Chile and Italy.

The summit aimed to highlight the achievements of countries, cities, business towards net zero carbon emission and enhancing the climate finance. The summit is a predecessor to 26th COP scheduled to be held at Glasgow in 2021. The member countries presented a detailed deliberation of NDCs, long term strategies to achieve zero emission and adaption plans and policies.

According to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, US has 25% of all emissions, Europe has 22% of emissions, China has 13% and India has only 3% of the emissions of the world.

International Climate Ambition Summit:

The summit featured United Kingdom, India, Canada, Japan, China, South Korea and European Union. Australia, the supporter of fossil fuels has been kept out of the summit. The other notable absences were Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Poland and Turkey. The United States did not attend the summit as President Trump walked out of the Paris Agreement.

The United Nations Environment Programme recently released the Emissions Gap Report, 2020. The report provided the review of difference between where the Greenhouse gas emissions are predicted to be in 2030 and where they should be to prevent catastrophic climate change events.

_

Topic: Latest Diary of Events

Sustainable Mountain Development Summit

The ninth edition of the Sustainable Mountain Development Summit (SMDS) commenced on December 12 in Dehradun. This year, the summit was held under the following theme “Emerging Pathways for Building Resilient Post COVID-19 Mountain Economy, Adoption, Innovation and Acceleration”.

The focus will be on the overall objective of taking measures to ensure robust and sustainable mountain economy for the post COVID-19 world and to combat climate change. The event was attended by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conard K Sangma.

About the Summit:

The summit was organised by Indian Mountain Initiative. The summit aimed to deliberate on issues such as water security, migration, climate resilience and innovative solutions for disaster risk reduction and farm sector in the Indian Himalayas. The first edition of the summit was launched in 2011 in Nainital.

Topic: International Events

The Indian Navy ordered Israeli SMASH 2000 Plus systems to tackle drones

The Navy has ordered a limited number of Israeli ‘Smash-2000 Plus’ computerized fire control and electro-optic sight systems that can be mounted on guns and rifles to tackle the threat from small hostile drones in both day and night conditions.

 

The deliveries of the anti-drone Smash-2000 sights, which integrate target acquisition and tracking algorithms with image-processing software, will take place early next year.

_

Topic: International Events

First country to approve Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine

The United Kingdom became the first country to formally approve the Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, a symbolic milestone in the fight against the pandemic. The vaccine has been authorized far more quickly than any other in history, its lightning development outpacing the 15 to 20 years it usually takes to develop these types of medicines. The vaccine is to be provided as two injections within a time gap of 21 days.

The Pfizer vaccine uses mRNA technology. This vaccine must be transported at negative 20 to 80 degree Celsius unlike Oxford vaccine. The Oxford vaccines can be refrigerated at normal two to eight degrees Celsius.

Canada has become the second country after the United Kingdom to give approval to Pfizer’s vaccine for its citizens.

For some Notes:

In August 2020, Russia became the first country to officially register a Covid-19 vaccine and declare it ready for use. The vaccine has been called Sputnik V, named after the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik-I launched by the Soviet Union. It is the first Covid-19 vaccine to be approved.

_

Topic: Profile of States

Cow slaughter bill in Karnataka

The government in Karnataka passed the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill (2020) in the Assembly.

How are ‘beef’ and ‘cattle’ defined in the latest Karnataka Bill?

‘Beef’ is defined as the flesh of cattle in any form. ‘Cattle’ is defined as “cow, calf of a cow and bull, bullock, and he or she buffalo below the age of thirteen years”.

‘Gau Shalas’: Shelters established for the protection and preservation of cattle registered with the Department of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries.

Who has the power to conduct searches?

Police officers ranked sub-inspector and above or a competent authority will have the power to search premises and seize cattle and materials used or intended to use to commit the offence. Such seizures, if any, will then be reported before the Sub Divisional Magistrate without unreasonable delay.

What are the penalties?

It is a cognizable offence, violators can attract three to seven years of imprisonment. While a penalty between Rs 50,000 and Rs 5 lakh can be levied for the first offence, second and subsequent offences can attract penalties ranging between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10 lakh.

_

Topic: Latest Diary of Events

BSE sensex

On December 9, 2020, the BSE sensex closed above 46000 first time.

Key facts:

The BSE SENSEX is a free-float market-weighted stock market index of 30 well-established and financially sound companies listed on Bombay Stock Exchange. The 30 constituent companies which are some of the largest and most actively traded stocks, are representative of various industrial sectors of the Indian economy.