Daily Prelims Notes 23 December 2022

December 23, 2022
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
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Daily Prelims Notes

23 December 2022

Table Of Contents

1. Japan reverse nuclear phaseout plan adopted after Fukushima

Subject : Science and Technology

Context:

Japan on Thursday adopted a new policy promoting greater use of nuclear energy to ensure a stable power supply amid global fuel shortages and to reduce carbon emissions, in a major reversal of its phase-out plan following the Fukushima crisis.

More about the news:

According to the new plan Japan must maximize the use of existing nuclear reactors by restarting as many of them as possible and prolonging the operating life of old reactors beyond their 60-year limit, and by developing next-generation reactors to replace them.
The policy paper says Japan will also push for the development and construction of “next-generation innovative reactors” with safer features to replace about 20 reactors now set for decommissioning.
Nuclear energy accounts for less than 7 percent of Japan’s energy supply, and achieving the government’s goal of raising its share to 20-22 per cent by fiscal 2030 will require about 27 reactors, from the current 10.

What happened in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is a disabled nuclear power plant located on a 3.5-square-kilometre site in the towns of Okuma and Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
The plant suffered major damage from the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011.
Systems at the nuclear plant detected the earthquake and automatically shut down the nuclear reactors. Emergency diesel generators turned on to keep coolant pumping around the cores, which remain incredibly hot even after reactions stop.
But soon after a wave over 14 metres (46ft) high hit Fukushima. The water overwhelmed the defensive sea wall, flooding the plant and knocking out the emergency generators.
Workers rushed to restore power, but in the days that followed the nuclear fuel in three of the reactors overheated and partly melted the cores – something known as a nuclear meltdown.
The plant also suffered a number of chemical explosions which badly damaged the buildings. Radioactive material began leaking into the atmosphere and the Pacific Ocean, prompting the evacuations and an ever-widening exclusion zone.

2. SEBI is phasing out the stock exchange route for buybacks

Subject : Economy

Context:

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has amended the share buyback regulations and announced a gradual phase out of stock exchange buybacks.
The regulator favours the repurchase of shares by companies from shareholders on a proportionate basis through the tender offer because that is considered more equitable, transparent, and fair.

What is share buyback:

When a listed company buys its own shares from the existing shareholders, it is known as a share buyback, which is also called share repurchase.
Currently, a company can buy back its shares from shareholders on a proportionate basis through a tender offer, or from the open market.
The maximum limit of any buyback is 25% or less of the aggregate of paid-up capital and free reserves of a company.
The process reduces the number of outstanding shares in the open market over a period which can lead to better valuation and earnings per share.

What is the stock exchange route:

Under this, a company can buy back shares only on the stock exchanges having nationwide trading terminals.
The buyback of shares is made only through the order-matching mechanism the promoters, or persons in control of a company are not allowed to participate.
For example, Paytm recently decided to opt for the open market route through the stock exchanges, while TCS used the tender route, Infosys opted for the stock exchange method for its recent buyback.

Why is SEBI against the exchange route:

According to the Keki Mistry committee’s recommendations, using the stock market route may result in one shareholder’s entire trade being matched with the company’s purchase order, depriving other shareholders of the advantage of the repurchase.
According to the SEBI, the tender route is the more equitable route for buybacks, while the other routes are vulnerable to favouritism.
This is because nobody really knows when the company will arrive in order to buy back shares in the exchange mechanism, and only a few people may be aware of it, and benefits may flow to those few people.
As recommended by the committee, SEBI will phase out buyback through the stock exchange route with effect from April 1, 2025.
The aim of this move is to make the buyback process more robust, efficient, transparent and shareholder-friendly, as it will give all the shareholders an opportunity to participate.

3. Rajya Sabha passes bill to grant ST status to two communities of Tamil Nadu

Subject :Polity

Context:

Rajya Sabha passed a Bill that seeks to grant Scheduled Tribe status to Narikoravan and Kurivikkaran communities in Tamil Nadu.

Status of Scheduled Tribes in India:

According to the 2011 Census, the Scheduled Tribes account for 104 million representing 8.6% of the country’s population.
No community has been specified as Scheduled Tribe in the State of Haryana and Punjab and UTs of Chandigarh, Delhi and Puducherry.
The Government of India set up the Ministry of Tribal Affairs in 1999 after the bifurcation of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

What is the the list of Scheduled Tribes:

Article 342 provides for specification of tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities which are deemed to be Scheduled Tribes in relation to that State or UT.
In pursuance of these provisions, the list of Scheduled Tribes is notified for each State or Union Territory and these lists are valid only within the jurisdiction of that State or UT and not outside.
A community declared as a Scheduled Tribe in a State need not be so in another State.

What is the process of inclusion in the list:

The process to include tribes in the ST list begins with the recommendation from the respective State governments.
These recommendations are then sent to the Tribal Affairs Ministry, which reviews and sends them to the Registrar General of India for approval.
This is followed by the approval of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes before the list is sent to the Cabinet for a final decision.

4. Bill to decriminalize minor offenses in 42 laws introduced in Lok Sabha

Subject :Polity

Context:

The government introduced the Jan Vishwas Amendment Bill 2022, which seeks to decriminalize minor offenses by amending 183 provisions in 42 Acts with a view to promoting ease of business.

More about the bill:

The Vivad se Vishwas Bill, 2020 was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of Finance on February 5, 2020.
The government has taken a series of measures to promote ease of doing business in the past few years.
About 1,500 old laws have been repealed, 39,000 compliances have been simplified and about 3,500 norms were introduced to decriminalize minor offenses.
The proposal was mooted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
Besides the decriminalization of minor offenses, the bill envisages;
- The rationalization of monetary penalties depending on the gravity of the offence,
- Bolstering trust-based governance.
The Acts which are being amended include the:
- The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940
- Public Debt Act, 1944
- Pharmacy Act, 1948
- Cinematograph Act, 1952
- Copyright Act, 1957
- Patents Act, 1970
- Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
- Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
The other laws include the Trade Marks Act, 1999; Railways Act, 1989; Information Technology Act, 2000; Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002; Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006; Legal Metrology Act, 2009; and Factoring Regulation Act, 2011.
These 42 laws are administered by various Union ministries, including finance, food production and distribution, financial services, agriculture, commerce, environment, road transport and highways, ports, electronics and IT.
The bill mentions that the novelty involved in the proposal, increased by 10 percent of the minimum amount of fine and penalty levied, after the expiry of every three years.

5. Nasal vaccines promise to stop the COVID-19 virus before it gets to the lungs – an immunologist explains how they work

Subject : Science and Technology

Context:

Researchers are in the process of developing alternative approaches to vaccines to improve their effectiveness, including how they’re administered. Immunologists at the University of Buffalo explain how nasal vaccines work.

How does the immune system fight pathogens?

The immune system has two distinct components: mucosal and circulatory.
- The mucosal immune system provides protection at the mucosal surfaces of the body. These include the mouth, eyes, middle ear, mammary and other glands, and the gastrointestinal, respiratory and urogenital tracts.
- The circulatory part of the immune system generates antibodies and immune cells that are delivered through the bloodstream to the internal tissues and organs.
The mucosal and circulatory compartments of the immune system are largely separate and independent.

What are the key players in mucosal immunity?

The immune system generates antibodies (Immunoglobulins) in response to invading agents that the body identifies as “non-self,” such as viruses and bacteria.
The mucosal immune system generates a specialized form of antibody called secretory IgA, or SIgA.
Other key players include: different types of anti-microbial proteins that kill pathogens and immune cells that generate antibody responses.

How does the COVID-19 virus enter the body?

The virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, enters the body via droplets or aerosols that get into one’s nose, mouth or eyes.
It can cause severe disease if it descends deep into the lungs and causes an overactive, inflammatory immune response.

How do nasal vaccines work?

Vaccines can be given through mucosal routes via the mouth or nose.
This induces an immune response through areas that stimulate the mucosal immune system, leading mucosal secretions to produce SIgA antibodies.
There are several existing mucosal vaccines, most of them taken by mouth.
Currently, only one, the flu vaccine, is delivered nasally.
If the SIgA antibodies in the nose, mouth or throat target SARS-CoV-2, they could neutralize the virus before it can drop down into the lungs and establish an infection.

Advantages:

It will block the virus at the entry point itself.
Secretions with a sufficiently high level of SIgA antibodies against the virus could neutralize and thereby diminish its transmissibility.
Existing vaccines do not induce SIgA antibody responses.
Nasal vaccines may be a useful supplement to injected vaccines in hot spots of infection.
Since they don’t require needles, they might also help overcome vaccine hesitancy due to fear of injections.

6. Not everything we call AI is actually ‘artificial intelligence’

Subject : Science and Technology

Generative AI:

Generative AI refers to unsupervised and semi-supervised machine learning algorithms that enable computers to use existing content like text, audio and video files, images, and even code to create new possible content. The main idea is to generate completely original artefacts that would look like the real deal.
We just typed a few words prompts and the program generated the pic representing those words. This is something known as text-to-image translation and it’s one of many examples of what generative AI models do.

Generative Adversarial Networks or GANs:

technologies that can create visual and multimedia artefacts from both imagery and textual input data.
Text-to-image tools, such as Stable Diffusion, DALLE-2 and Mid journey, use image-text pairs from data sets such as LAION-5B.

Transformer-based models::

technologies such as Generative Pre-Trained (GPT) language models that can use information gathered on the Internet to create textual content from website articles to press releases to whitepapers. Example: ChatGPT, LaMDA by Google.

Concerns with Generative AI:

Generative AI has also produced worries about plagiarism, exploitation of original content used to create models, ethics of information manipulation and abuse of trust and even “the end of programming”.

What is ChatGPT?

Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT), is a chatbot developed by OpenAI.
ChatGPT is built on top of OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 family of large language models and is fine-tuned with both supervised and reinforcement learning techniques.
ChatGPT can answer follow-up questions, and can also admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.
Currently, it is open in beta to all users.
ChatGPT has been trained to decline ‘inappropriate’ requests, presumably those which are ‘illegal’ in nature.
ChatGPT is capable of writing fiction but not at the level of humans.
Other chatbots include Google-led LaMDA.
- LaMDA, which stands for Language Model for Dialogue Applications, is a family of conversational neural language models developed by Google.

7. Here are some new trends in electrolyser tech to catalyse green hydrogen production

Subject : Science and Technology

Context:

Green hydrogen, one of the major fuels to propel India’s clean energy transition, is produced by electrolysis of water done using clean electricity from renewable sources (wind, solar, etc).

Green hydrogen:

Green hydrogen is the name given to hydrogen gas that has been produced using renewable energy, such as wind or solar power, which create no greenhouse gas emissions.

Green hydrogen production technologies:

Green Hydrogen is produced by breaking the hydrogen and oxygen from water molecule via the electrolysis process.
Alkaline and Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) electrolysers are the most widely used commercial technologies.
In Alkaline, a liquid alkaline electrolyte of sodium or potassium hydroxide is used.
For PEM, a solid polymer membrane acts as a separator between the anode and the cathode compartments.
Solid oxide electrolysers use solid oxide or ceramic as an electrolyte to produce hydrogen (or carbon monoxide) and oxygen.
Newer technologies, such as electrochemical (thermally activated chemical water-splitting process) use time cycles to separate the hydrogen and oxygen generation.
Anion exchange membrane electrolysis has positively charged functioning bodies that use a semi-permeable membrane to conduct the anions and reject the cations.

How is hydrogen used as a fuel?

In a fuel cell – a device that converts the energy of a chemical into electricity – hydrogen gas reacts with oxygen to produce electricity and water vapour.
Because of hydrogen’s capacity to generate energy without releasing greenhouse emissions, it is a potential clean alternative to fossil fuels.

Electrolysis using solar power:

The photoelectrolysis process using semiconductor photoelectrodes is a clean and green way of producing hydrogen.
The source of energy for splitting water in a photoelectrochemical cell is sunlight.
This type of electrolysis generates dihydrogen, which can be used in fuel cells to produce energy and heat as well as to generate electricity.
In a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organisation for renewable energy research and adoption, the following methods have been identified for photoelectrolysis:

Using photovoltaic solar panels
Using photoelectrode with a photo absorber
Using a photocatalyst

Another option is positioning the electrolyser close to offshore wind turbines for an offshore mode of operation.
This would provide an opportunity for reducing losses and all-around costs and eliminate the requirement for alternating current rectifiers.
Offshore hydrogen would address environmental concerns through the creation of a zero-emission fleet.
The offshore wind farms would benefit from becoming hydrogen refuelling stations for transportation in the future.

Issue in the production of green hydrogen:

The cost of electrolysers and electricity make up the largest share of the production cost.
Apart from such costs, the other included costs are operating costs, transmission & distribution costs, wheeling costs for electricity, and the local duties and taxes in India.

8. This sand battery could be a solution for Europe’s energy crisis

Subject : Science and Technology

Context:

A new battery technology by a Finland-based company that uses sand to store thermal energy may aid clean energy solutions.

About the battery:

The battery uses sand as a medium to store thermal energy. It was invented by Polar Night Energy.
The battery has a four metres wide and seven metres high steel container with 100 tonnes of recycled sand.
The latest battery model can store up to 8 megawatt-hours of energy as heat.
The reservoir is so well-insulated from the outer environment that it can retain temperatures up to 600 degrees Celsius and prevent heat losses over time.
The sand at the core is very far from the boundary, so the heat stored in the core does not easily get lost, even if we wait for days or weeks.
The battery receives electricity from the grid through excess solar and wind power, which is converted to heat and transferred to the sand.

Significance:

Water-based storage systems are a renewable alternative to produce building heat.
The sand battery can store heat up to 600 degrees Celsius, thus having a great significance.

9. Why camels’ number declining in India

Subject : Environment

In the news:

The camel population in India has been in decline, especially in Rajasthan because of the Indira Gandhi Canal which hampered the movement of Raikas and Camels.

Camel population:

The number of camels has come down from 4 lakh during the livestock census of 2012 to 2.52 lakh in the 2019 livestock census, showing a decline of 37 per cent.
Around 84 per cent of camels in in India are located in Rajasthan and another 11 per cent in Gujarat.

Reasons behind the decline in the camel population:

Fewer dairy benefits:
- Long gestation period (15 months);
- limited saleable meat yield (less than 5 kg a day),
- high cost of maintenance,
- high cost of milk, and
- strong flavour of camel milk,
- all make it unsuitable for the domesticating camel for economic benefits.

Change in lifestyle:
- Replacement of the nomadic-pastoral way of life by agriculture.
- Individually owned farmlands that are often fenced restrict the movements of camels.
- Camels are rarely used for ploughing along with that shrinking of grazing grounds,
- shortage of fodder also a reason for reduced camel population.
Other means of transport:
- Camels are replaced largely by road networks.
- People prefer vehicle for transportation rather than using camel.
Fewer benefits for Raikas:
- Raikas do not sell dead camels for their bones and also do not eat camel meat.
- Raikas believe they were born of Lord Siva’s skin to protect camels.

Raikas:

The Raikas are a specialized caste of pastoralists from northwestern India, particularly the arid and semi-arid parts of Rajasthan.
Although they also raise goats, cattle, sheep, and water buffalo, the most important animal for Raika’s cultural identity is the camel.
The Raika and their camels talk to each other; this language/conversation is called akal-dhakaal.

Kharai camel:

It is a unique breed of camels found only in Kachchh, Gujrat.
They have the special ability to survive on both, dry land and in the sea.
They swim in seawater and feed on saline plants and mangroves.
The Kharai was recognised as a separate breed in 2015 by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Double humped camel:

The double-hump camel is a native of Gobi desert, and is found on a vast expanse of cold-desert areas across Mongolia, China, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and parts of Afghanistan.

Rearing centre:

According to the Gujarat government, the camel rearing centre at Dhori, Kutchh, is working in a scientific manner for the purpose of increasing the number of camels through pure breeding.

Rajasthan government’s step to protect camels:

Rajasthan government has declared camel as State animal in 2014.
Rajasthan’s government enacted The Rajasthan Camel (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 2015.
The Act aims to prohibit the slaughter of camels and also to regulate their temporary migration or export from Rajasthan.
But the Act does not show positive results.
Camels are now sold in the grey market, further driving down camel prices.
Camels that should normally command a price of Rs 40,000 plus, reportedly sell in this grey market for less than Rs 5,000.
The ban has benefitted only the meat traders and corrupt officials.

10. The mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub

Subject : Science and Technology

Announced on 21 June 2021.
Objective: to build capacity in low- and middle-income countries to produce mRNA vaccines through a centre of excellence and training (the mRNA vaccine technology hub).
Located at Afrigen, Cape Town, South Africa.
Partners: The initiative is supported by WHO, the Medicines Patent Pool and the Act-Accelerator/COVAX.

How it will work:

The Hub will share technology and technical know-how with local producers.
WHO and partners will bring training and financial support to build the necessary human capital for production know-how, quality control and product regulation, and will assist where needed with the necessary licenses.
The Hub and partners create a global common good for the benefit of all by providing a range of services along the entire vaccine value chain.
Recipients will be able to contribute to the global effort to increase local vaccine production capacity, and may sign agreements with producers or develop vaccines locally.

What is mRNA Vaccine Technology?

mRNA vaccines use mRNA (messenger RNA) to teach our cells how to make a protein or a protein that triggers an immune response inside our bodies.
That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies.
mRNA vaccines tricks the body into producing some of the viral proteins itself.
They work by using mRNA, or messenger RNA, which is the molecule that essentially puts DNA instructions into action. Inside a cell, mRNA is used as a template to build a protein.

11. Panel to study UGC’s IKS faculty training guidelines

Subject : Government Schemes

The Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) has constituted a committee to formulate an expert opinion on the University Grants Commission (UGC)’s draft guidelines for faculty training on Indian Knowledge System (IKS).

About the news

University and college faculty will now have to attend mandatory training on Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), according to the University Grants Commission (UGC) draft guidelines.
The UGC guideline for faculty training on IKS has been issued to facilitate a seamless integration of traditional knowledge with modern subjects.
The faculty training will include topics on Dharmashastras, Shukraniti, Mahabharata, and Arthashastra and Chemistry in practice as gleaned from the medical schools of ancient India.
The IKS guidelines will be a part of the training modules under “Malviya Mission” and will be considered under Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) scheme as per the UGC regulations.

About Malviya Mission

The Union Minister of Education launched “Malviya Mission” to develop an environment for teacher education/faculty development across the country.
It addresses the need to adopt a multidisciplinary approach in teacher education with a special focus on Indian values, languages, knowledge, ethos, and traditions.
It focuses on teacher education to achieve the targets mentioned in the ‘National Education Policy 2020’.

Indian Knowledge System (IKS)

Indian Knowledge System (IKS) is an innovative cell under Ministry of Education (MoE) at AICTE, New Delhi.
It is established to promote interdisciplinary research on all aspects of IKS, preserve and disseminate IKS for further research and societal applications.
It will actively engage for spreading the rich heritage of our country and traditional knowledge in the field of Arts and literature, Agriculture, Basic Sciences, Engineering & Technology, Architecture, Management, Economics, etc.

Functions of IKS division:

Facilitate and coordinate IKS based/related inter and transdisciplinary work done by various institutions in India and abroad including universities, institutions of national importance, R&D laboratories and different ministries and inspire private sector organizations to engage with it.
Establish, guide and monitor subject-wise interdisciplinary research groups comprising of researchers from institutes, centers and individuals.
Create and promote popularization schemes.
Facilitate funding of various projects and develop mechanisms to undertake research.
Make Policy recommendations wherever required for the promotion of IKS.

12. House Panel recommends enacting Digital Competition Act

Subject : Economy

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance headed by Jayant Sinha has in its latest Big Tech report come up with a slew of recommendations on digital markets, including the introduction of a Digital Competition Act.
The committee, in its report titled ‘Anti competitive practices by Big Tech companies’ tabled in Parliament.

About the recommendations

It listed a set of undesirable practices observed in the digital economy and said that a code of conduct-based approach (ex-ante approach) was needed for digital market winners called digital market gatekeepers.
Some of them are e-commerce platforms pushing their own private labels over third-party brands sold in the platform, using customers’ personal data to get ahead of competition and bundling different products and services.
The panel said systemically important digital market gate keepers, who can negatively influence competitive conduct in the digital ecosystem needs to be identified.
The Committee strongly recommends that a systematically important digital intermediary (SIDI) must not favour its own offers over the offers of its competitors when mediating access to supply and sales markets.
The Committee also recommended that digital market gatekeepers should not exploit the personal data of end users of the platform in certain ways for advertising to ensure level playing field.
Also, digital market gate keepers must inform Competition Commission of India (CCI) of any intended mergers and acquisitions in certain cases even if the deal does not meet the asset-sale threshold for seeking CCI clearance.
Ex ante Approach : Ex-ante approach is forward-looking regulation in contrast to initiating an investigation after an anti-competitive act has been committed–the ex-post approach.

Recommended amendments to the Competition Act 2002

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce recommended that

a) The Act should prescribe norms for the identification of gatekeeper platforms for stricter oversight,
b) The CCI should formulate a mandatory code of conduct that comprises a set of core principles, as well as a list of hardwired dos and don’ts for gatekeepers.

Digital Markets Act of the EU and India

The Digital Markets Act of the European Union adopts ex-ante regulations to make digital markets fairer and more contestable.
For example, it a) Defines gatekeepers as entities that have significant market influence as well as the threshold of turnover or users, b) Places a set of negative and positive obligations on such entities, and c) Bars targeted advertising and the use of personal data gathered from one platform to offer services on another.

13. Indian Rubber Dealers Federation opposes move to abolish Rubber board

Subject : Governance

The Indian Rubber Dealers Federation has decried a reported move to abolish the Rubber Board, saying it was instrumental in the growth of natural rubber in the country by extending all necessary assistance to growers.
The current move, especially to discontinue the Rubber Act and shift the operations of the Board to the private sector cannot be accepted, the federation said.

About Rubber Board –

The Rubber Board is a statutory body constituted by the Government of India, under the Rubber Act 1947, for the overall development of the rubber industry in the country.
The Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, established the Rubber Board in 1947 to strengthen the development of the rubber industry by offering financial assistance, consolatory and regulatory services.
Head Office is in Kottayam, Kerala.
The Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII) established in 1955 is located on a hillock in the eastern suburb of Puthuppally, Kottayam, eight kilometres from the town.
There are nine research disciplines, seven Regional Research Stations, two Hevean Breeding Sub-stations and a Central Experimental Station attached to the RRII.
The Institute is headed by the Director (Research).
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): 100% FDI in plantations of rubber, coffee, tea, cardamom, palm oil tree and olive oil tree.

About Rubber Act of 1947:

It was enacted to promote natural rubber, a strategic product, to provide for the development under the control of the Union of the rubber industry.
It provided the Rubber Board for control and coordination of the rubber industry in India.
It lays down important terms and definitions related to the rubber industry such as Board, Dealer, Manufacturer, etc.

14. RBI’s rate hike influenced by external factors

Subject : Economy

The RBI raised its ‘repo rate’ under Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) from 5.90 to 6.25 per cent on December 7.
It is the 5th consecutive hike in the RBI’s main policy rate.
It is linked to the developments in the external sector like net negative foreign investment and decline of net forex reserves.
Plotting the ‘call money rate’ in India along with the US ‘federal funds rate’ reveals close movement in between them.

Call Money Rate

Call money rate is the rate at which short term funds are borrowed and lent in the money market.
Call money deals with day to day cash requirement of banks.
Banks that are faced with cash shortage borrow from other commercial banks for a period of 1-14 days.
When banks borrow for one day it is known as call-money.
Any money borrowed for more than 1 day but maximum of 14 days is known as notice money.
The rate at which these transactions take place is known as the call rate.
Thus, banks resort to call money to fill temporary mismatches in funds and maintain short term liquidity. It is the central point by which RBI is able to influence interest rates.
RBI, banks, primary dealers etc are the participants of the call money market. Demand and supply of liquidity affect the call money rate.
A tight liquidity condition leads to a rise in call money rate and vice versa.

15. BCAS to issue technical norms within a month for new security technology

Subject :Science and Technology

The aviation security regulator, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), is expected to issue technical norms within a month which will pave the way for airports to adopt modern equipment to screen bags without removing electronic devices.
While the traditional x-ray machines currently used at airports produce a 2-D image, newer technologies such as computer tomography produce a 3-D image with a higher resolution, and have better automated detection of explosives.
They also have a low rate of the false alarms which often lead to CISF personnel requiring a physical inspection of a bag. These factors result in a higher baggage throughput (or flow) through the machine.
Technologies such as dual x-ray, computer tomography and neutron beam technology will eliminate the need for passengers to remove laptops and other electronic devices.

About Computer Tomography (CT)

A CT scan is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to get detailed images of the body noninvasively for diagnostic purposes.
The multiple X-ray measurements taken from different angles are then processed on a computer using reconstruction algorithms to produce tomographic (cross-sectional) images (virtual “slices”) of a body.

How does it work?

They use a narrow X-ray beam that circles around one part of your body. This provides a series of images from many different angles.
A computer uses this information to create a cross-sectional picture. Like one piece in a loaf of bread, this two-dimensional (2D) scan shows a “slice” of the inside of your body.
This process is repeated to produce a number of slices.
The computer stacks these scans one on top of the other to create a detailed image of your organs, bones, or blood vessels.
For example, a surgeon may use this type of scan to look at all sides of a tumor to prepare for an operation.

About Neutron Beam Technology

Neutron beams are especially useful in advanced industrial inspection, most notably for neutron radiography, or neutron imaging.
A collimated neutron beamline can be used to create radiographic neutron imaging of an object’s internal structure, just as can be done with a beam of X-rays or gamma rays.
Because neutrons have special properties compared to electromagnetic radiation and can more easily pass through certain heavy elements than light elements.
Neutron radiography provides a unique perspective compared to X-ray and gamma radiography, and neutron imaging can be used to identify defects and flaws that other forms of testing might miss.
Neutron radiography can be done with thermal or fast neutrons, which influence the neutron absorbing or scattering cross section of various materials’ atomic nuclei.
Neutron Sources : Traditionally, researchers performed neutron imaging using a research nuclear reactor as the neutron source, but as nuclear reactors are more scarce with each passing decade (especially research reactors),now other neutron source options as an alternative to a nuclear reactor for neutron imaging are being developed.
Applications : For this reason, neutron activation analysis sees use not only as a method in industrial non-destructive testing and materials research, but also in areas such as art history, archaeology, geology, and agriculture. Neutron beams can even be used to detect explosives and narcotics.

Dual X ray technology

The Dual Xray analyzes two X-ray signals – both a high and low energy – for a higher detection rate of low-density items, as well as contaminants not previously detectable by standard X-ray systems.
The x-rays generated from an x-ray inspection system have several energy levels. The dual energy inspection system produces two different images from two different energy x-rays simultaneously.
High energy x-rays produce a brighter image and low energy x-rays produces a darker image. By subtracting the two images acquired at different energies, the system eliminates an image having the same gray level, leaving only contaminants.
The dual energy technology delivers the following unique features compared to conventional X-ray technology:
Low density items can be detected.
Even overlapping products can be inspected without false rejecting.