Daily Prelims Notes 26 April 2023

April 26, 2023
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes

26 April 2023

Table Of Contents

1. India to host SCO Defence Ministers’ meeting

Subject: International Relations

Section: International Organisation

Concept:

India will be hosting the Defence Ministers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member countries and observer countries such as Belarus and Iran.
The members of SCO include Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India.
India is the chairman of the SCO for 2023.
During the meeting, the Defence Ministers are expected to discuss issues and matters concerning regional peace and security, counter-terrorism efforts within the SCO and effective multilateralism.

About SCO

The SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation. It is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance and has been the primary security pillar of the region.
It was established in 2001. It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanisms.
The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO. It meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organisation.
The organisation has two permanent bodies:
the SCO Secretariat based in Beijing.
the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) based in Tashkent.
Eight member states: India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Four observer states: Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia.

2. 26 States and UTs adopts Bhu-Aadhar: DoLR

Subject : Scheme

Concept :

The Department of Land Records (DoLR) has informed that at least 26 States and UTs have adopted the Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) or Bhu-Aadhar and seven more States are conducting a pilot test of the project.
The Indian government is aiming to digitize 100 per cent of land records by 2024.

Bhu-Aadhaar

The Bhu-Aadhaar or ULPIN is a “14-digit alpha-numeric number generated based on the latitude longitude of the vertices of each land parcel”.
It is designated to be the “single, authoritative source of truth of information on any parcel of land or property to provide integrated land services to the citizens as well as all stakeholders”.

Other important initiatives for land records

Bhu-Naksha initiative

The Bhu-Naksha project introduced in 2022 is another project under the Digital India Land Record Modernisation Programme implemented in 2016.
The Bhu-Naksha initiative provisions for mapping boundaries and conducting spatial measurement of land to computerize land records and produce digitized maps of a region with parcels of demarcated land.
These maps are editable based on the results of property divisions in G2G (govt to govt) and G2C (govt to citizen) domains.
These parcels of land are then identified by a Bhu-Aadhaar number.

National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS)

As many as 28 States and Union Territories (UTs) in the country have adopted the National Generic Document Registration System (NGDRS).
NGDRS is a digital portal for maintaining land records.
The NGDRS is an application developed for allowing people to buy land online via electronic registration of property and documents. The project was initiated by the Department of Land Resources under the aegis of the Ministry of Rural Development.

3. European countries to expand North Sea wind farms

Subject : International Relations

Section: Places in news

Concept :

Nine European countries have pledged to multiply the capacity of offshore wind farms in the North Sea by eight times current levels before 2050, turning it into what Belgium’s energy minister called “Europe’s biggest green power plant”.

About North Sea

The North Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean, located between Norway and Denmark in the east, Scotland and England in the west, and Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France in the south.
An offshoot of the North Sea is the Strait of Skagerrak, between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, which connects to the Baltic Sea through the Kattegat, Öresund, the Great Belt and the Little Belt.
In the south, the North Sea connects with the rest of the Atlantic through the Strait of Dover into the English Channel and in the north through the Norwegian Sea.
Major rivers that drain into the North Sea include the Forth (at Edinburgh), Elbe (at Cuxhaven), the Weser (at Bremerhaven), the Ems at Emden, the Rhine and Meuse (at Rotterdam), the Scheldt (at Flushing), the Thames, and the Humber (at Hull).
The Kiel Canal, one of the world’s busiest artificial waterways, connects the North Sea with the Baltic.

4. SUPREME Initiative

Subject : Scheme

Concept :

Recently, the Union Minister of Science and Technology launched the SUPREME initiative to provide financial support for the upgradation and maintenance of analytical instrumentation facilities (AIFs).

About SUPREME Initiative:

The Support for Up-gradation Preventive Repair and Maintenance of Equipment (SUPREME), is a first-of-its-kind programme by the government.
It extends financial support for repair, upgradation, maintenance, retrofitting, or acquiring additional attachments to increase the functional capabilities of existing analytical instrumentation facilities.
Eligibility: Different facilities created under the projects/ Analytical instrumentation facilities (AIFs) created earlier from the support of DST, only will be considered for the funding support under this Scheme
Such facilities at institutions recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) are eligible to apply for grants under this initiative.
The duration of support will be for a period not exceeding 3 years.
The funding pattern in the scheme would be 75:25 for all private and govt owned institutions (except for state-funded institutions for which 100% funding would be considered).
The Criterion for Selection:
Apart from the academic and research merits of the organizations, details of how the revival of the research facility will benefit the scientific community/MSMEs/Startups will be taken into account for evaluating the proposals.
Proven records of the sample(s) analysed, publications, patents, different beneficiaries/stakeholders associated with the facility and other parameters like Scientific Social Responsibility/ industrial R&D components will be considered for screening of the proposals.
The selection process will be through a peer review mechanism and a visit to the organizations, if necessary.
Expert Committee will evaluate the proposals and assist DST in making the final selection.
Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Science and Technology

5. Fly ash particles found in Antarctic ice

Subject : Environment

Section: Pollution

Context: In a first, fly ash particles found in Antarctic ice, thousands of kilometres from potential source.

More on the News:

Spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCP), a component of fly ash, have been identified for the first time in an Antarctic ice core, according to a new study.
Not just that, the particles recovered dated back to 1936, according to scientists from British Antarctic Survey and the University College London.
SCPs have no other anthropogenic or natural sources other than fossil fuel combustion. Thus, they are an unambiguous environmental indicator of industrialisation.
The study provided the first evidence that SCPs have not only been transported to continental Antarctica, but that those enduring physical markers of fossil fuel combustion have been trapped in ice layers since the early decades of the 20th century.
Atmospheric circulation and transport processes have probably influenced the deposition of SCPs in Antarctica throughout the twentieth century, especially related to the strength and position of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds.
The westerly winds are predicted to increase in strength during the 21st century and this might lead to an increased deposition of fly ash particles and other anthropogenically-derived atmospheric pollutants in Antarctica in the future.

More about Fly ash: https://optimizeias.com/new-moefcc-notification-on-fly-ash-includes-solar-wind-power-plants-for-reclamation/

6. Zero Shadow Day

Subject :Geography

Section: Climatology

Context: On April 25, Bengaluru experienced a ‘Zero Shadow Day’, when vertical objects appear to cast no shadow.

What is Zero Shadow Day?

‘Zero Shadow Day’ is an astronomical event that occurs twice a year on specific dates in some parts of the world.
It is a phenomenon that occurs when the Sun is directly overhead and the shadows of vertical objects such as poles, trees, and buildings disappear completely for a brief period of time.

Why does a Zero Shadow Day happen?

Uttarayan (movement of the Sun from south to north from winter solstice to summer solstice) and Dakshinayan (back from north to south) happen because Earth’s rotation axis is tilted at an angle of roughly 23.5° to the axis of revolution around the Sun.
Ramanujam explained that the Sun’s location moves from 23.5°N to 23.5°S of Earth’s equator and back. All places whose latitude equals the angle between the Sun’s location and the equator on that day experience zero shadow day, with the shadow beneath an object at local noon.

When does a Zero Shadow Day happen?

The dates of Zero Shadow Day vary from place to place, and the event is more likely to occur near the equator. This phenomenon lasts for a small part of a second, but the effect can be seen for a minute to a minute-and-a-half.