Daily Prelims Notes 6 November 2020

November 6, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Table Of Contents

1. BODY MASS INDEX

Subject : Health

Context : Body mass index of Indian 19-year-olds among lowest in 200 countries.

Concept :

The study provides new estimates for height and BMI trends in 2019 across 200 countries after analysing data from 2,181 studies.
World Health Organization guidelines define a normal BMI range as 18.5 to 24.9, overweight as 25 or higher, and obesity as 30 or higher.
BMI is measured as the weight in kg divided by the square of the height in metres.

WHO

World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations’ specialized agency for Health was founded in 1948.
Its headquarters are situated in Geneva, Switzerland.
There are 194 Member States, 150 country offices, six regional offices.
It is an inter-governmental organization and works in collaboration with its member states usually through the Ministries of Health.
The WHO provides leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.

2. FAST RADIO BURST

Subject : Science & tech

Context : NASA has reported that on April 28, it observed a mix of X-ray and radio signals never observed before in the Milky Way. Significantly, the flare-up it observed included the first fast radio burst (FRB) seen within the galaxy.

Concept :

The X-ray portion of the simultaneous bursts was detected by several satellites, including NASA’s Wind mission, and the radio component was discovered by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME).
Further, a NASA-funded project called Survey for Transient Astronomical Radio Emission 2 (STARE2) also detected the radio burst seen by CHIME.

Fast Radio Burst :

FRBs are super intense, millisecond-long bursts of radio waves produced by unidentified sources in the space.
Their discovery in 2007 by American astronomer Duncan Lorimer led to the term ‘Lorimer Bursts’.
Since then, just a few dozen similar events have been observed in data collected by radio telescopes around the world, building evidence that points to a variety of potential causes.
Only a handful of emissions have been traced to specific areas of the sky, indicating sources in other galaxies.
The flash of radio waves is incredibly bright if distant, comparable to the power released by hundreds of millions of suns in just a few milliseconds.
This intensity suggests powerful objects like black holes and neutron stars could be involved.
The events were once considered to be largely transient – they seemed to happen once, without obvious signs of a repeat emission. However, a number of such bursts have been identified since then.

Why are they significant?

First noticed in 2018 by the Canadian observatory the waves have created ripples across the globe for one reason — they arrive in a pattern.
This gave birth to theories that they could be from an alien civilization.
Initially, it was believed that the collision of black holes or neutron stars triggers them.
But the discovery of repeating FRBs debunked the theory of colliding objects.

3. VERTICAL FARMING

Subject : Agriculture

Concept :

Vertical farming:

Vertical Farming is the process of growing agricultural crops in vertical stacks in door, in a controlled environment.
It uses the same amount of water as that of regular farming.
However, the other raw materials consumed by vertical farming are less.
According to FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) of the United Nations, vertical farming consumes 75% less raw material as compared to traditional farming.

Benefits:

Under Vertical Farming, the plants are grown indoors with or without soil.
This protects the crops from incessant rains, unruly winds and dry climate.
The crop yield in vertical farming is more than traditional farming as it adopts two major farming techniques namely hydroponics and aeroponics.

Hydroponics and Aeroponics:

In Hydroponics technique, roots are submerged in water that is infused with nutrients.
Aeroponics is a farming method where plants are grown in closed or semi-closed environment with nutrients sprayed in the air.

Vertical farming disadvantages:

Vertical farming technologies face economic challenges with large start-up costs compared to traditional farms.
Vertical farms also face large energy demands due to the use of supplementary light like LEDs.
Moreover, if non-renewable energy is used to meet these energy demands, vertical farms could produce more pollution than traditional farms or greenhouses.

Aquaponics : It refers to any system that combines conventional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment.

4. OPEN MARKET OPERATION

Subject : Economics

Context : The Reserve Bank of India has said that it will continue to conduct Open Market Operation purchase of 20,000 cr rupees as well as OMO’s in State Development Loans.

Concept :

Open Market Operations (OMOs) are market operations conducted by RBI by way of sale/purchase of government securities to/from the market with an objective to adjust the rupee liquidity conditions in the market on a durable basis.
If there is excess liquidity, RBI resorts to sale of securities and sucks out the rupee liquidity.
Similarly, when the liquidity conditions are tight, RBI buys securities from the market, thereby releasing liquidity into the market.
It is one of the quantitative (to regulate or control the total volume of money) monetary policy tools which is employed by the central bank of a country to control the money supply in the economy.

5. A-WEB

Subject : Polity

Context : India’s experience shows elections can be held as per schedule, CEC says to Association of World Election Bodies.

Concept :

Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB)

The Association of World Election Bodies(A-WEB) is the largest association of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) worldwide.
It was established on October 14, 2013 in South Korea.
The permanent secretariat of A-WEB is located in Seoul, South Korea.
It was founded with the shared vision among its members of achieving sustainable democracy around the world
A-WEB also undertakes Election Visitor and Observation Programmes in various countries to study various election management practices and share knowledge with other Member of EMBs.
India is currently the chair of the A-WEB.

6. NPCI

Subject : National Organisation

Context : WhatsApp has developed a payment feature using the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

Concept :

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)

It is an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.
It is an initiative of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
It has been incorporated as a “Not for Profit” Company under the provisions of Section 25 of Companies Act 1956 (now Section 8 of Companies Act 2013).
The ten core promoter banks are State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Citibank and HSBC.
In 2016 the shareholding was broad-based to 56 member banks to include more banks representing all sectors.

7. PREVENTION OF ATROCITIES ACT

Subject : Legislations

Context : The Supreme Court has said that all insults or intimidations to persons belonging to Dalit or tribal communities will not be an offence under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes( Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Concept :

Background :

Article 17 seeks to abolish ‘untouchability’. To enforce this , Untouchability (Offences) Act 1955 was enacted.
The lacuna in the above act lead to the passing of Protection of Civil Rights Act 1976
Protection of Civil Rights Act, Indian Penal Code, were inadequate to check many dimensions of atrocities meted to SC/ST. This lead to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and Rules, 1995.
The Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is known as POA, SC/ST Act, the Prevention of Atrocities Act, or the Atrocities Act.

Provisions of Prevention of Atrocities Act :

Creation of new types of offences not in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) or in the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 (PCRA).
Atrocities can be committed only by non-SCs and non-STs on members of the SC or ST communities. Crimes among SCs and STs or between STs and SCs do not come under the purview of this Act.
Defines various types of atrocities against SCs/STs and prescribes stringent punishments for the same.
Enhanced minimum punishment for public servants.
Punishment for neglect of duties by a public servant(Section 4)
Cancellation of arms licenses in the areas identified where an atrocity may take place or has taken place and grant arms licenses to SCs and STs
Denial of anticipatory bail (Section 18) provided in Section 438 of the CrPC
Denial of probation to convict (Section 19).
provisions for relief and compensation for victims
Creation of Special Courts and special public prosecutor
Mandatory, periodic monitoring system at District, State and National level
Identification of atrocity prone areas .

8. KRISHNA RIVER

Subject : Geography

Context : There has been a sharp decline in the flow of Krishna water from Andhra Pradesh through the Kandaleru Poondi canal for the past few days.

Concept :

The Krishna is the second largest east flowing river of the Peninsula.
The Krishna Basin extends over Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Karnataka having a total area of ~2.6 lakh Sq.km.
It is bounded by Balaghat range on the north, by the Eastern Ghats on the south and the east and by the Western Ghats on the west.
The Krishna River rises from the Western Ghats near Jor village of Satara district of Maharashtra at an altitude of 1,337 m just north of Mahabaleshwar.
The total length of river from origin to its outfall into the Bay of Bengal is 1,400 km.
The major part of basin is covered with agricultural land accounting to 75.86% of the total area.
The Krishna forms a large delta with a shoreline of about 120 km. The Krishna delta appears to merge with that formed by the Godavari and extends about 35 km into the sea.

9. VULTURE CONSERVATION PLAN

Subject : Environment

Context : The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has cleared a plan for conserving vultures. Saliently, the drugs that are used to treat cattle and known to poison vultures will be banned by the Drugs Controller General of India.

Concept :

Diclofenac, a drug used to treat cattle, was linked to kidney failure in vultures and a decline in the bird’s population. Though the drug was banned in 2006, it is reportedly still available for use.
A study by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds’ Centre for Conservation Science found that along with Diclofenac, there were several other drugs that were potentially toxic to vultures being used by vets for treating cattle.
The ‘Action Plan for Vulture Conservation 2020-2025’ also proposes to establish Vulture Conservation Breeding Centres in Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
There would also be a conservation breeding programme for the red-headed vulture and Egyptian vulture, and at least one “Vulture Safe Zone” in every State for the conservation of the remnant populations.
There would be four rescue centres in different geographical areas: Pinjore in north India, Bhopal in central India, Guwahati in northeast India and Hyderabad in south India, as well as regular surveys to track population numbers, the plan envisages.

National Board for Wildlife (NBWL)

It is a “Statutory Organization” constituted under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Its roles is “advisory” in nature and advises the Central Government on framing policies and measures for conservation of wildlife in the country.
Primary function of the Board is to promote the conservation and development of wildlife and forests.
It has power to review all wildlife-related matters and approve projects in and around national parks and sanctuaries.
No alternation of boundaries in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries can be done without approval of the NBWL.
The NBWL is chaired by the Prime Minister. It has 47 members including the Prime Minister. Among these, 19 members are ex-officio members.
Other members include three Members of Parliament (two from Lok Sabha and one from Rajya Sabha), five NGOs and 10 eminent ecologists, conservationists and environmentalists.

ERROR CORRECTION:

DAILY PRELIMS NOTES, NOVEMBER 2, TOPIC NO 6: GILGIT BALTISTAN

Location of the region: It has mentioned that Gilgit Baltistan shares boundary with Tajiskistan in northwest. GILGIT BALTISTAN DOES NOT SHARE BOUNDARY WITH TAJIKISTAN. The Region shares borders with Pakistan, China and Kashmir (India) only.

Error is regretted.