Exercise Desert Flag-VI
Why in News?
- Exercise Desert Flag –VI successfully culminated today with de-induction of the Indian contingent from UAE. Ex Desert Flag is an annual multi-lateral large force employment exercise hosted by UAE.
- The sixth edition of the exercise was conducted at Air Force Base Al Dhafra, UAE.
- IAF participated in the exercise for the first time, fielding Su-30MKI fighter aircraft.
- Six countries; UAE, USA, France, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain apart from India participated with aerial assets. Jordan, Greece, Qatar, Egypt and South Korea participated as observer forces.
- The objectives for the exercise were to expose coalition participating forces to large force employment, sharpen tactical capabilities, and enhance interoperability along with fostering closer relations between the participating forces.
- The aim for the participating crew and specialist observers was to expose them to operational environment in scenarios requiring multinational forces working together.
PIB
Unique ID for all land parcels
Why in News?
- The Centre plans to issue a 14-digit identification number to every plot of land in the country within a year’s time.
- It will subsequently integrate its land records database with revenue court records and bank records, as well as Aadhaar numbers on a voluntary basis, according to a Parliamentary standing committee report submitted to the Lok Sabha recently.
- The Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) scheme has been launched in ten States this year and will be rolled out across the country by March 2022.
- “The Aadhaar for land”, a number that would uniquely identify every surveyed parcel of land and prevent land fraud, especially in the hinterlands of rural India, where land records are outdated and often disputed.
- The identification will be based on the longitude and latitude coordinates of the land parcel, and is dependent on detailed surveys and geo-referenced cadastral maps.
- This is the next step in the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP), which began in 2008 and has been extended several times as its scope grew.
- It’s due to come to an end next week, but the Department has proposed a further extension to 2023-24, to complete its original targets as well as expand its ambit with a slew of new schemes.
- Department has taken new initiatives under the programme like NGDRS [or the National Generic Document Registration System], ULPIN, linking of court to land records, integration [of] consent based Aadhaar number with land records etc. which necessitated its further extension beyond 2020-21 till 2023-24.
THE HINDU
Earth safe from asteroid for 100 years
Why in News?
- NASA has given Earth the all clear for the next century from a particularly menacing asteroid.
- The space agency announced that new telescope observations have ruled out any chance of Apophis smacking Earth in 2068.
- 1,100-foot (340-meter) space rock that was supposed to come frighteningly close in 2029 and again in 2036.
- NASA ruled out any chance of a strike during those two close approaches a while ago. But a potential 2068 collision still loomed.
- First detected in 2004, Apophis is now officially off NASA’s asteroid “risk list.”
- Apophis will come within 32,000 kilometers on April 13, 2029, enabling astronomers to get a good look.
THE HINDU
Old Vehicles on Indian Roads
Why in News?
- Over four crore vehicles older than 15 years are plying on roads pan-India and fall under the ambit of green tax, with Karnataka occupying the top slot with more than 70 lakh such vehicles.
- The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has digitised the data of such vehicles throughout the country, excluding Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Lakshadweep as their records were not available.
- A proposal to levy green tax has already been sent to the States.
- Uttar Pradesh occupies the second spot with 56.54 lakh vehicles, of which 24.55 lakh are older than 20 years.
- The capital Delhi is at the third place in terms of old and polluting vehicles at 49.93 lakh, of which 35.11 lakh are older than 20 years.
- The government plans to impose a green tax on old vehicles soon in a bid protect the environment and curb pollution.
- Vehicles like strong hybrids, electric vehicles and those running on alternate fuels like CNG, ethanol and LPG will be exempted. The revenue collected through the green tax will be utilised for tackling pollution.
- Green tax is imposed by a few States/UTs at different rates at present.
- Under the scheme, transport vehicles older than eight years could be charged green tax at the time of renewal of fitness certificate at the rate of 10 to 25% of road tax.
- Personal vehicles will be charged green tax at the time of renewal of registration certification after 15 years; public transport vehicles, such as city buses, will be levied lower green tax; while higher green tax (50% of road tax) is proposed for vehicles being registered in highly polluted cities.
- Differential tax will also be charged depending on fuel (petrol/ diesel) and the type of vehicle.
- Apart from strong hybrids, electric vehicles and alternate fuels like CNG, ethanol, LPG etc, vehicles used in farming, such as tractors, harvestors and tillers, will be exempted from the tax.
THE HINDU
‘Government’ in Delhi means ‘Lieutenant Governor’
Why in News?
- President recently gave his assent to a Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021, that accords primacy to Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor (L-G) over the elected government.
About
- According to the legislation, the “government” in Delhi means the “Lieutenant Governor” and the city government will now have to seek the opinion of the L-G before taking any executive action.
- Parliament passed the Bill last week — Lok Sabha on March 22 and Rajya Sabha on March 24.
- Amendments have been brought to remove ambiguities in the existing Act.
THE HINDU
Intranasal Vaccine
Why in News?
- While all COVID-19 vaccines administered through the intramuscular route have been found to reduce the chances of symptomatic disease and death, attempts are being made to develop vaccines that can potentially prevent or at least greatly reduce the chances of being infected and also stop the spread of the virus.
- Such vaccines are typically administered at the site of infection, and the most efforts are at developing vaccines that can be administered intranasally either as drops or as a spray.
- Bharat Biotech has already begun the phase-1 clinical trials at four sites in India – Hyderabad, Nagpur, Patna and Chennai.
About
- Much like the Oxford vaccine, the intranasal vaccine has been developed using the vector-based platform and uses a chimpanzee adenovirus (Ad 36) to ferry the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 virus.
- A single dose of the intranasal vaccine has been found to induce robust mucosal immunity, which prevents SARS-CoV-2 infection in the upper and lower respiratory tracts of mice when challenged with the virus a few weeks after vaccination.
- Even if the vaccine is unlikely to confer sterilising immunity, the local mucosal immunity is likely to reduce the possibility of infection and in all probability might prevent transmission.
- For diseases where transmission is either by respiratory or faecal-oral route, vaccines administered through the intramuscular route have been equally effective in either preventing infection or disease onset. In contrast, the oral polio vaccine has to be administered repeatedly to confer continued protection.
- A typical example is HPV, where sterilising immunity at the site of infection is achieved even though it is an intramuscular vaccine. Even if one cell is infected, the process of chronic infection and malignancy continue. This is the only vaccine that prevents even one cell from getting infected, and it is due to sterilising immunity.
Case of measles
- In the case of measles, which is highly contagious, a vaccinated child can get infected but may not suffer from disease. “Measles spreads only after disease sets in. Since the vaccinated child does not suffer from disease the child does not spread the virus through the nasal route.
Diphtheria
- In the case of diphtheria, where the infection will be sub-clinical, for the disease to get worse large-scale multiplication of the bacteria on the mucosal surface is needed, which is facilitated by the toxin. When the toxin is not effective due to the presence of toxin antibodies, the growth of the bacteria is compromised and disease onset is prevented.
Advantages
- The biggest advantage that intranasal vaccine offers is the ease of vaccine administration, particularly when the vaccine is administered as drops.
- There will be no need for trained health workers for intramuscular administration. Just like in the case of oral polio vaccination, the use of a cheap dropper to administer the vaccine to multiple people will make the vaccination drive easy, simple and cost-effective.
THE HINDU
Myanmar Armed Forces Day parade
Why in News?
- India is one of the countries that attended the Armed Forces Day parade on March 27.
- Eight countries — Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand — sent representatives for the annual parade held in the capital Naypyitaw.
- It commemorates the start of Burmese army’s resistance to Japanese occupation in 1945.
TOI
Squids
- Squids adeptly change the colour and patterns on their skin for camouflage and communication.
- Like their cephalopod cousins the octopus and cuttlefish, Squids have specialised pigment-filled cells called chromatophores that expand to expose them to light, resulting in various shades of pigmentary colour.
- Squids shimmer and flicker, reflecting different colours and breaking light over their skin. Researchers have found that proteins called reflectins are responsible for their iridescence.
- Researchers found that structures (subwavelength-wide grooves) and mechanisms by which light-reflecting cells (iridocytes) in the skin can take on virtually every colour of the rainbow.
- The grooves are formed by a cell membrane that folds into nanoscale accordion-like structures called lamellae. The colour reflected depends on the width of the groove, which corresponds to certain light wavelengths (colours).
- The width of the grooves can be changed – widened or narrowed – at will by the action of “osmotic motor” driven by reflectin proteins.
- The researchers then found that the reflectin proteins can not only tune the colour but can also tune the brightness using the same mechanism.
THE HINDU
New species of red algae
Why in News?
- Two new species of seaweed have been discovered by a group of marine biologists from Central University of Punjab, Bathinda. Named Hypnea indica (after India) and Hypnea bullata (because of the blisterlike marks on its body – bullate), the seaweeds are part of the genus Hypnea or red seaweeds.
- They grow in the intertidal regions of the coast, namely the area that is submerged during the high tide and exposed during low tides.
Discoveries
- Hypnea indica was discovered Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, and Somnath Pathan and Sivrajpur in Gujarat, Hypnea bullata was discovered from Kanyakumari and Diu island of Daman and Diu.
- Species of Hypnea contain the biomolecule carrageenan, which is widely used in the food industry.
- As the two species have been found on the west and south east coasts of India, it suggests good prospects for their cultivation which can be put to good use economically.
- The study also reports one other species of Hypnea for the first time in Indian coasts, Hypnea nidifica.
- As carbon dioxide in the atmosphere gets dissolved in ocean waters, the seawater becomes more acidic. Algae like Hypnea cannot survive in acidic seawater, hence, the only way to help these species is to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by adopting sustainable lifestyle choices.
THE HINDU
Performance of Centre’s flagship scheme
Why in News?
- Less than 6% of houses sanctioned under the Centre’s flagship rural housing scheme in 2020-21 have reached completion so far this year, with COVID-19 stalling progress.
- However, some States such as Odisha and Jharkhand used the scheme to provide employment opportunities for migrant workers who returned to their villages during the crisis.
About
- With a little over a year to go to achieve its goal of “Housing for All”, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin has only completed 55% of its construction target, although money has been sanctioned for almost 85% of beneficiaries.
- Of the 2.28 crore houses to be built for the rural poor under the Yojana, less than 1.27 crore had been completed by January 28, 2021.
- The PMAY-G was launched in April 2016 and aims to provide a pucca house with basic amenities to all rural families who are homeless or living in kutcha or dilapidated houses by the end of March 2022.
- Odisha completed construction of 10.5% of its 2020-21 target and began work on at least 85% of those for which money was sanctioned this year.
- Jharkhand completed 7.25% of the target and started work on more than 91% of houses sanctioned this year.
- A number of other States such as Assam, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka did not see completed construction of even a single house sanctioned during the year.
THE HINDU
An Aquatic Robot
Why in News?
- Drowning is the third main reason for accidental injury-related death globally, accounting for 7% of all injury-related fatalities, according to the World Health Organisation. An estimated 3,20, 000 people globally died in 2016 due to drowning.
Developed By
- An autonomous underwater robot, developed by a team of researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation (IOSB), is now ready for the task of rescuing drowning persons.
- In a swimming pool environment, when the aquatic robot receives a drowning person’s location from surveillance cameras fixed near the pool, it comes out of its docking station on the pool’s floor to rescue the individual.
- The robot is equipped with batteries, motor, cameras, optical and navigational sensors, and a mechanism to secure a drowning person’s body. Upon reaching the destination, it locates the person and carries them to the surface.
- The aquatic vehicle can also rescue people in lakes when equipped with acoustic sensors instead of optical ones to overcome restricted visibility.
- Sound wave echoes can be used to determine people’s positions and orientation so precisely that the robot can autonomously reach their location and pick them up.
THE HINDU
Severe heatwave in Delhi
Why in News?
- The national capital reeled under a “severe” heatwave on the day of Holi as the maximum temperature shot up to 40.1 degrees Celsius, making it the hottest day in March in 76 years, the India Meteorological Department said.
- Low wind speed and plenty of sun due to clear skies over the last three to four days led to high temperatures.
- The city had recorded a maximum of 39.6 degrees Celsius on March 29, 1973, the third hottest day in March.
When Heatwave is Declared
- For the plains, a “heatwave” is declared when the maximum temperature is more than 40 degrees Celsius, and at least 4.5 notches above normal.
- A “severe” heatwave is declared if departure from normal temperature is more than 6.5 degrees Celsius, according to the IMD.
THE HINDU