Current Affairs Nov 5 – GES Reporter

Plan For Vulture Conservation

The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has cleared a plan for conserving vultures.

Why Vulture need to Conserve

Diclofenac, a drug used to treat cattle, was linked to kidney failure in vultures and a decline in the bird’s population.
The drugs that are used to treat cattle and known to poison vultures will be banned by the Drugs Controller General of India.
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 drugs make their way into the vulture’s system as they feed on carcasses.
Three of India’s vulture species of the genus ‘Gyps’—
the long-billed (Gyps indicus) and the slender-billed ( tenuirostris) had declined by 97%,
while in the white-rumped ( bengalensis) declined nearly 99% between 1992 and 2007, according to an earlier estimate by the BNHS.
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.

THE HINDU

Interpol Creates Cybercrime-related Communication Services

The Interpol has created two secure and flexible services to facilitate cybercrime related communication among law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders to ensure more effective and coordinated action based on timely intelligence.

Cybercrime

Cybercrime is one of the most prolific forms of transnational crime.
Highly complex cyber threats such as malware, Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) and ransomware bring new challenges to law enforcement — including large volumes of data, cross-border investigations, and new areas of technical knowledge.

Why Need Arises

Given the constant evolution of the cybercrime landscape, police agencies needed to share information and knowledge with their counterparts around the world to develop a timely, intelligence-based response. Therefore, the services have been created.

Cybercrime Knowledge Exchange workspace

It handles general, non-police information and is open to all relevant users, and the other is the Cybercrime Collaborative Platform-Operation, which assists in the law enforcement operations, with access restricted to the operational stakeholders only.

The Cybercrime Knowledge Exchange (CKE)

The Cybercrime Knowledge Exchange (CKE) workspace is open to law enforcement, governments, international organisations and cybersecurity industry experts to exchange non-police operational information on cybercrime.
This unique workspace is a dynamic communication channel that enables users around the world to discuss the latest cybercrime trends, prevention strategies, detection technologies and investigation techniques with authorized colleagues globally.
The system is expected to “foster an international network of subject matter experts to share knowledge and experience in this field”.
The CBI is the nodal agency in the Interpol for India.
According to the Interpol, the platform would enable the member countries to see the bigger picture of cyberthreats and trends and, therefore, better focus their resources and avoid duplication of effort.

THE HINDU

The Arbitration Law Amended

The government brought an ordinance to amend the arbitration law.

Why

To ensure that stakeholder parties can seek an unconditional stay on enforcement of arbitral awards in cases where the “arbitration agreement or contract is induced by fraud or corruption.”
The ordinance also does away with the 8th Schedule of the Act that contained the necessary qualifications for accreditation of arbitrators.
The provision was seen as coming in the way of India getting the benefit of foreign arbitrators.
The Law Ministry ordinance said the amendment was necessary
To address the concerns raised by stakeholders after the enactment of the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019 and
To ensure that all the stakeholder parties get an opportunity to seek an unconditional stay of enforcement of arbitral awards
where the underlying arbitration agreement or contract or making of the arbitral award are induced by fraud or corruption.

Until recently

An arbitration award was enforceable even if an appeal was filed against it in the court under Section 36 of the law. The court, however, could grant a stay on the award on conditions as it deemed fit.

Now

As per the latest amendment, if the award is being given on the basis of a fraudulent agreement or corruption, then the court will not impose a condition to stay the award and grant an unconditional stay as long as an appeal under Section 34 of the arbitration law is pending.
The ordinance has now added a proviso in Section 36 of the Arbitration Act to effect this change and will come into effect retrospectively from October 23, 2015.

THE HINDU

MoU between India and Spain

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister was apprised of signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) and the GRANTECAN, S.A. (GTC), Spain to develop scientific and technical collaborations in astronomy field.

The activities to be carried out under this MoU will lead to

(i) new scientific results;

(ii) new technologies;

(iii) Capacity building through increased scientific interaction and training;

(iv) joint scientific projects etc.

For whom

The joint research projects, training programmes, conferences, seminars etc. under the MoU will be open to all qualified scientists, students and technologists and will be supported solely on the basis of scientific merit and experience.
The development of segmented telescope technologies as well as the development of robotic telescopes and other future potential specific collaborations.

MoU between India and United Kingdom

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister has given its approval for signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
between the Ministry of Communications of the Republic of India and the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) of United Kingdom Government
on cooperation in the field of Telecommunications/Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

The MoU will contribute in strengthening bilateral cooperation and mutual understanding in the field of Telecommunications/ICTs.

Post-Brexit, the MoU is also aiming for enhanced scope of cooperation and opportunities for India. The Parties have identified the following areas of common interest for cooperation in:-

Telecommunications/ICT policy and regulation;
Spectrum Management;
Telecommunication connectivity including mobile roaming;
Telecommunications/ICT technical standardizations and testing & certification;
Wireless Communications;
Technological development in Telecommunications/ICT including 5G, Internet of Things/Machine to Machine, Cloud Computing, Big Data etc,;
Security of Telecommunication Infrastructure, Security in the provision and use of telecommunication services;
Building capacity in high technology areas and exchange of expertise wherever possible;
Collaboration and Sharing of information on Research & Development on emerging technologies and innovation where appropriate;
Exploring opportunities for joint work in signatory countries and third countries on Telecommunications/ICT;
Facilitating Trade, investment and technology activities through Telecommunication/ICT industry delegations and visits, events, exhibitions etc. as mutually agreed; and
Other forms of cooperation in Telecommunications/ICT as mutually agreed upon by the Parties, falling with the scope of MoU.

PIB

MoU between India and United Kingdom

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister has given its approval for signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
between the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), India and the United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (UK MHRA)
on cooperation in the field of medical Product Regulation.

Benefits

The MoU will help in establishing a framework for fruitful cooperation and exchange of information between
the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) and the United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (UKMHRA) of United Kingdom
in matters relating to Medical products regulation in line with their international responsibilities.

The main areas of cooperation between the two Regulatory Authorities include the following:

a) Exchange of safety information, including Pharmacovigilance where there is a particular safety concern related to the other party. This includes safety concerns relating to medicines and medical devices.
b) Participation in scientific and practical conferences, symposia, seminars and fora organized by India and the United Kingdom.
c) Exchange of information and cooperation on Good Laboratory Practices (GLP), Good Clinical Practices (GCP), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Good Distribution Practices (GDP) and Good Pharmacovigilance Practices (GPvP).
d) Capacity building in mutually agreed areas.
e) Promote an understanding between the Parties of each other’s regulatory framework, requirements and processes; and to facilitate future regulatory strengthening initiatives for both Parties.
f) Exchange of information on laws and regulations regarding medicines and medical devices.
g) Information exchange to support efforts to control unlicensed exports and imports.
h) Coordination at the international fora.

It would facilitate better understanding of the regulatory aspects between the two sides and could help in increased cooperation in the field of medical products regulation and better coordination in international fora.

PIB

MoU between India and Israel

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has approved the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Israel
on cooperation in the field of Health and Medicine.

The MoU covers the following areas of cooperation:

Exchange and training of medical doctors and other health professionals;
Assistance in development of human resources and setting up of health care facilities;
Exchange of information regarding regulation of pharmaceutical, medical devices and cosmetics;
Sharing expertise for vulnerability assessment for health of citizens against climate risk and public health actions targeted towards mitigation and adaptation;
Sharing of expertise for facilitating climate resilient infrastructure as well as providing support for development of ‘Green Healthcare’ (climate resilient hospitals);
Promote mutual research in various relevant areas; and
Any other area of cooperation as may be mutually decided upon.

PIB

Luhri Stage-I Hydro Power Project

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister has approved the investment of Rs.1810.56 crore for 210 MW Luhri Stage-I Hydro Electric Project
located on river Satluj which is situated in Shimla &Kullu districts of Himachal Pradesh.
This project will generate 758.20 million units of electricity annually.
Implemented by Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL) on Build-Own-Operate-Maintain (BOOM) basis with active support from Government of India and State Government.
The MoU of this project was signed with the Govt. of Himachal Pradesh during Rising Himachal, Global Investor Meet, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister on 7th November 2019.
The power generated from the Project will help in providing Grid stability and will improve the power supply position.
Besides adding valuable renewable energy to the Grid, the project would also lead to reduction of 6.1 lakh Tons of carbon dioxide from environment annually, thus contributing to improvement in air quality.

PIB

Enhanced Version of Pinaka Mk-1 Missile Successfully Flight-tested

AN enhanced version of the Pinaka Mk-1 missile, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was successfully flight-tested from the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha.
The enhanced version of the Pinaka Mk-1 system was taken up to achieve longer-range performance compared to the earlier design with lesser length.
The design and development has been carried out by Pune-based DRDO laboratories — Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL).
The Enhanced Pinaka Mk-1 will eventually replace the Pinaka Mk-1 missiles, which are currently used by regiments of the Indian Army along India’s frontiers with China and Pakistan.
The test was in continuation of a number of missile trials conducted by the DRDO in the last two months. A total of 15 tests, over a vast spectrum of ranges and purposes, have been conducted during this period.

About Pinaka

The Pinaka, a multi-barrel rocket-launcher (MBRL) system named after Shiva’s bow, can fire a salvo of 12 rockets over a period of 44 seconds.
One battery of Pinaka system consists of six launch vehicles, accompanied by loader systems, radar and links with network-based systems and a command post.
One battery can neutralise an area of 1 km by 1 km.
As a key tactic of long-range artillery battle, the launchers have to ‘shoot and scoot’ to ensure they themselves do not become the targets, especially being detectable due to its back blast.
While the Mark-1 has a range of 38 km, the enhanced version of Mark-1 has a range of 45 km and some key additional features.
DRDO has also developed and successfully tested the Mk-II and guided variants of the Pinaka, which has a range of around 60 km, while the Guided Pinaka system has a range of 75 km and has integrated navigation, control and guidance system to improve the end accuracy and enhance the range.
The navigation system of Guided Pinaka missile is also aided by the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).

History

The development of the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket systems was started by the DRDO in the late 1980s, as an alternative to the Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher systems of Russian make called like the ‘Grad’, which are still used by some regiments.
After successful tests of Pinaka Mark-1 in the late 1990, it was first used successfully in the battlefield during the 1999 Kargil War.
Subsequently, multiple regiments of the system came up over the 2000s.

India CEO Forum on Climate Change

The private sector is poised to join hands with Government of India in its fight against climate change.
A ‘Declaration of the Private Sector on Climate Change’ is slated to be signed and released during the high-level virtual event being organized under the Chairmanship of Union Environment Minister on 5th November 2020.
Key industry leaders from the steel, cement, power, pharmaceuticals etc. sectors will deliver statements to reinforce their commitment to the cause of climate change and share their vision for climate action in the post-2020 period.

India on Climate Change

India is a signatory to the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
As part of its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), India has three quantitative climate change goals viz.
Reduction in the emissions intensity of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level,
Achieving about 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030 and
Creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

Role of Private Sector

The private sector plays pivotal role in creating low-carbon sustainable economies and has embarked on a number of voluntary actions on climate change that can contribute towards achieving India’s NDC goals.
The private sector also benefited from India’s participation in Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol and going forward Article 6 of the Paris Agreement offers further opportunities for meeting the climate change and sustainable development objectives.

PIB

‘Nurturing Neighborhoods Challenge’

The Union Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) Ministry launched a challenge for cities to develop and implement initiatives to improve the quality of life of young children, caregivers and families.
It will be open for the 100 Smart Cities, cities with population of more than 5 lakh and State/Union Territory capitals.
The three-year challenge will help cities to
Re-imagine parks and open spaces;
Improve access to early childhood facilities;
Adapt public spaces with early childhood-oriented amenities; and
Create accessible, safe, walkable streets for young children and families.
Families are challenged by inadequate public transport, as well as food, healthcare and childcare deserts.
Thoughtful urban planning and design can play a major role in addressing such challenges and in giving children a good start in life.

THE HINDU

Committee To Review Guidelines On Television Ratings

Days after an alleged TRP scam came to the fore, the Centre constituted a committee to review the guidelines on television rating agencies in India and asked the panel to submit its report to the Information and Broadcasting minister within two months.
The four-member committee will be headed by Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi S Vempati.
The present guidelines issued by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in 2014 on Television Rating agencies in India were notified after detailed deliberations by the Parliamentary Committee, Committee on Television Rating Points (TRP) constituted by the ministry and recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority etc.
Apart from chairperson Vempati, the committee will comprise
Dr Shalabh, Professor of Statistics, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, IIT Kanpur;
Rajkumar Upadhyay, Executive Director, C-DOT; and
Professor Pulak Ghosh, Decision Sciences Centre for Public Policy (CPP) as its members.
The committee has been constituted to study the different aspects of television rating system in India as they have evolved over a period of time.
It will study recent recommendations of TRAI on the subject and suggest steps for enhancing competition in the sector.

The Terms of Reference for the Committee shall be as under:

Study past recommendations made by various forums on the subject of television rating systems in India and matter incidental thereto;
Study recent recommendations of Telecom Regulatory Authority on the subject;
Suggest steps for enhancing competition in the sector;
Review of the presently notified guidelines to see if the intended purpose(s) of issuing the guidelines have stood the test of time and has met needs of various stakeholders involve The lacunae, if any, shall be specially addressed by the Committee;
Any issues related or incidental to the subject;
To make recommendations on way forward for robust, transparent and accountable rating system in India; and
Any other related issues assigned by MIB from time to time.

Prof.A N Bhaduri Memorial Lecture Award-2020

To recognize the significant contributions towards defining the survival tactics of Leishmania donovani,
Society of Biological Chemists (India) has chosen Dr Susanta Kar,Senior Scientist, Molecular Parasitology and Immunology, CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow for this year’s Prof.A N Bhaduri Memorial Lecture Award.
Leishmania Donovani is a protozoan parasite that infects macrophages and is a causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis (Kala Azar), a lethal infectious disease affecting millions worldwide.
Susanta Kar’s research group studied the interaction of Leishmania with immune cells like macrophages, dendritic cells and T cells and the fate of these interactions on modulation of various intracellular signaling cascades that ultimately affect immune response/infection progression.

The Society of Biological Chemists (India) or SBC(I)

It was founded in 1930, with its Head Quarters at Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.
This prestigious society was registered under the Societies Act in the then Princely State of Mysore.
The award is conferred in every two years.
Recipient of the award should be below 50 years of age.
The Award is given for Biological Chemistry and Allied sciences, preferably related to parasitic infections.

PIB

SC GUIDELINES ON MATRIMONIAL CASES

The Supreme Court on November 4 held that deserted wives and children are entitled to alimony/maintenance from the husbands from the date they apply for it in a court of law.
Women deserted by husbands were left in dire straits, often reduced to destitution, for lack of means to sustain themselves and their children.
The court said despite a plethora of maintenance laws, women were left empty-handed for years, struggling to make ends meet after a bad marriage.

Deprived of sustenance

The view that maintenance ought to be granted from the date when the application was made is based on the rationale that the primary object of maintenance laws is to protect a deserted wife and dependent children from destitution and vagrancy.
If maintenance is not paid from the date of application, the party seeking maintenance would be deprived of sustenance, owing to the time taken for disposal of the application, which often runs into several years.
Usually maintenance cases have to be settled in 60 days, but they take years in reality owing to legal loopholes.

A violation would lead to punishments such as civil detention and even attachment of the property of the latter.
The plea of the husband that he does not possess any source of income ipso facto does not absolve him of his moral duty to maintain his wife, if he is able-bodied and has educational qualifications.
Both the applicant wife and the respondent husband have to disclose their assets and liabilities in a maintenance case. Any earlier case filed or pending under any other law should also be revealed in court.

Education expenses

The expenses of the children, including their education, basic needs and other vocational activities, should be factored in by courts while calculating the alimony.
“Education expenses of the children must be normally borne by the father. If the wife is working and earning sufficiently, the expenses may be shared proportionately between the parties.

Permanent alimony

The court opined it would not be equitable to order a husband to pay his wife permanent alimony for the rest of her life, considering the fact that in contemporary society marriages do not last for a reasonable length of time.
Anyway, the court said, the duration of a marriage should be accounted for while determining the permanent alimony.
Payment of maintenance by a man to his wife and son under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Section 125 of the CrPC was conceived to ameliorate the agony, anguish, financial suffering of a woman who had left her matrimonial home, so that some suitable arrangements could be made to enable her to sustain herself and the children.
The judgment reiterated that Section 125 of the CrPC would include couples living together for years within its ambit.
“Strict proof of marriage should not be a pre-condition for grant of maintenance under Section 125 of the CrPC,” the court said.

THE HINDU

Hike Retirement Age In Armed Forces, Cut Down Pension Proposed

In a significant reform of the armed forces, the Department of Military Affairs (DMA), headed by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen. Bipin Rawat, has initiated proposals to increase the retirement age of officers and also cut down the pension of officers opting for Pre Mature Retirement (PMR).

Proposed Age

The DMA proposes increasing the age of retirement of
Colonels from the existing 54 to 57,
for Brigadiers from 56 to 58 and
for Major Generals from 58 to 59.
The same is applicable to equivalent ranks in other Services.
The age of retirement of Junior Commissioned Officers (JCO) and Other Ranks in Logistics, Technical and Medical branches is also proposed to be increased to 57 years.

Pension review

The DMA noted that a large number of personnel were boarded out due to lesser vacancies and some service restrictions.
At the same time, there were several specialists and super specialists who were trained for high skill jobs in the services who left the Services to work in other sectors.
Such loss of high-skilled manpower results in void in the Services skill matrix and is counter productive to the armed forces.
The pension is proposed to be reviewed in four slabs for PMR of personnel
For 20-25 years of Service – 50% of entitled pension;
For 26-30 years of service – 60% of entitled pension,
For 31-35 years of service – 75% of entitled pension and
Full pension for 35 years and above service.
There will be no change of pension entitlements of battle casualties.

THE HINDU

MP Migrant Worker Project Report

As many as 56.5% migrant workers who returned to Madhya Pradesh from Maharashtra during the COVID-19-induced lockdown were unemployed, while those engaged in work were earning much less than before, according to a survey.
Further, 67% of the 1,500 respondents who returned in May and June across Madhya Pradesh demanded urgent relief to support their families.
And 90% of them had not received any monetary relief promised by the government.
While 43% said they are engaged in some kind of work, around 22% were employed in agriculture-related work or farming in their own fields.
In some cases, the entire family works on a single field resulting in cases of disguised unemployment.
The survey had brought out changes in income patterns of the returned workers.
At their places of work in Maharashtra, 59% of the respondents earned ₹300-500 a day. But now, 49% of them earned that much, affecting their living standards.
Most workers, at 58%, said their travel was funded entirely by the government, which also provided them with bus facilities to their villages from railway stations.
As for the future, 51.79% of the respondents wished to settle in Madhya Pradesh and looked for local employment opportunities.

THE HINDU

Railways To Deploy High-speed Internet For Passenger Safety

The Long Term Evolution for Railways (LTE-R), the next generation Mobile Train Radio Communication (MTRC) system planned to cater to the voice/traffic data needs of the Indian Railways, will also be deployed to ensure passenger safety.
The Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO), the R&D arm of the railways, has been tasked with designing a uniform, cost-effective and integrated system to roll out LTE-R over 30,000-route kms of the rail network.
LTE-R was also considered for the Mission Critical Passenger Safety Services & Applications, Video Surveillance System through closed circuit television cameras in trains and the Passenger Information System and Internet of Things (IoT) on rolling stocks and fixed assets.
The railways have roped in institutions such as the IITs in Chennai, Roorkee and Kharagpur and the University of Mumbai
for the mission to use advanced technology,
including MTRC and Artificial Intelligence,
to predict failures in the signalling assets and enhance the reliability of the signalling system.

THE HINDU

The World’s Biggest Iceberg

The world’s biggest iceberg is on a collision course with a remote South Atlantic island that is home to thousands of penguins and seals, and could impede their ability to gather food.
Icebergs naturally break off from Antarctica into the ocean, but climate change has accelerated the process — in this case, with potentially devastating consequences for abundant wildlife in the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia.
Shaped like a closed hand with a pointing finger, the iceberg known as A68a split off in 2017 from Larsen Ice Shelf on the West Antarctic Peninsula, which has warmed faster than any other part of Earth’s southernmost continent.
At its current rate of travel, it will take the giant ice cube — which is several times the area of greater London — 20 to 30 days to run aground into the island’s shallow waters.
A68a is 160 kilometres long and 48 kilometres across at its widest point, but the iceberg is less than 200 metres deep, which means it could park dangerously close to the island.
Many thousands of King penguins —a species with a bright splash of yellow on their heads — live on the island, alongside Macaroni, Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins.
Seals also populate South Georgia, as do wandering albatrosses, the largest bird species that can fly.
If the iceberg runs aground next to South Georgia, foraging routes could be blocked, hampering the ability of penguin parents to feed their young, and thus threatening the survival of seal pups and penguin chicks.

Release of stored carbon

The incoming iceberg would also crush organisms and their seafloor ecosystem, which would need decades or centuries to recover.
Carbon stored by these organisms would be released into the ocean and atmosphere, adding to carbon emissions caused by human activity.
Over hundreds of years, this iceberg has accumulated a lot of nutrients and dust, and they are starting to leach out and fertilise the oceans.
Up to a kilometre thick, icebergs are the solid-ice extension of land-bound glaciers. They naturally break off from ice shelves as snow-laden glaciers push toward the sea. But global warming has increased the frequency of this process, known as calving.
Up to the end of the 20th century, the Larsen Ice Shelf had been stable for more than 10,000 years.
In 1995, however, a huge chunk broke off, followed by another in 2002.

This was followed by the breakup of the nearby Wilkins Ice Shelf in 2008 and 2009, and A68a in 2017.
Hydrofracturing — when water seeps into cracks at the surface, splitting the ice farther down — was almost certainly the main culprit in each case.

THE HINDU

Biden vows to rejoin Paris Climate Agreement

US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has pledged that his administration would rejoin the historic Paris Agreement on climate change.
Biden, 77, has not won the presidential elections yet, but is inching closer to be declared the winner.
On November 4, the US formally withdrew from the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change, a decision originally announced three years ago.
The US, under the Obama administration, had acceded to the Paris Agreement in 2016. It was a signature achievement of the Obama administration.
The Paris accord committed the US and 187 other countries to keeping rising global temperatures below 2C above pre-industrial levels and attempting to limit them even more, to a 1.5C rise.
Trump argues that the agreement is disadvantageous for the US, while it gives benefits to countries like China, Russia and India. According to him, it could be economically detrimental and cost 2.5 million Americans their jobs by 2025.
The decision by the US – one of the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases – to quit the agreement has led to condemnation from environmentalists and expressions of regret from world leaders.
Biden has proposed a USD 5 trillion plan to combat climate change.
The US is the second leading producer of all carbon dioxide emissions globally, behind China.
President Trump originally announced his intention to withdraw from the agreement in 2017 and formally notified the United Nations last year.
The US exited the pact after a mandatory year-long waiting period that ended on 4th November.
The US is the only country to withdraw from the global pact. It can still attend negotiations and give opinions, but is relegated to observer status.
Trump had stated that he intended to renegotiate the details of the US’ membership within the Paris Agreement that can better protect US workers in industries like coal, paper, and steel.

THE HINDU

Migratory Amur Falcons

With the onset of winter, migratory birds specially the Amur falcons are flocking to lakes and water bodies in large numbers across northeast India. Despite restrictions, hundreds of birds are poached every year.
The Forest department is contemplating to issue an order to inform the public that the migratory birds including the Amur falcons are covered under the Wildlife Protection Act enacted in 1972.
The Amur falcons mainly breed in south-eastern Siberia and fly thousands of miles to reach India.
Nagaland already notified the order to save the birds. It said hunting, trapping, killing and selling of the bird could lead to three years of imprisonment and a fine of ₹25,000.
The order was issued after several Amur falcons were reportedly hunted and killed in the Mon district

THE HINDU

Banning Use Of Disinfectants And Ultra Violet Rays On Humans

The Supreme Court asked the Centre to issue directions for banning use of disinfectants and ultra violet rays on humans for COVID-19 management, within a month.
The bench passed the verdict on a plea seeking directions to the Centre to forthwith ban the installation, production and advertisement of disinfection tunnels involving spraying or fumigation of chemical disinfectants on humans.
On September 7, the apex court had asked the Centre why it has not banned the use of tunnels for disinfecting people for COVID-19 despite taking the stand that spraying of chemical disinfectants is physically and psychologically harmful.
The Health Ministry has not issued any advisory or guideline on the use of ultraviolet lights for disinfection of humans for COVID-19 management.
The Centre, in its affidavit, had submitted that as public health and hospitals are state subject,
it is for the states/Union Territories to implement the guidelines issued by the Health Ministry, and
the role of Government of India is limited to providing necessary guidance and financial support.

An expert committee under the chairmanship of Director General of Health Service
to review the use of disinfectant tunnels, various chemicals and spraying of disinfectants along with the efficacy of such use of spraying/fogging,
has reiterated that spraying of individuals with disinfectants (such as tunnels, cabinets, cambers) is not recommended as it will not diminish the infected person’s ability to spread the virus through droplets or contact.

THE HINDU

Artificial Intelligence Helps Better Predict Mouth Cancer

Artificial intelligence (AI) may help doctors better predict the risk of patients developing oral cancer by ensuring accuracy, consistency and objectivity, according to researchers from the University of Sheffield in the U.K.
The researchers are examining the use of AI and machine learning — the study of computer algorithms that improve automatically through experience — to assist pathologists and improve the early detection of oral cancer.
The rate of people being diagnosed with oral cancers including mouth, tongue, tonsil and oropharyngeal cancer, has increased by almost 60% in the last 10 years.
Evidence suggests tobacco and alcohol consumption, viruses, old age as well as not eating enough fruit and vegetables can increase the risk of developing the disease.
Oral cancer is often detected late which means that the patient survival rates are poor.
Currently, doctors must predict the likelihood of pre-cancerous changes, known as oral epithelial dysplasia (OED), developing into cancer by assessing a patient’s biopsy on 15 different criteria to establish a score.
This score then determines whether action is needed and what treatment pathway should be taken.
However, this score is subjective, which means there are often huge variations in how patients with similar biopsy results are treated.
Machine learning and AI can aid tissue diagnostics by removing subjectivity, using automation and quantification to guide diagnosis and treatment.
Until now this hasn’t been investigated, but AI has the potential to revolutionise oral cancer diagnosis and management by ensuring accuracy, consistency and objectivity.

THE HINDU

Moto Tunnel

Pakistan’s Ministry of Climate Change opened the 129-year-old Moto Tunnel for tourists after its revival at the Ayubia National Park in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
A British-era architectural marvel, the tunnel since decades was lying closed, buried under the heaps of trash and filth.

What is Moto Tunnel?

The 250-feet long, 6-feet high and 4-feet wide tunnel carved out of stones and clay, is part of the longer ‘nature pipeline walk’ (a walk through the forests) in the Ayubia National Park of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.
The tunnel has a stone mark atop with ‘1891’ carved on it, indicating the year it was built by the British.
A water pipeline runs through it and it was probably built to solve water problem in the nearby Murree.
The tunnel is part of the longer ‘nature pipeline walk’ which runs through Ayubia National Park.
Earlier the walk was of 4 kms, but with the opening of the tunnel, it has been extended to 16 kms.

Char-Chaporis

A char is a floating island while chaporis are low-lying flood-prone riverbanks.
They are used interchangeably or with a hyphen… They keep changing shapes — a char can become a chapori, or vice versa, depending on the push and pull of the Brahmaputra.
The population of chars was 24.90 lakh as per a socio-economic survey in 2002-03.
Prone to floods and erosion, these areas are marked by low development indices.
“80% of the Char population lives below poverty line,” states the website.
A UNDP Assam Human Development report from 2014 describes the char areas as suffering from “communication deficits, lack of adequate schooling facilities beyond primary, girl child marriage, poverty and illiteracy”.
While Bengali-origin Muslims primarily occupy these islands, other communities such as Misings, Deoris, Kocharis, Nepalis also live here.
In popular imagination, however, chars have become synonymous to the Bengali-speaking Muslims of dubious nationality.

Burst of radio waves in Milky Way

For more than a decade, astronomers have puzzled over the origins of mysterious and fleeting bursts of radio waves that arrive from faraway galaxies.
Now, scientists have discovered the first such blast in the Milky Way and traced it back to its probable source: a small, spinning remnant from a collapsed star about 30,000 light years from Earth.
The surprise detection has handed researchers their strongest evidence yet that some if not all fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are unleashed by compact, highly magnetised neutron stars called magnetars – exotic objects born in the embers of supernovae.
This is the most luminous radio burst ever detected in our galaxy.
The first FRB sighting came in 2007 when Duncan Lorimer and his student David Narkevic worked through archived observations from the Parkes radio dish in Australia.
The intense burst of radio waves lasted less than five milliseconds, and what had produced it was a mystery. Scientists have recorded dozens more since, all from beyond our own galaxy.
The latest discovery came on 28 April when the Chime telescope detected a millisecond-long FRB coming from a region of the sky where a magnetar called SGR1935+2154 lurks.
Analysis of the signal, named FRB 200428, found that the magnetar emitted as much energy in radiowaves in one millisecond as the sun does in half a minute.
While the discovery does not mean that all fast radio bursts come from magnetars, it pinpoints the objects as one source that astronomers will now observe more closely.
A major question that remains is how magnetars unleash such intense blasts of radiation.
One idea is that magnetars are distorted by “starquakes” that tear open their surfaces and release vast blasts of energy.
Another is that powerful flares from magnetars collide with particles in space, producing intense shockwaves and magnetic fields that whip electrons around, releasing bursts of radio waves in the process.