Comprehensive Current affairs 6 November 2020

Prasar Bharati signs MoU with IT Ministry to launch 51 education TV channels.

India’s public broadcaster Prasar Bharati entered into an MoU with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to launch 51 direct-to-home (DTH) education TV channels.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Prasar Bharati and Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

About:

Under the MoU, 51 DTH education TV channels will be available as DD co-branded channels to all DD FreeDish viewers.

This move aims to bring quality educational programmes to every household, including those in rural and remote areas.

 The services will be available free of cost for all the viewers 24x7, in line with Government’s commitment towards skill development and providing quality education to the last person in the country.

This initiative will go a long way in achieving Government’s goal of providing education to all.

Six women led startups win COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge

Six women led startups have won COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge.

• MyGov in collaboration with UN Women, launched this Challenge in April 2020.

•UNWomen is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.

• It was to support and promote women entrepreneurs and women led startups as also solutions byentrepreneurs impacting a large number of women.

• Entrepreneurs and individuals proposing technology solutions in the field Bioinformatics, datasets, Apps fordiagnosis etc that can be leveraged for strengthening the fight against Corona.

US formally exits the Paris climate accord.

The United States formally exited from the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change which is a global deal to take collective actions for saving the world from disastrous consequences of global warming.

More abouts ;

Though the US under President Donald Trump had announced his decision to withdraw from the Agreement in 2017, the formal withdrawal could technically happen only a day after the US presidential election as per the UN climate body’s exit procedures for the deal.

It made the US the first country to withdraw from the Agreement.

With contributing 14% of total carbon emission, the US is currently the second biggest emitter after China (26%). The EU nations collectively contribute to 9% of total emission followed by India at 7%.

Recently, countries such as China, Japan and South Korea had announced their intentions to raise climate action ambition to reach respective ‘net zero targets’, aligning themselves with the EU’s similar plan.

US state of Mississippi got a new flag.

The voters in Mississippi approved a new flag, “The New Magnolia”, featuring a magnolia flower.

•The flag will replace the old one that has been in use for 126 years, and which carried the Confederate battle emblem on it.

•Mississippi is nicknamed the “Magnolia State”, a reference to the magnolia trees that grow there.

Why did Mississippi change its flag?

Mississippi was the last state in the US to have a flag that featured the Confederate battle emblem.

In the wake of the #BlackLivesMatter protests that followed the death of African American George Floyd this May, the state was under pressure to change its flag, with some protesters demanding the removal of statues or monuments that could be perceived as symbols of racism, including some Confederate monuments.

The Confederate States of America or the Confederacy refers to the government of 11 Southern slaveholding states that seceded from the Union in 1860-61 in the American Civil War after they felt threatened by the election of Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln as the US President in 1860.

India-Central Asia Dialogue.

The 2nd meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue was hosted recently virtually via video conferencing.

 • Countries like Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan joined the Dialogue.

Highlights:

• India extended a $1-billion line of credit to Central Asian countries for priority projects in connectivity, energy, IT and health care.

• The meeting jointly expressed support for the peace negotiations in Afghanistan agreeing on the principle of an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled peace process.

• The countries also condemned terrorism and reaffirmed their determination to destroy terrorist safe havens, networks, and Funding Channels.

India-Central Asia Dialogue:

• India's Connect Central Asia Policy is a broad-based approach, including political, security, economic and cultural connections.

• The dialogue included representatives from five Central Asian countries- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as well as that of Afghanistan.

• The dialogue focused on varied issues including trade, connectivity and security as well as bringing stability by restoring peace in Afghanistan.

• The first India-Central Asia Dialogue was held in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) in January 2019.

Significance of Central Asia for India:

• Region is a land bridge between East Asia and Europe, between South Asia and Europe and between West Asia and East Asia/Europe.

• The region has economic interests like energy security and opening avenues for consumer Market for India.

SARFAESI Act may be amended to allow ARCs becoming resolution applicants in insolvencies ..

The RBI rejected Aircel’s resolution plan on the grounds that Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) cannot infuse equity in an insolvent company at the resolution stage.

•This brought into focus the conflict between the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and SARFAESI Act on whether an ARC can bid for bank rupt firms or not.

ARC, a registered company under Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, is special type of financial institution that buys the debtors of the bank at a mutually agreed value and attempts to recover the debts or associated securities by itself.

RBI regulates ARCs as Non-Banking Financial Companies. While IBC specifically permits ARCs registered with RBI to act as RAs and submit resolution plans, the Sarfaesi Act is silent on whether such firms can do so.

Resolution applicants (RA) means a person who individually or jointly with any other person, submits a resolution plan to the resolution professional.

Key differences between IBC and SARFAESI Act:

IBC:

It provides a comprehensive legal framework for time-bound insolvency resolution process and liquidation.

IBC’s ambit is wider, as it takes into consideration of all kinds of creditors: both financial and operational; secured and the unsecured.

It is regulated by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India.

IBC specifically permits ARCs registered with RBI to act as RAs and submit resolution plans.

 SARFAESI Act:

It empowers banks and other financial institutions to directly auction residential or commercial properties that have been pledged with them to recover loans from borrowers.

It empowers secured creditors to enforce their security interest.

It is regulated by the Ministry of Finance and the RBI.

SARFAESI Act is silent on whether such firms can do so.

Deploying backend tech for 5G faces roadblocks.

There could be a delay in the rollout of 5G technology because of differences between most states and the Centre in policies for setting up critical telecom infrastructure.

Some issues faced:

The fee levied by states on companies for installing mobiletowers and laying fibre cables.

States have multiple policies at different levels such asmunicipal, panchayat etc., which creates confusion on theground.

Only 18 states opted for Right of Way (RoW) policy.

To ease development of telecom infrastructure acrossthe country, Union government in 2016 came outwith RoW policy.

It is a framework to set up telecom towers, lay fibrecables, settle disputes in a time-bound mannerand to improve coordination among private firms,states and local bodies.

As India gears up for the launch of 5G services, volume of data traffic is expected to increase further. Therefore, it is necessary that operators deploy fibre across their tower sites.

According to National Digital Communications Policy of 2018, fiberisation of towers across the country needs to be raised to 60% from the current 31% to sustain the increasing demand for 4G data and evolution to 5G technology.

 CPCB flags Pollution Control at Railway Stations.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has “insisted” the Ministry of Railways to devise a modern environmental management plan to control air, water and noise pollution at major Railway Stations.

More abouts:

• The CPCB had called for the formation of a joint committee comprising Railway and State government/local body officials to ensure basic civic amenities and improve environment conditions at Class-I stations.

• The move follows a recent high-level meeting convened by the CPCB involving top officials of the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Housing & Urban Development.

• The Railways in turn requested the CPCB to assign due weightage to different components/parameters in the template for environment performance based on rating of railway stations that are currently under review by the CPCB.

• However, the central agency insisted on developing a modern environmental plan to address issues relating to air, water and noise pollution in each of the 720 stations taken up for Assessment across the Country.

Pollution Concerns:

• Poor quality of environment parameters, particularly noise levels, has been an issue of concern at major railway stations.

• Joint inspections conducted by the Central and State pollution control authorities at select stations in the last two years revealed that a majority of them, including the Puratchi Thalaivar Dr MGR Chennai Central railway station and Tiruchi junction in Southern Railway, had not complied with the green norms under various statutory rules of the CPCB.

• These stations had not obtained necessary approvals under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Air (Prevention and Control of Air Pollution) Act, 1981, and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 which was also insisted upon by the National Green Tribunal.

About the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB):

• CPCB is a statutory organisation which was constituted in September, 1974 under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.

• It was entrusted with the powers and functions under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.

• It serves as a field formation and also provides technical services to the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

• Principal Functions of the CPCB, as spelt out in the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981

✓ to promote cleanliness of streams and wells in different areas of the States by prevention, control and abatement of water pollution.

✓ to improve the quality of air and to prevent, control or abate Air Pollution in the Country.

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Comprehensive Current affairs 4 November 2020

NFAI and FFSI Conducts Online Film Appreciation Course in Marathi.

National Film Archive of India is organising 15th edition of Film Appreciation Course in Marathi along with Federation of Film Society of India (FFSI). The course is to be held online for the first time from November 1 to November 7, owing to the COVID Pandemic.

About:

It was established in 1964 in Pune.

It is a media unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

It aims to trace, acquire and preserve for posterity the heritage of Indian cinema; to classify, document data and undertake research relating to films; to act as a centre for the dissemination of film culture.

 Dashboard

Recently, the CarbonCopy and Respirer Living Sciences, two environmental organisations have released a Dashboard which presents a comparative picture of particulate matter (PM) for 122 Indian cities since 2016.

About the Dashboard:

• It establishes a three-year rolling average trend for PM2.5 and PM10 levels across the cities from 2016 to 2018.

• The State of Global Air 2020 revealed that India had faced the highest exposure to toxic air in the world last year.

• 122 cities are referred to as non-attainment cities under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

• It is a National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP) based dashboard, built on data from the Central Pollution Control Board’s National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring (NAAQM) Network which was started in 1984-85 and covers 344 cities/towns in 29 states and 6 UTs.

• Each station records about 104 observations a year covering four pollutants– Sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), suspended particulate matter (SPM), and respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM).

• State pollution control boards and the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur carry out the monitoring, and the Union Ministry of

Environment, Forest and Climate Change oversees the operation under the NCAP.

About Particulate Matter:

• It is also called particle pollution, it is a term for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air.

 It includes:

✓ PM10: Inhalable Particles, with Diameters that are generally 10 Micrometers and smaller; and

✓ PM2.5: fine Inhalable Particles, with Diameters that are generally 2.5 Micrometers and smaller.

• Some are emitted directly from a source, such as construction sites, unpaved roads, fields, smokestacks or fires.

• Most particles form in the atmosphere as a result of complex reactions of chemicals such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which are pollutants emitted from power plants, industries and automobiles.

• Small particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter pose the greatest problems, because they can get deep into the lungs, and some may even get into the bloodstream.

• Particle pollution exposure has been linked to a variety of problems, including irregular heartbeat, aggravated asthma, decreased lung function and increased respiratory symptoms, such as irritation of the airways, coughing or difficulty breathing.

National Clean Air Programme:

• The Centre had launched the National Clean Air Programme in 2019 to address air pollution in 122 cities. These cities are referred to as non-attainment cities as they did not meet the national ambient air quality standards for the period of 2011-15 under the National Air Quality Monitoring Programme.

Strategic Policy and Facilitation Bureau.

Ministry of AYUSH and M/s Invest India will form a collaboration to set up a strategic policy unit called “Strategic Policy and Facilitation Bureau (SPFB)” to facilitate planned and systematic growth of the Ayush Sector.

This is among the various steps which the Ministry has initiated to chart future directions along which the stake-holding groups of the Ayush Sector can move.

The activities to be undertaken by the SPFB would include:

 Knowledge Creation and Management,

Strategic and Policy-Making Support, State Policy Bench marking: Undertaking State Policy bench marking to formulate uniform guidelines/regulations regarding AYUSH sector in India,

Investment Facilitation: Follow up and facilitation of investment cases and MoUs, and coordination among different Department, organisations and States.

Issue Resolution: Invest India would work with companies and other institutions on issue resolution across States and among various sub-sectors.

Some of the Specific Deliverables of Bureau would include project monitoring for Inter-Ministerial Groups, Skill Development Initiatives, setting up Strategic Intelligence Research Unit and initiating an Innovation Program.

Mission Sagar II.

As part of ‘Mission Sagar-II’, Indian Naval Ship Airavat entered Port Sudan on 02 November 2020.

About:

As part of Mission Sagar-II, Indian Naval Ship Airavat will deliver food aid to Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea.

Mission Sagar-II, is in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region ‘SAGAR’ and highlights the importance accorded by India to relations with her maritime neighbours and further strengthens the existing bond.

The Indian Navy is progressing this mission in close coordination with the Ministries of Defence and External Affairs, and other agencies of the Government of India. Phase 1 and 2:

Mission Sagar-II, follows the first ‘Mission Sagar’ undertaken in May-June 2020, wherein India reached out to Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros, and provided food aid and medicines.

 The Government of India is providing assistance to Friendly Foreign Countries to overcome natural calamities and COVID-19 pandemic, and towards the same INS Airavat is carrying a consignment of 100 Tonnes of food aid for the people of Sudan.

Super typhoon Goni blasts into Philippines.

Recently, this typhoon killed 7 people in Philippines.

A typhoon is defined as a tropical cyclone in the western Pacific.

Typhoons generally track in a westward or northern direction, and occur most frequently in a region of thewestern Pacific and east Asia.

Typhoon season lasts from the early summer to early autumn, often coinciding with the monsoon seasonin Southeast Asia and the wet season in eastern Japan.

Hurricane is essentially the same thing as a Typhoons that takes place in the North Atlantic, or central oreastern North Pacific.

Super Typhoon:

Since 2009 the Hong Kong Observatory has divided typhoons into three different classifications: typhoon, severe typhoon and super typhoon.

A typhoon has wind speed of 64–79 knots (73–91 mph; 118–149 km/h), a severe typhoon has winds of at least 80 knots (92 mph; 150 km/h), and a super typhoon has winds of at least 100 knots (120 mph; 190 km/h.

E-way bills.

E-way bills for October clocked 64.1 million, the highest since the introduction of the system more than two years ago.

About:

Union government has announced introduction GST E-way bills from April 1,2018.

 The E-way bill is a document to be generated online under the GST system, when goods of the value of more than Rs.50,000 are shipped inter-State or intra-State.

Key highlights:

The e-invoice system under goods and services tax (GST) was launched on October 1, 2020 for the businesses with aggregate turnover of more than Rs 500 crore in the financial year.

According to NIC, within the first month of introduction itself, more than 495 Lakh e-invoices were generated on the NIC portal by 27,400 tax payers.

Modes of generations of invoice reference number (IRN) in NIC system:

Currently, there are three modes of generations of IRN in NIC system.

First is the direct API interface of ERP system of tax payer with NIC system.

Second is the API interface of ERP system of the tax payer through GSP with NIC system.

Third is using the offline tool for bulk uploading of invoices and generating IRNs.

Around 15% of the tax payers are using the offline tool for the IRN generations and 85% are integrating through API.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopath

It was reported that England World Cup winner Bobby Charlton, regarded England’s greatest, had developed dementia.

About:

Dementia is a general term for loss of memory, language, problem-solving and other thinking abilities that are severe enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer's is the most common cause of dementia.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopath:

 It is a disease that causes severe damage to the brain because of repeated head injuries and is linked to memory loss, depression and dementia.

Former boxers are most commonly diagnosed with it, however, there have been instances of CTE in many other contact sports like pro wrestling, mixed martial arts, ice hockey, rugby, baseball, Australian rules football and, of course, football.

A 2017 research by University College London and Cardiff University pointed to six cases of players in 60s developing dementia having played for an average of 26 years

Four showed signs of CTE adding that the risk was ‘extremely low’ from playing recreational football.

Earth Observation Satellite EOS-01.

Recently, India would launch its latest earth observation satellite EOS-01 and nine international customer satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota.

Highlights:

• The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C49) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch these ten satellites on 7th November 2020. It will be PSLV's 51st Mission.

• It is an earth observation satellite and is intended for applications in agriculture, forestry and disaster management support.

• Earth observation satellites are the satellites equipped with remote sensing technology.

Earth observation is the gathering of information about Earth's physical, chemical and biological systems.

• Many earth observation satellites have been employed on sun-synchronous orbit.

• Other earth observation satellites launched by ISRO include RESOURCESAT- 2, 2A, CARTOSAT-1, 2, 2A, 2B, RISAT-1 and 2, OCEANSAT-2, Megha-Tropiques, SARAL and SCATSAT-1, INSAT-3DR, 3D, etc

 • These are being launched as part of a commercial agreement with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), Department of Space.

• NSIL is incorporated in 2019 (under the Companies Act, 2013), is a wholly owned Government of India company, under the administrative control of Department of Space (DOS).

• NSIL is the commercial arm of ISRO with the primary responsibility of enabling Indian industries to take up high technology space related activities and is also responsible for promotion and commercial exploitation of the products and services emanating from the Indian space programme.

The Major Business Areas of the NSIL Include:

✓ Production of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) through industry.

✓ Production and marketing of space-based services, including launch services and space-based applications like transponder leasing, remote sensing and mission support services.

✓ Building of Satellites (both Communication and Earth Observation) as per user requirements.

✓ Transfer of technology developed by ISRO centres/ units and constituent institutions of Dept. of Space.

✓ Marketing spin off technologies and products/ services emanating out of ISRO activities.

✓ Consultancy services.

• The Government of India has created the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe), an independent nodal agency under the Department of Space, to provide a boost to the private sector participating in space-related activities or using India’s space resources.

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle:

• India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is the third generation launch vehicle.

 • It is the first launch vehicle which is equipped with Liquid Stages.

• Its first Successful Launch was in October 1994. PSLV was used for two of the most important missions. These are Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and Mars Orbiter Spacecraft in 2013.

• Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark II and GSLV MkIII are other two launch vehicles.

• GSLV Mk II is the largest launch vehicle developed by India, which is currently in operation. This fourth generation launch vehicle is a three stage vehicle with four liquid strap-ons. The indigenously developed cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS), which is flight proven, forms the third stage of GSLV Mk II.

• GSLV MkIII, chosen to launch Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft, is a three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle developed by ISRO. The vehicle has two solid strap-ons, a core liquid booster and a cryogenic upper stage.

• GSLV Mk III is designed to carry a 4 ton class of satellites into Geosynchronous Transfer

Orbit (GTO) or about 10 tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is about twice the capability of the GSLV Mk II.

Comprehensive Current affairs 3 November 2020

Andhra Pradesh celebrates its formation day.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy paid floral tributes at the statue of freedom fighter, Potti Sriramulu and Telugu Thalli on the occasion of its formation day.

This is the second year since Andhra's bifurcation that the state is celebrating the Formation Day on November 1.

On November 1, 1956, Andhra Pradesh was formed with the merger of erstwhile Andhra State and Hyderabad State.

After becoming the first chief minister of a truncated Andhra Prdesh in 2014, Chandrababu Naidu had decided to celebrate its Formation Day on June 2. The Jagan government, however, reverted to November 1 date to celebrate the Foundation Day.

 Creation of Andhra Pradesh:

Against the recommendations of Dhar Commission and JVP Committee popular movements for state’s reorganization on linguistic basis began all over the country. One such movement was Vishal-Andhra Movement – a movement for separate Andhra; it was led by Potti Sriramulu.

The Vishal-Andhra movement demanded that Telugu speaking areas of Madras province should be separated and made into a separate Andhra province. But the Central govt. vacillated.

Its leader Potti Sriramulu went on an indefinite fast in oct 1952 and died after 56 days.

This unleashed unrest and violence in Telugu speaking regions.

The govt. finally gave in and agreed to the demand for a separate Andhra state which came into existence in 1953. Simultaneously, Tamil Nadu was created as a Tamil speaking state.

After this demand from other states started coming.And for this purpose states reorganization commission was appointed in 1953 by Nehru.

IIT Bombay launched a self-help website called Bandhu .

Indian Minister of State for Education launched a self-help website – Bandhu – for students of IIT Bombay.

Bandhu has been designed in conjunction with the counsellors at IIT Bombay along with external experts.

It addresses challenges ranging from adjustment to college life, academic stress, and mental health. Bandhu has curated reads, motivational alumni journeys, expert podcasts and tools for self-exploration.

Project Bandhu was initiated by alumni of the Class of 1992, as a part of their silver jubilee reunion in 2017. They pledged to support IIT Bombay and help students enhance their emotional well-being. The self-help website is one of the first steps in this direction.

 Gilgit Baltistan will be getting Province the provincial status.

Prime Minister Imran Khan says his government will grant provisional status to a portion of the disputed territory of Kashmir, drawing condemnation from India and sparking a fresh war of words between the two countries.

• The strategically important Gilgit-Baltistan region bordering Afghanistan and China is home to an estimated population of two million people.

• Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars since gaining independence in 1947 over the mountainous territory of Kashmir, which both claim in full but administer separate portions of.

• On Sunday, Khan addressed a political rally in the city of Gilgit, capital of the Gilgit-Baltistan region that forms part of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, ahead of planned elections there later this month.

Indian Reaction on the move :

India slammed Pakistan for its attempt to accord provincial status to the “so-called Gilgit-Baltistan”, saying it is intended to camouflage the “illegal” occupation of the region by Islamabad.

India's foreign miministr has said India “firmly rejects” the attempt by Pakistan to bring material changes to a territory which is under Islamabad’s “illegal and forcible occupation” and asked the neighbouring country to immediately vacate such areas.

In a ruling earlier this year, the Pakistan Supreme Court allowed Islamabad to amend a 2018 administrative order to conduct general elections in the region.

The Gilgit-Baltistan Order of 2018 provided for administrative changes, including authorising the Prime Minister of Pakistan to legislate on an array of subjects.

 RERA order on brokerage.

In a first of its kind order, RERA last week put a cap on the commission being charged by the brokers while facilitating a land deal. Now, no real estate agent in Haryana can charge more than 0.5 per cent commission each from the buyer and the seller per deal.

The order reads:

For real estate registered projects, RERA has decided to issue restrain orders to all promoters and brokers not to charge commission more than one per centum on agreed consideration value to be paid by the seller and purchaser of the property, that is 0.5 per cent by each of them, on finalization of the deal as per their agreement entered in the register of the dealer under the valid receipt.

The one per centum commission is also defined under the Haryana Regulation of Property Dealers and Consultants Rules and under the Haryana Regulation of Property Dealers and Consultants Act.

The order will be applicable only to those who are registered under the Haryana Regulation of Property Dealers and Consultants Act, 2008. Registration of the property dealer to negotiate or mediate real estate deal of a registered project is done by the RERA under Section 9 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 and the registration is then granted subject to the condition that the agent shall not contravene the provisions of any other law for the time being as applicable to him.

However, if any buyer or seller complains to RERA about an unregistered property dealer or agent or RERA finds out any unregistered person acting as an agent, the violator shall be liable for penal action.

Background information:

Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act took effect in May 2016 to regulate and promote the real estate sector.

It aims to bring about transparency and efficiency in an opaque industry and has a mandate to protect consumer interest, including establishing a speedy redressal system.

 Active Zone of Himalayas.

A group of scientists from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehradun have found that the Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone (ITSZ) of Himalaya is tectonically active.

• The suture zone of Himalaya was conventionally thought to be locked. WIHG is an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.

• Tectonics is the scientific study of the deformation of the rocks that make up the Earth’s crust and the forces that produce such deformation.

• It deals with the folding and faulting associated with mountain building, the large-scale, gradual upward and downward movements of the crust and sudden horizontal displacements along faults.

• Geological Features that Support the Finding are Sedimentary beds are tilted and thrust broken, Rivers are associated with uplifted terraces and Bedrock shows brittle deformation at much shallower depths.

• These deformed geological features were dated using the technique of Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) and data of seismicity and denudation rate was also reviewed.

• Optically-Stimulated Luminescence: It is a late quaternary (geological time period that encompasses the most recent 2.6 million years) dating technique used to date the last time quartz sediment was exposed to light. As sediment is transported by wind, water or ice, it is exposed to sunlight and zeroed of any previous luminescence signal.

• Seismicity: It is the worldwide or local distribution of earthquakes in space, time, and magnitude. More specifically, it refers to the measure of the frequency of earthquakes in a region.

• It is a long term process in which the wearing and tearing of the surface of the Earth take place. It includes all those processes that lower relief and acts both chemically (chemical weathering) and physically (mechanical weathering).

• The region of the ITSZ has been neo-tectonically active since the last 78000-58000 years. It is a suture zone in the Ladakh region and marks the limit of the Indian plate where it collides with the Eurasian plate and is subducted below the latter.

 • The ITSZ can be traced for more than 200 km and a wide variety of rock association along the ITSZ indicates that the collision at the plate boundary was of very complex nature.

• The ITSZ was conventionally believed to be a locked zone till now.

• This will have major implications in terms of earthquake study, prediction, understanding the seismic structure of the mountain chains well as its evolution.

About Suture Zones:

• It is a linear belt of intense deformation, where distinct terranes, or tectonic units with different plate tectonic, metamorphic, and paleogeographic histories join together.

• These zones also provide the only record of deep oceanic crust and of ancient seafloor processes for roughly the first 90% of Earth’s history.

• Their study provides a means to understand the end-product of plate tectonic processes in time and space. In plate tectonics, sutures are seen as the remains of subduction zones together with the terranes possibly representing fragments of different tectonic plates.

• It is often represented on the surface by a mountain range comprising intensely deformed rocks. The Iapetus Suture from Great Britain, which is now concealed beneath younger rocks, and Indo-Tsangpo Suture well exposed in the Himalayas are some of the best examples of suture zones.

16 Psyche.

A recent study has found that asteroid 16 Psyche, which orbits between Mars and Jupiter, could be made entirely of metal and is worth an estimated $10,000 quadrillion — more than the entire economy of Earth.

According to the study published in The Planetary Science Journal, New images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope offer a closer view of the mysterious asteroid 16 Psyche, whose surface may mostly comprise iron and nickel, similar to the Earth’s core.

 In fact, scientists believe that the asteroid may be the leftover core of an earlier planet that lost its crust and mantle after multiple collisions during the creation of our solar system.

What is asteroid 16 Psyche?

It is located around 370 million kilometres away from Earth, asteroid 16 Psyche is one of the most massive objects in the asteroid belt in our solar system. The somewhat potato-shaped asteroid has a diameter of around 140 miles, according to NASA.

It was first discovered on March 17, 1853, by the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis and was named after the ancient Greek goddess of the soul, Psyche.

Unlike most asteroids that are made up of rocks or ice, scientists believe that Psyche is a dense and largely metallic object thought to be the core of an earlier planet that failed in formation.

NASA scientists believe that the asteroid is made up of almost entirely of iron, nickel and several other rare materials like gold, platinum, cobalt, iridium and rhenium. Hypothetically, if it was to be transported to Earth, NASA Psyche mission’s lead scientist Lindy Elkins-Tanton has calculated that the iron alone would be worth more than $10,000 quadrillion.

What is known about NASA’s Psyche mission?

Scientists will only learn about the true composition of asteroid 16 Psyche if it is studied up close. NASA plans to do just that two years from now, when it will launch a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to orbit the asteroid for around 21 months.

The unmanned spacecraft will reach the asteroid in January, 2026. The first objective of the mission is to capture a photograph of the metallic asteroid, after which the spacecraft will study and map it from a distance.

Another objective of the mission, led by Arizona State University, is to determine whether the asteroid is, in fact, the core of an earlier planet or if it is merely made up of unmelted material. Based on the data collected, scientists will also ascertain the age and origins of the mammoth metallic asteroid.

 The mission was originally slated to take place in 2023, but was later moved up to 2022.

Superconductor.

The researchers have recently created a material that is superconducting at room temperature, however, it only works at a pressure of 267 Gigapascals (GPa), which is equivalent to about three-quarters of pressure at the centre of Earth (360 GPa).

Highlights:

• A mixture of carbon, hydrogen and sulfur was put in a microscopic niche carved between the tips of two diamonds (diamond anvil) and laser light was used on them to trigger chemical reactions.

• As the experimental temperature was lowered, resistance to a current passed through the material dropped to a vanishingly small value below the critical temperature (Tc).

• The transition of the sample to become superconductive occurred the best at transition temperature of around 15°C at 267 GPa.

• To verify that this phase was indeed a superconductor, the group ascertained that the magnetic susceptibility of the superconductor was that of a diamagnet.

• A superconducting material kept in a magnetic field expels the magnetic flux out its body when cooled below the critical temperature and exhibits perfect diamagnetism.

• It is also called the Meissner effect which simply means that magnetic lines do not pass through superconductors in a magnetic field.

• A superconductor is a material that can conduct electricity or transport electrons from one atom to another with no resistance.

• No heat, sound or any other form of energy would be released from the material when it has reached critical temperature (Tc), or the temperature at which the material becomes superconductive.

 • The critical temperature for superconductors is the temperature at which the electrical resistivity of metal drops to zero.

• Prominent examples include aluminium, niobium, magnesium diboride, etc.

• From magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, low-loss power lines, ultra-powerful superconducting magnets to mobile-phone towers.

• Researchers are also experimenting with them in high-performance generators for wind turbines.

• Their usefulness is still limited by the need for bulky cryogenics (production of and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures) as the common superconductors work at atmospheric pressures, but only if they are kept very cold.

• Even the most sophisticated ones like copper oxide-based ceramic materials work only below −140°C.

• If researchers can stabilise the material at ambient pressure, applications of superconductivity at room temperatures could be achieved and will be within reach.

• Superconductors that work at room temperature could have a big technological impact, for example in electronics that run faster without overheating.

• It is a very weak form of magnetism that is induced by a change in the orbital motion of electrons due to an applied magnetic field.

• This magnetism is non-permanent and persists only in the presence of an external field.

• The magnitude of the induced magnetic moment is very small, and its direction is opposite to that of the applied field.

• When a material makes the transition from the normal to the superconducting state, it actively excludes magnetic fields from its interior and this is called the Meissner effect.

• This constraint to zero magnetic fields inside a superconductor is distinct from the perfect diamagnetism which would arise from its Zero Electrical Resistance.