The Prayas ePathshala

Exams आसान है !

1 – Crimean Peninsula: GS II – Geography related issues

Context:

On October 8, an explosion partially collapsed a bridge that connects the Crimean Peninsula with Russia, cutting off a vital supply line for the Kremlin’s sputtering military operation in southern Ukraine. The explosion claimed the lives of three persons, according to Russian authorities.

Crimean Peninsula:

Eastern European peninsula known as Crimea runs along the Black Sea’s northern shore.
The smaller Sea of Azov and the Black Sea completely encircle the peninsula.
It is connected to Kherson Oblast in Ukraine, which is south of where it lies, by the Perekop Isthmus.
Its western neighbour Krasnodar Krai is separated from it by the Strait of Kerch.

Black Sea:

The Black Sea is an Atlantic Ocean side sea that is located between Europe and Asia. Southeast Europe’s Balkans are to the east, Eastern Europe’s East European Plain is to the south, the Caucasus is to the west, and Western Asia’s Anatolia is to the north.
Important rivers including the Danube, Dnieper, and Don supply it.
In addition to the six countries that border it, there are many others whose watersheds flow into the sea.
Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine all border the Black Sea.

Source The Hindu

2 – Nobel Prize in Physics: GS III – Science and Technology related issues

Context:

Chemists Carolyn R. Bertozzi, K. Barry Sharpless, and Morten Meldal from the United States, Denmark, and Norway have been given the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their contributions to click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry.
In his endowment, Alfred Nobel established the first award category for physics in 1895. Many people, perhaps even Nobel, believed that physics was the most important branch of science at the end of the nineteenth century. His own work also contains a large amount of physics.
In Stockholm, Sweden, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prize in Physics.

About the Nobel Prize in Physics 2022:

Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger were given the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics for their “experiments using entangled photons, confirming the violation of Bell inequalities, and pioneering quantum information science.”
With their discoveries, they paved the door for ground-breaking quantum information-based technology.

Source The Hindu

3 – Heatwaves: GS I – Geography related issues

Context:

A heatwave is a period of unusually high temperatures that normally lasts three days or longer. From March to June, heatwaves are common in India. Every season, there are often two to three heatwave events. Due to the favourable weather, heatwaves are mostly recorded over two regions: central and northwest India, as well as the beaches of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

About:

A heat wave is a period of unusually high temperatures that lasts longer than the ordinary summertime high temperature in North-Western India. In certain rare circumstances, heat waves might even last upto July. Typically, heat waves happen from March to June. Due to the physiological stress they cause, the high temperatures and associated climatic conditions have a considerable impact on the local population and can occasionally cause fatalities.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has given the following criteria for Heat Waves:

Heat Wave need not be considered till maximum temperature of a station reaches atleast 40°C for Plains and atleast 30°C for Hilly regions
When normal maximum temperature of a station is less than or equal to 40°C Heat Wave Departure from normal is 5°C to 6°C Severe Heat Wave Departure from normal is 7°C or more
When normal maximum temperature of a station is more than 40°C Heat Wave Departure from normal is 4°C to 5°C Severe Heat Wave Departure from normal is 6°C or more
When actual maximum temperature remains 45°C or more irrespective of normal maximum temperature, heat waves should be declared. Higher daily peak temperatures and longer, more intense heat waves are becoming increasingly frequent globally due to climate change. India too is feeling the impact of climate change in terms of increased instances of heat waves which are more intense in nature with each passing year, and have a devastating impact on human health thereby increasing the number of heat wave casualties.

Source The Hindu

4 – VVPAT System: GS II – Election-related issues

Context:

A petition asking for the use of technology to allow blind voters to authenticate their votes was accepted by the Supreme Court last month, which ignited a discussion. Some disability rights organizations have expressed worries about potential logistical problems.

Background:

Rule 49A of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, which mandates that every EVM must have both a control unit and a balloting unit, must be complied with by VVPATs.
A voting device may also have a printer and a drop box to print a paper record of votes cast, according to the law.

About VVPAT:

The EC concluded that VVPATs will contribute to ensuring that the voting process is transparent after speaking with political parties.
A by-election in Nagaland in 2013 was the first election to employ these machines.
A VVPAT is used to link the electronic voting machine (EVM). Currently, a voter uses an electronic voting machine to cast their ballot.
The name of the candidate who received the most votes and the logo of his party are printed on a paper slip made by the VVPAT and attached to the EVM. The machine’s control panel logs this. The voting compartment contains a printer that is linked to the voting machine.
On the VVPAT, a clear window allows for a seven-second glimpse of the paper slip. The pushed EVM button can then be used to access and update the paper slip.

Why is it crucial?

It is possible to compare the paper slips in the VVPATs and the buttons touched on the EVMs in the event of a disagreement. The results can be confirmed by counting these printed slips.
EVMs do not currently have this cross-checking functionality. The use of VVPATs is crucial since several political parties have questioned whether or not the EVMs are impervious to tampering.

Source The Hindu