23 June 2023

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – Heat waves in India: GS I – Geography-related issues

Context:

• Between June 15 and June 18, when temperatures in the area reached as high as 43.5 degrees Celsius, it is believed that at least 68 patients who were hospitalised to a district hospital in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, passed away from the intense heat.

What is a heat wave?

• A heat wave is a period of unusually high temperatures that lasts longer than the summer season’s average high temperature in North-Western India.
• Heat Waves normally occur from March to June, and in a few unusual instances, they might even last into July.
• People who live in these areas are negatively impacted by the excessive temperatures and accompanying climatic conditions because they produce physiological stress, which can occasionally result in death.

The following criteria for heat waves have been provided by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD):

• Heat Waves shouldn’t be taken into account until a station’s maximum temperature reaches at least 40°C for plains and at least 30°C for hilly regions.
• Heat waves should be declared when the actual highest temperature is 45°C or higher, regardless of the typical maximum temperature.

Occurrences of heat waves:

There are two factors that lead to heat waves:

• Warmer air is being generated nearby or it is being introduced from outside.
• When the air is heated by higher land surface temperatures or when air sinking down from above is compressed along the route, hot air is produced close to the surface, it is a local phenomena.

Heat waves and air mass:

• Typically, air masses that are between two days old and 800-1,600 km away form the northwestern heatwaves.
• On the other hand, heat waves over peninsular India originate from the oceans, which are 200–400 km closer, just a day old, and typically less powerful.

Why do heat waves lead to fatalities?

• In nature, extreme heat is not always fatal.
• Heatwaves only become fatal when they reach the wet bulb temperature, or high temperature and high humidity.

Effect on people:

• By creating perspiration that evaporates on the skin, humans lose heat that is produced within their bodies.
• A steady body temperature is maintained by the cooling impact of this evaporation.
• Sweat does not evaporate when humidity levels rise, making it challenging to control body temperature.
• And a heat stroke might result from this.
• Only when the body temperature exceeds 40 degrees Celsius can a heat stroke occur.
• A rise in metabolic activity from too much heat causes the body to sweat more, which lowers blood pressure and oxygen levels.
• The medical term for this is hypoxia.
• In these circumstances, metabolism goes haywire, resulting in a toxic overload that damages numerous organs.
• Hypoxia can result from prolonged exposure to heat, even moderate heat, along with inadequate nourishment and hydration.
• The elderly, obese, and people with pre-existing metabolic diseases like diabetes are especially susceptible.

Conclusion:

• The intricate architecture of heat waves has significant ramifications for how accurately we can predict them.
• Early-warning systems can speed up the issuance of warnings while simultaneously enhancing their quality.
• Over the past ten years, significant investments in computing and human resources have already improved India’s forecasting capabilities.
• Compared to other mid-latitude regions, heat-related deaths over India are significantly lower.
• To further safeguard the vulnerable, India should publish forecast warnings as soon as possible, refine them, and pair them with city-wide graded heat action plans.

Source The Hindu

2 – Ex Khaan Quest 2023: GS II – International Relations

Context:

• A detachment of the Indian Army takes part in the international training exercise “Ex Khaan Quest 2023” in Mongolia.

Key information:

• It is a joint international exercise in peacekeeping.
• Over twenty nations have sent delegations and observers.
• The United States Army Pacific Command (USARPAC) and the Mongolian Armed Forces (MAF) are both co-sponsoring the exercise.
• The GARHWAL RIFLES are part of the contingent that represents the Indian Army.
• Its objectives include improving participant countries’ interoperability, exchanging knowledge, and training uniformed people for United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UNPKO).

What is the purpose of the UN peacekeeping mission?

• The Department of Peace Operations and the Department of Operational Support collaborate on the U.N. Peacekeeping mission, which strives to help host nations make the transition from violence to peace.
• When it sent military observers to West Asia in 1948, the United Nations launched its peacekeeping efforts.
• Conflict-ridden nations benefit from the security, political, and peacebuilding assistance provided by U.N. peacekeepers.

The three fundamental concepts that direct United Nations peacekeeping operations are:

• The parties’ agreement.
• avoiding using force until necessary to protect oneself or to uphold a mission.

The contribution of India to the UN peacekeeping forces:

• Since 1948, more than 200,000 Indians have participated in 49 U.N. peacekeeping deployments.
• 5,581 Indians are now serving in various U.N. peacekeeping missions.
• India was the first nation to send an entirely female contingent on a U.N. peacekeeping operation in 2007.
• India has frequently voiced its disapproval with a mission comparable to this one with its headquarters in Srinagar and Islamabad, despite its involvement in multiple nations as part of the Peacekeeping missions.
• To oversee the truce between India and Pakistan, the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) was established on January 24, 1949.
• To monitor conflicts between neighbouring nations and document ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC), UNMOGIP has stayed in the area.

Source The Hindu

3 – DAKSHTA For Young Professionals: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions

Key information:

• The iGOT Karmayogi Platform is now live with a new curated collection called DAKSHTA (Development of Attitude, Knowledge, and Skill for Holistic Transformation in Administration) For Young Professionals.
• It is designed for Young Consultants & Professionals Working in Government.

Aim:

• This collection aims to develop learners’ functional, domain, and behavioural abilities by introducing them to topics that are important for successfully carrying out their duties and responsibilities.

Karmayogi programme details:

• An extensive online resource to help government officials on their capacity-building journey is the iGOT Karmayogi Platform.

The portal incorporates 6 useful hubs for:

• Online education, competency management, career management, conversations, gatherings, and networking.
• The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has launched Karmayogi Bharat, a government-owned, non-profit special purpose company.
• Its duties include ownership, management, upkeep, and improvement of the iGOT (Integrated Government Online Training) Karmayogi Platform.

Mission Karmayogi:

• It is referred to as the largest effort at bureaucratic reform.
• It is a brand-new programme to increase civil servants’ ability that aims to improve the officers’ and workers’ post-recruitment training systems.
• A digital platform called iGOTKarmayogi will be created and used to deliver the Mission Karmayogi project.
• The platform will serve as the starting point for the National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB), which will make it possible to restructure the capacity building system completely at the person, institutional, and process levels.
• The Prime Minister’s Human Resource Council, which will also consist of the following, will oversee NPCSCB.
• CM of each state.
• Ministers from the Union Cabinet.
• Programmes to develop the capacity of the civil service will be approved and evaluated by this council.
• In addition, a Cabinet Secretary Coordination Unit made up of chosen secretaries and cadre governing authorities would be present.
• Additionally, a Capacity Building Commission of professionals from around the world and subject matter specialists would be established.

Funding:

• A total of Rs 510.86 crore will be spent over the course of 5 years, from 2020–2021 to 2024–2025, to cover about 46 lakh government employees.
• The $50 million in global aid helps to partially finance the cost.

Source The Hindu

4 – Indo-US ties: Economics & Strategy: GS II – International Relations

Context:

• On the invitation of the American President, the Indian Prime Minister travels to the United States for an official state visit.

Economic participation

• The two nations’ commerce has reached a record-high value of $191 billion, making the US India’s largest trading partner.
• India is the ninth-largest trading partner for the US.
• In India, American businesses have made almost $60 billion in investments in industries like manufacturing, telecommunications, consumer products, and aircraft.
• More than $40 billion has been invested by Indian corporations in industries like IT, healthcare, and green energy.
• Over 200 Boeing planes will be purchased by Air India.

Strategic foundations:

Dialogue on Quadrilateral Security:

• The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is the representative of the strategic interaction.
• After the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004, the Quad was founded as a large cooperation.
• It gained strategic weight after the four-nation alliance—which includes Australia, Japan, India, and the US—was repurposed in 2017, largely as a forum for redoubling focus on the Indo-Pacific area and a response to China’s expanding influence in the Indian Ocean periphery.

The I2U2:

• The I2U2, a partnership between India, Israel, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates, focuses on new projects and cooperative investments in the fields of space, transportation, energy, water, and food security.

Emerging and Critical Technologies:

• A new US-India initiative on critical and emerging technologies was announced by India and the US.
• The two nations formed a collaboration to work with the business sector to strengthen the semiconductor supply chain.

Defence industry:

• In order to power the indigenous Tejas Mk2 light combat aircraft that is now under development, cooperation in fields including armoured vehicles, ammunition, and air warfare may involve a contract for India, the largest arms importer in the world, to produce the GE F414 turbofan jet engine under licence.

Trouble spots:

• Since the 1998 nuclear test, the US has continued to impose considerable export restrictions on India, which prevents the unrestricted flow of technology.
• Visa delays and the revocation of India’s trade benefits under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme in 2019 are two unresolved trade issues that need to be addressed.
• The US has expressed displeasure with India’s trade practises, particularly with relation to entrance hurdles for foreign investment and shaky legal frameworks.
• Over the past few years, India has increased tariffs, reversing a previous policy of lowering rates that persisted for decades.
• New Delhi will probably be persuaded to join the IPEF’s trade pillar, which is being led by the US.
• Washington believes that the IPEF is a more useful alternative to bilateral agreements because there is no political will for a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA).

India has joined the IPEF’s three pillars:

• committed to creating supply chains that are more durable.
• Leveraging chances for sustainable energy.
• fighting corruption.
• It has chosen not to participate in the fourth pillar (trade) due to concerns about the obligations that must be made in the areas of the environment, labour, digital commerce, and public procurement.
• In the Union administration, there is rising unease over India’s exclusion from the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), a US-led alliance to protect the supply chains of vital minerals.
• It aims to lessen reliance on China.
• With the addition of Italy, the alliance now encompasses all 11 founding nations as well as the European Union.

Source The Hindu

5 – Archaeologist finds Mesolithic-era rock painting in Andhra’s Guntur: GS I – Indian Culture

Context:

• Kanna Babu has discovered a rock painting from the Mesolithic era that shows a person cultivating a plot of land.

Key information:

• Archaeologists discovered a brand-new prehistoric rock painting on the walls and ceiling of natural rock shelters on a hillside at Orvakallu while exploring the lower River Krishna Valley to determine the architectural elements of temples.
• Prehistoric inhabitants who lived in this area had them as shelters.
• Two of these five naturally occurring caves have distinctive rock drawings on the back walls and ceilings that date to the Mesolithic Age, roughly from 5000 BC.
• Natural white kaolin and red ochre paints were used to create the artworks.
• A mixture of clay, sand, and ferric oxide makes up the colour ochre.
• By chemically weathering aluminium silicate minerals like feldspar, kaolinite is a soft, earthy, and often white mineral that is created.
• the people’s culture
• The paintings depict a semi-settled way of life in which the people of this hamlet farmed.

Source The Hindu

6 – Submersible and a submarine: GS III – Defense-related issues

Context:

• The Titan, a ship that recently vanished near the Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic, is categorised as a submersible rather than a submarine because it is not an independent boat and must deploy and resurface with the assistance of a support platform.

What is the distinction between a submersible and a submarine?

• A submarine has enough propulsion to depart and return to a port on its own.
• A mothership is required to launch a submersible because it has a limited amount of power and must also be recovered.

Examples:

• Before returning to a ship that will take them back to a port, scuba divers need to be dropped off at a certain location in the ocean so they can explore.

Who or what is Titan?

• The Titan is the name of the submersible boat used by OceanGate to examine the Titanic wreck.
• This manned submersible can take up to five people (a pilot and four crew members) to a depth of 4,000 metres, where they can conduct surveys and inspections, study and data collecting, produce films and other media, and test gear and software in the deep ocean.
• Titanium and carbon fibre make up its composition.
• Despite being lightweight, carbon fibre is a polymer that has a reputation for being fairly robust.
• It can be up to five times stiffer and stronger than steel.
• Although it is around 45% lighter than steel, titanium is just as strong.
• It is only 60% heavier but twice as strong as aluminium.
• Its life support system, which can keep a crew of five alive for a maximum of 96 hours, is its most crucial component.
• The submersible also makes use of a patented “Real Time Hull Health Monitoring” (RTM) technology, which offers an unmatched safety feature by continuously evaluating the hull’s integrity.

Source The Hindu