Daily Current Affairs for UPSC IAS: 1st March 2023

Hindustan 228-201 LW:

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recently approved a new variant of the Hindustan 228-201 LW aircraft developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

• It is a passenger aircraft developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
• It has a maximum take-off weight of 5695kgs with 19 passenger seating capacity.
• The aircraft would fall in the Sub-5700 kg aircraft category.
• It has reduced pilot qualification requirements enabling pilots with a commercial pilot license to fly the aircraft.
• Enhanced availability of a pilot pool for the aircraft.
• Reduced operational cost.
• Reduced training requirements for flying and ground crew, including aircraft maintenance engineers.

Tribute To Veer Savarkar On His Death Anniversary:

Home Minister recently paid his tributes to Veer Savarkar on his death anniversary(26th Feb)

• Veer Savarkar was born in 1883 near Nasik in Maharashtra.
• He was the first to acknowledge the mutiny of 1857 as the first struggle for Independence and wrote the book ‘The History of the War of Indian Independence’.
• He was a passionate promoter of Hindutva since childhood.
• He was sentenced to 50 years in the cellular jail of Andamans, also known as Kala Pani, for revolting against the Morley-Minto reforms (Indian Councils Act 1909) in 1911.
• After his release from jail, he worked on the abolishment of untouchability in Ratnagiri.
• Serving as the president of the Hindu Mahasabha political party, he opposed the Quit India movement in 1942.
• He founded the organizations Abhinav Bharat Society and Free India Society.
• He was a critic of the Indian National Congress and its acceptance of India’s partition.
• He was also a critic of Mahatma Gandhi and called him a ‘hypocrite’.
• In 1948, he was charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

First Bodoland International Knowledge Festival : Assam

The first Bodoland International Knowledge Festival recently began in Assam’s Kokrajhar district.

• The festival is being hosted by Bodoland University with support from the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) government.
• It seeks to provide a platform for thought leaders, educators, Research scholars, researchers, and practitioners to engage with constituents of Higher Education Institutions in BTR through participation.
• Goal: To create, foster and promote knowledge exchange, solution sharing, and partnership building for the achievement of social development priorities and key Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030 in contemporary BTR and the world.
• It aims to draw the best practices from across the world to enhance scientific temperament for the creation of “Peaceful, Green and Smart Bodoland” in light of the Bodo Peace Accord 2020.
• Bodo Peace Accord 2020 is a tripartite accord signed in 2020 by representatives of Bodo organizations with the Central and Assam governments.

JO201 : Jellyfish Galaxy

The Hubble Space Telescope recently captured an image of JO201, a jellyfish galaxy in the Abell 85 galaxy cluster.

• JO201 is a jellyfish galaxy which lies in Abell 85 galaxy cluster.
• It is at a distance of about 700 million lightyears, in the constellation of Cetus or the Whale.
• Jellyfish galaxies are a type of galaxy that exhibit long “tentacles” or “tails” of gas, dust, and stars that appear to be streaming away from the galaxy’s main body.
• These tentacles are formed as the galaxy moves rapidly through the hot gas of a galaxy cluster, causing the gas to strip away from the galaxy and form a tail. This process is called ram-pressure stripping.
• The tendrils of jellyfish galaxies extend beyond the bright disc of the galaxy’s core.
• Galaxy clusters are the largest objects in the universe that are held together by their own gravity.
• They contain hundreds or thousands of galaxies, lots of hot plasma, and a large amount of invisible dark matter.

Maternal Mortality Report:

Every day in 2020, approximately 800 women died globally from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 (target 3.1) is to reduce maternal mortality to less than 70 deaths per 100 000 live births by 2030.
• The report has been published by the United Nations Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group (MMEIG) – comprising WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, the WB Group and the UNDESA/Population Division has collaborated on a new round of estimates (2000 to 2020).
• The report presents global, regional and country-level estimates and trends for maternal mortality (between 2000-2020).
• As per the Sample Registration System (SRS) report by the Registrar General of India (RGI), the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) of India has reduced from 130 per 100,000 live births in 2014-16 to 113 per 100,000 live births in 2016-18.
• The global MMR in 2020 was estimated at 223 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births, down from 227 in 2015 and 339 in 2000 – a reduction of one-third (34.3%) over the full 20-year period.
• Three countries had more than 10 000 maternal deaths in 2020:
  • India : 24 000
  • DR Congo : 22 000
  • Ethiopia : 10 000

First State To Use Robotics Technology For Cleaning Manhole : Kerala

Kerala became the first state in the country to use robotics technology for cleaning all its commissioned manholes by pressing into service the robotic scavenger Bandicoot in the temple town of Guruvayur.

• Bandicoot Robot is the world’s first robotic scavenger i.e indigenously made by Kerala-based Genrobotics.
• Genrobotics, a Technopark-based company, have developed “the world’s first robotic scavenger” Bandicoot in an effort to eliminate manual scavenging providing respite for workers engaged in manhole cleaning.
• It recently bagged the ‘Kerala Pride’ award.
• Water Resources Minister, Roshi Augustine, launched Bandicoot under the Guruvayur Sewerage Project in Thrissur district by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA), as part of the 100-day action plan of the state government.
• Under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act (PEMSR), 2013, Manual scavenging is banned in India.
• National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) is an initiative by MoSJ&E and MoHUA.

14th Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav:

President of India addressed the 14th Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav at Bikaner, Rajasthan

• It is an annual flagship festival of the Ministry of Culture
• Organized in different states of India to promote National Unity and integrity through cultural exchange
• Started in 2015 to exhibit the rich cultural heritage of the country
• Participation: All the seven zonal Cultural Centres and academies under the Ministry of Culture

Menstrual Leave For workers : SC Rejected PIL

The Supreme Court of India rejected a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) regarding menstrual leave for workers and students across the country.

• The court called it a policy matter and pointed out that menstrual pain leave has different dimensions and may also act as a disincentive for employers from engaging female employees.
• Menstrual leave or period leave refers to all policies that allow employees or students to take time off when they are experiencing menstrual pain or discomfort.
• Spain has become the first European country to grant paid menstrual leave to workers, with the right to three days of menstrual leave per month, which can be expanded to five days.
• Parliament has seen attempts to introduce menstrual leave and menstrual health products bills, but they have not been successful so far.
• The Menstruation Benefits Bill, 2017’ and Women’s Sexual, Reproductive and Menstrual Rights Bill in 2018.
• Right of Women to Menstrual Leave and Free Access to Menstrual Health Products Bill, 2022:
• The proposed Bill provides for three days of paid leave for women and transwomen during the period of menstruation and seeks to extend the benefit for students.
• The Bill cites research that indicates that approximately 40% of girls miss school during their periods, and nearly 65% said it had an impact on their daily activities at school.

1,300 Year Old Buddhist Stupa : ASI Discovery

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) discovered a 1,300-year-old stupa right in the middle of a mining site in Odisha’s Jajpur district at a Khondalite mining site.

• It is the place from where Khondalite stones were supplied for the beautification project around the 12th Century Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri.
• The stupa could be 4.5-metre tall and initial assessment showed it may belong to the 7th or 8th century.
• It was found at Parabhadi which is situated near Lalitagiri, a major Buddhist complex, having a large number of stupas and monasteries.
• Lalitgiri Buddhist site is believed to be the most sacred among the three sites (Lalitagiri, Ratnagiri and Udayagiri) as it unearthed a massive stupa where a relic of Buddha was discovered inside a stone casket.
• Khondalite is a type of metamorphic rock that is found in the Eastern Ghats region of India, particularly in the state of Odisha.
• It is named after the Khondalite Group of rocks, which is believed to have formed around 1.6 billion years ago during the Proterozoic era.
• Khondalite is primarily composed of feldspar, quartz, and mica, and has a distinct pinkish-grey coloration. It is commonly used as a decorative stone in construction and is particularly prized for its durability and resistance to weathering.
• Khondalite stones were widely used in ancient temple complexes.

Stupas:

• They were burial mounds prevalent in India from the vedic period.
• Architecture: Stupas consist of a cylindrical drum with a circular anda and a harmika and a chhatra on the top.

Radio Galaxies : Discovery

A team of astronomers from the National Centre of Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) Pune; Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) Ahmedabad; and the University of Oxford recently discovered several ‘elusive dying radio galaxies’.

• Radio Galaxies, also known as radio-luminous galaxies or radio-loud galaxies, are a particular type of active galaxy that emits more light at radio wavelengths than at visible wavelengths.
• These happen through the interaction between charged particles and strong magnetic fields related to supermassive black holes at the galaxies’ center.
• Radio galaxies are driven by non-thermal emissions.
• They are much bigger than most of the other galaxies in the universe.
• There are two broad classes of radio galaxies:
  • Core-halo radio galaxies:
    • They exhibit radio emission from a region concentrated around the nucleus of the galaxy.
    • The region of radio emission is comparable in size to the optically visible galaxy.
  • Lobed radio galaxies:
    • They display great lobes of radio emission extending, in some cases, for millions of light years beyond the optical part of the galaxy.