Daily Current Affairs for UPSC IAS: 23rd April 2024

Exercise Poorvi Lehar:

The Indian Navy recently conducted Exercise Poorvi Lehar on the East Coast.

• Exercise Poorvi Lehar (XPOL) is a maritime exercise conducted by the Indian Navy along the East Coast, under the operational direction of the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command.
• It aimed at validation of procedures towards assessment of Indian Navy’s preparedness to meet Maritime Security challenges in the region.
• It witnessed participation of Ships, Submarines, Aircrafts and Special Forces.
• XPOL was conducted in multiple phases including combat training in a realistic scenario during the Tactical Phase and successful conduct of various firings during the Weapon Phase towards reaffirming Indian Navy’s capability to deliver ordnance on target.
• With operation of aircraft from diverse locations, a near continuous Maritime Domain Awareness was maintained throughout the Area of operations.
• In addition to the participation of assets from Eastern Naval Command, the exercise also witnessed participation of assets from IAF, Andaman & Nicobar Command and Coast Guard indicating a very high degree of interoperability amongst the Services.

Rampage Missile:

Israel recently used the Rampage, an efficient air-to-surface missile, in an attack on an Iranian military base.

• Rampage Missile is a long-range, supersonic, air-to-ground, seekerless, precision strike missile.
• It was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and Israeli Military Industries Systems.
• It has been developed for use in missions aimed at destroying high-quality, well-protected targets, such as communication and command centers, air force bases, maintenance centers, and infrastructure.
• It may travel at supersonic speeds, making it difficult to identify and intercept with air defense systems.
• It has a range of over 190 miles.
• It can carry 150 kg of explosives.
• It has a blast fragmentation or general-purpose warhead.
• It can be fired from an aircraft or as a stand-alone system and uses GPS/INS guidance navigation and anti-jamming capabilities.
• It can also adjust its path mid-flight, to precisely hit the target it was programmed to hit.
• It can operate in any weather conditions, day or night.

NOTTO-ID : Organ Transplants

All cases of organ transplants will be allocated a unique National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO)-ID for both the donor and the recipient.

• The Union Health Ministry has issued the directive to eliminate commercial dealings in organs, especially those involving foreign citizens.
• It has also called for stricter monitoring of such transplants by the local authorities.
• NOTTO-ID is mandatory for considering the allocation of organs in the case of a deceased donor transplant; this ID in the case of a living donor transplant shall also be generated at the earliest, maximum within 48 hours after the transplant surgery is done.
• NOTTO-ID must be generated by the hospital from the NOTTO website.

National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO):

• It is a national-level organization set up under the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
• It functions as the apex centre of coordination and networking for:
  • procurement and distribution of organs and tissues; and
  • registry of organs and tissue donation and transplantation in the country.

Zero Shadow Day:

A group of students was provided a first-hand experience of the Zero Shadow Day (ZSD) phenomenon at an event organised by the Pondicherry Science Forum (PSF).

• Zero Shadow Day is a sub-solar point where the sun is directly overhead at a particular latitude.
• When the sun is at the zenith (the highest point in the sky) its rays will be hitting a particular point exactly perpendicular to the surface.
• This will make the shadow of a person exactly under him, making it look like there are no shadows.
• There are two zero shadow days every year in May and July/August, observed in places that lie between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn.
• One falls during the Uttarayan (when the Sun moves northwards), and the other is during Dakshinayan (when the Sun moves southwards).
• It lasts for a small part of a second, but the effect can be seen for a minute to a minute-and-a-half.

Action Against The Nestle Group : FSSAI

The Union Consumer Affairs Ministry asked the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to initiate “appropriate action” against the Nestle group for allegedly selling baby products with high sugar content in India.

• The violations are primarily found in Asian, African, and Latin American countries, while in developed nations like the United Kingdom and Germany, these products remain sugar-free.

FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS AUTHORITY OF INDIA (FSSAI) :

• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is an autonomous statutory body established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
• It operates under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, with its headquarters in Delhi.
• The FSS Act, 2006 consolidated various acts & orders related to food safety previously handled by different Ministries and Departments.
• Functions:
  • Framing regulations for food safety standards and guidelines.
  • Granting food safety licenses and certification for food businesses.
  • Laying down procedures for food testing laboratories.
  • Advising the government on policy-making.
  • Collecting data on food contaminants and managing risks.
  • Creating a national information network on food safety.

Director-General Of National Security Guard:

Senior IPS officer Nalin Prabhat has been appointed as the Director-General of National Security Guard (NSG).

• The NSG plays a pivotal role in protecting India from terrorist threats and maintaining security during critical situations.
• The National Security Guard (NSG), commonly known as the “Black Cats,” is a specialized counter-terrorism unit in India.
• It operates under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• It was established on October 16, 1984, following the Operation Blue Star.
• Mission: To train, equip, and maintain a special force capable of swiftly and effectively combating terrorism, living up to its motto: “Sarvatra Sarvottam Suraksha” (Everywhere and Always Supreme Security).
• Vision: To be a world-class “zero error force.”
• The NSG is a federal contingency deployment force that handles various critical tasks:
  • Anti-hijack operations: Responding to hijacking threats.
  • Rescue operations: Providing assistance during crises.
  • Tough support: Backing up Central Para Military forces.

Goldene : Single-Atom Layer Of Gold

Researchers in Sweden have created ‘Goldene’ – a single-atom layer of gold that can be used in a variety of applications like hydrogen production, and water purification, production of value-added chemicals, communication, and much more. Gold is usually a metal, but if a single atom layer thick gold can become a semiconductor instead.

• They used a modified version of Murakami’s reagent, inspired by an ancient Japanese smithing (forging art) technique, to selectively remove carbon in darkness and prevent cyanide formation, which dissolves gold.
• The researchers used a three-dimensional base material where gold is embedded between layers of titanium and carbon to create Goldene.
• The manipulation of matter on atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scales, (about 1 to 100 nanometers) is termed as Nanotechnology. One nanometer (nm) is one-billionth or (10-9) of a meter.
• This new form of gold has different properties than regular gold similar to the case of graphene.

Nifty Next 50 Index:

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has announced the introduction of derivative contracts on the Nifty Next 50 index, set to commence from 24th April 2024.

• The Nifty Next 50 Index represents 50 companies from Nifty 100, excluding the Nifty 50 companies.
• NSE has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for these derivative contracts.
• The exchange will provide three serial monthly index futures and index options contract cycles.
• Contracts will be cash-settled and expire on the last Friday of the expiry month.
• Derivatives in the market refer to financial contracts between two or more parties and derive their value from an underlying asset or benchmark.
• There are two main types of derivatives:
  • Futures, which involve a binding agreement to buy or sell the underlying security on a future date.
  • Options, which give the holder the right (but not the obligation) to buy or sell the underlying asset at a predetermined price within a specified period.
• The NSE is one of the two main stock exchanges in India, with the other being the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
• It was the first exchange in India to provide modern, fully automated electronic trading.
• NSE emerged as the world’s largest derivatives exchange in 2023, in terms of the number of contracts traded, according to the Futures Industry Association (FIA).

World Earth Day 2024:

World Earth Day is celebrated annually across the world on April 22 every year.

• Theme of 2024: ‘Planet vs. Plastics’. It emphasizes the need for collective action to repair and heal the planet’s ecosystems, combat climate change and preserve biodiversity.
• World Earth Day is also known as International Mother Earth Day, is a globally recognised event dedicated to raising awareness and promoting the sustainability of our planet.
• The concept of Earth Day can be traced back to the late 1960s, which saw a surge in public debate over environmental issues, with Rachel Carson’s influential book Silent Spring (1962) and the Santa Barbara oil spill (1969) raising awareness about environmental destruction.
• The first World Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970,in the United States. It was organized by a group of environmental activists led by US Senator Gaylord Nelson, who was concerned about the negative impact of industrialization and pollution on the environment.
• Since then, it has become a global movement that encourages individuals and communities to take action towards protecting our planet.

Summit Of The Future:

The UN Secretary General has said that the reform of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) will be a key theme at this year’s Summit of the Future.

• Summit of the Future is a high-level event, bringing world leaders together to forge a new international consensus on how we deliver a better present and safeguard the future.
• It serves as a moment to mend eroded trust and demonstrate that international cooperation can effectively tackle current challenges as well as those that have emerged in recent years or may yet be over the horizon.
• The high-level event will bring together UN Member States, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs), academic institutions, the private sector and youth under the theme, ‘Summit of the Future: Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow’.
• It aims to build upon the Sustainable development Goal (SDG) Summit and deliver an action-oriented Pact for the Future to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
• It will be achieved through an action-oriented outcome document called the Pact for the Future.
• UN Member States have agreed the Summit of the Future is centered around five key targets:
  • Reaffirm the UN Charter
  • Reinvigorate multilateralism
  • Boost implementation of existing commitments
  • Agree on solutions to new challenges
  • Restore trust