March Week 1 – UPSC SUPER SIMPLIFIED

Polity

Shanti Bhushan vs Supreme Court of India,2018

This case is also popularly known as ‘Master of Roster Case’.
In this, a senior advocate Shanti Bhushan filed a PIL in Supreme Court of India challenging the power of Chief Justice of India to solely decide the roster and listing of cases before the bench which was alleged to be abused with legal malice.
It was held that the authority of CJI to decide the roster shall not be delegated to the collegium and that it exercises its power within the ambit of Art 145 and Supreme Court rules.
Also the bench stated that its allocation of cases needs to be done by CJI because if it will be allowed that judges may choose the cases they are willing to hear and decide, it would create practical problems and will disturb the smooth functioning of the court.

Shimbu & Anr vs State of Haryana, 2013

The Supreme Court said the offer of a rapist to marry the victim cannot be used to reduce the sentence prescribed by the law.

Arnab Manoranjan Goswami vs State of Maharashtra, 2020

The Supreme Court observed that courts should ensure that criminal law does not become a weapon for selective harassment of citizens.
The Supreme Court noted, high Courts need to consider while deciding to exercise jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution for grant of bail.

Social Justice

Sugamya Bharat App

Sugamya Bharat app and a handbook entitled “Access – The Photo Digest” is released by the Ministry of social justice and empowerment.
The App and the handbook have been developed by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
It is a Crowdsourcing Mobile Application is a means for sensitising and enhancing accessibility in the 3 pillars of the Accessible India Campaign i.e. built environment, transportation sector and ICT ecosystem in India.
The app provides for five main features, 4 of which are directly related to enhancing accessibility, while the fifth is a special feature meant only for Divyangjan for COVID related issues.

International Relations

INSTEX

The Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges is a European special-purpose vehicle established on 31 January 2019.
Its mission is to facilitate non-USD and non-SWIFT transactions with Iran to avoid breaking U.S. sanctions.
The mechanism was designed to circumvent U.S. sanctions against trade with Iran by avoiding the use of the dollar.

Economy

Spectrum Auction

The Department of Telecommunications conducts auctions of licenses for electromagnetic spectrum.
India was among the early adopters of spectrum auctions beginning auctions in 1994.
Devices such as cellphones and wireline telephones require signals to connect from one end to another.
These signals are carried on airwaves (medium of radio waves), which must be sent at designated frequencies to avoid any kind of interference.
Interference may prevent reception altogether, may cause only a temporary loss of a signal, or may affect the quality of the sound or picture produced by one’s equipment.
These airwaves are called spectrum, which is subdivided into bands which have varying frequencies.
All these airwaves are sold for a certain period of time, after which their validity lapses, which is generally set at 20 years.

Tax Deduction at Source(TDS)

TDS in India is a means of collecting tax on income, dividends or asset sales, by requiring the payer to deduct tax due before paying the balance to the payee.
Under the Indian Income Tax Act of 1961, income tax must be deducted at source as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
TDS is income tax reduced from the Monet paid at the time of making specified payments such as rent, commission, professional fees, salary, interest etc. by the persons making such payments.

NHAI

The National Highways Authority of India is an autonomous agency of the Government of India, set up in 1977 and is responsible for management of a network of over 50,000 km of National Highways out of 1,15,000 km in India.
It is a nodal agency of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
NHAI has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Space Research Organisation for satellite mapping of highways.
The Ministry of Transport and NHAI launched the green highways program in 2016.

POSOCO

Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO) is a wholly owned Government of India enterprise under the Ministry of Power.
It is responsible to ensure the integrated operation of the Grid in a reliable, efficient, and secure manner.
It consists of 5 Regional Load Despatch Centres (RLDCs) and the National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC).
The POSOCO was formed as an umbrella organization to give a corporate structure to RLDCs and NLDC with a mission to ensure integrated operation of Regional and National Power Systems to facilitate transfer of electric power within and across the regions and trans-national exchange of power with reliability, security and economy.
The Load Despatch functions in India derives its mandate from Electricity Act 2003, which acted as a major reform in the Power Sector for optimum scheduling and despatch of electricity.

Government Schemes

TEQUIP

Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme is a project of the Government of India assisted by the World Bank.
The project was implemented to improve the quality of education in the technical institutions of India.

CSIR Floriculture Mission

The Floriculture Mission is expected to create opportunity for entrepreneurship development in floriculture .
Infusion of the latest technologies in the field of floriculture can be successfully led by CSIR.
The mission will focus on commercial floral crops, seasonal/annual crops, wild ornaments and cultivation of flower crops for honey bee rearing.
Some of the popular crops include Gladiolus, Canna, Carnation, Chrysanthemum, Gerbera, Lilium, Marigold, Rose, Tuberose etc.
The Indian floriculture market was worth Rs 15700 cr in 2018. The markets projected to reach Rs47200 cr by 2024 during 2019-24.

Science & technology

National Science Day

It is celebrated each year on 28 February to commemorate the discovery of “Raman Effect” in 1928 by Sir CV Raman, which led to the Nobel Prize being awarded to him in 1930.
The purpose of celebrating this day is to enhance scientific temper, popularization of science and encouraging innovative activities by infusing scientific temperament in the masses and to create a positive scientific research culture.

NSIL

NewSpace India Limited is a Public Sector Enterprise of Government of India and commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation.
It was established on 6 March 2019 under the administrative control of the Department of Space and the Company Act 2013.
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.

SDSAT

Satish Dhawan SAT (SDSAT)is built by Space Kidz India.
SDSAT is a nano satellite intended to study the radiation levels/space weather and demonstrate long range communication technologies.

UNITYSat

UNITYsat, the combination of ‘3 Satellites’ designed and built as a Joint Development by Jeppiaar Institute of Technology, Sriperumbudur (JITsat), G. H. Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur (GHRCEsat) and Sri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore (Sri Shakthi Sat).
The ground stations located at Chennai, Nagpur and Coimbatore will be a network for monitoring the UNITYsat in orbit which will be launched by PSLV C51.
UNITYsat is intended for providing Radio relay services.

PSLV C51

The PSLV-C51 is the 53rd mission of the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) program.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C51 was launched at 04:54 (UTC) / 10:24 (IST) on 28 February 2021 with the main payload from Brazil, INPE’s Amazônia-1 and 18 other ride-sharing small satellites.
This is the first dedicated commercial launch executed by NSIL.
The PSLV C51 rocket has four stages; each one was self-contained, with its own propulsion system, thereby capable of functioning independently.
The first and third stages used composite solid propellants, while the second and fourth stage used earth-storable liquid propellant.

Meghananda Saha

Meghnad Saha was an Indian astrophysicist who developed the Saha ionization equation, used to describe chemical and physical conditions in stars.
His work allowed astronomers to accurately relate the spectral classes of stars to their actual temperatures.
He was elected to the Parliament of India in 1952.
Satyendra Nath Bose was his classmate and Saha also participated in the Swadeshi movement.

SindhuNetra

To boost the country’s surveillance capabilities to monitor activities of both military warships and merchant shipping in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
The ‘Sindhu Netra’ satellite developed by a team of young scientists from the Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was successfully deployed in space on Sunday.
It is capable of automatically identifying the warships and merchant ships operating in the IOR.
The satellite, if required, can also help in carrying out surveillance in specific areas such as the South China Sea or the pirate-infested areas near the Gulf of Aden and the African coast.
Sindhu Netra is one of the first in the series of satellites that would help the nation in enhancing its surveillance capabilities on land in areas such as the Ladakh region with China and the border areas with Pakistan.

NOVA1

RNA-binding protein Nova-1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the NOVA1 gene.
Both Neanderthals and Denisovans had one version and nearly all modern humans had another suggesting positive selection.
Insertion of the Neanderthal gene variant of the neuro-oncological ventral antigen 1 (NOVA1) gene into human cortical organoids promoted slower development and higher surface complexity in the brain models.

Amyloid plaques

Amyloid plaques are aggregates of misfolded proteins that form in the spaces between nerve cells.
Amyloid plaques consist primarily of a 40–42 amino acid peptide called amyloid-β (Aβ) that is aggregated in fibrils that contain a high β-sheet structure.
These abnormally configured proteins are thought to play a central role in Alzheimer’s disease.
The amyloid plaques first develop in the areas of the brain concerned with memory and other cognitive functions.
Plenty of omega-3 fats consumption (DHA found in these healthy fats) may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and dementia by reducing beta-amyloid plaques.

Peptide Bond

A peptide bond is a chemical bond formed between two molecules when the carboxyl group of one molecule reacts with the amino group of the other molecule, releasing a molecule of water (H2O).
The bond that holds together the two amino acids is a peptide bond, or a covalent chemical bond between two compounds (in this case, two amino acids).
This is a dehydration synthesis reaction (also known as a condensation reaction), and usually occurs between amino acids.

Mini Brains

Researchers have created tiny, brain-like ‘organoids’ that contain a gene variant harboured by two extinct human relatives, Neanderthals and Denisovans.
The tissues, made by engineering human stem cells, are far from being true representations of these species’ brains — but they show distinct differences from human organoids, including size, shape and texture.
The findings, published, could help scientists to understand the genetic pathways that allowed human brains to evolve.

SFDR Technology

Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet is a missile propulsion system currently being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India.
The project aims to develop critical technologies required in the propulsion systems of future Indian long range air-to-air missiles.
It said that the test was carried out using a booster motor to simulate an air-launch scenario.
The nozzle-less booster propelled the missile to the required Mach number for Ramjet operation.

Environment & Biodiversity

Similipal Biosphere Reserve

Located in northeast India, the Similipal Biosphere Reserve lies within two biogeographical regions: the Mahanadian east coastal region of the Oriental realm and the Chhotanagpur biotic province of the Deccan peninsular zone.
The park is in the Mayurbhanj district in the Indian state of Odisha.
The highest peak in the Similipal hill range is Khairiburu (1,168 metres).
It is part of the Mayurbhanj Elephant Reserve, which includes three protected areas — Similipal Tiger Reserve, Hadagarh Wildlife Sanctuary and Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary.
Simlipal National Park derives its name from the abundance of red silk cotton trees growing in the area.
It is the 7th largest national park in India.

Places in news

Tigray

The Tigray Region is the northernmost region of Ethiopia.
Tigray is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob and Kunama peoples.
The Tigray War is an ongoing armed conflict that began around midnight of 3–4 November 2020 in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia.
The federal forces captured the Tigrayan capital Mekelle on 28 November, after which Prime Minister Abiy declared the Tigray operation ‘over’.

Chabahar Port

It is a seaport in Chabahar located in southeastern Iran, on the Gulf of Oman.
It serves as Iran’s only oceanic port, and consists of two separate ports named Shahid Kalantari and Shahid Beheshti, each of which has five berths.
Chabahar Port also provides direct access to India’s Farkhor Air Base in Tajikistan.
The Chabahar route will result in 60% reduction in shipment costs and 50% reduction in shipment time from India to Central Asia.

Ural mountains

The Ural Mountains or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.
The mountain range forms part of the conventional boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia.

Internal Security

Dtrack

Researchers had identified that the malware which infected the computer at Kudankulam nuclear power plant was DTrack.
DTrack, as flagged by cyber-security firm Kaspersky, is used by hackers to attack financial and research centres in India.
It’s earlier version ATMDtrack was designed to hack ATMs in India.

Ghostnet

GhostNet is the name given by researchers at the Information Warfare Monitor to a large-scale cyber spying operation discovered in March 2009.
The operation is likely associated with an advanced persistent threat, or a network actor that spies undetected.
Its command and control infrastructure is based mainly in the People’s Republic of China and GhostNet has infiltrated high-value political, economic and media locations in 103 countries.
Computer systems belonging to embassies, foreign ministries and other government offices, and the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan exile centers in India, London and New York City were compromised.

Suckfly

Suckfly, an advanced cyberespionage group that conducted attacks against a number of South Korean organizations and Indian organizations primarily to steal digital certificates.
Suckfly campaigns that infected organizations with the group’s custom malware Backdoor.
A backdoor is a typically covert method of bypassing normal authentication or encryption in a computer, product, embedded device, or its embodiment.
Backdoors are most often used for securing remote access to a computer, or obtaining access to plaintext in cryptographic systems.

Stuxnet

Stuxnet is a malicious computer worm first uncovered in 2010 and thought to have been in development since at least 2005.
Stuxnet targets supervisory control and data acquisition systems and is believed to be responsible for causing substantial damage to the nuclear program of Iran.
A computer worm is a standalone malware computer program that replicates itself in order to spread to other computers.
Worms can modify and delete files, and they can even inject additional malicious software onto a computer.

ShadowPad

CERT-In, India’s cyber security agency had in November detected ShadowPad malware, one of the largest supply chain attacks.
The ShadowPad malware steals data from a ‘victim’ computer and is able to automatically communicate with the computer servers at the hacker’s end.
Once every eight hours, ShadowPad sends back information like user name, domain name, host name to the hacker’s computer system.

Red Echo

The National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC), which oversees India’ cybersecurity operations in critical sectors, had sounded an alert on 12 February about a Chinese state-sponsored threat actor group known as Red Echo.
It targeted regional load dispatch centres (RLDCs) and state load dispatch centres (SLDCs), said the union power ministry.

Cybercrime Volunteers

India’s home affairs ministry recently flagged off a ‘Cyber Crime Volunteers Concept’, an initiative aimed at inviting ordinary citizens to sign up as volunteers who would help identify the circulation of digital “unlawful content”.
The volunteer programme is supposed to act as a facilitative tool between ordinary citizens and the government for the prevention of cybercrime.
Any citizen can register herself under one of three categories: ‘Cyber Volunteer Unlawful Content Flagger’, ‘Cyber Awareness Promoter’, and ‘Cyber Expert’.
Post-registration, the individual can directly report “unlawful content” being circulated over the Internet, which presumably includes social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, among others.

History & culture

Saint Ravidas

Ravidas was an Indian mystic poet-sant of the Bhakti movement and founder of Ravidassia (Orthodox Sikh structure) religion during the 15th to 16th century CE.
Scholars state he was born in 1450 CE and died in 1520 CE. Ravidas was also known as Raidas.
Scholars state he was born in 1450 CE and died in 1520 CE. Ravidas was also known as Raidas.
A known poet, his written verses are included in Sikh scriptures, Guru Granth Sahib.
Meera Bai, an eminent personality in the sphere of Hindu spiritualism recognised Guru Ravidas as her spiritual guide.

Neanderthals

Neanderthals are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago.
They most likely went extinct due to great climatic change, disease, or a combination of these factors.
They were fully replaced by early European modern humans.

Geography

Iron ore in India

India’s leading state that produces iron ore is Odisha. It accounts for more than 55% of the total production followed by Chhattisgarh producing almost 17%.
This is followed by Karnataka and Jharkhand producing 14% and 11% respectively.
In India we get four types of iron ores,

(a) Hematite (Fe203)- It is mainly found in the Dharwad and Cuddapah rocks of the Peninsular India.

(b)Magnetite is found in the southern states of Karnataka (73%), Andhra Pradesh (14%) and Tamil Nadu (5%).Magnetite is the finest iron ore with a very high content of iron up to 70 per cent.

(c)Limonite- Inferior ores; yellowish in colour; 40 to 60 per cent iron metal. It is found in Damuda series in Raniganj coal field, Garhwal in Uttarakhand, Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh and Kangra valley of Himachal Pradesh.

(d)Siderite: It has more impurities. It contains about 48 percent metallic iron content in it. It is brown in colour. It contains a mixture of iron and carbon. It is a low-grade iron ore.

Reports & Indexes

Ease of Living Index, 2020

The ministry of housing and urban affairs releases this report.
The Ease of Living Index (EoLI) is an assessment tool that evaluates the quality of life and the impact of various initiatives for urban development.
Among Indian cities with a population of more than a million, Bengaluru has been rated the most liveable city in India in the government’s “Ease of Living Index”.
The IT capital of India has pushed the earlier top ranker Pune to number two, while Ahmedabad ranked the third among 111 other cities.
The ease of living is the lowest in Bareilly, Dhanbad and Srinagar.
Shimla topped the category of cities with a ”population less than million”. ●Muzaffarpur figured at the bottom of the livability index for 62 cities in the ”less than a million” people category.

Miscellaneous

Denisovans

Denisovans are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic human that ranged across Asia during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic.
Denisovans are known from few remains, and, consequently, most of what is known about them comes from DNA evidence.
DNA evidence suggests they had dark skin, eyes, and hair, and had a Neanderthal-like build and facial features.
Denisovan remains were discovered in 2008 and human evolution experts have become fascinated with the group that went extinct around 50,000 years ago.

Pochampally Saree

Pochampally sari or Pochampally ikat is a saree made in Bhoodan Pochampally, Telangana State, India.
They have traditional geometric patterns in Ikat style of dyeing.
The intricate geometric designs find their way into sarees and dress materials.
It is on the tentative list of UNESCO world heritage sites.
The fabric received the coveted Geographical Indication (GI) status in 2005.

Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemy was a mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, geographer and astrologer who wrote several scientific treatises, three of which were of importance to later Byzantine, Islamic and Western European science.
In addition to his astronomical work, Ptolemy recorded longitudes and latitudes in degrees for roughly 8,000 locations on his world map, giving a detailed image of the inhabited world as it was known to a resident of the Roman Empire at its height.
The Ptolemaic system was a geocentric system that postulated that the apparently irregular paths of the Sun, Moon, and planets were actually a combination of several regular circular motions seen in perspective from a stationary Earth.

PCA

The Permanent Court of Arbitration is an intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands.
PCA tribunals have jurisdiction for disputes based on the PCA founding documents (the Conventions on Pacific Settlement of International Disputes), or based on bilateral and multilateral treaties.
India is a party of the PCA according to the Hague Convention of 1899.
The PCA’s functions are not limited to arbitration and also include providing support in other forms of peaceful resolution of international disputes, including mediation, conciliation, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

NH4

National Highway 4, or NH 4, is the major highway in the Indian state of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
It is 230.7 km in length. This road runs from the capital city of Port Blair to Diglipur connecting all major towns of Ferrargunj, Baratang, Kadamtala, Rangat, Billy Ground, Nimbudera, Mayabunder and Diglipur.
This highway is known as the Andaman Trunk Road (The Great Andaman Trunk Road).