Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 4th Feb 2022

NEWS

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) has installed and commissioned Param Pravega, one of the most powerful supercomputers in India, and the largest in an Indian academic institution, under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).

 DETAILS

WHAT IS SUPERCOMPUTER - A computer with a high level of computing performance compared to a general purpose computer and performance measured in FLOPS (floating point operations per second).

WHO DESIGNED PARAM PRAVEGA - Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).

WHAT IS THE SPEED - 3.3 petaflops

OTHER DETAILS - A majority of the components used to build this system have been manufactured and assembled within India, along with an indigenous software stack developed by C-DAC, in line with the Make in India initiative.

NATIONAL SUPERCOMPUTING MISSION

• Steered jointly by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)
• Implemented by C-DAC and IISc
• Supported the deployment of 10 supercomputer systems so far at IISc., in IITs, IISER Pune, JNCASR, NABI-Mohali and C-DAC, with a cumulative computing power of 17 petaflops.
• Systems have greatly helped faculty members and students carry out major R&D activities, including developing platforms for genomics and drug discovery, studying urban environmental issues, establishing flood warning and prediction systems, and optimising telecom networks.

WORLD’S TOP 3 SUPERCOMPUTERS

• Sunway TaihuLight – developed in China with the computing power of a 93 petaflop/s.
• The Tianhe-2 (MilkyWay-2) – from China. This supercomputer is capable of 33.8 petaflop/s.
• Titan – from the US. Computing capacity is 17.5 petaflop/s.

SUPERCOMPUTERS IN INDIA

• Currently, Pratyush and Mihir are the Fastest Supercomputers in India. These are the 2 High-Performance Computing Units (HPC) with a combined speed of 6.8 PetaFlops.
• Pratyush is established in Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.
• Mihir is established in the National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (NCMWF), Noida.

NEWS

BMRCL is also contemplating adopting the Miyawaki model to increase the green cover for compensatory afforestation initiatives

ABOUT MIYAWAKI MODEL

WHO FOUND - Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki

WHAT IT AIMS - Helps build dense, native forests in a short time

MIYAWAKI PROCESS:

• The native trees of the region are identified and divided into four layers — shrub, sub-tree, tree, and canopy.
• The quality of soil is analysed and biomass which would help enhance the perforation capacity, water retention capacity, and nutrients in it, is mixed with it.
• A mound is built with the soil and the seeds are planted at a very high density — three to five sapling per square meter.
• The ground is covered with a thick layer of mulch.
• Approach is supposed to ensure that plant growth is 10 times faster and the resulting plantation is 30 times denser than usual.
• The saplings become maintenance-free (self-sustainable) after the first three years.

HAS IT BEEN USED EARLIER IN INDIA – YES, Telanganaku Haritha Haaram (TKHH).

 NEWS

The life of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, whose 100th birth anniversary is on February 4, continues to be a source of inspiration for many youngsters who are passionate about music.

ABOUT

• Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi
• Indian vocalist from Karnataka
• Hindustani classical tradition.
• Born on 4th February   1922 in Ron, Gadag district, Karnataka
• Known for the khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music.
• Belongs to the Kirana gharana tradition of Hindustani Classical Music.
• Guru - Channappa of Kurtakot , Pandit Shyamacharya Joshi
• First album of devotional songs was released by HMV in 1942
• Noted for his concerts, and between 1964 to 1982 Joshi toured Afghanistan, Italy, France, Canada and USA.
• First musician from India whose concerts were advertised through posters in New York city, United States
• Instrumental in organising the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival annually, as homage to his guru, Pandit Sawai Gandharva
• In 1998, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour conferred by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama.
• Subsequently, he received the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, in 2009

NEWS

The Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed a law that reserves 75 per cent of jobs for Haryanvis in private establishments across the state.

WHAT WAS THE RESERVATION LAW

• Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill, 2020 was passed by Haryana Assembly in November 2020
• What did it aim at - Provided for 75 per cent reservation for local people in private sector jobs offering a monthly salary of less than Rs 30,000 (originally Rs 50,000)
• Law came into effect from January 15 this year.

WHY WAS IT CHALLENGED

• Infringement of the constitutional rights of employers
• Private sector jobs were purely based on skills and analytical bent of mind, and employees had a fundamental right to work in any part of India
• Bill impugned Act is the violation of the federal structure framed by the Constitution of India

NEWS

PM expresses happiness over India having the largest network of Ramsar Sites in South Asia. With inclusion of two more wetlands, Khijadiya Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat and Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary in UP in the Ramsar site list, India is now having the largest network of Ramsar Sites in South Asia

DETAILS

WHAT –

• Sites protected under Ramsar convention
• At the time of joining the Convention, each Contracting Party undertakes to designate at least one wetland site for inclusion in the List of Wetlands of International Importance.
• The inclusion of a “Ramsar Site” in the List embodies the government’s commitment to take the steps necessary to ensure that its ecological character is maintained.
• The Ramsar sites are maintained in Montreux Record to track any major ecological changes that might affect any of the wetland sites positively or in a reverse way.
• The Montreux Record is a register of wetland sites on the List of Ramsar wetlands of international importance where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to occur as a result of technological developments, pollution, or other human interference. It is maintained as part of the Ramsar List.
• At present, two wetlands of India are in Montreux Record:
  • Keoladeo National Park (Rajasthan) and
  • Loktak Lake (Manipur).
• Note: Chilka Lake (Odisha) was placed in the record but was later removed from it.

About Ramsar convention

• International treaty for the conservation and wise use of wetlands.
• Named after the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the Caspian Sea
• Treaty was signed on 2 February 1971 (February 2 is celebrated as International Wetlands Day)
• Known officially as ‘the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat’ (or, more recently, just ‘the Convention on Wetlands’), it came into force in 1975.

• With almost all the 55,880 target population in the 15-17 years age group in Gadag being vaccinated with the first dose, this district is the first one in Karnataka to achieve 100% first dose coverage in children.
• The Karnataka government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Ather Energy and Electric Supply Companies (ESCOMs) of the state in the presence of chief minister Basavaraj Bommai for setting up 1,000 fast-charging stations.
• Fortis Cancer Institute announced the installation of Karnataka’s first Intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) system for the treatment of breast cancer.
• Terming China’s decision to field a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldier involved in the June 2020 Galwan clashes as the torchbearer for the Winter Olympics Games in Beijing as “regrettable”, India announced a diplomatic boycott of the games just ahead of the opening ceremony.