GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

The Palghat Gap has garnered attention due to a recent study that highlighted the region's remarkable biodiversity, with over 450 tree species, including ancient ones like Magnolia champaca that have existed for over 130 million years.

About Palghat Gap

• The Palghat Gap, often referred to as a significant break in the Western Ghats, spans approximately 40 kilometers in width.
• It is characterized by the towering Nilgiris and Anamalai hills, both reaching elevations exceeding 2,000 meters above sea level, on either side.
• Throughout history, the Palghat Gap has served as a crucial gateway into the state of Kerala, functioning as a corridor for both road and rail transportation that connects Coimbatore to Palakkad.
• The renowned Bharathappuzhariver flows through this region.
• In contrast to the lush tropical rainforests prevalent in the Western Ghats, the vegetation in the Palghat Gap is classified as dry evergreen forest.
• Moreover, this geographical feature serves as a notable demarcation point for the region's flora and fauna.
  • For instance, certain species of frogs can only be found on one side of the Gap.

Understanding geography of the gap

• The Palghat Gap, a geological shear zone stretching from east to west, has its origins in the drifting of continental shelves following the separation of Australia and Africa from the Gondwana landmass.
• About 100 million years ago, India and Madagascar were part of the same landmass until volcanic activity led to their split, which occurred in the location where the Palghat Gap is situated.
  • A similar split is observed in the Ranotsara Gap on the eastern side of
• Overall, the Palghat Gap's geological origins can be traced back to the separation of landmasses around 100 million years ago, with potential factors like ancient waterways and genetic variations contributing to the ecological differences observed in the area.

There has been a noticeable rise in fraud related to Aadhaar-enabled Payment Services (AePS).

What is Aadhaar-enabled Payment Services (AePS)?

• Aadhaar-enabled Payment Services (AePS) is a bank-led model that facilitates online financial transactions at Point-of-Sale (PoS) and Micro ATMs.
• It enables secure transactions through the business correspondent of any bank by leveraging Aadhaar authentication.
• AePS eliminates the need for OTPs, bank account details, and other financial information, streamlining the process.
• AePS requires only the bank name, Aadhaar number, and fingerprint captured during Aadhaar enrolment as inputs for various transactions.
  • These transactions include cash deposit, cash withdrawal, balance inquiry, mini statement, Aadhaar to Aadhaar fund transfer, authentication, and BHIM Aadhaar pay.

Are AePS transactions enabled by default?

• The default enabling status of AePS transactions is not explicitly mentioned by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) or the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
• According to Cashless India, a website managed by MeitY, AePS does not require any activation; however, the user's bank account should be linked to their Aadhaar number.
• Additionally, users who intend to receive benefits or subsidies under schemes governed by section 7 of the Aadhaar Act are required to provide their Aadhaar number to the banking service provider.
• Aadhaar is also the preferred method for KYC (Know Your Customer) in the banking sector, which often leads to the automatic enabling of AePS for most bank account holders.

What are the ways to secure Aadhaar biometric information?

• Aadhaar (Sharing of Information) Regulations, 2016: The UIDAI is proposing an amendment to theregulations, which will require entities in possession of an Aadhaar number to not share details unless the Aadhaar numbers have been redacted or blacked out through appropriate means, both in print and electronic form.
• Authentication:The UIDAI has also implemented a new two-factor authentication mechanism that uses a machine-learning-based security system, combining finger minutiae and finger image capture to check the liveness of a fingerprint.
• Locking Aadhaar:Additionally, users are also advised to ensure that they lock their Aadhaar information to ensure that their biometric information, even if compromised, cannot be used to initiate financial transactions. Aadhaar can be unlocked when the need for biometric authentication arises, such as for property registration and passport renewals, after which it can again be locked.

The Transformer, the machine learning model that powers ChatGPT, has gained significant attention and is making headlines.

What is Machine Learning (ML)?

• Machine learning (ML), a subset of artificial intelligence, trains computers to perform tasks using structured data, language, audio, or images by presenting examples of inputs and their corresponding desired outputs.
  • Unlike traditional computer programming that relies on explicit instructions, ML models learn to generate desired outputs by adjusting numerous parameters, often in the millions.
• This enables the model to generalize its knowledge and make predictions or generate responses based on new inputs.
• ML's ability to learn from data and adapt its behavior makes it a powerful tool for solving complex problems and handling diverse types of information.

What is ‘attention’?

• Attention is a fundamental concept in machine learning that enables a model to determine the importance of different inputs.
  • For example, in translation tasks, attention allows the model to select and weigh words from its memory bank, aiding in the decision of the next word to generate. Similarly, when describing an image, attention helps the model focus on relevant parts of the image while generating subsequent words.

• One captivating aspect of attention-based models is their ability to discover meaningful patterns and relationships through extensive data analysis. By parsing large volumes of data, these models uncover valuable insights and learn intricate dependencies.
• Transformers are attention models on steroids. They employ multiple attention layers within both the encoder and decoder components.
  • This architecture enables transformers to establish significant contextual understanding across input sentences or images in the encoder, and facilitate effective communication from the decoder to the encoder during tasks such as generating translated sentences or describing images.
  • Transformers take attention to new heights, allowing for enhanced performance and comprehensive learning in a wide range of machine learning applications.

In an attempt to enable open access to green power in the country, the government has asked the industry to set targets under Green Open Access Rules 2022.

What are Green Open Access Rules?

• The Green Open Access Rules were notified in June 2022 to further accelerate India's renewable energy programmes. These rules were notified for promoting generation, purchase and consumption of green energy including through waste-to-energy plants.

• It also enables a simplified procedure for the open access to green power.
• Green Energy Open Access Rules, 2022 are in line with NDC (nationally determined contribution) target for 2030.
  • The government has been targeting to cut emissions in India to net zero by 2070 and aims to achieve 500 GW renewable power capacity, reduce emissions by one billion tonnes and an emissions intensity of the GDP by 45 percent by 2030.

A free trade agreement between India and four-nation bloc EFTA is likely to help enhance two-way commerce, investment flows, job creation and economic growth.

Key-highlights

• India’s Commerce and Industry Minister discussed modalities of engagement for working towards a comprehensive Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) with representatives of European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states - Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
• The delegations agreed to ramp up their efforts and continue discussions at a steady pace, with several more meetings planned over the coming months, to arrive at a common understanding on critical issues pertaining to TEPA.

What is TEPA?

• A free trade agreement between the two regions is officially dubbed as TEPA.
• Under such pacts, two trading partners
  • significantly reduce or eliminatecustoms duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them
  • eases norms to promote trade in services and investments

About European Free Trade Association (EFTA)

• The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is an intergovernmental organisation set up for the promotion of free trade and economic integration to the benefit of its four Member States – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland– and the benefit of their trading partners around the globe.
• EFTA countries are not part of the European Union (EU).
• It was founded as an alternative for states that did not wish to join the European Community.

Significant benefits

• A TEPA between EFTA and India could bring significant economic benefits, such as
  • integrated and resilient supply chains
  • new opportunities for businesses and individuals on both sides
  • increased trade and investment flows, job creation, and economic growth