GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

According to a new study, a seasonal imbalance of the ratio of solar energy absorbed by Mars and heat released by the planet into space may be fuelling dust storms in the red planet.

Key findings:

• The ratio, known as energy budget, goes out of balance in the spring and summer seasons of red planet’s southern hemisphere.
• The resultant dust storms cover areas as large as continents on Earth and last for weeks.
• According to NASA, the storms are so intense that they’ve been captured by Earth’s telescopes.
• Energy excess (when the planet absorbs more energy than it emits) can be one of the drivers of Mars’ dust storms.

How is it important for us?

• Earth has an energy budget, too. Therefore, Mars’ energy budget might provide clues about the role Earth’s energy budget plays in developing severe storms, including hurricanes.
• The researchers calculated that the global average emitted power is around 111.7 watts per square metre on Mars.
• But this varied during seasons.
• The energy excess in ‘northern autumn’, a southern hemisphere season, is roughly 15.3 per cent of the emitted energy.
• This imbalance could affect the seasonal change of surface temperature on Mars.
• The researchers found a correlation between dust storms and emitted energy by comparing emitted energy in dust storm years and non-dust storm years on Mars.
• Dust storms lift clouds of dust from the surface to the atmosphere, thereby changing the incoming solar energy and outgoing thermal energy.
• For the energy imbalance at longer time scales (more than one Earth year), Earth has a small energy imbalance (lesser than 0.1 per cent of the emitted thermal energy).
• Such an energy imbalance plays a critical role in global warming and climate change on Earth.

Energy Budget:

• The radiant energy budget of a planet is essential to understanding its surface and atmospheric processes.
• Mars has strong seasonal and diurnal variations of emitted power.
• The strong seasonal variations further suggest an energy imbalance at the time scale of Mars’ seasons (e.g., ∼3% of the emitted power in the Northern autumn for the Southern Hemisphere), which could play an important role in generating dust storms on Mars. 

‘HANSA-NG’ successfully completed in-flight engine relight test at the aeronautical test range (ATR) facility of Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) at Challakere in Karnataka’s Chitradurga recently.

About HANSA-NG:

• ‘HANSA-NG’ is the new generation two-seater flying trainer aircraft.
• It is designed and developed by Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL).
• ‘HANSA-NG’ is designed to meet the Indian flying club needs and it is an ideal aircraft for commercial pilot licensing due to its low cost and fuel consumption.
• Features: The unique features of Hansa-NG are:
  • Glass cockpit with cabin comfort
  • Highly efficient digitally controlled engine
  • Electrically operated flaps
  • Long endurance
  • Low acquisition and low operating cost.
    

About the test:

• The in-flight engine relight test is the most critical and important milestone towards certification of an aircraft by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
• The flight test was carried out at an altitude of 7,000-8,000 feet with a speed range of 60 to 70 knots.
• The aircraft handling characteristics and flight parameters were found to be normal during these test flights.

About National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL):

• NAL was established in
• It is a constituent of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
• It is India’s only government-owned aerospace research and development laboratory in the civilian sector.

About CSIR

• The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), known for its cutting edge R&D knowledge base in diverse S&T areas, is a contemporary R&D organization. 
• Established: September 1942
• Located:New Delhi
• CSIR is funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology and it operates as an autonomous body through the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
• CSIR covers a wide spectrum of streams – from radio and space physics, oceanography, geophysics, chemicals, drugs, genomics, biotechnology and nanotechnology to mining, aeronautics, instrumentation, environmental engineering and information technology.

The State of Inequality in India Report has been recently released.

About State of Inequality in India Report:

• Written by: Institute for Competitiveness.
• The report presents a holistic analysis of the depth and nature of inequality in India. It consists of two parts:
  • Economic Facets
  • Socio-Economic Manifestations
• The report looks at five key areas that influence the nature and experience of inequality. These are:
• income distribution
• labour market dynamics,
• health,
• education
• household characteristics 
• The report moves beyond the wealth estimates that depict only a partial picture to highlight estimates of income distribution over the periods of 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20.
• With a first-time focus on income distribution to understand the capital flow, the report emphasises that wealth concentration as a measure of inequality does not reveal the changes in the purchasing capacity of households.

Key Findings:

• The State of Inequality in India Report concedes that while earnings have risen over the years, the benefits of that growth have largely remained concentrated and this has marginalised the poor further.
• While progress has been made in various indicators — from improved labour participation (pre-Covid), health infrastructure and enrolment ratio of students to child mortality — wealth concentration has worsened.
• A 44.4% wealth concentration in the highest quintile in urban areas is contrasted with a meagre 7.1% concentration in that in rural India.
• Nutrition profile among children has improved compared to 2015-16 (NFHS 4), like stunting in children has gone down from 38.4% and wasting from 21%, and 7.7% are severely wasted.
• Additionally, 32.1% of children (under five years) were reported to be underweight.
• As per Rural Health Statistics 2019-20, as of March 2020, there are 155404 Sub Centres (SC), 24918 Primary Health Centres (PHC), and 5183 Community Health Centres (CHC) in rural India.
• In 2019-20, the Gender Parity Index was more than 1 across all levels of education at the all-India level.
• The Gender Parity Index (GPI) based on GER reflects the representation of females in schools in relation to the population of girls in the corresponding age group.
• A value of 1 shows a favourable picture, while anything less than 1 shows relative underrepresentation.
• India’s unemployment rate is 4.8% (2019-20), and the worker population ratio is 46.8%.
• In 2019-20, among different employment categories, the highest percentage was of self-employed workers (45.78%), followed by regular salaried workers (33.5%) and casual workers (20.71%).
• The share of self-employed workers also happens to be the highest in the lowest income categories.
  
  

The strategically-significant Sela Tunnel project in Arunachal Pradesh is nearing completion.

About Sela Tunnel project:

• The project, being executed by the Border Roads Organisation, includes two tunnels and a link road.
• While Tunnel 1 will be 980 metres long single-tube, Tunnel 2 will be 1,555 metres with one bi-lane tube for traffic and one escape tube for emergencies running alongside.
• The link road between the two tunnels will be 1,200 metres.
• Tunnel 2 will be one of the longest tunnels to have been constructed above an altitude of over 13,000 feet.
• The total length of the project, including the tunnels, the approach and the link roads, will be around 12 km.

Where is it being constructed?

• Located in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, the tunnel project will provide an alternate axis to the Sela pass, which is at 13,700 feet.
• It will be on the BCT Road – the Balipara, Charduar and Tawang axis, which is more than 300 km long.
  
  

Importance of the tunnel:

• All-weather connectivity to Tawang and other forward areas in the sector will be the most important advantage that the project promises.
• At the moment, Sela pass stays closed for a few winter months.
• The project will provide a new alignment on the axis towards the LAC, and allow movement of military and civil vehicles all through the year.
• It will strengthen national security.
• This tunnel will work to strengthen the socio-economic condition of the citizens by bringing a big change in the transport facility of the local population.
  
  

A team of researchers in Australia has identified a biochemical marker in the blood that could help identify newborn babies at risk for the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS):

• Sudden infant death syndrome is the unexpected death of an apparently healthy infant.
• It usually occurs while the baby is asleep, although in rare cases, it can also occur while the child is awake.
• The condition is also called “cot death”.
• Newborn babies delivered prematurely or with low weight at birth are believed to be at a greater risk of SIDS.
• The exact cause of SIDS is unknown, although revelations from the new research look promising.
• According to the NHS website, parents can reduce the risk of SIDS by not smoking while pregnant or after the baby is born and ensuring that the baby is placed on their back when they sleep.
  

Key findings of the research:

• According to the findings of the research, babies who died of SIDS showed lower levels of the butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzyme shortly after birth.
• A low level of the BChE enzyme affects a sleeping infant’s ability to wake up or respond to their environment.

The role of BChE:

• BChE plays a major role in the brain's arousal pathway.
• The researchers believe its deficiency likely indicates an arousal deficit, which reduces an infant's ability to wake or respond to the external environment, causing vulnerability to SIDS.
• The enzyme is an important part of the autonomic nervous system of the body and controls unconscious and involuntary functions.

The 82nd year Bhagavata Mela Nataka Mahotsav, organised by Melattur Bhagavata Mela Natya Nataka Sangam, will take place at Sri Varadaraja Perumal Sannidhi, Melattur, near Thanjavur.

About Bhagavata Mela Nataka Mahotsav:

• The little village of Melattur, 18 kms from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, rises a spurt of feverish activity every mid-summer during the Bhagavata Mela Nataka Utsav.
• It is organised in the sannidhi of Lord Sri Varadaraja, the presiding deity of the village, on the occasion of Sri Nrusimha Jayanti.
• The Bhagavata Mela tradition, is believed to be in existence from the 11th Century.
• The unique features of Melattur Bhagavata Mela natakams are:
  • It is a pious art.
  • This day, it is the only surviving link in Tamil Nadu that connects us with our ancient Sanskrit theatre.
  • It came into being as result of Bhakti movement about 450 years ago.
    • The tradition is still preserved in its pristine purity as a true temple art, in the worship Lord Vishnu.
  • The natakams, dedicated to Lord Sri Vishnu, are performed annually with religious fervour in the sannidhi of Sri Varadaraja Perumal temple at Melattur on the occasion of Nrusimha Jayanti, as has been the practice for centuries.
  • This art is a unique blend of Bhakti, music, dance and drama.
  • The utsav is a balance between true/pure devotion and aesthetic display of traditional art.
  • Only male artists portray the female roles.
• Kuchipudi tradition originated as a type of Bhagavata Mela Natakam, a dramatic sadhana dedicated to the worship of Vishnu.
• The structure of the dance-drama follows the Sanskritic and the Shastric conventions.
  • There are songs, dances, dialogues and speeches in the gradual unfolding of the play.
  • The gestures and postures (angika), words (vachika) and the representation of temperament (sattvika), costumes and decorations and make-up (aharya)- all these elements give Natya its characteristic form.
• The technique of Bhagavata Mela Nataka incorporates all the three aspects of the histrionic art as expounded in the Natyashastra treatises.
  • Nritta (pure dance), Nritya (expressional dance) and Natya (drama) find sufficient scope in the enactment of the dance-dramas.