GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

World Athletics announced that they were set to introduce a repechage round in individual track events from 200m to 1500m races for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

About:

• The World Athletics Council ratified the decision and also made the repechage applicable for hurdles events.
• In the new repechage format, athletes who do not qualify by place in round one heats will have a second chance to qualify for the semi-finals by participating in repechage heats.
• The athletics events at the Olympics will now consist of a round one, repechage round, semi-finals and finals.

What is repechage?

• Repechage essentially means a second chance.
• If a sport has repechage, it means that the athlete will get one more chance to compete and move into further rounds and possibly the final, even if they have lost once in the initial rounds.
• In athletics, the repechage round would mean that every individual event track athlete from 200m to 1500m would race twice at the Olympics.
• According to World Athletics, the events at the Olympics would now consist of a round one, repechage round, semi-finals and finals. Repechage for the 100m race was not included because the event already has preliminary heats in place.

What are the current rules?

• According to the current rules, athletes qualify when they place at the top of their heats or post the fastest times in their heat.

The need for repechage in athletics:

• As it happens, sometimes the best athletes are not able to reach the final.
• In some cases, the sheer quality differential in certain heats would mean that an athlete could have qualified for further rounds, had they been among other athletes in their category, in a different heat.
• In some cases, rankings or conditions can all take their toll and derail the qualification process of an athlete.
• The repechage gives a second chance to those athletes. It allows the best quality on display at the final event.

Which event is it a part of currently?

• Repechage is currently part of wrestling and taekwondo at the Olympics in a similar fashion.
• For both events, if a participant loses in the first round and their opponent reaches the final, then that participant would need to wrestle against the finalists’ second-round opponent and move up to the bronze medal position.
• The bronze medal is the upper limit of the repechage in wrestling with finalists from both brackets facing each other for a gold medal match.
• Other sports like rowing and track cycling also have repechage rounds.

The 15th President of India, Droupadi Murmu, assumed office with a ‘Johar’ greeting to the country.

About Johar:

• ‘Johar’, which essentially means ‘salutation and welcome’.
• It is used within the tribal communities of Jharkhand, and in parts of Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
• According to several tribal leaders from Jharkhand, the word ‘Johar’ also means ‘paying respect’.
• Tribal communities are nature worshippers and follow Sarna religion code, although it is not an official religion.
• "Juhar" is also one of the rituals of Nuakhai, an agricultural festival celebrated to welcome the new crop.
• It is a combination of two words - 'nua' means 'new' and 'khai' means 'to eat'.

The tribal communities that use the word ‘Johar’ for greeting:

• There are 32 tribal communities in Jharkhand who speak different dialects. Almost all, including tribal Christians, use the word ‘Johar’ along with some other words for salutation.
• Johar, is predominantly used by Santhali, Munda and Ho communities that share some similarities.
• People belonging to the Oraon community use the word ‘Jai Dharam’, apart from Johar, as a salutation.

Form of ‘Johar’ salutation:

Doboh Johar:

• One of it is ‘Doboh Johar’, which is used between people where one among them has a higher standing.
• In ‘Doboh Johar’ there is a ritual where the person with a tumbler full of water bows in front of the person of higher standing.
• The person who bows will touch the earth and in return the other person will wash his/her hand (using water in the tumbler) and let the water drop on the earth.
• The entire exercise means that the hospitality being shown has been accepted.

Choh Johar 

• Choh Johar is a kind of greeting shown by the elders towards younger ones. 
• Choh Johar is different for men and women.
• When a woman performs Choh Johar, she touches chin of the kid with both her hands and then pull it towards itself with the sound of kiss.
• This gesture shows that she is taking away all the miseries of the kid.
• When a men does Choh Johar he brings his right hand over his younger ones head and then take it back to its own head.
• This is a way of taking away all his sorrows.

Bala Johar

• Bala Johar is a special type of Johar (greeting) done by parents and relatives of bride and bridegroom.
• Style of doing Bala Johar by men is different from that of women.
• When it is done by men they stand facing each other holding each other’s hand.
• Right hand is held by left and vice versa.
• Then they gently collide their chests five times in different angles.
• When it is done by women’s they bend a little and hold each other’s hand and gently collide their heads five times.
• This Johar is done when the relatives of bride and bridegroom meets.

According to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), scientists released the first pieces of the multispectral maps made by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM).

What is CRISM?

• The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars is known as CRISM.
• CRISM uses detectors that see in visible, infrared and near-infrared wavelengths to map the kind of mineral residue that appears where water once existed.
• It searches for the residue of minerals that form in the presence of water, perhaps in association with ancient hot springs, thermal vents, lakes, or ponds that may have existed on the surface of Mars.
  
  

CRISM's science goals are:

• Using the spectral fingerprints of minerals that form in liquid water, find where Mars had persistently wet environments.
• By mapping the composition and layering of rock formations, understand what processes formed and altered the Martian crust.
• By measuring the changing amounts of dust, ice, water vapor and other gases in the atmosphere, help to understand Mars' modern climate.
  
  

Target Achieved:

• The coverage goal for the multispectral mode was 80 per cent, owing to the limited lifetime of the coolers needed by its infrared detector. But it has managed to exceed that goal.
• It has managed to map 86 per cent of Mars’ surface with its multispectral mode, detecting nearly all of the minerals on the surface.
• The hyper spectral mode, which uses the wavelengths from the visible and near-infrared (VNIR) detector, doesn’t require cryogenic cooling and has attained more than 99 per cent coverage.

India has recently designated five new wetlands of International importance.

Key-highlights of the addition

• With the new addition, the Ramsar sites have been increased from 49 to 54 Ramsar sites in India.
• The new addition are as given below:

Important facts about the new sites

Karikili Bird Sanctuary: 

• Karikili Bird Sanctuary is a 61.21-hectare protected area located in the Kancheepuram District of Tamil Nadu.
• The sanctuary is about 75 km from Chennai, south of Chengalpattu. 

Pallikaranai Marsh Reserve Forest: 

• Pallikaranai wetland is a freshwater marsh located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
• It is the only surviving wetland ecosystem of the city and among the few and last remaining natural wetlands of South India.

Pichavaram Mangrove:

• Pichavaram mangrove is located in a village near Chidambaram in Cuddalore District of Tamil Nadu.
• The mangrove is one of the largest mangrove forests in India, covering 1100 hectares.

Pala wetland:

• The Pala wetland is the largest natural wetland in Mizoram.
• The renowned landmark is surrounded by green woodlands and home to rich diversity of animal species including a range of animals and birds.

Sakhya Sagar:

• Sakhya Sagar Lake is an integral part of the beautiful ecology of the Madhav National Park in Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh.

India’s Ramsar Sites:

• India’s Ramsar wetlands are spread over 11,000 sq km — around 10% of the total wetland area in the country — across 18 States.
• No other South Asian country has as many sites though this has much to do with India’s geographical breadth and tropical diversity.
• The United Kingdom (175) and Mexico (142) — smaller countries than India — have the maximum Ramsar sites whereas Bolivia spans the largest area with 148,000 sq km under the Convention protection.

Ramsar Sites

• These are wetlands deemed to be of "international importance" under the Ramsar Convention.
• It is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the convention was signed in 1971.
• Ramsar sites are trans-boundary in which case more than one Contracting Party is responsible for their conservation and management.
• The inclusion in the list is for-
• the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands,
• recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their
• Economic value.
• Cultural value
• Scientific value
• Recreational value
• It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands.

Russia recently announced that it will withdraw from the International Space Station (ISS) project after 2024, signalling an end of an era in one of the last remaining areas of cooperation between Russia and the United States.

About International Space Station:

• A space station is essentially a large spacecraft which remains in low-earth orbit for extended periods of time.
• The International Space Station is the only operational space laboratory as of now.
• It is orbiting the earth in a trajectory that is about 400 km above the land surface.
• It is like a large laboratory in space, and allows astronauts to come aboard and stay for weeks or months to carry out experiments in microgravity.
• The ISS has been in space since 1998, and has been known for the exemplary cooperation between the five participating space agencies that run it:
  • NASA (United States)
  • Roscosmos (Russia)
  • JAXA (Japan)
  • ESA (Europe)
  • CSA (Canada)
• It completes one journey around the earth in about one and a half hours. In one day, therefore, it makes about 16 trips around the world.
• At any given time, there is a crew of six astronauts on board. Right now, seven astronauts, four from the United States, two from Russia (it prefers to call them cosmonauts) and one from Germany, are at ISS.
• The facility is used for carrying out a variety of zero-gravity experiments, space exploratory studies, and technology development.
• The ISS is not the first space station to be built and operated.
• Several smaller space stations have been used earlier, the most famous of which have been the Russian Mir space station that operated in the 1980s, and the American Skylab.
  
  
  

The complexity of cooperation:

The ISS is made up of two primary segments, one managed by NASA and the other by Roscosmos.

• The S. segment, as it's known, features four huge NASA-supplied solar wings, two on each end of a truss as long as a football field, complex cooling systems, computer networks, high-speed communications systems and 10 pressurized modules
• The U.S. segment also features four docking ports that can accommodate Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ships, Japanese HTV freighters, SpaceX Dragon crew and cargo ships and Boeing's Starliner crew ferry craft.
• The back section of the station, made up of six pressurized compartments, is operated by Four Russian docking ports are currently used by Progress cargo ships and Soyuz crew ferry vehicles.
• One of those, known as Zarya, connects the U.S. and Russian segments.
• It was paid for by NASA but is operated by Russia.
• Russia provides the propellant and thrusters needed to keep the outpost in orbit while NASA provides most of the station's electrical power, satellite communications and day-to-day stability provided by four massive gyroscopes.
  
  

In a bid to meet India’s commitment to exceed its Paris agreement climate targets, the Centre plans to table the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2022.

• The Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill seeks to increase India’s demand for renewable energy, thereby reducing the nation’s carbon emissions.
• The Bill proposes to amend the Electricity Conservation Act 2001, last amended in 2010, to introduce changes such as incentivising the use of clean energy by issuing carbon saving certificates.

The Current Energy Conservation Act:

• Currently, the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 (amended in 2010) governs the domain in India.
• The Act empowers the Centre to specify norms and standards of energy efficiency for appliances, industrial equipment and buildings with a connected load over 100 kilo Watts (kW) or a contractual demand of more than 15 kilovolt-amperes (kVA).
• The Act established the Bureau of Energy Efficiency.
• The 2010 amendment extended the tenure of the Director General of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency from three to five years.
• Framework for energy trading: According to the Act, the Centre can issue energy savings certificates to those industries which consume less than their maximum allotted energy.
• However, this certificate can be sold to customers who consume higher than their maximum allowed energy threshold.
• Penalty: In case of any violations under this Act, each offence shall attract a penalty of Rs ten lakh with an additional penalty of Rs 10,000 for each day the offence continues.
• Appeal: Any appeals against any such order passed by the Central or state government will be heard by the appellate tribunal already established under the Electricity Act, 2003.

The proposed changes:

• Defining the minimum share of renewable energy to be consumed by industrial units or any establishment. This consumption may be done directly from a renewable energy source or indirectly via the power grid.
• Incentivising efforts to use clean energy by issuing carbon saving certificates
• Strengthening institutions set up originally under the Act, such as the Bureau of Energy Efficiency
• Facilitating the promotion of green Hydrogen as an alternative to the fossil fuels used by industries
• Considering additional incentives like carbon credits for the use of clean energy to lure the private sector to climate action.
• Including larger residential buildings under energy conservation standards to promote sustainable habitats. Currently, only large industries and their buildings come under the ambit of the Act.

Objective of proposed amendments:

• The main objective of these proposed amendments is to reduce India’s power consumption via fossil fuels and thereby minimize the nation’s carbon footprint.
• The Centre aims to develop India’s Carbon market and boost the adoption of clean technology.
• India aims to meet its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), as mentioned in the Paris Climate Agreement, before its 2030 target date.

Based on a complaint by a Mumbai-based NGO, the Mumbai Police registered an FIR against actor Ranveer Singh recently for sharing photographs from an apparently nude photoshoot that he did with ‘Paper’ magazine.

Obscenity:

• The word obscene comes from the Latin word obscenus, which means foul, repulsive, or detestable.
• Obscenity is a term that is used to describe words that usually have a connection with sexual morality but now it extends to images or actions that offend most people. 
• The word obscenity is from one of those words whose meanings are vague or not clear in our Indian Law. What is obscene content or not totally depends upon the lawyers and the judges and how they interpret the word obscene.
• It is true that the definition of word obscenity would change from time to time. What is obscene in the present day should not be treated as obscene in the future. 

What sections of the law have police applied against Ranveer Singh?

The police have invoked Sections 292, 293 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), along with Section 67A of the IT Act.

• Section 292 (Sale, etc. of obscene books, etc) says that “a book, pamphlet, paper, writing, drawing, painting, representation, figure, or any other object shall be deemed to be obscene if it is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest.
• Section 293 (Sale, etc., of obscene objects to young person) says that “whoever sells, lets to hire, distributes, exhibits or circulates to any person under the age of twenty years any such obscene object…or offers or attempts so to do, shall be punished on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees.
• Section 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) states “whoever, intending to insult the modesty of any woman, utters any word, makes any sound or gesture, or exhibits any object, intending that such word or sound shall be heard, or that such gesture or object shall be seen, by such woman, or intrudes upon the privacy of such woman, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both”
• Sections 67A of the Information Technology Act lays down the punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, etc., in electronic form.