International Relations 

Doha Political Declaration

The Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) concluded with adoption of the ‘Doha Political Declaration’ by the world leaders.

About:

• Doha Programme of Action (DPoA) is a 10-year plan to put the world’s 46 most vulnerable countries back on track to achieving the UN-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). 
• The declaration made by the head of the states is a key outcome of the second part of LDC5 conference held under the theme “From Potential to Prosperity” at Qatar from March 5-9, 2023.
• It was adopted a year after the text of DPoA for the Decade (2022-2031) was agreed upon during the first part of the LDC5 conference on March 17, 2022 in New York.  
• DPoA (2022-2031) consisted of six key focus areas including:
  • Eradicating poverty, 
  • Leveraging the potential of science and technology to fight against multidimensional vulnerabilities and to achieve the SDGs, 
  • Addressing climate change, environmental degradation, recovering from COVID-19 pandemic and 
  • Building resilience against future shocks?for risk-informed sustainable development.

Polity and Governance 

Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) or Bhu-Aadhar

Department of Land Resources organized the National Conference - Bhumi Samvaad IV on implementation of Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) or Bhu-Aadhaar.

About the conference:

• The theme of the National Conference is - "Digitizing and Geo-Referencing INDIA with Bhu-Aadhaar (ULPIN)". 
• This conference is being organized under Bhumi-Samvaad series of Dialogues and Deliberations of Land Administration and Governance in the country. 
• It is the 4th such conference with States/ UTs, Ministries and Departments, other stakeholders like Geospatial community, startups, academia.

Economy 

First semiconductor fab

The first semiconductor fab is going to unveil and India is poised for a vibrant chip industry in the next 3-4 years on the back of enabling policies and the government's firm commitment towards growing the manufacturing ecosystem.

About:

• A semiconductor fab is a manufacturing plant in which raw silicon wafers are turned into integrated circuits. 
• A fab lab features a clean room where the environment is controlled to eliminate dust and vibration and keep the temperature and humidity within a narrow range.
• In the clean room, the integrated circuits are etched onto wafers through photolithography, a process that involves photographing the circuit pattern on a photosensitive substrate and chemically etching away the background.

Science and Technology 

World’s largest chip centre

South Korea is going to build an enormous facility to make computer chips in the greater Seoul area, with about $230 billion in investment from memory chip giant Samsung Electronics.

About:

• The chip cluster would be located in Gyeonggi province, which is part of the Seoul Metropolitan area.
• The plan is part of the South Korean government's drive to invest heavily in six key technologies, including chips, displays and batteries, all areas where the country's tech giants are well-established already.

Science and Technology 

Kodaikanal Solar Observatory

The Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KoSO) has been observing the Sun, capturing images of sunspots, and recording changes in its behaviour since last 100 years now.

About:

• KoSO is one of the world’s oldest observatories studying the Sun. 
• Owned and operated by: Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA)
• The idea of taking pictures of the Sun using a 20-inch telescope was first proposed by the astronomer Norman Pogson, who was appointed Government Astronomer of the Madras Observatory in 1861. 
• The Madras Observatory was set up as the private effort of an official of the British East India Company in 1786, and came to be managed subsequently by the company.
• KoSO is the only observatory which provides high-resolution digitised images for such a long period (with coverage of more than 75 per cent). 

How sun’s images have been taken?

• White light images of the Sun (similar to viewing it with the naked eye using solar filters) have been captured every day, using a 6-inch telescope.
• Visible light images are taken because they reveal sunspots on the surface of the Sun.
• Solar magnetic plages (a bright region on the Sun’s chromosphere) are best captured in the strong chromosphere absorption lines, like the Ca II (called Ca II K). 
• H-alpha observations and prominences, also recorded since 1911, taken on photographic films and plates, are available.
• A new telescope mounted with CCD cameras has taken over and, since 2017, continued to observe the Sun.

Science and Technology

Exercise TROPEX

The Indian Navy’s major Operational level exercise TROPEX for the year 2023, culminated in the Arabian Sea.

Key-highlights:

• It was conducted across the expanse of the Indian Ocean, over duration of four months from November 2022 to March 2023.

• The exercise took place in Indian Ocean including the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

 About the exercise

• TROPEX (theatre-level combat readiness exercise) is the largest exercise of the Indian Navy. 
• It sees the participation of all naval combat units, including ships, submarines, aircraft, and units of the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Coast Guard.

Science and Technology 

Coronary artery disease (CAD)

In a recent study published in JAMA, researchers investigated whether treat-to-target (TTT) low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) therapy was useful to treat coronary artery disease (CAD) patients.

About the disease:

• Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common type of heart disease. It is sometimes called coronary heart disease or ischemic heart disease.
• CAD is caused by plaque buildup in the walls of the arteries that supply blood to the heart (called coronary arteries) and other parts of the body.
• Plaque is made up of deposits of cholesterol and other substances in the artery.
• Plaque build-up causes the inside of the arteries to narrow over time, which can partially or totally block the blood flow. This process is called atherosclerosis.
• Symptoms: Angina, or chest pain and discomfort. Angina can happen when too much plaque builds up inside arteries, causing them to narrow. 

Science & Technology

Severe scrub typhus

A team of Indian scientists has identified a significantly more effective treatment for severe scrub typhus.

Effective treatment: 

Combination of intravenous antibiotics doxycycline and azithromycin is more effective than the current monotherapy of using either drug alone.

About Scrub typhus:

• Scrub typhus is a life-threatening bacterial infection that kills thousands of people every year.
• Also known as bush typhus, it is a disease caused by bacteria called Orientia tsutsugamushi. 
• Scrub typhus is spread to people through bites of infected chiggers (larval mites). 
• The most common symptoms of scrub typhus include fever, headache, body aches, and sometimes rash. 

Science and Technology 

Fluorescence microscopy

Researchers at Winona State University, Minnesota, have created a design for a ‘glowscope’, a device that could democratise access to fluorescence microscopy – at least partly so.

About:

• Fluorescent microscopy is often used to image specific features of small specimens such as microbes. 
• It is also used to visually enhance 3-D features at small scales. 
• An optical microscope views an object by studying how it absorbs, reflects or scatters visible light. 
• A fluorescence microscope views an object by studying how it reemits light that it has absorbed, i.e. how it fluoresces.
• The object is illuminated with light of a specific wavelength. 
• Particles in the object absorb this light and reemit it at a higher wavelength (i.e. different colour). 
• These particles are called fluorophores; the object is infused with them before being placed under the microscope.
• A fluorescent microscope can track the microorganisms as they move inside the object, revealing the object’s internal shape and other characteristics.

Science and Technology 

VSHORADS missile

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted two consecutive successful flight tests of Very Short Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS) missiles.

About:

• VSHORADS is a Man Portable Air Defence System (MANPAD) meant for neutralising low altitude aerial threats at short ranges. 
• Designed and developed by: ISRO’s Research Centre Imarat, Hyderabad 
• The missile incorporates many novel technologies including Dual-band IIR Seeker, miniaturized Reaction Control System (RCS) and integrated avionics.
• The propulsion is provided by a dual thrust solid motor.

Environment 

Most polluted cities in India 

The fifth World Air Quality Report prepared by IQAir has been released.

Key highlights:

• A total of 39 Indian cities, including the national capital ‘Delhi’ are on the list of 50 of the world’s most polluted cities based on the annual average level of pollutant PM2.5 in air.
• Bhiwadi in Rajasthan with PM levels of 92.7 was found to be the most polluted city in India and third most polluted city in the world. 
• Meanwhile, Delhi emerged to be the most polluted metropolitan city with PM levels of 92.6 which is almost 20 times the safe limit.
• Out of 131 countries, India ranked eighth with a population weighted average PM2.5 level of 53.3 μg/m3 in 2022. 
• It was preceded by Chad, Iraq, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso and Kuwait on this list. 

The Report

• The annual world air quality report was published by Swiss air quality technology company IQAir.

Environment 

Moth Mimeusemia ceylonica

Two researchers from Tamil Nadu have spotted a rare moth species for the first time in India in the buffer zone of Kalakkad–Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) after it was last sighted 127 years ago.

About the species:

• Mimeusemia ceylonica is a moth species belonging to the subfamily Agaristinae and family Noctuidae. 
• It was first illustrated and described by English entomologist George Hampson in 1893.
• The species has been photographed for the first time, before that only illustration of the species was available in the literature. 
• This is the first record of the species from Tamil Nadu, India.
• The species was rediscovered during a moth survey conducted on October 11, 2020 at the Agasthyamalai Community-based Conservation Centre (ACCC) situated in the buffer zone of KMTR, Tirunelveli district.

Miscellaneous

Oscars 2023

Indian Cinema witnessed one of its biggest moments of glory on a global stage of Oscar 2023 organised in Los Angeles (LA).

Key highlights: 

• The Elephant Whisperers won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short and; 
• RRR’s song ‘Naatu Naatu’ won for Best Original Song.
• Significance of the event: 
  • Never before has India had three productions nominated at the Academy Awards — besides an Indian celebrity presenter, actor ‘Deepika Padukone’ — in the same year

About the award:

• The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the global film industry. 
• The awards are regarded as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment industry in the United States.
• It was founded in 1927, but the presentation was first started in 1929, and winners since then receive a gold-plated statuette commonly called Oscar.