1. ChandrayaanII to be launched in April

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1 1. ChandrayaanII to be launched in April Topic: Science and Technology More on Chandrayaan II: Chandrayaan is India's second lunar exploration mission after Chandrayaan-1. Developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the mission is planned to be launched to the Moon by a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV Mk II). It includes a lunar orbiter, lander and rover, all developed by India. The ISRO is planning to launch Chandrayaan-2 in April According to ISRO, this mission will use and test various new technologies and conduct new experiments. The wheeled rover will move on the lunar surface and will perform on-site chemical analysis. The data will be relayed to Earth through the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter. GSLV Mk II Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark II (GSLV Mk II) is the largest launch vehicle developed by India, which is currently in operation. This fourth generation launch vehicle is a three stage vehicle with four liquid strapons. 1 P a g e

2 The indigenously developed cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS), which is flight proven, forms the third stage of GSLV Mk II. From January 2014, the vehicle has achieved four consecutive successes. GSLV's primary payloads are INSAT class of communication satellites that operate from Geo stationary orbits and hence are placed in Geosynchronous Transfer Orbits by GSLV. Further, GSLV's capability of placing up to 5 tonnes in Low Earth Orbits broadens the scope of payloads from heavy satellites to multiple smaller satellites. Developed under the Cryogenic Upper Stage Project (CUSP), the CE-7.5 is India's first cryogenic engine, developed by the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre. CE-7.5 has a staged combustion operating cycle. 2. International Conference on Unani Medicine held in New Delhi Topic: Culture More on the conference: The theme of the conference was Integration of Unani System of Medicine in main stream healthcare. Various national level eminent personalities and stakeholders from academia, industry, regulators, and researchers in the field of Unani Medicine will participate in deliberations. Besides national delegates, countries like South Africa, UK, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China, USA, Portugal, UAE, Slovenia, Israel, Hungary, Bahrain, Tajikistan, etc is also participated in the conference. 2 P a g e

3 The conference will cover issues related to globalization, research, standardization, quality control, safety assessment, and industry perspective. The conference provided a platform to academia, researchers, regulators, industry and students to develop visions, linkages and initiate projects which would help in promoting Unani system of medicine as one of the preferred systems of medicine across the globe. Unani medicine: Unani medicine is the term for Perso-Arabic traditional medicine as practiced in Mughal India and in Muslim culture in South Asia and modern day Central Asia. Unani medicine is substantially based on Ibn Sina's The Canon of Medicine (11th century) The medical tradition of medieval Islam was introduced to India by the 13th century with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate and it took its own course of development during the Mughal Empire. After diagnosing the disease, Usoole Ilaj (principle of management) of disease is determined on the basis of etiology in the following pattern: Izalae Sabab (elimination of cause),tadeele Akhlat (normalization of humors),tadeele Aza (normalization of tissues/organs). The National Unani Day (NUD) is celebrated every year on 11th February to mark the birth anniversary of great Unani researcher Haqim Ajmal Khan. He was an eminent Indian Unani physician who was versatile genius, freedom fighter, educationist and founder of scientific research in Unani Medicine. 3 P a g e

4 3. Hubble sees Neptune s shrinking storm Topic: Science and Technology Why In News: NASA s Hubble Space Telescope has captured Neptune s mysterious shrinking storm that probably smells like rotten eggs. Neptune s dark vortices last only a few years. The dark spot is thought to be swirling with hydrogen sulphide, which has a pungent smell. More about the Hubble telescope: The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. Although not the first space telescope, Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well known as both a vital research tool and a public relations boon for astronomy. The HST is named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble, and is one of NASA's Great Observatories, along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope With a 2.4-meter (7.9 ft) mirror, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra. Hubble's orbit outside the distortion of Earth's atmosphere allows it to take extremely high-resolution images, with substantially lower background light than ground-based telescopes. Hubble has recorded some of the most detailed visible light images ever, allowing a deep view into space and time. Many Hubble observations have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe. The HST was built by the United States space agency NASA, with contributions from the European Space Agency. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) selects Hubble's targets and processes the resulting data, while the Goddard Space Flight Center controls the spacecraft. 4 P a g e

5 Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun in the Solar System. In the Solar System, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter, the thirdmost-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth. Like Jupiter and Saturn, Neptune's atmosphere is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, along with traces of hydrocarbons and possibly nitrogen, but it contains a higher proportion of "ices" such as water, ammonia, and methane. However, its interior, like that of Uranus, is primarily composed of ices and rock. Traces of methane in the outermost regions in part account for the planet's blue appearance. Neptune has a faint and fragmented ring system (labelled "arcs"), which was discovered in 1982, then later confirmed by Voyager Topic: Ethics 4. Ethics and Public servant A public servant s action must be in accordance with the rule of the land. She is not supposed to break the law even for the benefit of the organization. Qualities of a public servant: Must address everyone with the principle of equality in mind. She must not be biased or prejudiced depend up on the caste, creed and gender. She must be responsible for his personal conduct, subordinate s conduct and action of the people she has influence on. She must be accountable for her actions towards her organization, common men, Ministers and electoral representatives, departments, courts, CAG and media. She must be committed towards the public service. She is not supposed to take up another jobs. She must be responsive to the public 24/7 and cannot deny the requirement of the public at any time. She must be transparent in her decisions. The reasons for a particular decision must be documented. She must be having at most honesty and integrity. She should not follow corrupt practices. Her moral conduct must be satisfactory. She should always work in the national interest. 5 P a g e

6 5. Curtain Raiser for National Conference Agriculture Doubling Farmers Income Topic: Social Justice Why in news: The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) is organizing a National Conference under the title of Agriculture 2022 Doubling Farmers Income at National Agriculture Science Complex (NASC), Pusa, New Delhi. It is a two days conference scheduled on 19th and 20th February, The Conference is being organized on the advice of the Hon ble Prime Minister with a view to identify various critical issues relating to agriculture and farmers welfare and finding appropriate solutions. The main aim of the conference is to build a consensus around appropriate recommendations that will help in shaping and sharpening the vision of the Government on Doubling Farmers Income by 2022 into actionable points. The idea is to arrive at practicable solutions that can be implemented for the benefit of farmers in the country. Government is keen to find and adopt the suggestions of the participants that will help in yielding quick results across the agricultural sector, comprising several sub-sectors in addition to initiating long term interventions. 6 P a g e

7 The focus would be on the human element of this primary sector, i.e., the farmer. It shall be farming for the farmer. As many as seven broad themes have been identified for the conference and some of these also have sub-themes (Annexure-I). The participants comprising farmers, farmers associations, scientists, economists, academics, trade industry, professional associations, NGOs, policy makers and officers have been assigned to different themes and sub-themes, such that the issues are examined from multiple angles and comprehensive recommendations are made. Senior officers leading various domains including agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, dairying & fisheries, marketing, & cooperation have been invited as their appreciation of the field will be important in harmonising National and State level policies and programmes. It is also expected that an implementation strategy as well as outcomes arising from these suggestions would be defined and reconciled into the Government s Strategy for Doubling Farmers Income by 2022 on which the Inter-Ministerial Committee is finalising its strategy % increase in budget outlay of Ministry of Tribal Topic: Social justice Affairs in the Budget Why in news: The Ministry of Tribal Affairs will set up 562 more Ekalavya Model Residential School (EMRS) in tribal areas of the country. Briefing media persons on the budgetary provisions for Budget the Minister for Tribal Affairs, Shri Jual Oram said that 271 EMRSs have already been sanctioned out of which 190 are currently operational. Shri Jual Oram said that the government is committed to provide the best quality education to the tribal children in their own environment. The Finance Minister in his budget speech had announced the Government is committed to provide the best quality education to the tribal children in their own environment. To realize this mission, it has been decided that by the year 2022, every block with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons, will have an Ekalavya Model Residential School. Ekalavya Schools will be on par with Navodaya Vidyalayas and will have special facilities for preserving local art and culture besides providing training in sports and skill development. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has been allocated an amount of Rs Crores in (BE) as compared to Rs Crores in (BE) showing an increase of 12% (Rs Crore) over the previous year. 7 P a g e

8 Topic: Disaster management 7. Preparedness for building collapse Why in news: Over the last few years, the incidence of building collapse in India has become so alarming that does not show any sign of abating. Each collapse carries along with it tremendous effects that cannot be easily forgotten by any of its victim. The repetition of such incidents has driven all our attention to these types of disaster preparedness. That s why now a day s construction works of infrastructure are being handled more cautiously to be prepared to prevent building collapse. Building collapse is the structural failure of a reinforced concrete building causes by overload than the building capacity. Structural failure originates mainly when the construction materials overturned to its strength limit due to various reasons. The most recent, destructive and most horrible incident of building collapse in India is the Bellandur collapse. Inadequate design and poor construction quality, low quality construction materials, inappropriate site selection were the most important reasons. Reasons for any building collapse are: adverse balance bearing capacity of soil, defect in foundation design, too much settlement of land and imbalanced live loads (weights of goods), dead loads (weight of the building itself), wind loads (effect of natural calamities). Some precautionary steps should be taken if any building has possibility to be collapsed. Like: cracked building must be rejected for living and an evacuation should be alarmed, population and live loads should be removed urgently, utilities like gas and electricity has to be disconnected and fire service should be informed as early as possible. Some more preparedness should be taken for buildings and industrial infrastructures. Soil bearing capacity should be tested before building construction. Foundation design should be done properly. Old buildings cause too much settlement so to prevent collapse they should be properly operated. Live loads, dead loads and wind loads should be designed measuring a high rate before construction. The availability of adequate technical support in order to operate rescue operation during post-disaster period is needed. Evaluation of existing structural condition of running commercial buildings and taking necessary actions for performance enhancement accordingly will save buildings from collapse. Topic: Indian Polity 8 P a g e 8. Show source of income to contest polls Why is in news: In a landmark move in poll reforms, the Supreme Court on Friday ruled that politicians, their spouses and associates must declare their sources of income, along with their assets, in order to qualify for contesting elections.

9 It directed the government to set up a permanent mechanism to monitor the accrual of wealth of sitting MPs and MLAs, their spouses and associates. Their assets and sources of income are required to be continuously monitored to maintain the purity of the electoral process and the integrity of the democratic structure, a Bench of Justices J. Chelameswar and S. Abdul Nazeer told the government. The judgment, authored by Justice Chelameswar, said manifold and undue accretion of assets by legislators or their associates by itself becomes a good ground for disqualification Qualifications to contest in an election: A non citizen cannot be a contesting candidate in the elections. Article 84 (a) of the Constitution of India envisages that a person shall not be qualified to be chosen to fill up a seat in the Parliament unless he is a citizen of India. Similar provision exists for State Legislative Assemblies in Article 173 (a) of the Constitution. Article 84 (b) of Constitution of India provides that the minimum age for becoming a candidate for Lok Sabha election shall be 25 years. Similar provision exists for a candidate to the Legislative Assemblies vide Article 173 (b) of the Constitution read with Sec. 36 (2) of the R. P. Act, For contesting an election as a candidate a person must be registered as a voter. Sec 4 (d) of Representation People Act, 1951 precludes a person from contesting unless he is an elector in any parliamentary constituency. Section 5 (c) of R. P. Act, 1951 has a similar provision for Assembly Constituencies. Example If you are a registered voter in Delhi, you can contest an election to Lok Sabha from any constituency in the country except Assam, Lakshadweep and Sikkim, as per Section 4 (c), 4 (cc) and 4 (ccc) of the R. P. Act, As per Section 8 (3) of R. P. Act, 1951, if a person is convicted of any offence and sentenced to an imprisonment of 2 years or more, this will be disqualification to contest elections. Even if is a person is on bail, after the conviction and his appeal is pending for disposal, he is disqualified from contesting an election as per the guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India. According to section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, no person shall vote at any election if he is confined in a prison, whether under a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise, or is in the lawful custody of the police Topic: International Organisations 9 P a g e 9. International Solar Alliance In news: PM s comment at World sustainable development summit More on International Solar Alliance: The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an alliance of more than 121 countries, most of them being sunshine countries, which come either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

10 The alliance's primary objective is work for efficient exploitation of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. The alliance is a treaty-based inter-governmental organization. Countries that do not fall within the Tropics can join the ISA and enjoy all benefits as other members, with the exception of voting rights. The initiative was launched by PM Narendra Modi at the India Africa Summit, and a meeting of member countries ahead of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in November The Framework Agreement of the International Solar Alliance opened for signatures in Marrakech, Morocco in November 2016, and 121 countries have joined. The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is to be headquartered in India. In January 2016, Narendra Modi, and the French President François Hollande jointly laid the foundation stone of the ISA Headquarters and inaugurated the interim Secretariat of the ISA at the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) in Gwalpahari, Gurugram, India. The alliance is also called International Agency for Solar Policy and Application (IASPA) Partnersips: International Solar Alliance (ISA) has partnered with World Bank to launch Global Solar Atlas at an ISA event at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. Global Solar Atlasis a free online tool that displays annual average solar power potential at any location in the world and thus identify potential sites for solar power generation. 10. Whistle Blowers Protection act : Why In News: Whistle blower throws light on crore scam. More about the act: Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2011 is an Act in the Parliament of India which provides a mechanism to investigate alleged corruption and misuse of power by public servants and also protect anyone who exposes alleged wrongdoing in government bodies, projects and offices. The wrongdoing might take the form of fraud, corruption or mismanagement. The Act will also ensure punishment for false or frivolous complaints 10 P a g e

11 Salient Features: The Act seeks to protect whistle blowers, i.e. persons making a public interest disclosure related to an act of corruption, misuse of power, or criminal offense by a public servant. Any public servant or any other person including a non-governmental organization may make such a disclosure to the Central or State Vigilance Commission. Every complaint has to include the identity of the complainant. The Vigilance Commission shall not disclose the identity of the complainant except to the head of the department if he deems it necessary. The Act penalizes any person who has disclosed the identity of the complainant. The Act prescribes penalties for knowingly making false complaints. 11 P a g e

12 ******** National IAS Academy , Lucky Paradise, 2nd floor, 8th 'F' main road, 22nd cross, Opp. ICICI bank, 3rd Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore P a g e