Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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SC modifies order, says playing of national anthem in cinema halls is not mandatory

News

The Supreme Court modified its November 30, 2016 interim order and made it optional for cinema halls to play the 52-second national anthem before every show.

Beyond News

A Bench, clarified that it is not mandatory to play the anthem before screenings in cinemas.
It left the choice of whether to play the anthem or not to the discretion of individual cinema hall owners.

However, if the anthem is played, patrons in the hall are bound to show respect by standing up.
The court clarified that the exception granted to disabled persons from standing up during the anthem “shall remain in force on all occasions”.

At PIO Parliamentarian Conference, PM urges leaders of Indian origin to come forward to join hands in changing India

News

As part of its intensified outreach to the Indian diaspora, the Government of India launched a conference of legislators and political leaders of Indian origin from all over the world.

Beyond News

The “First PIO [Person of Indian Origin] Parliamentarian Conference” was inaugurated in New Delhi by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reminded the participants that the event is aimed at reconnecting them with their ancestral land and spirit.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said 124 parliamentarians and 17 Mayors of Indian origin have come to attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.

Mr. Modi specially mentioned the presence of former Guyanese President Bharat Jagdeo in the celebration and noted that from Mauritius to Guyana there are several Indian origin individuals who have become leaders of their countries.

Prime Minister also said that, India was experiencing aspirational and societal changes. An ‘irreversible change’ was sweeping the country and leaders of Indian origin should come forward to join hands.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Chemical ban has helped closing up of ozone layer hole !

News

With the declining levels of ozone-destroying chlorine, scientists have for the first time observed less ozone depletion.

Importance of Ozone

Stratospheric ozone protects life on the planet by absorbing potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation that can cause skin cancer and cataracts, suppress immune systems and damage plant life.

Beyond News

The findings showed that an international ban on chlorine-containing manmade chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons(CFCs) has resulted in about 20 per cent less ozone depletion during the Antarctic winter from 2005 to 2016.

Specifically, chlorine levels declined by an average about 0.8 per cent annually.

The change in ozone levels above Antarctica from the beginning to the end of southern winter- early July to mid- September – was computed daily from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) aboard the Aura satellite every year from 2005 to 2016.

The researchers said that,Antarctic ozone hole should continue to recover gradually as CFCs leave the atmosphere, but complete recovery will take decades.

India unveils Pratyush, its fastest supercomputer yet.

News

India’s supercomputing prowess moved up several notches after it unveiledPratyush,an array of computers that can deliver a peak power of 6.8 petaflops.

Beyond News

One petaflop is a million billion floating point operations per second and is a reflection of the computing capacity of a system.

According to a statement by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM),Pratyushis the fourth fastest supercomputer in the world dedicated to weather and climate research, and follows machines in Japan, USA and the United Kingdom.

It will also move an Indian supercomputer from the 300s to the 30s in the Top500 list, a respected international tracker of the world’s fastest supercomputers.

The government had sanctioned Rs. 400 crore last year to put in place a 10-petaflop machine.

Uses

A key function of the machine’s computing power would be monsoon forecasting using a dynamical model.

This requires simulating the weather for a given month say March and letting a custom-built model calculate how the actual weather will play out over June, July, August and September.

With the new system, it would be possible to map regions in India at a resolution of 3 km and the globe at 12 km.

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