Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Mass Inca grave uncovered in Peru

News

• Peruvian archaeologists are exploring a mass grave belonging to the ancient Inca civilisation in the coastal region of Lambayeque.

Beyond News

• The grave, found at the archaeological site of Tucume which is home to 26 pyramids, will help confirm the extension of the Inca Empire.
• Some 24 mummified corpses were found in the grave, along with funerary offerings such as ceramics, grains and finely woven robes.
• One of the mummies could be a high-ranking personage, given the quality of the funerary offerings found alongside the body.
• The empire flourished along western South America between the 13th and 16th centuries in parts of what are now Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and other countries.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

India to take back helicopters gifted to Maldives.

News

• India is preparing to bring back the two helicopters it had gifted to the Maldives, in a sign that it is hoping to use dialogue as the way forward in resolving issues with Male after months of strain in ties, caused by a squeeze on work permits to Indians and unhappiness over the Maldivian election process.

Beyond News

• The government has in principle decided to withdraw the helicopters, as well as accompanying personnel from two atolls in the Maldives, which has been the consistent demand of the Yameen government for the last few months.
• MEA officials declined to comment on the specific status of the decision, saying only that talks on the helicopters were still “ongoing.”
• The helicopters were gifted in 2013 and the agreement for the first one, operated by the Indian Coast Guard, expired earlier this year but the helicopter has remained there. The agreement for the second one operated by the Indian Navy expired on June 30. About 28 Navy personnel are still in Maldives with expired visas awaiting instructions to return.
• After months of a standoff, the government is understood to have decided that talks are the only way forward and that India will not force any action on the Maldives.
• India hopes that it will also persuade the Maldives to end an unofficial squeeze on visas to Indians, particularly of non-essential job-holders who have been employed by hotels and educational institutions, but have not received work permits for several months.
• However, India will continue to raise its concerns over the conduct of elections in the Maldives, which it believes it is entitled to as a “SAARC country and as a neighbour.”

Allow gambling in sports but regulate it, says law panel

News

• The Law Commission of India submitted a report to the government, saying that since it is impossible to stop illegal gambling, the only viable option left is to “regulate” gambling in sports.

Beyond News

• The commission, recommended “cashless” gambling in sports as a means to increase revenue and deal a blow to unlawful gambling.
• The money generated can be used for public welfare activities. For that the revenue from gambling should be taxable under laws like Income Tax Act, the Goods and Services Tax Act.
• Transactions between gamblers and operators should be linked to their Aadhaar and PAN cards so that the government could keep an eye on them, the panel said.
• The commission recommended a classification of ‘proper gambling’ and ‘small gambling.’ Proper gambling would be for the rich who play for high stakes, while small gambling would be for the low-income groups, it said.
• The panel wanted the government to introduce a cap on the number of gambling transactions for each individual, that is, monthly, half-yearly and annual.
• Regulations need to protect vulnerable groups, minors and those below poverty line, those who draw their sustenance from social welfare measures, government subsidies and Jan Dhan account holders from exploitation through gambling.
• According to the commission, Foreign Exchange Management and Foreign Direct Investment laws and policies should be amended to encourage investment in the casino/online gaming industry. This would propel tourism and employment,.
• The Commission said even as Indian society has traditionally frowned upon gambling, the argument made for ‘revenue over morality’ lacked merit. The Commission reasoned that online gambling and betting have acquired a global presence.

Centre aims to boost academic research, infrastructure

News

• With the Cabinet approving the expansion of the capital base of the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) to ₹10,000 crore so that it can mobilise ₹1 lakh crore  funds for building research infrastructure, like labs, and academic infrastructure in higher education institutions is all set to move to HEFA.

Beyond News

• The rational, the HEFA process allows the channelling of finances for this purpose irrespective of the budget exercise.
• HEFA proposes to mobilise funds from the market through government-guaranteed bonds and commercial borrowings.
• Till now, projects worth ₹2016 crore for the IITs at Kanpur, Delhi, Madras (Chennai), Bombay (Mumbai) and Kharagpur have been approved by HEFA.
• The redefined HEFA is more comprehensive than the original HEFA proposal on many fronts.
• HEFA had been set up in 2017 to follow a specific process for financing educational infrastructure: an institution had to escrow a certain amount and access 10 times the funds, as per the project’s requirement, with the government servicing the interest and the institution repaying the principal amount.
• However, this has been revamped, with many categories of institutions now required to repay much less or nothing.

Act to regulate private schools passed

News

• TheTamil Nadu State government adopted a legislation that seeks to regulate recognised private schools with an emphasis on safety and security of children in private schools.

Beyond News

• The emphasis of the Tamil Nadu Private Schools (Regulation) Act, 2018, was to regulate admissions, collection of fee and conduct of examinations and ensuring quality education by ensuring basic minimum standards and norms in private schools.
• The government had made an announcement in 2012 to constitute an expert committee to suggest a new Comprehensive Act to govern all private schools in the light of the Tamil Nadu Uniform System of School Education Act, 2010 and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
• The Committee had submitted the draft Act for consideration of the government. Based on the draft, the government had decided to enact a comprehensive legislation.
• A legislation to amend the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1961 was also tabled.
• The government also adopted the Tamil Nadu Sugarcane (Regulation of Purchase Price) Act, 2018, to regulate the price of sugarcane purchased by sugar factories from farmers in the State, as per the revenue sharing price fixation model from the current season as announced during the 2018-19 budget.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

ISRO’s first ‘pad abort’ test, critical for future human space mission, successful

News

• The first ‘pad abort’ test critical for a future human space mission was conducted successfully, the Indian Space Research Organisation has announced.

Beyond News

• The test was conducted at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
• The Pad Abort Test demonstrated the safe recovery of the crew module in case of any exigency at the launch pad.
• Describing it as a major technology demonstrator the space agency said the PAT (pad abort test) is the first in a series of tests to qualify a crew escape system technology of a manned mission in the future.
• The Crew Escape System is an emergency escape measure to quickly pull the crew module the astronaut cabin  along with astronauts out to a safe distance from the launch vehicle in the event of a launch abort.
• Teams also tried out at least five new secondary technologies related to satellite communication, navigation and telemetry during the test. A few more trials related to the safety of astronauts would be taken up later.
• It was propelled on its own seven specially made complex in-built rockets. In the next four-odd minutes, it reached a height of 2.7 km and curved down into the Bay of Bengal on parachutes. It landed in sea at a distance of 2.9 km from the launch centre.
• Three recovery boats were sent out to retrieve the module.
• The rockets are solid-fuel powered and specially designed for quickly ejecting the crew module and astronauts to a safe distance without exceeding the safe G-levels, an ISRO statement said.
• Nearly 300 sensors recorded various functional aspects of the mission during the test flight.

Cosmic collision reshaped Milky Way

News

• Astronomers have discovered an ancient cosmic collision with an object, dubbed the “Sausage” galaxy, that reshaped the structure of the Milky Way galaxy.

Beyond News

• The crash was a defining event in the early history of the Milky Way and helped fashion both its inner bulge and its outer halo.
• Scientists propose that around 8 billion to 10 billion years ago, an unknown dwarf galaxy smashed into the Milky Way.
• The dwarf did not survive the impact: it quickly fell apart, and the wreckage is now all around us.
• Researchers used data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite.
• The paths of the stars from the galactic merger earned them the moniker “the Gaia Sausage”.
• The Milky Way continues to collide with other galaxies, such as the puny Sagittarius dwarf galaxy.
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