Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Archaeologists find artefacts in Cairo

News

• Egypt archaeologists working at a dig in Cairo have found several fragments of stone slabs with inscriptions dating back up to 4,000 years.

Beyond News

• Some of the fragments date back to the 12th and the 20th Dynasties and the Third Intermediate Period while others are more recent.
• Egyptologist, says one inscription points to Atum, an important and frequently mentioned god, as being responsible for the flooding of the Nile River in the Late Period, from 664-332 BC.
• Egypt frequently announces archaeological discoveries, hoping this will spur interest in its ancient treasures and revive tourism, which was hit hard by political turmoil following the 2011 uprising.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

ASEAN member countries of RCEP offer India concession

News

• Several Asian member countries of the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) have offered India a significant concession on the extent to which it needs to open up its markets, in a bid to encourage it to join the partnership quickly, according to a diplomat from Singapore.

Beyond News

• The RCEP is a proposed trade agreement between the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries and their six free trade agreement partners, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand.
• The grouping would comprise 25% of global GDP, 30% of global trade, 26% of FDI flows, and 45% of the population.
• The ASEAN countries are keen to have India as part of the partnership and have made India a concessional offer of opening up only about 83% of its market, as compared to the original 92% that the RCEP agreement stipulated.
• Opening up its market to China has been India’s main concern about joining RCEP, a sentiment echoed by the Commerce Ministry, NITI Aayog, and then Chief Economic Advisor.
• India has achieved some success regarding some of its other concerns, such as getting the other RCEP countries to liberalise their services markets and allow for a more free movement of service sector professionals.
• India and a few other countries want only a statement on “substantial progress” to be made during the summit, and for negotiations to be pushed into the second half of next year.
• Apart from India, Indonesia and Australia are also due to go to elections in 2019, and while this adds to the urgency of concluding the RCEP negotiations, it makes it harder for governments to give any concessions on tariffs and subsidies closer to polls, given political compulsions, diplomats said.

In a first, India to send two former diplomats to talks that include Taliban representatives

News

• In a significant departure from India’s stand on engaging the Taliban, the government announced it would participate at a “non-official” level, sending two former senior diplomats to attend talks on the Afghanistan peace process to be held in Russia.

Beyond News

• The talks, known as the “Moscow format” will include a “high-level” delegation from the Taliban as well as a delegation of Afghanistan’s “High Peace Council”, along with twelve countries, and will mark the first time an Indian delegation has been present at the table in talks with the Taliban representatives based in Doha.
• India supports all efforts at peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan that will preserve unity and plurality, and bring security, stability and prosperity to the country.
• India’s consistent policy has been that such efforts should be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned, and Afghan-controlled and with participation of the Government of Afghanistan.
• The Russian government welcomed India’s decision to participate in the talks .

Apart from the Taliban political leadership based in Doha, and the HPC from Kabul, the Russian government has invited delegations from India, Pakistan, the U.S., China, Iran and five Central Asian Republics.

Pak expresses concern over deployment of India’s nuclear submarine INS Arihant

News

• Pakistan expressed concern over the recent deployment of India’s nuclear submarine INS Arihant, saying there should be no doubt about Islamabad’s resolve and capabilities to meet the challenges in the nuclear and conventional realms in South Asia.

Beyond News

• Nuclear-powered submarine INS Arihant successfully completed its first deterrence patrol this week, taking India into a club of a handful of countries which have the capability to design, construct and operate such a submarine or SSBN.
• The spokesperson said the “bellicose” language employed by the top Indian leadership highlights the threats to strategic stability in South Asia and raises questions about responsible nuclear stewardship in India.
• The spokesperson said Pakistan is committed to the objective of strategic stability in South Asia and believes that the only way forward for both countries is to agree on measures for nuclear and missile restraint.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

NASA probe in good health after closest-ever approach to Sun

News

• NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mankind’s mission to touch the Sun is alive and well after its first close encounter with our star’s surface.

Beyond News

• The probe skimmed by the Sun at just 15 million miles from its surface, breaking the previous record was set by Helios B in 1976.

The manoeuvre exposed the spacecraft to intense heat and solar radiation in a complex solar wind environment.

 Parker Solar Probe was designed to take care of itself and its precious payload during this close approach, with no control from us on Earth — and now we know it succeeded.

• The beacon indicates status “A” the best of all four possible status signals, meaning that Parker Solar Probe is operating well with all instruments running and collecting science data and, if there were any minor issues, they were resolved autonomously by the spacecraft.
• At its closest approach, called perihelion, Parker Solar Probe reached a top speed of 213,200 miles per hour, setting a new record for spacecraft speed.
• Along with new records for the closest approach to the Sun, Parker Solar Probe will repeatedly break its own speed record as its orbit draws closer to the star and the spacecraft travels faster and faster at perihelion.
• At this distance, the intense sunlight heated the Sun-facing side of Parker Solar Probe’s heat shield, called the Thermal Protection System, to about 437 degrees Celsius.
• This temperature will climb up to 1,371 degrees Celsius as the spacecraft makes closer approaches to the Sun.
• Parker Solar Probe’s first solar encounter phase began, and the spacecraft will continue collecting science data through the end of the solar encounter phase.
• It will be several weeks after the end of the solar encounter phase before the science data begins downlinking to Earth.

BMRCL won’t acquire land near Bhadra Tiger Reserve

News

• Acquiring forest land in Kadugodi is proving to be difficult task for the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). The corporation is facing one hurdle after another in its attempt to acquire land for a depot.

Beyond News

• It had initially planned to purchase 67 acres of private land near Bhadra Tiger Reserve in lieu of forest land in Kadugodi. However, this has been dropped.
• Acting on suggestions from the forest department, the BMRCL has now identified 16 acres of revenue land near Thippagondanahalli. This will be acquired to take up afforestation work as compensatory land for the Kadugodi plot.
• Finding compensatory land in lieu of the Kadugodi plot has been a problem for BMRCL. The metro corporation had purchased 29.3 acres from 14 property owners in Dandeli for which it had paid compensation of ₹3 lakh per acre. It had planned to purchase another 15 acres. However, the plots of land were available in different locations, and not suitable to take up afforestation work.
• The 45 acres in Kadugodi are crucial for the metro extension project from Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield. The BMRCL has a depot at Baiyappanahalli on the Purple Line. The land at Kadugodi will be used for a second depot on the same line, but acquisition of this land is also facing several legal hurdles.
• For one, there are fears that ‘compensation land’ to be given to the forest department will not be of “worth” its value considering the land cost in Bengaluru.
• According to sources, the forest department has categorically told the BMRCL that it will first have to provide compensatory land before they could consider diversion of Kadugodi forest land for the metro project.

Cerebellum also refines thoughts: Study

News

• The cerebellum that was thought to control only movementhas now been associated with higher functions such as attention , thinking, planning and decision-making.

Findings

• The findings showed that only 20 % of cerebellum is devoted to movement, roughly the same amount as in the cerebral cortex- the crumpled outer layer of the brain, the remaining 80 per cent is occupied by networks involved in higher-order cognition.
• These include the attention network; the default network, which has to do with daydreaming, recalling memories and just idly thinking; and two networks that oversee executive functions such as decision-making and planning.

NASA probe set to visit Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids

News

• NASA’s Ralph a space instrument that has travelled as far as Pluto  is set to explore Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, which are remnants from the early days of the solar system.

Beyond News

• Ralph was first launched aboard the New Horizons spacecraft in 2006 m and obtained stunning flyby images of Jupiter and its moons.
• This was followed by a visit to Pluto where Ralph took the first high-definition pictures of the iconic minor planet.
• In 2021, Ralph is set to journey with the Lucy mission to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids.
• The instrument will fly by another Kuiper Belt object called 2014 MU69 – nicknamed Ultima Thule. Ralph’s observations of 2014 MU69 will provide unique insights into this small, icy world.
• The Lucy spacecraft carries a near-twin of Ralph, called L’Ralph, which will investigate Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids.
• The L’Ralph instrument suite will study this diverse group of bodies; Lucy will fly by six Trojans and one Main Belt asteroid – more than any other previous asteroid mission. L’Ralph will detect the Trojan asteroids’ chemical fingerprints.
• L’Ralph allows scientists to interpret data provided by the Sun’s reflected light that are the fingerprints of different elements and compounds.
• These data could provide clues about how organic molecules form in primitive bodies, a process that might also have led to the emergence of life on Earth.

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