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Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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Deletions in voter list: EC orders spot verification of complaints

News:

  • The Election Commission of India has taken a serious note of the complaints by political parties about the ‘indiscriminate’ deletion of names from the voters’ list and directed the electoral registration officers to reach out to the grassroots level to check the veracity of the complaints.

Beyond News:

  • The EROs and assistant EROs have been directed to examine all the complaints received in respect of deletion of votes and ensure that corrections are made on the spot.
  • The officials were specifically asked to get to the root of the problem and carry out rectifications so that there was no scope for any complaints.
  • The Chief Election Commissioner said the total number of voters in Telangana after the publication of final rolls stood at 2.73 crore, close to 9 lakh less than 2.82 crore during the general elections of 2014.
  • The EC, during its verification process, had detected bogus votes, multiple entries, dead voters and electors who migrated to other places and these were deleted resulting in reduction in the number of voters.
  • A significiant portion of the effort during the roll revision was focussed on cleansing the electoral roll and a total number of 5.87 lakh voters were removed in the process.
  • Of these, 1.93 lakh pertained to multiple entries, 91,737 migrated to other places and 3.01 lakh voters were dead. All these entries were removed following the process defined by law wherein booth-level officers served notices for statutory period of seven days before taking up any action.
  • In addition, the commission noticed that large number of electors, particularly in urban slums, shared spaces that had only one house number and there were cases where old houses were demolished and new apartments were constructed.
  • Receipt of applications for enrolment continued after the publication of the final rolls and 2.97 lakh applications had been received so far.
  • The ERO Net software deployed by the Election Commission posed some problems in uploading the data of the electors and the EC had deployed a team of engineers from the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing to give hand-holding to the officials concerned to address these technical issues.

Centre likely to ban plastic across country by 2022

plastics eating bacteria

News

  • The Central government might introduce a pan-India ban on plastic by 2022, officials from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) said.

Beyond News

  • States such as Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh have banned plastic items. However, the absence of a uniform policy has put in doubt the implementation of the ban in other States.
  • The Centre has appreciated the State’s introduction of the principle of Extended Producer’s Responsibility (EPR) to provide required finances to establish plastic collection centres.
  • Maharashtra’s plastic policy aims to transform the plastic industry while considering key aspects such as redesigned products, creation of niche markets for manufacturers, new business models, a circular economy around waste management and processing and moving away from single-use plastic to products that have a longer life.
  • The policy aims to put a greater onus on industry to manage plastic waste and pollution.
  • The MoEFCC had earlier put in place a foundation for the national policy by involving India Inc. to finalise the blueprint of a new policy on plastic, which could be merged with the Centre’s flagship Make in India and Smart Cities schemes.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

 ‘First global temperature map of Europa created’

News

  • Astronomers have created the first global thermal map of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa by using images taken with the ALMA observatory in Chile.

Findings

  • The new series of four images of Europa have a resolution of about 200 kilometres, sufficient to study the relationship between surface thermal variations and the moon’s major geologic features.
  • The research, compared the new observations of Europa by Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to a thermal model based on observations from the Galileo spacecraft.
  • This comparison allowed researchers to analyse the temperature changes in the data and construct the first-ever global map of Europa’s thermal characteristics.
  • The new data also revealed an enigmatic cold spot on Europa’s northern hemisphere.
  • Since Europa is an ocean world with potential geologic activity, its surface temperatures are of great interest because they may constrain the locations and extents of any such activity.
  • Europa has a chaotic surface terrain that is fractured and cracked, suggesting a long-standing history of geologic activity.
  • Evidence suggests that beneath its thin veneer of ice, Europa has an ocean of briny water in contact with a rocky core.

India’s first engine-less train set to hit tracks on Oct 29

News

  • Train 18, the country’s first engine-less train which is being regarded as a successor to the 30-year-old Shatabdi Express, is set to hit the tracks for trials on October 29.

Beyond News

  • Driven by a self-propulsion module sans a separate locomotive, the train, capable of running at a speed of up to 160 kmph, comes with technical features for enhanced quick acceleration.
  • The swanky 16-coach prototype without a locomotive (engine) will cut travel time by 15% compared to the Shatabdi.
  • Developed by the city-based Integral Coach Factory in 18 months, the AC train is designed in such a way that passengers can have a look at the driver’s cabin.

Our rivers are turning murkier

News:

  • As sewage continues to filter in through urban centres, the number of polluted river stretches in the State has gone up in the past three years.

Beyond News

  • A total of 17 stretches of rivers in Karnatakahave been classified as polluted in the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB’s) River Stretches for Restoration of Water Quality report published in September.
  • In the 2015 report, there were 15 such stretches in the State.
  • However, what is also telling is that many stretches have been bumped up a notch in the priority for restoration.
  • In the 2015 report, all the major rivers were classified in Priority IV or V, that is, the biological oxygen demand (BOD) measures were consistently between 6 and 10 milligrammes per litre (for Priority IV) or between 3 and 6 mg/l (for Priority V).
  • However, in the 2018 report, Arkavathi, Lakshmanthirtha, Malaprabha, and Tungabhadra have been classified as Priority III stretch for restoration as the BOD levels have exceeded 10 mg/l.
  • Arkavathi remains the most polluted river with 14 mg/l as measured near Kanakapura town. Three years ago, Arkavathi registered an average BOD of less than 8 mg/l.
  • The CPCB monitored data in over 445 rivers, including in 61 locations in Karnataka. Much of the pollution stems from the 24 urban centres that have sprawled along the rivers.
  • A look at the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board’s (KSPCB’s) monitoring data between 2015-16 and 2017-2018 shows a stagnation in the water quality of major rivers, even though much has been spent on sewage treatment plants in major urban centres.
  • Of the 82 rivers being monitored, just seven could be used for outdoor bathing, while 12 could no more be drinking water sources. The majority 63 needed advanced disinfection if they were to be used for drinking purposes.

Cell-sized robots can be used to detect diseases

News

  • Scientists have developed a method to mass produce robots no bigger than a cell that could be used to monitor conditions inside an oil or gas pipeline, or to search out disease while floating through the bloodstream.

Findings

  • The key to making such tiny devices, which the team calls “syncells” (short for synthetic cells), in large quantities lies in controlling the natural fracturing process of atomically-thin, brittle materials.
  • The process, calledautoperforation”, directs the fracture lines so that they produce miniscule pockets of a predictable size and shape. Embedded inside these pockets are electronic circuits and materials that can collect data, according to a study published in the journal Nature Materials.
  • The system, developed by researchers uses a two-dimensional form of carbon called graphene, which forms the outer structure of the tiny syncells.

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