Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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Forgo signing S-400 missile system deal with Russia, U.S. tells India

News

• The S. urged India to forgo signing a deal to buy the S-400 missile defence system from Russia and warned that the deal could attract American sanctions.

Beyond News

• New Delhi and Kremlin are expected to announce the deal this week during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two-day visit to India .
• The U.S. administration is required under a domestic law, Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) to impose sanctions on any country that has “significant transactions” with Iran, North Korea or Russia.
• President Donald Trump has the power to waive these sanctions for specific countries and specific transactions, and U.S. officials have repeatedly said in the recent past that India should not expect an automatic waiver if it goes ahead with the purchase from Russia.
• A State Department spokesperson told  that this waiver might not be available to India and the S-400 deal falls in the category of sanctionable transactions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in India

News

• Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in New Delhi for the annual India-Russia summit, which could see the signing of military deals totalling close to $10 billion.
• The 24-hour visit that could have lasting implications for the India-U.S. relationship as well.

Beyond News

• India and Russia are expected to conclude three major military deals: for five S-400 missile systems estimated to cost about ₹39,000 crore (more than $5 billion), four stealth frigates and a deal for Ak-103 assault rifles to be manufactured in India.
• It comes a month after the inaugural 2+2 dialogue with the U.S., in which India signed the third foundational agreement Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA)  in addition to announcing several measures to operationalise the Major Defence Partner status, indicative of the difficult balance India hopes to maintain amidst deepening U.S.-Russia tensions.
• Putin and Mr. Modi will meet on October 5 for a “working breakfast” followed by delegation-level talks. Both leaders are expected to witness the signing of at least 23 agreements, including Memoranda of Understanding for investment deals, a major agreement on space cooperation where Russia will assist India with its Gaganyaan programme to put a human in space, an MoU for road transport and the road industry, as well as one for cooperation on micro, small and medium enterprises.

U.N. chief lauds Narendra Modi for climate action

News

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred the Champions of the Earth Award by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at a ceremony here on Wednesday.

Beyond News

• Modi is the third Indian after Tulsi Tanti, the Chairman of the Suzlon Group, and Afroz Alam, a lawyer who led the clean-up at Mumbai’s Versova beach, to be given the award. However, they have all been awarded for different categories.
• The Cochin International Airport also received the UN award for ‘Entrepreneurial Vision,(and) for its leadership in the use of sustainable energy.’
• The annual Champions of the Earth prize is awarded to outstanding leaders from government, civil society and the private sector whose actions have had a positive impact on the environment.
• Since being founded 13 years ago, the awards have recognized 84 persons ranging from leaders of nations to grassroots activists in the categories of policy, science, business and civil society.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

First moon outside our solar system discovered

News

• Astronomers have pinpointed what appears to be the first moon detected outside our solar system, a large gaseous world the size of Neptune that is unlike any other known moon and orbits a gas planet much more massive than Jupiter.

Beyond News

• The discovery, detailed by researchers , was a surprise, and not because it showed that moons exist elsewhere they felt it was only a matter of time for one to be found in another star system. They were amazed instead by how different this moon was from the roughly 180 known in our solar system.
• Our solar system’s moons all are rocky or icy objects. The newly discovered exomoon and the planet it orbits, estimated to be several times the mass of our solar system’s largest planet Jupiter, are both gaseous, an unexpected pairing. They are located 8,000 light years from Earth.
• Observations using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and Kepler Space Telescope provided the first clear evidence of an exomoon, but further Hubble observations next May must be used to confirm the finding.
• The exomoon is exponentially larger than our solar system’s biggest moon. Jupiter’s moon Ganymede has a diameter of about 5,260 km. The exomoon is estimated to be roughly the size of Neptune, the smallest of our solar system’s four gas planets, with a diameter of about 49,000 km.
• The exomoon and its planet orbit Kepler-1625, a star similar in temperature to our sun but about 70% larger. The exomoon orbits roughly 3 million km from its planet and its mass is about 1.5% that of its planet.
• Kipping and Teachey relied on the “transit” method already used by researchers to discover nearly 4,000 planets outside our solar system, called exoplanets. They observed a dip in Kepler-1625’s brightness when the planet and then the exomoon passed in front of it. The size and gaseous composition of the exomoon challenge current moon formation theories.

Japan drops new robot on asteroid

News

• A Japanese probe launched a new observation robot towards an asteroid as it pursues a mission to shed light on the origins of the solar system.

Beyond News

• The Hayabusa2 probe launched the French-German Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout, or MASCOT, towards the Ryugu asteroid’s surface, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said.
• The 10-kg box-shaped MASCOT is loaded with sensors. It can take images at multiple wavelengths, investigate minerals with a microscope, gauge surface temperatures and measure magnetic fields.
• MASCOT’s launch comes 10 days after the Hayabusa2 dropped a pair of MINERVA-II micro-rovers on the Ryugu asteroid. It was the first time that moving, robotic observation device have been successfully landed on an asteroid.
• The rovers will take advantage of Ryugu’s low gravity to jump around on the surface travelling as far as 15 metres while airborne and staying in the air for as long as 15 minutes to survey the asteroid’s physical features with cameras and sensors.
• Unlike those machines, MASCOT will be largely immobile — it will “jump” just once on its mission, and it can turn on its sides. And while the rovers will spend several months on the asteroid, the MASCOT has a maximum battery life of just 16 hours, and will transmit the data it collects to the Hayabusa2 before running out of juice.
• The Hayabusa2 is scheduled later this month to deploy an “impactor” that will explode above the asteroid, shooting a two-kilo copper object into it to blast a small crater on the surface.
• The probe will then hover over the artificial crater and collect samples using an extended arm.

CID’s Cyber Lab to be scaled up soon

News

• The Cyber Lab of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the city will be scaled up into the Centre for Cyber CrimeInvestigation Training and Research (CCITR).

Beyond News

• Infosys Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the CID and the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) to set up the new facility, which is likely to be commissioned in four months.
• It will have a resource centre for digital forensics, forensic investigations support, malware research, legal and policy research, and others.
• As per the MoU, the Infosys Foundation will support capital investment for hardware, software, and working capital requirements for training, conferences, and digital forensic analysis in addition to facility management and operational costs and others for a period of five years.
• CCITR was aimed at building state-of-the-art facilities to tackle cyber and forensic crimes in Karnataka. 

Fisheries livelihood losses up to ₹94 crore, says CIFT estimate

News

• The Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, Kochi, which has made a rapid assessment of the damage to craft and gear and livelihood of capture fisheries in Kerala in the recent floods, estimates that the loss of livelihood was about ₹94 crore while damage to the craft and gear in marine and inland capture fisheries cost about ₹11 crore.

Findings

• Loss of fish from the reservoirs, habitat destruction and damage to the ecosystem congenial for growth of fish population are pronounced and it would take some time to revive.
• The teams visited all flood-affected areas of the State and collected information and held discussion with the stakeholders. Discussions were also held with the State fisheries department, and fishermen in the affected sites.
• The study noted that the craft used in the estuarine and inland sector were mostly made of wood (sometimes with an FRP coating) or entirely made of FRP.
• The length of the vessels varied and often ranged from four to seven metres and cost between ₹10,000 and ₹60,000. Use of tubes, dugout canoes and coracles are rampant in the reservoirs.
• The total loss due to damage to craft and gear is about ₹6.7 crore in the inland system and ₹48 lakh in the marine system.

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