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IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

Bilateral cooperation between India and Israel

Source: PIB

News

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi spoke with H.E. Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel.
• The leaders positively assessed the progress in bilateral cooperation in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in the fields of research, field trials of diagnostic tools and vaccine development.

Bilateral cooperation

• They agreed on the importance of close cooperation in these important areas not only for the benefit of the people of the two countries but also for the greater good of humanity.
• They also reviewed ongoing cooperation in the areas of water and agriculture, health, trade, and start-up and innovation, and discussed further deepening of these ties.
• The leaders agreed to continue holding regular consultations to share assessments on emerging regional and global challenges and opportunities, and for providing guidance to advance the close and robust bilateral strategic partnership.

Bilateral relations in the Health Sector

Source: PIB

News

• Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare and United Kingdom’s Minister of State for South East Asia Affairs Lord Tariq Ahmed discussed bilateral relations in the health sector of the two countries.

Health sector

• The two Ministers discussed in detail the current status of the COVID-19 vaccine, its efforts to reach the public and the efforts being made by both countries to stop the pandemic.
• Union Minister of State for Health suggested to further cooperation in the fields of e-health, drug regulations, regulatory cooperation, pharma exports, collaborative research, capacity building, etc., to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.

Historic MoU to be Signed Between ISLRTC and NCERT for Converting Educational Materials into Indian Sign Language

Source: PIB

News

• A historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed tomorrow between Indian Sign Language Research and Training Center-ISLRTC (a National Institute of DEPwD, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment) and NCERT (a National Institute of Ministry of Education) to make education materials accessible for Deaf children in their preferred format of communication viz Indian Sign Language.

Accessible in Indian Sign Language

• As part of this MoU, educational print materials such as NCERT Textbooks, Teachers Handbook and other Supplementary materials and resources of Class I-XII of all subjects of both Hindi and English Medium will be converted into Indian Sign Language in Digital format.
• The signing of this MoU is a historic step as availability of NCERT textbooks in Indian Sign Language will ensure that Deaf children can also now access educational resources in Indian Sign Language and it will be auseful and much needed resource for Deaf students, teachers, teacher educators, parents and the Deaf community, which in turn will have a huge impact on the educationof Deaf children in the country.
• This will also ensure educational standardization of Indian Sign Language as mandated in the New Education Policy (NEP), 2020.
• Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC) is an autonomous national institute of DEPwD, MSJE which is dedicated to the task of developing man-power for popularizing the use of Indian Sign Language, teaching and conducting research in Indian Sign Language.
• NCERT is an autonomous organization under MHRD which is responsible for ensuring qualitative improvement in school education by undertaking and  promoting research in areas related to school education; prepare and publish model textbooks, supplementary material, newsletters, journals and develops educational kits, multimedia digital materials, etc. develop and disseminate innovative educational techniques and practices; and act as a nodal agency for achieving the goals of Universalization of Elementary Education.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Sun’s magnetic field over five decades digitally mapped

Source: Indian Express.

News

• In possibly a first, the Sun’s magnetic field recorded over five decades of the 20th century have been digitally mapped, which will facilitate solar physicists to better understand the Sun’s behaviour in future.

Sun’s magnetic field

• Solar observations recorded between 1915 and 1965 were gathered from Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KoSO) run by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA).
• Among one of the oldest solar observatories in the world, KoSO has been providing continuous and long-term uniform solar observations for over a century now, many of them taken in the form of photographic images.
• Digital data observations of over 15,000 photo images, captured through Ca II-K and H-alpha filters, were used for creating this map. KoSO houses over 4 lakh photo images since 1904, most of which have been preserved in their digital formats during the last three decades.
• Like Earth has north and south poles, Sun, too, has similar poles. But, what makes poles of the Sun interesting is that they reverse their polarity at an interval of 11 years, which is the duration of one solar cycle.
• Every solar cycle is different and the Sun’s activities influence the overall space weather. Anomalous solar activities can have a direct impact on Earth’s satellite-based communication systems, power grids and navigation.
• The mapping has showcased the movement of magnetic fields from lower to higher solar latitudes during the five decades besides pinning the exact time of the pole reversal and its links between two solar cycles

FATF all set to decide on Pakistan’s grey list status

News

• The Financial Action Task Force is all set to decide on Pakistan’s grey list status in a virtual meeting scheduled later this month.

Financial Action Task Force – grey list

• The Paris-based global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog had placed Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action to curb money laundering and terror financing by the end of 2019 but the deadline was extended later on due to COVID-19 pandemic.
• Seeking to wriggle out of the FATF’s grey list, debt-ridden Pakistan imposed financial sanctions on 88 banned terror groups and their leaders, including 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
• The virtual FATF plenary will decide if Pakistan should be excluded from its grey list, based on a review of Islamabad’s performance to meet global commitments and standards on fight against money laundering and terror financing (ML&TF), the Dawn News reported.
• With Pakistan’s continuation in the ‘grey list’, it is increasingly becoming difficult for the country to get financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union, thus further enhancing problems for the nation which is in a precarious financial situation.
• The FATF meeting will review Pakistan’s compliance with the 13 remaining action points. The FATF will examine if the country had demonstrated remedial actions and sanctions applied in cases of violations relating to terrorist financing risk management and terror financing sanctions obligations.
• The FATF will also judge if competent authorities were cooperating and taking action to identify and taking enforcement action against illegal money or value transfer services and had proven implementation of cross-border currency and bearer negotiable instruments controls at all ports of entry, including applying effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions.
• If the FATF in its meeting finds that Pakistan has failed to meet its requirements, there is every possibility that the global body may put the country in the ‘Black List’ along with North Korea and Iran.
• The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
• The FATF currently has 39 members including two regional organisations – the European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council.

Scientists discover two new species of pipeworts from the Western Ghats of Maharashtra & Karnataka

Source: PIB

News

• Two new species of a plant group known for their varied medicinal properties have been discovered in the Western Ghats – one of the thirty-five hot-spots of biological diversity in the world.

New plant species

• The plant group known as pipeworts (Eriocaulon), whichcompletes their life cycle within a small period during monsoon, exhibits great diversity in the Western Ghats, having around 111 species in India.
• Most of these are reported from the Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayas, and around 70% of them are endemic to the country.

India successfully tests ‘game changer’ SMART torpedo system

News

• India successfully flight tested its indigenously developed SMART torpedo system, which the DRDO said will be a “game changer” in anti-submarine warfare, marking yet another milestone in strengthening the country’s maritime strategic capabilities.

SMART

• The Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) was tested at 1145 hours from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island, earlier known as Wheeler Island, off the Odisha coast.
• SMART is a missile assisted release of lightweight anti-submarine torpedo system for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations far beyond the torpedo range.
• This launch and demonstration is significant in establishing anti-submarine warfare capabilities.
• The flight testing of SMART follows the successful test firing of its indigenously developed nuclear capable hypersonic missile ‘Shaurya’ with a strike range of around 1,000 km from the test range.
• All the mission objectives (of SMART) including missile flight upto the range and altitude, separation of the nose cone, release of torpedo and deployment of velocity reduction mechanism (VRM) have been met perfectly.
• Tracking stations, including radars and electro optical systems along the coast and telemetry stations, also involving down range ships, monitored all the events.
• The test encompasses hybrid technology which helps to upgrade the present system and also increase the striking range.
• SMART, when launched from warship or a truck-based coastal battery, takes off like a regular supersonic missile. It covers most of its flight in the air at lower altitudes with two-way data link from the warship or an airborne submarine target detection system and provides the exact location of the hostile submarine to correct its flight path midway.
• Just when it approaches close enough to the submerged submarine, the missile will eject the torpedo system into the water and the autonomous torpedo will start moving towards its target to take out the submarine.

Karnataka to develop new cybersecurity policy to strengthen digitisation

News

• The Karnataka government is likely to introduce a ‘robust’ cybersecurity policy in a bid to strengthen its digitisation efforts across walks of life, Deputy Chief Minister said.

Cybersecurity policy

• New cybersecurity policy would be framed to address the needs of citizens, industries, students, and the state government.
• Karnataka registered the highest number of cybercrime cases in the country last year, with over 12,020 cases being reported, pushing Uttar Pradesh behind.
• Data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) indicated that 93.1 per cent of these cases have pending investigations, and charge sheets were filed only for 8.1 per cent of the total number of cybercrime cases registered last year.
• The trial for 95.6 per cent of such cases in the state are still pending.