Daily Currentaffairs: 20 Oct 2020

Tables of contents

1.Tension at Assam-Mizoram Border

2.Global Tuberculosis Report 2020

3.Naval version of the BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile

4.Asian King Vultures

5.Man Portable Anti Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) 

6.India’s First Seaplane Project

7.SLINEX-20

8.Science-Society-Setu for Aatmanirbhar Bharat

1.Tension at Assam-Mizoram Border

Recently, a violent clash took place between the people of the two States at Assam-Mizoram border.

Key Points

• The two States have deployed security personnel, including those of the Indian Reserve Battalion, in the violence-hit areas near the Vairengte village in Mizoram and Assam’s Lailapur.

• The incident could be the fallout of the demolition of a makeshift hut used by local volunteers who guard the inter-State border near the Saihaipui ‘V’ village.

• The Mizoram’s MNF MLA has claimed that more than 80% of people living along the Assam-Mizoram border are illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

• Mizoram shares a 164.6-km border with Assam and several dialogues have held since 1995 to resolve the border dispute have yielded little results.

Source: The Hindu

2.Global Tuberculosis Report 2020

According to Global Tuberculosis Report 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with impacts on care-seeking behaviour, threatens to reverse the recent progress in reducing the global burden of tuberculosis (TB) disease.

Key Highlights of Global Tuberculosis Report 2020

• The evidence from several high TB burden countries of large reductions in the monthly number of people with TB being detected and officially reported in 2020 is available.

• India accounts for 26% of TB cases in the world and the TB notifications during the period January-June 2020 in India fell by 25% compared to the same period in 2019.

• The TB notifications in India in February 2020 increased compared with January but then reduced sharply in April to reach less than 40% of the January figure before increasing to reach about 75% of January figure in the month of June.

• The dip in TB notifications has not been very sharp in India and the recovery after the dip has been more in India than Indonesia, Philippines and South Africa.

• In India, notifications of people newly diagnosed with TB increased 74% from 1.2 million to 2.2 million between 2013 and 2019.

• In the case of India, there is a gap in the number of people newly diagnosed and reported due to a combination of underreporting of people diagnosed with TB and under-diagnosis.

Global Tuberculosis Report

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a global TB report every year since 1997.

 

The purpose of the report is to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the status of the TB epidemic.

 

The report is based primarily on data gathered by World Health Organization (WHO) in annual rounds of data collection.

 

Source: The Hindu

3.Naval version of the BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile

Recently, a naval version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test-fired in the Arabian Sea.

• The missile was fired from indigenously developed stealth destroyer, INS Chennai.

Key Points

• BrahMos, as prime strike weapon, will ensure the warship’s invincibility by engaging naval surface targets at long ranges.

• The BrahMos Aerospace, an India-Russia joint venture, produces the supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or from land platforms.

INS Chennai

 

It is the third indigenously designed guided missile destroyer in the Kolkata class.

 

It is armed with supersonic surface-to-surface BrahMos missiles and Barak-8 long range surface-to-air missiles.

 

It is powered by a combined gas and gas (COGAG) propulsion system that includes four Zorya-Mashproekt DT-59 reversible gas turbines.

 

Source: The Hindu

4.Asian King Vultures

Recently, the sighting of a pair of Asian king vultures and a juvenile in the Sigur plateau is a cause for optimism that the species may be re-establishing itself in the region.

About Asian King Vultures

• It is also known as the Red-headed Vulture, Indian black vulture or Pondicherry vulture.

• It is an Old World vulture mainly found in the Indian subcontinent, with small disjunct populations in some parts of Southeast Asia.

• It is listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

• It is not a migrant bird but a resident species in the Indian subcontinent except Sri Lanka.

Source: The Hindu

5.Man Portable Anti Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM) 

Recently, the laser-guided version of the Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) was successfully test fired by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Background

• The development of ammunition that can pierce the armours of tanks and the material that can withstand such ammo has been an ongoing race since World War I.

• The Indian Army mainly uses various imported anti-tank guided missiles and the DRDO has been working on ATGMs that can be launched from different platforms as part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.

About Laser-guided Man Portable Anti Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM)

• It is an indigenously developed low weight, fire and forget missile by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

• It has been developed by the DRDO’s Armament and Combat Engineering Cluster i.e. the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL), in association with Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE), Dehradun.

• The laser-guided ATGM is designed to be fired from tanks with its range limited to 1.5 to 5 kilometers.

• The missile uses a ‘tandem’ High Explosive Anti Tank (HEAT) warhead.

  • The term tandem refers to the missiles using more than one detonation in order to effectively penetrate the protective armours.

• The missile locks and tracks the targets with the help of laser designation to ensure precision in striking the target.

• The missile has the capacity of piercing armoured vehicles which use specially designed armour plates to counter the impact of such projectiles.

• It is currently undergoing tests to be integrated with India’s Main Battle Tank (MBT), Arjun.

• The MPATGM is equipped with an advanced Imaging Infrared Radar (IIR) seeker with integrated avionics.

Source: The Indian Express

6. India’s First Seaplane Project

Recently, the Government of India has decided to launch the first of the five seaplane services in Gujarat, connecting Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad to the Statue of Unity in Kevadia in Narmada district, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

About India’s First Seaplane Project

• The first seaplane project of the country is part of a directive of the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation.

• Under the directive, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) requested state governments of Gujarat, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the administration of Andaman & Nicobar to propose potential locations for setting up water aerodromes to boost the tourism sector.

• A seaplane is a fixed-winged aeroplane designed for taking off and landing on water which offers the public the speed of an aeroplane with the utility of a boat.

• The two main types of seaplane are flying boats (often called hull seaplanes) and floatplanes.

  • The bottom of a flying boat’s fuselage is its main landing gear which is usually supplemented with smaller floats near the wingtips, called wing or tip floats.

  • The hull of a flying boat holds the crew, passengers, and cargo and it has many features in common with the hull of a ship or a boat.

• The proposed Terminal will be spread over 0.51 acres in the premises of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd., located in the Panchmuli lake (Dyke 3) of the Sardar Sarovar Dam at Limdi village.

• The Ministry provided that the SpiceJet will operate a 19-seater plane, which will be able to accommodate 14 passengers.

Implications of India's First Seaplane Project on Environment

• The water aerodrome is not a listed project/activity in the Schedule to the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006 and its amendments.

• The Expert Appraisal Committee was of the opinion that the activities proposed under the water aerodrome project may have a similar type of impact as that of an airport.

• In Narmada, the Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary is located at an approximate aerial distance of 2.1 km from the proposed project site which serves local sensitive species of fauna.

• The bathymetric and hydrographic survey was conducted by Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) before finalising Dyke 3, which is a rock-filled pond and popularly called the ‘Magar Talav’ as it is infested with crocodiles.

• The seaplane operations will create turbulence in the water while takeoff and landing of seaplanes which will lead to more operation process i.e. mixing of oxygen in the water.

• It will have a positive impact on the aquatic ecosystem near seaplane operations increasing oxygen content and decreasing carbon content in this system.

Operation of Seaplane Services

• The seaplanes by multiple airline carriers are operational in countries like the Philippines, Canada, Australia, the United States, Finland, the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka etc.

• In India, Jal Hans, a commercial seaplane service based in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands was launched as a pilot project on 30 December 2010.

Source: The Indian Express

7.SLINEX-20

Recently, the Eighth Edition of annual Indian Navy (IN) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) called SLINEX scheduled off in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.

About SLINEX

• It is a bilateral maritime exercise between Indian Navy and Sri Lanka Navy.

• The Sri Lanka Navy will be represented by SLN Ships Sayura (Offshore Patrol Vessel) and Gajabahu (Training Ship).

• The Indian Navy will be represented by ASW corvettes Kamorta and Kiltan.

• The Indian Navy Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and Chetak helicopter embarked onboard IN ships and Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft will also be participating.

• It aims to enhance inter-operability, improve mutual understanding and exchange best practices and procedures for multi-faceted maritime operations between both navies.

• The exercise will also showcase capabilities of our indigenously constructed naval ships and aircraft.

• SLINEX series of exercise exemplifies the deep engagement between India and Sri Lanka which has strengthened mutual cooperation in the maritime domain.

• The exercise is being conducted in a non-contact ‘at-sea-only’ format in the backdrop of COVID-19 pandemic.

INS Kamorta

 

INS Kamorta is the first of four anti-submarine Kamorta-class stealth corvettes which has been built for the Indian Navy.

 

The Kamorta Class indigenous Anti-submarine Warfare (ASW) corvettes are being built by Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers (GRSE).

 

The Kamorta Class succeeds the Kora-Class guided-missile corvettes that are in service with the Indian Navy.

 

The Kamorta Class corvettes will serve as the frontline warships for the Indian Navy.

 

The primary task of the Kamorta Class will be ASW, while the vessels will also be deployed in anti-surface warfare (AsuW) and anti-air warfare (AAW).

 

INS Kiltan

 

It is an indigenously-built anti-submarine warfare stealth corvette.

 

It is the third of the four Kamorta-class corvettes being built under Project 28.

 

It is designed by Directorate of Naval Design and built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) in Kolkata.

 

It is India’s first major warship to have a superstructure of carbon fibre composite material resulting in improved stealth features, lower top weight and maintenance costs.

 

Source: PIB

8.Science-Society-Setu for Aatmanirbhar Bharat

Recently, the Ministry of Science & Technology launched the Science-Society-Setu for Aatmanirbhar Bharat (S34ANB).

About Science-Society-Setu for Aatmanirbhar Bharat

• It is a web-clinic series by Science for Equity Empowerment and Development SEED Division, Department of Science and Technology (DST).

• The initiative is being jointly organized by DST, in collaboration with the office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA), Vigyan Prasar, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Accelerating Growth of New India’s Innovations (AGNIi), World Wide Fund for Nature India (WWF-India), and Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organization (HESCO).

• It aims to reach the unreached through ‘vocal for local approach’ to strengthen the social infrastructure and technology-driven pillars of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

• It aims to cover four broad sectors i.e. agriculture and allied sectors, MSME & economic sector, social infrastructure and cross-sectoral areas.

• The objectives of web clinic is aimed at:

  • bridging the systematic gaps in S&T absorption capacity of the community;

  • enhancing the knowledge capacity and livelihood systems for sustainable development at local level by strengthening the S&T capacity of NGOs and communities.

• It intends to align Technology, Knowledge, Skills and Resources at local levels to strengthen the pillars of ‘Social Infrastructure’ and ‘Technology Driven System’.

• It is being launched, implemented and managed using India Science, Technology and Innovation (ISTI) Web Portal of Vigyan Prasar.

India Science, Technology and Innovation (ISTI) Web Portal

 

It is a one stop window for information about developments in India on science, technology and innovation.

 

It focuses on bringing all stakeholders and Indian STI activities on a single online platform.

 

The portal brings on the table the storehouse of technologies developed in India, the organisations that have developed these technologies, those that have funded them and the status of the technologies.

 

Source: PIB