CURRENT AFFAIRS  24-08-2020

PERSEIDS METEOR SHOWER

What  is in news?

The Perseids meteor shower is active from August 17-26.

About:

• The Perseids are one of the brighter meteor showers of the year. They occur every year between July and August and tend to peak around mid-August.

• Made of tiny space debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle, the Perseids are named after the constellation Perseus. This is because the direction, or radiant, from which the shower seems to come in the sky lies in the same direction as Perseus.

• The Perseids are widely sought after by astronomers and stargazers because most years at its peak, one can see 60 to 100 meteors in an hour from a dark place.

• They are visible in the Northern Hemisphere and can be viewed in skies all across.

OMEGA CENTAURI

What  is in news?

A team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology (DST), has discovered He-enhanced cool bright stars among the metal-rich parts of Omega Centauri globular cluster. This is the first-ever spectroscopic determination of He-abundance in Omega Centauri.

About:

• Globular clusters are the stellar systems with millions of stars formed from the same gaseous cloud. Hence, usually, the stars formed will be homogeneous in their chemical composition of elemental abundances.

• But, there are clusters which deviate from this norm. One is being Omega Centauri, the brightest and the largest globular cluster in our Galaxy, the Milky Way.

• The different stars of Omega Centauri do not show the same metal content, a parameter that indicates its age, but a large range in it.

• Though there are estimations of He-enhancement in the H-core burning main-sequence stars (like Sun) of Omega Cen, this is the first-ever spectroscopic determination of He-abundance in Omega Centauri.

NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY ACT 2013

What  is in news?

The Department of Food and Public Distribution has sent letters to States Governments/UTs to include all eligible disabled persons under the National Food Security Act 2013.

About:

• Section 38 of the Act mandates that the Central Government may from time to time give directions to the State Governments for effective implementation if the provisions of the Act.

• The Section 10 of the National Food Security Act, 2013 provides for coverage of persons under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana.

• The Atma Nirbhar Bharat Package of the Government of India is for the persons, who are not covered either under NFSA or any States Scheme PDS Cards. Hence, the disabled persons without ration cards are also eligible for getting benefits under Atma Nirbhar Bharat package.

STATUS OF SEX RATIO AT BIRTH IN INDIA

What  is in news?

The Vice President of India recently released a report titled ‘Status of Sex Ratio at Birth in India’.

About:

• The report mentioned that there has not been any change in the sex ratio at birth in India from 2001-2017--the number of girl children born is much less than what is the general or natural norm.

• It was brought out by the Indian Association of Parliamentarians for Population and Development (IAPPD).

• It stressed the need for rigorous implementation of Pre-conception & Pre-natal Diagnostics Techniques law to bring about a balance in the sex ratio.

SRISAILAM DAM

What  is in news?

Nine people were killed after a massive fire swept through the Srisailam hydroelectric plant.

About:

• The Srisailam Dam is constructed across the Krishna River in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh near Srisailam temple town.

• It is the 2nd largest capacity working hydroelectric station in the country.

• The dam was constructed in a deep gorge in the Nallamala Hills in between Kurnool and Mahabubnagar districts.

NUAKHAI JUHAR

What  is in news?

Prime Minister Modi greeted the people on the auspicious occasion of Nuakhai Juhar.

About:

• Region: It an important social festival of Western Odisha and adjoining areas of Simdega in Jharkhand.

• Objective: It is an agricultural festival which is observed to welcome the new rice of the season. The word nua means new and khai means food.

• When celebrated: It is observed on the fifth day of the lunar fortnight of the month of Bhadrapada or Bhaadra (August–September), the day after the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.

Rituals:

• Nuakhai is understood to have nine colours and as a consequence nine sets of rituals are followed as a prelude to the actual day of celebration.

• People offer the newly harvested crop called Nabanha to their respective presiding deities. After offering the Nabanha, people relish different types of delicacies prepared from the newly harvested crop.

• The Nuakhai Juhar is a major ritual of the festival. It is an exchange of greetings with friend relative and well-wishers.

MAGNETIC HYPERTHERMIA-MEDIATED CANCER THERAPY (MHCT)

What  is in news?

Scientists from Institute of Nano Science & Technology (INST), an autonomous institute of Department of Science and Technology (DST), are making efforts to make magnetic hyperthermia-mediated cancer therapy as desired therapy for inoperable tumours.

About:

• Magnetic hyperthermia-mediated cancer therapy (MHCT) is a non-invasive cancer treatment.

• The technique involves the delivery and localisation of magnetic materials within the targeted tumour site followed by subsequent application of an alternating magnetic field (AMF), thereby generating heat at the tumour site.

• It can efficiently act against deep-seated inaccessible solid tumours like glioblastoma and is highly thermo-sensitive towards normal cells with minimal toxicity against healthy counterparts.

• Scientists are on the lookout for new materials which can make this treatment more efficient.

JOURNALISM IN DIGITAL WORLD

What  is in news?

Australia will force US tech giants Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google to pay Australian media outlets for news content in a landmark move to protect independent journalism that will be watched around the world.

About:

• Australia will become the first country to require Facebook and Google to pay for news content provided by media companies under a royalty-style system that will become law this year.

• The move comes as the tech giants fend off calls around the world for greater regulation, and a day after Google and Facebook took a battering for alleged abuse of market power from US lawmakers in a congressional hearing.

• A 2019 study estimated about 3,000 journalism jobs have been lost in Australia in the past 10 years, as traditional media companies bled advertising revenue to Google and Facebook which paid nothing for news content.

• Google said the regulation ignores "billions of clicks" that it sends to Australian news publishers each year.

• Other countries have tried and failed to force the hands of the tech giants. Publishers in Germany, France and Spain have pushed to pass national copyright laws that force Google pay licensing fees when it publishes snippets of their news article.