Daily news will speed up the preparation for the Civil Services Examination and it also plays a crucial role to grasp the current affairs topic comprehensively. Here we have covered most of the topics related to various categories including National, International, Sports, Science and Technology, and so on.
1. India’s Advanced Manufacturing Sector
– IIT Kharagpur has developed novel Industry 4.0 technology for remotely controlled factory operations and real-time quality correction during industrial production, jointly with TCS to set a new trend in India’s advanced manufacturing sector.
– Primary Goal should be the Quality Output with Minimum Disruptions as per IIT Kharagpur Director.
– This will make it possible for industrial houses to achieve standardized quality goals throughout the production process and reduce rejection hence lowering the cost of production.
UPSC 2021 Online Coaching Classes | Bilingual GS Foundation Batch
2. Project Snow Leopard (PSL)
– According to the Minister of State for Environment Forest and Climate Change Shri Babul Supriyo, the Government of India has been conserving snow leopard and its habitat through the Project Snow Leopard (PSL).
– The PSL was launched in 2009.
– The Minister told that India is also party to the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection (GSLEP) Programme since 2013.
– He further stated that India has identified three large landscapes, namely, Hemis-Spiti across Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh; Nanda Devi – Gangotri in Uttarakhand; and Khangchendzonga – Tawang across Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
– Supriyo emphasised that states together with Government of India should resolve to bring up the population of snow leopards in India in the next five years.
– Protecting the snow leopard and its habitat ensures protection of the major Himalayan rivers that support the teeming millions downstream.
– The Government of India has identified the snow leopard as a flagship species for the high-altitude Himalayas.
– In October 2019, the Centre hosted the 4th Steering Committee of the GSLEP program at New Delhi. This meeting resulted in the “New Delhi Statement” of strengthening the resolve of the snow leopard range countries towards conservation of the mountain ecosystems of Central and South Asia.
– First National Protocol was also launched last year on Snow Leopard Population Assessment which has been very useful for monitoring populations.
Daily Gist of ‘The Hindu’, ‘PIB’, ‘Indian Express’ and Other Newspapers: 23 October, 2020
3. Decline of the star formation rate
– For long, scientists have been intrigued by the decrease in the rate at which stars were formed in galaxies after it peaked about 8-10 billion years ago.
– They have now deciphered the mystery behind this decline in star formation activity by measuring the atomic hydrogen of the galaxies.
– A team of astronomers from the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA-TIFR), Pune, and the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bangalore, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India has used the upgraded Giant Metre wave Radio Telescope (GMRT), operated by NCRA-TIFR, to measure the atomic hydrogen content of galaxies seen as they were 8 billion years ago.
– The research carried out by Aditya Chowdhury, Nissim Kanekar, and Jayaram Chengalur of NCRA-TIFR, and Shiv Sethi, and K. S. Dwarakanath of RRI and published in the journal Nature records the earliest epoch in the universe for which atomic gas content of galaxies has been measured.
– The research was funded by the Department of Atomic Energy, India, and DST, India.
– Aditya Chowdhury, a Ph.D. student at NCRA-TIFR and the lead author of the study said that the observed decline in star formation activity can thus be explained by the exhaustion of the atomic hydrogen.
– The measurement of the atomic hydrogen mass of distant galaxies was done by using the upgraded GMRT to search for a spectral line in atomic hydrogen.
Daily Gist of ‘The Hindu’, ‘PIB’, ‘Indian Express’ and Other Newspapers: 22 October, 2020
4. Age Appropriate Fitness Protocols
– To make people aware of the health issues and fitness mantra, Punjab Sports and NRI Affairs Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi launched Punjabi version of ‘Age Appropriate Fitness Protocols’.
– It is for all age groups under fit India movement under the initiative of Sports Authority of India (SAI) and National Institute of Sports (NIS) Patiala.
– Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched these Age Appropriate Fitness Protocols on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Fit India Movement on 24th September 2020.
Daily Gist of ‘The Hindu’, ‘PIB’, ‘Indian Express’ and Other Newspapers: 21 October, 2020
5. CPI-IW Base Year Revised to 2016
– The Ministry of Labour and Employment recently released the new series of Consumer Price Index for Industrial Worker (CPI-IW) with the base year 2016.
– It has replaced the existing series with base 2001.
– Earlier, the series was also revised from 1944 to 1949; 1949 to 1960; 1960 to 1982 and 1982 to 2001.
– The base year 2016 new series covers the latest consumption pattern of the target population.
– It provides more weightage to spending on health, education, recreation and other miscellaneous expenses while reducing the weight of food and beverages.
– From 15.2% to 17%, the weight of spending on housing and clothing increased.
– The weight of miscellaneous items including education and health rose to 30.31% from 23.26%.
– The weight of food and beverage was reduced from 46.2% to 39% and indicates an increase in disposable income.
– The number of markets and the sample size for working-class family income and expenditure surveys were increased.
– The Labour Bureau is also working towards revising the index every five years.
Daily Gist of ‘The Hindu’, ‘PIB’, ‘Indian Express’ and Other Newspapers: 20 October, 2020
6. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs)
– Serum Institute of India (SII) and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) have announced an agreement to develop SARS-CoV-2 neutralising monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with pharmaceutical major Merck.
About monoclonal antibodies (mAbs)
– They are man-made proteins that act like human antibodies in the immune system.
– These antibodies are co-invented by IAVI and Scripps Research as ‘innovative interventions’ to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
7. Tubarial salivary glands
– Tubarial salivary glands are a set of salivary glands deep in the upper part of the throat which were discovered recently by scientists in the Netherlands.
– The glands are about 1.5 inches (3.9 centimeters) in length on average and are located over a piece of cartilage called the torus tubarius.
– The glands probably lubricate and moisten the upper throat behind the nose and mouth.
– It is said that the discovery may be important for cancer treatment.
– Until now, there were three known large salivary glands in humans: one under the tongue, one under the jaw and one at the back of the jaw, behind the cheek.
IAS Prelims Mock-Test 2020 – Set 43, 23 October
UPSC Prelims Syllabus 2021: General Studies and CSAT for CSE
