Daily Current Capsules – 02nd January 2020

Cabinet

Space Awareness

China Successfully Launches Its Heaviest Satellite On Powerful Long March-5 Rocket

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about Long March -5) + Mains ( GS III awareness in

the field of space)

What’s the NEWS

China's biggest and most powerful carrier rocket, the Long March 5,

kicked off its latest space mission on Friday night in Hainan province. It

was carrying the largest satellite ever built domestically.

The Long March-5, China's most powerful rocket and a critical ingredient

in the nation's ambitious space programme, can carry a maximum

payload of 25 tonnes into low Earth orbit and 14 tonnes into

geosynchronous orbit.

The successful launch is a major step forward for its planned mission to

Mars in 2020.

Know! more about it

The satellite will carry out orbit experiments for a series of key

technologies

It will demonstrate in orbit its heat transfer technology based on

cryogenic loop heat pipes, an efficient thermal control device for space

applications, to lay the foundation for the development of highly sensitive

space probes.

The satellite will test the controllable deformation of shape memory

polymers, a type of smart material that can switch between temporary

shapes, to pave the way for the development of large variable space

structures.

It will also carry out satellite-ground communication tests using Q/V

bands, which lie between 33-75 GHz, within the extremely high

frequency (EHF) area of the radio spectrum.

These frequencies are used mainly for satellite communications.

Benefits of Q/V Band

The major way to improve satellite communication capacity is to expand

the bandwidth of the available frequency bands.

If we liken the geostationary orbit to an expressway, which is now the

most crowded in space, the use of Q/V bands will help to widen the

expressway by four to five times

The test is key to the development of the next generation of high

throughput satellites capable of delivering 1Tbps bandwidth for ultrafast

speeds

Economic Development

Finance Minister Sitharaman launches 'eBkray' auction platform for assets attached by banks

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about eBkray) + Mains ( GS III Economic

developments)

What’s the NEWS

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched eBkray, an e-auction

platform to enable online auction of attached assets by banks.

Know! more about eBkray

The eBkray platform provides navigational links to all PSB e-auction

sites, property search feature and presents single-window access to

information on properties up for e-auction, comparison of similar

properties, and also contains videos and photographs of the uploaded

properties.

Indian Banks Auctions Mortgaged Properties Information (IBAPI) portal

is an initiative of Indian Banks Association (IBA) under the policy of the

Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, to provide

details of mortgaged properties to be auctioned online by banks, starting

with PSBs.

There has been information asymmetry when bank attached assets are

auctioned which will come to an end with the launch eBkray.

Buyers can use IBAPI portal to search and get properties details and

participate in the auction process. Presently 21 banks are onboard on this

portal

As on December 27, 2019, a total of 35,000 properties had been uploaded

on the e-auction platform by PSBs

Currently, there are 2,457 residential, 576 commercial, 333 industrial and

18 agricultural properties are available on eBkray platform among

others.

PSBs have attached assets worth over Rs 2.3 lakh crore in the last three

fiscal years.

The purpose of this portal is to enhance user experience through seamless

access to information by the search based on the type and location of the

property put up for e-auction by the banks in India.

The platform also helps the buyer to easily navigate to the bank e-auction

site after a notified property is selected. It also helps the user to search

property using State-wise, District-wise and bank-wise details.

Prelims Factoids

The locust attack in Gujarat’s farms

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about Locusts and about Locust Warning

Organisation LWO)

What’s the NEWS

Gigantic swarms of locusts have descended on parts of Gujarat and

Rajasthan, destroying crops and triggering panic.

Know! the steps taken by the government

The government has formed 27 locust control teams that has been

engaged in spraying insecticides in the affected regions, especially in the

Banaskantha district of North Gujarat.

With the help of the locust control teams, some 96% of the total affected

area had been sprayed with the pesticide malathion.

Know! about swarms of locusts

A small swarm of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), a

polyphagous feeder (eating a large variety of plants), eats on average “as

much food in one day as about 10 elephants, 25 camels or 2500 people”.

Locusts devour leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, bark and growing points,

and also destroy plants by their sheer weight as they descend on them in

massive numbers

The locust menace is a natural occurrence which varies in intensity every

year. The locusts remain inactive during evening and morning.

Most swarms enter Gujarat through Rajasthan and Pakistan, riding on the

wind to travel across large distances.

India is most at risk of a swarm invasion just before the onset of the

monsoon. The swarms usually originate in the Arabian Peninsula and the

Horn of Africa.

Locust Warning Organisation LWO

The Locust Warning Organisation LWO (comprising of all field units), a

central government body responsible for issuing warnings and monitoring

and controlling locust attacks, undertakes regular surveys in the

scheduled desert area of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana, which are prone

to swarms, to monitor the presence of desert locusts and ecological

conditions.

The assessment is to determine if the locust numbers have crossed the

economic threshold level (ETL) which is 10,000 adults/ha. and 5-6

hoppers/bush that may require control.

These surveys are done regularly during the entire year, but most

importantly from May to November when desert locust activity is

considered at its peak due to congenial breeding conditions.

Prelims Factoids

Web portal launched for Delhi-NCR residents to track or block their lost/stolen phones

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR)

system)

What’s the NEWS

The government has launched a portal that will enable blocking and

tracing of stolen or lost mobile phones.

The initiative was launched in Mumbai in September this year, and has

been rolled out for Delhi-NCR now.

It will be extended to other parts of the country in 2020.

Know! more about the portal

The launch of the portal, www.ceir.gov.in, for Delhi-NCR subscribers

will facilitate requests for blocking of stolen or lost mobile phones by

customers, blocking of such mobile phones across various mobile

networks, allowing services to other existing customers having mobile

phones with the same International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI)

number, sharing of traceability data with police authorities, as well as

unblocking of recovered phones.

The project is backed by the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR)

system, which was undertaken by the telecom department for addressing

security, theft and other concerns including reprogramming of mobile

handsets.

Know! the working of CEIR

The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) is the unique

identity of a mobile phone devices.

IMEI number is programmable and miscreants and criminals

reprogramme the 15-digit unique number, which results in cloning of

IMEI.

The result is multiple phone devices, at times even hundreds of numbers,

with same IMEI number.

If such IMEI is blocked, a large number of mobile phones stand the risk

of being blocked (as they are handsets with the same IMEI number)

causing inconvenience to genuine customers.

The software that has been developed now allows an individual phone to

be blocked even if it is on a cloned IMEI number.

State Specific

Kerala becomes first state to pass anti-CAA resolution

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about the resolution passed by the Kerala

government) + Mains ( GS II Centre-State relations)

What’s the NEWS

Kerala became the first state to pass a resolution against the Citizenship

Amendment Act amid widespread protests across the country.

The resolution, which was moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and

asks the centre to revoke the new citizenship law, was supported by

leaders across party lines except the lone BJP MLA - O Rajagopal.

Chief Ministers of several non-BJP ruled states including Bengal, Punjab,

Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi, had previously voiced their opposition to

the law.

However, Kerala is now the first state to go down the legislature route to

register its opposition.

Reason stated by the state government

Our Constitution is a milestone in the fight towards citizen rights and a

society based on equality. Also our constitution is based on democracy,

secularism, equality and scientific temper. This Act subverts the very

Constitution

The CAA was against the "secular" outlook and fabric of the country and

would lead to religion-based discrimination in granting citizenship.

When the Citizenship Act was passed in 1955, it followed all

international conventions. The present central government has not

followed the international conventions.

Kerala has already put on hold all administrative activities for the

National Population Register (NPR) considering the "apprehensions" of

the public that it would lead to National Register of Citizens (NRC).

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