The Ritcher Scale measures the magnitude, which is the amount of energy released during an earthquake.
The magnitude is derived from a formula involving a logarithm, which makes the scale exponential rather than linear.
For e.g. an earthquake of magnitude 8.1 is 10 times larger than one of magnitude 7.1, and 100 times larger than one of magnitude 6.1.
But in terms of energy released, magnitude 8.1 is 31.623 times stronger than magnitude 7.1, and 1,000 times (31.623 times 31.623) stronger than magnitude 6.1.
The Mercalli Scale measures the intensity, which measures the effects of an earthquake.
These readings are based on factors such as how people perceive the shaking.
The same earthquake will have different intensity readings at different places.
The effects will depend upon the distance (i.e) the farther one moves away from the epicentre, the less intense the shaking.
Decline in IMR
The Sample Registration System (SRS) of Census of India has been released recently.
According to the SRS bulletin, India has registered a significant decline in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR).
IMR has declined by three points (8% declines), from 37 per 1000 live births in 2015 to 34 per 1000 live births in 2016, compared to two points decline last year.
The total number of estimated infant deaths have come down from 930000 (9.3 Lakhs) in 2015 to 840000 (8.4 lakhs) in 2016.
According to the SRS Bulletin the gender gap in India for child survival is reducing steadily.
The gender difference between female and male IMR has now reduced to <10%, giving a major boost to the scheme ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’.
Global Entrepreneurship Summit, 2017
NITI Aayog, in partnership with the US administration, will host the eighth annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad.
This is the first time the Global Entrepreneurship Summit is being held in South Asia
The theme for this year's summit -- Women First, Prosperity for All -- will celebrate entrepreneurship in all its strength, diversity and entirety.
It will empower Indian entrepreneurs to build partnerships and helps secure funding.
The four primary focus areas are health care and life sciences, digital economy and financial technology, energy and infrastructure, and media and entertainment.
Jan Sampark
It is a monthly to facilitate adoption, organized by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD).
The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) under MoWCD is the nodal authority.
The first of its kind programme was held recently in New Delhi.
The Programme enables the public to have interaction with its officials and staff for seeking information related to Adoption.
Divyang Sarathi
It is the mobile application, developed for accessible and easy information dissemination to ‘divyangjans’
It is an integral part of the ICT component of the Accessible India Campaign launched by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
The unique features is its audio notes (text-to-voice conversion software) which converts the written information into an audio file as well as the adjustable font size which can be altered as per the user’s requirement.
The application is compliant with the principles of UNCRPD for Universal Access and the provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
Antarctica Glacier
An iceberg over 250 square kilometres in size, has broken off from an enormous Pine Island glacier in Antarctica.
It is second such incident in the last two years.
The Pine Island Glacier is one of the largest in West Antarctica.
The glacier loses 45 billion tonnes of ice to the ocean each year equivalent to one millimeter of global sea level rise every eight years.
This may be due to warmer ocean waters reaching the base of the glacier and weakening it.
