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Prelim Bits 14-09-2019

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September 14, 2019

Tejas - Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)

  • The naval variant of the LCA Tejas has made a first successful “Arrested landing” test.
  • Arrested landing means to rapidly decelerate an aircraft as it lands.
  • In about 2 seconds, Tejas decelerated from 244 km/hr to standstill by, snagging the wire on the test runway with the hook attached to the jet's fuselage (body).
  • The Tejas will need to replicate this, out at sea when it attempts to land on the deck of India's only operational aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya.
  • An "arrested landing" on the deck of an aircraft carrier is a feat achieved only by a handful of fighter jets developed in the US, Russia, UK, France and China.
  • The aircraft has to land on a 100-metre runaway on an aircraft carrier (a normal LCA lands on a one-kilometre runway).

New Delhi Declaration

  • The declaration was adopted by the participating countries at the 14th CoP to the UNCCD.
  • It comes with an action plan to save the planet from losing more land and to achieve SDG target of land degradation neutrality by 2030.
  • The parties expressed support for new initiatives to improve human health, well-being and to advance peace and security.
  • The declaration also stated that,
  • World needs to consider land-based solutions for climate action and
  • Biodiversity conservation to achieve the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement.
  • It also special emphasis on,
  • Community-driven transformative projects,
  • That are gender-sensitive at local, national and regional levels to drive implementation.

Bamboonomics

  • Ministry of Tribal Affairs launched the biggest Tribal movement, to promote tribal enterprise through ‘Bamboonomics’.
  • It was launched for combating desertification and the climate change at COP 14 to the UNCCD.
  • TRIFED introduced the ‘The 4P1000 Initiative: The Tribal Perspective through Bamboonomics’.
  • The international initiative "4 per 1000" was launched by France in 2015 at the COP 21.
  • The aim of the initiative is to,
  • Demonstrate that agriculture, and in particular agricultural soils can play a crucial role where food security and climate change are concerned.
  • The ambition of the initiative is to,
  • Encourage stakeholders to transition towards a productive, highly resilient agriculture,
  • based on the appropriate management of lands and soils,
  • creating jobs and incomes hence ensuring sustainable development.
  • An annual growth rate of 0.4% in the soil carbon stocks, or 4‰ per year, in the first 30-40 cm of soil,
  • would significantly reduce the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere related to human activities.
  • This is what the 4 per 1000 Initiative proposes, soils for food security and climate.
  • The initiative is intended to complement those necessary efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally.
  • It is voluntary, it is up to each member to define how they want to contribute to the goals.

Maritime Communication Services in India

  • The Ministry of Communications, Electronics & Information Technology has launched maritime communication.
  • This will enable high-end support to those in the sea by providing,
  1. Access to Voice, Data and Video services while travelling on vessels, cruise liners, ships in India.
  2. It is by using ‘Satellite technology’.
  • Tata Group’s ‘Nelco’, India's leading VSAT solutions provider will provide quality broadband services to the maritime sector.
  • A web portal was also launched for reporting stolen mobiles to help trace them.
  • The major objectives of the project include,
  1. Blocking of lost/stolen mobile phones across mobile networks,
  2. Prevention of mobile devices with duplicate and fake IMEIs and
  3. Curtail the use of counterfeit mobile devices.

Mid-Autumn Festival

  • It is a harvest festival that marks the end of the autumn harvest and appearance of the fullest moon of the year.
  • It is an important celebration across East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, particularly those having Chinese communities.
  • The harvest festivals celebrated in Asia and in other parts of the world that occur within days and weeks of each other,
  1. Includes common themes of family and gathering, prayers and thanksgiving and gratitude for a good harvest.
  2. Variations in cultural and religious practices and the names of the festivals depend on the country and region.
  3. But the overarching theme of the autumnal harvest is the same.
  • The diversity of culture in India has resulted in unique versions of harvest festivals for the spring and autumn harvest cycles.

 

Source: PIB,  The  Indian Express

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