UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 12-01-2021
iasparliament
January 12, 2021
Virunga National Park
Six rangers have been killed in the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Virunga National Park stretches from the Virunga mountains in the south, to the Rwenzori mountains in the north.
It borders Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Rwenzori Mountains National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.
Established in 1925, it is Africa’s first national park, which is famous for its mountain gorillas.
It is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (UNESCO)-designated World Heritage Site since 1979.
‘Indian Cities in Post-Pandemic World’ Report
This report was carried out by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
It highlights the country’s most pressing urban challenges that were further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It said that the unfolding pandemic has been catastrophic for cities.
But these cities will also be a key to India’s post-pandemic growth as they account for nearly 70% of India’s GDP.
The study found that an average of 25-30 people migrate to cities from rural areas every single minute.
However, most big cities in India have a wide economic disparity, with expansive slums and a large urban poor population.
The study further said that about 35% per cent of all urban households cannot afford housing at market prices.
Heliophysics Missions
NASA has approved two heliophysics missions to explore the Sun and the system that drives space weather near Earth.
Understanding the physics that drive the solar wind and solar explosions could help in predicting these events.
Together, NASA’s contribution to the following will help in understanding the Sun and Earth as an interconnected system,
Extreme Ultraviolet High-Throughput Spectroscopic Telescope Epsilon Mission (EUVST) and
Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE)
Funding comes from the Heliophysics Explorers Program, managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
EUVST
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) leads the EUVST Epsilon Mission (Solar-C EUVST Mission), along with other partners.
Targeted for launch in 2026, EUVST is a solar telescope.
It will study how the solar atmosphere releases solar wind and drives eruptions of solar material.
These phenomena propagate out from the Sun and influence the space radiation environment throughout the solar system.
EUVST will take comprehensive UV spectroscopy measurements of the solar atmosphere at the highest level of detail to date.
This will allow scientists to tease out how different magnetic and plasma processes drive coronal heating and energy release.
EZIE
To be launched in 2024, EZIE will study electric currents in Earth’s atmosphere linking aurora to Earth’s magnetosphere that responds to solar activity and other factors.
EZIE is an investigation comprising a trio of CubeSats that will study the source of and changes in the auroral electrojet (AE).
[AE is an electric current circling through Earth’s atmosphere around 60-90 miles above the surface and extending into the magnetosphere.
They are generated by changes in the structure of the magnetotail.]
The interaction of the magnetosphere and the solar wind compresses the Sun-facing side of the magnetosphere.
This drags out the night-time side of the magnetosphere into what is called a magnetotail.
The same space weather phenomena that power the aurora can cause interference with radio and communication signals and utility grids on Earth’s surface, and damage to spacecraft in orbit.
Pre-packs
The government may amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to introduce pre-packs as a resolution mechanism.
A pre-pack is an agreement for the debt resolution of a distressed company through an agreement between secured creditors and investors instead of a public bidding process.
In India, such a system would require that financial creditors agree on terms with potential investors and seek approval of the resolution plan from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
Pre-pack would act as an important alternative resolution mechanism to the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of the IBC.
This process would be completed much faster than the traditional CIRP.
[CIRP requires the creditors of the distressed company allow for an open auction for qualified investors to bid for the distressed company.]
In 2020, the government formed a committee led by MS Sahoo, chairperson of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, to look into including pre-packs as a resolution mechanism under the IBC.
Cherry Blossom Mao Festival
In Manipur, this Festival was held at Mao area of Senapati district marking the beginning of pink season in the district.
The Mao area is known for Cherry Blossom, a plant which is popularly known as Sakura in Japan.
Manipur government started organizing the festival from 2017 onward.
The festival featured the picturesque landscape of Mao town adorned with Cherry Blossom flowers.
Culling
It is the mass slaughter of domestic poultry birds to contain the spread of bird flu.
During culling operations, all domestic birds in an infected area are slaughtered and their remains buried.
In India, culling is done in a radius one kilometre from the site of infection, which is called the ‘infected zone’.
Cervical dislocation or neck-wringing method is to be used for culling.
Culling was earlier done only to stop the viral disease from spreading to birds in other farms outside the infected zone.
It is now aimed at protecting humans, ever since the first transmission to humans in 1997.
Source: AIR, The Hindu, The Indian Express, Down To Earth, Financial Express, NASA
