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GOVERNANCE

1. WHAT IS NO FLY LIST?

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE- GS-II-GOVERNANCE

THE CONTEXT: According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, In last 1 year, a total of 63 passengers have been placed in “No Fly List” for such period, as recommended by the airline’s Internal Committee constituted in accordance with Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR). These include 02 (two) incidents of urinating that have come to the notice of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

THE EXPLANATION:

What are the rules for putting a flier on the no-fly list?

• In 2017, the government issued rules for preventing disruptive behaviour by air travellers and laid down guidelines for a no-fly list. As per the rules, a complaint of unruly behaviour needs to be filed by the pilot-in-command, and this is to be probed by an internal committee to be set up by the airline.
• During the period of pendency of the inquiry, the rules empower the concerned airline to impose a ban on the passenger. The committee is to decide the matter within 30 days, and also specify the ban duration.
• The rules define three categories of unruly behaviour: Level 1 refers to behaviour that is verbally unruly, and calls for debarment up to three months; Level 2 indicates physical unruliness and can lead to the passenger being debarred from flying for up to six months; Level 3 indicates life-threatening behaviour for which the debarment would be for a minimum of two years.

Why is there a no-fly list?

• The Civil Aviation Requirements issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) note that unruly behaviour on board aircraft has been declared an offence and is a punishable act. Even one unruly passenger can jeopardise safety on board. The government kick-started the process of developing these rules after an incident involving then Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad assaulting an Air India staffer on a flight back in 2017.
• Subsequently, a clutch of airlines banned Gaikwad from travelling on their flights; this was in effect for two weeks. The government came out with the no-fly list in September that year.

How do other countries manage no-fly lists?

• India is one of the few countries where airlines have been empowered to straight away ban a person from taking their flights. In aviation markets like the US or Canada, the no-fly list is more oriented to be a terror-watch program.
• In the US, the no-fly list had less than 20 people prior to 9/11, but sky-rocketed to thousands following the attacks. Cases of disruption with unruly behaviour, however, has got people on the no-fly list in the US. In 2016, US-based Delta Airlines banned a passenger for life after he was caught on video shouting profane political comments on its flight.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

2. NISAR MISSION

TAGS: PRELIMS- GS-III- SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: NASA-ISRO partnership’s satellite all set to arrive in India,Once launched into space, NISAR will provide critical information on Earth’s crust, ice sheets, and ecosystems, helping researchers better understand the causes and consequences of land surface changes.

THE EXPLANATION:

• Jointly developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), an Earth-observation satellite, called NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), got a send-off ceremony at the American space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California on (February 3)2023.
• The SUV-size satellite will be shipped to India in a special cargo container flight later this month for a possible launch in 2024 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh.

What is NISAR?

• NISAR has been built by space agencies of the US and India under a partnership agreement signed in 2014. The 2,800 kilograms satellite consists of both L-band and S-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) instruments, which makes it a dual-frequency imaging radar satellite.
• While NASA has provided the L-band radar, GPS, a high-capacity solid-state recorder to store data, and a payload data subsystem, ISRO has provided the S-band radar, the GSLV launch system and spacecraft.
• According to NASA, another important component of the satellite is its large 39-foot stationary antenna reflector. Made of a gold-plated wire mesh, the reflector will be used to focus “the radar signals emitted and received by the upward-facing feed on the instrument structure”.

What is the mission?

• Once launched into space, NISAR will observe subtle changes in Earth’s surfaces, helping researchers better understand the causes and consequences of such phenomena. It will spot warning signs of natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and landslides. The satellite will also measure groundwater levels, track flow rates of glaciers and ice sheets, and monitor the planet’s forest and agricultural regions, which can improve our understanding of carbon exchange.
• By using synthetic aperture radar (SAR), NISAR will produce high-resolution images. SAR is capable of penetrating clouds and can collect data day and night regardless of the weather conditions.
• According to NASA, “the instrument’s imaging swath — the width of the strip of data collected along the length of the orbit track — is greater than 150 miles (240 kilometres), which allows it to image the entire Earth in 12 days.”

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

3. THE WORLD’S DEADLIEST EARTHQUAKES SINCE 2000

TAGS: PRELIMS & GS-III DISASTER MANAGEMENT

THE CONTEXT: Turkey has experienced powerful earthquakes since the early hours of 6th February 2023, with the first one, a quake of magnitude 7.8, being described as the strongest the country has experienced in over a century.

THE EXPLANATION:

• A magnitude 7.8 earthquake shook Turkey and Syria killing more than 3,400 people in the two countries.
• The death toll is expected to rise as rescuers search through the frigid night.
• The US Geological Survey (USGS) said while the quake was centred about 33 km from Gaziantep, around 18 km deep, its effect was felt across West Asia, Northern Africa and South Eastern Europe with residents of Lebanon, Cyprus, Greece, Israel and Egypt also reporting tremors.
• India is among the 45 countries, which have so far offered assistance to Turkey. It’s sending search and rescue teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and medical teams along with relief material to the West Asian nation.

What is an earthquake?

• An earthquake is an intense shaking of the ground caused by movement under the earth’s surface. It happens when two blocks of the earth suddenly slip past one another, according to USGS. This releases stored-up ‘elastic strain’ energy in the form of seismic waves, which spreads through the earth and cause the shaking of the ground.

What exactly causes earthquakes?

• The earth’s outermost surface, crust, is fragmented into tectonic plates. The edges of the plates are called plate boundaries, which are made up of faults. The tectonic plates constantly move at a slow pace, sliding past one another and bumping into each other.
• As the edges of the plates are quite rough, they get stuck with one another while the rest of the plate keeps moving. Earthquake occurs when the plate has moved far enough and the edges unstick on one of the faults.

PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

4. THIS WORD MEANS: NORTH STAR

TAGS:PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: Recently, Vice President said Parliament is the “North Star” of democracy, “a place of discussion and deliberation to realise the aspirations and dreams of the people”.

THE EXPLANATION:

In January 2023, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud had described the basic structure of the Constitution, laid down by the Supreme Court in the 1973 Kesavananda Bharati judgment, as the “North Star” that “guides and gives certain direction to the interpreters and implementers of the Constitution when the path ahead is convoluted”.
Guide to navigation

• Polaris, known as the North Star or Pole Star, is a very bright star — around 2,500 times more luminous than the Sun. It is part of the constellation Ursa Minor, and is around 323 light years away from the Earth.
• Since Polaris is less than 1° away from the north celestial pole, almost in direct line with the Earth’s rotational axis, it appears to sit motionless in the northern sky, with all the other stars appearing to rotate around it.
• Its position and brightness have allowed humans to use it for navigation since late antiquity. Simply the elevation of the star above the horizon gives the approximate latitude of the observer. In the northern hemisphere, if you can spot Polaris, you can tell the north — and by extension, the other three directions as well. Upon crossing the equator to the south, however, the North Star is lost over the horizon, and hence stops being a useful navigational aid.

5. A NEW KIND OF ICE: ‘AMORPHOUS’ SOLID, WATER ‘FROZEN IN TIME’

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: Scientists have created a new type of ice that matches the density and structure of water, perhaps opening a door to studying water’s mysterious properties.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The ice is called medium-density amorphous ice. Theshook regular ice in a small container with centimetre-wide stainless-steel balls at temperatures of (–) 200 °C to produce the variant, which has never been seen before. The ice appeared as a white granular powder that stuck to the metal balls.
• Normally, when water freezes, it crystallizes and its molecules are arranged into the familiar hexagonal, solid structure that we call ice. Ice is less dense than its liquid form — an unusual property for a crystal. Depending on conditions such as pressure and the speed of freezing, water can also solidify in any of two dozen other regular arrangements. Amorphous ice is different: it has no such order.
• If confirmed, the new form of ice could enable studies of water in a manner that was not possible before.