1. ANTHROPOCENE EPOCH
TAG: GS 1: GEOGRAPHY
THE CONTEXT: In a major development that could change the Earth’s official geological timeline, geologists have said sediments at Crawford Lake in Canada’s Ontario have provided evidence of the beginning of the Anthropocene epoch.
EXPLANATION:
- Geologists revealed the findings after analysing the lake’s bottom sediments, which have, over the years, captured the fallouts of large-scale burning of fossil fuels, explosion of nuclear weapons and dumping of plastic and fertilisers on land and in water bodies.
- The data show a clear shift from the mid-20th century, taking Earth’s system beyond the normal bounds of the Holocene, i.e. the epoch that started at the end of the last ice age 11,700 years ago.
What is the Anthropocene epoch?
- Anthropocene epoch began sometime between 1950 and 1954, is a proposed epoch that denotes the present geological time interval, in which the Earth’s ecosystem has gone through radical changes due to human impact.
- The Anthropocene epoch as a term was first coined by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen and biology professor Eugene Stoermer in 2000 to denote the present geological time interval.
- This epoch is caused especially by the onset of the Industrial Revolution.
- There are numerous phenomena associated with this epoch, such as global warming, sea-level rise, ocean acidification,the advent of deadly heat waves, and deterioration of the biosphere, among others.
- Many of these changes will persist for millennia or longer and are altering the trajectory of the Earth System, some with permanent effects.
- They are being reflected in a distinctive body of geological strata now accumulating, with potential to be preserved into the far future.
What have the geologists found?
- The 79 feet deep and 25,800 square-foot-wide Crawford Lake was chosen for examination by the geologists over 11 other potential sites as its layers of sediment preserved the annual impact of human activities on the Earth’s soil, atmosphere and biology.
- Scientist who has studied that lake, said there are distinct and multiple signals starting around 1950 in the water body, which showed that “the effects of humans overwhelm the Earth system”.
- Scientists found that the presence of plutonium due to detonation of nuclear weapons which indicates unique global ‘fingerprint’ of human behavior on our planet.
- Anthropocene Working Group(AWG) plans to present a proposal in front of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS), a constituent body of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), and if it passes, it will go to the ICS for the next round of approval.
- Both SQS and ICS are part of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), which represents more than 1 million geoscientists across the globe. A final approval might come at the 37th International Geological Congress in Busan, South Korea.
How is the Earth’s geological time divided?
- The planet’s geological time scale is divided into five broad categories: aeons, epochs, eras, periods, epochs and ages.
- While aeon is the broadest category of geological time, age is the smallest category.
- Each of these categories is further divided into sub-categories. For instance, Earth’s history is characterised by four aeons, including Hadeon (oldest), Archean, Proterozoic, and Phanerozoic (youngest).
- Most of the boundaries on the geological time scale correspond to the origination or extinction of particular kinds of fossils.
- This is also related to something called the principle of faunal succession, which states that different kinds of fossils characterise different intervals of time.
- As of now, officially, we are in the Phanerozoic aeon, Cenozoic era, Quaternary period, Holocene epoch and the Meghalayan age.
2. EL NINO
TAG: GS 1: GEOGRAPHY
THE CONTEXT: The UN World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has confirmed that El Nino conditions have arrived and are expected to become moderate to strong as they develop over the coming year.
EXPLANATION:
- El Nino–Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is the hot phase of a natural fluctuation in the Earth’s climate system.
- It normally lasts for a couple of years and is happening on top of a long-term trend of human-driven global warming.
EL nino Coditions:
- An El Niño event is typically declared when sea surface temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific rise to at least 0.5C above the long-term average.
- In normal conditions, surface water in the Pacific Ocean is cooler in the east and warmer in the west.
- The “trade winds” tend to blow east-to-west, and heat from the sun progressively warms the waters as they move in this direction.
- During El Niño events, these winds weaken or reverse, sending warm surface waters eastwards instead.
Impacts of El Nino:
- Short-term heat extremes will continue to destabilise systems like coral reefs and the Amazon rainforest, which are thought to be vulnerable to tipping.
- With global average temperatures already high this year, El Niño strengthening into next year could make 2024 the hottest year on record. El Niño can add up to 0.2°C to global temperatures.
- Increasing global warming by continuing to burn fossil fuels will also make future El Niño events more intense
- The WMO says it is now very likely that the Earth’s temperature will temporarily exceed 1.5°C above the pre-industrial average by 2027, which is promised to limit in the Paris Agreement in 2015.
- El Nino events profoundly influence extreme weather events around the world, with far-reaching consequences for food production, water availability, and the well-being of both people and ecosystems.
- With the oceans absorbing around 93 per cent of the additional heat from global warming, El Ninos are becoming stronger.
El Nino and Tipping points
- This new El Niño event will directly trigger climate tipping points. El Niño events combined with human-driven global warming will continue to break temperature records, and there is high chance of tipping points being crossed.
- The tipping point is a self-sustaining shift in the climate system that locks in devastating changes once critical warming levels are passed. It is a critical threshold that, when crossed, leads to large and often irreversible changes in the climate system.
- Recent research led that several of these climate tipping points become likely beyond 1.5°C and can’t be ruled out even at current warming of around 1.2°C.
- Tipping points can also lock in extra global warming by amplifying greenhouse gas emissions from natural sources.
El Nino impact on India:
- India’s vital monsoon rains can be disrupted by an El Nino, which is a major concern for crop production.
- India’s monsoon was delayed, which meant far lower rainfall across the subcontinent in early June and a vicious heatwave.
- A delayed and weak monsoon is usually the case when an El Nino develops in the (northern hemisphere) Spring, as has been the case this year after three consecutive years of La Nina.
- Historically, at least half of the instances of El Nino have been directly linked to droughts during the summer monsoon season.
- The impact of these events serves as a stark reminder of the far-reaching effects that escalating extreme weather events can have on communities and economies.
- This increase is attributed to the global warming-induced rise in atmospheric moisture content.
3. PLACES OF WORSHIP ACT, 1991
TAG: GS 2: POLITY
THE CONTEXT: The Supreme Court gave the Centre “sufficient time” till October 31 to clarify its stand on the validity of the Places of Worship Act, which protects the identity and character of religious places as they were on Independence Day.
EXPLANATION:
- The Ayodhya judgment of the Supreme Court had found that the 1991 Act spoke “to our history and to the future of the nation. In preserving the character of places of public worship, the Parliament has mandated in no uncertain terms that history and its wrongs shall not be used as instruments to oppress the present and the future”.
- However, last year Solicitor General, who appeared for the government, stated that remarks made in the Ayodhya judgment about the 1991 Act would not prevent the court from examining the validity of the statute now.
- It was argued that the Act were merely ‘obiter dicta” and did not have the force of law.
- A slew of petitions has been filed in the apex court against the Act, contending that the law has barred Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs from approaching courts to “re-claim” their places of worship.
- The challenge to the Act questions the legality of the prohibition it imposes on any community laying claim to the places of worship of another.
Arguments by petitioners:
- As the Act deals with subject matters mentioned in the State List of 7th schedule of the Constitution, petitioners questioned that whether the parliament was legislatively competent to enact the act.
- Petitioner stated that the act is violative of fundamental rights as Article 14, 21, 25, 26 and 29(1) of the Indian constitution.
- It denies access to the Court of justice for peaceful resolution of disputes.
- Abatement of pending suits and other legal proceedings would result in a decision of cases by legislative fiat and without following any procedure of adjudication is contrary to basic feature of Rule of Law and Judicial Review
The Places of Worship Act:
- The law was enacted to freeze the status of all places of worship in the country on August 15, 1947. An exception was made to keep the Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi dispute out of its ambit as the structure was then the subject of litigation.
- The Act says that no person shall convert any place of worship of any religious denomination into one of a different denomination or section. It contains a declaration that a place of worship shall continue to be as it was on August 15, 1947.
- Significantly, it prohibits any legal proceedings from being instituted regarding the character of a place of worship. It declares that all suits and appeals pending before any court or authority on the cut-off date regarding the conversion of the character of a place of worship shall abate.
- In other words, all pending cases will come to an end, and no further proceedings can be filed. However, any suit or proceedings relating to any conversion of status that happened after the cut-off date can continue.
In which cases will the act not apply?
- It will not apply to ancient and historical monuments and archaeological sites and remains that are covered by the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958.
- It will also not apply to any suit that has been finally settled or disposed of, any dispute that has been settled by the parties before the 1991 Act came into force, or to the conversion of any place that took place by agreement.
- The Act specifically exempted from its purview the place of worship commonly referred to at the time as Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. It was done to allow the pending litigation to continue as well as to preserve the scope for a negotiated settlement.
- Anyone contravening the prohibition on converting the status of a place of worship is liable to be imprisoned for up to three years and a fine. Those abetting or participating in a criminal conspiracy to commit this offence will also get the same punishment.
4. SCHEME FOR CAPACITY BUILDING IN TEXTILES SECTOR (SAMARTH) SCHEME
TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY
THE CONTEXT: In a recent meeting, the Empowered Committee for the Scheme for Capacity Building in Textiles Sector (SAMARTH) announced significant developments to enhance skill development in the textiles industry.
EXPLANATION:
- The textiles ministry said that 43 new implementing partners had been empanelled under the scheme with an additional training target of 75,000 beneficiaries and a 5% increment in support to implementing partners.
- The government has partnered with 157 textile industries, industry associations, 16 central and state government agencies and three sectoral organisations to undertake training programmes under Scheme for Capacity Building in Textiles Sector (SAMARTH).
- The funding pattern has also been revised with an increment of 5% in cost norms, which will give much-needed additional financial support to industries imparting skills under this scheme.
SAMARTH Scheme:
- Samarth is a demand-driven and placement-oriented umbrella skilling programme of the Ministry of Textiles.
- The implementation period of the scheme is up to March 2024.
- The scheme was formulated under the broad skilling policy framework adopted by M/o Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.
- Samarth aims to incentivize and supplement the efforts of the industry in creating jobs in the organized textile and related sectors, covering the entire value chain of textiles, excluding Spinning and Weaving.
- Samarth also caters to the upskilling/ re-skilling requirement of traditional textile sectors such as handloom, handicraft, silk and jute.
- The scheme is implemented through Implementing Partners (IPs) comprising of Textile Industry/ Industry Associations, State government agencies and Sectoral Organizations of Ministry of Textiles like DC/ Handloom, DC/Handicrafts and Central Silk Board.
- Samarth has been formulated with advanced features such as Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS), Training of Trainers (ToT), and CCTV recording of the training programme.
- It is equipped with a dedicated call centre with a helpline number, mobile app, Web-based Management Information System (MIS), online monitoring of the training process etc.
- The major processes/procedures adopted in the implementation of the scheme are: Training Centres proposed by the implementing partners are to be physically verified through dedicated Government agencies.
- Furthermore, a total of 184 courses aligned with the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) have been adopted under the scheme across various textile segments .
National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF):
- It is a nationally integrated education and competency-based framework that enables persons to acquire desired competency levels.
- It organizes qualifications according to a series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude.
- These levels are graded from one to ten, and are defined in terms of learning outcomes which the learner must possess regardless of whether they were acquired through formal, non-formal or informal learning.
- It provides vocational education, vocational training, general education and technical education, thus linking one level of learning to another higher level.
5. INDIA US COLLABORATION ON CRITICAL AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
TAG: GS 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
THE CONTEXT: The Ministry of Science & Technology said that India and the United States jointly launched a call for collaborative proposals on “Critical and Emerging Technology: Quantum Technologies and Artificial Intelligence for Transforming Lives”.
EXPLANATION:
- The Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) and the Secretariat for USISTEF have designed the program, which aims to foster technology innovation and entrepreneurship in commercially viable and socially relevant areas.
- The announcement comes in the wake of the Indian Prime Minister’s recent visit to the United States, where he emphasized the need for a new chapter in bilateral comprehensive and global strategic partnership.
- The initiative reflects the commitment of both nations to carry forward the decisions made by the leaders and enhance cooperation in critical and emerging technologies. It highlights the importance of technology partnerships in the future, particularly in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum technologies.
- Investments in AI and quantum technology hold the potential to address global challenges and bring transformative advancements in various sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and climate change.
- Earlier cooperation includes the strategic framework being developed by NASA and ISRO for human spaceflight cooperation, including India’s participation in NASA’s astronaut program. India’s signing of the Artemis Accords, which envisions collaborative efforts in space exploration for the benefit of humanity.
- It will provide a significant boost to the domestic as well as the US priorities, looking at various facets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Quantum Computing:
- It uses phenomena in quantum physics to create new ways of computing. It explains the behavior of energy and material on the atomic and subatomic levels.
- It involves Unlike a normal computer bit, which can be either 0 or 1, a qubit can exist in a multidimensional state.
- The basic properties of quantum computing are superposition, entanglement, and interference.
- Superposition: It is the ability of a quantum system to be in multiple states simultaneously.
- Entanglement: It means the two members of a pair (Qubits) exist in a single quantum state.
- Interference: Qubits can be in more than one place at any given time and also an individual particle, as a photon can cross its own trajectory and interfere with the direction of its path.
Artificial Intelligence:
- It is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. Specific applications of AI include expert systems, natural language processing, speech recognition and machine vision.
- AI systems work by ingesting large amounts of labelled training data, analyzing the data for correlations and patterns, and using these patterns to make predictions about future states.
