1. RAJMARGYATRA
TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY
THE CONTEXT: National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has launched a new app called ‘Rajmargyatra’ in a bid to improve user experience on highways and create a ‘citizen-centric unified mobile application’.
EXPLANATION:
- It is a user-friendly app that will help provide travellers with comprehensive information about India’s highways and also offer them an efficient grievance redressal mechanism.
4 Essential features of the Rajmarg Yatra app:
1) Essential highway information: It will act as a “one-stop repository of essential information” for national highways. The app will allow users to get real-time weather conditions, details of nearby toll plazas, petrol pumps, hospitals, hotels and other essential services and timely traffic alerts.
2) Complaint Redressal: The app comes with an inbuilt complaint redressal and escalation mechanism. The app can help users report highway-related issues while having the feature to attach geo-tagged pictures and videos of the situation. The registered complaints will be addressed in a time-bound manner, and there will be system-generated escalations to higher authorities in case of delays in redressal.
3) FASTag services: The app has integrated its services with various banking portals to make it convenient for users to recharge their FASTags, avail monthly passes and get other FASTag-related services on a single platform.
4) Safe driving features: The Rajmargyatra app comes with over-speeding notifications and a built-in voice assistant to encourage safe driving behaviour.
National Highway Authority of India (NHAI)
- It was constituted by an Act of Parliament in 1988 under the administrative control of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
- It has been set up as a Central Authority to develop, maintain and manage the National Highways entrusted to it by the Government of India.
- The authority became operational in February 1995 and consists of a full-time Chairman and not more than five full-time Members and four part-time members who are appointed by the Central Government.
- The part-time Members are the Secretary (RT&H), Secretary (Expenditure), Secretary (Planning) and DG (RD) & SS. NHAI has technical, Finance, Administrative and Vigilance Wings at its Headquarters.
- Project implementation Units (PIUs) headed by a Project Director and supported by various technical and accounts officers have been set up at various sites to oversee timely completion of the projects.
2. VOYAGER MISSION
TAG: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
THE CONTEXT: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) after losing communication with Earth’s longest-running space probe, Voyager 2, the space agency detected a heartbeat signal from the spacecraft recently.
EXPLANATION:
- Voyager 2 was launched 46 years ago and is currently in interstellar space. Along with Voyager 1, it has provided invaluable data and inspired future space missions.
- Although too faint for extraction of data, the detected signal confirms that Voyager 2, which is about 19.9 billion kilometres away from Earth, is still operating.
- Voyager 2 is the second spacecraft to enter interstellar space, the region that lies outside the impact of our Sun’s constant flow of material and magnetic field.
- The first was Voyager 1, sent to space about two weeks after Voyager 2.
- Both probes have explored all the outer giant planets of our solar system and discovered over 40 moons and numerous rings.
- They have provided invaluable data on planetary astronomy and inspired many future space missions.
Why were the Voyager spacecraft sent into space?
- In 1972, NASA proposed to send the Voyager probes, initially slated to explore only Jupiter and Saturn. In 1974, however, it was decided that if one spacecraft completed the mission, the other one would be redirected towards Uranus and then Neptune.
- Interestingly, the spacecraft was scheduled for a take-off towards the end of the 1970s for a reason. According to a report by Scientific American, NASA chose the particular launch window to take advantage of a rare alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune that occurs once every 175 years.
- The alignment allowed the spacecraft to harness the gravity of each planet and swing from one to the next using relatively minimal amounts of fuel. NASA first demonstrated the technique with its Mariner 10 mission to Venus and Mercury from 1973 to 1975,” the report said.
- Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, two weeks before the September 5 Voyager 1 takeoff. This reversal of order took place as the two spacecraft were put on different trajectories. Voyager 1 was set on a path to reach Jupiter and Saturn, ahead of Voyager 2.
What are the features of the Voyager spacecraft?
- Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are identical spacecraft. Each of them is equipped with instruments to carry out 10 different experiments.
- The instruments include television cameras to take images of planets and other celestial bodies, infrared and ultraviolet sensors, magnetometers, plasma detectors, and cosmic-ray and charged-particle sensors.
- Both spacecraft features a large antenna, which is used to receive commands from Earth and radio their findings back to the planet.
- As their mission involved going far away from the Sun, they aren’t powered by solar power, like other spacecraft are. Instead, Voyager relies on a small nuclear power plant, drawing hundreds of watts from the radioactive decay of a pellet of plutonium.
- Notably, each Voyager spacecraft is adorned with a golden phonograph record, a 12-inch disc intended to be a sort of time capsule from Earth to any extraterrestrial life that might intercept the probes in the distant future.
What are the most notable achievements of the Voyager spacecraft?
- The most interesting discoveries made by Voyager 1 included the finding one of Jupiter’s moons was geologically active.
- The spacecraft noted the presence of at least eight active volcanoes spewing material into space, making it one of the most geologically active planetary bodies in the solar system.
- Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 discovered three new moons of Jupiter: Thebe, Metis and Adrastea.
- Voyager 1 discovered that Titan wasn’t the biggest moon in our solar system and was found to be smaller than Jupiter’s Ganymede. The spacecraft also noted that Titan’s atmosphere was composed of 90 per cent nitrogen, and it likely had clouds and rain of methane.
- Voyager 2 arrived at Uranus in 1986, becoming the first human-made object to fly past the aquamarine planet. The spacecraft confirmed that the main constituents of Uranus are hydrogen and helium. It also discovered 10 new moons and two new rings in addition to the previously-known nine rings, among other significant findings.
- Vogayer 2 became a first human-made object to fly by the planet in 1989; it discovered that Neptune is more active than previously thought. Winds on the planet blow at the speed of 1,100 kph. The spacecraft also observed the Great Dark Spot, which was essentially a huge spinning storm in the southern atmosphere of Neptune, and it was about the size of the entire Earth.
- Voyager 1 officially entered interstellar space in August 2012, Voyager 2 made its entry in November 2018. These exits were instrumental in enabling astronomers to determine where exactly the edge of interstellar space is, something that’s difficult to measure from within the solar system. They showed that interstellar space begins just over 18 billion kilometres from the sun.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-sci-tech/voyager-mission-8874644/
3. HIMALAYAN VULTURE
TAG: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT
THE CONTEXT: Researchers have recorded the first instance of captive breeding of the Himalayan vulture (Gyps himalayensis) in India at the Assam State Zoo, Guwahati.
EXPLANATION:
- Details of the successful breeding were recently published in a paper titled ‘Breeding of Himalayan Vulture Gyps himalayensis Hume, 1869 in the Assam State Zoo, Guwahati, Assam, India’ in the Journal of Threatened Taxa.
- Breeding the species in Guwahati was a daunting task as, in nature, this species breeds in snow-clad mountains. But as these birds were kept in zoos for a long time, they acclimatised to the tropical environment.
- Conservation breeding of the Himalayan vulture at the Guwahati Zoo is the second such instance in the world, after France, where the species has been bred in captivity.
- Four Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre (VCBC) established by Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) at Pinjore in Haryana, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Rani in Assam, and Rajabhatkhawa in West Bengal.
- These VCBCs are involved in the conservation breeding of the White-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis), the Slender-billed vulture(Gyps tenuirostris), and the Indian vulture (Gyps indicus).
- The unprecedented scale and speed of declines in vulture populations has left all the three resident Gyps vulture species categorised ‘Critically Endangered’.
Himalayan vulture (Gyps himalayensis):
- It is categorised as ‘Near Threatened’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species.
- It is a common winter migrant to the Indian plains and a resident of the high Himalayas.
- The Himalayan vulture (Gyps himalayensis ) or Himalayan griffon vulture is an Old World vulture native to the Himalayas and the adjoining Tibetan Plateau. It is one of the two largest Old World vultures and true raptors.
- With striking bald white heads and broad hefty wings, it is the largest member of the Gyps species.
- They are usually sedentary, moving only altitudinally. Some young birds travel to the low plains in northern India.
- Himalayan vultures are monogamous, and pairs return to the same nesting and roosting sites from year to year.
4. THE OFFSHORE AREAS MINERAL (DEVELOPMENT AND REGULATION) AMENDMENT BILL, 2023
TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY
THE CONTEXT: Parliament passes the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023.
EXPLANATION:
- India has a unique maritime position. India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of over two million square kilometres holds significant recoverable resources.
- The OAMDR Act of 2002 came into force in 2010. However, no mining activity has been undertaken in the offshore areas till date. Hence, the Central Government has proposed the present Amendment Bill to bring several reforms in the offshore mining sector.
- The OAMDR Act, in its current form, contains scope for discretion and does not provide for fair and transparent allocation of operating rights in the offshore areas.
- GSI has delineated the resources of the following minerals in the offshore areas:
- 1,53,996 million tons of lime mud within the EEZ off Gujarat and Maharashtra coasts.
- 745 million tons of construction-grade sand off the Kerala coast.
- 79 million tons of heavy mineral placers in the inner-shelf and mid-shelf off Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
- Phosphorite in the Eastern and Western continental margins.
- Polymetallic Ferromanganese (Fe-Mn) nodules and crusts in Andaman Sea and Lakshadweep Sea.
- As India aims to become a high-growth economy, it needs to harness its maritime resources to its optimal capacity.
- In order to harness the full potential of these maritime resources, it is imperative to encourage the participation of the public and private sectors.
- The private sector will bring the necessary expertise and technology to explore and mine the mineral resources present in the EEZ.
Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023:
- It seeks to make amendments to the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002 (‘OAMDR Act’). It aims to bring major reform in the allocation of operating rights in Offshore Areas.
- Two types of operating rights are to be granted to the private sector through auction by competitive bidding, viz., production lease and composite licence.
- Composite licence introduced in the act is a two-stage operating right granted for the purpose of undertaking exploration followed by production operation.
- Operating rights to be granted to PSUs in the mineral-bearing areas reserved by the Central Government.
- It will bring major reform by introducing auction as the method of allocation of operating rights in the offshore areas.
- The transparent process has also generated additional revenue sources for the State Governments in terms of auction premiums.
- The introduction of the auction regime through the present amendment in the OAMDR Act is expected to provide the necessary impetus to the sector.
- Provision has been made for the grant of operating rights only to PSUs in the case of atomic minerals.
- Provision for renewal of production leases has been removed, and its period is fixed as 50 years on lines similar to the MMDR Act.
- A provision has been made for setting up of a non-lapsable Offshore Areas Mineral Trust, which will maintain a fund under the Public Account of India. This will be funded by an additional levy on the production of minerals, not exceeding one-third of the royalty. The exact rate of additional levy will be prescribed by the Central Government.
- To ensure the timely start of production from the leases, the Bill introduces the timelines for the commencement of production and dispatch after the execution of the production lease.
Source: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1945516
5. INDIA’S OUTREACH TO OCEANIA
TAG: GS 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
THE CONTEXT: With increasing focus on the Pacific part of the Indo-Pacific region, two frontline Indian naval warships made port calls at Port Moresby as part of ongoing initiatives for enhancing maritime partnership with Papua New Guinea.
EXPLANATION:
- The focus is on enhancing maritime partnership and cooperation with Papua New Guinea.
- Two frontline Indian naval warships under the Eastern Naval Command, INS Sahyadri and INS Kolkata, made a port call at Port Moresby in this regard.
- At the same time, two warships from the Western Naval Command are at Oman, INS Visakhapatnam at Muscat and INS Trikand at Duqm.
- During the port call, the crew from the two ships will engage with personnel from the PNG Defence Forces in a wide range of activities, including professional interactions, cultural exchanges, Yoga sessions and ship visits.
- The port call is aimed at strengthening ties between India and Papua New Guinea in the maritime domain.
- In May 2023, the Indian Prime Minister visited Papua New Guinea and attended the 3rd summit of the Forum for India Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC), where he spoke in favour of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
- He focused on India’s commitment to assist the development goals of the member countries of FIPIC, stating that New Delhi would continue to help the Pacific island states in “every possible” way.
Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC):
- FIPIC was launched by Indian Ministry in Fiji in November 2014.
- FIPIC includes 14 island countries – Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu – that are located in the Pacific Ocean, to the northeast of Australia.
Idea behind FIPIC:
- Despite their relatively small size and considerable distance from India, many of these islands have large exclusive economic zones (EEZs).
- India’s larger focus is on the Indian Ocean, where it has sought to play a major role and protect its strategic and commercial interests.
- FIPIC initiative then marks a serious effort to expand India’s engagement in the Pacific region as well.
1st FIPIC Summit:
- FIPIC-I took place in 2014 at Suva, Fiji’s capital city.
- India announced various development assistance initiatives and other cooperation projects in areas of climate change, trade, economy, telemedicine and teleeducation, IT, grants for community development projects, etc.
2nd FIPIC Summit:
- FIPIC-II took place in 2015 at Jaipur City, India.
- India approached the event from a large diplomatic perspective, calling for a “dedicated seat for Small Island Developing States in an expanded and reformed UN Security Council in both categories”.
- Seek for concrete and effective outcome on climate change conference at COP 21 in Paris.
