1. UPI QR CODE-CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCY INTEROPERABILITY
TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY
THE CONTEXT: A few banks, including State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and IDFC First Bank, have introduced UPI interoperability on their digital rupee application.
EXPLANATION:
- Banks enabled the interoperability of Unified Payments Interface’s (UPI) Quick Response (QR) code with their central bank digital currency (CBDC) or e₹ application.
- Users of retail digital rupee will now be able to make transactions by scanning any UPI QR at a merchant outlet. Merchants can also accept digital rupee payments through their existing UPI QR codes.
- This integration of UPI and CBDC is part of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) ongoing pilot project on pushing the retail digital rupee (e₹-R).
What is interoperability?
- According to RBI, Interoperability is the technical compatibility that enables a payment system to be used in conjunction with other payment systems.
- Interoperability allows system providers and participants in different systems to undertake, clear and settle payment transactions across systems without participating in multiple systems.
And what is UPI QR code-CBDC interoperability?
- Interoperability of UPI with the digital rupee means all UPI QR codes are compatible with CBDC apps. Initially, when the pilot for the retail digital rupee was launched, the e₹-R users had to scan a specific QR code to undertake transactions.However, with the interoperability of the two, payments can be made using a single QR code.
- The digital rupee issued by the RBI, or the CBDC, is a tokenised digital version of the rupee. The e₹ is held in a digital wallet, which is linked to a customer’s existing savings bank account. UPI is directly linked to a customer’s account.
How will it benefit customers and merchants?
- The interoperability of UPI and CBDC will ensure seamless transactions between a customer and merchant without having the need to switch between multiple digital platforms.
- Even merchants are not required to keep a separate QR code to accept the digital rupee payments. They can accept CBDC payments on their existing QR code.
- The seamless integration of CBDC with UPI will enhance the acceptance and utilization of digital currencies in everyday transactions.
What is a QR code?
- A Quick Response (QR) code consists of black squares arranged in a square grid on a white background, which can be read by an imaging device such as a camera.
- It contains information about the item to which it is attached, according to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
- QR code is an alternate contactless channel of payments. It allows merchants or businesses to accept payments from their customers directly into their bank accounts.
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)
- Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are a form of digital currency issued by a country’s central bank. They are similar to cryptocurrencies, except that their value is fixed by the central bank and equivalent to the country’s fiat currency.
- The main goal of CBDCs is to provide businesses and consumers with privacy, transferability, convenience, accessibility, and financial security.
- CBDCs also decrease the cost of maintenance that a complex financial system requires, reduce cross-border transaction costs, and provide those who currently use alternative money-transfer methods with lower-cost options.
- CBDCs also reduce the risks associated with using digital currencies, or cryptocurrencies, in their current form.
2. DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE FOR KNOWLEDGE SHARING (DIKSHA) PLATFORM
TAG: GS 2: SOCIAL JUSTICE
THE CONTEXT: The National eGovernance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is set to integrate Personalised Adaptive Learning (PAL) into its existing Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) platform.
EXPLANATION:
- PAL’s software-based approach will allow each student to have an individualised learning experience over the course of the curriculum based on their unique needs and abilities.
- The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has sought the MeitY’s expertise in facilitating PAL for DIKSHA.
- In an example of how PAL works, if a student of Class 9 is learning the Pythagoras theorem and makes a calculation mistake, the AI learning system flags it and loops the student back to a basic video of how to make the calculation.
- In some States, private players are already administering PAL, which works on AI or Artificial Intelligence, but budget constraints have been an obstacle.
- The NeGD will float an Expression of Interest to assess the market for edtech companies that can help launch PAL and possibly integrate it with DIKSHA 2.0.
Personalized adaptive learning
- Personalized adaptive learning is a software platform approach that provides each student with an individualized learning experience by allowing them to progress along their unique learning path through the course content.
- Adaptive learning systems customize the presentation of the content or present new concepts to the student based on their individual activities and responses.
DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE FOR KNOWLEDGE SHARING (DIKSHA) PLATFORM
- DIKSHA portal comes under the Ministry of Education and provides e-content for schools via an online portal and a mobile application.
- DIKSHA portal serves as National Digital Infrastructure for teachers and enable, accelerate and amplify solutions in realm of teacher education.
- It aids teachers to learn and train themselves for available assessment resources. It helps teachers to create training content, profile, in-class resources, assessment aids, news and announcement and connect with teacher community.
- It is built considering the whole teacher’s life cycle – from the time student teachers enroll in Teacher Education Institutes (TEIs) to after they retire as teachers.
- States, government bodies and even private organisations, can integrate DIKSHA into their respective teacher initiatives based on their goals, needs and capabilities.
- It also has embedded assistive technologies for learners with visual or hearing impairments.
- DIKSHA features digitised National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks used national and State Boards.
- Apart from this, DIKSHA hosts 2.43 lakh contributions by 11,624 academicians by way of teaching videos, explainers, and practice questions. Currently, all these contributions are scattered across the platform.
They can use DIKSHA’s features to create:
- In-class resources
- Teacher training content
- Assessment aids
- Teacher profile
- News and announcement
- Teacher community
It envisages to provide:
- Teacher training courses (example – training on learning outcomes, CCE, etc.)
- Teaching resources such as lesson plans, concept videos, worksheets, mapped to curriculum
- Assessments for teachers, to find out their strengths and areas of improvement
It contains the following features:
- Courses for teachers to enable continuous learning
- Resources for use in classroom
- Dashboards for progress and assessment
- Communities for collaboration and discussions
- Announcements, notifications and circulars
3. GREEN RATING FOR INTEGRATED HABITAT ASSESSMENT (GRIHA)
TAG: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT
THE CONTEXT: The Indian Army’s new Thal Sena Bhawan (TSB), coming up on a sprawling 39 acre site with a built-up area of 143,450 sq. m., boasts of several green measures conforming with GRIHA-IV (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) norms.
EXPLANATION:
- The top soil of the entire 39 acre site will be preserved; the plan includes transplantation of 476 trees and compensatory planting of over 5,000 trees. It has been designed for a building life of about 100 years, and is earthquake-resistant.
- Some of the measures would include grid interactive solar photo-voltaic system, sensor-based LED lighting, and chargers for electric vehicles in parking areas.
- A building management system will be in place for energy monitoring, temperature control and ventilation, with high efficiency chillers.
Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA)
- Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment also known as GRIHA was jointly established as an autonomous, not-for-profit organization by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
- It is a rating tool that evaluates the environmental performance of a building holistically over its entire life cycle, thereby providing a definitive standard for what constitutes a ‘green building’.
- The rating system, based on accepted energy and environmental principles, will seek to strike a balance between the established practices and emerging concepts, both national and international.
- Human Habitats (buildings) interact with the environment in various ways. Throughout their life cycles, from construction to demolition, they consume resources in the form of energy, water, materials, etc. and emit wastes either directly in the form of municipal wastes or indirectly as emissions from electricity generation.
- GRIHA attempts to minimize a building’s resource consumption, waste generation, and overall ecological impact to within certain nationally acceptable limits / benchmarks.
- The GRIHA rating system consists of 34 criteria divided into four categories. They are:
- Site selection and planning
- Resource conservation and efficient utilisation
- Building operation and maintenance
- Innovation points
The basic features of GRIHA
- Pre-construction stage: (intra- and inter-site issues like proximity to public transport, type of soil, kind of land, where the property is located, the flora and fauna on the land before construction activity starts, the natural landscape and land features).
- Building planning and construction stages: (issues of resource conservation and reduction in resource demand, resource utilization efficiency, resource recovery and reuse, and provisions for occupant health and well-being). The prime resources that are considered in this section are land, water, energy, air, and green cover.
- Building operation and maintenance stage: (issues of operation and maintenance of building systems and processes, monitoring and recording of energy consumption, and occupant health and well-being, and also issues that affect the global and local environment).
The benefits
- Reduced energy consumption without sacrificing the comfort levels
- Reduced destruction of natural areas, habitats, and biodiversity, and reduced soil loss from erosion etc.
- Reduced air and water pollution (with direct health benefits)
- Reduced water consumption
- Limited waste generation due to recycling and reuse
- Reduced pollution loads
- Increased user productivity
- Enhanced image and marketability
4. ALIEN SPECIES
TAG: GS 3: ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT
THE CONTEXT: Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has released its new publication named “Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control”.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE REPORT:
- The report has found that there are 37,000 alien species including plants and animals that have been introduced in the regions and biomes around the world.
- These invasive alien species have played a key role in 60% of global plant and animal extinctions.
- It is reported that invasive alien species are one of the five major direct drivers of biodiversity loss globally, climate change etc.
- About 6% of alien plants, 22% of alien invertebrates, 14% of alien vertebrates, and 11% of alien microbes are found to be invasive, posing major risks to nature and to people.
- 85% of the impacts of biological invasions on native species are negative.
- The annual costs of invasive alien species have at least quadrupled every decade since 1970, as global trade and human travel increased.
- The report has warned that warming temperatures and climate change could favour the expansion of invasive species.
- Invasive alien species can also amplify the impacts of climate change.
EXAMPLES AND IMPACTS OF THE INVASIVE SPECIES:
- The water hyacinth is the world’s most widespread invasive alien species on land. Lantana, a flowering shrub, and the black rat are the second and third most widespread globally.
- The brown rat and the house mouse are also widespread invasive alien species.
- The reduction of food supply has been cited by the report as the most common impact of alien invasive species.
- For example, the European shore crab impacting commercial shellfish beds in New England.
- The Caribbean false mussel damaging locally important fishery resources in Kerala, by wiping out native clams and oysters.
- Invasive alien species like Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegyptii spread diseases such as malaria, Zika and West Nile Fever.
- The water hyacinth in Lake Victoria in East Africa led to the depletion of tilapia, impacting local fisheries.
- Invasive alien plants especially trees and grasses can sometimes be highly flammable and promote more intense fires.
Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES):
- It is established in 2012.
- It is an independent intergovernmental body established to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services, working in a similar way to the IPCC, which is the UN’s climate science body.
- India is a member of the IPBES.
Functions of IPBES is to:
- respond to government requests for information on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
- identify and prioritize key scientific information needed for policymakers.
- perform regular and timely, scientifically credible, independent, and peer-reviewed assessments of knowledge on biodiversity etc.
- support policy formation and implementation by identifying relevant tools and methodologies.
- identify and create key capacity-building tools to support the use of science in policy.
Projects Status
- IPBES projects fall under four main objectives.
- Capacity and Knowledge Foundations
- Regional and Global Assessments
- Thematic and Methodological Issues
- Communication and Evaluation
5. DYNAMICS OF THE SUN
TAG: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
THE CONTEXT: Studying deeper into the variability, functioning and purpose with reference to the sun with the launch of the Aditya L 1 mission by ISRO.
EXPLANATION:
- Aditya L1 will function as a space weather station. Understanding space weather is an international issue, and the data from the spacecraft will help in making models and predicting storms in advance.
- Observations from Adtiya L1 will help us understand the dynamics of the Sun and how solar variability impacts the climate on Earth and affects the space weather.
- It becomes important to develop an understanding about sun, space weather and related phenomenon.
How are Lagrange Points beneficial for the Aditya L1 mission?
- Aditya L1 mission will be placed at lagrangian point 1. Let’s understand what are lagrangian points.
- Lagrange points are positions in space where objects sent there tend to stay put. At Lagrange points, the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them.
- These points in space can be used by spacecraft to reduce fuel consumption needed to remain in position.
- There are five special points where a small mass can orbit in a constant pattern with two larger masses.
- Of the five Lagrange points, three are unstable and two are stable.
- The unstable Lagrange points are L1, L2 and L3, lie along the line connecting the two large masses.
- The stable Lagrange points are L4 and L5 form the apex of two equilateral triangles that have the large masses at their vertices.
- L4 leads the orbit of earth and L5 follows.
- The L1 point of the Earth-Sun system affords an uninterrupted view of the sun and is currently home to the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Satellite SOHO.
Understanding the climate variability of the sun:
Solar activity is measured in terms of the number of sunspots.
Sunspots:
- Sunspots are areas that appear dark on the surface of the Sun. They appear dark because they are cooler than other parts of the Sun’s surface. The temperature of a sunspot is still very hot though—around 6,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Why are sunspots relatively cool? It’s because they form at areas where magnetic fields are particularly strong. These magnetic fields are so strong that they keep some of the heat within the Sun from reaching the surface.
- Every 11 years or so, the Sun’s magnetic field completely flips switching the Sun’s north and south poles. Then it takes about another 11 years for the Sun’s north and south poles to flip back again.
- When the Sun is active, the number of sunspots is in the hundreds, and at solar minimum, the numbers are nearly zero.
Solar flares:
- The magnetic field lines near sunspots often tangle, cross, and reorganize. This can cause a sudden explosion of energy called a solar flare.
- Solar flares release a lot of radiation into space. If a solar flare is very intense, the radiation it releases can interfere with our radio communications here on Earth.
- Solar flares are sometimes accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME for short). CMEs are huge bubbles of radiation and particles from the Sun.
- They explode into space at very high speed when the Sun’s magnetic field lines suddenly reorganize.
Effects of Solar Activity on Earth:
- When charged particles from a CME reach areas near Earth, they can trigger intense lights in the sky, called auroras.
- When particularly strong, a CME can also interfere in power utility grids, which at their worst can cause electricity shortages and power outages.
- Solar flares and CMEs are the most powerful explosions in our solar system.
Features of the payloads of the Aditya L1:
- The Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT) of the Aditya L1 will observe the UV radiation from different zones of the solar atmosphere.
- The onboard intelligence system will detect any sudden appearance of bright spots, such as solar flares (a sudden burst of high energy visible light, UV rays, X rays and Gamma rays) on the disc.
- The automated system will trigger the rapid imaging of different layers, and thus, we will obtain a 3D tomographic view of the Sun.
- With this system in place, the event’s progression through the layers of the solar atmosphere can be imaged.
- Combining the data from the Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS) and the High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS) will help us gain insights into the emergence, progression, and energetics of transient events on the surface of the Sun in the UV region”.
- Observing the Sun using the SUIT will enable us to better understand climate variation on Earth.
- Earth’s climate has changed. Global warming is real. The data from SUIT and other papers of Aditya L1 will help us resolve the contribution of natural and anthropogenic factors driving climate change.
THE SPACE WEATHER:
- The solar wind along with other explosive/ eruptive solar events like Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) affects the nature of space. During such events, the nature of magnetic field and charge particle environment near to the planet change.
- In case of the Earth, the interaction of Earth magnetic field with the field carried by CME can trigger a magnetic disturbance near the Earth. Such events can affect the functioning of space assets.
- Space weather refers to changing environmental conditions in space in the vicinity of Earth and other planets. We use more and more technology in space, as understanding space weather is very important.
- Also, understanding near Earth space weather sheds light on the behaviour of space weather of other planets.
SOURCE: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/aditya-l1-its-functioning-and-purpose/article67269560.ece
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