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16th Sep Current Affairs News Analysis | Prelims & Mains 2020
Postage Stamp released on A-SAT
HEADLINES:
Postage Stamp released on A-SAT: India’s First Anti Satellite Missile
WHY IN NEWS:
A Customized My Stamp on India’s First Anti Satellite Missile (A-SAT) launch was released by Department of Posts on the occasion of Engineers Day.
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Space : Science and Technology
ISSUE:
A-SAT MISSILE
- A DRDO developed A-SAT Missile successfully engaged an Indian orbiting target satellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in a ‘Hit to Kill’ mode.
- Tracking data from range sensors had confirmed that the mission met all its objectives.
- The entire effort was indigenous which demonstrated the Nation’s capability to develop such complex and critical missions.
- A number of industries also participated in the mission.
With this success, India became fourth nation in the world to possess such capability.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- DRDO has plenty of achievements to be proud of; however the future is in space based technologies.
- Satellites are critical and with this capability India can defend it’s assets in space.
SOURCES: PIB | 16th Sep Current Affairs News Analysis
Consumer Welfare Fund
HEADLINES:
Consumer Welfare Fund
WHY IN NEWS:
Hot from PIB !
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Consumer Affairs
ISSUE:
CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 1986
- The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 had set in motion a consumer movement in the country.
- The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 which came into effect from 20th July 2020.
- The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 provides for establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers as a class.
FEATURES
- The Act provides for simplifying the consumer dispute adjudication process in the Consumer Commissions.
- This includes empowerment of the State and District Commissions to review their own Orders, enabling a consumer to file complaints electronically
- The question of admissibility is not decided within the specified period of 21 days.
- To simplify the adjudication process, mediation, as an Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanism, has been provided in the new Act.
CONSUMER WELFARE FUND
- The objective of this fund was to promote and protect the welfare of consumer, create consumer awareness and strengthen consumer movement in the country, particularly in rural areas.
- In this fund, the money which is not refundable to the manufacturers etc. is being credited.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- The government also provides budgetary support as financial assistance to States/UTs for conducting Consumer Awareness Programmes .
SOURCES: PIB | 16th Sep Current Affairs News Analysis
Venus might have microbial life
HEADLINES:
Venus might have microbial life in its atmosphere, study shows
WHY IN NEWS:
Phosphine gas, made up of hydrogen and phosphorus, hass been found in the planet’s clouds, a marker for the existence of microbes that can live without oxygen
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Space
ISSUE:
PHOSPHINE GAS
- An international team of astronomers from United States (US), United Kingdom (UK) and Japan announced the discovery of phosphine gas.
- It is made up of hydrogen and phosphorus.
- It surrounds the planet’s clouds, that is a marker for the existence of microbes that can live without oxygen.
- Phosphine gas occurs in trace amounts in the planet’s atmosphere — only about 20 molecules for every billion.
- On Earth, some microbes can cope with up to about five per cent of acid in their environment — but the clouds of Venus are almost entirely made of acid.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- Finding phosphine on Venus raises many questions, such as how any organisms could survive.
- Confirming the existence of life on Venus’s atmosphere would be a major breakthrough for astrobiology.
- To produce phosphine gas in that quantity living organisms would have work at 10 per cent of their maximum productivity.
- The bacteria on Earth that generate phosphine ingest phosphate from minerals or other biological material, combine it with hydrogen to produce energy for their sustenance and eject phosphine gas as a by-product.
SOURCES:DownToEarth | 16th Sep Current Affairs News Analysis
National Research Centre on Camels
HEADLINES:
National Research Centre on Camels
WHY IN NEWS:
Hot from PIB !
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Agriculture
ISSUE:
STEPS TO PROTECT KHARAI CAMELS
1. Kharai camel has been characterized, registered and gazette notified as breed by DARE/ICAR.
2. NRCC has signed an MoU with Kamdhenu University, Gujarat for further breed conservation and development by
(i) Training of farmers for scientific camel husbandry;
(ii) Organizing Scientist-farmers interaction meetings;
(iii) Holding animal health camps;
(iv) Providing technical support for development of the entrepreneurship towards the camel milk.
MAJOR INITIATIVES
Following is being carried out by NRCC, Bikaner to protect double humped camel in Ladakh:-
- Camel health management by organizing health camps in Nubra valley.
- Nutritional management by utilizing local feed resources.
IASbhai WINDUP:
For setting up of a branch in Gujarat of National Research Centre on Camel (NRCC), Bikaner,an appropriate size of land and other resources on nominal cost/lease basis is desired from the Government of Gujarat.
SOURCES:THE HINDU | 16th Sep Current Affairs News Analysis
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