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26th Aug Current Affairs News Analysis | Prelims & Mains 2020

Dear Aspirants
IASbhai Current Affairs News Analysis | Prelims & Mains 2020 is an initiative to dilute major articles from leading Newspapers in India which are most relevant to UPSC preparation –‘THE HINDU, LIVEMINT , INDIAN EXPRESS’ and help millions of readers who find difficulty in answer writing and making notes everyday. Hence we choose articles on daily basis and analyse them with respect to UPSC PRELIMS 2020.

“Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.” –Anonymous

HIGHLIGHT INFO:

ORANGE COLOUR: Important for Prelims.

RED COLOUR: Important for Mains.

BLACK COLOUR: Must Read !

BLUE COLOUR : Important Links/Survey.

PINK COLOUR: Reports/Themes/Summits.

Earth’s inner core is older

      HEADLINES:

Earth’s inner core is older than previously determined, find researchers

      WHY IN NEWS:

Researchers revise age of Earth’s solid inner core from 565 mln years to 1-1.3 bln years

SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 1 : Geography : Earth

      ISSUE: 

Researchers have revised the estimate of the age of Earth’s solid inner core to 1-1.3 billion years from 565 million years old.

EARTHS CORE

  • Over the years, estimates for core age have fluctuated between very young and relatively high.

Inner core was only about 565 million years old — quite young compared to the age of our 4.5-billion-year-old planet.-Nature Geosciences

  • The research focuses attributes, such as the process of heat convection of the iron core and the energy sources that power geodynamo that sustains magnetic field.

GEODYNAMO PARADOX

  • Earth’s inner core is the innermost geologic layer of the Earth — it is made of iron and is solid.
  • And it is very hot — about 6,000 degrees Celsius.
  • The outer core is also iron, but is liquid due to relatively lower pressure.
  • As lighter elements rise through the liquid iron of the outer core at different temperatures, they cause convection currents, believed to resemble a dynamo.
  • The process is like cream swirling in a mug of coffee.

The circulation of liquid metal creates electric currents (kinetic energy is converted into magnetic energy) and turns Earth into a giant electromagnet.

  • This is how Earth’s magnetic field is generated.
  • The process is called geodynamo, and is fed by convection.

      IASbhai WINDUP: 

  • The age of the inner core, however, has been essentially calculated by the effectiveness of iron to transfer heat, known as thermal conductivity.

But there was a paradox with the previously determined younger estimates of the age of the inner core:

The core would have had to reach unrealistically high temperatures to sustain the geodynamo for billions of years before the inner core would be formed.

  • The high amount of conductivity of the iron core, however, was impossible because it would have little energy to convection.
  • It also only supported the existence of the geodynamo for about a billion year, whereas other studies have showed that the process has existed for at least 3.4 billion years.
     SOURCES:THE HINDU & PIB | 26th Aug Current Affairs News Analysis

India recycles only 1%

      HEADLINES:

India recycles only 1% of its construction and demolition waste: CSE

      WHY IN NEWS:

The rest remains strewn across, in landfills, or in plain sight everywhere, leading to air and water pollution

SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Pollution

      ISSUE: 

India recycles just one per cent of its construction and demolition (C&D) waste.

PUBLISHED BY

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) .

ANALYSIS

  • The country generates an estimated 150 million tonnes of C&D waste every year.
  • But the official recycling capacity is a meagre 6,500 tonnes per day — just about one per cent.
  • Total waste generated in the country put the figure at three-five times more than the official estimate.
  • Improving construction and demolition waste management in Indian cities, also goes on to recommend a viable plan of action.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • As many as 53 cities were expected to set up recycling facilities to recover material from C&D waste by 2017 — but only 13 cities have done that by 2020.

The demand for primary building material, including minerals, stone, sand, iron ore, aluminum and timber, is growing at an unprecedented rate.

  • Heaps of concrete, bricks and metal waste from construction were choking water bodies, green areas and public spaces in Indian cities.

      IASbhai WINDUP: 

  • A significant proportion of construction waste can be recycled and reused .
  • Thus can be brought back to construction to substitute naturally sourced material.
  • This demands a circular economy that can turn C&D waste into a resource.

This can help reduce energy intensity and environmental footprints of buildings and infrastructure.

     SOURCES:THE HINDU & PIB | 26th Aug Current Affairs News Analysis

Biochar application

      HEADLINES:

Biochar application can help Ghana’s smallholder farmers fight back climate change: Study

      WHY IN NEWS:

New research shows biochar application is more effective in promoting cowpea growth and yield in Ghana

SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3:Health:Diseases

      ISSUE: 

Climate change, droughts, inadequate rainfall and crop diseases — Ghana, much like most of Sub-Saharan Africa, has discernible geographical and socioeconomic patterns that diminish crop yield.  

BIOCHAR APPLICATION

BIOCHAR

Smallholder farmers bear the brunt mostly — they often face declining soil productivity due to unavailability of mineral fertilisers or lack of affordability.

BIOCHAR : A SOLUTION

  • It is a charcoal-like substance made by burning organic material from agricultural and forestry wastes.
  • This could help promote cowpea growth and crop yield in the country as well as fight climate change impact on soil.

SIGNIFICANCE

  • Cowpea is one of the most broadly produced pulse crops in sub-Saharan Africa.
  • The crop is an important source of human food, livestock feed and green manure.
  • It is also valued for its ability to improve soil fertility through nitrogen fixation.

Biochar could be an effective way to minimise the effect of climate change on agricultural soils, enhance crop productivity and improve the retention of nutrients in the soil.

  • Adding biochar to soil is a relatively new approach, but has been shown to improve crop yield in many ways.
  • It can increase the soil’s water-holding capacity, reduce acidity, increase nutrient supply and retention.

      IASbhai WINDUP: 

  • Despite its numerous benefits, research into the effectiveness of various methods of biochar application to soils has rarely been investigated.

Several methods of biochar application, including broadcast and incorporation, banding, spot and ring, have been recommended.

  • However, most biochar field trials reported to date have used broadcast and incorporation methods.
     SOURCES:THE HINDU & PIB | 26th Aug Current Affairs News Analysis

INSV Viraat

      HEADLINES:

Viraat to head to Alang yard for dismantling

      WHY IN NEWS:

End of a long voyage:Viraat at the Naval dockyard in Mumbai.

SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: DEFENCE

      ISSUE: 

Navy had tried to preserve the decommissioned aircraft carrier by converting it into a museum

VIRAAT

  • Decommissioned aircraft carrier Viraat, which has been lying at the Naval dockyard in Mumbai, is set to be scrapped at a ship breaking yard at Alang in Gujarat soon.

BACKGROUND

Viraat, a Centaur class aircraft carrier weighing 27,800 tonnes.

  • It served in the British Navy as HMS Hermes for 25 years from November 1959 to April 1984.
  • It was commissioned into the Indian Navy in May 1987 after refurbishment and had operated Harrier fighter jets.
  • It was decommissioned from in March 2017.
  • The Navy had been incurring expenditure since then on its upkeep, such as the provision of electricity and water, and repairs.
  • It was also taking up space in the crowded Naval dockyard.

      IASbhai WINDUP: 

  • It has been sold to the Shree Ram Green Ship Recycling Industries of Gujarat in an e-auction by the Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited (MSTC).
  • Several attempts by the Navy to preserve the carrier, by converting it into a museum or by other means, failed.
  • The government informed Parliament in July last year that it had been decided to scrap the carrier.
     SOURCES:THE HINDU & PIB | 26th Aug Current Affairs News Analysis

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