02.12.20 BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile in Anti Ship ...
Transcript of 02.12.20 BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile in Anti Ship ...
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Daily News Decode (DND) by UPSC Hacks @249/Year
Daily News Decode
02.12.20
BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile in Anti-Ship mode
successfully test fired
• BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile in
Anti-Ship mode was successfully test fired
on Tuesday at 9 AM against a
decommissioned Ship. The test firing was
carried out by Indian Navy.
• The missile performed highly complex
manoeuvres and hit Bull’s eye of the target.
• Ministry of Defence in a statement said that
BrahMos is the supersonic cruise missile
jointly developed by DRDO and NPOM of
Russia as a Brahmos Aerospace joint
venture, which became Brahmos
Aerospace Private Limited.
• The missile has established itself as a major force multiplier in modern-day complex
battlefields with its impeccable anti-ship and land-attack capabilities with multi-role
and multi-platform abilities.
• It has been deployed in all the three wings of the Indian Armed Forces.
• The first launch of Brahmos took place in 2001 and till date numerous launches have
taken place from various ships, Mobile Autonomous Launchers and Su-30 MKI
aircraft, making it a versatile weapon.
Cyclonic Storm ‘Burevi’
• On November 28, a low pressure formed off
the coast of Tamil Nadu.
• It gradually intensified into a depression on
November 30. Meanwhile the JTWC issued a
Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert on
November 30.
• It intensified into a deep depression on the first day of December.
• Later that day, both the JTWC and the IMD upgraded the system to a Tropical Storm,
with the latter assigning it the name Burevi.
• A Cyclone Alert from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka has been issued by IMD
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Farm Reform Acts aim to transform agriculture sector &
enhance farmers’ income • The government has brought Farm
Reform Acts with an aim to transform
the agriculture sector in the country and
enhance farmers’ income.
• These Acts include Farmers’ Produce
Trade and Commerce (Promotion and
Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers
(Empowerment and Protection)
Agreement on Price Assurance and
Farm Services Act, 2020.
• The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020
creates an ecosystem where the farmers and traders will enjoy freedom of choice of
sale and purchase of agri-produce.
• It will also promote barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade and commerce
outside the physical premises of markets notified under State Agricultural Produce
Marketing legislations.
• The Act does not intrude into premises under the APMC Act and the same may
continue into the State.
• The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and
Farm Services Act, 2020 will empower farmers for engaging with processors,
wholesalers, aggregators, wholesalers, large retailers, exporters on a level playing
field without any fear of exploitation. It will reduce cost of marketing and improve
income of farmers.
India-Portugal Technology Summit 2020
• The 26th edition of India-Portugal Technology
Summit 2020 will be held over a digital
platform from 7th – 9th December 2020.
• Over the past 26 years, DST has been
co-organizing the Technology Summit in
partnership with CII.
• The summit has benefitted immensely the Indian industry and academic & research
institutions by forging partnerships, stimulating innovation, investment & trade and
facilitating technology transfers, joint projects, and market access.
• The Focus sectors of the summit for this year are Watertech, Agritech, Healthtech,
Energy, Climate change, Cleantech, IT, ICT, Advanced technologies, and
Space- Ocean Interactions.
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• The summit will bring together experts from India and Portugal to deliberate on their
country expertise in the focus sectors and to explore opportunities for future
collaboration. Other Highlights of the summit shall include technology leadership
plenaries, tech talks, business presentations, high technology virtual expo and B2B
networking opportunities with Indian and Portugal delegates.
• The event will be hosted on CII HIVE, its dedicated multi-feature, virtual online
exhibition and conferencing platform with 24X7 helpdesk with a digital B2B lounge.
• The 400-yr old partnership between India & Portugal in shared culture, history, and
kinship is now turning modern with partnerships in science & technology: Mrs. K.
Nandini Singla, Ambassador of India to Portugal
India International Science Festival (IISF) 2020
• The 6th India International Science Festival
(IISF) 2020 Curtain Raiser Event is being
conducted by various institutes throughout
the country to popularise the scientific events
among the masses. The IISF-2020 is
scheduled to be held from 22 to 25
December, 2020.
• IISF is the festival to celebrate science which was launched in the year 2015. It is a
way to promote science & technology (S&T) and demonstrate how S &T can lead
India towards a developed nation.
• The maximum participation and utilize this opportunity of virtual mode to the optimum
for greater involvement of the common masses in this festival. He further added that
the basic motto is to take science to the people and the achievement of Indian
scientists to the people.
Department of Posts decides to deliver Sabarimala
‘SwamyPrasadam' to devotees across the country at their
doorstep
• Keeping in view devotees across the country,
Department of Posts conceptualized and
developed a comprehensive booking and
delivery package for the delivery of “Swami
Prasadam” of Sabrimala Temple at the
doorstep of the devotees using the vast
network of postal department covering every
nook and corner of the country.
• Kerala Postal Circle entered into an agreement with Travancore Devaswom Board
for this purpose creating a tailor made product. The devotees can now book the
Swami Prasadam from any post office in India by paying only Rs. 450/- (Four
hundred and Fifty) for each packet of prasadam.
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• Keeping in view devotees across the country, Department of Posts conceptualized
and developed a comprehensive booking and delivery package for the delivery of
“Swami Prasadam” of Sabrimala Temple at the doorstep of the devotees using the
vast network of postal department covering every nook and corner of the country.
• Kerala Postal Circle entered into an agreement with Travancore Devaswom Board
for this purpose creating a tailor made product.
• The devotees can now book the Swami Prasadam from any post office in India by
paying only Rs. 450/- (Four hundred and Fifty) for each packet of prasadam.
Chardham Pariyojana
• Environmentalists have alleged that the
contractors deputed by the government to
make roads as part of the Chardham project
are violating the Supreme Court orders on
the appropriate road width to be followed in
mountainous terrain.
• The Char Dham project consists of widening and repairing 889-kilometres of national
highways leading to revered shrines of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and
Yamunotri.
• It is a proposed two-lane expresses National Highway with a minimum width of 10
metres in the state of Uttarakhand.
• The project includes 900 km national highways will connect whole of Uttarakhand
state.
• The Chamba tunnel is 440 m long and is a Horseshoe type tunnel with 10-metre
carriageway width and 5.5m vertical clearance.
• The BRO achieved this major milestone by digging up a 440 m long Tunnel below
the busy Chamba town on Rishikesh-Dharasu road Highway (NH 94).
Facebook News to launch in U.K. next year
• It will launch its news tab feature in Britain from next
year, paying publishers for stories delivered through
the world’s leading social network.
• The arrival of Facebook News in January comes
after the service was rolled out in the U.S. in late
2019 and is part of plans to extend it worldwide
• Titles covered in the first wave of deals include The
Economist, The Guardian, The Independent and
the Mirror, and local newspapers the London
Evening Standard, the Manchester Evening News
and the Scotsman.
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• Lifestyle magazines such as Cosmopolitan, GQ, Vogue and Tatler have also signed
up, while there is a video partnership with Channel 4 News.
Basin trials of IAC Vikrant successfully completed at Cochin
Shipyard, sea trials next
• With successful completion of basin trials, the
IAC has entered the final phase of the project.
The sea trials are planned in the first half of
2021.
• The IAC was floated out of the dry dock in
December 2011 and two years later it was
launched.
• In tune with the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' vision of the government, the IAC project
boasts of 75 per cent of desi material and equipment onboard.
India seeks chipset manufacturers to make its local GPS
alternative fly further into the market
• India’s tech self-sufficiency drive has extended
into satellite navigation, as the nation seeks
manufacturers to help drive adoption of its own
system.
• The nation already possesses an eight-satellite
navigation constellation, named NavIC, that it
touts as having superior coverage of its own
territory and the local region.
• NavIC is also strategically significant, because India possesses medium-range
missiles and needs celestial guidance if it were ever to use them in anger.
• The RFP seeks entities capable of making NavIC receivers at the rate of a million a
year and hopes the contracts will help local industry to grow.
• NavIC includes a messaging system intended for use as a carrier of emergency
information to ships at sea or other situations in which Indians are beyond the range
of other networks
Google map of universe’: Australian scientists map millions
of galaxies
• According to CSIRO, the new data will enable
astronomers to study and analyse the huge number of
galaxies the same way social scientists use
information from a national census
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• CSIRO, the national science agency, said in a statement that the survey is like a
“Google map of the Universe” in which most of the star-like points are distant
galaxies.
• The design and initial results of the study has been published in the Publications of
the Astronomical Society of Australia
• ASKAP is a new type of radio telescope, designed and built by CSIRO, which
makes images of radio signals from the sky, enabling astronomers to view the
universe at wavelengths that our eyes cannot see.
• CSIRO’s telescope is a collection of 36 dish antennas spread out over six kilometres
in remote outback Western Australia.
• The telescope creates high-resolution images by combining the signals from 36
smaller dish antennas at a much lower cost than using a single large dish antenna,
said the agency
India may impose anti-dumping duty on tyre imports from
Thailand
• India may impose anti-dumping duty of
$337.80- 527.08 per MT on new pneumatic
radial tyres of rubber for buses and lorries,
with or without tubes and/or flaps imported
from Thailand.
• The Directorate General of Trade Remedies
has recommended the duty based on an
application filed by the Automative
Tyre Manufacturers Association on
behalf of domestic industry comprising
Apollo Tyres Ltd, JK Tyre Industries Ltd,
• The government had in June restricted the imports of tyres to prevent dumping of
cheap imports into the country – a bulk of which came from China and Thailand.
These included tyres for cars, motorcycles, bicycles, buses and lorries.
• Thailand has already raised the issue at the World Trade Organization alleging that
its tyre exports to India fell 31% in July and 43% in August due to the restrictions.
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UK approves use of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine - rollout to
begin next week
• The government has today accepted the
recommendation from the independent
Medicines and Healthcare products
Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to approve
Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine
for use," the government said.
"The vaccine will be made available
across the UK from next week."
Preimplantation diagnosis of embroys offers hope in
eliminating genetic disorders
Disorders such as thalassemia, cystic fibrosis,
sickle cell disease, Huntington’s disease and
spinal muscular atrophy can be diagnosed using
the preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), which
identifies genetically normal embryos in a given
cohort for implantation.
• Possibly the first PGT for albinism in India.
• Embryos are tested through a biopsy on the fifth day to make PGT more clinically
significant. However, it may not be successful in eliminating autism.
• “The chromosome that causes autism is extremely wide and the chances of finding
the anomaly in the gene are very difficult. So, PGT cannot help much in cases where
couples are looking to eliminate autism,