UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 30-11-2020

National Maritime Domain Awareness Centre

Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) will become a National Maritime Domain Awareness (NDMA) centre.
IMAC will become a multi-agency centre with the presence of stakeholders in NDMA.
Approved by the Defence Acquisition Council in 2012, IMAC became operational in 2014.
It is the nodal agency for maritime data fusion set up after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Located in Gurugram, IMAC tracks vessels on the high seas.
It gets data from the coastal radars, white shipping agreements, Automatic Identification Systems transponders fitted on merchant ships, air and traffic management system and global shipping databases.
It is the nodal centre of the National Command Control Communication and Intelligence System (NC3I).

Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT)

GMRT has been awarded with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) status for its novel engineering, advanced technology and scientific contributions made in the field of radio astronomy.
Pune-based GMRT is an array of 30 antennas positioned in a ‘Y’ fashion.
Operated by the TIFR – National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), it was the brainchild of late Govind Swarup.
Extensively used for studying the universe in low frequency since 2000, the telescope has been instrumental in many path-breaking discoveries.
Recently, the facility underwent its first upgrade that allows researchers to see much deeper into the universe.
Demonstration of generation and reception of radio waves by J C Bose (1895) and the discovery of the Raman Effect by C V Raman (1928) have been the only IEEE milestone winners from India, till date.

IEEE

IEEE is the world’s largest technical body publishing research from the fields of engineering and computing.
Also, it awards standards to institutions and organisations involved in these fields.
It considers an institution for the milestone on the basis of engineering, science, and computational facilities it offers for not less than 25 years.

Sea Sparkle Bloom in Karnataka

The bloom of Noctiluca Scintillans, known as “sea sparkle” has been witnessed in the Karnataka coast for about a month.
The bioluminescent green dinoflagellate N. Scintillans also brightened the sea water during night.
It has displaced microscopic algae called diatoms (basis of the marine food chain), which has deprived food for the planktivorous fish.
The species was found to accumulate toxic levels of ammonia.
It is then excreted into the surrounding waters, possibly acting as the killing agent in blooms.
N. Scintillans acts as both a plant and an animal.
1. It grazes on other micro-organisms such as larvae, fish eggs, and diatoms.
2. The phytoplankton that live inside it can photosynthesise, turning sunlight into energy.
To know more about bioluminescence, click here.

Disqualification of MLA

India’s first Member of Parliament to have been disqualified from the Lok Sabha has now been disqualified as an MLA in Mizoram.
Lalduhoma was a retired IPS officer who was in charge of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s security.
In 1988, he became the first MP to have been disqualified under the Anti-Defection Law for giving up membership of the Congress (I).
Now, Mizoram Assembly Speaker debarred Lalduhoma from the House.
Disqualification was on the ground that he had declared himself as a representative of a party despite being elected as an independent candidate.

SilverLine

Kerala has informed NITI Aayog that the semi high-speed rail SilverLine from Kochuveli (Tirvandrum) to Kasaragod is viable and feasible.
Terming the cost realistic, it said 70% of alignment traversed “at grade” compared with the 100% alignment via viaduct and tunnels of other projects.
By going for “at grade” alignment instead of the initial proposal of an elevated corridor, the cost had been brought down.
On NITI Aayog’s concern over cost of land acquisition and displacement, the government said costlier and built-up areas had been avoided.
The process of granting administrative sanction for land acquisition had commenced.
Maximum possible revenue generation would be explored and modes adopted by the Kochi Metro would be looked into.
The government submitted that the project was self-sustainable.

Source: The Hindu, The Indian Express