Bipyrazole Organic Crystals
- Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata and IIT Kharagpur have developed a piezoelectric molecular crystal called bipyrazole organic crystal.
- [Piezoelectric crystals are a class of materials that generate electricity when it undergoes a mechanical impact.]
- These crystals recombine after mechanical impact or fracture without any external intervention, as they generate electrical charges on autonomously repair in milliseconds with crystallographic precision.
- This research has been supported by the Department of Science and Technology, GoI via Swarnajayanti Fellowship to CM Reddy and Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) research grants.
- A custom-designed state-of-the-art polarization microscopic system was used to probe and quantify the perfection of the piezoelectric crystals.
- These materials with perfect internal arrangement of molecules or ions are called ‘crystals’, which are abundant in nature.
- Significance - The material may find application in high-end micro-chips, high precision mechanical sensors, actuators, micro-robotics, etc.
Moon-forming Region
- For the first time, scientists have spotted a moon-forming region around one of the two exoplanets (PDS 70c) orbiting an orange-coloured young star called PDS 70, which is located 370 light years from Earth.
- [Exoplanets are planets found outside our solar system. There are more than 4,400 exoplanets discovered.]
- [A light year is the distance light travels in a year, about 9.5 trillion km.]
- Exoplanet PDS 70c is surrounded by a disc of gas and dust massive enough to spawn three moons the size of the one orbiting Earth.
- ALMA observatory, Chile detected the disc of swirling material accumulating around one of two newborn exoplanets seen orbiting a star. It is called a circumplanetary disc from which moons are born.
- No circumplanetary discs had been found until now as all the known exoplanets resided in “fully developed” solar systems, except the two infant gas planets orbiting PDS 70.
- In our solar system, the rings of Saturn, which have more than 80 moons orbit it, represent a relic of a primordial moon-forming disc.
- Observation - The star PDS 70, roughly the same mass as our Sun, is about 5 million years old.
- The two planets, which orbit PDS 70, are even younger. Both the planets are at a dynamic stage i.e. they are still acquiring their atmospheres.
- The planet PDS 70c, which is orbiting the star PDS 70 at 33 times the distance of the Earth from the sun, has moon-forming disc that PDS 70c possesses has enough mass to produce up to three moons the size of Earth's moon.
Birth of a Moon
- Stars burst to life within clouds of interstellar gas and dust scattered throughout galaxies.
- Leftover material spinning around a new star coalesces into planets, and circumplanetary discs surrounding some planets similarly yield moons.
- The dominant mechanism that underpins planet formation is “core accretion”. In this scenario, small dust grains, coated in ice, gradually grow to larger sizes through successive collisions with other grains.
- This continues until the grains have grown to a size of a planetary core, at which point the young planet has a strong enough gravitational potential to accrete gas which will form its atmosphere.
- Some nascent planets attract a disc of material around them, with the same process that gives rise to planets around a star leading to the formation of moons around planets.
Arctic Lightning Storms
- Three successive thunderstorms swept across the icy Arctic from Siberia to north of Alaska, unleashing lightning bolts in unusual phenomenon.
- Typically, the air over the Arctic Ocean, especially when the water is covered with ice, lacks the convective heat needed to generate lightning storms.
- Tripled in frequency - But episodes of summer lightning within the Arctic Circle have tripled since 2010, due to climate change and increasing loss of sea ice in the far north.
- As sea ice vanishes, more water is able to evaporate, adding moisture to the warming atmosphere.
- In Alaska alone, thunderstorm activity is on track to increase threefold by the end of the century if current climate trends continue.
- Impacts - These electrical storms threaten boreal forests fringing the Arctic, as they spark fires in remote regions already baking under the round-the-clock summer sun.
- More frequent lightning will occur over the Arctic’s treeless tundra regions, as well as above the Arctic Ocean and pack ice.
- On the water, the lightning is an increasing hazard to mariners, and vessel traffic is increasing as sea ice retreats.
- This is because generally people try to get low to be safe from lightning. But that’s tough to do on flat tundra or ocean expanse.
Khasi Language
- The Central Government had received a proposal for inclusion of Khasi in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.
- Khasi language is the northernmost Austroasiatic language. It is the Mon-Khmer branch of Austroasiatic family. It is written using the Latin and Bengali-Assamese scripts.
- The main dialects of Khasi spoken are Sohra (Due to strong colonial patronisation, this dialect is regarded as Standard Khasi) and Shillong dialect (form a dialect continuum across the capital region).
- Khasi Language is spoken by Khasi people, an indigenous ethnic group of Meghalaya in north-eastern India.
- It is spoken primarily in Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills region of Meghalaya state in India. It is also spoken by a sizeable population in Assam and Bangladesh.
Constitutional Provisions
- Article 29 (Fundamental Right) of the Constitution provides that a section of citizens having a distinct language, script or culture have the right to conserve the same.
- Both the state and the citizens have an equal responsibility to conserve the distinct language, script and culture of a people.
- Eighth Schedule of the Constitution protects 22 languages.
- Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of State Assemblies (MLAs) could speak in these lanugages in Parliament and State Assemblies.
- Candidates could write all-India competitive examinations like the Civil Services exam in these languages.
- These languages are recognised for the Sahitya Akademi.
National Commission for De-Notified and Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes
- This Commission was constituted in 2014 by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment for the period of 3 years to
- Prepare a State-wise list of castes belonging to Denotified and Nomadic Tribes and
- Suggest appropriate measures in respect of Denotified and Nomadic Tribes that may be undertaken by the Central Government or the State Government.
- The Commission submitted its report in 2015. It recommended for the setting of up a Permanent Commission for these communities.
- But, in 2019, the Government had set up a Development and Welfare Board for De-Notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities (DWBDNCs) under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
- DWBDNC, which is under the aegis of Social Justice Ministry, was set up for implementing development and welfare programmes for DNCs.
- Also, the Government has so far launched following welfare schemes for the benefits to DNTs,
- Dr. Ambedkar Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship for DNTs Boys and Girls.
- Nanaji Deshmukh Scheme of construction of Hostels for DNTs Boys and Girls.
Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNT Communities
- A special scheme "Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNT Communities (SEED)" has been approved for welfare of the DNCs.
- It has following four components:-
- To provide coaching of good quality for DNT candidates to enable them to appear in competitive examinations.
- To provide Health Insurance to them.
- To facilitate livelihood initiative at community level; and
- To provide financial assistance for construction of houses for members of these communities.
Palaeochannels
- Various studies carried out by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) have found about the traces of palaeo-channels found in parts of the Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.
- CGWB in collaboration with National Geo-physical Research Institute (NGRI) takes up various studies with respect to palaeochannels as part of the National Aquifer Mapping and Management (NAQUIM) program.
- Palaeochannel, also known as palaeovalley or palaeoriver, is a geological term describing a remnant of an inactive river or stream channel that has been filled or buried by younger sediment.
- The sediments that the ancient channel is cut into or buried by can be unconsolidated, semi-consolidated, consolidated or lithified.
National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme
- It is being implemented by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB).
- NAQUIM envisages mapping of aquifers (water bearing formations), their characterization and development of Aquifer Management Plans to facilitate sustainable management of Ground Water Resources.
- [Aquifers are the rocks in which groundwater is stored. They are typically made up of gravel, sand, sandstone or limestone.]
- It was initiated as a part of the Ground Water Management and Regulation Scheme to delineate and characterize the aquifers to develop plans for ground water management.
Source: PIB, The Hindu
