Current Affairs – 24th Feb 2024
Articles Covered:
- Will fast unto death if talks with government fail, says Ladakh climate activist Sonam Wangchuk
- Climate and Clean Air Conference 2024
- Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction allotted ‘Man Blowing Turha’ poll symbol by election commission
- Centre amends surrogacy rules, allows couples with medical conditions to use donor gametes
- Germany legalises cannabis, but makes it hard to buy
- RBI to NPCI: Consider Paytm’s request for TPAP. What is it, how will it benefit users?
- Indo-South Korean JV mulls Rs.890 cr semiconductor OSAT facility in Telangana
- US moon lander tipped sideways on lunar surface but ‘alive and well’
- Google clarifies Gemini AI not reliable on political topics after AI’s ‘biased’ reply on PM Narendra Modi
- Raisina Dialogue | Grey-zone warfare latest entry in lexicon of warfare, says Chief of Defence Staff
- PAPA payload aboard Aditya-L1 detects solar wind impact of Coronal Mass Ejections
Will fast unto death if talks with government fail, says Ladakh climate activist Sonam Wangchuk
Civil society leaders have been demanding Statehood and protection under the Sixth Schedule
Prominent climate activist Sonam Wangchuk said on Friday that he would fast unto death in sub-zero temperature if the talks between civil society leaders of Ladakh and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials on Saturday did not succeed. He said that the government under the “influence of industrial lobby” does not want to ensure constitutional safeguards for Ladakh.
Sixth Schedule
- The Sixth Schedulewas initially meant for Assam’s predominantly tribal territories, which were designated as “excluded areas” under the Government of India Act, 1935, and were directly under the Governor’s administration.
- It provides for the governance of tribal areas inAssam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram in order to protect the rights of indigenous tribal communities.
- The Sixth Schedule provides forautonomy in the governance of these areas through Autonomous District Councils in accordance with Articles 244(2) and 275(1) of the Constitution.
- These councils have the authority to enact laws governing the territories under their control, including those pertaining to land, forests, agriculture, inheritance, native customs and traditions of tribal peoples, etc. They also have the authority to levy land taxes and a few other types of taxation.
- According to the Sixth Schedule, the Governor of the State has the authority to choose which area or areas will serve as Autonomous Districts and Autonomous Regions, as well as to establish new Autonomous Districts/Regions and change their names or territorial boundaries.
- However, the presence of ADCs does not mean the region is excluded from the executive power of the state.
- The governor may split an autonomous district into multiple autonomous regions if there are various tribes living there.
- The authority to develop, build, or manage primary schools, dispensaries, marketplaces, cattle ponds, fisheries, highways, road transport, and waterways in the districts is granted to the District Councils and Regional Councils.
- The Councils have the power to dictate the language and style of education in primary schools.
- In addition, the District and Regional Councils have the authority to establish Village and District Council Courtsfor the purpose of hearing lawsuits and disputes where all parties involved are Scheduled Tribes and only the High Courts and the Supreme Court have jurisdiction over such matters.
- These Council Courts do not have the authority to rule on crimes that carry a death sentence or a five-year minimum sentence, though.
- The Councils have the financial authority to create budgets for the respective regions.
According to Mr Wangchuk, the special status granted to territories under the Sixth Schedule is the only solution to the challenges of climate change and the loss of cultural identity of the region.
Sonam Wangchuk:
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Climate and Clean Air Conference 2024
The Climate and Clean Air Conference 2024 emphasized global cooperation to eliminate short-lived climate pollutants, such as methane, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons.
- In the conference, there is a provision for the development of a shared agenda in key carbon emitting sectors such as fossil fuels, agriculture, heavy-duty vehicles, engines, and cooling and waste.
Short-lived Climate Pollutants:
- They are also known asSuper Pollutants.
- Short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) aregreenhouse gases and air pollutants that have a significant impact on climate change and air quality.
- Short-lived climate pollutants are responsible for up to45% of current global warming.
- These pollutants stay in the atmosphere for a shorter time than carbon dioxide
- SLCPs can have a much stronger warming effect than carbon dioxide.
Policy framework for SLCPs on the International Level
- Paris Agreement’s: The main objective of this agreement is to keep low temperatures below 2 degrees.
- Kyoto Protocol:Its main objective is the reduction of global warming.
- It covers 7 greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) and Nitrogen Triflouride (NF3).
- International Gothenburg Protocol: This protocol deals with the issue of air pollution.
- Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (Montreal Protocol): This protocol addresses the issue of ozone depletion by substances such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).
Benefits of taking action on short-lived climate pollutants:
- Improved air quality: Eliminating super pollutants can improve air quality worldwide.
- Health Benefits: Removing short-lived pollutants will lead to significant health benefits and save millions of lives, especially among children suffering from asthma.
- Food security: Protecting crops from pollutants liketropospheric ozone can enhance food security.
Drawbacks
- While addressing short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) has significant benefits, there are also some drawbacks and challenges associated with taking action on them:
Cooling and warming aerosols
- Aerosols are tiny particles or liquid droplets suspended in the air. Natural events and human actions both emit aerosols.
Cooling Aerosols:
- Cooling aerosols, such as sulfate particles, reflect sunlight into space. They have a net cooling effecton the Earth’s surface.
- These aerosols are often produced by industrial processes, volcanic eruptions, and burning fossil fuels.
- Their presence helps offset some of the warming caused by greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO₂).
Warming Aerosols:
- Warming aerosols, like black carbon (soot), absorb sunlight and contribute to local warming.
- Black carbon is emitted from diesel engines, biomass burning, and industrial processes.
- Unlike cooling aerosols, black carbon has a net warming effecton the climate
Incomplete Mitigation:
- SLCPs, such as methane and black carbon, have shorter atmospheric lifetimes than long-lived greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO₂).
- Despite their potency, reducing SLCPs alone won’t fully mitigate long-term climate change.
- Removal of cooling and warming aerosols: Intensified Global action on air pollution can be beneficial for air pollution removal, but it is causing the elimination of both cooling and warming aerosols.
- This can lead to new heat extremes.
Complex Interactions between pollutants and climate:
- The interactions between SLCPs and other pollutants are intricate.
- For example, reducing black carbon (which warms the climate) may inadvertently impact cloud formation and regional weather patterns.
- Inadequate funding: There is little funding for action against less high-profile pollutants like nitrous oxide and black carbon.
Regional Variability:
- SLCP impacts vary by region. Some pollutants have more pronounced effects in specific areas.
Other agreements to remove super pollutants from the atmosphere.
- Kigali Amendment:The Kigali Agreement is a global deal that aims to decrease consumption and production of HFCs.
- The Montreal Protocol:It is a global treaty that aims to protect the depletion of ozone layer by reducing the production of the substances that impact ozone depletion.
- The Global Methane Pledge:This pledge was launched in 2021 at COP26 for reducing methane emission by at least 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.
Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction allotted ‘Man Blowing Turha’ poll symbol by election commission
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday allotted a new poll symbol to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction led by Sharad Pawar, days after it gave the NCP name and its orignal ‘clock’ symbol to the Ajit Pawar faction. According to the NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar camp, the new party symbol given to them is a ‘man blowing turha’.
Key Points Related to Election Symbols
- An electoral or election symbol is a standardized symbol allocated to a political party.
- They are used by the parties during their campaigning and are shown on EVM s , where the voter chooses the symbol and votes for the associated party.
- They wereintroduced to facilitate voting by illiterate people, who can’t read the name of the party while casting their votes.
- In the 1960s, it was proposed that the regulation, reservation, and allotment of electoral symbols should be done through a law of Parliament, i.e., Symbol Order.
- In a response to this proposal, the ECI stated that the recognition of political parties is supervised by the provisions of ELECTION SYMBOL RESERVATION AND ALLOTMENT ORDER-1968 and so will the allotment of symbols.
- The Election Commission registers political parties for the purpose of elections and grants them recognition as national or state parties on the basis of their poll performance. The other parties are simply declared as registered-unrecognised parties.
- Therecognition determines their right to certain privilegeslike allocation of the party symbols, provision of time for political broadcasts on television and radio stations and access to electoral rolls.
- Every national party and every state party is allotted a symbol exclusivelyreserved for its use throughout the country and the states respectively.
Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968:
- Under Paragraph 15 of the Order, EC can decide disputes among rival groups or sections of a RECOGNISED POLITICAL PARTY staking claim to its name and symbol.
- The EC is the only authority to decide issues on a dispute or a merger under the order. The SUPREME COURT upheld its validity inSadiq Ali and another vs. ECI in 1971.
- It applies to disputes in recognised national and state parties.
- For splits in REGISTERED BUT UN RECOGNISED PARTIES the EC usually advises the warring factions to resolve their differences internally or to approach the court.
- In almost all disputes decided by the EC so far, a clear majority of party delegates/office bearers, MPs and MLAs have supported one of the factions.
- Before 1968, the EC issued notifications and executive orders under the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
- The splinter group of the party – other than the group that got the party symbol – had to register itself as a separate party.
- They could lay claim to national or state party status only on the basis of its performance in state or central elections after registration.
As per the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, the Election Commission allots symbols for anyone contesting in polls.
- A person contesting on behalf of a recognised political party will inherit the party’s symbol.
- An independent candidate or someone contesting on behalf of an unrecognised political party has to approach the Commission and get a symbol allotted from the list of ‘free’ symbols available.
- A candidate will have to provide three symbols from the free list at the time of submission of nomination papers, one of which will be allocated to him/her.
- Any choice other than from the EC’s list will be summarily rejected.
In the case of a recognised political party, the Commission allows it to ‘reserve’ a symbol.
- For example, if a political party recognised in a particular State wishes to contest in elections in another State, it can ‘reserve’ the symbol being used by it.
- The Commission will oblige, provided the symbol is not being used by anyone else.
Two or more recognised political parties can have the same symbol provided they are not contenders in the same State or Union Territory.
- Both Federal Party of Manipur and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) use ‘Rising Sun’ as their symbol.
- But if one of the parties wish to open their account in the other State, it will have to contest on a different symbol.
Centre amends surrogacy rules, allows couples with medical conditions to use donor gametes
Single women (widow or divorcee) undergoing surrogacy must use self-eggs and donor sperm to avail surrogacy procedures, says the notification
- There is new hope for couples dreaming to become parents via surrogacy.
- The Central government has amended Surrogacy (Regulation) Rules, 2022 to allow use of a donor gamete – ova or egg cells and sperm.
Surrogacy
- A surrogate, sometimes also called a gestational carrier, is a woman who conceives, carries and gives birth to a child for another person or couple (intended parent/s).
- The surrogate agrees to give the child to that person or couple after the birth.
Types of Surrogacies:
- Commercial Surrogacy: It includes surrogacy or its related procedures undertaken for a monetary benefit or reward (in cash or kind) exceeding the basic medical expenses and insurance coverage.
- Altruistic Surrogacy: It involves no monetary compensation to the surrogate mother other than the medical expenses and insurance coverage during the pregnancy.
Surrogacy in India
- Since 1978, surrogacy has been practiced in India, which is also known for having a high rate of “reproductive tourism” and being a burgeoning hub of the fertility industry.
- Although commercial surrogacy was made legal, no bill or explicit rule was created and put into effect.
- This led to a sharp rise in uncontrolled surrogacy in India by low-cost fertility clinics.
- Subsequently, in 2021, President of India gave assent to the Surrogacy Regulation Bill, 2021 which was passed by the parliament.
new Rules (Surrogacy (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2024)
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Surrogacy rule said
In 2023, the Centre through Rule 7 under the ‘Consent of the Surrogate Mother and Agreement for Surrogacy’ of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act had mandated that both the egg and the sperm should come from the intending couple.
Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) Syndrome is a rare congenital disorder that affects production of eggs and can cause infertility
- The latest amendment came after the Supreme Court last year received petitions from women across the country after it allowed a woman with a rare MRKH syndrometo avail surrogacy with a donor egg.
Key Provisions of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021
Regulation of Surrogacy:
- The Act prohibits commercial surrogacy, and allows altruistic surrogacy.
- The Act permits surrogacy when it is:
(i) for intending couples who suffer from proven infertility;
(ii) altruistic;
(iii) not for commercial purposes;
(iv) not for producing children for sale, prostitution or other forms of exploitation; and
(v) for any other condition or disease specified through regulations.
Eligibility Criteria for Surrogate Mother: To obtain a certificate from the appropriate authority, the surrogate mother has to:
(i) be a close relative of the intending couple;
(ii) be an ever-married woman having a child of her own;
(iii) be 25 to 35 years old;
(iv) not have been a surrogate mother earlier; and
(iv) have a certificate of medical and psychological fitness.
Further, the surrogate mother cant provide her own gamets for surrogacy
- Registration of Surrogacy Clinics: Surrogacy clinics cannot undertake surrogacy or its related procedures unless they are granted registration by the appropriate authority.
- National and State Surrogacy Boards: The central and state governments shall constitute the National Surrogacy Board (NSB) and the State Surrogacy Boards (SSBs), respectively.
Offences & Penalties:
The Act creates certain offences which include:
(i) undertaking or advertising commercial surrogacy;
(ii) exploiting the surrogate mother;
(iii) selling or importing human embryo or gametes for surrogacy, and
(iv) abandoning, exploiting or disowning a surrogate child/
These offences will attract a penalty of up to 10 years and a fine of up to 10 lakh rupees.
The Central government has modified the surrogacy rules to permit married couples opting for surrogacy to use donor gametes — a move that would come as a big relief to those with medical complications.
- The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, restricted married couples from getting donor gametes.
- A gamete is a reproductive cell. Female gametes are called ova or egg cells, and male gametes are called sperm.
- A fresh notification issued on 21 February by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said the couple undergoing surrogacy must use their own gametes for having a surrogate child.
- However, in case a District Magistrate Board certifies that either husband or wife suffers from a medical condition, then the couple can use a donor gamete.
- But the notification allows only one of the two partners – either wife or husband – to use a donor gamete.
- A child to be born through surrogacy must have at least one gamete from the intending parents.
- This means a married couple where both partners have medical issues or are unable to have their own gametes cannot opt for surrogacy.
- The modifications in the Surrogacy Rules by the Central government came after the Supreme Court doubted the correctness of the existing rules.
- Applications were filed by married women in the Supreme Court who were unable to conceive due to medical complications.
Germany legalises cannabis, but makes it hard to buy
- Under the new law, it will be possible to obtain up to 25 grams of the drug per day for personal use through regulated cannabis cultivation associations, as well as to have up to three plants at home.
- But possession and use of the drug will remain prohibited for anyone under 18.
- The changes will leave Germany with some of the most liberal cannabis laws in Europe, bringing it into line with Malta and Luxembourg, which legalised recreational use of the drug in 2021 and 2023 respectively.
- The Netherlands has also long been known for its liberal cannabis laws, but in recent years parts of the country have begun cracking down on sales to tourists and non-residents.
- Ahead of the vote, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach called on members of parliament to back the controversial law, arguing that “the situation we are in now is in no way acceptable”.
Cannabis Cultivation:
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Legal Provisions in India
- The central law that deals with cannabis (weed or marijuana) in India is the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, of 1985.
- The NDPS Act prohibits the sale and production of cannabis resin and flowers, but the use of leaves and seeds of the cannabis plant is permitted
- The states have the powerto regulate and form the state rules for
RBI to NPCI: Consider Paytm’s request for TPAP. What is it, how will it benefit users?
As the RBI has asked the Paytm Payments Bank Limited to shut operations by March 15, 2024, there will be no TPAP registration for the Paytm app to be able to provide UPI payment services.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the National Payment Council of India (NPCI) to examine the request of One97 Communications’ (OCL), which owns Paytm, to become a Third-Party Application Provider (TPAP) for continued Unified Payments Interface operation of the Paytm application.
- NPCI in 2020 came up with a directive to cap the share of transactions a third-party application provider (TPAP) could process at 30 per cent of the volume of transactions handled on UPI, effective January 1, 2021, which is to be calculated on the basis of the volume of transactions processed during the preceding three months.
- The NPCI had proposed a 30 per cent volume cap for third-party app providers (TPAP). Currently, there’s no cap on volume and Google Pay and PhonePe hold the market share of about 80 per cent.
- The timelines for compliance of existing TPAPs who are exceeding the volume cap, is extended by two (2) years i.e. till December 31, 2024 to comply with the volume cap
Third-party application provider (TPAP)
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Indo-South Korean JV mulls Rs.890 cr semiconductor OSAT facility in Telangana
- A joint venture of Hyderabad-based Advanced System in Package Technologies (ASIP) and South Korean semiconductor firm APACT has proposed a ₹890 crore semiconductor OSAT facility in Telangana.
- It is awaiting approval for the project under the India Semiconductor Mission, Industries and IT Minister D. Sridhar Babu’s office said after the leadership team of the JV partners met him on Wednesday and conveyed the interest to set up the project in the State.
India Stand in the Semiconductor Market
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India Semiconductor Mission
- The ISM was launched in 2021 with a total financial outlay of Rs76,000 crore under the aegis of the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY).
- It is part of the Comprehensive programme for the development of sustainable semiconductor and display ecosystem in the country.
- The programmeaims to provide financial support to companies investing in semiconductors, display manufacturing and design ecosystem.
- Envisioned to be led by global experts in the Semiconductor and Display industry, ISM will serve as the nodal agencyfor efficient, coherent and smooth implementation of the schemes.
Components:
Scheme for setting up of Semiconductor Fabs in India:
- It provides fiscal support to eligible applicants for setting up of Semiconductor Fabs which is aimed at attracting large investments for setting up semiconductor wafer fabrication facilitiesin the country.
Scheme for setting up of Display Fabs in India:
- It provides fiscal support to eligible applicants for setting up of Display Fabs which is aimed at attracting large investments for setting up TFT LCD / AMOLED based display fabrication facilitiesin the country.
Scheme for setting up of Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics / Sensors Fab and Semiconductor Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) / OSAT facilities in India:
- The Scheme provides a fiscal support of 30% of the Capital Expenditure to the eligible applicants for setting upof Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics (SiPh) / Sensors (including MEMS) Fab and Semiconductor ATMP / OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test) facilities in India.
Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme:
- It offers financial incentives, design infrastructure support across various stages of development and deployment of semiconductor design for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & IP Cores and semiconductor linked design.
Vision: To build a vibrant semiconductor and display design and innovation ecosystem to enable India’s emergence as a global hub for electronics manufacturing and design.
Significance:
- ISM is of paramount importance to organize efforts for promoting semiconductors and display industry in a more structured, focused, and comprehensive manner.
- It will formulate a comprehensive long-term strategy for developing semiconductors & display manufacturing facilities and semiconductor design ecosystem in the country.
- It willfacilitate the adoption of trusted electronics through secure semiconductors and display supply chains, including raw materials, specialty chemicals, gasses, and manufacturing equipment.
- It will enable a multi-fold growth of Indian semiconductor designindustry by providing requisite support in the form of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools, foundry services and other suitable mechanisms for early-stage startups.
- It will also promote and facilitate intellectual property indigenous generationand encourage, enable and incentivize Transfer of Technologies (ToT).
- ISM will enable collaborations and partnership programs with national and international agencies, industries and institutions for catalyzing collaborative research, commercialization and skill development.
US moon lander tipped sideways on lunar surface but ‘alive and well’
- The vehicle is believed to have caught one of its six landing feet on the lunar surface near the end of its final descent and tipped over, coming to rest sideways, propped up on a rock, an analysis of data by flight engineers showed, according to Houston-based Intuitive Machines.
The moon lander dubbed Odysseus is “alive and well” but resting on its side a day after its white-knuckle touchdown as the first private spacecraft ever to reach the lunar surface, and the first from the U.S. since 1972, the company behind the vehicle said on Friday.
Still, all indications are that Odysseus “is stable near or at our intended landing site” close to a crater called Malapert A in the region of the moon’s south pole, said Stephen Altemus, chief executive officer of Intuitive Machines, which built and flew the lander.
- Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus spacecraftachieves the first-ever commercial soft landing on the lunar surface, marking a historic moment in space exploration.
- The successful landing near Malapert A, close to the moon’s south pole, signifies a significant leap forward in private sector involvement in lunar exploration.
- This achievement revives American lunar exploration, breaking a decades-long hiatus since the Apollo era in 1972.
- The Nova-C lander, equipped with cutting-edge technology, overcame challenges during space travel to reach its lunar destination, demonstrating the resilience of private industry in pushing boundaries.
- Despite communication troubleshooting before touchdown, the mission team confirmed contact with the lunar surface, receiving a faint signal indicative of success.
- The global interest in lunar exploration is highlighted by India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission’s soft landing on the lunar surface in August 2023.
- NASA’s strategic choice of the lunar south pole for Odysseus’ landing site reflects a forward-looking approach to understanding and harnessing the lunar environment.
- The successful landing paves the way for future exploration and underscores the United States’ commitment to pushing the boundaries of space discovery.
- The achievement holds broader implications for future commercial spaceflight endeavors and contributes to unlocking the mysteries of the cosmos.
Odysseus
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Google clarifies Gemini AI not reliable on political topics after AI’s ‘biased’ reply on PM Narendra Modi
We’ve worked quickly to address this issue. Gemini is built as a creativity and productivity tool and may not always be reliable, especially when it comes to responding to some prompts about current events, political topics, or evolving news. This is something that we’re constantly working on improving,” -Google
Gemini is built in line with its AI Principles, and has safeguards to anticipate and test for a wide range of safety risks. Google also prioritises identifying and preventing harmful or policy-violating responses from showing in Gemini, it said.
Gemini AI model
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a set of technologies that enable computers to perform a variety of advanced functions, including the ability to see, understand and translate spoken and written language, analyze data, make recommendations, and more.
- It is a new multimodal general AI model, which means it can understand, and work with different formats, including text, code, audio, image, and video, at the same time
- It is now available to users across the world through Bard, some developer platforms and even the new Google Pixel 8 Pro devices.
- It can understand, explain and generate high-quality code in the world’s most popular programming languages, like Python, Java, C++ and Go.
- It comes in three sizes — the yet-to-be-launched Ultra, Pro and Nano.
- Gemini Ultra, the largest and most capable model, will be meant for highly complex tasks.
- It is available now only to select customers, developers, partners and safety and responsibility experts for early experimentation and feedback.
- Gemini Pro will be best at scaling across a wide range of tasks and is now available in Bard for regular users across the world.
- Gemini Nano will manage on-device tasks and is already available on Pixel 8 Pro, powering new features like Summarise in the Recorder app and Smart Reply via Gboar
Raisina Dialogue | Grey-zone warfare latest entry in lexicon of warfare, says Chief of Defence Staff
Gen. Anil Chauhan makes reference to China’s actions along the Line of Actual Control as well as the South China Sea; Navy chiefs of various countries stress need to work together and share information to counter aggression of some nations
In the Raisina Dialogue, the Chief of Defense staff Of India discussed the emergence of Grey Zone warfare in modern warfare.
Grey Zone Warfare:
- Definition: It has emerged as a battlefield-centric concept and is defined as the use of coercive measures to exploit the operational space between peace and war, that deliberately stay below a threshold so as not to prompt a conventional military response to alter the status quo which otherwise would have been attracted.
- In grey-zone warfare the dividend of the action is available only after a long time. The origin of this lies in a historical dispute that the aggressor nation justifies with their modern revisionist claims.
- Methods: It is characterized by sub-threshold activities including kinetic and non-kinetic methods by conventional military force and irregular proxies.
- Kinetic: It is the use of proxies for on-ground action or change of territorial status quo through coercion or militarisation of disputed features.
Example: China’s action in the South China Sea or Russia’s invasion of Crimea
Non-kinetic: These are provocative actions such as cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, election meddling, weaponisation of migrants, coercive use of trade and economic levers
Characteristics:
- Below the threshold of armed conflict: The grey zone activities remain below the threshold of igniting a full-fledged military offensive as a justified response, often through the use of non-military tools.
Example: Russia attack on Crimea and China’s action in South China sea is example of grey zone warfare
- Progressive unfolding of aggressive moves:The strategy followed here is aggressive-passive resistancebeing dragged over decades to keep the dispute alive on the one hand while also providing a false narrative of engaging in talks to resolve the dispute, thus deterring a decisive response.
Example: China’s use of the Salami Slicing tactics to change territorial status quo with its neighbours
- Risk of escalation:Grey zone aggression uses the risk of escalation as a source of coercive leverage and deter a decisive response.
Example: Chinese and Pakistan Incursion in the northern Himalayan borders of India.
- Lack of attributability: The aggressor country can simply deny their involvement and deflect response in most of the grey zone campaign which obstruct the potential for successful deterrence as it can simply shake of their responsibility.
Example: Cyberattacks or disinformation campaigns or the use of proxy forces, election meddling (Russia in USA elections)
- Targeting specific vulnerabilities: The grey zone campaigns target specific vulnerabilities in the targeted countries with targeted campaigns aimed at creating chaos.
Example: Funding terrorism and insurgency in other countries by arming splinter groups.
- Strategic ambiguity: Strong responses appears to be counterproductive as the aggressive country takes advantage of the strategic ambiguity in relations whereby there is a competing strategic, economic and domestic political reasons to not engage in full-fledged conflict.
Example: India’s ban of Chinese applications in the wake of Doklam standoff is not considered a strong response by India.
PAPA payload aboard Aditya-L1 detects solar wind impact of Coronal Mass Ejections
- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Friday said that the Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA) payload onboard the Aditya-L1 has been operational and performing nominally. “Its advanced sensors have successfully detected the impact of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) including those that occurred during February 10-11, 2024,” ISRO said.
- PAPA is an energy and mass analyzer designed for in-situ measurements of solar wind electrons and ions in the low energy range. It has two sensors: the Solar Wind Electron Energy Probe (SWEEP, measuring electrons in the energy range of 10 eV to 3 keV) and the Solar Wind Ion Composition Analyser (SWICAR, measuring ions in the energy range of 10 eV to 25 keV and mass range of 1-60 amu). The sensors are also equipped to measure the direction of arrival of solar wind particles.
Recently, the Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA) payload onboard the Aditya-L1 detected solar wind impact of Coronal Mass Ejections.
Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA):
- PAPA is an energy and mass analyzer.
- Purpose: Designed for in-situ measurements of solar wind electrons and ions in the low energy range.
Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)
- Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun’s corona into space.
- CMEs often look like huge, twisted ropes, which scientists call “flux ropes.”
- Frequency of Occurrence: It varies with the year’s solar cycle, (during solar minimum & Solar maximum)
- Effect: Various ground- and space-based technologies, including satellites, on the Earth.
- Their magnetic fields merge between the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) and geomagnetic field lines. This can result in significant increases in the rate of energy transfer from the solar wind and the magnetosphere.
- Because of this, CMEs are among the most important drivers of geomagnetic storms and substorms.
- These substorms cause the beautiful northern and southern auroral light often seen in the night sky at high latitudes.
- Wide range of plasma temperatures: It exhibits from cold chromospheric material (around 104 K) to hot plasma (around 107 K).
- As CMEs propagate through space, various processes can exchange energy, including electrical, kinetic, potential, and thermal, which can either heat or cool the plasma within them.
- Significance of Studying CMEs: For assessing theirimpact on Earth’s communication systems.
ADITYA-L1
Purpose:
L 1 Point/ Lagrange Point 1:
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