Important TNPSC Current Affairs April (01-10) 2021

Topic: Latest Diary of Events

Military farms

Military farms have been closed after 132 years of service. The formal closing ceremony was held recently.

What are military farms?

The farms were set up with the sole requirement of supplying hygienic cow milk to troops in garrisons across British India. The first military farm was raised on February 1, 1889, at Allahabad.

Post-Independence, they flourished with 30,000 heads of cattle in 130 farms all over India. They were even established in Leh and Kargil in the late 1990s. For more than a century, the farms supplied 3.5 crore litres of milk and 25,000 tonnes of hay yearly.

Suggestions for closure:

In 2012, the Quarter Master General branch had recommended their closure.

In December 2016, the Lt. Gen. D.B. Shekatkar (retd.) committee, which was appointed to recommend measures to enhance combat capability and rebalance defence expenditure of the armed forces.

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Topic: General Administration, Latest Diary of Events

What is Article 244(A) of the Constitution?

Recently, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a video message promised to implement Article 244 (A) of the Constitution in order to safeguard the interests of the people in tribal-majority districts of Assam.

What is Article 244(A) of the Constitution?

Article 244(A) of the Constitution allows the creation of an ‘autonomous state’ within Assam in certain tribal areas. It was inserted into the Constitution by the Congress government in the year 1969. It also includes a provision for a Legislature and a Council of Ministers.

How the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution is different from Article 244(A)?

The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution — Articles 244(2) and 275(1) — is a special provision that allows decentralized governance and greater political autonomy in certain tribal areas of the Northeast through autonomous councils that are administered by elected representatives. If we talk about Assam, the hill districts of Karbi Anglong, West Karbi, Dima Hasao, and the Bodo Territorial Region are under the provision of the 6th schedule.

On the other hand, Article 244(A) provides more autonomous powers to tribal areas.

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Topic: Profile of  States, Latest Diary of Events

Mahendragiri: Odisha’s Second Biosphere Reserve

The Odisha state government has proposed a second biosphere reserve in the southern part of the state at Mahendragiri. It is a mountain in the Gajapati district of the state. It is at an altitude of 1,501 metres. Mahendragiri is also the second-highest peak in the state.

Key facts:

The area of the proposed 2nd biosphere reserve of the state- Mahendragiri Biosphere Reserve is approximately 470,955 hectares.

As per a feasibility report prepared by the Biosphere Reserve Committee for the proposed project, the hill ecosystem is acting as a transitional zone between the flora and fauna of southern India and the Himalayas. This makes the region an ecological estuary of genetic diversity.

The feasibility report has been submitted to the government which will now be taken up by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Recently, at a workshop titled Integrated Development of Mahendragiri Hill Complex, many environmentalists also urged the state government to send a proposal to centre for declaring Mahendragiri a biosphere reserve.

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Topic: New inventions on Science and Technology

What is Carnivac-Cov Vaccine?

The first animal vaccine against the novel coronavirus in the world has been registered in Russia. It was announced by the country’s agriculture safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor.

Key facts:

The world’s first animal vaccine against the novel coronavirus has been named as Carnivac-Cov. As per the watchdog, the immunity will last for 6 months after the vaccination. However, the developers of the dose are continuously analyzing this.

As per Rosselkhoznadzor, the mass production of the Covid-19 vaccine is expected to start as early as April 2021. As per Russian scientists, the use of this vaccine can prevent the development of virus mutations in animals.

All about Carnivac-Cov: Carnivac-Cov vaccine for animals has been developed by a unit of Rosselkhoznadzor (Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance).

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Topic: Latest Diary of Events

Indian Railway Electrification: New record

The Indian Railways has achieved the highest ever electrification of sections during 2020-21. It has covered 6,015 kilo metres of electrification in a single year. This is 37% higher than that achieved in 2019-20.

About the achievements:

The Broad-Gauge network of Indian Railway currently stand at 63,949 kilo metres. Of this 71% has been electrified. In the last seven years, the electrification of Indian Railways has increased by seven times. Totally 45,881 kilometres has been electrified. Of this 34% were electrified in the last three years.

The Indian Railways has also commissioned a record of 56 Traction Substations in 2020-21. In 2019-20, this was 42. Thus, the traction sub stations have increased by 33%.

Some of the major routes electrified in 2020-21 are Delhi-Darbhanga-Jaynagar, Mumbai-Howrah, Gorakhpur-Varanasi, Chennai-Trichy and Jabalpur-Nainpur-Gondia-Ballarshah.

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Topic: New Appointments

48^th Chief Justice of India: Justice Ramana

Justice N V Ramana, who was recently appointed as the Chief Justice of India is to assume charge on April 24, 2021. He is to take charge a day after the retirement of CJI Sharad Arvind Bobde. Justice Ramana is to take over as the 48th Chief Justice of India.

Justice Ramana:

Justice Ramana was born in 1957 in Ponnavaram village of Andhra Pradesh. He was enrolled as an advocate in 1983. He became the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court in 2013. In 2014, he was appointed as the judge of the Supreme Court.

In 2016, he was a part of the five-bench Constitution bench that ordered restoration of Congress Government in Arunachal Pradesh. In November 2019, Justice Ramana led bench ordered floor test for the then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to prove his majority in the house.

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Topic: Discovery of Rare Species

Three-branded Rosefinch: New bird species in India

A team of scientists from the Bombay Natural History Society recorded a new species of bird. It has been identified as the three banded Rosefinch. The new bird species was identified while exploring the high-altitude coniferous forests of Arunachal Pradesh.

Three branded Rosefinch:

The three branded Rosefinch is a resident of southern China and a vagrant in Bhutan. Vagrant is a person with no home.

The bird was first photographed at an altitude of 3,852 meters above the sea level. It was seen along with the flock of white browed Rosefinch. The white browed Rosefinch is commonly seen in this landscape.

According to the scientists the three branded rosefinch may be using the high altitude temperate coniferous forests of Arunachal Pradesh as a passage while they were migrating from China to Bhutan.

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Topic: Science and Technology

NASA’s Ingenuity to make first flight attempt

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter of NASA is to make its first flight. With this, Ingenuity will make history of becoming the first controlled aircraft to fly in another planet.

Ingenuity Helicopter:

The Ingenuity Helicopter is a part of the Mars 2020 Mission of NASA. It will serve as a technology demonstrator for the potential use of flying probes in other worlds. It was carried to the Martian surface by the Perseverance rover that landed at the Octavia Butler Landing site in Jezero crater.

The Ingenuity carries a piece of fabric from the wing of Wright Flyer. The Wright Flyer is the airplane of the Wright Brothers.

Challenges:

The atmosphere of Mars is only one-hundredth as dense as that of the atmosphere of the earth. It is harder for an aircraft to generate a lift at such less dense atmospheric conditions. Such conditions are equivalent to the earth’s atmosphere at a height of 30,000 metres. The existing helicopters on the earth have never reached such a height. However, Ingenuity cleared all the tests that were held on the earth in 2019 in simulated Mars atmosphere.

Mars 2020:

The Mars 2020 mission is a part of Mars Exploration Programme of NASA. It was launched from the earth in July 2020. It reached Mars in February 2021.

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Topic: Latest inventions on Science and Technology

AI Portal SUPACE

Recently, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) launched an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based portal ‘SUPACE’ in the judicial system aimed at assisting judges with legal research.

SUPACE is short for Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Court’s Efficiency.

Earlier, the E-Courts Project was conceptualised on the basis of “National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Indian Judiciary – 2005” submitted by the e-Committee of the Supreme Court.

About SUPACE:

It is a tool that collects relevant facts and laws and makes them available to a judge. It is not designed to take decisions, but only to process facts and to make them available to judges looking for an input for a decision.

Initially, it will be used on an experimental basis by the judges of Bombay and Delhi High Courts who deal with criminal matters.

Significance:

It will produce results customized to the need of the case and the way the judge thinks. This will be time saving. It will help the judiciary and the court in reducing delays and pendency of cases.

AI will present a more streamlined, cost effective and time bound means to the fundamental right of access to justice. It will make the service delivery mechanism transparent and cost-efficient.

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Topic: Awards and Honours

Dadasaheb Phalke Award

Rajinikanth has been conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2019.

He was also honored with the Padma Bhushan (2000) and the Padma Vibhushan (2016) by the Government of India. He was awarded for the year 2019, in 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic.

About the Award:

Dadasaheb Phalke award is India’s highest award in cinema. It is presented annually at the National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals (an organisation set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting).

The award prize consists of a golden lotus, a cash prize of ₹10 lakh and a shawl. The award is given to people for their “outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema”.

It was first presented in 1969. The first recipient of the award was actress Devika Rani, “the first lady of Indian cinema.”

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Topic: Latest inventions on Science and Technology

NanoSniffer

It is a microsensor based explosive trace detector. It is the world’s first microsensor based Explosive Trace Detector (ETD) developed by NanoSniff Technologies, an IIT Bombay incubated startup.

NanoSniffer is a 100% ‘Made in India’ product in terms of research, development & manufacturing. The core technology of NanoSniffer is protected by patents in the U.S. & Europe.

NanoSniffer can detect explosives in less than 10 seconds and it also identifies and categorizes explosives into different classes.