Important TNPSC Current Affairs April (11-20) 2021

Topic: Profile of States, Latest Diary of Events

Endangered Irrawaddy dolphins count increase in Chilika Lake

The Chilika Development Authority and the State Wildlife Wing recently carried out an annual dolphin census in the Chilika lake. According to the report of the census, the overall Irrawaddy dolphin population in the lake has increased from 146 to 162 in 2021.

What are the reasons behind the increase in Irrawaddy Dolphins population?

The main reason behind the increase in the population of the Endangered Irrawaddy Dolphin population is the persistent enforcement by the Chilika Development Authority (CDA). The authority has taken strict actions against the encroachment in the Chilika lake. Around 25,223 hectares in the lake were under illegal prawn gheries.

In 2019, the Odisha High Court ordered to demolish prawn gheries in the wetlands of the state. Since 2018, the CDA has freed up 15,163 hectares from encroachment. Also, restriction on tourism in 2020 due to COVID-19 gave the dolphins an inviolate space.

Key Findings of the Census:

The census found 342 dolphins of three species in the lake. There were only 62 of these species the previous year. Around 281 humpback dolphins and twenty-two bottle nose dolphins were sighted by the survey.

Irrawaddy Dolphins:

The Irrawaddy Dolphins have been listed under Endangered category in the IUCN Red List. The Dolphin distribution in Chilika lake is the highest single lagoon population. These dolphins are mainly found in three rivers namely Mekong (China), Irrawaddy (Myanmar) and Mahakam (Indonesian Borneo).

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Topic: International Events

UAE names first Female Astronaut

Noura al Matroushi has been named as the first Female Astronaut of UAE.

Noura al-Matroushi was selected as the first female astronaut of UAE from four thousand other applicants. She is to be trained with NASA for future space exploration missions. Noura is to be accompanied by Mohammed al-Mulla. Both astronauts are to be trained with Johnson Space Centre of NASA located in Houston, Texas.

About Noura al-Matroushi:

Noura was born in 1993. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the UAE University. She is currently working as an engineer at the National Petroleum Construction Company. She acted as the Vice President of the Youth Council of the company. Noura is also a member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

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Topic: New Appointments

Sushil Chandra: Next Chief Election Commissioner

Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra recently took over as the new Chief Election Commissioner of India.

About Sushil Chandra:

Sushil Chandra was appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner by the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind. He was appointed as the Election Commissioner along with Ashok Lavasa and Arora in 2019. He will oversee the completion of the ongoing assembly elections.

His term will end in 2022. Before that assembly elections will be held in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Manipur, and Uttarakhand. Earlier he had served as the Chairperson of the Central Board of Direct Taxes. In 2017, he launched “Operation Clean Money” to curb illegal wealth and black money in the country.

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Topic: Latest Diary of Events

Ambedkar Jayanti: April 14

Every year India celebrates Ambedkar Jayanti or Bhim Jayanti on April 14. The day is also called Ambedkar Remembrance Day. Since 2015, April 14 is observed as an official public holiday in India.

About Ambedkar:

Ambedkar was born on April 14, 1891. He struggled for equality throughout his life. Thus, his birthday is also celebrated as “Equality Day”. India has placed a demand to celebrate his birthday as International Equality Day to the United Nations.

He was also known as Babasaheb Ambedkar. In 1956, he converted to Buddhism.

In 1932, he signed Poona Pact with Madan Mohan Malaviya. Malaviya signed it on behalf of Gandhi. According to the agreement, reserved seats were provided for depressed classes. Because of the pact, the depressed classes received one hundred and forty-eight seats instead of seventy one seats.

In 1936, Ambedkar founded Independent Labour Party. After Lahore resolution, in 1940, he wrote a book called “Thoughts on Pakistan”. The book analysed the concept of Pakistan. In his other book called “Who were the Shudras?”, Ambedkar wrote about the untouchables. Ambedkar was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of Constituent Assembly.

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Topic: International Events

Facebook’s First Renewable Project in India

The Facebook has recently signed a deal to buy renewable energy in India from a local firm called CleanMax. This is the first renewable project of Facebook in India.

About the project:

The project is located in Karnataka. The project capacity of 32 MW. Under the project Facebook and CleanMax will work together to provide renewable energy into the electrical grid of India.

Facebook is to use the renewable energy purchased from CleanMax to power its data centre. The Facebook is to start the operations of the data centre in 2022.

Facebook had made similar agreements with energy providers in Singapore such as Terrenus Energy, Sunseap Group, Sembcorp industries. These projects are capable of producing 160 MW of solar power.

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Topic: Sports and Medals

Asian Wrestling Championship: Vinesh Phogat wins Gold

The Indian Wrestler Vinesh Phogat has won her maiden Gold at the Asian Wrestling Championship. She won the medal beating Taipei’s Meng Hsuan Hsieh.

Key facts:

Vinesh had earlier won four bronze and three silver medals. This is her third gold medal, but first at the Asian Wrestling Championship. Vinesh Phogat is an Indian wrestler. She was the first Indian woman to win gold at Asian Games and Common Wealth. Also, she was the first Indian athlete to be nominated for Laureus World Sports Awards.

She won Arjuna Award in 2016, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 2020. Also, she was a Padma Shri nominee in 2018 by the Sports Authority of India.

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Topic: Latest Diary of Events

Khanjar: India-Kyrgyztan Military Exercise

India and Kyrgyztan recently held a joint Special Force Military Exercise called the “Khanjar”. The exercise was held at Bishek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

The exercise was held for two weeks. It will focus on counter-terrorism and high-altitude and mountain trainings. The Khanjar exercise is held annually between India and Kyrgyzstan since 2011.

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Topic: International Events

Sputnik V Vaccine

Sputnik V, the vaccine against Covid-19 developed by Russia, has been cleared for emergency use by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). It is now the third coronavirus vaccine to get emergency use approval, after Covishield (Serum Institute of India) and Covaxin (Bharat Biotech).

Key facts:

The Sputnik V vaccine has been developed by Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow. It uses two different viruses that cause the common cold (adenovirus) in humans.

The adenoviruses are weakened so they cannot replicate in humans and cannot cause disease.

They are also modified so that the vaccine delivers a code for making the coronavirus spike protein. This aims to ensure that when the real virus tries to infect the body, it can mount an immune response in the form of antibodies.

Sputnik uses a different vector for each of the two shots in a course of vaccination. This provides immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.

The two shots are given 21 days apart.

Sputnik V is to be stored at -18°C in its liquid form. However, in its freeze-dried form, it can be stored at 2-8°C, in a conventional refrigerator without any need to invest in additional cold-chain infrastructure.

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Topic: International Events

Baikal-GVD Telescope

Russian scientists have launched one of the world’s biggest underwater neutrino telescopes called the Baikal-GVD (Gigaton Volume Detector) in the waters of Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest lake situated in Siberia.

The construction of this telescope, which started in 2016, is motivated by the mission to study in detail the elusive fundamental particles called neutrinos and to possibly determine their sources.

About Baikal-GVD Telescope:

It is one of the three largest neutrino detectors in the world along with the IceCube at the South Pole and ANTARES in the Mediterranean Sea.

GVD is designed to detect high-energy neutrinos that may have come from the Earth’s core, or could have been produced during nuclear reactions in the Sun.

It will aid scientists’ understanding of the origins of the universe since some neutrinos were formed during the Big Bang, others continue to be formed as a result of supernova explosions or because of nuclear reactions in the Sun.

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Topic: Latest Diary of Events

World Heritage Day

Every year, 18th April is celebrated as ‘International Day for Monuments and Sites’, also known as ‘World Heritage Day’. The theme for the year 2021 is “Complex Pasts: Diverse Futures”.

Key facts:

The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) established the day in 1982 and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) approved it in 1983.

The aim of the Day is to create awareness about Heritage among communities.