April 4

April 4th current affairs

What is the context about?

 Pluto is at the centre of debate again. Scientists at the 48th annual Lunar and
Planetary Science Conference in Houston last month deliberated whether or
not to reinstate its planet-hood.

 The International Astronomical Union (IAU) had stripped Pluto of this
status in 2006.

 When Pluto was discovered in 1930, it was hailed as the ninth planet in the
solar system based on an overestimation of its size.

What is the outlining criteria for naming a planet?

A planet is a celestial body that
 is in orbit around that sun.
 has sufficient mass for its self gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that
it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and
 has cleared that neighbourhood around its orbit.

Why was Pluto demoted from its planetary status?

 When the IAU demoted Pluto to a “dwarf planet”, it spelt out above three
conditions that a celestial body must meet to qualify as a planet.

 Pluto follows the first two rules, but it hasn’t cleared the neighbourhood of
its orbit—which put it in the category of “dwarf planets”.

 It looked out of place among the larger planets following the discovery of
swarms of ‘ice dwarfs’—icy rocks in the Kuiper Belt, at the very edge of the
solar system billions of miles from the Sun.

 This prompted some astronomers to suggest that Pluto could be just another
Kuiper Belt Object (KBO)

Should Pluto regain its planetary status?

 Scientists argue that the icy dwarf had been wrongly demoted, and according
to them Pluto should be defined as a planet.

 The new geophysical definition instead brings to the forefront the intrinsic
properties of the body itself. It takes into account the fact that many of the
solar system’s worlds are physically complex and geologically active, from
Ceres’ ice volcano to Pluto’s slushy heart.

 Scientists argue that Pluto “has everything going on its surface that you
associate with a planet. There's nothing non-planet about it.”

 They define a planet as “a sub-stellar mass body that has never undergone
nuclear fusion,” that has enough gravitational heft to maintain a roughly
round shape, even if it bulges at the equator because of a three-way squeeze
of forces created by its gravity and the influence of both the sun and a
nearby larger planet.

2. Making men equal partners in childcare

GS paper 1 (Role of women)

Source:
http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/4DYaeXB011LLXGiS2FoMbK/Making-
men-equal-partners-in-childcare.html

What is the context about?

 As per the Central government’s decision, most provisions of the Maternity
Benefit (Amendment) Act came into force on 1 April 2017.

 With this, the duration of paid maternity leave increases from 12 weeks to
26.

 The development is being lauded as a historic change and a reason for
women to celebrate.

 While the amendment rightly recognizes some contemporary social
developments and introduces provisions around surrogacy and adoption
leave, it fails to address childcare leave for fathers, thus reinforcing the
belief that child-rearing is solely a woman’s responsibility.

Is parental leave a step forward towards gender equality?

 For the shared paternal leave, both mother and father will share
responsibilities, which will reinforce the equal status of mothers in the
household

 Giving fathers time off work helps evenly distribute childcare duties and
allows women to take care of their health, earn more money, and maintain
their careers.

 It will help in reducing the over-stressed situations faced by mothers post-
childbirth and the father’s help will ensure a healthy family in the long term.

 Break the patriarchal mindset of society that women should involve in
domestic work only, will help in improving gender equality.

Why parental leaves are need of hour?
 Increase in number of nuclear families – Mothers usually do not have the
traditional support systems.
 Having only maternity leave provisions disadvantages women in labour
markets.
 Women will not have to take prolonged career breaks – This enhances the
financial security and freedoms of women.
 It will give men an early opportunity to build strong bond with the baby.
 It will bring about a progressive change in perception of gender roles.

3. Finally, action on bad loans?

GS paper 3 ( Indian economy )

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/finally-action-on-
bad-loans/article17788501.ece

What is the context about?
 After nearly three years of dithering on the part of the National Democratic
Alliance government, there is hope now that we will see action in respect of
Indian banks’ bad loans.

 The Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have recently
sent out signals to the effect that they are determined to take the bull by its
horns.

 If they follow through, it will brighten the prospects of India’s growth rate
moving to 8% in the medium term.

 Bad loans — or non-performing assets (NPAs) — were 9% of total loans of
all Indian banks in September 2016.

Causes for Bad loans

 During the period from 2004-08 due to increase in economic growth
encouraged banks to give more and more loans. Failure of banks to recover
those loans have increased the count of bad loans.

 Earlier in 2000 when banks were suffering from bad loans, economic growth
in global market helped banks to recover from the loss. But this time when
bad loans are higher than ever and world economy is also not doing well,
this has further increased the problem.

 There have been many cases when banks have not done proper research
before lending loan to a borrower. There have been many wilful defaulters
most recent has been Vijay Mallya.

 Ups and downs in exchange rates, timetables, wrong assumptions of growth
rates have further aggravated the problem.

Steps taken by the government

 Bank Board Bureau has been formed to facilitate better professional
management of banks.

 Government has liberalized norms for setting up of Asset reconstruction
companies which can take over bad loans.

 Public Sector Assets Rehabilitation Agency was created to help banks to get
rid of their bad loans and NPAs by proper instruction to banks.

 Stressed Assets Funds( SAF )was created for the recovery of bad loans by
selling the troubled projects.

4. Chenani Nashri tunnel: PM Narendra Modi opens Asia's
longest tunnel

GS paper 3 ( Infrastructure)

Read more at:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/57972918.cms?utm_source=
contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

What is the context about?
 Chenani Nashri tunnel is recently opened and it provides a safer, shorter
route to the valley crossing through the heart of Himalayas.
 The 9.2 km tunnel, which will bypass snow and landslide-prone Kud,
Patnitop and Batote on National Highway 44.
 This marks significant road building in India, including an unprecedented
stress on user safety.

 The 9.2 km-long road tunnel that bores through the belly of the lower
Himalayas between Chenani in Udhampur district and Nashri in Ramban
district is an achievement of engineering.

 The tunnel incorporates India’s first fully integrated mechanism to externally
control everything from the movement of vehicles to the inflow and outflow
of air, and even the evacuation of passengers or vehicles in distress.

 It is located at an altitude of 1,200 metres (nearly 4,000 feet) in difficult
Himalayan terrain.

Significance of the tunnel

 It will reduce the travel time on National Highway 44 between Jammu and
Srinagar by about 2 hours by shortening the distance between the cities by
30 km.

 And will altogether bypass Kud, Patnitop and Batote, locations where the
highway is prone to being blocked by snow and landslides.

 It will help save 27 lakhs worth of fuel between the two areas.

 It provided better connectivity to Doda, Bhaderwah, Kisthwar.

 It preserves ecologically sensitive forests in Patnitop area.

What are the key tunnels in Jammu and Kashmir?

 JAWAHAR TUNNEL, named after India’s Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the
2.85 km long tunnel connecting Banihal in Jammu with Qazigund in the
Valley was built at an elevation of 2,194 m.

 The Border Roads Organisation renovated it in 1960, giving it a 2-way
ventilation system, pollution and temperature sensors, lighting system and
emergency phones.

 NANDNI TUNNELS, beneath the Nandni wildlife sanctuary, of lengths
between 210 m and 540 m, adding up to a combined length of 1.4 km.

 They bypass several kilometres of twisty roads; reduce Jammu-Udhampur
travel time by more than 30 minutes.

5. A method to efficiently get potable water from seawater

GS paper 3 (Science and Technology- developments and their applications
and effects in everyday life)

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/the-magic-

sieve/article17788508.ece

What is the context about?

Producing potable water through desalination may become more efficient and less
energy-intensive if researchers at the University of Manchester are able to
successfully use graphene oxide (GO) membranes to filter common salts in
seawater on a commercial scale.

How graphene oxide (GO) membranes can be used?

 The use of GO as a molecular sieve to filter common salts from seawater
while allowing water to pass through it is already known.

 But GO membranes have a tendency to slightly swell when immersed in
water and this results in increased spacing between successive sheets (akin
to increasing the pore size of a sieve).

 The increased spacing allows smaller salts to flow through the membrane
along with water without being filtered.

India’s potential to produce potable water from desalination
 India has a long coastline of 7500 km which is a huge amount of Sea water.

 Mostly with the advancements in technology the cost of disalination will
come down eventually.

 With desalination production of salt also increases - India is already 3rd
largest salt producer after China and US.

 India is a water hungry nation and with 57% area drought prone it is wise to
utilise the abundant resource.

 Most island nations have adopted it and Israel is the leader in Sea water
utilisation - Technology transfer.

 Producing potable water through desalination may become more efficient
and less energy-intensive if use graphene oxide (GO) membranes to filter
common salts in seawater on a commercial scale.

Limitations

 Technology development is yet to reduce cost of desalination even more (61
Paisa is still High considering the quantity of water needed - It is feasible for
small islands).

 The high energy cost to evacuate desalinised water is a hurdle - India with
large geographical area and population is still struggling to become energy
surplus.

 Environment issues: (1) loss of aquatic life at the intake of sea water to RO
plant (2) continuous discharge of the rejected concentrated salt solution,
called brine into the sea impacts marine life and (3) greenhouse gas
emissions (GHG) from power plant.