IASbaba's Daily Current Affairs Analysis

IAS UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 26th March 2019

(PRELIMS + MAINS FOCUS)

SC asks EC to increase the VVPAT count

Part of: GS Mains II – Polity; Constitutional bodies; Role of Judiciary

In news:

Supreme Court held that VVPATs were “working absolutely right” and everything that the ECI did was based on expert statistical data.
SC said it was in favour of increasing the random physical verification of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
However, the EC said the current practice of physically checking the VVPAT paper slips of one randomly selected polling station in an Assembly constituency and each Assembly segment in the case of the Lok Sabha election was “all that is needed.”
The court directed the Election Commission to explain why it seemed to be “fully satisfied” with restricting the counting of VVPATs to one polling station.

Do you know?

Swamy case – In 2013, in the Subramanian Swamy case, the Supreme Court held that the paper trail through VVPAT of votes cast was an indispensable requirement of free and fair elections.
It was the SC which pushed EC into introducing the VVPATs in the first place. Supreme Court had faced stiff opposition from the Election Commission while brining in VVPATs.

Garibi Hatao 2.0: Rahul Gandhi promises to wipe out poverty (About NYAY)

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains II – Government schemes and policies; Welfare/Poverty issue

In news:

Congress president Rahul Gandhi announced that 20% of the poorest families in the country would be annually given 72,000 each under the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) or minimum income guarantee, if his party was voted to power.
Gandhi asserted that five crore families and 25 crore people would be lifted out of poverty under NYAY – the acronym to convey a sense of ‘justice’ for the poor.

Chandrayaan 2 to carry NASA’s laser instruments to Moon

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains III – Science and Technology; Space Missions

In news:

Chandrayaan 2 – is India’s lunar mission scheduled to launch next month
Chandrayaan 2 will carry NASA’s laser instruments
NASA’s laser instruments to help scientists to make precise measurements of the distance to the Moon
Israeli lander Beresheet to also carry NASA-owned laser retroreflector arrays.

Do you know?

Retroreflectors are essentially sophisticated mirrors. Scientists on Earth can shoot them with lasers and study the light that is reflected back. That signal can help pinpoint precisely where the lander is, which scientists can use to calculate its — and the moon’s — distance from Earth.

About Chandrayaan 2

India’s second lunar exploration mission after Chandrayaan 1.
Developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the mission is planned to be launched to the Moon by a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III).
It includes a lunar orbiter, lander and rover, all developed by India.
Chandrayaan-2 is scheduled to launch in April 2019 and will attempt to soft land a lander and rover in a high plain between two craters, Manzinus C and Simpelius N, at a latitude of about 70degree south.
If successful, Chandrayaan-2 will be the second mission to land a rover near the lunar south pole.

ISRO’s PSLV-C45 project or Emisat mission

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains III – Science and Technology; Space Missions

In news:

PSLV-C45/Emisat mission scheduled to lift-off from Sriharikota on April 1^st will be a memorable one for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

PSLV-C45 will mark the 47th flight of the PSLV.
It will be ISRO’s first attempt at placing payloads in three different orbits.
436 kg Emisat — will be injected into a 749 km orbit. Emisat, the chief payload on PSLV-C45, is meant for electromagnetic spectrum measurements, according to the ISRO.
After that, the fourth stage of the rocket will be manoeuvred to a 504 km orbit for releasing 28 international satellites.
Once that job is over, the fourth stage will be restarted and guided to an altitude of 485 km.
This stage will serve as an orbital platform for space-based experiments. This is another first for the ISRO. Normally, the spent stage simply becomes space junk.
The orbital platform will also sport solar panels, which too is a first.
The launch vehicle itself is a new variant, designated PSLV-QL.
For the first time, ISRO will be employing four XL strap-on motors on the first stage.

Do you know?

One of the three experiments aboard the orbital platform is the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST)’s Advanced Retarding Potential Analyser for Ionospheric Studies (ARIS).
ARIS will study the structure and composition of the ionosphere.
The other two experimental payloads aboard the orbital platform are the Automatic Identification system (AIs), an ISRO payload for maritime satellite applications, and the Automatic Packet Repeating System (APRS), meant to assist amateur radio operators.