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Current Affairs for IAS Exams -10 February 2023
Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 10 February 2023
::NATIONAL::
Bru Tribe
- Over 14,000 Brus displaced from Mizoram have been registered to vote in Tripura since their rehabilitation process began in April 2021
About:
- Bru or Reang is a community indigenous to Northeast India, living mostly in Tripura, Mizoram and Assam. In Tripura, they are recognised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group.
- In Tripura, they are recognised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group.
- They belong to Indo-Mongoloid racial stock. Their languages have an affinity with Austro-Asiatic groups under the Tibeto-Burman family.
- Ethnically they are divided into 2 major clans namely Meska and Molsoi.
- Their language is known as “Kaubru” which has a tonal effect on the Kuki language though broadly it is the Kok-Borok dialect.
- Occupation: They are still a nomadic tribe and a large number among them maintain their livelihood involving Hilltop Jhum Cultivation and other food gathering activities.
- They believe in spirits and the existence of a soul.
- By religion they are Hindus and most of their deities are akin to gods and goddesses of the Hindu faith. Among Reangs followers of Vaishnavism are found in good numbers.
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Agnikul Cosmos
- Chennai-based space tech start-up Agnikul-Cosmos, has successfully conducted the flight acceptance test for its 3D printed rocket engine “Agnilet”.
About:
- Unlike other rocket engines, Agnilet was built in a single step, eliminating thousands of parts that are typically assembled in a conventional rocket engine.
- It is a semi-cryogenic engine, which uses a mixture of liquid kerosene at room temperature and super cold liquid oxygen as fuel.
- During the test, it generated sea level thrust of 6 kilo Newton.
- Agnilet Engine will power the company’s launch vehicle, Agnibaan, which is capable of carrying payloads of up to 100kg to a low-earth orbit.
- Launch of Agnibaan will be the second by a private firm - after Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace’s Viksram-S, which took place in November 2022.
- Earlier Agnikul also unveiled India’s first privately designed and operated rocket launchpad and mission control centre located at Sriharikota.
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::INTERNATIONAL::
Climate Inequality Report 2023
- According to the Climate Inequality Report 2023, the gap between the carbon emissions of the rich and the poor within a country, however, is higher than the difference in overall emissions among countries.
- Report, by World Inequality Lab, aims to shed light on variousdimensions of climate inequality and suggest pathways to tackleclimate inequalities.
Key Highlights of the report
- Top 10% of global carbon emitters generate almost half of allgreenhouse gas emissions.
- Difference between carbon emissions of the rich and poorwithin a country is now greater than differences in emissionsbetween countries.
- Climate Change aggravates low agricultural productivity inpoorer countries, as well as water scarcity and security.
- Carbon budgets required to eradicate poverty remain relativelylimited compared with global top emitters’ footprints.
Suggested pathways:
- Significant resources should be invested in production and collection of climate inequality statistics in all countries.
- Step-up efforts to honor climate finance pledges and further increase international development aid.
- Windfall taxes on excess profits could help to fund low-carbon investment.
- Developing countries also need to reform their domestic tax systems to redistribute more from the wealthy.
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Global Quality Infrastructure Index 2021
- India’s national accreditation system under the Quality Council of India (QCI) has been ranked 5th in the world in the recent Global Quality Infrastructure Index (GQII) 2021.
- The GQII ranks the 184 economies in the world on the basis of the quality infrastructure (QI).
- India’s overall QI system ranking continues to be in the Top 10 at the 10th position, with the standardization system (under BIS) at 9th and the metrology system (under NPL-CSIR) at the 21st position in the world.
About GQII:
- The GQII is an initiative of the independent consulting firms Mesopartner and Analyticar to research and disseminate data on Quality Infrastructure.
- It measures the relative development of countries’ quality infrastructure.
- A formula calculates a score for each country based on its position in the sub-rankings for metrology, standards and accreditation.
Key facts about the Quality Council of India
- It was established in 1997 jointly by the Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT), the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, and the Indian industry.
- It is registered as a non-profit organizationunder the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860.
- It is operated through the constituent Boards of QCI, primarily the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), and the National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories (NABL).
::Economy::
Free Float in Stocks
- Index provider MSCI said it has cut the free-float designations of four securities of Adani group, a move which analysts have warned could impact their index weightings.
- MSCI has reduced the free floats of Adani Enterprises, Adani Total Gas, Adani Transmission and ACC.
About:
- Free-float refers to those shares which are readily available for trading in the stock market.
- It generally excludes promoters’ holding, government / strategic holding and other locked-in shares, which will not come to the market for trading in the normal course.
- Any listed company has to ensure that at least 25% of its shareholding is with the public at large. Shares held by non-promoters — be it retail investors, mutual funds, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), and insurance companies — are called public float or public shareholding.
- Free float is generally defined as the number of outstanding shares minus the number of shares that are restricted from trading.
- This restriction comes from the fact that these shares belong strategic investors who do not usually negotiate their holdings.
- MSCI calculates free float-adjusted market-capitalization for each security.
- It is calculated by multiplying an equity’s share price to number of shares available in the market.
- Rather than using all of the shares (both active and inactive shares), the free-float method excludes locked-in shares, such as those held by insiders, promoters, and governments.
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::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::
Kilonova
- Researchers have confirmed the detection of a star system that will one day end in a kilonova.
- The newly found star system has been labelled CPD-29 2176 and is located about 11,400 light-years from the earth.
- CPD-29 2176 is currently a neutron star and a star orbiting each other.
About Kilonova:
- A kilonova is a cosmic event that occurs when a neutron star smashes into another neutron star or a black hole.
- It releases heavy metals like gold, silver, and selenium into outer space at tremendous velocities, as well as radiation.
- A kilonova radiation also accompanies a gamma-ray burst, one of the most energetic cosmic events ever known.
What is a Neutron star?
- The stars which are formed when a massive star runs out of fuel and collapses are called neutron stars
- The very central region of the star – the core – collapses, crushing together every proton and electron into a neutron.