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.

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