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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 18 May 2022

::NATIONAL::

Urban Heat Island

Several parts of the country are reeling under heat wave conditions. Cities, especially, are a lot hotter than rural areas. This is due to a phenomenon called an “urban heat island”.

About:

An urban heat island is a local and temporary phenomenon experienced when certain pockets within a city experience higher heat load than surrounding or neighbouring areas on the same day.
For example, a greener locality like Pashan in Pune often records cooler temperatures than urban areas like Shivajinagar, Chinchwad or Magarpatta.
The variations are mainly due to heat remaining trapped within locations that often resemble concrete jungles.
The temperature variation can range between 3 to 5 degrees Celsius.

Causes:

Rural areas have relatively larger green cover in the form of plantations, farmlands, forests and trees as compared to urban spaces. This green cover plays a major role in regulating heat in its surroundings.
Transpiration is a natural way of heat regulation. This is the scientific process of roots absorbing water from the soil, storing it in the leaves and stems of plants, before processing it and releasing it in the form of water vapour.
On the contrary, urban areas lack sufficient green cover or gardens and are often developed with highrise buildings, roads, parking spaces, pavements and transit routes for public transport. As a result, heat regulation is either completely absent or man-made.
Physics teaches us that black or any dark coloured object absorbs all wavelengths of light and converts them to heat, while white reflects it.

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Endosulfan

The Supreme Court has slammed the Kerala government for doing “virtually nothing” for Endosulfan pesticide exposure victims. The court said the State’s inaction was “appalling” and amounted to a breach of the apex court’s 2017 judgment, which had ordered the State to pay ₹5 lakh each to the victims in three months.

About:

Endosulfan is an off-patent organochlorine insecticide and acaricide that is being phased out globally.
It became a highly controversial agrichemical due to its acute toxicity, potential for bioaccumulation, and role as an endocrine disruptor.
Because of its threats to human health and the environment, a global ban on the manufacture and use of endosulfan was negotiated under the Stockholm Convention in April 2011. The ban has taken effect in mid-2012.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Reunion

The navies of India and France concluded their second joint patrolling in the South-Western Indian Ocean last week, while an Australian P-8 maritime patrol aircraft is expected in India next month on a reciprocal visit, underscoring India’s continued focus on expanding maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

Key highlights:

During the five days from May 9 to 13, an Indian Navy P-8I aircraft was deployed from the French island of La Reunion to carry out “joint surveillance and patrolling operations” with the French Navy in the South-Western Indian Ocean.
Two French Floréal-class surveillance frigates, the Floréal and the Nivôse, took part in the deployment, with focus on anti-smuggling. In order to increase the level of interoperability, French sailors were taken onboard the P-8I.
It is the second time that France and India have carried out “joint patrolling” out of La Reunion.
This type of operation demonstrates how Indo-French naval cooperation serves as net security provider in the region.

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Reunion:

Réunionis an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France.
It is located approximately 950km east of the island of Madagascar and 175 km southwest of the island of Mauritius.

Iran Nuclear Deal

Iran and the EU are waiting for a response from Washington to new proposals and initiatives aimed at restarting talks on the Iran nuclear deal, said by Iranian foreign ministry.

About:

The European Union (EU) said that talks aimed at restoring Iran’s 2015 Nuclear Deal have beenreopened after two-months of deadlock.
Iran Nuclear Agreement, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is anaccord signed between Iran and P5+1 nations (US, UK, China, Russia, France and Germany) in 2015.

Objective:
To cut Iran’s ability to pursue a nuclear weapon and reverse economic sanctions through:
1.   Strict limitations on Iran Nuclear Programme;
2.   Extensive monitoring of Iran’s Nuclear Facilities by IAEA; and
3.   Relief to Iran from sanctions by the US and EU.

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::ECONOMY::

National Startup Advisory Council

The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal chaired the 4th meeting of National Startup Advisory Council (NSAC) in New Delhi.

About:

Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had constituted the National Startup Advisory Council to advise the Government on measures needed to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country to drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities.
Besides the ex-officio members, the council has non-official members, representing various stakeholders such as founders of successful startups. industry associations.
The Minister also launches NavIC Grand Challenge aimed at promoting adoption of NavIC as geo-positioning solution for digital Aatmanirbharta.
The applications for the grand challenge are open on Startup India’s website (www.startupindia.gov.in) and it aims to identify and handhold solutions of startups which are engaged in developing NavIC enabled drones.

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::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

6G services

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that He also said that India should be ready to launch 6G services in the next ten years, for which a task force has already started its work.

About:

Speaking at a programme marking the 25 years of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), PM Modi said, “5G will contribute $450 billion to the Indian economy. Not just the speed of the Internet, 5G will also increase the speed of economic development and employment generation. By the end of this decade, we should be able to launch 6G services, and our task force has started working on it”.
5G technology will contribute $450 billion to India’s economy in the next decade and a half.
He also launched an indigenous 5G test bed developed as a multi-institute collaborative project by a total of eight institutes led by IIT Madras.

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