Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 20 December 2020

::NATIONAL::

A three-member Committee chaired by former Supreme Court judge D.K. Jain is scheduled to begin work on unravelling the rogue officials responsible for the infamous ISRO “frame-up” case of 1994, which destroyed the life and reputation of Nambi Narayanan, one of the country’s prominent space scientists.

The Justice Jain committee is expected to sit at Thiruvananthapuram on December 14 and 15.
The panel is having its first sitting two years after the Supreme Court constituted it in September 2018 to find “ways and means to take appropriate steps against the erring officials.”
It could either opt to function from Delhi or hold meetings at an appropriate place in Kerala.
At the time of his arrest on November 30, 1994, Mr. Narayanan was working on cryogenic engine technology at the premier Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The police investigators had accused him of passing on documents and drawings of ISRO relating to Viking/Vikas engine technology, cryogenic engine technology and PSLV flight data/drawings to Pakistan.
But the Supreme Court dismissed the case in 2018 as a criminal frame-up based on “some kind fancy or notion.” It said Mr. Narayanan’s career was “smothered.”
The scientist himself had said the prosecution launched by the Kerala Police had a “catastrophic effect” on his career and personal life, besides setting back the technological advancement in space research.
The CBI, which took over the probe from the Kerala Police, had promptly filed a closure report in 1996. But Mr. Narayanan fought on to bring his accusers to justice.

User trials of the indigenous Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) jointly with private industry.
These are scheduled to be resumed later this month and proceed with winter and summer trials to be completed by mid-next year.
Trials which began in September were paused after the gun suffered a barrel burst and an investigation is under way to determine the cause.
The ATAGS is a 155mm, 52 calibre artillery gun jointly developed by the DRDO in partnership with Bharat Forge of the Kalyani Group and the Tata Power SED.

Recently, World bank has corrected the 2018 and 2020 reports EODB ranking based on an internal audit following officials’ allegations of “undue pressure” by management to alter ratings.
It has resulted in change in ranking of China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan.
India’s ranking (63rd in 2020), however, has remained unaffected.
Ease of Doing Business is published by World Bank annually.
Ease of doing business is an aggregate figure that includes different parameters which define the ease of doing business in a country.

Hawker culture in Singapore has gained recognition on UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Dating far back to the 1800s, hawker culture in Singapore originated from the early migrant population selling quick, affordable meals on street pavements, in town squares and parks.
The delicacies being cooked served and eaten on the spot by hungry passers-by.
After a couple of centuries and the Singapore, government has sought to bring hawkers under one roof.
Hawker centers have now become a safe, clean, open kitchen where customers can watch exactly how their food is being prepared and served.
In every direction one can find a dizzying array of dishes and drinks to choose from.
Hawker culture is shared by everyone living in the city, regardless of age, ethnicity and nationality.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) and India signed a $4.21 million Project Readiness Financing (PRF) facility for infrastructure development projects to improve urban amenities and develop tourism infrastructure in Tripura.
This is ADB’s first PRF facility for a north eastern state.
PRF document describes the smooth transition from preparation to implementation of the project to minimize contracting delays and speed up the initial disbursements.
ADB is a regional development bank established in 1966 headquartered in Manila, Philippines.
Top 5 shareholders: Japan (15.6%), USA (15.6%), China (6.4%), India (6.3%) and Australia (5.8%).

After nearly 400 years, Saturn and Jupiter – the two largest planets in our solar system – will be brought closest in the night sky by an astronomical event called the “great conjunction” and popularly referred to as the “Christmas Star”.
On December 21, almost all the viewers across the world will be able to see the two gas giants very close to each other, while they will still be hundreds of millions of miles apart in space.
The event will coincide with the winter solstice (shortest day of the year in terms of hours of sunlight received) in the Northern Hemisphere and summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.

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A conjunction is not unique to Saturn and Jupiter however, it is the name given to any event where planets or asteroids appear to be very close together in the sky when viewed from the Earth. In June 2005 for instance, as a result of the “spectacular” conjunction, Mercury, Venus and Saturn appeared so close together in the sky that the patch of sky where the three planets were could be covered by a thumb. Astronomers use the word “great” for the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn because of the planets’ sizes.
The “Great Conjunction” happens once in about 20 years because of the time each of the planets take to orbit around the Sun. Jupiter takes roughly 12 years to complete one lap around the Sun and Saturn takes 30 years (Saturn has a larger orbit and moves more slowly because it is not as strongly influenced by the Sun’s gravitational force as planets that are closer to the Sun).