Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 27 December 2022

::NATIONAL::

IMD predicts, severe cold wave conditions to continue in Northern India

• India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that cold wave to severe cold wave conditions will continue over north Rajasthan while isolated pockets of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi will experience cold wave conditions for next few days.

About:

• Cold wave, sometimes known as a cold snap or deep freeze, is a weather event involving a cooling of the air, or the invasion of very coldair, over a large area.

Weather situation behind Cold Wave in India:

• Build up of a ridge (an extended area of relatively high atmospheric pressure) in the jet stream over northwest Asia.
• Formation of surface high-pressure centre over north and Central India.
• Movement of cold air masses in response to steering by upper-level winds.
• Extensive snow covers over Northwest Himalayas.
• Triggering mechanism like strong westerly waves approaching northwest India to enhance winds for transport cold airsoutheastward.
• Studies highlight that cold waves are favoured by La-Nina over most parts of India as compared to El-Nino with cold wavesconfined to northwest India.
• Government has notified ‘cold wave’ as a disaster and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in 2021 issued guidelines andaction plans on cold wave.

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NCPCR warns NGOs against depiction of vulnerable children for fundraising

• The practice of civil society organisations using representative visuals for fundraising activities concerning development issues such as malnutrition now faces new scrutiny with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) issuing a directive to NGOs to not depict vulnerable children.

About:

• Showcasing minor children in such a way isviolation of Child Rights and Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children)Act, 2015.
• For Ethical Imagery, the “Eight Quick Steps toEthical Imagery” from UNICEF can help in promoting child rights.

Issues involved

• Child’s physical safety, e.g., photo showswhat they look like and can reveal theircurrent location, thus facilitating kidnapping,fundraising activities etc.
• Violates Child’s right to consent to howtheir image is used.
• Oppressive uses of child’s image by evildoers.

Future privacy invasions.

• NCPCR was constituted as a statutory bodyunder Commission for Protection of ChildRights (CPCR) Act, 2005 to protect childrights and related matters in country.
• It is mandated to monitor proper andeffective implementation of Protection ofChildren from Sexual Offences (POCSO)Act, 2012; Right to Free and CompulsoryEducation (RTE) Act, 2009.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Patriot System

• U.S.A recently announced that it would send its most advanced ground-based defence battery (Patriot system) to Kyiv.

About Patriot system:

• The Patriot is one of the most sought-after defence systems and has been deployed in 18 countries, including the U.S.
• Initially developed as a system to intercept high-flying aircraft by Raytheon Technologies, the Patriot was modified in the 1980s to focus on other threats such as ballistic missiles.
• The programme’s roots can be traced back to the 1960s when the Pentagon was looking to replace the HAWK and Nike-Hercules air defence systems.
• Currently, Patriot batteries can defend against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, jets and “other threats”, but it doesn’t offer protection against low-flying small drones. 
• A mobile Patriot system includes a control centre, a radar station to detect threats, missile launchers to take out those threats and other support vehicles.
• It can launch different types of interceptor missiles: The older PAC-1 and PAC-2 interceptors used a blast-fragmentation warhead, while the newer PAC-3 missile has a more advanced hit-to-kill technology.
• The Patriot system’s radar has a range of over 150 km and it can track over 50 potential targets at the same time.

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Polar bears in key Canada region dying

• Polar bears in Canada’s Western Hudson Bay, an inland sea connected to the Arctic Ocean, are dying at a fast rate, according to a new government survey, the Associated Press reported on. 
• It also revealed that females and younger polar bears are the worst affected.

About:

• At the time of the survey, conducted by air in 2021, researchers calculated that there were 618 bears left in Western Hudson Bay — the region includes Churchill, the town that is known as ’the Polar Bear Capital of the World’.
• When the last survey took place in 2016, there were 842 bears in the area.
• According to the researchers, Western Hudson Bay has witnessed a drop of around 50% in the population of polar bears since the 1980s.

Importance of polar bears:

• Polar bears are one of the most significant predators in the Arctic region and they keep biological populations in balance.
• The big kills made by them serve as a food resource for scavengers like Arctic foxes and Arctic birds.
• If polar bears aren’t able to hunt animals like seals, it can severely impact the food chain and health of the ecosystem.
• Researchers have also found that once polar bears can’t find seals to eat, they would quickly move to kill and survive on other creatures in the Arctic region.
• This would threaten the existence of species like the Arctic fox or the walrus.
• Moreover, it might also cause the overpopulation of seals, which could endanger the existence of crustaceans and fish that are an important food source for local human populations as well as other Arctic wildlife.
• The polar bear is classified as “vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List.

::Economy::

Trademark vs Strong Trademark 

• The Delhi High Court, in the case of Hamdard National Foundation (India) vs Sadar Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., restrained Sadar Laboratories from manufacturing and selling beverages under the impugned trademark ‘DilAfza’. 
• The court observed that the trademark ‘RoohAfza’ is prima facie a strong mark requiring a high degree of protection as it has acquired immense goodwill.

About trademark:

• A trademark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by a business organisation to distinguish its products or services from those of other entities. 
• It serves as a badge of origin exclusively identifying a particular business as a source of goods or services. 
• Trademark infringement is the unauthorised usage of a sign that is identical or deceptively similar to a registered trademark.

What is a strong trademark?

• A mark is said to be strong when it is well-known and has acquired a high degree of goodwill. 
• The degree of the protection of any trademark changes with the strength of the mark; the stronger the mark, the higher the requirement to protect it. 

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::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

AVGC sector

• The Government has said that the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) sector has the potential to provide employment to over 20 lakh people in the coming 10 years. 

About:

• AVGC sector has potential toprovide employment to over 20lakh people and witness around17% growth rate in coming 10years.
• Centre has also designated audio-visual services as one of the 12 ChampionService Sectors.

Challenges to AVGC Sector: 

• Lack of authentic data on employment, industrysize etc.; 
• Inadequate training infrastructure; 
• Absence of AVGC academicreference point in India etc.

Recommendations of Task Force

• Launch ‘Create in India’ campaign with exclusive focus on content ‘For Indiaand For World’.
• Establish National Centre of Excellence for AVGC sector which could help inskilling, education etc.
• Establish AVGC Accelerators and Innovation hubs in academic institutions onlines of Atal Tinkering Labs.
• Establish Special incentives for women entrepreneurs in AVGC sector.

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