Kakrapar Atomic Power Station-example of Make in India, Glimpse of Comet NEOWISE, Big Reform- Triple Talaq, Asian elephant cubs
1. Kakrapar Atomic Power Station- indigenously designed 700 MWe KAPP-3 reactor is example of Make in India
- Kakrapar Atomic Power Station is a nuclear power station in India, which lies in the proximity of the city of Vyara in the state of Gujarat which is accessible from the cities of Surat and Dhule.
- The Kakrapar atomic power station is located on the banks of the Tapti River, approximately 80km from the city of Surat, India.
- The site is situated in Mandvi Tehsil near Moticher.
- It consists of two 220 MW pressurised water reactor with heavy water as moderator (PHWR).
- Kakrapar is part of India’s pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) portfolio.
- KAPS-1 went critical on 3 September 1992 and began commercial electricity production a few months later on 6 May 1993.
- KAPS-2 went critical on 8 January 1995 and began commercial production on 1 September 1995.
- In January 2003, CANDU Owners Group (COG) declared KAPS as the best performing pressurised heavy water reactor.
- KAPP-3 and KAPP-4 are expected to begin operations in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
- The KAPP-3 and KAPP-4 units are of the Mark V-type category of the Indian PHWR design evolution.
- However, this indigenously designed 700 MWe KAPP-3 reactor is a shining example of Make in India.
- India’s ambitious plans include constructing a dozen new nuclear power reactors total 9,000 MW.
- While nine reactors total 6,700 MW are under construction, the Centre has also given in-principal approval to set up nuclear power capacities total 25,248 MW across Jaitapur (Maharashtra), Kowada (Andhra Pradesh), Chhaya Mithi Virdi (Gujarat), Haripur (West Bengal) and Bhimpur (Madhya Pradesh).
2. Glimpse of Comet NEOWISE- event that occurs after many years
- This is after many years that we can see a comet with naked eye in Earth’s night sky, a rare celestial event that occurs after many years.
- Comet Neowise officially known as C/2020F3 is the brightest comet that can be seen in the sky and will be visible across the globe as it is closest to the earth these days.
- The Neowise, once disappears will be visible only after 6800 years.
- ‘Comet Neowise’ was first spotted by NASA’s spacecraft mission Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) on 27 March 2020 and hence the name NEOWISE.
- Comet is an icy small body which consists mostly of rocky materials, dust and ice.
- As they come closer to the sun there is evaporation of volatile contents from these comets.
- When they start melting, the particles start glowing by the reflected sunlight.
- This makes the ‘dust tail’ of Comets.
- The Neowise comet has been found close to the sun during early July, which came in the view of NASA’s solar mission SOHO, which exclusively studies the sun and its activities.
- India also has a similar space venture Aditya-L1 mission which is due to go up in the sky, to study the corona of the Sun.
- Though the comet is visible to the naked eye, one may find it difficult to locate it in the sky especially those trying it for the first time.
- Those trying to observe the Comet should first locate the constellation Big Dipper (Ursa Major) or Saptarishi, the seven stars in the sky.
- Once it is located, try to find the part which is pointing towards Polaris.
- The comet will be visible in the opposite direction of the Polaris or the Pole Star.
- The speed of the wind can also give us an idea as to predict the movement and the direction of the cloud over a particular area.
- Moreover, one should try to have a glimpse of this comet soon as the object is moving away from the sun and is becoming fainter day by day.
- Even when it is at its closest point to the earth the angle between the sun and the comet is increasing gradually and hence it fades away.
- The comet can be seen in clear sky conditions in areas with lesser light pollution and will be perfectly visible when the sky is dark.
3. India's Big Reform- Triple Talaq
- The month of August is recognised as a “Month of Revolution, Rights & Reforms” in the Indian history, 08th August Quit India Movement, 15th August Independence Day, 19th August “World Humanitarian Day“, 20th August “Sadbhavana Diwas”, 370 was abolished on 5th August, these days have been written in golden pages of the Indian History.
- 1st August is a day which made Muslim women free from social evil of Triple Talaq.
- 1stAugust has been recorded in the country’s history as “Muslim Women Rights Day”.
- Triple Talaq or Talaq-a-Biddat was neither Islamic nor legal.
- Despite of the fact, the social evil of Triple Talaq was given “political patronage” by “Merchants of Votes”.
- 1st August 2019 is a historic day in Indian Parliamentary history when The Bill against Triple Talaq was made a Law despite of obstacle.
- 1st August became the day which ensured gender equality and strengthened constitutional, fundamental and democratic rights of the Muslim women and it also gave confidence to the women, which constitute almost half of the population in India.
- 1st August will remain as a golden moment of Indian democracy and Parliamentary history.
- The law against social evil of Triple Talaq could have been passed in 1986 when the Hon’ble Supreme Court had given historic judgement in the Shahbano Case.
- The Congress had absolute majority in Parliament with more than 400 out of 545 Lok Sabha Members and more than 159 out of 245 Members in the Rajya Sabha.
- But that time ruling Government used its strength in the Parliament to make the Supreme Court judgement ineffective and deprive the Muslim women of their constitutional and fundamental rights.
- India runs on a Constitution, not on any other religious textbook.
- Earlier, various legislations had been brought in the country to abolish social evils such as Sati Pratha and Child Marriage.
- Triple Talaq law has nothing to do with religion, the law has been made purely to ensure gender equality by ending a social evil, inhuman, cruel and unconstitutional practice.
- Instant divorce by verbally saying Talaq thrice is illegal.
- There were several incidents coming where women had been given Talaq through letter, phone or even through message and whatsapp.
- Such incidents are unacceptable to a sensitive country and to a government committed to inclusive development.
- Several Muslim-majority nations of the world had declared Triple Talaq as illegal and un-Islamic much earlier.
- Egypt was the first Muslim nation which abolished this social evil in 1929.
- Sudan in 1929, Pakistan in 1956, Bangladesh in 1972, Iraq in 1959, Syria in 1953, Malaysia in 1969 had abolished the practice of Triple Talaq.
- Besides, countries such as Cyprus, Jordan, Algeria, Iran, Brunei, Morocco, Qatar, UAE also ended this social evil many years ago.
- But it took 70 years for India to get rid of this inhuman and cruel practice.
- The Supreme Court, on 18th May, 2017, had declared Triple Talaq as unconstitutional by abolishing the Triple Talaq, to strengthened socio-economic, fundamental and constitutional rights of the Muslim women.
- One year has passed since the law against Triple Talaq was passed and there is a decline of about 82% in Triple Talaq cases thereafter. If any such case was reported, the law has taken action.
Extra Note:
- During the last about 6 years, 3 crore 87 lakh Minority students have been given various scholarships which include about 60% girl students.
- A large number of Muslim women have been provided employment and employment opportunities through “Hunar Haat“.
- More than 10 lakh Minority youths have been provided employment and employment opportunities through skill development schemes such as “Seekho aur Kamao”, “Garib Nawaz Swarojgar Yojna”, “Usttad”, “Nai Manzil”, “Nai Roushni” etc. and more than 50% beneficiaries are women.
- A total of 3040 women have performed Haj after the Government of India ensured Muslim women can perform Haj without “Mehram” (male companion) in 2018.
- This year too, more than 2300 women had applied to perform Haj without Mehram.
- These women will be allowed to go to Haj 2021 on the basis of their application for Haj 2020 only.
- Besides, women who file new application, will also be allowed to go to Haj next year.
4. Asian elephant cubs shows trunk behaviour
- Asian elephant calves offer an interesting system to study the development of behaviour.
- They are born with a well-developed sensory system technically called precocial and are capable of locomotion hours after birth.
- However, they are dependent on their mothers for nutrition, physical protection, and social support for a prolonged period, allowing them ample time and opportunity to learn and perfect the skills necessary for independent survival.
- The calves can walk soon after birth but are incapable of using their trunk to pick up objects and pull grass.
- Trying to probe the peculiarity of behaviour of elephants which stands out against many precocial species, researchers from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India found that though their trunks take time to develop adult-like usage, they develop handedness (right or left-side bias) in trunk usage quite early.
- The team of researchers observed 30 unique calves from 11 distinct clans (female social groups) in Kabini Elephant Project in Nagarahole and Bandipur National Parks from December 2015 to December 2017 to look at the development of trunk motor control, laterality — or side preference/handedness — in trunk usage, and various social and non-social behaviours.
- They found that whereas calves took about 6 months to achieve fine motor control of the trunk to pluck grass in an adult-like manner, even young calves — those below 3 months of age — showed handedness (right or left-side bias) in trunk usage.
- It suggests that such handedness might be innate in Asian elephants.
- This would be analogous to human infants showing right-handedness or left-handedness soon after birth.
- The JNCASR team also identified 81 unique calf behaviours and classified them based on their level of adeptness in expression.
- It was observed that as calves grew, they spent less time resting and more time feeding.
- Resting-related behaviours and certain grooming behaviours and, many social and exploration related behaviours were expressed by calves in adult-like adeptness from a young age, whereas behaviours that required trunk usage, such as feeding, developed gradually and were elaborately expressed when trunk motor control was sufficiently achieved (6-9 months).
- The researchers described the ontogeny of behaviour in Asian elephant calves for the first time in the wild.
- The team also looked at mother-calf synchrony in behaviours.
- Since adults spend most of their waking hours in feeding but not the calves, mother-calf behavioural synchrony during the initial few months of a calf was low, however, as calves began to develop trunk motor trunk and reduced the time spent in resting, mother-calf behavioural synchrony steadily increased.
- Behavioural synchrony is necessary for two individuals to maintain cohesiveness, and, by extension, it is necessary for a set of individuals to remain as a group.
- Along with a calf’s need for physical protection, leads to instances when mother and/ or calves take an active effort to synchronise their behaviours.
- As the physiological needs of a young calf that is growing up are starkly different from that of its mother, often their behavioural categories do not match.
- Nevertheless, they almost always maintain close physical distance, the study pointed out.
