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Pakistan’s Army chief Gen. Asim Munir urged the country’s polarised political leadership to form a “unified government of all democratic forces”, as he backed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s plea to his rivals to help form a coalition government after the general elections appear to have produced a hung Parliament.
Springing a surprise, Independents backed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won the lion’s share of 102 seats in the National Assembly in election, as the result of 257 seats out of 265 was announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan. The PTI has already claimed victory in the elections.
News
Navy chief inaugurates new defence systems (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R. Hari Kumar inaugurated a Precision Approach Radar (PAR) at INS Utkrosh in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which will enable “highly accurate horizontal and vertical guidance to land an aircraft safely in low visibility conditions, such as heavy rain and fog”.
He also inaugurated the IUHDSS (Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance System) at Naval Jetty, Port Blair.
The IUHDSS is capable of detecting, identifying & tracking surface and under water targets in vicinity of naval jetty thereby enhancing security of Port Blair harbour.
Adm. Kumar, accompanied by Kala Hari Kumar, President Navy Welfare and Wellness Association, visited Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), the country’s sole operational tri-service command.
In addition to visiting the headquarters, the CNS also visited Vijay Baugh and laid the foundation stone for a sailors’ accommodation.
CSIR NAL flies test-drone that can double up as ‘pseudo satellite’ (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Scientists at the CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) successfully tested an unmanned aerial vehicle, called High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS), at Challakere, Karnataka earlier this month.
HAPs are like drones, except that they are expected to be in the stratosphere — well above where commercial planes fly — and can be powered enough by solar cells and a battery-system to be able to hover for days on end.
A fully working HAPS can be used for a variety of applications, from surveillance to beaming 5G waves. They can double up as “towers in the sky” and have more flexibility than satellites, in being able to map a piece of land from above.
The NAL system is currently far from these goals. The HAPS that was flown this month is a scaled-down HAPS. The 5-metre-long system, with a wingspan of 11 metres and weighing 23 kg, rose to about 3 km and stayed put for about eight hours.
This prototype, scientists associated with the project told The Hindu, “met or exceeded all the performance metrics set out for it”.
World
‘India, Maldives will sort issues bilaterally’ (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
India and the Maldives would resolve the issues between them “bilaterally”, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe said, emphasising that while Maldives has allowed a Chinese ‘research’ ship into the Male harbour, no Chinese troops had been allowed in.
Mr. Wickremesinghe also confirmed Sri Lanka’s decision to join the 15-nation ASEAN-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Cooperation (RCEP) agreement that includes China in the free trade zone, a grouping India walked out of in 2019.
The Sri Lankan President said he had discussed India-Sri Lanka economic and connectivity initiatives with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who called on him and both sides completed a review of pending programmes as well as Sri Lanka’s economic recovery process.
Explaining his decision to apply for RCEP membership, Mr. Wickremesinghe said that Sri Lanka needed to access as many markets as possible.
Science
Transitioning to hyperlocal extreme weather forecasting (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 1, Geography)
Weather forecasting plays a pivotal role in the country’s functioning. Accurately predicting rain, cyclones, heatwaves and drought are critical to inform decision making on disaster management.
In India the Indian Meteorology Department (IMD) is the principal government agency in all matters relating to meteorology and it specialises in the incredibly complex science of predicting weather patterns by observing, modelling and interpreting a multitude of variables.
However, in tropical countries like India, weather variability is inherently higher. IMD’s forecasts have improved vastly in the last few years as it has upgraded to technologies similar to the ones used by the U.S., the U.K. and Japan, which are known to produce accurate forecasts.
Yet, there are still many days and geographies for which Indian forecasts go wrong, especially during winter and summer monsoon.
FAQ
What does Uttarakhand’s UCC entail? (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
On February 7, the Uttarakhand Assembly passed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, becoming the first legislature in independent India to pass a law that proposes common rules on marriage, divorce, inheritance of property, and live-in relationships for all citizens, irrespective of their religion.
This stems from Article 44 of the Constitution (Directive Principles of State Policy) which although not enforceable, obligates the State to strive to implement such a uniform law. The Bill will now be sent to the President for her assent after which it will become a law.
It applies to all residents of Uttarakhand except the tribal community which constitutes 2.9% of the State’s population.
The community has been averse to a UCC from the very beginning. Accordingly, Section 2 stipulates — “Nothing contained in this code shall apply to the members of any Scheduled Tribes within the meaning of clause (25) of Article 366 read with Article 142 of the Constitution of India and the persons and group of persons whose customary rights are protected under Part XXI of the Constitution of India.”
How can child safety be ensured online? (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
In early February, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg provided apublic apologyto parents whose children were victims of online predators during a Congressional hearing, that could be described as hostile to not just Meta, but other tech majors including X, TikTok, Snapchat, and Discord.
The Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis hearing was reportedly called “to examine and investigate the plague of online child sexual exploitation” and all their executives were pinned on their abdication of responsibility to protect children on social media platforms.
Tech majors are increasingly finding themselves in the midst of a maelstrom of protests across the world, not just over privacy concerns, but also with the security of users online.
Across the world, parents and activists are aggressively advancing the agenda of having the tech companies take responsibility, or provide platforms that are ‘safe by design’ for children and young users.
What are the changes in the new Water Act? (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The Lok Sabha this week passed the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Act, 2024. The legislation, which was introduced and passed in the Rajya Sabha on February 5, makes important changes to the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
This Act was the first piece of legislation in independent India that identified the need to have an institutional structure to address contamination of water bodies.
This led to the creation, in September 1974, of the Central Pollution Control Boards (CPCB) and State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB) that were charged with monitoring and preventing public water resources from getting contaminated by sewage and industrial effluents.
This Act made it mandatory for industrial units to get permission from their respective State boards before setting up factories and submitting themselves to checks on whether their manufacturing and other processes were complying with prescribed norms.