Indian-American teen named ‘Time’ magazine’s first-ever ‘Kid of the Year’

A 15-year-old Indian-American girl was named the first-ever “Kid of the Year” by Time magazine for her work using technology to tackle matters such as contaminated drinking water, opioid addiction and cyberbullying. Gitanjali Rao was selected from a field of over 5,000 Americans and was interviewed by 

actor Angelina Jolie for the magazine. “Observe, brainstorm, research, build and 

communicate,” Rao told Jolie about her working process during a virtual meeting. 

Research on water quality Rao said that she was in the second or third grade when she decided to use technology to bring social change. The 15-year-old scientist said she was 10 when she told her parents that she wanted to research on carbon nanotube sensor technology at the Denver Water Quality Research Lab. App to detect cyberbullying Rao said she has developed an app to prevent cyberbullying for Google’s Chrome browser extension. The app, Kindly, detects cyberbullying at an early stage using artificial intelligence technology, she told Jolie. She added that she was working on a way to help detect bio-contaminants such as parasites in water. Rao said that she wanted her innovation to be inexpensive and accurate to help those in third-world countries.

India hosted 2020 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit

Amidst a fierce stand-off between India and China, New Delhi hosted a summit of the council of heads of government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on November 30 with a focus on contributing to the trade and economic agenda of the influential grouping. Here is all you need to know about the SCO and relevance of India hosting its annual summit. 

What is Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) 

* The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a Eurasian permanent intergovernmental international organisation created in June 2001, in Shanghai, China by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and China. The SCO was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism. 

* The SCO aims to strengthen mutual trust and neighbourliness among the member states by promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, the economy, research, technology and culture, as well as in education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, and regional stability and security. 

* Known as the "alliance of the East", the SCO is the largest regional organisation in the world in terms of geographical coverage and population, covering three-fifths of the Eurasian continent and nearly half of the human population. SCO represents around 42 per cent of the world's population and 20 per cent of the global GDP. The SCO is seen as a counter-balance to Nato, limiting the influence of United States of America (USA) in Central Asia. 

* Other than the member states, SCO has four observer states (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia) and six dialogue partners (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka). 

* SCO has two permanent bodies — the SCO Secretariat based in Beijing and the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) based in Tashkent.

* The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO. It meets once a year and adopts decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organisation. The SCO Heads of Government Council (HGC) meets once a year to discuss the organisation's multilateral cooperation strategy and priority areas. 

Relevance of India hosting SCO HGC meeting 

India is hosted the SCO council of heads of government meet on November 30 in the midst of the stand-off at Ladakh border with China. India was an observer state at the SCO since 2005 and was admitted as a full member of the SCO in 2017. India's membership was pushed by Russia which was aiming to counter China's growing influence in the region. However, with changes in the geopolitical realities since 2014, India aims to stay involved in the SCO to balance the growing closeness between Russia and China even as India has got closer to the US. The SCO membership allows India to expand its footprint in Central Asian region and hosting the Summit brings an opportunity for India to strengthen trade relations with Central Asian countries which are energy-rich nations. Given India's commitment to countering terrorism, the SCO also provides India a platform to raise cross-border terrorism sourced in Pakistan.

China hydropower company plans first downstream dam on Brahmaputra

China’s media reported that authorities have given the go-ahead for a Chinese hydropower 

company to construct the first downstream dam on the lower reaches of the Brahmaputra 

river, or Yarlung Zangbo as it is known in Tibet, marking a new phase in China’s 

hydropower exploitation of the river with potential ramifications for India. 

A report in the Chinese media said the State-owned hydropower company POWERCHINA 

had last month signed “a strategic cooperation agreement” with the Tibet Autonomous 

Region (TAR) government to “implement hydropower exploitation in the downstream of 

the Yarlung Zangbo River” as part of the new Five-Year Plan (2021-2025). 

Previous dams 

China in 2015 operationalised its first hydropower project at Zangmu in Tibet, while three 

other dams at Dagu, Jiexu and Jiacha are being developed, all on the upper and middle 

reaches of the river. The report said this will be the first time the downstream sections of 

the river will be tapped. 

Possible location 

The report did not mention the location of POWERCHINA’s planned downstream project, 

but offcials talked about the particular potential offered at the “Great Bend” of the 

Brahmaputra and at the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon in Medog County, where the river 

falls spectacularly over a 2,000 metre-drop and turns sharply to flow across the border into 

Arunachal Pradesh. 

Chinese officials said this 50-km section alone offered the potential of developing 70 

million kWh “which equals more than three Three Gorges power stations”. They also said 

said “the 60-million kWh hydropower exploitation at the downstream of the Yarlung 

Zangbo River could provide 300 billion kWh of clean, renewable and zero-carbon 

electricity annually” and the project “will play a significant role in realising China’s goal of 

reaching a carbon emissions peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060”.

Concerns of India 

India has expressed concerns to China over the four dams on the upper and middle 

reaches, though Indian officials have said the dams are not likely to impact the quantity of 

the Brahmaputra’s flows in India greatly because they are only storing water for power 

generation and the Brahmaputra is not entirely dependent on upstream flows with an 

estimated 35% of its basin is in India.

How are cyclones forecast, and how difficult was it to track Cyclone Nivar’s progress?

Cyclone Nivar, that barrelled through Tamil Nadu and brought copious rain in its wake, 

was the third major cyclone to land on India’s coast this year, besides Amphan and Nisarga. 

The Nivar storm originated in the Bay of Bengal and whipped up windspeeds close to 125-

145 kmph, blowing away roofs and felling standing crop. However, relatively fewer lives 

were lost compared to the havoc wreaked by Amphan in West Bengal in May. What aided 

relief operations in the anticipation of Nivar was that it largely conformed to forecasts 

issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). 

How are cyclones forecast? 

Over the years, India’s ability to track the formation of cyclones has improved significantly. 

There is a network of 12 doppler weather radars (DWR) along India’s coast if one were to 

begin counting from Kolkata and trawl up to Mumbai — there are 27 in all in the country. 

Depending on where a storm is forming, these radars send pulses of radio waves to gauge 

the size as well as the speed at which water droplets are moving. The earlier generation of 

radars was unable to track such progress in real time, but with DWRs, now the base 

standard of weather radars, it is usually possible to detect a potential storm at least four-

five days in advance. The IMD also collaborates with similar international networks, such 

as the Japan Meteorological Agency, the U.S. National Hurricane Center, and the U.S. Central 

Pacific Hurricane Center, and these bodies constantly send warnings and forecasts about 

changes in the ocean weather. The near ubiquity of ocean-buoys that track changes in 

ocean sea surface temperatures as well as dedicated meteorological satellites improve the 

odds of early detection. 

How difficult was it to track Nivar’s progress?

Nivar was the second tropical cyclone that formed around India and made landfall this 

week. Cyclone Gati, which originated in the Arabian Sea and intensified into a ‘very severe 

cyclonic storm’, made its way towards Africa and made landfall in Somalia on November 

22. However around then, another system emerged in the Bay of Bengal, that eventually 

morphed into a cyclonic storm by November 24. The IMD’s initial forecasts said it would at 

most be a ‘severe cyclonic storm’, but it then upgraded it to the same league as Gati, i.e, a 

‘very severe cyclonic storm’. The IMD follows a five-stage classification for cyclones, with 

the lowest a ‘cyclonic storm’ generating wind speeds of 62-87 kmph, and the highest a 

‘super cyclonic storm’, generating winds over 222 kmph.

April-June and October-December are India’s cyclone seasons. The arriving monsoon, as 

well as its retreat, stir up the surrounding seas and generate cyclones. Though the Bay of 

Bengal is three times more likely to generate cyclones, the ones that originate in the 

Arabian Sea are trickier, as the cyclone, while ostensibly moving away from India’s western

coast, can suddenly ‘recurve’ and move back in. There are also fewer radars along India’s 

west coast than the eastern coast, and all these reasons make the Bay of Bengal cyclones 

more tractable. In this context, Nivar, because it conformed to a fairly predictable trajectory 

and was not super cyclonic in intensity, gave State administrations in Puducherry, Tamil 

Nadu and Andhra Pradesh time to prepare, and was far less damaging than Amphan. 

However, the cyclone season is not yet over and more systems are likely to form in the 

coming weeks, according to the IMD. 

How has disaster warning changed? 

Forecasts, on their own, are important, but they cannot override the importance of 

preparedness by State agencies. The formation of cyclones is preceded by ‘depressions’, 

and they are often the first warnings. Not all depressions become cyclones, but many 

coastal States — especially those with a history of being battered — begin organising 

shelters and evacuation of coastal residents. Sea pockets, where cyclones form, are also 

places that drive schools of fish and lure fisherfolk. While meteorological agencies give 

advisories on where fish-catches are likely, they suspend such advisories during storm 

formation to dissuade fishermen from venturing out. The ubiquity of mobile 

communication makes it much easier to quickly give warnings. The IMD also issues flood 

forecast maps, in collaboration with urban bodies that forecast which pockets in a city are 

likely to be flooded and where crop damage is likely to be maximum.

Love Jihad Laws

 The proposed Uttar Pradesh ordinance seeking to prohibit “unlawful” religious conversions represents a regressive march towards unacceptable medievalism and a reprehensible zeal to police the private lives and beliefs of citizens. Apparently inspired by similar legislation in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, it has sought to include “alluring into marriage” as an additional ground for declaring an instance of religious conversion as illegal, apart from the use of “force, coercion, undue influence and deceit”. 

What is the law? 

The U.P. proposal envisages prison terms, from one to five years in general, three to five years for conversions involving women and SC/ST members, and adds a possible three to 10-year jail term for “mass conversion”. There is also a prior declaration provision on an intended conversion. 

These suggestions were contained in a report of the Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission submitted last year. While the panel had suggested that conversion solely for marriage should be declared null and void, the State’s note on the ordinance says it provides for invalidation of marriages solemnised solely for conversion. 

Against SC judgement 

While upholding the validity of the Freedom of Religion Acts of Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, in Stanislaus (1977), the Supreme Court had held that the “right to propagate” a religion did not include the “right to convert”. However, those early laws did not bar conversions by marriage. The Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and the proposed U.P. law would be vulnerable on that score. After the Court’s “right to privacy” judgment, and the Shafin Jahan-Hadiya case (2018), it would be no more constitutional to use “marriage” as a ground for prohibiting conversion, as it involves the rights of privacy, choice and marital freedom. Further, all such previous laws were seen as “public order” legislation — the claim is that “forced” or “fraudulent” conversions lead to disturbance of order. An inter-faith marriage, by itself, is unlikely to be seen by the courts as an event impinging on public order. Therefore, making marriage simpliciter a ground for rendering conversion illegal may not survive judicial scrutiny. Probably to avoid this lacuna, the U.P. ordinance uses the term “allurement by marriage”, but its potential for misuse is the same. Further, the provision on mandatory prior declaration of an intent to convert is similar to the one struck down by the Himachal Pradesh High Court in 2012 as violating the right to keep one’s faith a secret. It is disconcerting that several States are keen to join this bandwagon against inter-marriages despite its potential for deepening social discord and communal divides. 

Source: The Hindu

CONCEPT OF DEPRECIATION

The output of an economy also consists of production of machines/machineries which are consumed every year, referred to as deprecation and much of the output of such machines could be replacement in nature and not signifying additions to machine or capital stock in the economy. Let us assume that cars are being produced in an economy and there is also depreciation of cars , that is, the cars would eventually have to be replaced after their shell-life. For example, a car is priced at ₹ 3,00,000 and has a life of, say 10 years. Then, depreciation or consumption ) of car is ₹ 30 ,000 a year . Thus , if the output of an economy ignores consumption (or depreciation) of its machine stocks, it is referred as a ‘gross’ concept and if it is accounted for it is known as ‘net’ concept.

Accordingly, there is Gross National Product (GNP) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Hence,

GNP - Depreciation = Net National Product (NNP)

GDP — Depreciation = Net Domestic Product (NDP)

Thus, there are four concepts in the output of an economy—GNP, GDP, NNP and NDP.

Let us now try to understand which method is technically the best measure of growth.

Clearly, it is the NNP as it first covers all the nationals of a country and is also a net increase after depreciation. It is also 

called as “National Income” of an economy. But NNP/GNP are gradually 

losing significance since countries

have high external debts that are

serviced through internal resources

which tends to increase outflows and 

reduce GNP of a country, leaving GDP unaffected. Similarly, the sale of assets to foreign entities will also have similar affecting impact. Further remittances have become significant in economies like GNP not seen as a correct way to judge output of an economy.

करेंट अफेयर्स 16 मई 2020

• भारतीय रेलवे ने यात्रियों को ट्रेन में यात्रा करने के लिए जिस ऐप को रखना अनिवार्य कर दिया है- आरोग्य सेतु ऐप

• इंडिया स्टेट-लेवल Disease Burden Initiative शीर्षक वाली लैंसेट रिपोर्ट के मुताबिक,भारत में पांच साल से कम आयु के जितने प्रतिशत बच्चों की मौत का कारण बाल और मातृ कुपोषण है-68 प्रतिशत

• विश्व व्यापार संगठन (डब्ल्यूटीओ) के प्रमुख रॉबर्ट एजेवेदो ने व्यक्तिगत कारणों से अपना पद कार्यकाल समाप्त होने के जितने साल पहले छोड़ने का निर्णय किया है- एक साल

• हाल ही में जिस देश ने सोशल डिस्टेंसिंग सुनिश्चित करने के लिए 'IFeel-You' ब्रेसलेट विकसित किया है- इटली

• अंतरराष्ट्रीय परिवार दिवस जिस दिन मनाया जाता है-15 मई

• ब्रिटेन की सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने हाल ही में जिस भारतीय व्यापारी की प्रत्यर्पण के ख़िलाफ़ दायर याचिका को ख़ारिज कर दिया है- विजय माल्या

• झारखंड की ‘सोहराई खोवर पेंटिंग’ और जिस राज्य के ‘तेलिया रुमाल’ को 'भौगोलिक संकेतक रजिस्ट्री' द्वारा ‘भौगोलिक संकेतक’ (जीआई) टैग दिया गया- तेलंगाना

• हाल ही में जिस देश में किये गए एक अध्ययन में चिकित्सकों ने COVID-19 के संपर्क में आने वाले बच्चों में कावासाकी रोग जैसे लक्षणों वाली एक असामान्य बीमारी के फैलने के बारे में जानकारी दी है- इटली

• केंद्रीय स्वास्थ्य मंत्री डॉक्टर हर्षवर्धन ने कोविड-19 मरीजों की जांच के लिए हाल ही में जिस नामक परीक्षण मशीन राष्ट्र  को समर्पित की- कोबास-6800

• भारतीय पुरातत्व सर्वेक्षण (ASI) के नये महानिदेशक के रूप में जिसे नियुक्त किया गया है- वी. विद्यावती