Ae Watan Mere Watan: The story of Usha Mehta and Congress Radio

About Usha Mehta:

• She was born in a village named Saras, near Surat in Gujarat in 1920. She was a true Gandhian at heart and was popularly known as Ushaben.
• At the age of eight in 1928, she participated in a protest march against the Simon Commission.
• In 1942, she and her associates established the Secret Congress Radio during Quit India Movement. It played a crucial role in keeping the freedom movement leaders connected with the public.

Setting up an underground station:

• Background: At the advent of the War in 1939, the British had suspended all amateur radio licences across the Empire. Operators were supposed to turn in all equipment to the authorities, with severe punishment for those who failed to do so.
• Alongside Mehta, Babubhai Khakar, Vithalbhai Jhaveri and Chandrakant Jhaveri were key figures in organising Congress Radio.
• Congress Radio case:
• The trial of the five accused in the— Mehta, Babubhai Khakar, Vithalbhai Jhaveri, Chandrakant Jhaveri, and Nanak Gainchand Motwane (who sold key pieces of equipment to the team) — generated a lot of excitement in Bombay.
• Vithalbhai and Motwane were acquitted, Mehta, Babubhai and Chandrakant received stern sentences.
• Usha Mehta was released from Pune’s Yerawada Jail in March 1946, and hailed in the nationalist media as “Radio-ben”.

4th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Startup Forum organized in New Delhi

About Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Startup Forum:

• It is a platform for the stakeholders from the startup ecosystems from all SCO Member States to interact and collaborate.
• It aims to create multilateral cooperation and engagement for startups among the SCO Member States. It will empower the local startup ecosystems in the Member States.
• The following are the objectives of the engagement:
• Sharing of best practices to promote entrepreneurship and innovation to build knowledge-exchange systems.
• Bringing Corporates and Investors across to work closely with startups and provide local entrepreneurs with much-needed support and market access.
• Increasing scaling opportunities for startups by providing solutions in the field of social innovation and provide the Governments with a plethora of innovative solutions
• Facilitating cross-border incubation and acceleration programs that will enable the startups to explore international markets and get focused mentorship.
• India will host the second meeting of the Special Working Group for Startups and Innovation (SWG) in November 2024 and SCO Startup Forum 5.0 in January 2025.
• Previously, Startup India had organized various initiatives for SCO Member states including:
• SCO Startup Forum 1.0: The SCO Startup Forum in 2020 laid the foundation for multilateral cooperation and engagement for startups among the SCO Member States.
• SCO Startup Forum 2.0: The two-day Forum was held virtually in 2021. SCO Startup Hub, a single point of contact for the SCO startup ecosystem, was launched in this forum.
• SCO Startup Forum 3.0: DPIIT organised the first ever physical SCO Startup Forum in 2023 for the SCO Member States. 
• 1st Meeting of the SWG: The first Meeting of the SCO Special Working Group on Startups and Innovation (SWG), permanently chaired by India, was organised on the theme ‘Growing from Roots’ in 2023.

International Telecommunication Union elects India as co-chair of its Digital Innovation Board

About International Telecommunication Union:

• It is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies. It was established in 1865 as International Telegraph Union.
• In 1947 the ITU became a specialized agency of the United Nations. It is an intergovernmental organization that coordinates between governments and private sector bodies with respect to global telecommunication and information communication technology (ICT) services.
• Member countries: It has a membership of 193 countries and more than 1000 companies, universities and international and regional organizations.
• Functions:
• allocate global radio spectrum and satellite orbits;
• coordination and setting of technical standards related to telecommunication/ICT;
• work to improve access to ICTs in underserved communities worldwide;
• India and ITU: India has been an active member of the ITU since 1869 and has been a regular member of the ITU Council since 1952.
• Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

What is Digital Innovation Board?

• It was formed under the aegis of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development. It comprises of Ministers and Vice Ministers of Telecom/ICT of 23 Member Countries of ITU spanning Asia, Europe, Africa, North and South America.
• ITU has started Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development to respond to significant unmet needs of ITU Membership in the area of innovation, as articulated in the Kigali Action Plan adopted at the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2022.
• The Alliance has three main vehicles: - Digital Transformation Lab, Network of Acceleration Centres and Digital Innovation Board
• The Alliance establishes the Digital Innovation Board to provide strategic guidance, expertise and advocacy regarding its mission of building critical local enablers and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in digital development, to create a more inclusive and equitable digital future for all.

INDIA - MOZAMBIQUE - TANZANIA TRILATERAL EXERCISE IMT TRILAT- 2024

About IMT Trilateral Exercise:

• It is a joint maritime exercise scheduled from 21-29 Mar 24. As part of the harbour phase scheduled from 21-24 Mar 24, Naval ships Tir and Sujata will engage with the respective Navies at the ports of Zanzibar (Tanzania) and Maputo (Mozambique).
• This phase would begin with a Planning Conference followed by conduct of joint harbour training activities like Damage Control, Fire Fighting, Visit Board Search and Seizure procedures, Medical Lectures, Casualty Evacuation and Diving operations.
• The sea phase of the exercise is covering practical aspects of countering asymmetric threats, Visit Board Search and Seizure procedures, boat handling, manoeuvres and firing exercise. A joint EEZ surveillance is also planned during the sea phase.
• The exercise will conclude with a joint debrief scheduled at Nacala (Mozambique).

IT Ministry notifies contentious fact check unit to dispute government misinformation

About PIB’s Fact Check Unit:

• It was established in November 2019. It was started with an objective of acting as a deterrent to creators and disseminators of fake news and misinformation. 
• It also provides people with an easy avenue to report suspicious and questionable information pertaining to the Government of India.
• It is mandated to counter misinformation on Government policies, initiatives and schemes either suo motu or under a reference via complaints.
• The FCU will actively monitors, detects and counters disinformation campaigns, ensuring that false information about the Government is promptly exposed and corrected.
• Organisation:
• It is headed by a senior DG/ADG level officer of the Indian Information Service (IIS). The day-to-day operations of the Unit are handled by IIS officers at various levels.
• The Unit reports to the Principal Director General, PIB who functions as the Principal Spokesperson of the Government of India.
• Fact-Check Mechanism:
• Users send requests over WhatsApp, email or a web portal. Each such request received is considered as a ‘Query’. Queries are segregated by the Unit based on their relevance to matters pertaining to Government of India.
• Only queries pertaining to Government of India are considered and taken up as Actionable Queries, while others are deemed not relevant for action.

Four new DAQ white dwarfs discovered

About White Dwarf:

• A white dwarf is the stellar core left behind after a dying star has exhausted its nuclear fuel and expelled its outer layers to form a planetary nebula. It is what stars like the Sun become after they have exhausted their nuclear fuel.
• White dwarfs no longer support nuclear fusion reactions that generate energy, but they are still extremely hot.
• A typical white dwarf is half as massive as the Sun, yet only slightly bigger than Earth. 
• This makes white dwarfs one of the densest collections of matter, surpassed only by neutron stars.
• A newly born white dwarf consists of helium, carbon and oxygen nuclei, swimming in a sea of highly energetic electrons. 
• Unlike most other stars that are supported against their own gravitation by normal gas pressure, white dwarf stars are supported by the degeneracy pressure of the electron gas in their interior.
• Degeneracy pressure is the increased resistance exerted by electrons composing the gas, as a result of stellar contraction.
• Unless it is accreting matter from a nearby star, the white dwarf cools down over the next billion years or so.
• It is predicted that they would ultimately form ‘black dwarfs’, although the Universe is likely not old enough for any black dwarfs to exist yet. 
• The luminosity of white dwarfs can therefore be used by astronomers to measure how long-ago star formation began in a particular region.
• Many nearby, young white dwarfs have been detected as sources of soft or lower-energy, X-rays. By providing important ‘fossil’ records of the stars that they formed from, white dwarfs are an important cosmological tool.
• In 2006, Hubble was the first telescope to directly observe white dwarfs in globular star clusters, which astronomers reported as the dimmest stars ever seen in a globular star cluster. 

New technique devised to measure water held in snowpacks, could help manage supply

About Snowpacks:

• In mountainous areas that experience a winter season, precipitation can fall in the form of snow. Snow that has fallen on the ground and does not melt for months due to below-freezing temperatures is called a snowpack. 
• It can consist of multiple layers of snow, each one from a different snowfall, that become compacted under the weight of the subsequent layers that lie on top.
• The snowpack remains on the ground until the arrival of above-freezing temperatures in the spring, which causes it to start to melt.
• The water from the melting snowpack is called snowmelt.
• It is an important water source that keeps streams flowing in the warmer months.
• It is also an important water source for humans, replenishing reservoirs. 
• The depth of the snowpack is influenced not only by the amount of snowfall but also by temperature and wind. 
• Strong winds can evaporate snow cover, eroding the top layers of the snowpack, while an increase in temperature can cause layers to melt.
• The density of a snowpack—how closely packed the snow particles are—increases as more layers accumulate, pushing down on the layers below. 
• Weak layers, such as snow-covered surface hoar, can increase the risk of avalanches. Snowpack data is valuable for monitoring the effects of climate change.

''No S.153A IPC Offence Without Presence Of Two Or More Communities'': Supreme Court Quashes Case Against Journalist

About Section 153A of the IPC:

• Section 153A of the IPC attempts to punish those who engage in promoting any kind of enmity among different groups on the basis of religion, caste, race, place of birth or residence or even language.
• The provision puts a liability on those who:
• Spread enmity in the form of words (spoken or written), visual representations, and signs with the intention of causing disharmony, hatred, or disturbance among people belonging to different groups, religions, castes, or communities.
• Spread disharmony and disturb the public tranquility of the people belonging to different racial and religious groups.
• Aid in the organising of certain movements, drills that encourage as well as train the participants of such movements to use criminal force and violence upon people belonging to other racial and religious groups and communities.
• Offence on moral turpitude is also covered in this section.
• The offence is a cognizable offence and the punishment for the same may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both. Further, the offence under Section 153A is non-bailable in nature, wherein the accused is tried by the magistrate of the first class.
• However, the punishment of the offence committed in a place of worship is enhanced up to five years and a fine.

Russia’s Nuclear Weapons Are Now in Belarus

About Tactical Nuclear Weapons:

• Nuclear weapons, just like other weapons, can be categorised into two types: strategic and tactical.
• Strategic Nuclear Weapons: They refer to nuclear weapons that have bigger objectives, such as destroying cities or larger targets, with larger war-waging objectives in mind.
• Tactical Nuclear Weapons (TNWs):
• They are nuclear weapons used for specific tactical gains on the battlefield.
• They are intended to devastate enemy targets in a specific area without causing widespread destruction and radioactive fallout.
• These warheads can be delivered via a variety of missiles, torpedoes, and gravity bombs from naval, air, or ground forces.
• The explosive yield of tactical nuclear weapons can range from under one kiloton to about 100 kilotons, whereas strategic nuclear weapons can have a yield of up to one thousand kilotons.
• Delivery systems for tactical nuclear weapons also tend to have shorter ranges, typically under 310 miles (500 kilometres), compared with strategic nuclear weapons, which are typically designed to cross continents.
• They are the least-regulated category of nuclear weapons covered in arms control agreements. 
• Countries possessing TNWs:
• Nine countries have tactical nuclear weapons, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
• They are Russia, the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea.
• Russia has a stockpile of an estimated 2,000 tactical nuclear missiles. 
• The U.S. has an estimated 200 tactical nuclear bombs, half of which are at bases in Europe.

Scientists find potential new drug target to prevent Ebola

About Ebola:

• Ebola virus disease (EVD, or Ebola) is a rare but severe illness in humans.
• It is caused by several species of viruses from the genus Ebolavirus, that are found primarily in sub-Saharan Africa.
• It gets its name from the Ebola River, which is near one of the villages in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the disease first appeared.
• Transmission:
• Ebola isn’t as contagious as more common viruses like colds, influenza, or measles. 
• It spreads to people by contact with the skin or bodily fluids of an infected animal, like a monkey, chimp, or fruit bat.
• Then it moves from person to person in the same way. 
• You can’t get Ebola from air, water, or food. A person who has Ebola but has no symptoms can’t spread the disease, either.
• There are occasional Ebola disease outbreaks in people, occurring primarily on the African continent.
• Symptoms:
• Symptoms of Ebola can start two to 21 days after being infected by the virus.
• Symptoms start out flu-like but can progress to severe vomiting, bleeding, and neurological (brain and nerve) issues.
• Treatment:
• There is no known treatment for Ebola, although experimental vaccines and therapeutics are being tested.
• Current therapy consists of maintenance of fluid and electrolyte balance and the administration of blood and plasma to control bleeding.
• Mortality:
• Mortality rates for EVD range from 25 percent to 90 percent, with an average of 50 percent.
• Death usually occurs as a result of shock due to fluid loss rather than blood loss.