Dutch government aims to close Europe''s largest gasfield this year

• The Groningen gas field is natural in Groningen province in the northeastern part of the Netherlands.
• It is the largest natural gas field in Europe.
• This region of Groningen in the Netherlands has a gas field that began operations in 1963.
• During the 1980s, the area saw numerous earthquakes - minor enough to avoid large damage but big enough for local buildings to develop cracks.
• Following these quakes, the Dutch government had earlier said that it would shutter the field in response to local protests.
• In Groningen, the ground subsiding has been caused by extraction alone over several years.
• Such extraction causes rocks to contract - as the pores get to hold fewer and fewer hydrocarbons over time.

''It just dies'': Yellow-band disease ravages Thailand''s coral reefs

• Yellow-band disease—named for the colour it turns corals before destroying them—was first spotted decades ago and has caused widespread damage to reefs in the
• There is no known cure for this disease and unlike coral, bleaching corals will not be restored once they get infected by this disease.
• Scientists believe overfishing, pollution and rising water temperatures because of climate change may be making the reefs more vulnerable to yellow-band disease.

Over the past few nights, Venus and Saturn have been gradually coming together in the sky which was visible through the naked eye.

• This is the phenomenon wherein the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were visible to the naked eye from Earth.
• This planetary meet-up, also known as a conjunction, makes the two planets appear close together or even touch in the Earth''s night sky.
• Despite being millions of kilometres apart, the planets seem to occupy the same space in the night sky because of their alignment.
• Just after sunset in the west, a conjunction of Venus and Saturn were 0.4 degrees apart as seen from earth.

Venus

• It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. It is the second planet from the Sun and sixth in the solar system in size and mass.
• It is the second brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon, probably that is the reason why it was the first planet to have its motions plotted across the sky, as early as the second millennium BC.
• Unlike the other planets in our solar system, Venus and Uranus spin clockwise on their axis.
• It is the hottest planet in the solar system because of the high concentration of carbon dioxide which works to produce an intense greenhouse effect.
• A day on Venus is longer than a year. It takes Venus longer to rotate once on its axis than to complete one orbit of the Sun.
  • That’s 243 Earth days to rotate once - the longest rotation of any planet in the Solar System - and only 224.7 Earth days to complete one orbit of the Sun.
• Venus has been called Earth’s twin because of the similarities in their masses, sizes, and densities and their similar relative locations in the solar system.
  • No planet approaches closer to Earth than Venus; at its nearest it is the closest large body to Earth other than the Moon.
  • Venus has 90 times the atmospheric pressure of Earth.

Saturn

Recently the discovery of 20 new moons of Saturn has made Saturn the planet with the highest number of moons (82) against 79 moons of Jupiter.

• The discovered moons of planet Saturn may have once comprised a larger moon that was broken apart in the distant past.
  
  • The newly discovered moons are able to continue orbiting Saturn after their parent moons broke apart indicates that these collisions occurred after the planet-formation process was mostly complete.
• These moons are the remnants of the objects that helped for planet formations thus studying the remnants might reveal the origin of the planet.
  
  • Also, studying the orbits of these moons can reveal their origins, as well as information about the conditions surrounding Saturn at the time of its formation.
• The research related new moons of the planet Saturn have been released by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Centre.

President of india presents pradhan mantri rashtriya bal puraskar 2023

• It is given under two categories.
• Bal Shakti Puraskar: This award is given by the Government of India every year to recognize exceptional achievements of children in various fields namely innovation, scholastic achievements, social service, arts & culture, sports and bravery.
  • Eligibility criteria: A child who is an Indian Citizenand residing in India and is between 5-18 years of age.
  • Award: The award consists of a medal, a cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000, book vouchers worth Rs.10,000, a certificate and a citation.
  • It was started in 1996 as the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement, and renamed in 2018 as Bal Shakti Puraskar.
• Bal Kalyan Puraskar: This is given as recognition to Individuals and Institutions, who have made an outstanding contribution towards service for children in the field of child development, child protection and child welfare.
  • Eligibility criteria: An individual who is an Indian Citizen residing in India and should have attained the age of 18 years or above (as of 31st August of the respective year). S/he should have worked for the cause of children for not less than 7 years.
  • The institution should not be entirely funded by the government and should have been in the field of child welfare for 10 years and performing consistently in the field.
  • Award: The awards are given in each of the two categories - Individual and Institution - along with cash prizes (Rs. 1,00, 000 and Rs. 5,00, 000 respectively).
  • It was started in 1979 as the National Child Welfare Awards and in 2018 renamed it as Bal Kalyan Puraskar.

New NASA Nuclear Rocket Plan Aims to Get to Mars in Just 45 Days

• Bimodal nuclear propulsion is a two-part system that includes; Nuclear Thermal and Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NTP /NEP).
• It uses a wave rotor topping cycle.

How will nuclear propulsion work?

• The Nuclear Thermal system includes a nuclear reactor that will heat liquid hydrogen (LH2) propellant and turn it into ionised hydrogen gas (plasma) that will then be channelled through a nozzle to generate thrust.
• Nuclear Electric Propulsion depends on a nuclear reactor to provide electricity to a Hall-Effect thruster (ion engine), which will generate an electromagnetic field that will ionise and accelerate an inert gas to create thrust.
• Advantages: Fuel efficiency, a higher specific impulse, rating and unlimited energy density.

Six months to enforce law for compensating road accident victims: Delhi HC

• It is a comprehensive Act that has replaced the Motor Vehicle Act, 1939.
• It was implemented on 1st July 1989.
• The act covers all aspects of road transport vehicles, such as registration, licensing, regulation, claims, compensation in case of accident etc.
• The act regulates all cases related to Motor Accidents all over India.
• An person injured in a motor accident or legal representatives of a person deceased in a motor accident can apply for compensation under Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
• The act was amended in 2019 and 2022. Both these amendments deal with third-party insurance and claims management, including filing claims with the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal.

Motor Accident Claim Tribunal:

• It was created by the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.
• It has been constituted to provide speedier remedy to the victims of accidents by motor vehicles.
• There is no time limit for filing motor vehicle accidents claims.
• A State Government can constitute one or more Motor Accidents Claims Tribunals.
• Civil Courts do not have jurisdiction in the matters which concerns the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal.
• The appeals against the Claims Tribunals will lie before the High Courts.
• The appeal is limited by time and has to be filed in the High Court within 90 days from the date of award of the Claims Tribunal.

India did not wait, did what was right to help Sri Lanka

• It is an outcome of the India-Sri Lanka Peace Accord of July 1987, signed by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President J.R. Jayawardene.
• It was an attempt to resolve Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict that had aggravated into a full-fledged civil war, between the armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
• The 13th Amendment, led to the creation of Provincial Councils.
• It assured a power sharing arrangement to enable all nine provinces in the country, including Sinhala majority areas, to self-govern.
• Subjects such as education, health, agriculture, housing, land and police are devolved to the provincial administrations.
• It made Tamil one of Sri Lanka’s official languages and English, a link language.
• The amendment has never been fully implemented because of the overriding powers given to the President.