Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

संदर्भ : हाल ही में, केंद्रीय विज्ञान और प्रौद्योगिकी मंत्री ने मिशन इनोवेशन 2.0 के आरंभ को संबोधित किया।

• मिशन इनोवेशन (एमआई) 24 देशों की एक वैश्विक पहल है और यूरोपीय आयोग (यूरोपीय संघ की ओर से) स्वच्छ ऊर्जा को व्यापक रूप से सस्ती बनाने के उद्देश्य से वैश्विक स्वच्छ ऊर्जा नवाचार को मज़बूत करने और तेज करने के लिए कार्य कर रहा है।
• 30 नवंबर, 2015 को पार्टियों का 21 वें सम्मेलन (COP21) में इसकी घोषणा की गई थी, क्योंकि जलवायु परिवर्तन से निपटने हेतु महत्वाकांक्षी प्रयासों के लिए विश्वभर के नेतागण पेरिस में एक साथ आए थे।
• इस पहल के एक हिस्से के रूप में, भाग लेने वाले देश परिवर्तनशील स्वच्छ ऊर्जा प्रौद्योगिकियों में निज़ी क्षेत्र को निवेश के लिए अधिक से अधिक स्तर प्रोत्साहित करते हुए अपनी सरकारों के स्वच्छ ऊर्जा अनुसंधान और विकास (R & D) में निवेश को पांच साल में दोगुना करने के लिए प्रतिबद्ध हैं।
• मिशन इनोवेशन ने 8 नवाचार चुनौतियों की पहचान की है जो प्रौद्योगिकी क्षेत्रों में अनुसंधान, विकास और प्रदर्शन (RD&D में तेजी लाने के उद्देश्य से कार्रवाई के लिए वैश्विक मांग है।

Explanation :

Context: As per the 2019 Crime in India Report by the National Crime Records Bureau, only 2.2 % of cases registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act between the years 2016 and 2019 ended in convictions by court.

• Passed in 1967, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) aims at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
• The Act assigns absolute power to the central government, by way of which if the Centre deems an activity as unlawful then it may, by way of an Official Gazette, declare it so.
• It has death penalty and life imprisonment as highest punishments.
• Under UAPA, both Indian and foreign nationals can be charged. It will be applicable to the offenders in the same manner, even if crime is committed on a foreign land, outside India.
• Under the UAPA, the investigating agency can file a charge sheet in maximum 180 days after the arrests and the duration can be extended further after intimating the court.
• The 2004 amendment, added “terrorist act" to the list of offences to ban organisations for terrorist activities, under which 34 outfits were banned.Till 2004, “unlawful" activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory.

As per 2019 amendments -

• The Act empowers the Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA) to grant approval of seizure or attachment of property when the case is investigated by the said agency.
• The Act empowers the officers of the NIA, of the rank of Inspector or above, to investigate cases of terrorism in addition to those conducted by the DSP or ACP or above rank officer in the state.
• It also includes the provision of designating an individual as a terrorist.

Explanation :

Context: Recently, Stardust 1.0 has been launched from USA, which became the first commercial space launch powered by biofuel.

Explanation:

Biofuels

• Any hydrocarbon fuel that is produced from an organic matter (living or once living material) in a short period of time is considered a biofuel.
• Biofuels may be solid, liquid or gaseous in nature.

First Generation Biofuels

• Fuels produced from sugar, starch, vegetable oil, or animal fats utilizing conventional technology.
• Examples: Bioalcohols, Biodiesel, Vegetable Oil, Bioethers, Biogas.

Second Generation Biofuels

• Fuels made from non-food crops such as cellulosic biofuels and waste biomass i.e. stalks of wheat and corn, and wood).
• Example: cellulose ethanol

Third Generation Biofuels

• Fuels made from micro-organisms such as algae.
• It doesn’t require cultivable/arable land for production.
• Example: Butanol

Fourth Generation Biofuels

• In the production of these fuels, crops that are genetically engineered to take in high amounts of carbon are grown and harvested as biomass.
• The crops are then converted into fuel using second generation techniques.
• Like the third generation, fourth-generation biofuels are made using non-arable land. However, unlike the third, they do not need the destruction of biomass.
• Examples: electrofuels and photo-biological solar fuels