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India’s first solar observatory mission — Aditya-L1 — was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), in its 59th flight with the Aditya-L1 on board, took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
About 63 minutes after take-off, the separation from the satellite took place with the PSLV launching the Aditya-L1 spacecraft in a highly eccentric orbit around the earth at 12.53 p.m. This was among the longest flights of ISRO’s workhorse launch vehicle in recent times.
Following the launch, Aditya-L1 will stay in orbit around the earth for 16 days, during which it will undergo five manoeuvres to gain the necessary velocity for its long journey towards the sun.
Subsequently, Aditya-L1 will undergo a Trans-Lagrangian1 insertion manoeuvre, marking the beginning of its 110-day trajectory to the destination around the L1 Lagrange point.
Upon arrival at the L1 point, another manoeuvre binds Aditya-L1 to an orbit around L1, a balanced gravitational location between the earth and the sun.
The spacecraft will perform orbital manoeuvres by using its Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) engine to reach L1.
Aditya-L1 will stay approximately 1.5 million km away from the earth, directed towards the sun, which is about 1% of the earth-sun distance.
News
G-20 Sherpas to sit for final round of pre-summit negotiations from today (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
As Sherpas of all G-20 countries arrived in New Delhi ahead of the final week of negotiations for the summit next weekend, India’s representative among them said he was “confident” of consensus on economic issues.
Meanwhile, government sources sought to play down the impact that the absence of at least three leaders — the Presidents of Russia, China and Mexico — will have on the summit’s outcomes.
The Sherpas and Sous Sherpas, who are the chief negotiators for the G-20 leaders, will meet from September 3 to 6 on the outskirts of Delhi at a resort near Manesar to decide on the content of the “joint communique” to be released at the end of the 18th G-20 summit on September 9 and 10.
India’s G-20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, who disclosed earlier that talks have taken place from “2 p.m. to 2 a.m.” for the past few weeks, said he was confident of forging joint statements on economic issues, indicating there is no breakthrough on the issue over Ukraine.
We will achieve consensus on all growth and development issues and on all our priorities. We are positive, constructive, ambitious and will be balanced. Our declaration will speak the voice of the Global South from where most of the global growth will come from in the next two decades.
India to be part of implementation of Zelenskyy’s peace formula: envoy (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
India will be part of the implementation of the 10-point peace formula proposed by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the details are being discussed, Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksandr Polishchuk has said.
Mr. Polishchuk has also welcomed Indian students to continue their education in Ukraine as the government had shifted educational institutions to safer areas.
We motivate India to participate in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. It is not only in humanitarian component but also business-to-business which is mutually beneficial.
Stating that the Russian attacks on critical infrastructure caused great problems to the civilian population, especially last winter, Mr. Polishchuk thanked India for providing humanitarian aid. As of August, India has handed over 14 consignments of humanitarian aid comprising essential items.
During the event, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the India-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IUCCI), and the WTC, a business and industry association, to jointly promote business and trade between two countries.
It was a Ukrainian missile with Ukrainian technology that sank the Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, the envoy said referring to the incident of April 2022.
This example should motivate our Indian colleagues and industry to look at cooperation with Ukraine for new capabilities for Indian armed forces.
India has military equipment from both Russia and Ukraine and the Indian military is facing issues in delivery of supplies and components due to the war in Ukraine.
Three-fourths of India’s irrigation sources run on electricity: study (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The latest edition of the Minor Irrigation Census (MIC) — a compendium of borewells, tubewells, and other privately owned irrigation sources by farmers — conducted by the Union Jal Shakthi Ministry finds that electricity is the dominant source of power to extract water, over diesel and wind and solar energy.
While the use of electricity showed a quantum jump from powering only 56% of sources in 2011 to 70% in 2017, the latest report, made public last week, shows it as powering 76% of the sources — a slower growth rate.
The MIC reports are not a reflection of the present state of use.
The data made public in the latest, sixth edition of the report reflect irrigation trends in 2017-18. Similarly, the report released in 2017, or the fifth edition, reflect data in 2013-14 and the report of 2011, the situation in 2006-07.
Collecting granular data down to the block level and making it public takes a few years.
This electrification of groundwater withdrawal corresponds to a rise in the use of tubewells and borewells that are capable of extracting water at greater depths.
While ‘dugwells’ or ponds that can draw water from a maximum depth of 15 metres remain the dominant source of groundwater, their number has declined from 87 lakh to 82 lakh between the fifth and sixth editions.
The number of ‘shallow’ tubewells, capable of drawing water from up to 35 metres, too have declined from 59 lakh to 55 lakh.
World
Over half of Sri Lankan people ‘vulnerable’: UNDP (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
The crushing economic crisis in Sri Lanka last year has left more than half of the island’s population “multidimensionally vulnerable”, according to a national citizens’ survey led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The study spanning the years 2022 and 2023, and covering 25,000 households across the country, found 55.7 % of the population to be vulnerable across three dimensions — education, health and disaster, living standards — and 12 indicators, including school attendance, physical condition [of health], unemployment and indebtedness.
In effect, the survey showed that 12.34 million people out of Sri Lanka’s 22.16 million-strong population have been badly affected by the crisis and remain vulnerable, amid claims of a “recovering” economy.
The findings are in line with earlier research by UN agencies on food insecurity levels, and reaffirm anecdotal accounts of poor families cutting down their food intake and pulling their children out of school to cope with the high living costs.
The findings of UNDP’s study, carried out in partnership with the ‘Citra Social Innovation Lab’ anchored at the Prime Minister’s office, assume significance, especially after the government rejected a UNICEF report that pointed to high malnutrition levels among Sri Lankan children last year.
Notably, the recently launched UNDP report said a majority, or 82%, of those found to be “multidimensionally vulnerable” lived in rural Sri Lanka and underscored the need for “more policy focus” in those areas.
Further, the study found a third of the country’s population getting into debt for essential needs like food, medical care, and education, as well as pawning jewellery or selling items.
Australia will hold talks with China to ‘stabilise’ ties (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Australia will send a delegation of industry, government, academic, media and arts representatives to Beijing for a dialogue with their Chinese counterparts next week to stabilise its relationship with China, Canberra’s Foreign Ministry said.
Trade, investment, people-to-people links as well as regional and international security are among the issues up for discussion in next Thursday’s talks.
The high-level dialogue had been held annually from 2014 until it was stopped in 2020.
The dialogue’s resumption is the latest example of ties thawing between Beijing and Canberra after years of tension.
Science
Using AI on X-rays can detect more TB cases (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
In AI-assisted chest X-rays, India has a powerful technology to screen for presumptive TB. The AI algorithm qXR, developed by Mumbai-based Qure.ai, can help detect people with presumptive TB early and in less than a minute.
The 2019-2021 National TB prevalence survey in India report said nearly 43% of TB cases would have been missed without a chest X-ray.
When used at scale for population-based screening or for targeted screening, qXR plus molecular tests for TB confirmation can increase detection rates.
Systematic screening for TB for early diagnosis is an important ‘End TB’ strategy. The Indian drug regulator cleared qXR a few months ago. qXR also meets the WHO requirement with >90% sensitivity and >70% specificity in people older than 15 years.
States are currently waiting on a Central TB Division directive to adopt qXR, which could encourage widespread adoption. The absence of policy guidance has kept adoption thus far.
The Central TB Division is waiting for an approval from the Health Technology Assessment. India’s ambitious goal of “eliminating” TB by 2025 will remain possible only if early diagnosis and initiation of care for millions of people with TB becomes a reality. Large-scale use of AI-assisted chest X-rays for screening is the first step to achieve this goal.
In Vietnam, a community-wide screening of people older than 15 years using a molecular test in 2014-2017 resulted in lower prevalence of pulmonary TB in 2018 than standard passive case-detection alone.
Unlike in Vietnam, the use of qXR to read digital X-rays before molecular testing as part of community screening will reduce TB prevalence and minimise the number of molecular tests required to detect TB.
Early prediction of preeclampsia using a biomarker (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
A liquid-biopsy approach that measures DNA-methylation levels in the blood may improve the detection of pregnancies at risk of developing preeclampsia at early stages, a study published in Nature Medicine shows.
Preeclampsia is a major cause of morbidities during gestation. Early-onset preeclampsia — occurring before 34 weeks of gestation — is associated with a higher risk of severe disease and foetal mortality.
Among the few interventions available, low-dose aspirin at early stages of the disease (before 16 weeks of gestation) can reduce the risk of developing preeclampsia, but early identification of the disease is needed to initiate this intervention. Previous studies have shown that widespread methylation changes in the placenta occur at delivery.
Liquid biopsy is a promising emerging tool for non-invasive diagnostics, and it is increasingly being used to detect disease and monitor progression and treatment response.
Bernard Thienpont from the Department of Human Genetics, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium and colleagues profiled blood DNA-methylation data from 498 pregnant women, about one third of whom developed preeclampsia.
The authors detected differences in DNA methylation in the control pregnancies versus the pregnancies that developed preeclampsia.
Business
India’s importance in global trade will rise (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Over-centralising manufacturing in China wreaked havoc on global trade and supply chains, and nations have learnt from this, says Arun Kumar, the former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service in U.S. President Barack Obama’s Administration.
My first real job was in Mumbai in the early seventies, when I was at the Tata Administrative Service, now known as TAS.
Even MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) wasn’t quite “international” during my time there. They did not have courses on India or Asia, and when I suggested those to the Dean, I was scoffed at.
Today, many top U.S. business schools are led by Indian-origin academics. The post-World War II international system has enabled increased global integration of trade.
China joined the global economy in 1976 and more decisively after 1990. However, since 2016 we have seen the rise of protectionist policies in many countries including the U.S. and India.