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SARAS 3, a radio telescope designed and built at the Raman Research Institute (RRI) here has provided clues to the nature of the Universe’s first stars and galaxies.
Using data from the telescope which has been deployed over the Dandiganahalli Lake and Sharavati backwaters since 2020, astronomers and researchers have been able to determine properties of radio luminous galaxies formed just 200 million years post the Big Bang, a period known as the Cosmic Dawn.
Researchers Saurabh Singh from the RRI and Ravi Subrahmanyan from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia, along with collaborators at the University of Cambridge and University of Tel Aviv, have used data from SARAS 3 to throw light on the energy output, luminosity, and masses of the first generation of galaxies that are bright in radio wavelengths.
The results from the SARAS 3 telescope are the first time that radio observations of the averaged 21-centimetre line have been able to provide an insight into the properties of the earliest radio loud galaxies that are usually powered by supermassive black holes.
Explaining the research findings, Prof. Singh said SARAS 3 had improved the understanding of astrophysics of Cosmic Dawn by telling astronomers that less than 3% of the gaseous matter within early galaxies was converted into stars, and that the earliest galaxies that were bright in radio emission were also strong in X-rays, which heated the cosmic gas in and around the early galaxies.
Editorial
Still a nightmare for domestic violence survivors (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 1, Social Issues)
Just ahead of the International Day for Elimination of All Forms of Violence against Women (November 25), the brutal murder and mutilation of a young woman by her partner has drawn attention to intimate partner violence, also recognised under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (PWDVA) as a kind of domestic violence. Many questions are being raised. Why did she choose him? Why did she not leave? As evidence of her help-seeking efforts surface, we should also be asking this: why were these not effective?
Domestic violence is a punishable offence under Indian law. It is a violation of human rights. Yet, the latest round of the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21) reveals that we live in a society where violence against women persists to such an extent that 32% of ever-married women aged 18-49 years have ever experienced emotional, physical, or sexual violence committed by their husband, with more rural than urban women reporting experiences of domestic violence. This does not even capture the prevalence of violence by other family members too.
Over 17 years ago the PWDVA, a progressive legislation, was passed, promising a joined-up approach — involving civil and criminal protections — to support and protect women from violence within the household, not just from husbands.
But despite the law existing on paper, women are still largely unable to access the law in practice. Its promise and provisions are unevenly implemented, unavailable and out of reach for most Indian women.
The most disheartening reality is that despite almost a third of women being subject to domestic violence, the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21) reports that only 14% of women who have experienced domestic violence have ever sought help; and this number is much lower in the rural areas. In a country where domestic violence is a crime, where there are multiple laws explicitly designed to protect women against violence, why is it that most women survivors of domestic violence never seek help?
Loss and Damage decisions, pitfalls, and promises (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
A major takeaway from COP27 in Egypt, as far as loss and damage (L and D) is concerned, is the decision relating to new funding arrangements focusing on L and D — those particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
The decision includes a transitional committee to prepare elements relating to the operationalisation of the new funding arrangements to be adopted at COP28.
The decision restores the faith of countries, especially those vulnerable, in the process of multilateralism. The committee will aim to identify and expand sources of funding, which demonstrates a lack of clarity on the source of funding (adequate and predictable) accruing to the new fund only.
There is a question mark over the new L and D fund with non-compliance by developed countries as far as climate finance commitment (mobilising $100 billion per year by 2020) is concerned.
The new funding arrangements will complement the existing arrangements and include sources, funds, processes and initiatives under and outside the Convention and the Paris Agreement, which would assist in mobilising new and additional resources.
This dilutes the consistent demand raised at COP27, and outside of it by the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) to set up a dedicated loss and damage response fund, which would be on top of existing climate finance commitments.
The decision again recognises the mitigation-centric nature of the history of climate change negotiations to be suiting the agenda of developed countries.
It says restricting the global average temperature rise to below 1.5° Celsius is essential to limiting future loss and damage.
The mitigation-centric nature of the negotiation can be traced to Article 2 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 1992.
Explainer
How FIFA is using SAOT for off-side decisions (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
In the opening match of the FIFA World Cup 2022 between host Qatar and Ecuador, just three minutes’ of action had passed before the first goal of the tournament was ruled out for offside.
Ecuador forward Enner Valencia’s headed strike was disallowed because the lower half of his right leg was in an offside position. While such close calls being settled with the help of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology is largely commonplace in modern-day football, what surprised fans was the speed with which it was adjudicated.
One three-dimensional animation of the incident was displayed for a fleeting second or two before play restarted. FIFA’s brand new Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT) was responsible for the quick decision.
There are two parts to the technology — a sensor inside the match ball (Adidas’s Al Rihla) that is held using suspension technology, and existing tracking tools that are part of the VAR system as we know. Kinexon, a German company that specialises in providing sensor networks and computing solutions, has designed a small in-ball device which gives precise positional data and also detects ball movement in a three-dimensional space.
Every time the ball is hit, data is sent in real time (at a whopping 500 frames per second) to a network of antennae installed around the playing field.
Additionally, there are 12 Hawk-Eye cameras set up around the turf that shadow both the ball and the players, with as many as 29 separate points in the human body tracked.
The coming together of the ball sensor and the Hawk-Eye cameras is in effect SAOT, which FIFA says allows for decisions that are highly accurate and quick.
These two data sets are run through artificial intelligence software which generates automated alerts about offsides to the match officials. This replaces the manual effort taken in poring over replays for minutes on end.
Text and Context
In India, calls for looking beyond the binary are growing stronger (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Defence)
Last month, when the cases surrounding the question of same-sex marriages came up before the High Court of Delhi, the Union Government was found to be dithering.
The Solicitor General of India made himself available only to request the court to have the matter adjourned on the ground that it was not urgent.
Though the Union Government argued that the matter was not important in the context of the second wave of COVID-19 cases, it overlooked the basic notion that the plight of persons in same-sex and queer relationships looking after each other — without the legal protection of marital relationships — was exacerbated by the pandemic.
In any case, it is a matter of some concern that the Union Government does not find urgency in a matter of extending civil rights to a class of persons who have approached a constitutional court.
Nevertheless, given the march of law — both international and domestic — in the direction of expanding human rights, jurisprudence necessarily means that the provision of marriage rights to same-sex and queer couples is only a matter of time. Any further delay in doing so would fall foul of our constitutional guarantees, judgments rendered by various High Courts and evolving international jurisprudence.
The last two decades have witnessed tremendous progress in establishing civil rights for the LGBTQIA+ community.
In 2005, the Constitutional Court of South Africa in the case of Minister of Home Affairs and Another vs Fourie and Another; Lesbian and Gay Equality Project and Eighteen Others vs Minister of Home Affairs and Others [2005] ZACC 19 , unanimously held that the common law definition of marriage i.e. “a union of one man with one woman” was inconsistent with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.
News
India, France discuss defence industrial ties, ‘Make in India (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
India and France on Monday discussed defence industrial cooperation with a focus on ‘Make in India’ as well as means to strengthen maritime cooperation and increase the scope and complexity of bilateral exercises.
This was discussed during the 4th India-France annual defence dialogue chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his visiting French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu.
“During the dialogue, one of the key areas of discussion was defence industrial cooperation with a focus on ‘Make in India’. Future collaborations and potential co-production opportunities were discussed.
The Ministers agreed that the technical groups from both the countries should meet early next year and take the key cooperation issues forward,” a Defence Ministry statement said. This is the first visit of Mr. Lecornu to India as French Minister of Armed Forces.
“A wide range of bilateral, regional and defence industrial cooperation issues were discussed during the dialogue,” Mr. Singh said on Twitter.
The Ministers reviewed the ongoing military-to-military cooperation, which has increased substantially in recent years, the statement said, also noting that they recognised their convergences on a number of “strategic and defence issues and shared the commitment to work together on enhancing cooperation in bilateral, regional and multilateral fora, with a focus on the Indo-Pacific region.”
France is the current chair of Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) and Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) and both countries cooperate closely in these fora.
Right to religion does not include right to convert, Home Ministry tells court (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The right to religion does not include the right to convert other people to a particular religion, especially through fraud, deception, coercion, allurement and other means, the Home Ministry told the Supreme Court.
The Ministry said the word ‘propagate’ in Article 25 (right to freedom of religion) does not include the right to convert. It is rather in the nature of a positive right to spread one’s religion by exposition of its tenets.
The government said, “Fraudulent or induced conversion impinged upon the right to freedom of conscience of an individual apart from hampering public order and, therefore, the state is well within its power to regulate/restrict it”.
The Centre said that the statutes enacted in the past to curb “the menace of organised, sophisticated large-scale illegal conversion” was upheld by the Supreme Court.
On November 14, the apex court observed that fraudulent religious conversions “ultimately affect the security of the nation and freedom of religion and conscience of citizens”.
It had asked the Centre to “step in” and clarify in an affidavit what it intended to do to curb compulsory or deceitful religious conversions.
“There may be freedom of religion but there may not be freedom of religion by forced conversion… This is a very serious issue. Everybody has the right to choose their religion, but not by forced conversion or by giving temptation,” a Bench of Justices M.R. Shah and Hima Kohli had said.