Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 28 October 2013 1) Sebestian vettel Wins Indian GP to become youngest-ever four-time world champion Never before has Sebastian Vettel displayed such emotion on a Formula One track as he did on Sunday after winning the Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit here and making history. After taking the chequered flag, half a minute ahead of his countryman Nico Rosberg of Mercedes, the Red Bull driver knelt down in front of his RB9 and bowed. His 10th victory of the season — the last six coming in succession — and 36th overall put Vettel in the company of great Formula One drivers, Michael Schumacher (six world titles), Juan Manuel Fangio (5) and Alain Prost (4), who have won four or more world titles. He also became the third driver in history after Fangio and Schumacher (he won five in succession) to win four world titles on the trot. Vettel is the youngest to do so, and that added to the significance of his achievement. 2) The developed countries have committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by a paltry three per cent from 2011 to 2020 It is less than a third developed countries have achieved between 1990 and 2011 The developed countries have committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by a paltry three per cent from 2011 to 2020, according to a new data analysis by the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It is less than a third of the emission cuts the rich countries have achieved between 1990 and 2011. The UNFCCC Secretariat carried out a technical review of the commitments the rich countries have made to emission cuts between now and 2020. The review shows that the countries have collectively committed themselves to a reduction of only 13-19 per cent by the 1990 levels. This falls far short of the 25-40 per cent reduction expected of the developed countries so as to keep temperatures from rising more than two degrees above the pre-industrial era — a tipping point that leads to dangerous climate change consequences. It is likely that the developed countries will only achieve the lower limit. They have predicated their taking the higher range of cuts on developing countries setting targets for themselves, the chances of which are almost zero. The UNFCCC analysis shows that the EU, which has always projected itself as a leader on the issue, has set such a low target for 2020 that it has almost achieved it. It had committed to cut emissions down by 20 per cent below the 1990 levels. But, by 2011, it had achieved an 18 per cent cut. The U.S., which has the highest accumulated emissions and the highest per capita emissions in the world, increased emissions by eight per cent between 1990 and 2011 because it refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Now it has committed to cut emissions by five per cent from the 1990 levels by 2020 3)) Indian-origin,scientist,s have developed low-cost sensors that might save lives by warning of deadly landslips in at-risk areas around the world. Scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have developed low-cost sensors that might save lives by warning of deadly landslips in at-risk areas around the world. The wireless sensors, developed using technology adopted in cell phones, are being tested and have been installed around an active landslip zone in the Monte Sano State Park in the United States. A team from the Atmospheric Science Department of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is studying the sensors to see whether they can provide useful information about soil stability and the likelihood of a landslip. In addition to weather instruments, the sensors use off-the-shelf technology that had been developed for other uses, such as motion detectors used in cell phones and robotics. The sensor that tells when the soil is so saturated by rain that it may become unstable was developed for irrigation systems, to tell when a field has received enough water. The sensors connect to the Internet using inexpensive cell phone connections, so scientists can monitor their instruments without needing to either run wires into remote areas or manually check the sensor boxes regularly. Eric Anderson, a research associate in UAH’s Earth System Science Center, went to work with NASA which gave him access to Karthik Srinivasan, a University Space Research Association scientist who invented wireless sensors for NASA’s SERVIR programme. The sensors were created as a low-cost tool for calibrating an airborne instrument that measures soil moisture. They could be moved from spot to spot as needed to gather data on the ground at the same time the airborne instrument was overhead. After seeing the sensors in action, Mr. Anderson recognised the potential value something similar might have in studying and monitoring landslips. Mr. Anderson and Mr. Nair, an associate professor of atmospheric science, wrote a proposal that led to a $56,000 grant from UAH’s University Research Infrastructure Initiative. 4))Criteria for selection to the Indian Administrative Service contain a requirement Imposing additional norms will result in discrimination and denial of equal opportunity If the rules for selection to the Indian Administrative Service contain a requirement, it must be applied uniformly and strictly, and none from the eligible group can be eliminated from being considered on any criterion other than those which are provided in the rules, the Supreme Court has ruled. “If there is a criterion laid down for selection, the administration has to confine [itself] to the same, and it cannot impose an additional criterion… If that is done, it will no longer remain an exercise of discretion but will result in discrimination. It will mean treating similarly situated employees dissimilarly, and denying equal opportunity to some of them in the matter of public employment on the basis of a criterion which is not laid down, resulting in violation of Articles 14 and 16(1) of the Constitution,” said a Bench of Justices H.L. Gokhale and J. Chelameswar. In the instant case, “if the rules were to provide that in the event of a large number of persons coming into the zone of consideration, the names of the seniormost alone will be forwarded, then it would have been a different situation. In the absence any such restrictive rule, the decision of the respondents cannot be justified.” Writing the judgment, Justice Gokhale said non-consideration of appellant B. Amrutha Lakshmi’s claim by the Andhra Pradesh government “was totally unjust. Hence, even though the appellant cannot get relief in the nature of a direction to consider her for the selection for 2011…, she must get damages for non-consideration on unjust grounds. This is because the Commissioner for Commercial Tax had acted to reduce the zone of consideration, contrary to the rules, and in spite of a letter dated July 1, 2010, from the Principal Secretary Revenue (CT-I) Department, which had clarified that the Commissioner may send the proposals of the eligible candidates of the cadre of Assistant Commissioner and above, who were of outstanding merit.” 5)) Power generation stabilised at 200 MWe at KKNPP’s first reactor Power generation at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project’s first reactor, which was resynchronized with the southern grid on Thursday night, has been stabilised at 200 MWe even as the engineers are closely monitoring the thermal efficiency of the plant and other allied sections. After the reactor was resynchronized at 9.43 p.m. on Thursday, generation of power increased steadily up to 280 MWe. However, the output was stabilised at 200 MWe on Friday. “We’re constantly monitoring the thermal efficiency of the vital components. Hopefully, we’ll be able to move up to 300 MWe within next 10 days as the performance of the reactor is so encouraging,” KKNPP Site Director R.S. Sundar told . General knowledge and current affairs
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 13:55:17 +0000