CURRENT WEEK-4 FEBRUARY A F FA I R S 2021 WEEKLY MAINS PRELIMS How icebergs ‘really ART & CULTURE No Records of Chilla Adjacent GS-I to Charminar: ASI melt? POLITY & Concern regarding GOVERNANCE certification of bills as money Silencing Dissent: bill GS-2 Misuse of Sedition Law ECONOMY SAKSHAM (Shramik Shakti Manch) to Shut Up Critics ENVIRONMENT Rare sight of Mandrain duck in India GS-3 Pangolins in SCIENCE & NIC launches Sandes Cameroon are on the TECHNOLOGY Guinea declares Ebola epidemic verge of extinction ISRO announces ‘Bhuvan’, an alternative to Google Maps Haemorrhagic septicaemia GS-3 Liberalisation of the India successfully test-fires geospatial sector in Helina, Dhruvastra anti-tank India guided missiles Detailed genome of the malaria mosquito vector GS-3 Privatisation of Banks GS-4 Self-regulation of OTT An Institute for Civil Services www.iasscore.in Disclaimer The current affairs articles are segregated from prelims and mains perspective, such separation is maintained in terms of structure of articles. Mains articles have more focus on analysis and prelims articles have more focus on facts. However, this doesn’t mean that Mains articles don’t cover facts and PT articles can’t have analysis. You are suggested to read all of them for all stages of examination. CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYST WEEK- 4 (FEBRUARY, 2021) CONTENTS 17Section - A: MAINS CURRENT AFFAIRS Area of GS Topics in News Page No. GS-I GEOGRAPHY How icebergs ‘really’ melt? 02 POLITY & Silencing Dissent: Misuse of Sedition Law to Shut GS-II 04 GOVERNANCE Up Critics Pangolins in Cameroon are on the verge of ENVIRONMENT 06 extinction GS-III SCIENCE & TECH. Liberalisation of the geospatial sector in India 08 ECONOMY Privatisation of Banks 10 GS-IV ETHICS Self-regulation of OTT 12 Section - B: PRELIMS CURRENT AFFAIRS Area of GS Topics in News Page No. GS-I ART & CULTURE No records of chilla adjacent to Charminar: ASI 16 POLITY & Concern regarding certifi cation of bills as GS-II 17 GOVERNANCE money bill ECONOMY SAKSHAM (Shramik Shakti Manch) 18 ENVIRONMENT Rare sight of Mandrain duck in India 19 NIC launches Sandes 20 Guinea declares Ebola epidemic 20 ISRO announces ‘Bhuvan’, an alternative to 21 GS-III Google Maps SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Haemorrhagic septicaemia 22 India successfully test-fi res Helina, Dhruvastra 22 anti-tank guided missiles Detailed genome of the malaria mosquito 23 vector SECTION: A (MAINS) CURRENT AFFAIRS CURRENT AFFAIRS WEEK - 4 (FEBRUARY, 2021) WEEKLY HOW ICEBERGS ‘REALLY’ MELT? CONTEXT Icebergs are melting faster than current models describe, according to a new study at the University of Sydney. The researchers have proposed a new model to more accurately represent the melting speed of icebergs into oceans. BACKGROUND ! Larger glaciers are referred to as continental glaciers, which start at a central point and Today, several million icebergs are fl oating on the spread out as they accumulate more ice and oceans of all sizes and shapes. They are formed other debris like dirt and rock. in the Arctic and Antarctic and, once detached, follow the currents (ocean) until they melt and ! Glaciers are located in the Arctic and Antarctica, disappear. with the largest glaciers appearing in Antarctica. Iceberg melt is responsible for about half the freshwater entering the ocean from the Antarctic Icebergs, on the other hand, are smaller pieces of and Greenland ice sheets. ice that have broken off (or calved) from glaciers and now drift with the ocean currents. However, current models wrongly assume icebergs ! Only the larger continental glaciers create melt uniformly. icebergs, as it typically does not happen that Thus, accurately modeling how it enters is a mountain glacier releases an iceberg into the important for understanding the potential impact sea. on ocean circulation. How do they form? Where do they go? ANALYSIS Icebergs calve from glaciers when direct sunlight Understanding the geography of Icebergs or rising air temperature causes the glacier’s Icebergs are pieces of ice that formed on land and surface ice to become more brittle. fl oat in an ocean or lake. Once an iceberg has calved off a glacier it is Icebergs come in all shapes and sizes, from ice- already fl oating and, by the principle known since cube-sized chunks to ice islands the size of a small country. Archimedes, raises the oceans’ volume. ! The term “iceberg” refers to chunks of ice larger Archimedes’ principle and melting of sea ice than 5 meters (16 feet) across. and ocean water level ! Smaller icebergs are known as bergy Archimedes' principle is used to understand why bits and growlers. They can be especially there's no change in water level when the ice that dangerous for ships because they are harder is fl oating in the water melts. to spot. The principle states that a body immersed in a The North Atlantic and the cold waters surrounding fl uid is subjected to an upwards force equal to the Antarctica are home to most of the icebergs on weight of the displaced fl uid. Earth. Difference between icebergs, glaciers, and other ice trivia Glaciers and icebergs represent two of the most important facets of Earth's ecosystem. The glaciers, icebergs, ice sheets, and permanent areas of snow in the polar regions (the Arctic and Antarctica) comprise 1.7% of the total water on the planet. Glaciers are large sheets of ice that can extend for miles. 2 www.iasscore.in CURRENT AFFAIRS WEEKLY WEEK - 4 (FEBRUARY, 2021) ! For example, a ship that is launched sinks The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change into the ocean until the weight of the water it (IPCC) was established in 1988 by the World displaces is just equal to its own weight. As the Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United ship is loaded, it sinks deeper, displacing more Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess water, and so the magnitude of the buoyant climate change based on the latest science. force continuously matches the weight of the ship and its cargo. What is the proposed method? Application: The applications of The results, published in Physical Review Fluids, Archimedes’ principle are: have implications for oceanographers and climate ! Archimedes’ principle is used in designing ships scientists. and submarines The new research proposes a very simple model ! Lactometers based on Archimedes’ principle is that accounts for iceberg shape, as a prototype for used to measure the purity of a sample of milk an improved model of iceberg melting. Icebergs travel with ocean currents, sometimes To test these models, the researchers developed smashing up against the shore or getting caught in shallow waters. the fi rst realistic small-scale simulations of melting ice in saltwater. When an iceberg reaches warm waters, the new climate attacks it from all sides. The old models assumed that stationary icebergs didn’t melt at all, whereas the latest experiments On the iceberg surface, warm air melts snow and show melting of about a millimeter every minute. ice into pools called melt ponds that can trickle through the iceberg and widen cracks. In icebergs moving in oceans, the melting on the At the same time, warm water laps at the iceberg base can be up to 30 percent faster than in old edges, melting the ice and causing chunks of ice models. to break off. The research shows that iceberg shape is important. On the underside, warmer waters melt the iceberg Given that the sides melt faster, wide icebergs from the bottom up. melt more slowly but smaller, narrower icebergs melt faster. Impacts: Icebergs have two main impacts on climate The sides of icebergs melt about twice as fast as ! Iceberg production affects the mass balance of their base. the parent ice sheets For icebergs that are moving in the ocean, melting ! melting icebergs infl uence both ocean structure at the front can be three or four times faster than and global sea level what the old models predicted. What were the assumptions made in the Conclusion current model? While icebergs are only one part of the global climate Current models, which are incorporated into the system, the improved model provides scientists with methodology used by the Intergovernmental a dial that they can tune to better capture the reality Panel on Climate Change, assume that icebergs of Earth’s changing climate. melt uniformly in ocean currents. These methods can also be applied to many other ! The IPCC is the gold standard for climate systems, including glaciers melting or the melting of science. frozen, saline sea ice. Moreover, these methods could However, this recent research has shown that be used by astrobiologists to better understand ice icebergs do not melt uniformly and melt at moons like Saturn’s Enceladus, a candidate for fi nding different speeds depending on their shape. life elsewhere in the Solar System. ********** www.iasscore.in 3 CURRENT AFFAIRS WEEK - 4 (FEBRUARY, 2021) WEEKLY SILENCING DISSENT: MISUSE OF SEDITION LAW TO SHUT UP CRITICS CONTEXT The sedition law cannot be used to “quieten the disquiet under the pretence of muzzling miscreants”, a court in Delhi said while granting bail to two men accused of posting fake videos on Facebook on the farmer protests. BACKGROUND imprisonment for life, to which a fi ne may be added; or, with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to The increasing use of the sedition law by the which a fi ne may be added; or, with fi ne.” authorities in recent years has led to allegations Disaff ec on includes disloyalty and all feelings of that this colonial-era provision is being invoked enmity. largely to stifl e the citizens’ freedom of speech and expression, which is guaranteed by the However, comments without exci ng or a emp ng Constitution.