India elected to UN Statistical Commission

GS Paper - 2 (International Relations)

In a significant victory, India has overwhelmingly been elected to the UN Statistical Commission for a four-year period in a “competitive” election in which China and South Korea are still vying for the remaining seat from the Asia Pacific category. India secured an overwhelming 46 out of 53 votes.

What

1. India was elected by secret ballot while Argentina, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Ukraine, the United Republic of Tanzania and the United States of America were elected by acclamation for a four-year term of office beginning 1 January 2024.
2. The current members from the Asia-Pacific States are Japan (2024), Samoa (2024) as well as Kuwait and Republic of Korea, whose terms are ending this year.
3. The United Nations Statistical Commission, established in 1947, is the highest body of the global statistical system bringing together the Chief Statisticians from member states from around the world.
4. It is the highest decision making body for international statistical activities, responsible for setting of statistical standards and the development of concepts and methods, including their implementation at the national and international level.
5. The Commission consists of 24 member countries of the United Nations elected by the United Nations Economic and Social Council on the basis of an equitable geographical distribution.
6. Five members are from African States, four from Asia-Pacific States, four from Eastern European States, four from Latin American and Caribbean States and seven members from Western European and other States.

TEMPO air quality monitoring instrument

GS Paper - 3 (Space Technology)

NASA’s high-resolution air pollution monitoring instrument TEMPO lifted atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on 7 April 2023. The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument is on its way to a geostationary orbit where it will monitor major air pollutants across North America.

More about TEMPO

1. TEMPO will take important scientific observations, including that of ozone, nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide and formaldehyde levels.
2. TEMPO is a payload on the satellite Intelsat 40E. The satellite separated from the rocket about 32 minutes into launch. It will only begin its science activities in late May or early June.
3. The space agency says that TEMPO will be the first space-based instrument that is capable of measuring air quality over North America hourly during the daytime with a resolution of several square miles. The current limit is about 100 square miles, or about 258 square kilometres.
4. Using TEMPO data, scientists will be able to study rush hour pollution, the potential for improved air quality alerts, the impact of lightning on the ozone layer, the movement of pollution from forest fires and volcanoes and even the effects of fertiliser application.
5. According to the 2022 “State of the Air” report by the American Lung Association, more than 40 per cent of Americans, which is over 137 million people, live in places with failing grades for unhealthy levels of particle pollution or ozone. This presents an increase of nearly 2.1 million people over the previous year’s report.
6. The TEMPO mission is about more than just studying pollution – it’s about improving life on Earth for all. By monitoring the effects of everything from rush-hour traffic to pollution from forest fires and volcanoes, NASA data will help improve air quality across North America and protect our planet.
7. TEMPO will join South Korea’s Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer and the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-4 satellite to become an air quality monitoring satellite constellation that will track pollution across the Northern Hemisphere.

SC directs Media One’s licence to be renewed

GS Paper - 2 (Polity)

The Supreme Court, set aside the Centre’s order refusing to grant the renewal of broadcast licence to Malayalam news channel Media One, which had been denied security clearance by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) over alleged links with the Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind.

The case

1. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had on 31 January 2022, refused to renew the broadcast licence of Malayalam channel MediaOne on the ground that the Ministry of Home Affairs had declined to grant it security clearance while considering the request for renewal of license.
2. The MHA, as per the Supreme Court judgement delivered 5 April 2023, cited alleged links between the channel promoters Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited and the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind.

What did the Supreme Court say?

1. The Supreme Court on 5 April 2023 set aside the Centre’s order revoking the channel’s broadcast license as well the High Court order upholding the government action.
2. The top court was critical of the sealed cover procedure adopted in the HC and the “cavalier manner” in which the Centre “raised the claim of national security” to deny the security clearance.
3. It said, “While we have held that it would be impracticable and unwise for the courts to define the phrase national security, we also hold that national security claims cannot be made out of thin air. There must be material backing such inference. The material on the file and the inference drawn from such material has no nexus”.
4. It noted that in this case, “the state is using national security as a tool to deny citizens remedies that are provided under the law. This is not compatible with the rule of law”.

Fully 3D-printed cryogenic engine test fired

GS Paper - 3 (Space Technology)

Skyroot Aerospace, India's pioneering private rocket builder achieved a major milestone by successfully test-firing an advanced fully 3D-printed cryogenic engine for 200 seconds, a record for the company.

More about test

1. The endurance test of 'Dhawan-II' which demonstrated impressive performance results, was carried out at Solar Industries propulsion test facility in Nagpur, Maharashtra, using Skyroot’s indigenously developed mobile cryogenic engine test pad.
2. This achievement follows the November 2022 launch of Vikram–S, which made Skyroot the first Indian private company to send a rocket into space.
3. The Dhawan-II engine builds upon the foundation laid by Skyroot's first privately developed fully-cryogenic rocket engine, the 1.0 kN thrust Dhawan–I, which was successfully test fired in November 2021.
4. The cryogenic engine series is named in honour of Satish Dhawan, an eminent Indian rocket scientist who played a crucial role in the development of India's space programme.