April 6th, 2021, PIB:- Download PDF Here
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Heat Waves 2. BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting 3. Chief Justice of India 4. Wolf–Rayet stars 5. Prelims Facts
1. Heat Waves
Context:
Heat wave conditions very likely in isolated pockets over Rajasthan, Vidarbha and interior Tamil Nadu.
Details:
- The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heat wave conditions in some pockets over Rajasthan and in isolated pockets over east Vidarbha, and also in interior Tamil Nadu.
What is a heat wave?
- A heat wave is a period of abnormally high temperatures, more than the normal maximum temperature that occurs during the summer season in the North-Western and South Central parts of India.
- According to the IMD, a heat wave is considered if maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40oC or more for the plains and at least 30oC or more for hilly regions.
- Based on departure from normal:
- Heat wave: Departure from normal is 4.50C to 6.40C
- Severe heat wave: Departure from normal is >6.40C
- Based on actual maximum temperature:
- Heat wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥ 450C
- Severe heat wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥470C
- If the above criteria are met at least in 2 stations in a meteorological sub-division for at least two consecutive days, it declared on the second day.
- In India, heat waves occur mainly during March to June and in some rare cases even in July. The peak month is May.
- Heat waves generally occur over the plains of northwest India, Central, East & north Peninsular India during March to June.
- It covers Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, parts of Maharashtra & Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
- Sometimes it occurs over Tamil Nadu & Kerala also.
- Heat waves adversely affect health involving among other issues, dehydration, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and/or heat stroke.
Know more about heat waves and mitigation risks in the link.
2. BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting
Context:
India hosted the First Meeting of BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors.
Details:
- This was the first meeting of the BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors under India Chairship in 2021.
- BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors discussed financial cooperation agenda set by India for 2021 – Global Economic Outlook and Response to COVID-19 pandemic, New Development Bank (NDB) Activities, Social Infrastructure Financing and Use of Digital Technologies, Cooperation on Customs related issues, IMF reforms, Fintech for SMEs and Financial Inclusion, BRICS Rapid Information Security channel and BRICS Bond Fund.
- As 2021 BRICS Chair, India’s approach is focused on strengthening intra-BRICS cooperation based on Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus.
Context:
Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana appointed as Chief Justice of India.
Know more about the post of the Chief Justice of India in the link.
Context:
Supernova explosion traced to one of the hottest kind of stars.
What’s in News?
- Indian astronomers have tracked a rare supernova explosion and traced it to one of the hottest kind of stars called Wolf–Rayet stars or WR stars.
- A team of astronomers from Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, with some international collaborators have conducted optical monitoring of a stripped-envelope supernova called SN 2015dj hosted in the galaxy NGC 7371 which was spotted in 2015.
- They calculated the mass of the star that collapsed to form the supernovae as well as the geometry of its ejection.
- The scientists also found that the original star was a combination of two stars – one of them is a massive WR star and another is a star much less in mass than the Sun.
WR Star:
- The rare Wolf–Rayet stars are highly luminous objects a thousand times that of the Sun.
- They are massive stars and strip their outer hydrogen envelope which is associated with the fusion of helium and other elements in the massive core.
- They are a heterogeneous set of stars with unusual spectra showing prominent broad emission lines of ionised helium and highly ionised nitrogen or carbon.
- The surface temperatures of known Wolf-Rayet stars range from 30,000 K to around 210,000 K, hotter than almost all other kinds of stars.
- They were previously called W-type stars.
Directorate General of Training
- The Directorate General of Training (DGT) under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is the apex organisation for the development and coordination at the national level for programmes relating to vocational training including women’s vocational training.
- DGT also operates vocational training schemes in some of the specialized areas through field institutes under its direct control.
- Major functions of the DGT:
- To frame overall policies, norms and standards for vocational training.
- To diversify, update and expand training facilities in terms of craftsmen and crafts instructor training.
- To organize and conduct specialized training and research at the specially established training institutes.
- To implement, regulate and increase the scope of training of apprentices under the Apprentices Act, 1961.
- To organize vocational training programmes for women.
- To provide vocational guidance and employment counselling.
- Assist scheduled castes/scheduled tribes and persons with disabilities by enhancing their capabilities for wage employment and self-employment.
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April 6th, 2021, PIB:- Download PDF Here
| Related Links | |||
| UPSC Mains Exam | Government Exams | ||
| NCERT Notes | National Supercomputing Mission | ||
| BRICS | Sustainable Development Goals | ||
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