Current Affairs for IAS Exam 2011 Science Technology Defense Environment September 2010...

8/10/2019 Current Affairs for IAS Exam 2011 Science Technology Defense Environment September 2010 Www.upscportal.com

1/6

Science & Technology, Defense, EnvironmentSeptember 2010

M rice claim Australian scientists have claimed that they have genetically modified rice to improve its

tolerance to salt, leading to an increase in its production in areas affected by salinity.

Navy Chief to visit !S! ne"t #ee$ Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma will visit the United States. Admiral

Verma's first trip to the U.S. comes days ahead of efence !inister A.". Antony'sscheduled visit.

#he visit is yet another step in the growing strategic defence relations and engagement between the armed forces of the two countries. Admiral Verma will tour several places,including $ashington and %awaii, head&uarters of the U.S. acific Command ( AC)!*,and witness the progress of the + - ong /ange !aritime /econnaissance aircraft the-ndian Navy is procuring from the U.S.

%n ia, '(ssia to float firm for aircraft pro (ction

-ndia and /ussia have moved ahead in the effort to design and develop a !ultirole #ransportAircraft (!#A* with both sides signing a shareholders agreement for setting up a 0oint venturecompany.

#he %industan Aeronautics imited (%A * and the /ussian partners 1 the United AircraftCorporation 2 the /osoborone3port 1 will form the company to co+develop and co+produce the45 to 67 tonne payload capacity !#A, the efence !inistry announced on 8riday.

#he !#A's main features are9 ma3imum ta:e+off weight9 ;5 tonnes, payload capacity9 45+67

tonnes, cruise speed9 77 :mph, range9 6,577+6,


2/6

Agni+V will be a three+stage solid fuelled missile that will carry a conventional nuclear warhead.-t will reportedly have a range of more than 5,777 :m. -t will be a canisterised missile, providingit fle3ibility, to be launched from multiple platforms on land and sea.

)ver the past 45 years, the successful launches of the rithvi, Agni and ?rah!os missiles have proved that the country's missile programme has reached a mature level,B r. Saraswat said.

#he / ) is also wor:ing on the ne3t version of the supersonic cruise missile ?rah!os, he

added. r. Saraswat was spea:ing to 0ournalists on the sidelines of an interactive session betweenacademicians, policy ma:ers and the industry, organised by the -ndian Statistical -nstitute (-S-*.

/reen no for afarge cement plant (ashe

A /s. >77+crore cement pro0ect in %imachal radesh, promoted by 8rench giant afarge,has lost its environmental clearance, after the National nvironment Appellate Authorityruled that the pro0ect threatened the local agriculture+based economy and the nearby!a0athal $ildlife Sanctuary.

%n ian Navy #arship foils piracy bi

-ndian Navy warships, on an anti+piracy mission, struc: success for the fourth time in the last 47days, with -NS elhi intercepting and disarming a dhow in the Dulf of Aden. eployed in theregion since mid+@uly this year, -NS elhi was escorting ; merchant vessels with E7 -ndiansamong the 4E< crew on board.

#his was the fourth such action ta:en by -NS elhi, three being ta:en in the last four days. Sincethe Navy started anti+piracy operations in )ctober 677 , this was the 4 th attac: that was foiled.

N(mber portability from November 1 !obile Number ortability (!N * 1 which allows mobile subscribers to retain their

e3isting number while changing operators 1 is on schedule to be rolled out across thecountry on November 4, #elecom /egulatory Authority of -ndia (#/A-* chairman @.S.Sarma said

'are celestial phenomenon a#aits starga ers on September 20 @upiter will appear unusually bright in the night s:y, outshining even Venus, on September 67 as

two astronomical phenomena are coinciding on the day 1 the planet is going to be in oppositionto the Sun and will be at a distance closest to the arth since 4>;F.

#he computer+supported audio facilities give audio lessons for students from class - to ?achelorslevel. Close to F


3/6

#his was the outcome of a meeting at Sao aulo between Union Agriculture and ublicistribution !inister Sharad awar and the ?raGilian !inister for Agriculture, ivestoc:

and 8ood Supply $agner /ossi.

N(clear bill m(st be compatible #ith global stan ar s, says !S!

A senior United States official once again raised $ashington's discomfiture with the Nuclearimited iability ?ill approved by arliament last month and felt -ndia should harmonise it with

international laws.

#he Nuclear iability ?ill ran into ob0ections from the U.S. soon after it was passed on AugustF7. #he first off the bloc: was the U.S.+-ndia ?usiness Council (US-?C*, which suggested thene3t day that the -ndian law appeared to be incompatible with the Convention on SupplementaryCompensation (CSC*.

3lac$3erry DoT as$s operators to (pgra e capabilities

#he epartment of #elecommunications ( o#* has as:ed all mobile operators to upgradetheir technical capabilities for intercepting the services of ?lac:?erry.

#he o# order follows a ;7+day deadline given by the %ome !inistry to the Canada+ based /esearch in !otion (/-!*, ma:ers of ?lac:?erry, on August F7 to provide accessto its services to the law enforcement agencies.

3roa ban services to villages in 2 years

All village panchayats in the country will get broadband services in the ne3t two years, UnionCommunications and -nformation #echnology !inister A. /a0a said..

Under the scheme, mobile phone sets are distributed free only to those ? persons who hadwor:ed under the !ahatma Dandhi National /ural mployment Duarantee Scheme for aminimum of 65 days.

%n ia set for b(il ing prototype gravitational #ave etector -ndian gravitational astronomy research got a ma0or boost on September 4E with the

approval of the #ata -nstitute of 8undamental /esearch (#-8/* to fund a /s.6+crore proposal for building a prototype gravitational wave (D$* detector.

#his three+metre+long optical interferometer+based detector is the first step in the four+ phase strategy recommended by a consortium of -ndian gravitational astronomyresearchers towards building a four+:m class -ndian -nterferometric Dravitational $ave)bservatory (-nd-D)* by the year 6767.

%n igeno(s cryogenic stage in 14 months .SSC official @ohn . Hachariah, Associate irector of the Vi:ram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC*, has

said that -ndia will be able to develop an indigenous cryogenic stage for launchingsatellites weighing over four tonnes in a year and a half.

!S! report says %n ia thir most po#erf(l nation

A new official United States report has listed -ndia as the third most powerful nation in the worldafter the U.S. and China and the fourth most powerful bloc.

#he new global power line+up for 6747 also predicted that New elhi's clout in the world will

further rise by 6765,B as per IDlobal Dovernance 6765,' 0ointly issued by the National

wnloaded from: http://www.upscportal.com

www.upscportal.com


4/6

-ntelligence Council (N-C* of the U.S. and the uropean Union's -nstitute for Security Studies

( U-SS*. #he report 1 &uoting the views of a host of e3perts from ?raGil, /ussia, -ndia and China and

depicting fictionalised scenarios 1 points to what could happen over the ne3t 65 years in termsof global governance.

T#itter hit by 5mo(seover b(g6 #witter came under attac: as hac:ers e3ploited a security flaw to wrea: havoc on the

microblogging service. Computer security firms said thousands of users, or more, were affected by the

mouseover bugB bug, which automatically sent out or re+tweetedB messages from auser's account simply by rolling over an infected lin: with the computer mouse.

#he San 8rancisco+based #witter said on its status blog that it had patched the security problem at ;957 am California time (4F57 D!#*.

%n ia rea y to sell +ress(rise 7eavy 8ater 'eactors #he Nuclear ower Corporation of -ndia imited is ready to sell ressurised %eavy

$ater /eactors of 667 !$e or 5E7 !$e capacity to other countries, according toAtomic nergy Commission (A C* Chairman Sri:umar ?aner0ee. r. ?aner0ee, who gave an overview of the country's atomic energy programme, said wor: had

started on four indigenous ressurised %eavy $ater /eactors of


5/6

#he Auto 8uel olicy had prescribed a road map for introduction of ?S+-V and ?S+---grades of petrol and diesel (e&uivalent to uroJ--- and uro+-V petrol and diesel* in thecountry.

Mi/-29 crashes, pilot safe A !iD+6< crashed in the Narayangarh region of $est ?engal's aschim !edinipur

district e3actly two months after a similar 0et crashed in a human habitation in north?engal, :illing five persons.

+rithvi-%% fails to ta$e off #he nuclear weapons+capable, surface+to+surface ballistic missile rithvi+-- failed to ta:e

off after it was fired from a mobile launcher during a user trial at Chandipur in )rissa. #he missile, with a range of F57 :m, was fired around 47 a.m. by personnel of the

Strategic 8orces Command as part of a training e3ercise. ?ut the roc:et engine stoppedfunctioning a few seconds after the launch command was given and failed to provide themissile the necessary thrust to blast off.

Soy( caps(le lan s safely

A /ussian SoyuG space capsule with a crew of three landed safely after an undoc:ingglitch delayed their return to arth by 6E hours., two cosmonauts and an astronaut had toabort their departure from the -nternational Space Station (-SS* upon completing a si3+month mission when computers signalled a technical problem with the hermetic seals and

bloc:ed the release of hoo:s and latches securing the SoyuG craft to the station

%)* plans to in (ct 10 )8)CS

%aving already procured three Airborne $arning and Control Systems (A$ACS*, the -ndian Air8orce is planning to induct 47 such eyes.

-n the near future, the -A8 will place fresh orders for two more halcon A$ACS. -t has plans to

induct 47 such aircraft in its fleet in the long+run, to provide round+the+cloc: vigil across allfrontiers.

#he A$ACS deal was initiated in 677E among -ndia, -srael and /ussia.

#he pro0ect involved the -sraeli halcon early+warning radar and communication suites whichhad to be mounted on the /ussian - +


6/6

)n board -NS "u:ri.#he tal:s were held on board the -NS "u:ri, an offshore patrolvessel, at the -nternational !aritime ?oundary ine near oint Calimer.

*resh reports of contamination at :a#ahar D#eep 8resh reports of oil contamination have come from @awahar weep, a restricted area

around .5 :m. away from the Dateway of -ndia, more than E5 days after the oil spillfrom !SC Chitra.

China6s l(nar probe

China will launch its second lunar probe, Chang'e --, at an appropriate time between )ctober 4and F, the Kichang Satellite aunch Center (KS C*, in southwest China's Sichuan rovince,announced .

wnloaded from: http://www.upscportal.com

www.upscportal.com

Current Affairs for IAS Exam 2011 Science Technology Defense Environment September 2010...

Documents

Transcript of Current Affairs for IAS Exam 2011 Science Technology Defense Environment September 2010...