Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 05 August 2015

:: National ::

Country's largest solar telescope

The Udaipur Solar Observatory (USO), one of the six GONG (Global Oscillations Network Group) sites in the world, has now the country's largest telescope to observe the sun.
After China, Udaipur is second in the world to have the unique multi-application solar telescope (MAST) for the detailed study of the solar activities.
Unlike other telescopes, the MAST is capable of capturing three dimensional aspects of the solar magnetic fields, further enabling the scientists to get a better understanding of the solar flares and eruptions taking place in such twisted magnetic fields.
ISRO chairman AS Kiran Kumar, who couldn't make it to the event, sent his message to fellow scientists, congratulating them for the major achievement.
The observatory, situated on an island in the middle of Fatehsagar lake, is a part of the PRL, an autonomous unit of the department of space.
The observatory's strategic location, with a large water body surrounding the telescope, decreases the amount of heating of the surface layers.
This reduces the turbulence in the air mass and thereby improves the image quality.
The scientists here had got many important results earlier using data from other sources. But those were looking at only one layer of the solar atmosphere.
Using the MAST, they plan to extend the studies to other layers using multiple spectral line diagnostics. In this way, they would get 3D pictures of the phenomena.

What is MAST

The MAST is an off-axis Gregorian-Coude telescope with a 50 cm aperture and its dome is a collapsible one made of tensile fabric
The scientists had proposed for MAST in 2004 and preparations had been going on since for its installation.
Built by the Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems (AMOS) of Belgium, the MAST was tested by Udaipur Solar Observatory for onsite acceptance
The back-end instruments of MAST, developed in-house at USO, include an adaptive optics system and a narrow band imaging polarimeter
The test results accumulated over a year were examined by a committee of experts and the telescope has now been made operational after 11 years

Strategic location of USO

In most places, lakes are associated with abundant rainfall. However in Udaipur, the wisdom of the administrative bodies 500 years ago resulted in a system of lakes which were used to store water collected during the monsoon.
This water supply could last for several years during lean monsoons. Because the rains were scanty in general, Udaipur site can boast of more than 250 days of continuous sunshine which allows to observe the sun properly during the day
A milestone was added in the Udaipur Satellite Observatory's history in October 1995 when it appeared on the world map after being included in the GONG project.
The other sites selected under GONG are the Canary Islands in Spain, CTIO in Chile, Hawaii and Big Bear in USA and Learmonth in Australia.
A sophisticated 1.5 million dollar, state-of-the-art instrument was installed in Udaipur under the project which monitors the sun automatically and takes digital velocity images of it every minute

:: Business ::

Finance ministry moves cabinet note on gold monetisation scheme

The finance ministry has moved a cabinet note on the proposed gold monetisation scheme that will enable depositors to earn interest on their on their gold accounts.
The gold monetisation scheme, which is proposed to be initially introduced only in selected cities, was announced in the Budget this year by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Under the proposed scheme, a person or entity would be allowed to deposit a minimum quantity of 30 grams of gold in any form, bullion or jewellery, for one year in a gold saving account. The banks will decide the interest rate.
To make the scheme attractive to households, the interest earned on it will likely be exempt from income tax, wealth tax and capital gains tax.
Before depositing gold into a metal account, customers will have to get its purity checked from the testing and collection centres certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
They will be given a certificate by the collection centre certifying the amount and purity of the deposited gold.
When the customer produces the certificate of gold deposited at the Purity Testing Centre, the bank will open a ‘Gold Savings Account’ for the customer.
Under the scheme, both principal and interest to be paid to the depositors of gold, will be ‘valued’ in gold.
For example if a customer deposits 100 gm of gold and gets 1 percent interest, then, on maturity he has a credit of 101 gm.
Customer will have the choice to take cash or gold on redemption, but the preference has to be stated at the time of deposit.
The proposed scheme also seeks to benefit jewellers who can obtain loans in their metal account. Banks and other dealers would also be able to benefit from the scheme.
The scheme aims at reducing dependence on import of gold to meet the domestic demand and provide a fillip to the gems and jewellery sector in the country by making gold available as raw material on loan from the banks.
India is one of the largest consumers of gold in the world and imports as much as 800-1,000 tonnes of the metal each year.
The stock of gold in India that is neither traded nor monetised is estimated to be over 20,000 tonnes.

:: India & world ::

Nine U.S. satellites to be flown from Sriharikota

In a small but significant progress in the chequered Indo-U.S. space equations, Indian satellite launchers will for the first time put a few U.S.-made satellites into space from Indian soil.
ISRO’s commercial venture Antrix Corporation recently signed contracts to launch nine micro and nano spacecraft separately as small co-passengers on the PSLV light-lifter during this year and next, according to information from ISRO officials.
A micro satellite weighs in the band of 10-100 kg and a nano satellite in the range of one to 10 kg.
The U.S. contracts are seen as the first fruit of the Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) that the Department of Space signed with the U.S. in July 2009.
The TSA leaves the door open for ISRO to launch small non-commercial or experimental spacecraft that are made in the US — or even those of other countries which contain U.S. components.
Until the TSA was signed, even that leeway was not available for ISRO which aspires to take baby bites in the big global launch service business.
Most satellites made around the world use some or other U.S. components.
ISRO and the U.S. have been working at a bigger accord, the CSLA (Commercial Satellite Launch Agreement) which, when sealed, will bring in the business of launching bigger commercial Earth observation or other satellites.
ISRO’s PSLV launcher, which has done 30 flights with just one failure since 1993, has a good record and is considered low-priced and reliable for small satellites.
To date, it has put into orbit 45 small and mid-sized foreign satellites of 19 nations for a fee.

Radar satellite

Another positive outcome with the U.S. is the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), signed about two years ago, to co-develop a radar imaging satellite and launch it from India around 2019-20.
It will be the first synthetic aperture radar satellite in dual frequency.

Maha Govt wants Sachin,Amitabh as ambassadors for tiger campaign

The Maharashtra government has asked actor Amitabh Bachchan and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar to be the state ambassadors for the ‘Save the Tiger’ campaign and promote tiger tourism
Outlining the importance of promoting its tiger reserves, Mungantiwar, who is also the state finance minister, explained several measures taken by the state government to save tigers. He said he would make it a people’s campaign and would not let financial constraints come in the way.
Maharashtra, which has six tiger reserves has 190 tigers as per the 2014 census.
The state has recorded a steady rise in tiger population from 103 (2006) to 169 (2010) and 190 (2014) as reported in the Tiger Estimation conducted every four years.