ISRO’s Next-Gen Launch Vehicle

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is developing a Next-Gen Launch Vehicle (NGLV), which is expected to replace the current operational systems like the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

About Next-Gen Launch Vehicle:

• NGLV is aimed to be a cost-efficient, three-stage, reusable heavy-lift vehicle with a payload capability of 10 tonnes to Geostationary Transfer Orbit.
• NGLV will feature semi-cryogenic propulsion for the booster stages which will be cheaper and efficient.
• The Low Earth Orbit (LEO) payload capability will be twice that of the Geostationary Transfer Orbit i.e., 20 tonnes.
• However, payload capability will be lower when the rocket is reusable.

Current Launch vehicles of ISRO:

About PSLV:

• Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is the third generation launch vehicle of India.
• It is the first Indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages.
• It is a four stage launch vehicle.
• A large solid rocket motor forming the first stage,
• An earth storable liquid stage as the second stage,
• A high-performance solid rocket motor as third stage, and
• A liquid stage with engines as fourth stage.
• The vehicle successfully launched two spacecraft – Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and Mars Orbiter Spacecraft in 2013.
• Since 1994 till 2017, PSLV has launched 48 Indian satellites and 209 satellites for customers from abroad.

About GSLV:

• The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) project began in 1990 with the aim of acquiring an Indian launch capability for geosynchronous satellites.
• GSLV is a fourth generation launch vehicle and is a three stage vehicle with four liquid strap-ons and the indigenously developed cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) powers its third stage.

GSLV Mk III

• GSLV Mk III is a three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle developed by ISRO.
• The vehicle has two solid strap-ons, a core liquid booster and a cryogenic upper stage.
• GSLV Mk III is designed to carry 4 ton class of satellites into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) or about 10 tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is about twice the capability of the GSLV Mk II.
• The first developmental flight of GSLV Mk III, the GSLV-Mk III-D1 successfully placed GSAT-19 satellite to a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) on June 05, 2017 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.
• GSLV MkIII-D2, the second developmental flight of GSLV MkIII successfully launched GSAT-29, a high throughput communication satellite on November 14, 2018 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.
• GSLV MkIII-M1, successfully injected Chandrayaan-2, India’s second Lunar Mission, in to Earth Parking Orbit on July 22, 2019 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.

SC passes split verdict on Hijab case

The Supreme Court 13 October 2022 delivered a split verdict in the Karnataka hijab ban case, directing the matter to be placed before the Chief Justice of India for appropriate directions. In his judgment, Justice Dhulia referred to the Bijoe Emmanuel case, saying it “squarely covers the issue”.

Bijoe Emmanuel verdict

• In August 1986, a Supreme Court bench of Justices O Chinnappa Reddy and M M Dutt had, in Bijoe Emmanuel & Ors vs State Of Kerala & Ors, granted protection to three children of the Jehovah’s Witness sect, who didn’t join in the singing of the national anthem at their school.
• The court held that forcing the children to sing the anthem violated their fundamental right to religion.
• The children’s father, VJ Emannuel, had pleaded that for Jehovah’s Witnesses, only Jehovah should be worshiped.
• Since the national anthem was a prayer, his children would stand up in respect when it was playing, but their faith did not allow them to sing it.
• The court had also said that while the Kerala High Court in the matter had examined whether or not the national anthem contained any “word or thought… which could offend anyone’s religious susceptibilities”, it had “misdirected itself”, because “that is not the question at all”.

Govt. amends MSCS Act

More than a year after a cooperative ministry was formed with Home Minister Amit Shah as its head; the Cabinet approved extensive amendments to the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act (MSCS). The Act was last amended in 2002. The amendments make the functioning of the board of such cooperatives transparent and a Cooperative Election Authority can be formed to conduct free, fair and timely elections to coops.

The Amendments

1. Mandatorily Reserves Seats for Women and SC/ST in MSCS Boards
2. Provides for setting up of Cooperative Election Authority, Cooperative Information Officer and Cooperative Ombudsman
3. Cooperative Election Authority will be mandated to conduct free, fair, timely and transparent to the coops
4. Members can be debarred for three years for electoral malpractices.
5. Empowers Centre to suspend board for non-holding of meeting within stipulated
6. Rehabilitation Fund for Revival of Sick Coops

Flashback

• India, at present, has nearly 800,000 cooperative societies of which around 1,600 are MSCS. They serve the interest of members in more than one state. These include some big names like IFFCO, Kribhco and Nafed.
• The amendments will now be presented during the Winter Session of Parliament. Of the 1600-odd MSCS, the majority are in Maharashtra (570), followed by UP (150) and New Delhi (133).
• Credit cooperatives constitute the bulk of the MSCS (610), followed by agriculture-oriented MSCS (244).
• There are around 100 multi-state cooperative diaries and 70 multi-state cooperative banks. The Bill will incorporate provisions of the 97th Constitutional Amendment.

Living planet report 2022

The biennial report produced by the Zoological Society of London, measures how species are responding to pressure in the environment due to biodiversity loss and climate change. Monitored wildlife populations — including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish — have seen a 69-per cent drop between 1970 and 2018, according to the latest Living Planet Report, released by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

More about the news:

• The report finds that the Himalayan region and the Western Ghats are some of the most vulnerable regions in the country in terms of biodiversity loss. For example: The country has seen a decline in population of the likes of honeybees and 17 species of freshwater turtles in this period.
• Projects like the recent cheetah translocation are good for preservation of species, and India has seen successes such as Project Tiger, or (projects for) the one-horned rhino and lions.
• Latin America and the Caribbean regions have seen the largest decline of monitored wildlife populations globally, with an average decline of 94% between 1970 and 2018. During the same period, monitored populations in Africa plummeted by 66%, while Asia Pacific’s monitored populations fell by 55%.
• It has found that freshwater populations have declined the most, with an average 83% decline between 1970 and 2018. The IUCN Red List shows cycads — an ancient group of seed plants are the most threatened species, while corals are declining the fastest, followed by amphibians.

Why biodiversity loss

1. The main drivers of wildlife population decline are habitat degradation and loss, exploitation, the introduction of invasive species, pollution, climate change and disease.
2. Land-use change is still the biggest current threat to nature, destroying or fragmenting the natural habitats of many plant and animal species on land, in freshwater and in the sea.
3. Only 37% of rivers that are over 1,000 km long remain free-flowing, or in their natural state, including rivers in India that are largely no longer free-flowing. This has threatened migration of fish.
4. Agriculture is the most prevalent threat to amphibians (animals that live both on land and in water), whereas hunting and trapping are most likely to threaten birds and mammals.
5. Geographically, Southeast Asia is the region where species are most likely to face threats at a significant level, while the Polar regions and the east coast of Australia and South Africa showed the highest impact probabilities for climate change, driven in particular by impact on birds

Flashback

1. It is an international, non-governmental,conservation organizationfounded in 1961, which works in nearly 100 countries.
2. It collaborates with people around the world to develop and deliver innovative solutions that protect communities, wildlife, and the places in which they live.

No more indictments under 66A of the IT Act

The Information Technology Act’s Section 66A, which the court ruled was unconstitutional in a ruling seven years ago, may no longer be used by States and their police forces to prosecute social media users for exercising their First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court issued this directive on Wednesday.

• The police continued to target specific individuals for prosecution under the harsh Section despite the country’s top court having declared the law to be “vague” and “chilling,” according to the court, which considered this to be both “distressing” and “awful.”
• “All Directors General of Police as well as Home Secretaries of the States and competent officers in Union Territories to instruct their entire police force in their respective States/Union Territories to not register any complaint of crime with respect to alleged violation of Section 66A,” ordered a bench chaired by Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit.
• The court made it clear that this instruction would not apply to other offences in a case, only to charges brought under Section 66A.
• The Supreme Court had determined in March 2015 that Section 66A’s police powers were too broad and showed little regard for people’s right to privacy and free speech online. The decision was made as a result of a petition submitted by law student Shreya Singhal, who cited instances of young people being detained and punished due to their social media activities.
• If a social media post “annoyed” or was deemed “grossly insulting,” Section 66A called for three years in prison. The court had reached the conclusion that the clause was ambiguous and phrased arbitrarily.