28th February and 1st March 2017 : The Hindu and PIB Daily News and Current Affairs

28th February and 1st March 2017


1)Seemai karuvelam (prosopis Juliflora) is vilified as an invasive tree that causes enormous damage to the environment and inhibits the growth of indigenous plants.

But in the early 1960s, when Tamil Nadu was reeling under a severe shortage of firewood, it was seen as a saviour to overcome this shortage.

What’s the issue?

The seemai karuvelam tree that sucks a lot of water has invaded into water bodies and dry lands of government and private people. Since such trees ultimately affect the agricultural activities, a batch of cases for their eradication was filed before the high court bench.

The Madurai bench of the Madras high court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to enact a law with prohibitory and penal clauses within two months to eradicate seemai karuvelam trees (prosopis juliflora).

2)SEBI plans to further tighten the regulations for algorithmic trading.

Aim: To minimise instances of misuse of such systems that can be used to execute complex trading strategies at a very high speed.

India is one of the very few countries in the world which have some mechanism for controlling the misuse of algo.

3)The use of pellet guns, which led to considerable injuries during street protests in Kashmir last year, is set to make a comeback.

PAVA ineffective: Paramilitary forces have found that the less lethal alternative PAVA (pelargonic acid vanillylamide) shells are not really effective in scattering protesters.

A modified version: Of the pellet gun will be used to break up any protest before and during anti-militancy operations
Why modified? To minimise injuries.

Deflector: The modified version of the pellet gun will have a “deflector”, an attachment on the muzzle to prevent pellets from ascending so that shrapnels do not strike a person above the abdomen region.

CRPF troops in the Valley have been told to fire pellets aiming at the feet of protesters and not the abdomen area.

4)The National Science Day (NSD) i.e. Rashtriya Vigyan Diwas (राष्ट्रीय विज्ञान दिवस) is celebrated every year on February 28 in India. The 2017 theme is “Science and Technology for Specially Abled Persons”.

This day marks the epoch-making discovery of Raman Effect by Indian physicist Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (CV Raman) on February 28, 1928. This discovery was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.

What is Raman effect?

The Raman Effect is a change in the wavelength of light that occurs when a light beam is deflected by molecules.

When a beam of light traverses a dust-free, transparent sample of a chemical compound, a small fraction of the light emerges in directions other than that of the incident (incoming) beam. Most of this scattered light is of unchanged wavelength. A small part, however, has wavelengths different from that of the incident light; its presence is a result of the Raman effect.

5)India’s first integrated heliport was inaugurated today at Rohini in North Delhi. This heliport has been developed by Pawan Hans Limited.

It will play an important role in providing various helicopter services ranging from offshore transport, connecting remote & inaccessible Islands of Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep besides promoting heli-tourism in India.

6)Chinese smartphone manufacturer ZTE unveiled its new Gigabit Phone, a next generation 5G IT baseband unit (BBU) with Intel Corporation at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain.

7)Shri Nand Kuamr Sai recently assumed charge as the chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST).

8)A Financing Agreement for IDA credit of US$ 63 million (equivalent) for the “Tejaswini” Socio-Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women Project” was recently signed between India and the World Bank.

9)The armies of India and Oman are scheduled to conduct their second bilateral exercise, Al Nagah-II 2017, in March with a focus on counter-terrorism.