Prelims Factoids
All India Radio launches #AIRNxt

What's the NEWS

• All India Radio has opened up its studios for the voices that represent Young India, starting from November 28, 2021.
• For the next 52 weeks, AIR stations, in all States and UTs across India, will give opportunity to youngsters from local colleges, universities to take part in AIR programming, allowing them to discuss and curate youth-centric shows.
• About 20,000 youth from 1000 educational institutions will be participating during the next one year from every nook and corner of India through 167 AIR stations.
• These are voices which were never heard before on Radio and will be brought for the first time on All India Radio through the new programme #AIRNxt, as part of the celebrations under ongoing Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
• It is the biggest single theme show on All India Radio involving thousands of youth and hundreds of Educational Institutions across the country.

Defence/Security Challenges/Prelims Factoids
COLOMBO SECURITY CONCLAVE FOCUSED OPERATION

What's the NEWS

• Maiden ‘Colombo Security Conclave (CSC) Focused Operation' is being conducted between the lead Maritime Security Agencies of India, Maldives and Sri Lanka on 27 and 28 November 2021.

• ‘CSC Focused Operation' is being conducted with an aim of keeping this vital part of the Indian Ocean Region safe and secure for commercial shipping, international trade and conduct of legitimate maritime activities.
• Focused Operation would help build understanding and interoperability between the lead maritime security agencies, and facilitate institution of measures to prevent and suppress transnational crimes in the region.
• It would further enhance the operational synergy by exchange of information and conduct of coordinated operations to handle maritime incidents/ accidents.
• The conduct of ‘CSC Focused Operation' exemplifies the deep trilateral engagement between India, Maldives and Sri Lanka, and emphasises their commitment to promote peace, and security in the region.
• Ships and aircraft of Indian Navy (IN), Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) are participating and operating over a vast area in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of the three countries in Southern Arabian Sea.
• It may be recalled that a trilateral Table Top Exercise (TTX) between IN, MNDF and SLN was conducted on 14 and 15 July 2021.
• The three countries had participated in the 5th Deputy National Security Advisors (NSA) - level meeting of Colombo Security Conclave on 04 August 2021, wherein ways of enhancing maritime security cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region were deliberated upon.

• DBT-National Brain Research Centre (DBT-NBRC) have recently developed project SWADESH, a unique brain initiative focusing on certified neuroimaging, neurochemical, neuropsychological data and analytics that are made accessible to researchers for managing brain disorders.

• SWADESH is the first large-scale multimodal neuroimaging database designed specifically for Indian population with big-data architecture and analytics for various disease categories (Fig. 1) under one platform.
• 
• SWADESH proposes a big-data architecture that manages and analyzes six modules, namely neurodegenerative [AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Parkinson's disease (PD)], neuropsychiatric (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder), neurodevelopmental (autism and epilepsy), COVID-19-related disorders, other disorders, and healthy subjects.
• SWADESH is supported by JAVA-based workflow environment and Python.

• GAURI system uses adaptive pattern recognition and learning schemes for predictive single or differential diagnosis, designed with MRI modalities and neuropsychological batteries.
• NINS-STAT is a high-performance state-of-the-art automated statistical test selection and execution software package with high applicability in clinical research.
• KALPANA is an integrative package for visualization, preprocessing, and quantitation of MRS data.
• PRATEEK analyzes multimodal neuroimaging data that minimizes the need for expertise in handling different neuroimaging tools for processing and analyzing multimodal data.

• The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), under the Ministry of Science and Technology, promotes and improves biotechnology development in India through its development and implementation in agriculture, healthcare, animal sciences, the environment, and industry.

• National Brain Research Centre is the only institute in India dedicated to Neuroscience Research and Education.
• Scientists and students at NBRC come from diverse academic backgrounds, including biological, computational, mathematical, physical, engineering and medical sciences, and use multidisciplinary approaches to unravel secrets of the brain.

• The 15^th edition of the biennial trilateral coast guard exercise ‘Dosti' involving India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka is underway in the Maldives.

• Indian Coast Guard vessels, the ICGS Vajra and ICGS Apoorva joined the Sri Lanka Coast Guard, SLCGS Suraksha for the five-day exercise that started on November 20 and concluded on November 25, 2021.

• Madhya Pradesh has the largest tribal population of the country, with 46 recognised scheduled tribes, of which three are Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) spread across the 52 districts in the state.
• The Bhil community comprises nearly 40 per cent of the total tribal population followed by the Gond tribe that constitute another 34 per cent of the 1.53 crore tribal population.

State government's recent announcements for tribal outreach.

• Recently, the state government announced the implementation of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, which allows self-governance through traditional gram sabhas for people living in scheduled areas.
• The state government legalised mohua, a staple drink of the tribals, which will be sold as ‘heritage liquor'.
• University in Chhindwara to be named after Shankar Shah, Raghunath Shah. Shankar Shah (70), son of Sumer Shah, was the last ruler of Garha Kingdom under Gond rule.
• Railway station, bus stop to be renamed after Tantya Bhil. Tantya Bhill was born in Birda village of west Nimar in Madhya Pradesh in the 18th century and was only 25-year-old when the 1857 mutiny broke out.

Prelims Factoids
RADIO COLLARS
What's the NEWS

• Recently, a wild elephant was radio-collared for the first time in Assam's Sonitpur district by the state's Forest Department, in collaboration with NGO World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-India.

• The joint initiative is being described as a step to study and mitigate human-elephant conflict in the state.
• Radio collars are GPS-enabled collars that can relay information about an elephants' whereabouts. They weigh roughly 8 kg and are fitted around the elephant's neck.
• Collaring includes identifying a suitable candidate (generally an adult elephant), darting it with a sedative, and fitting a collar around the elephant's neck, before the animal is revived.
• Additionally, the team also attaches an accelerometer to the collar to "understand what exactly an elephant is doing at any given time (running, walking, eating, drinking, etc)".

Act and Policies/Governance/GSII
PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION BILL OF 2019
What's the NEWS

• The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPP) on the Personal Data Protection Bill of 2019 is said to have adopted the final draft. The Bill is slated to be tabled in the Winter Session.

• One of the major changes that the final draft of the PDP Bill is believed to have pushed for is to include non-personal data within its ambit, which changes the nature of the Bill from personal data protection to just data protection.
• The final draft is also said to have sought additional compliance for companies that deal exclusively with children's data, by asking them to register with the Data Protection Authority - a regulatory body that will have powers to decide on implementing the law's various provisions.
• A third key aspect that the committee is said to have pushed for is to consider all social media companies as publishers, and to hold them accountable for the content on their platform if they are not acting as intermediaries.
• It is said to have recommended that no social media company be allowed to operate in India unless the parent company handling the technology sets up an office in India.
• Other aspects such as setting up of an indigenous architecture, which can be an alternative to the internationally accepted SWIFT payment system, are also said to have been suggested.

Changes in critical geographical features/GSI
Change in course of Himalayan glacier can help to understand the glacial-tectonic interaction

What's the NEWS

• Indian researchers studying an unnamed glacier in one of the less explored region in the upper Kali Ganga valley, Pithoragarh district, Uttarakhand, India, have reported that the glacier had abruptly changed its main course.

• It is for the first time that such change in course has been reported from a Himalayan glacier, and the researchers have attributed this to the accumulated influence of both climate and tectonics.
• The abnormal behaviour of this unnamed glacier clearly suggests that not only is climate a controlling factor, but tectonics also plays an important role in glacial catchments.
• The recent disaster in Rishiganga is a latest example which suggests that the rock mass on which the glacier was sitting gradually became fragile (due to weathering, percolation of meltwater in joints, crevasses, freezing and thawing, snowfall, overloading, and gradually operating tectonic forces forcing rocks to mechanical disintegration) with due course of time and detached from the source rock.
• It clearly suggests that the Himalaya is an active mountain range and highly fragile where tectonics and climate play a critical role.
• Scientists found that the unnamed NE moving glacier had been abruptly truncated and forced to move towards SE.
• Based on remote sensing and an old survey map, the study assessed that the glacier had been affected by active fault and climate change.
• Tectonic activity and change in climatic conditions had changed the course and morphology of this glacier.
• Scientists observed that the 5 km long unnamed glacier, which covered around 4 km2 area in Kuthi Yankti valley (Tributary of Kali River), has abruptly changed its main course.
• It moved, truncated, and ultimately merged with the adjacent glacier named Sumzurkchanki as a result of tectonic forcing during the time between Last Glacial Maxima (19-24 ka) and Holocene.
• It is one of the unique behaviours of the glacier, and no such observation has so far been reported on this type of glacier kinematics.

What's the NEWS

• On October 8, 2021, India and United States joined 134 other members of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework (including Austria, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom) in reaching agreement on the Statement on a Two-Pillar Solution to Address the Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalization of the Economy.
• On October 21, 2021, the United States AND Austria, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom reached an agreement on a transitional approach to existing Unilateral Measures while implementing Pillar 1.
• The agreement is reflected in the joint statement that was issued by those six countries on that date ("October 21 Joint Statement").
• India and United States have agreed that the same terms that apply under the October 21 Joint Statement shall apply between the United States and India with respect to India's charge of 2% equalisation levy on e-commerce supply of services and the United States' trade action regarding the said Equalisation Levy.
• However, the interim period that will be applicable will be from 1st April 2022 till implementation of Pillar One or 31st March 2024, whichever is earlier.
• The final terms of the Agreement shall be finalised by 1st February 2022.

What's the NEWS

• The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $300 million loan to strengthen and improve access to comprehensive primary health care in urban areas of 13 states

• The programme supports the Government of India's key health initiatives - Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWC) and Pradhan Mantri Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana (PM-ASBY) - which has been renamed as Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM) - by expanding availability and access to quality primary health care services particularly for vulnerable populations in urban areas.
• Ayushman Bharat programme, launched in 2018, aims to improve access to comprehensive primary health care as a key strategy to achieve universal health coverage in India.
• The programme will be implemented in urban areas across 13 states
• Delivery and health information systems for primary health care will be upgraded through digital tools, quality assurance mechanisms, and engagement and partnership with the private sector.
• The programme is supported by a $2 million technical assistance grant from ADB's Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction to provide support for programme implementation and coordination, capacity building, innovation, knowledge sharing and application of scalable best practices across the healthcare system.

• Indian Astronomers have found an active galaxy in a very bright state with 10 times more X-ray emission than normal, equivalent to more than 10 trillion Sun, and located 5 billion light-years away that could help probe how particles behave under intense gravity and acceleration to the speed of light.
• It could help study the role of strong gravity and acceleration of matter in the formation, interaction, and evolution of galaxies in the early universe.

• Every galaxy in the Universe is believed to host a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at its center.
• In some galaxies, the black hole is actively devouring a large amount of material and shooting a jet of plasma almost at the speed of light towards us.
• These are called blazars. OJ 287 belongs to a class of blazars known as BL Lacerate objects which show very rapid and large amplitude flux variations but barely discernible emission line features.
• This class of sources emit in the whole electromagnetic spectrum, a rather uncommon phenomenon which requires extreme physical conditions.
• Hence a study of such sources tells us about the behavior of matter in an extreme gravitational field where it is difficult for light also to escape from the vicinity of the black hole.
• Astronomers have been monitoring one such black hole system named OJ 287 since 2015.
• This source shows a repeated optical brightness enhancement almost every 12 years.
• The repeated optical enhancement makes OJ 287 very intriguing as this class of sources does not show any repeating features in flux variations.
• The repeated optical enhancement made the researchers believe that the system hosts a binary black hole.
• In 2020, the source was very bright at optical and X-ray bands with X-ray flux more than 10 times the normal (non-active phase) flux.