TNPSC Current Affairs March 2017,23 for group 1 & group 2 mains( All)

TNPSC Current Affairs March 2017,23 

1. GRAPES-3 experiment Telescope upgraded to detect solar storms

GRAPES -3 muon Telescope at Cosmic Ray laboratory located at  OOTY, Tamil Nadu. It has upgraded to detect solar Storms from Lagrange Point.

About Upgraded Facility: 

• The upgraded detector will have increased coverage and improved capacity to determine the direction of  solar storms. It will play important role in understanding the propagation of storms from sun to L1 point and its impact on Earth.
• The upgraded detector facility can now cover the wider field of view from present 37 % to 57% and has more chance to detect the solar winds.
• The early detection of solar storms is crucial because the solar storms have the potential to produce major disruptions to infrastructure.
• Solar winds will takes 20-40 minutes to reach earth depends on the speed from L1 point

About Lagrange Point or L1

 L1 or Lagrange point 1 is the neutral Gravity point between Earth and sun which is approximately one million miles from the Earth. It is a good position to monitor the sun , because the solar wind from the sun reaches one hour earlier than Earth in Lagrange point or L1 .

  

Impacts of Solar Storm 

• Solar storms occurs when the Sun emits huge bursts of energy in the form of solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These phenomena send a stream of electrical charges and magnetic fields toward the Earth which is refer as solar storms.
• The largest recorded solar storm is in Carrington event of 1859, which disrupted telegraph lines on earth for several hours.
• If a similar solar storm hit Earth, it would cripple all the VLSI-based communication systems, smart devices, mobile phones, computer networks and satellites etc. 

About GRAPES -3

GRAPES -3 muon Telescope at Cosmic Ray laboratory located at  OOTY, Tamil Nadu in 2000. It is established with a collaboration of Indian Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and the Japanese Osaka City university and Nagoya Women’s university Japan.

It is designed mainly to study the cosmic rays with an array of air shower detectors and a large area muon detector.

2.Cabinet approved amendment on    Right to Education Act 2009.

The Union Cabinet has approved the amendment on Right of children to free and compulsory education act 2009 to ensure teachers to get minimum education qualification.

About Amendment 

• The Cabinet chaired by Prime minister Narendra Modi has approved the amendment of Right to Education  act which will ensure all teachers to acquire minimu education qualification  prescribed by the academic Authority.
• It also extend the period to get minimum qualification for years up to 31^st march 2019.This will help in-service untrained elementary teachers to complete their training to get minimum standard of qualification .
• It also helps to improve the teaching quality which will automatically result in learning outcome of children.
• This amendment is mainly due to some State governments have reported that 11 lakh teachers are still untrained out of total 66.41 lakh elementary school teacher. 

About Right to Education Act 2009.

Right to Education act 2009 to give free and compulsory education to all child in the age group of 6-14. It has been added as fundamental rights in Indian constitution by 86^th amendment act 2002 in Article 21A.

3.The country’s first carbon neutral district and a biodiversity heritage-Majuli

Assam Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal has launched the country’s first carbon neutral district and a biodiversity heritage in Majuli district of Assam. Majuli is the world’s biggest river island and to become India’s first carbon neutral district by 2020. 

About Project SaCReD. 

• The project was titled SaCRed (Sustainable Actions for Climate Resilient Development) which was launched by Assam Government department of Environment and Forest has been initiated to combat climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• The Aim of this project is to ensure the Majuli district has less carbon.
• Sonowal said that Majuli district is facing existential crises, and therefore these projects are necessary to preserve Majuli’s rich heritage and Legacy.
• He also launched through remote a registry in Majuli district which would record and analysis the climate impact in district.
• He also launched “Forest are Lives” campaign to highlight the importance of Assam’s rich forest and biodiversity and urged people to conserve its biodiversity.