UPSC Prelims News 3 October 2022

UPSC Prelims News of 3 October 2022

Professor of Practice

Context: The University Grants Commission has drafted guidelines for Professor of Practice positions in universities and colleges.

• Eligibility: Experts with remarkable contributions in their professions from various fields, with proven expertise in their specific profession with at least 15 years’ experience at a senior level are eligible to be Professor of Practice
• Qualification: A professor of practice can be anyone with a background in a diverse range of areas from technology, science, social sciences, media, literature, armed forces, law, fine arts, etc.
  • Formal academic qualification is not essential.
  • Currently, a PhD is required for recruitment as a regular professor or associate professor.
• Tenure: They can have a maximum tenure of four years,
• Number of such professors in an institution may not exceed 10% of the sanctioned posts at any point in time.
• Role and Function: Such faculty may be involved in developing and designing courses and curriculum; deliver lectures; mentor students; improve industry-academia collaboration; conduct with regular faculty members workshops, seminars and training programmes besides research projects.

Significance

• Introducing real world practices and experiences into classrooms which are producing graduates “who fall short of the required skills.
• It will benefit both the industry and the higher educational institutions.
• Addressing concerns about the quality of graduates being produced by Indian colleges and universities.
• Reducing Vacancy: It will help “augment faculty resources” in universities and colleges.
  • According to data shared by the government in Lok Sabha in July, the central universities have as many as 6,549 vacant faculty positions.

UPSC Prelims News of 1 October 2022

Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF)

Context: Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), a body under the Department of Telecommunications, has launched the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) Scheme.

About Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) Scheme

• Objective: It aims to build state-of-the-art telecom technologies and enable the proliferation of affordable broadband and mobile services in rural and remote areas.
• Salient features:
  • The scheme aims to promote research and development in the field of Telecommunications, Technologies and Solutions in line with the Prime Minister’s call of “Jai Anusandhan”.
  • The scheme covers wide areas of technologies and solutions.
  • The scheme also intends creation of Intellectual Property Rights.
  • The intent for R&D funding through grants to Indian entities is to encourage and induct indigenous technologies tailor-made to meet our unique needs and enable creation of a telecom product ecosystem in India

• Funding: Apart from the existing R&D funding mechanisms, an allocation of 5% of annual collections from USOF will be available for funding R&D in the Telecom sector, starting with the funds collected in the financial year 2021-22.

About the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)

• USOF is the pool of funds generated through a 5 per cent Universal Service Levy on the Adjusted Gross Revenue of telecom companies.
• It has been used largely to aid rural connectivity.
• The USOF comes under the Indian Telegraph Act 1885. The act was amended in 2003 to give statutory status to the fund.

Aravalli Safari Park

Context: The Haryana government will develop the world’s largest jungle safari park in the Aravalli range.

More on the News

• The safari park will cover 10,000-acre area within Gurugram and Nuh districts of Haryana. It will be a joint project of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Haryana government.
  • Presently, Sharjah is home to the largest curated safari park outside Africa. It covers an area of about 2,000 acres.
• The safari park will include herpetarium (for reptiles and amphibians), aviary/bird park, four zones for big cats, a large area for herbivores, an area for exotic animal birds, an underwater world, botanical gardens, nature trails, equatorial, tropical, coastal, desert etc.
• Significance:
  • The proposed Jungle safari park will not only boost tourism but also provide employment opportunities to local residents.
  • In addition, it will help preserve the Aravalli mountain range.

Aravalli Mountain Range:

• Aravallis are one of the oldest fold mountain ranges of the world. They stretch for a distance of 692 km from Gujarat to Delhi through Rajasthan and Haryana.
• The Aravallis separate the Indus river basin from Ganges river basin.
• Sections:
  • The Sambhar-Sirohi ranges: They are taller and include Guru Shikhar on Mount Abu, the highest peak in the Aravalli Range.
  • The Sambhar-Khetri ranges: They consist of three ridges that are discontinuous.
• Significance:
  • Mineral source: The Aravalli Ranges are rich in natural resources (including many important minerals).
  • Prevent desert expansion: The Mountains serve as a check to the growth of the western desert. They act as barrier against desert storms.
  • Origination of rivers: The ranges give rise to several rivers, including the Banas, Luni, Sakhi, and Sabarmati.
  • Ground-water recharge: The Aravallis function as a groundwater recharge zone for the water-deficient regions of Delhi-NCR.

AUKUS

Context: China’s draft resolution against AUKUS alliance at the general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was withdrawn.

About the Resolution

• India worked closely with many IAEA member states to ensure that the draft resolution did not receive majority support.
• China had argued that the AUKUS initiative violated the responsibilities of Australia, the UK and the US under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

AUKUS:

• The AUKUS is a strategic alliance consisting of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The alliance seeks to provide Australia with eight nuclear-powered submarines (but armed with conventional weapons).
  • The AUKUS will also include cooperation across emerging technologies (applied AI, quantum technologies and undersea capabilities).
• Significance:
  • Nuclear technology: Under the deal, the US has agreed to share its capability of building nuclear-powered submarines with another country, only for the second time in history.
  • Chinese threat: The alliance is seen as a response by the three alliance countries to the increasingly aggressive and assertive behaviour of China across the Indo-Pacific.
  • Greater role in Indo-pacific: Nuclear submarines provide Australia the strategic capability to conduct operations in the larger Pacific region, including the South China Sea.

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT):

• The NPT was conceived with an objective to limit the escalation of a nuclear arms race and the technology related to it.
  • The Non-Proliferation Treaty is unequal, as it forces non-nuclear states to forgo development of nuclear weapons while allowing the established nuclear powers to keep theirs.
  • India, Israel and Pakistan have not signed the treaty. North Korea had signed but later withdrew from the treaty.

Dark Data

Context: A new tool has been developed to reduce ‘dark data’ in organizations.

What is dark data?

• Data that is collected, processed and stored for single-use purposes, without being re-used, is termed as ‘dark data’.
• Ex: Identical images stored on Google Photos or iCloud, a business’s outdated spreadsheets, data from internet IoT sensors that have no purpose.
• Reasons for dark data:
  • Absence of tools to capture and use dark data.
  • Lack of proper analytical tool to utilize data.
  • Unstructured form of data.
  • Incomplete data that cannot be properly used

Concerns due to dark data

• Increase cost: Despite having no use in future, dark data takes up space on servers. These servers use lots of electricity.
  • This constitutes a significant energy cost for an organization, which is usually hidden and not realized.
• Carbon footprint: Digital processing has a major role in carbon footprint of the world due to the electricity that is consumed. In 2020, it generated 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Data centres (2.5% of all human-induced carbon dioxide) have a larger carbon footprint than the aviation industry (2.1%).
• Security risk: Unused data may not be properly secured. This increases the risk of stealing of this data for malicious purpose.

Reducing dark data:

• Modify digital practices: New strategies have to be followed by organisations to reuse digital data and also while collecting, processing and storing new digital data.
• User discretion: A user has to decide what data need to be stored on servers for future use. Unwanted data should be deleted.

UPSC Prelims News of 4 October 2022

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