Ø Matsya Setu app has species-wise/ subject-wise self-learning online course modules, where renowned aquaculture experts explain the basic concepts and practical demonstrations on breeding, seed production and grow-out culture of commercially important fishes like carp, catfish, scampi, murrel, ornamental fish, pearl farming etc.

Ø The UAE Space Agency said that the data gathered by the oribter “include far and extreme ultraviolet auroral emissions which have never been imaged before at Mars.”

Ø “The beacons of light that stand out against the dark night side disk are highly structured discrete aurora, which traces out where energetic particles excite the atmosphere after being funneled down by a patchy network of crustal magnetic fields that originate from minerals on the surface of Mars.”

Ø Unlike auroras on Earth, which are seen only near the north and south poles, discrete auroras on Mars are seen all around the planet at night time.

What causes an aurora on Earth?

Ø Auroras are caused when charged particles ejected from the Sun’s surface — called the solar wind — enter the Earth’s atmosphere. These particles are harmful, and our planet is protected by the geomagnetic field, which preserves life by shielding us from the solar wind.

Ø However, at the north and south poles, some of these solar wind particles are able to continuously stream down, and interact with different gases in the atmosphere to cause a display of light in the night sky. This display, known as an aurora, is seen from the Earth’s high latitude regions (called the auroral oval), and is active all year round.

Ø In the northern part of our globe, the polar lights are called aurora borealis or Northern Lights, and are seen from the US (Alaska), Canada, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Sweden and Finland. In the south, they are called aurora australis or southern lights, and are visible from high latitudes in Antarctica, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and Australia.

So, how are Martian auroras different?

Ø Unlike Earth, which has a strong magnetic field, the Martian magnetic field has largely died out. This is because the molten iron at the interior of the planet– which produces magnetism– has cooled.

Ø However, the Martian crust, which hardened billions of years ago when the magnetic field still existed, retains some magnetism. So, in contrast with Earth, which acts like one single bar magnet, magnetism on Mars is unevenly distributed, with fields strewn across the planet and differing in direction and strength.

Ø These disjointed fields channel the solar wind to different parts of the Martian atmosphere, creating “discrete” auroras over the entire surface of the planet as charged particles interact with atoms and molecules in the sky– as they do on Earth.

Ø Studying Martian auroras is important for scientists, for it can offer clues as to why the Red Planet lost its magnetic field and thick atmosphere– among the essential requirements for sustaining life.

Ø Hope orbiter: The Hope Probe, the Arab world’s first mission to Mars, took off from Earth in July, 2020 and has been orbiting the Red Planet since February, 2021.

Ø The primary objective of the mission is to study Martian weather dynamics. By correlating the lower atmosphere and upper atmosphere conditions, the probe will look into how weather changes the escape of hydrogen and oxygen into space.

Ø By measuring how much hydrogen and oxygen is spilling into space, scientists will be able to look into why Mars lost so much of its early atmosphere and liquid water.

Ø It is expected to create the first complete portrait of the planet’s atmosphere. With the information gathered during the mission, scientists will have a better understanding of the climate dynamics of different layers of Mars’ atmosphere.

Ø The mangoes were transported through the land border via the Benapole-Petrapole checkpoint. Mango is a staple in households in both Bengal and Bangladesh, with the fruit seen not only as a summer delicacy but as an essential ingredient in several dishes on both sides of the border.

Ø The fibre-rich fruit is popular throughout south Asia. And so is the tradition of mango diplomacy. In 2015, then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reportedly sent a box of mangoes to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the occasion of Id, following a flurry of ceasefire violations along the border.

Ø Pakistan, which is the world’s fifth-largest producer of mangoes, reportedly sends cartons to political leaders across the globe. Pakistan has used ‘mango diplomacy’ to secure friendships before as well, none more so than with China, when Chinese leader Mao Zedong was gifted a box of mangoes to cement a friendship between the two countries in the late 1960s. Mango diplomacy has always been a tradition in the South-Asian region.

Ø The gift from Bangladesh PM Hasina comes at a time when there is growing disquiet on the Bangladeshi side over the halting of vaccine exports from India since late March. In March this year, Dhaka was the destination for PM Modi’s first and only foreign visit since the Covid-19 outbreak.

• World champion boxer and London Olympics bronze medallist MC Mary Kom and men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh have been named flag bearers of the 200-strong Indian contingent in the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games which is scheduled to take place on July 23, 2021.
• The Indian Olympic Association also confirmed that champion wrestler Bajrang Punia will be the flag bearer of the Indian contingent at the closing ceremony on August 8, 2021.

What Section 66A says?:

“Any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or a communication device

(a) any information that is grossly offensive or has menacing character; or

(b) any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will, persistently by making use of such computer resource or a communication device,

(c) any electronic mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine.”

In 2015, in a landmark judgment that expanded the contours of free speech to the Internet, the Supreme Court struck down Section 66A, calling it “open-ended, unconstitutionally vague” and for “being violative of Article 19(1)(a) and not saved under Article 19(2).” Article 19(1)(a) gives people the right to speech and expression whereas 19(2) accords the state the power to impose “reasonable restrictions” on exercise of this right.

Appearing for the central government, attorney general KK Venugopal sought to explain why Section 66A is still being used despite being scrapped. “On perusal of the IT act, it can be seen that Section 66A features in it but in the footnote, it is written that the section has been scrapped. So, now when a police officer has to register a case, he sees the section and registers the case without going through the footnote,” Venugopal said. On a possible solution, he said what can be done is placing a bracket after Section 66A mentioning it has been scrapped and put the entire extract of the verdict in the footnote.