2 September 2023

• Space: ISRO launched Aditya-L1 aboard PSLV-C57 from Sriharikota at 11:50 IST. India's first dedicated solar observatory is heading for the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1.
• Polity: The Ram Nath Kovind committee continued deliberations on simultaneous elections. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act's impact on RTI provisions drew criticism.
• Environment: Chandrayaan-3 confirmed sulphur near the lunar south pole and recorded the first plasma measurements in that region.
• Health: Kakrapar Atomic Power Project Unit-4 achieved full operational capacity using indigenous pressurised heavy water reactor technology.

GS area: Science and Technology (space)

ISRO launched the Aditya-L1 spacecraft on 2 September 2023 at 11:50 IST aboard PSLV-C57 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. It is India's first space-based mission dedicated to studying the Sun.

• Mission objective: to study the Sun's photosphere, chromosphere and corona in multiple wavelength bands from a vantage point that eliminates earth's atmospheric interference.
• Destination: a halo orbit around the first Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L1), approximately 1.5 million km from Earth. A satellite at L1 can observe the Sun continuously without occultation or eclipse.
• What is L1: Lagrange points are positions in space where the gravitational pull of two large bodies (the Sun and the Earth) balances the centripetal force needed for a small body to move with them. There are five such points (L1 to L5).
• Seven payloads: the spacecraft carries seven instruments. The primary one is the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), built by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. It can image the solar corona closer to the solar disk than any other coronagraph currently in space.
• PSLV-C57 variant: PSLV-XL, the extra-large configuration with six strap-on solid boosters, was used. This is the same variant that carried Chandrayaan-2's orbiter.

The Sun's corona is far hotter than the surface below it. That temperature inversion is one of the long-standing puzzles in solar physics that Aditya-L1 is positioned to investigate.

Static linkage: science and technology (space science), physical geography (solar system).

GS area: Polity (elections, Parliament)

The High-Level Committee chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind was set up to examine the feasibility of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.

• Historical background: simultaneous elections were held from 1952 until the fourth general election in 1967. Premature dissolutions of several state assemblies from 1968-69 broke the cycle.
• Constitutional issues: implementing simultaneous elections would require amendments to Articles 83 (duration of Parliament), 85 (dissolution of Lok Sabha), 172 (duration of state legislatures) and 174 (dissolution of state assemblies). A constitutional amendment of this scale requires ratification by at least half the state legislatures.
• Arguments for: reduced election expenditure, minimising the Model Code of Conduct's disruptive effect on governance, reduced strain on administrative machinery and security forces.
• Arguments against: federal concerns (states might have their mandates cut short), logistical demands on EVMs and VVPAT units, and the risk of national issues drowning out local ones.

Static linkage: Parliament and state legislatures, elections (Polity).

GS area: Polity (fundamental rights, governance)

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDPA) amended the Right to Information Act, 2005 to restrict disclosure of personal information. Critics argued this significantly undermines RTI's transparency promise.

• RTI Act, 2005: gives citizens the right to request information from public authorities. Section 8(1)(j) already allows withholding personal information with no relationship to any public activity, but the DPDPA's amendment broadens this protection.
• The change: under the amended provision, personal information can be withheld even where it has a public interest dimension, provided the information qualifies as "personal data" under the DPDPA.
• Rejection rate: more than 26 per cent of RTI applications are rejected on spurious grounds, according to DoPT data, even before this amendment.
• Transparency concerns: RTI is the primary tool for accountability at the local level. Activists and journalists use it to expose corruption in government schemes. Restricting it under a personal data shield weakens the accountability architecture.

Static linkage: fundamental rights (Article 19, right to information), governance.

GS area: Science and Technology (nuclear energy)

Kakrapar Atomic Power Project Unit-4, a 700 MWe pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR), achieved full operational capacity in September 2023. It is part of India's indigenously developed reactor programme.

• PHWR: a reactor type that uses natural uranium as fuel and heavy water (deuterium oxide) as both moderator and coolant. India chose this design partly because it does not require enriched uranium and reduces dependency on foreign fuel suppliers.
• 700 MWe significance: earlier Indian PHWRs were 220 MWe units. The scaling to 700 MWe represents a major engineering step and will inform India's planned fleet of sixteen 700 MWe PHWRs.
• Nuclear fuel cycle: India's three-stage nuclear programme aims to eventually use thorium. The PHWR fleet forms the first stage, producing plutonium as a byproduct to fuel the second-stage fast breeder reactors.

Static linkage: science and technology (nuclear energy), energy security.

GS area: Science and Technology (space)

Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander and Pragyan rover continued making scientific measurements at the lunar south pole after the 23 August 2023 landing. New data was reported by ISRO.

• Sulphur confirmed: the rover's Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy instrument detected sulphur in the lunar regolith near the south pole. This is significant because sulphur is not present in lunar rocks from equatorial regions.
• Plasma measurements: the Langmuir probe on Vikram recorded the first in-situ plasma measurements near the lunar south pole.
• Seismic activity: the Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) on Vikram detected a seismic event, meaning the Moon is not geologically dead.
• Why the south pole matters: permanently shadowed craters near the south pole may hold water ice, which is essential for any sustained lunar presence.

Static linkage: science and technology (space missions, Chandrayaan programme).

• Tibetan Democracy Day: observed on 2 September. The Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamshala marks this date as the anniversary of the exile government's establishment, recalling the Tibetan diaspora's democratic governance structure.
• Kokborok language: a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by roughly one million people. It is an official language of Tripura alongside Bengali. The date is observed as Kokborok Day in Tripura.
• NCERT deemed university: the National Council of Educational Research and Training was granted Deemed-to-be-University status to enhance its ability to undertake international research collaboration and award degrees in education.