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<keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> is set to deploy drones to gather atmospheric data that is currently collated by sending sensors through weather balloons released from at least 55 locations across the country twice every day. The sensors embedded in a radiosonde, which is a telemetry instrument carried by a weather balloon, record atmospheric pressure, temperature, wind direction and speed as the hydrogen-filled weather balloon soars up to 12 km height and transmit data to the ground receiver through radio signals. However, weather balloons and radiosondes are unretrievable as they drift afar from weather stations that release them in the atmosphere. We are now exploring the possibility of using drones to gather this atmospheric data which is crucial for weather forecasting, M Ravichandran, Secretary, <keyword id="158211" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ministry-of-earth-sciences" source="Orion">Ministry of Earth Sciences</keyword>, told PTI. Various studies have suggested that specialised drones equipped with sensors to gather weather data could be an efficient successor to the traditional weather balloons. The <keyword id="6355166" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india-meteorological-department" source="Orion">India Meteorological Department</keyword> (<keyword id="6366970" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="imd" source="Orion">IMD</keyword>) gathers weather data from 550 locations across the country through weather stations and uses radiosonde observations which are then fed into forecasting models to issue weather forecasts. The drones have a key advantage over weather balloons as they can be controlled and guided to fly at low as well as high altitudes. The IMD plans to use drones to gather data from up to five km altitude and compare it with data gathered using the traditional weather balloons. It has invited industry and academia to join the demonstration of the capability of drone technology for weather observations. It is expected that drones should be capable, economically feasible, easily deployable and recoverable and should be technically comparable or superior to currently deployed radiosondes for upper air observations up to the boundary layer of upper air atmosphere, the weather office said. While the flight of a weather balloon usually lasts for up to two hours, the IMD expects to gather data using drones during a 40-minute flight. If successful, a key benefit would be reducing the wastage of radiosondes as the IMD loses more than 100 such instruments every day as weather balloons cannot be retrieved after their flight. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/2-out-3-indians-are-facing-digital-payment-issues-due-to-poor-network-connectivity/articleshow/92076595.cms">A survey suggests that 2 out 3 Indians are facing digital payment issues due to poor network connectivity</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/galaxy-z-fold-4-is-expected-to-come-with-1tb-internal-storage-and-snapdragon-8-gen1-chipset/articleshow/92074564.cms">Galaxy Z Fold 4 might be Samsung's most expensive foldable phone — here’s everything you need to know</a>

India is all set to replace weather balloons with drones

New Delhi, Feb 24 () The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on Monday held a meeting with representatives of several ministries seeking suggestions on areas that could be selected for audit. With a view to involve the executive side in the audit planning process by seeking their suggestions, the CAG interacted with the representatives of seven selected ministries here on Monday, said an official release. This would help in understanding their concerns and would also supplement the risk-assessment exercise being undertaken by the CAG in the course of finalising the annual plan of audit activities. The meeting, chaired by Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General Anita Pattanayak, sought more effective audit exercise from the secretaries and representatives of the selected central ministries and departments. The ministries included environment, forest and climate change, jal shakti, earth sciences, new and renewable energy, science and technology, food processing industries, and food and consumer affairs. The meeting was intended to focus on development, technology and climate-related issues. "We are keen on this interaction... Activities undertaken by scientific and environmental ministries are critical to the national objective of broad-based economic growth and balanced development across all sectors. "Food and nutritional security is another key challenge that the country is grappling with, which requires timely and sustained government interventions," Pattanayak said. The brainstorming session was second such exercise held by auditors after a suggestion by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Conclave of Accountants General in November last year. It is intended to make the institution of the CAG friendlier and a more active contributor in good governance, the release said. At the meeting, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation Secretary Parameswaran Iyer said the rural sanitation is a dynamic process. The second phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission is from 2020-21 to 2024-25. For the first time, funds have been earmarked for sanitation by the 15th Finance Commission. The ministry is also working on the solid and liquid waste management. Audit should see how the earmarked funds are utilised, Iyer said. KPM HRS

CAG holds meeting with ministries to seek suggestions on auditing

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11892748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword>'s <keyword id="11896083" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="science" source="Orion">science</keyword> ministry said its giant telescope may have found signals from alien civilizations.</li><li>It said signals were identified this year by the "Sky Eye" telescope, the world's largest. </li></ul>Chinese scientists say <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-world-last-giant-single-dish-telescope-500-meter-fast-2020-12?r=US&amp;IR=T">the country's giant "Sky Eye" telescope</a> may have picked up signs of an alien civilization.Researchers with Beijing Normal University found "several cases of possible technological traces and extraterrestrial civilizations from outside the earth," <a href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/BtLLCb0GlPxjmhbAz5pUOw">according to a report published Tuesday in Science and Technology Daily</a>, the official newspaper of the Ministry of Science and Technology.The signals were discovered by China's 500-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST,) the only giant, single-dish, radio telescope in the world. It is known informally as "Sky Eye," the newspaper said.Cosmologist Zhang Tongjie, once dubbed "<a href="https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1006525/chinas-top-alien-hunter-is-about-to-take-his-big-shot">China's top alien hunter</a>," said FAST located "several narrow-band electromagnetic signals different from the past," the newspaper reported.Zhang was also quoted by the newspaper as saying the new signals could just be radio interference."The possibility that the suspicious signal is some kind of radio interference is also very high, and it needs to be further confirmed and ruled out. This may be a long process." Zhang said.As Insider's Azmi Haroun <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-world-last-giant-single-dish-telescope-500-meter-fast-2020-12?r=US&amp;IR=T">previously reported</a>, the FAST telescope, which is located in Guizhou province, can detect faint radio-waves from pulsars and materials in galaxies far away.The dish was completed in 2016 and the observatory <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02790-3">cost</a> $171 million.As of September 2020, one of the telescope's main functions has been to search for extraterrestrial life. Beijing Normal University is working alongside scientists from University of California, Berkeley, on the program.To date, those researchers have identified two sets of signals from 2019 when processing data in 2022 and one set of signals this year, Zhang told Science and Technology Daily.

China says its giant 'Sky Eye' telescope may have picked up signals from alien civilizations

Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> allocated portfolios to his ministers, giving the Ministry of Finance and Defence to Arun Jaitley. <keyword id="6355111" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sushma-Swaraj">Sushma Swaraj</keyword> was allocated the Ministry of External Affairs while <keyword id="6355121" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rajnath-Singh">Rajnath Singh</keyword> got Home Ministry. Here is the list of ministers in Modi’s government: 
 
Cabinet Ministers 
Rajnath Singh — Home Ministry 
Sushma Swaraj — Ministry of External Affairs 
Ananth Kumar — Parliamentary Affairs and additional charge of chemicals and fertilisers 
Nitin Gadkari — Surface Transport and Shipping Ministry 
Sadanand Gowda — Ministry of Railways 
Venkaiah Naidu — Urban Development Ministry and Parliamentary Affairs 
Ravi Shankar Prasad — Telecom Ministry, Law and Justice Ministry 
Maneka Gandhi — Women and Child Development Ministry 
Najma Heptulla — Ministry of Minorities 
Smriti Irani - Human Resource Development Ministry 
Radha Mohan Singh — Agriculture Ministry 
Nirmala Sitharaman — Minister of State for Commerce 
Prakash Javadekar — Minister of State for Information &amp; Broadcasting 
Ram Vilas Paswan — Food and Civil Supplies Ministry 
Arun Jaitley — Finance Ministry and additional charge of the Defence Ministry 
Uma Bharati —Minister of Water Resources and Ganga 
Jual Oram —Minister of Tribal Affairs 
 
Ministers of State (Independent Charge) 
General VK Singh – Development of North Eastern Region (Independent Charge), External Affairs, Overseas Indian Affairs 
Inderjit Singh Rao – Planning (Independent Charge), Statistics and Programme Implementation (Independent Charge), Defence 
Santosh Gangwar – Textiles (Independent Charge), Parliamentary Affairs, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation 
Shripad Naik – Culture (Independent Charge), Tourism (Independent Charge) 
Dharmendra Pradhan – Petroleum and Natural Gas (Independent Charge) 
Sarbananda Sonowal – Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs and Sports (Independent Charge) 
Prakash Javadekar – Information and Broadcasting (Independent Charge), Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Independent Charge), Parliamentary Affairs 
Piyush Goyal – Power (Independent Charge), Coal (Independent Charge), New and Renewable Energy (Independent Charge) 
Dr Jitendra Singh – Science and Technology (Independent Charge), Earth Sciences (Independent Charge), Prime Minister Office, Personnel, Public Grievances &amp; Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space 
Nirmala Sitharaman – Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge), Finance, Corporate Affairs 
 
Ministers of State 
GM Siddeshwara – Civil Aviation 
Manoj Sinha – Railways 
Nihalchand – Chemicals and Fertilisers 
Upendra Kushwaha - Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation 
Pon Radhakrishnan – Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises 
Kiren Rijiju – Home Affairs 
Krishan Pal – Road Transport and Highways, Shipping 
Sanjeev Balyan – Agriculture, Food Processing Industries 
Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava – Tribal Affairs 
Raosaheb Danve – Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution 
Vishnu Deo Sai – Mines, Steel, Labour and Employment 
Sudarshan Bhagat – Social Justice and Empowerment

Modi Allocates Portfolios To Ministers

<ul class="summary-list"><li>China last week nominated the Wuhan Institute of Virology for a top science award in the country.</li><li>The lab's head, Shi Zhengli, dubbed as China's "Batwoman," separately received an honorable mention from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.</li><li>The nominations came after China's foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the lab deserved a Nobel Prize.</li></ul>China has nominated the Wuhan Institute of Virology for the nation's top science award, even as suspicions continue to swirl around whether or not COVID originated in its labs. The Chinese Academy of Sciences on June 18 released the list of nominees for the "Outstanding Science and Technology Achievement Prize," which included the Wuhan Institute of Virology, per a report from local media outlet <a href="https://finance.sina.com.cn/jjxw/2021-06-20/doc-ikqcfnca2046541.shtml">Sina News</a>. The lab was nominated for its "comprehensive and systematic research on the COVID-19 virus." Shi Zhengli, the head of the Wuhan lab dubbed as China's <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who-china-idUSKBN2A309F">"Batwoman,"</a> got an honorable mention as well for her work on "identifying the origin of COVID-19, and creating a model to isolate genes from the virus." The nomination came just a day after China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said the lab <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-says-wuhan-institute-virology-deserves-nobel-prize-2021-6">deserved to win a Nobel Prize for their COVID research</a> instead of facing backlash."The genome sequence of COVID-19 was first identified by Chinese scientists, but that does not mean Wuhan is the source of the coronavirus, nor can it be inferred that the coronavirus was made by Chinese scientists," Zhao said last week at a <a href="https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/t1884561.shtml">press conference.</a>Shi also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-virologist-shi-zhengli-denies-covid-19-lab-leak-nyt-2021-6">denied</a> in an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/14/world/asia/china-covid-wuhan-lab-leak.html?action=click&amp;module=Top%20Stories&amp;pgtype=HomepageHomepage">interview with The New York Times</a> published on June 14 that COVID originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology."How on earth can I offer up evidence for something where there is no evidence?" Shi said during the interview with The Times."I don't know how the world has come to this, constantly pouring filth on an innocent scientist," Shi added.Despite these repeated denials from China, there is still suspicion that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-lab-leak-animal-spillover-coronavirus-origin-questions-2021-5">COVID was leaked from the Wuhan lab,</a> particularly after a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/intelligence-on-sick-staff-at-wuhan-lab-fuels-debate-on-covid-19-origin-11621796228">Wall Street Journal</a> report last month revealed that three staff members at the lab fell ill more than a month before experts identified and reported the first cases of COVID in the area. President Joe Biden has since <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-administration-officials-call-probe-coronavirus-origins-2021-5">called for a 90-day investigation into the lab leak theory</a>.

China nominated the Wuhan Institute of Virology for the nation's top science award amid mounting suspicions that COVID was made and leaked from its labs

Dismayed by several recent changes in school <keyword id="6375423" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="syllabus" source="Orion">syllabus</keyword> related to the weather, <keyword id="6361617" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="climate-change" source="Orion">climate change</keyword>, and even the Indian monsoon, a teachers' body has urged the <keyword id="48505" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="ncert" source="Orion">NCERT</keyword> to rethink these deletions from the school environmental syllabus and bring in different facets of the <keyword id="6375923" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="climate" source="Orion">climate</keyword> crisis. Teachers Against the Climate Crisis (<keyword id="14398053" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="tacc" source="Orion">TACC</keyword>) has claimed the NCERT has removed an entire chapter on Greenhouse Effect from Class 11 Geography syllabus; an entire chapter on weather, climate weather systems, and water from the Class 7 syllabus; and information about the Indian monsoon from the Class 9 syllabus. TACC, a non-funded, non-party organisation that seeks to promote understanding about climate and has members across universities and research institutions across <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>, said it appreciates NCERT's efforts to manage learning deficit in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic by seeking to reduce students' workload by culling material - as explained on its website - however, "none of these concerns apply to fundamental issues such as climate change science, the Indian monsoon, and the other chapters that have been deleted." Stating that the relevant climate change science as being continuously updated via thousands of peer-reviewed papers published each year as well as very important compilations such as the <keyword id="8956" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="intergovernmental-panel" source="Orion">Intergovernmental Panel</keyword> on Climate Change (IPCC's) latest Assessment Reports and India's own report on climate change published by an agency under the <keyword id="158211" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ministry-of-earth-sciences" source="Orion">Ministry of Earth Sciences</keyword>, a statement from TACC said, "It is extremely important that senior school students all over India are conveyed the essence of such updated information in an accessible, easy-to-understand manner." Across the world, including in India, students have been more and more concerned about the drastic changes wrought by environmental degradation, of which climate change is an example. "Young people's actions and interventions are crucial to meeting this most fundamental challenge. This action needs to be predicted upon systematic knowledge of the reality of climate change, its causes, and its enormous reach. Students need to understand the complexity of the climate crisis if they are to respond and engage intelligently with it," TACC said. Class 10 students, however, will no longer be able to learn and be inspired by popular people's movements such as Chipko movement or Narmada Bachao Andolan in their 'Popular Struggles and Movements' lessons since the chapter on them has been taken out of their 'Democratic Politics' syllabus, it said, and urged the NCERT to rethink its decision about deletions of these topics from the environmental syllabi. SEE ALSO : <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/twitter-fires-30-of-its-employees-in-the-talent-acquisition-team/articleshow/92739415.cms">Twitter fires 30% of its employees in the talent acquisition team</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/elon-musks-44-billion-twitter-deal-is-in-jeopardy-says-report/articleshow/92738854.cms">Elon Musk's $44 billion Twitter deal is in jeopardy, says report</a>

Bring back chapters on climate crisis, teachers body tells NCERT

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image">Carnegie Institution/AsnerThis is the plane that the researchers used to survey the land and map where the mines are.</div></div>Years of illegal <keyword id="18712" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Gold">gold</keyword> <keyword id="6355267" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="mining">mining</keyword> in <keyword id="6360497" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Peru">Peru</keyword> have taken a serious toll on the <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> rainforest.
No one knew the full extent of the damage until a research team from the Carnegie Institution of <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">Science</keyword> and Peru's Ministry of the Environment used satellite imagery to map the damage.
Their findings are published in <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/106/41/17296.full?sid=ecb93442-632a-4083-aaf6-04be0359aee1">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.
Greg Asner and his team of researchers found that gold mines in Peru increased by 400% from 1999 to 2012. Tons of forest area has to be cleared in order for miners to dig into the Earth and extract gold, and this is a serious problem because the Amazon forest produces about 20% of the planet's oxygen, according to the <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/teacher_resources/best_place_species/current_top_10/amazon_rainforest.cfm">World Wildlife Fund</a>. It also sucks up carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses, returning them to the Earth.
Peru's rain forests sit on top of a wealth of natural treasures, from oil and coal to gold. To get to these riches, miners destroy the forest and mountains that sit atop them. This could be devastating for the Earth, since these forests play such an important part in our ecosystem.
Justin Catanoso, a journalist who just returned from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/justin-catanoso-in-the-amazon-basin-2013-10" target="_blank">touring the Peruvian rain forests</a> with ecologist Miles Silman, thinks that saving these forests is an integral part of slowing the potentially devastating effects of <keyword id="6361617" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Climate-Change">climate change</keyword>. One way we can do that, he said, is if richer countries work together on an international level to pay countries like Peru to leave these pristine and important forests untouched and stop the for-profit destruction of these forests.
His fear isn't unfounded, according to the new paper. These miners are already destroying acres and acres of these precious rain forests. An article in <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/28/5023638/peru-illegal-gold-mines-destroy-amazon-rainforest-study-carnegie-institution">The Verge</a> described the process gold miners use: They create craters by digging a few meters and blasting the holes with pressurized water to clear away the soil, completely destroying the forest area.
Asner and his team used a plane outfitted with Laser Imaging, Detection, and Ranging technology to survey the area. This kind of imaging actually uses lasers to scan areas and creates 3-D diagrams of the land. This kind of satellite imaging is much more sensitive than older kinds, and revealed many more mines than scientists were able to detect in the past.
You can see how much the mining industry has grown along the Madre De Dios river in the southern part of Peru in the image below:
<div class="KonaFilter image-container full"><div class="image on-image">Carnegie Institute/Asner</div></div>Cajamarca, Peru has also seen a steep increase in mining over the years:
<div class="KonaFilter image-container full"><div class="image on-image">Carnegie Institution/Asner</div></div>When the price of gold skyrocketed in 2008, miners began clearing forest area much faster. The rate of forest destruction jumped from about 5,400 acres per year to 15,000 acres per year. Thousands of small mines have sprung up in the area, away from main roads so most are undetected from the land, but visible from the air.
Miners have so far been able to resist most government attempts to regulate the industry. Until 2008, Peru's mining regulation decisions were all made by the Ministry of Energy and Mines - a clear "conflict of interest," the researchers said in the paper. Around 50,000 small-scale miners in Peru are mining without permits or any government regulation, according to The Verge.
In addition to forest destruction, the mining in Peru also releases pollutants into the nearby Madre De Dios river. Mercury is used to extract gold from the Earth, and excess Mercury from the mines has polluted the area and made its way into the food chain.Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

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India is all set to replace weather balloons with drones

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China says its giant 'Sky Eye' telescope may have picked up signals from alien civilizations

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China nominated the Wuhan Institute of Virology for the nation's top science award amid mounting suspicions that COVID was made and leaked from its labs

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Gold Mining Is Destroying The Peruvian Amazon

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