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Posted 03 May 2024

8 min read

Mount Ruang

Indonesia's Mount Ruang volcano recently erupted, triggering the highest level of alert.

About Mount Ruang
- It is a stratovolcano located in Indonesia’s Sulawesi Islands.
  - Stratovolcano, a volcanic landform characterised by a conical shape formed by layers of volcanic material deposited during successive volcanic eruptions.
- It is one of around 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia, lying in the Ring of Fire, a string of volcanoes around the edges of Pacific Ocean.

About Cocoa (Theobroma cacao)
- Commercial plantation crop, grown as a mixed crop.
- Humid Tropical Crop native of Amazon region of South America.
- Varieties: Criollo, Forastero and Trinitario.
- Suitable conditions:
  - Perennial crop and predominantly grown on red laterite soils.
  - Altitudes: Cultivated upto 1200 meters above Mean Sea Level.
  - Annual Rainfall: 1000 mm to 2000 mm.
  - Temperature: 15°C-35°C
- Cultivation in India: Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
- India exports to the U.S.A, Indonesia, Nepal etc.

RailTel Corporation of India signed an MOU with a tech firm for exploring and delivering KAVACH (train collision avoidance system) implementation projects in India and other countries.

About KAVACH:
- It is indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection System.
- Developed by Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) in collaboration with Indian industry.
- It is an electronic system of Safety Integrity Level - 4 standards with probability of error being 1 in 10,000 years.
- Key features include Centralised live monitoring of train movements, automatic braking for prevention of overspeeding, and relaying SoS messages.

India protests Chinese road construction at Shaksgam Valley in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

About Shaksgam valley
- It is a part of territory of India, strategically located in Jammu and Kashmir.
  - Through China-Pakistan boundary agreement of 1963, Pakistan unlawfully ceded the area to China.
- Also known as the Trans-Karakoram tract, an area along both sides of the Shaksgam River.
- It is bounded by Kun Lun Mountains and by Karakoram peaks and is adjacent to the Siachen Glacier.

About TAO Project
- Project aims to construct the 6.5 meter optical-infrared telescope at summit of Cerro Chajnantor, an altitude of 5,640 m in Atacama Desert of Chile.
  - It is the world's highest astronomical site.
  - Region’s high altitude, thin atmosphere, and perennially arid climate make it possible for observing almost entire range of near-infrared wavelength.
- It is equipped with two infrared observation instruments:
  - SWIMS, which will help understand evolution of galaxies.
  - MIMIZUKU, which will help study planet formation and origin of materials.

NADA India concluded #PlayTrue Campaign which commemorated WADA’s Play True Day.
- Since 2014 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) celebrates Play True Day for fostering awareness about the importance of clean sport and anti-doping practices.

About NADA
- Genesis: Set up in 2005 as an autonomous body under the Societies Registration Act of 1860.
  - It is provided statutory backing by National Anti-Doping Act, 2022.
- Ministry: Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports
- Mandate: Implements the anti-doping programme in India, in line with the World Anti-doping Code 2021.

Supreme Court is considering whether compensation in cases of DV should be determined by the degree of violence suffered by the victim or the ability of the perpetrator to pay.

Domestic Violence Act (DVA), 2005
- It is aimed at providing protection to wife or female live-in partner from violence at the hands of the husband or male live-in partner or his relatives.
- Domestic violence under the Act includes actual abuse or threat of abuse, whether physical, sexual, verbal, emotional, or economic.

Contesting: A convicted person, sentenced to imprisonment for 2 years, cannot contest election (Section 8 (3) of Representation of People Act or RPA, 1951).
- Even if such convicted person is on bail, they cannot contest election.

Voting: A person confined in a prison cannot vote (Section 62(5) of the RPA, 1951).
- It is applicable to persons under a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or is in the lawful custody of the police.
- A person under preventive detention is entitled to vote in an election (Section 62(5) of the RPA, 1951 and Rule 18 of Conduct of Elections Rules 1961).