ISRO : The sky's the limit 👍

ISRO made a world record by launching 104 satellite in one go and set a trademark to the whole world.

• Till now Russia held the record of launching 37 satellites in a single mission, in 2014.

• The NASA of the U.S. launched 29 satellites in one go in 2013.

• Last June, ISRO had come close to NASA’s record by launching 20 satellites in one mission.

• But ISRO views the launch not as a mission to set a world record but as an opportunity to make full use of the capacity of the launch vehicle.

• ISRO send these satellite in their orbit by launching all satellite at different angle and speed but constant time span.Its seems like a water coming out from whole tiny hole with high pressure like fountain and droplets of water separate from main stream of fountain.

• The PSLV- C37 mission will also provide a test bed for new technologies, in handling multiple payloads.

• The primary payload on PSLV-C37 is the Indian advanced remote sensing satellite, CartoSat-2 weighing 714 kg. Apart from two Indian nano satellites INS-1A and INS-1B.

• The remaining satellites were from the U.S.(96 satellite) and one satellite from rest of countries the Netherlands, Switzerland, Israel, Kazakhstan and the UAE.

• PSLV-C37 will carry a total payload of 1,400 kg, with Cartosat- 2 weighing the most. 

Note -1: 

It was a technology demonstrator for a new class of satellites called ISRO nano satellites (INS)

The main objective of the INS, is to provide a platform on which payloads up to 5 kg from universities and R&D laboratories, and ISRO itself can be easily integrated for carrying out scientific research activities

Note -2: 

It's PSLV 39 flights with almost success of 38 only French ariane can match PSLV. Cartosat- is used for taking surface picture.

ISRO Launch Vehicle:

ISRO uses two types of vehicle to launch satellite according to their weight and distance cover.

1.PSLV: Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle

2.GSLV: Geo Satellite Launch Vehicle

PSLV:- it has 4 chamber engine having solid and liquid fuel as methyl hydrazine and polymer respectively which can carry lighter object and for lower height.

ex: where it had been used - mangalyan, chandrayan, kalpana-1, PSLV-C37. 

** ISRO manufacture and operate all PSLV.

GSLV:- it has 3 chamber engine having solid ,liquid and cryogenic fuel respectively. Solid and liquid fuel are same as in PSLV but in cryogenic liquid hydrogen + liquid oxygen is use. 

Russia gave 7 GSLV but not technology so ISRO force to manufacture it's own GSLV MK2 and GSLV MK3.ISRO recently launch GSLV MK3 successfully. 

Note: 

Booster or Strap on is used to provide some extra trust to these vehicles.

We will discuss about ISRO today's success in next session.

Union Budget - 2017-18 highlights

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today

(1st February 2017) has presented the Union Budget for         the year 2017-18. This is his fourth annual budget and the first budget after demonetization. The Union Budget 2017 was broadly focused on 10 broad themes. They are — Farmers, Rural Population, Youth, Poor and Health Care for the Underprivileged; Infrastructure; Financial Sector for Stronger Institutions; Speedy Accountability; Public Services; Prudent Fiscal Management; Tax Administration for the honest. Following are the highlights of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's Budget speech.

Union Budget - 2017 : Points to be noted :

On demonetisation
• Demonetisation is expected to have a transient impact on economy.
• The effects of demonetisation are not expected to spill over next year.
• Demonetisation a bold and decisive measure and will lead to higher GDP growth.
• The effects of demonetisation will not spillover to the next fiscal.

Agriculture
• Sowing farmers should feel secure against natural calamities.
• Rs. 10 lakh crore as credit to farmers with 60 days interest waiver says FM
• NABARD fund to be increased to Rs. 40,000 crore
• Govt will set up mini lab in Krishi Vigyan Kendras for soiling:
• A dedicated micro irrigation fund will be set up for NABARD with Rs 5,000 cr initial corpus
• Irrigation corpus increased from Rs 20,000 crores to Rs 40,000
• Dairy processing infrastructure fund with be created initially with a corpus of Rs. 2000 cr
• Issuance of Soil cards has gained momentum
• A model law on contract farming will be prepared and shared with States.

Rural sector
• Government targets to bring 1 crore households out of poverty by 2019
• During 2017-18, 5 lakh farm ponds to be taken up under MGNREGA
• Over Rs 3 lakh cr spend for rural India. MGNREGA to double farmers income
• Participation of women in mgnrega up to 55%
• During 2017-18, 5 lakh farm ponds to be taken up under MGNREGA
• Using space tech in a big way to plan MGNREGA works
• We propose to complete 1 crore houses for those without homes
• Allocating Rs. 19,000 cr for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana in 2017-18
• We are well on our way of achieving 100% rural electrification by March 2018.
• Sanitation coverage has gone up from 42% in Oct 13 to 60% now.
• Sanitation coverage in rural areas gone up from 42% in Oct 2014 to 60% now.

For youth
• A system of measuring annual learning outcomes, innovation fund for secondary education.
• There will be a focus on 3,479 educationally-backward blocks
• Colleges will be identified based on accreditation
• Skill India mission to maximise potential. 100 India International centres across    country.
• Courses on foreign languages to be introduced.
• Steps to create 5000 PG seats per annum.

For the poor; health care
• Mahila Shakthi Kendras - Rs. 500 cr allocated.
• Nationwide scheme for pregnant women - Rs. 6000 each will be transferred.
• For women and Kids - Rs. 1,84,632 cr. allocation investment
• Affordable housing to be given infrastructure status.
• Surplus liquidity - banks have already started reducing lending rates for housing
• Elimination of tuberculosis by 2025 targeted.
• 1.5 lakh health sub centres to be transformed into health wellness centre.
• Two new AIIMS in Jharkhand and Gujarat.
• Structural transformation of regulator framework for medical education in India
• Allocation for Scheduled Caste - Rs. 52,393 crore
• Aadhaar-based smartcards for senior citizens to monitor health.

Infrastructure; railways
• A total allocation of Rs. 39,61,354 crore
• Total allocation for Railways — Rs. 1,31,000 crore
• No Service charge while booking tickets with IRCTC
• Raksha coach with a corpus of Rs. 1 lakh cr fore five years (for passenger safety)
• Unmanned level crossings eliminated by 2020
• 3,500 km of railway lines to be commissioned this year up from 2,800 km last year.
• SMS based clean my coach service started
• Coach mitra facility - to register all coach related complaints
• 2019 - bio toilets for all trains
• 500 stations to be made differently-abled friendly
• Railways to partner with logistics players for front end and back end solutions for select commodities.
• Railways will offer competitive ticket booking facility
• 2,000 km for coastal connectivity of roads -
• Rs. 64,000 crore allocation for highways.
• Allocation of high speed Internet 1,50,000 gram panchayats
• New Metro rail policy to be announced with new modes of financing.

Energy sector
• A strategic policy for crude reserves will be set up
• Rs. 1.26,000 cr for energy production-based investments received
• Trade infra export scheme will be launched 2017-18.

Financial sector
• FDI policy reforms - more than 90% of FDI inflows are now automated.
• Shares of Railway PSE like IRCTC would be listed on stock exchanges.
• Bill on resolution of financial firms to be introduced in this session of parliament.
• Decided to abolish FIPB in 2017-18.
• Foreign Investment Promotion Board to be abolished.
• Revised mechanism to ensure time bound listing of CPSEs
• Computer emergency response team for financial sector to be formed.
• Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana lending target at Rs 2.44 lakh crore for 2017-18
• Digital India - Bhim app - two new schemes to promote the app.
• Two new schemes for BHIM App - referral bonus for users and cash back for traders: FM.
• Negotiable Instruments Act might be amended.
• DBT to LPG consumers , Chandigarh is kerosene free, 84 govt schemes are on the DBT platform.
• Head post office as the central office for rendering passport services
• Easy online booking system for Army, defence personnel
• For big-time offences - including economic offenders fleeing India, the govt. will introduce a legislative change or new law to confiscate the assets of these people within the country.

Fiscal situation
• Total expenditure - Rs. 21, 47,000 crore
• Abolition on plan, non-plan expenditure, focus on capital expenditure ( Capital expenditure will be 25.4 per cent) Rs.3,000 crore under Dept of Economic Affairs for implementing Budget announcements.
• Defence expenditure, excluding pension, at Rs 2,74,114 crore
• Expenditure in science and technology — Rs. 37,435 crore
• Total resources transferred to States and UTs is Rs 4.11 lakh crore
• Recommended 3% fiscal deficit for three years with deviation of 0.5% of GDP.
• Revenue deficit - 1.9 %
• Pegged fiscal deficit of 2017-18 at 3.2% of GDP and remain committed to achieving 3% in the next year.

On funding of political parties
• Maximum amount of cash donation for political parties will be Rs 2,000 from any one source from Rs 20,000
• Political parties will be entitled to receive donations by cheque or digital mode from donors.
• Amendment is being proposed to RBI Act to enable issuance of electoral bonds that government will scheme. Donor can purchase these bonds from banks or post office via cheque or digital transactions. They can be redeemed only by registered political parties.

Tax proposals
• India’s tax to GDP ratio is not favourable.
• Out of 13.14 lakh registered companies, only 5.97 lakh companies have filed returns for 2016-17.
• Proportion of direct tax to indirect tax is not optimal.
• 1.95 crore individuals showed income between Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.
• Out of 76 lakh individual assessees declaring income more than Rs 5 lakh, 56 lakh are salaried.
• Only 1.72 lakh people showed income of more than Rs 50 lakh a year.
• Between Nov 8 to Dec 30: Deposits between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 80 lakh was made in 1.09 crore accounts.
• Net tax revenue of 2013-14 was Rs 11.38 lakh crore.
• Out of 76 lakh individual assessees declaring income more than Rs 5 lakh, 56 lakh are salaried.
• 1.95 crore individuals showed income between Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.
• Rate of growth of advance tax in Personal I-T is 34.8% in last three quarters of this financial year.
• Holding period for long term capital gain lowered to 2 years
• Propose to have carry-forward of MAT for 15 years.
• Capital gains tax to be exempted for persons holding land from which land was pooled for creation of state capital of Telangana.
• Corporate tax: In order to make MSME companies more viable, propose to reduce tax for small companies of turnover of up to Rs 50 crore to 25%. About 67 lakh companies fall in this category. 96% of companies to get this benefit.
• Propose to reduce basic customs duty for LNG to 2.5% from 5%
• SIT on black money suggested no cash transactions of more than Rs 3 lakh. Govt has accepted this proposal.
• Income Tax Act to be amended. No transaction above Rs 3 lakh to be permitted in cash.
• Limit of cash donation by charitable trust reduced to Rs 2,000 from Rs 10,000.
• Net revenue loss in direct tax could be Rs. 20,000 crore.

Personal Income Tax
• Existing rate of tax for individuals between Rs. 2.5- Rs 5 lakh reduced to 5% from 10%
• All other categories of tax payers in subsequent brackets will get benefit of Rs 12,500.
• Simple one page return for people with annual income of Rs. 5 lakh other than business income.
• People filing I-T returns for the first time will not come under govt. scrutiny.
• 10% surcharge on individual income above Rs. 50 lakh and up to Rs 1 crore to make up for Rs 15,000 crore loss due to cut in personal I-T rate. 15 surcharge on individual income above Rs. 1 crore to remain.

Vanadium dioxide

Metal that conducts electricity but not heat found:

Electrons in vanadium dioxide can conduct electricity without conducting heat.

Which may pave the way for systems that convert waste heat from engines and appliances into electric power.

It could lead to a wide range of applications, such as thermoelectric systems that convert waste heat from engines and appliances into electricity.

Wiedemann-Franz Law: For most metals, the relationship between electrical and thermal conductivity is governed by this law:

The law states that good conductors of electricity are also good conductors of heat. But that is not the case for metallic vanadium dioxide.

Vanadium dioxide is already noted for its unusual ability to switch from an insulator to a metal when it reaches 67 degrees Celsius.

Not done yet :

So ESE 2017-Pre ( obviously a new word has been introduced by killer institute UPSE ) is over.

Some of you have done well at this stage and most of you have failed to your expectations ( same could be concluded for SSC-JE ☺). But the under covered fact is, that none of you know the final result, if you have done well don't be over confident bcz enemy power is still unknown 😉, so just continue your hard work✍ to clear next two hurdle 👍.
Now coming to mass people who are destined to overcome the mistake they have committed in this exam.
Which is possible only if you ( if you are one among them ) have trust in these Power Points:

1- There is nothing like permanent in this universe ( will fight next time 💪 ).
2- There is definitely a better one ( Har Sher ka Sava Sher hota hi hai🐯 ).
3- It was not the end of world ( Duniya rukati nai bhai shahb )
4- There are plenty of fish in the water, if not this one, choose other one ( be wise ).
5- Accept your fault and learn from them. ( Imandaar bano dost 😉 )
6- Reorder yourself.
7- Have patient & consistency ☺.
8- Have confidence in yourself.
9- Be single goal oriented ( most important ☺ ).
10- God have plan for every one and is with everyone 👍.

Objective question practice session :✍✍

So, you wanted it, we planned it and soon we are going to start it ☺.

Definitely practice and consistency are the two key to be successful in any field💪. keeping this in mind and observing the upcoming exams we have started to compile the best questions (subject wise) and it is being scheduled to be published as soon as possible.

On our side we will try our best to make  perfect sets of questions and from your side we are expecting the same level of hard work. Here we would like to tell that-

1- Don't try to substitute it with your books, it's just a supplementary material.
2- Go thoroughly through your books.
3- Solve solved and unsolved questions as much as possible.
4- Then try to solve questions posted on Linkupdots.
5- On day one you will get question set and on next day solution.

Linkupdots questions will be most likely to be the expected one in SSC-JE & SES-AE/JE exams and will help you to brush up your basic concepts.
So get ready to test your self 👍.

UNFCCC

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) created because of the Rio Summit/ Earth Summit of 1992.
It is an international treaty for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Now nearly every country on Earth is a party to the UNFCCC with few major exception like USA, Canada.

*So what was Rio Summit/ Earth Summit -
It was a United nations summit, held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in 1992.
It led to creation of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

The nations, who’ve signed UNFCCC convention, meet every year to discuss climate change strategy.
These meetings are called Conference of the Parties (COP)

Some notable COP :
COP 1 - held in Berlin ( Berlin Roadmap ).
COP 3 - held in Kyoto, Japan ( Kyoto Protocol ).
COP 7 - Marrakech, Morocco ( Marrakech accord ).
COP 8 - Delhi.
COP 13 - Bali, Indonesia ( Bali action plan ).
              -  Adopted REDD+
COP 17 - Durban, S.Africa in 2011.
COP 18 - Doha, Qatar in 2012.
              - Extended Kyoto Protocol for phase 2.
COP 19 - Warsaw, Poland
              - Warsaw international mechanism on loss and damage.
COP 21 - Paris
               - Paris Agreement.

RLV-TD

Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD)

India’s first winged body aerospace vehicle, called the Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) was successfully launched from ISRO’s first launch

pad in Sriharikota 80 km off Chennai on the east coast at 7.00 am on Monday. The RLV-TD shuttle shaped like an aircraft was launched aboard the HS9 a seven-meter rocket with a booster, weighing 17 tons with nine tons of solid propellants. The rocket and shuttle made a successful flight of 91.1seconds and the burnout of HS9 followed.

The development of reusable launch vehicle has opened new gateways in conducting space experiments using conventional rockets. One major significance of reusable vehicle is its cost effectiveness. The new vehicle has the potential to cut down the actual cost of launching the rocket by ten times.

With the launch of reusable launch vehicle India has demonstrated the world that what India is capable of. Even though the launch vehicle is just a prototype, there is lot to be done in developing a fully fledged space shuttle.

In this flight, critical technologies such as autonomous navigation, guidance & control, reusable thermal protection system and re-entry mission management have been successfully validated.

With this successful mission India has joined the elite club of space-faring nations. The other countries are the USA, Russia and Japan, that developed and used RLVs for their space missions. This mission has enabled ISRO to successfully collect data and validate such critical technologies and systems as hypersonic speed, autonomous navigation, guidance and control, reusable thermal protection system, powered cruise flight using air-breathing propulsion and re-entry mission management. According to experts, the reusable vehicle technology will reduce the costs of launches in the future by 80% percent.

ESE-17 - Sample Paper

Model questions in General Studies & Engineering Aptitude for Engg. services examination - 2017

http://www.upsc.gov.in/exams/Rev_Syllabus/ese/2016/Model_Q_Paper_ESE_2017_GS_Enggg.pdf

Differences between Bernoulli and S.F.E.E. ?

Well, Bernoulli's equation is a very simplified form of the actual energy equation derived by using control volumes around the fluid flow considering all possible variations including time and space. 

1) Bernoulli's equation doesn't account for any other form of work or energy other than potential energy, kinetic energy and pressure energy. For example, the fluid can flow through a pump doing work on it or a furnace heating a column of air. In these cases, you can't use the simple Bernoulli equation, as points before the area where work is being done on the fluid  and points after it have different Bernoulli's constants.

2) Moreover, Bernoulli's equation between two points is valid along a streamline only. This is because different streamlines have different Bernoulli's constant (although, this is rare and is not true when the flow is irrotational) 

3) For energy equation to be valid, the flow field need not be incompressible or non-viscous as is needed for Bernoulli's equation (unless you are using compressible Bernoulli flow equation and also adding the friction head to take care of viscous effects at the wall)

4) Further, the Bernoulli equation is generally used for steady and laminar flow. Energy equation written in its full glory takes care of variations in viscosity, density, pressure and velocity variation with respect to time and space. Written along with Navier Stokes equation, even turbulence can be accounted for.

Highlights of Union Budget 2016-17

Union Finance Minister has presented NDA government’s second budget.

According to the budget, the nine priority areas of the government are:

1. Agriculture and farmer welfare
2. Rural sector
3. Social sector
4. Education skills and job creation
5. Infrastructure investment
6. Financial sector reforms
7. Governance reforms and ease of doing business
8. Fiscal discipline
9. Tax reforms to reduce compliance burden

The government has also proposed rename Dept. of Disinvestment as Dept. of Investment and Public Asset Management. And fiscal deficit target has been retained at 3.5 per cent of GDP for next fiscal year in a big boost for stocks, currency and bond markets.
Who will get what?
Banks:

• Banks get a big boost: Rs 25,000 crore towards recapitalisation of public sector banks.
• Banking Board Bureau will be operationalised.
• More resources will be raised for additional capital if required.

Farmers:

• Farmers’ incomes to be doubled in five years by 2022. Total allocation for agriculture sector has been hiked to Rs. 35,984 crore.
• Big focus on rural distress: Government will spend a record Rs. 38,500 crore on rural jobs programme (MGNREGA).
• Rural road development schemes will get Rs. 19,000 crore, while another Rs. 20,000 crore will be used to fund irrigation schemes.

Infrastructure:

• Continued push for infrastructure development: The finance minister allocated Rs. 2.21 lakh crore for building road and rail infrastructure.
• Proposes to levy infrastructure cess of 1-4 per cent which will make cars costlier.
• 300 urban clusters to be set up under Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission.

Black money:
A new amnesty scheme for those holding unaccounted money and assets has been announced. Those declaring undisclosed income under this scheme will have to pay 45 per cent tax.
Taxation:

• The government will not resort to retrospective taxation in future, while proposing a one-time tax dispute resolution for retrospective taxation.
• General anti avoidance tax rule (GAAR) will be implemented from April 1, 2017.

Vulnerable section:

• Target of disbursement under MUDRA increased to 1,80,000 crore.
• A “Krishi Kalyan” cess of 0.5 per cent has been proposed on all services effective June 1, 2016. This will make most of services (such as eating out, buying property, etc.) more expensive.
• Income tax relief for small taxpayers, more taxes for super-rich: Those earnings less than Rs. 5 lakh per annum will get additional relief of Rs. 3,000 on income tax, but the surcharge on super-rich (income of over Rs. 1 crore) has been hiked from 12 per cent to 15 per cent.
• Pollution cess of 1 per cent on small petrol, LPG and CNG cars; 2.5 per cent on diesel cars of certain specifications; 4 per cent on higher-end models.
• Government is launching a new initiative to provide cooking gas to BPL families with state support.
• LPG connections to be provided under the name of women members of family: Rs 2000 crore allocated for 5 years for BPL families.

Railway Budget special 2016

Railway Budget special:

Theme of the Budget

• Overcoming challenges – Reorganize, Restructure Rejuvenate Indian Railways: ‘Chalo, Milkar Kuch Naya Karen’
• Three pillars of the strategy i.e. Nav Arjan – New revenues, Nav Manak – New norms, Nav Sanrachna – New Structures. 

Four new categories of trains announced

Four new categories of trains have been announced in the budget— one for unreserved passengers and three for reserved passengers.

The four new categories of trains are- Humsafar, Tejas, Antyodaya Express and Uday.

1. Humsafar would be fully air-conditioned third AC service with an optional service for meals.
2. Tejas on the other hand will showcase the future of train travel in India. Operating at speeds of 130 kmph or more, it will have on-board services such as entertainment, local cuisine, Wi-Fi etc.
3. Utkrisht Double-Decker Air-conditioned Yatri (UDAY) Express will be introduced on the busiest routes, which has the potential to increase carrying capacity by almost 40%.
4. Antyodaya Express is a long-distance, fully unreserved, super-fast train service, for the common man to be operated on dense routes.

The railway minister has also announced that two to four Deen Dayalu coaches would be added in some long distance trains for unreserved travel. These coaches will also have facility for potable drinking water and a higher number of mobile charging points.

Seven missions to improve functioning

To make the functioning of railways more efficient, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has announced seven missions, including activities to increase the average speed of superfast mail trains by 25 kilometres per hour in the next five years.
The seven missions are ’25 Tonne’, ‘Zero Accident’, PACE (Procurement and Consumption Efficiency), ‘Raftaar’, ‘Hundred’, ‘beyond book-keeping’ and ‘capacity utilisation’.

• Under Mission Raftaar, the railways would target doubling average speeds of freight trains and increasing the average speed of superfast mail/express trains by 25 kmph in the next 5 years.
• On Mission 25 Tonne, railways will augment the carrying capacity to realise the goal of revenue enhancement. A critical step in that direction is making our infrastructure suitable to carry 25-tonne axle load. It is proposed to introduce 10-20% freight loading through 25-tonne axle-load wagons in 2016-17 and target movement of 70% of freight traffic on high axle load wagons by FY 19-20.
• Among others, Mission Hundred would focus on sidings and freight terminals.
• Under ‘Beyond Book-keeping’, Indian Railways will establish an accounting system where the outcomes can be tracked to inputs.

Each of the missions would be headed by a director reporting directly to the Railway Board Chairman.

 

Three freight corridors to be built on priority

The country will get three new dedicated freight corridors, according to the Railway Budget 2016, in addition to the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata freight corridors that are due to be commissioned in 2019.

• The new projects are a North-South corridor, from Delhi to Chennai, an East-West corridor from Karaghpur to Mumbai and an East Coast corridor, from Karaghpur to Vijayawada.
• These projects will be financed through a PPP (public private partnership) mechanism and rolled out on a high priority basis.

Superman memory crystal

The 'Superman memory crystal' could hold the future of data storage

 

"Coined as the ‘Superman memory crystal’, as the glass memory has been compared to the 'memory crystals' used in the Superman films, the data is recorded via self-assembled nanostructures created in fused quartz. The information encoding is realised in five dimensions: the size and orientation in addition to the three dimensional position of these nanostructures."

Scientists at the University of Southhampton have developed a 5D glass disc that can store 360 Terabytes of data for billions of years. The discs are made out of nanostructured glass, and the data is stored and retrieved using femtosecond laser writing. These discs can store data for up to 13.8 billion years, that's over twice the estimated age of the Earth, and about equal to the estimated age of our universe. Essentially, the discs are made by a laser that can make microscopic etchings in nanoglass. 

Some famous documents lasered into 5D discs

So what exactly do they mean by 5-dimensional? Traditionally, we think of our universe in terms of the 4 known and easily perceptible dimensions. The first 3 dimensions are our directions of movement or an XYZ axis; the 4th dimension is traditionally thought of as time. These 4 dimensions combined are referred to as spacetime. Unfortunately, this can cause quite a bit of confusion. The 5-dimensional discs made by the University of Southhampton are not time traveling devices that can view parallel universes, but instead tiny patterns printed on 3 layers within the discs. Depending on the angle they are viewed from, these patterns can look completely different. This may sound like science fiction, but it's basically a really fancy optical illusion. In this case, the 5 dimensions inside the discs are the size and orientation in relation to the 3-dimensional position of the nanostructures. The concept of being 5-dimensional means that one disc has several different images depending on the angle that one views it from, and the magnification of the microscope used to view it. Basically, each disc has multiple layers of micro and macro level images.

A laser burning microscopic images into 3 layers

 

Since glass is plentiful and inexpensive, this technology has a very good chance to become widely available in the future. People are already thinking of uses for this technology, everything from storing an immense library of video games to storing the entirety of human history and culture for future civilizations. Professor Peter Kazansky is very optimistic about the technology's potential, he elaborated in an interview with the University of Southhampton's news publication:

"It is thrilling to think that we have created the technology to preserve documents and information and store it in space for future generations. This technology can secure the last evidence of our civilisation: all we’ve learnt will not be forgotten."

By using 5-dimensional shapes that are laser-etched into glass discs at a microscopic scale, the University of Southhampton has developed the highest storage efficiency in a data storage device to date. The discs also have the longest life-span of any data storage device to date. With all of the amazing things that they can do, people all over the world are excited to get their hands on one. If you're one of those people, you're in luck; the team at Southhampton is currently looking for partners to invest in this technology in hopes that it can be commercialized in the future. It could only be a matter of time before this kind of data storage is the norm.

 

Photonic Propulsion

NASA researchers are working on a technology that could harness the power of light and reduce the time taken to reach mars from the current five months to just three days.

Which is that technology?
The technology is known as ‘Photonic Propulsion’ system.

How it operates?

This technology uses lasers to propel the spacecrafts with giant sails. The system operates on photons particles of light to move forward.

Current practice:
Currently, when a spacecraft is launched, the thrust comes from burning a chemical, such as rocket fuel. This fuel weighs down the spacecraft.

Why Photonic Propulsion is better than the old one?

Current technology is an inefficient system when compared to using light or other electromagnetic radiation to accelerate objects. It is because Electromagnetic acceleration is only limited by the speed of light while chemical systems are limited to the energy of chemical processes.

Revised Scheme of The Engineering Services Examination ( ESE ) 2017

UPSC has revised ESE Exam pattern along with the Syllabus and it will be implemented from the year 2017, since then it is going to be a Three Stage examination as Preliminary, Main and Personality test. 

• Only candidates qualifying in stage-I (preliminary) to be permitted to appear in stage-II (main).
• Only candidates qualifying in stage-II (main) to be permitted to appear in stage-III (personality test).
• Final Merit List to be prepared after stage-III (personality test).

Stage-I – Preliminary Exam- (Objective Type Papers)

Papers	Subject	Maximum Marks	Duration
Paper-I	General Studies and Engineering Aptitude Paper	200 Marks	02 hours
Paper-II	Engineering Discipline-specific Paper	300 Marks	03 hours
	Total	500 Marks	05 hours

Stage-II- Mains Examination- (Conventional Type Papers)

Papers	Subjects	Maximum Marks	Duration
Paper-I	Engineering Discipline- Specific Paper-I	300 Marks	03 hours
Paper-II	Engineering Discipline- Specific Paper-I	300 Marks	03 hours
	Total	600 Marks	06 hours

Stage-III – Personality Test

Personality Test is to be conducted of 200 marks.  
**Final list of selected candidates to be prepared after the counting of marks secured in all the III stages.

New crop insurance scheme

A new crop insurance scheme was approved by the Union cabinet on 13 jan 2016. Ever since the NDA formed the govt at the centre, it has launched a number of welfare schemes for various areas such as banking, pension, employment and insurance to the poor people of the country. Every thing was right but without the welfare of farmers India can’t go ahead, we know, agriculture employes nearly half of the employed people in the country. Thus the security and well being of farmers is of prime importance to the progress of the country. Having these facts in mind Pradhan Mantry Fasal Bima Yojana was launched on 13 jan 2016, perfect at timing, just ahead of Makar Sankranti – one of the main harvest festival celebrated in india.

This new scheme seems to have a lot potential, Government has launched a new crop insurance scheme - Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana with considerable improvement over the existing National Agriculture Insurance Scheme. If implemented well, it could help delink agriculture from the associated uncertainties.

Design:

1) lo premium at a max of 2 per cent for foodgrains and oilseeds and up to 5 per    cent for horticulture/cotton crops.

2) Centre - State :: 50-50  equal subsidy burden.

3) The government will adopt modern technology to assess crop damage for early settlement of the claims. 

4) Farmers will get claim against full sum insured without any capping or deduction.

5) Smart phones will be used to capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce the delays in claim payment to farmers.

How will the scheme Benefit Farmers:

1) With Low Premium rates and Total Coverage of Insurance of Crops, Farmers will benefit financially.

2) Widening of the term Disaster(like Flooding of Crops and Damage after Harvest) ,will widen the Protection base and hence beneficial to farmers.

3) Post Harvest Losses are also Included, So it will provide safety and confidence to the Farmers.

4) Time Bound Payment of Losses will prevent delays and further worsening of Farmers's Distress.

5) Will Reduce Farmers' Suicide (Since Crop Failure and Financial Distress earlier was undressed but now ensured).

6) Easy usage of technology like mobile phone, quick assessment of damage and disbursement within a timeframe.

The Scheme is a Laudable measure taken by Govt., as it is focussing more on Crop Insurance which is the most vulnerable part of agriculture. The scheme is Inclusive and will surely help the farmers of our country at the time of distress.