Usha Mehta
News- A recent movie is inspired by the life of Usha Mehta, a notable Indian freedom fighter.
About
- Born in Saras, near Surat, Gujarat in 1920.
- Known as Ushaben, a devoted follower of Gandhi’s principles.
- At age eight in 1928, participated in a protest against the Simon Commission.
- In 1942, helped set up the Secret Congress Radio during the Quit India Movement, maintaining communication between freedom movement leaders and the public.
- With the onset of War in 1939, the British suspended all amateur radio licenses and mandated the surrender of equipment, penalizing non-compliance.
- Usha Mehta, Babubhai Khakar, Vithalbhai Jhaveri, Chandrakant Jhaveri, crucial in setting up Congress Radio.
- Their trial stirred excitement in Bombay; Mehta, Babubhai, Chandrakant received sentences, while Vithalbhai, Motwane were acquitted.
- Mehta, released from Yerawada Jail in 1946, was celebrated by nationalist media as “Radio-ben”.
Snowpacks
News- Researchers have developed a novel method to accurately determine the volume of water present in snowpacks and the duration it remains.
About-
- In winter-prone mountainous regions, snowfall accumulates on the ground and forms a snowpack, persisting for months under freezing conditions without melting.
- A snowpack may be comprised of various snow layers, each originating from separate snowfall events, that get compressed due to the weight of newer layers above.
- The snowpack stays in place until spring brings temperatures above freezing, at which point it begins to melt.
- Water resulting from the thawing of a snowpack is referred to as snowmelt.
- Snowmelt serves as a crucial water source, maintaining stream flow during warmer months.
- Factors such as snowfall amount, temperature, and wind play a role in determining a snowpack’s depth.
- Intense winds can lead to the evaporation of the snow surface, wearing away the upper layers of the snowpack, and rising temperatures contribute to the melting of these layers.
- As layers of snow accumulate, they compress the layers beneath, increasing the snowpack’s density, which reflects how tightly the snow particles are packed together.
- Layers like snow-covered surface hoars can weaken the snowpack, heightening avalanche dangers. Tracking snowpack characteristics is crucial for observing climate change’s impact.
PIB’s Fact Check Unit
News- The Supreme Court recently suspended the government’s directive to establish a ‘fact-check unit’, pausing its implementation for the time being.
About
- Launched in November 2019 to combat fake news related to the Indian government.
- Facilitates reporting of suspicious government-related information by the public.
- Aims to correct misinformation about government policies, initiatives, and schemes.
- Actively seeks out and corrects disinformation campaigns to ensure accurate government information is maintained.
ORGANISATION
- Led by a senior officer (DG/ADG) from the Indian Information Service (IIS).
- Daily operations managed by IIS officers at different levels.
- Reports to the Principal Director General of the Press Information Bureau (PIB), who is the chief spokesperson for the Government of India.
Fact-Check Mechanism
- Users can submit information through WhatsApp, email, or a web portal, classified as ‘Queries’.
- The Unit sorts these queries based on their relevance to the Indian Government.
- Only those related to the Government of India are addressed as Actionable Queries; others are not actioned.
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