AMIGOS IAS Daily Current Affairs (14^th Sept 2024)

Port Blair renamed as Sri Vijaya Puram

GS 1: Miscellaneous

Why is it in the news?

• Port Blair, the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, will now be renamed ‘Sri Vijaya Puram’, as announced by Union Home Minister.
• He explained that the change reflects Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of removing colonial legacies, with the new name symbolizing the victories achieved in India’s freedom struggle and acknowledging the unique role of the A&N Islands in that history.

More about the news

• The city of Port Blair was originally named after Archibald Blair, a naval surveyor and lieutenant in the Bombay Marine, who conducted a comprehensive survey of the Andaman Islands.
• Blair, who joined the Bombay Marine in 1771, embarked on a survey mission in 1779 along the coasts of India, Iran, and Arabia. His work included surveying the Andamans, where he initially named the natural harbour as Port Cornwallis in honour of Commodore William Cornwallis.
• Later, the harbour was renamed Port Blair. Blair’s detailed report on his findings was well-received by the East India Company (EIC), which soon decided to colonize the islands for strategic purposes, including protection against Malay pirates and as a refuge for shipwrecked people. The islands also became a penal colony with convicts being transported there.
• In December 1792, the colony was relocated to Port Cornwallis, but this settlement struggled due to disease and was abandoned in 1796.
• The 1857 Revolt led to the establishment of Port Blair as a penal colony once again, where many convicts, including freedom fighters such as Veer Damodar Savarkar, endured harsh conditions.
• A significant cellular jail, known as Kaala Paani, was built in 1906 to house political prisoners. Blair, having returned to England in 1795, later presented an account of the Andaman Islands to the Royal Society of London in 1799.
• Historically, some records suggest a connection between Port Blair and the imperial Cholas. The Andaman Islands were strategically used by 11th-century Chola emperor Rajendra I during his campaign against Srivijaya, located in present-day Indonesia.
• An inscription from Thanjavur, dated to 1050 CE, referred to the island as Ma-Nakkavaram land, possibly influencing the modern name Nicobar under the British.
• Historians, including Herman Kulke in “Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa” (2010), view the Chola invasion of Srivijaya as a significant event in India’s interaction with Southeast Asia.
• Scholars suggest various motivations for this campaign, including disrupting Srivijaya’s trade or expanding Chola influence.
• After defeating Srivijaya, Rajendra I captured King Sangrama Vijayottunggavarman and looted treasures, including the Vidhyadara Torana, a jewelled war gate of Srivijaya.

Global Cybersecurity Index 2024

GS 3: Internal Security: Cybersecurity measures

Why is it in the news?

• India has achieved a significant milestone by advancing to Tier 1 in the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2024, released by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
• This tier, the highest in the new five-tier analysis, recognizes countries for their exemplary commitment to cybersecurity across all five pillars: legal, technical, capacity development, cooperation, and organizational measures.
• India’s progress is particularly notable in legal, technical, capacity development, and cooperation areas, although there is room for growth in organizational measures.

More about the news

• The GCI 2024 highlights notable improvements in countries’ efforts to implement legal measures, capacity building, and cooperation frameworks, particularly in enhancing incident response capabilities.
• The Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, emphasized that ITU’s projects support these national efforts to better manage cyber threats. The report also identified critical issues such as ransomware attacks, cyber breaches affecting core industries, costly system outages, and privacy violations, stressing the need for ongoing focus on cybersecurity.
• Most countries are classified as either “establishing” (Tier 3) or “evolving” (Tier 4) in their cybersecurity capabilities. These nations, numbering 105, have expanded digital services but still face significant gaps in integrating cybersecurity measures.
• The report notes a widespread “cyber-capacity gap” due to limitations in skills, staffing, equipment, and funding. Despite these challenges, legal measures are the strongest cybersecurity pillar globally, with 177 countries having regulations on data protection, privacy, or breach notification.
• Further, the ITU Secretary-General underscored the importance of building trust in the digital world and maintaining efforts to ensure that all can manage cyber threats safely and effectively.

OpenAI o1: An AI model that ‘thinks’ before it answers?

GS 3: Science and Technology: New AI model

Why is it in the news?

• OpenAI has introduced its latest AI model, OpenAI o1, as part of its secretive ‘Project Strawberry.’ This new model is designed to handle complex tasks in science, coding, and mathematics by reasoning more carefully before answering, akin to human problem-solving.
• OpenAI has released this model for preview through ChatGPT and its API, with ongoing updates and evaluations planned for future improvements.

More about the news

• The OpenAI o1 model operates by learning to approach problems from various perspectives, validating its answers, and correcting errors.
• Early tests show that it performs exceptionally well, achieving results comparable to PhD students in subjects like physics, chemistry, and biology. For instance, it solved 83 percent of problems in a challenging math contest, a significant improvement over previous versions, which only solved about 13 percent. In coding, it ranked higher than 89 percent of participants.
• Although still in its early stages, the o1 model does not yet support features like web browsing or file management. However, it excels at generating and debugging complex code.
• OpenAI has also released OpenAI o1-Mini, a more cost-effective version designed for developers, which is 80 percent cheaper than the o1-preview and focuses on efficient reasoning in coding tasks.
• To ensure safety, OpenAI has developed a new training method to enhance the model’s adherence to safety guidelines and improve its resistance to manipulative behaviours.
• Testing revealed that the new version scored 84 out of 100 in safety compliance, a notable improvement from the previous version’s score of 22. OpenAI is also collaborating with the UK and US governments on AI safety and has involved safety groups in early model testing.
• The introduction of OpenAI o1 could impact various job sectors, particularly in software development, data analysis, and mathematical modelling, by automating tasks that require high-level reasoning.
• This shift may reduce the need for human involvement in routine tasks but could also create new opportunities in AI safety, ethics, and maintenance. Researchers in fields like physics and biology may benefit from the model’s advanced problem-solving and data analysis capabilities, potentially accelerating scientific breakthroughs.

Great Stupa of Sanchi: The story from Ashokan times to now

GS 1: Culture and History: Buddhist monuments

Why is it in the news?

• External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited the replica of the East Gate of Sanchi’s Great Stupa displayed in front of the Humboldt Forum Museum in Berlin.
• The intricately designed red sandstone gateway, unveiled in December 2022, is a full-scale reproduction of the original, standing nearly 10 meters high, 6 meters wide, and weighing approximately 150 tonnes.

About the Great Stupa of Sanchi

• The Great Stupa of Sanchi, commissioned by Emperor Ashoka in the third century BCE, is the largest and oldest structure in a complex of Buddhist monuments in Sanchi.
• This site features various stupas, temples, and monasteries, with some structures added as late as the twelfth century CE.
• The stupa is believed to enshrine the Buddha’s relics and was constructed under the guidance of Ashoka’s wife, Devi, with support from Vidisha’s mercantile community.
• The stupa’s most recognizable features are its ornamental gateways, or toranas, constructed in the first century BCE during the Satavahana dynasty.
• These gateways consist of two square pillars supporting a superstructure of three curved architraves, adorned with intricate bas-reliefs depicting scenes from the Buddha’s life and Buddhist iconography.
• The East Gate is particularly notable in Europe due to historical circumstances. The Sanchi site, discovered in ruins by British officer Henry Taylor in 1818, was formally excavated by Alexander Cunningham in 1851.
• Restoration efforts, led by ASI director-general John Marshall in the 1910s with support from the begums of Bhopal, followed years of looting and amateur excavation.
• Plaster casts of the East Gate were made by Lieutenant Henry Hardy Cole in the late 1860s for the Victoria and Albert Museum, with multiple copies displayed across Europe.
• The Berlin replica, unveiled in 2022, is based on these original casts, created using 3D scanning, modern robotics, and skilled craftsmanship.
• The East Gate’s architraves represent the seven Manushi Buddhas, the Great Departure of Prince Siddhartha, and Emperor Ashoka’s visit to the Bodhi tree. The gate features decorative elements like the shalabhanjika, elephants, winged lions, and peacocks.

Helium and its use in rockets

GS 3: Science and Technology: Space

Why is it in the news?

• Two NASA astronauts aboard Boeing’s Starliner will remain on the International Space Station (ISS) longer than planned due to propulsion system issues, including helium leaks.
• Meanwhile, SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission, which was launched recently, was delayed by helium problems with ground equipment.
• Helium leaks have also impacted past missions such as ISRO’s Chandrayaan 2 and ESA’s Ariane 5.

About Helium

• Helium is an inert, non-reactive gas with the atomic number 2, making it the second lightest element after hydrogen.
• Its unique properties, including a very low boiling point of –268.9 degrees Celsius, enable it to remain in a gaseous state even in the extremely cold environments found in space. This characteristic is particularly valuable for rockets, where many fuels are stored at cryogenic temperatures.
• In spacecraft and rockets, helium serves two main functions.

1) First, it is used to pressurize fuel tanks, ensuring that fuel flows smoothly to the rocket’s engines without interruption. As fuel and oxidizers are consumed in the combustion process, helium fills the empty spaces in the tanks, maintaining necessary pressure levels.

2) Second, helium is employed in cooling systems, helping to manage the temperature of the rocket’s components.

• Despite its benefits, helium is prone to leaks due to its small atomic size and low molecular weight, which allow its atoms to escape through tiny gaps or seals in storage tanks and fuel systems.
• Although helium is rare in the Earth’s atmosphere, making leaks detectable, the frequent occurrence of such leaks in space missions underscores the need for improved valve designs and tighter sealing mechanisms to prevent potential faults in rocket and spacecraft fuel systems.