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The Hindu Editorial Analysis
We understand the significance of reading The Hindu newspaper for enhancing reading skills, improving comprehension of passages, staying informed about current events, enhancing essay writing, and more, especially for banking aspirants who need to focus on editorials for vocabulary building. This article will explore today’s editorial points, along with practice questions and key vocabulary.
Three Arrested in Gujarat for ‘Terror Conspiracy’
- The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested a Hyderabad-based doctor, Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed, and his aides Azad Suleman Sheikh and Mohammed Suhail Saleem near Gandhinagar for planning to carry out attacks using ricin toxin, a dangerous chemical weapon.
- The three men are accused of making ricin, a deadly poison made from castor beans, with plans to use it in terror attacks. The ATS said they found detailed plans, training materials, and links to international terror networks.
- Ahmed Saiyed was caught near Adalaj on November 7, carrying two Glock pistols, one Beretta gun, thirty live bullets, and four litres of castor oil, which can be used to make ricin, officials said.
- Deputy Inspector-General Sunil Joshi stated that Saiyed, who studied in China, had adopted extreme religious ideas and was raising money and recruiting people for terror missions across several Indian states.
- The group was reportedly in touch with Abu Khadija, a handler based in Afghanistan and connected with Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), who was coordinating drone-based weapon deliveries across borders.
- ATS officers said the men came to Gujarat to exchange weapons and finalise their attack plans. Saiyed admitted that he had collected a weapons consignment from Kalol in Gandhinagar.
- The investigation showed that Sheikh and Saleem, both from Uttar Pradesh, had supplied the weapons from Hanumangarh in Rajasthan. They were caught in Banaskantha after ATS found clues on Saiyed’s phone.
- Officials seized three mobile phones and two laptops. Analysis of their call records showed they had been doing reconnaissance (checking targets) in Lucknow, Delhi, and Ahmedabad for almost a year.
- The ATS has not found links with any local sleeper cells yet but continues to check both national and international connections, ensuring all details are investigated.
- The three have been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, and Arms Act. Saiyed will remain in ATS custody till November 17, while the others await further legal action.
Assam Restarts Eviction Drive; 580 Families, Mostly Muslims, Displaced
- The Assam government began a new eviction drive in Goalpara district on Sunday, affecting 580 families and targeting 476 acres of forest land said to be illegally occupied.
- District Commissioner Prodip Timung said the operation went on peacefully with no resistance. It aimed to clear the Dahikata Reserve Forest of settlers who had built homes there without permission.
- He added that the eviction would continue on Monday, and all 580 families had received eviction notices more than 15 days earlier.
- Most people left the area after receiving the notices, but a few illegal structures were still being demolished by the authorities.
- The government sent a large police force and used excavators to pull down houses and huts, acting under court orders.
- The Gauhati High Court had directed officials to clear the encroached forest land, so the administration carried out the drive under court supervision.
- Many evicted families, mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims, said they had been living there for many years and had documents proving their right to stay.
- However, senior Forest Department officials said the land legally belonged to a reserve forest, which is an important pathway for elephants.
- The eviction came after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said his government would continue to remove illegal settlements and not allow “illegal Miya settlers” to stay.
- The term “Miya”, often used as an insult, refers to Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, who are sometimes wrongly called “Bangladeshis.”
- The Goalpara drive is one of many such evictions since Sarma’s BJP government took power in May 2021.
- Reports show that most people removed during these operations in Assam have been Muslims from Bengali-speaking communities.
- On July 21, Chief Minister Sarma said the government had already cleared over 42,500 acres of land from encroachment since 2021.
- He added that around 9.5 lakh acres of government and forest land were still under encroachment, and the government planned to reclaim them through future drives.
Aditya-L1 Captures a Close View of Solar Eruptions
- Scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and NASA, using the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) on Aditya-L1, have measured key details of a coronal mass ejection (CME) — a large explosion on the Sun’s surface.
- This marks the first-ever detailed study of a CME in visible light, giving scientists new data about how solar eruptions start and behave near the Sun.
- The VELC instrument can observe very close to the Sun, allowing researchers to see details that older space instruments could not.
- Since Aditya-L1 is placed at the Lagrange point L1, between the Earth and the Sun, it can watch the Sun continuously for 24 hours, as the Sun never sets from that position.
- V. Muthupriyal and her team at the VELC operations centre studied a CME and calculated its energy, mass, temperature, and speed near the Sun’s surface.
- Professor R. Ramesh, the main scientist behind VELC, said these are the closest-ever observations of a CME in visible light made from space.
- The study found that the CME had around 370 million electrons per cubic centimetre, compared to 10–100 million in the normal solar atmosphere.
- Its energy was about 9.4 × 10²¹ joules, and its mass was nearly 270 million tons — much heavier than the 1.5 million-ton iceberg that sank the Titanic.
- The CME moved at an initial speed of 264 km per second and reached a temperature of 1.8 million Kelvin, showing how hot and powerful it was.
- While CMEs have been studied from farther away before, VELC’s close-up data helps scientists understand how the Sun loses mass and releases energy during such eruptions.
- Professor Ramesh said that as the Sun nears its peak activity in its current sunspot cycle 25, and with VELC now working perfectly, scientists expect to see more strong CMEs soon.
Important Questions
- What chemical weapon did Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed and his aides plan to use in the Gujarat terror conspiracy?
- How did the Gujarat ATS locate Azad Suleman Sheikh and Mohammed Suhail Saleem after checking Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed’s phone data?
- What was the main reason for the Assam government’s eviction drive in the Dahikata Reserve Forest of Goalpara district?
- What role did the Gauhati High Court order play in the eviction drive carried out by the Goalpara administration?
- How did the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) on Aditya-L1 capture the first spectroscopic observations of a coronal mass ejection?
- What measurements did Indian Institute of Astrophysics scientists make using the Aditya-L1 mission about the coronal mass ejection’s electron density and temperature near the Sun’s surface?
Important Vocabulary
- Ricin – A highly toxic substance made from castor beans, used as a biological weapon.
- Radical ideologies – Extreme or fanatical beliefs that often reject traditional or moderate views.
- Reconnaissance – Secret observation or surveying of an area for military or terrorist purposes.
- Handler – A person who directs or controls agents, often from another country or group.
- Encroachments – Illegal occupation or gradual taking over of land or property.
- Eviction – The legal process of forcing people to leave land or houses they occupy.
- Reserve Forest – A protected forest area owned and managed by the government.
- Mandate – An official command or instruction to carry out a particular action.
- Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) – A large explosion of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona.
- Spectroscopic – Related to studying light to identify the properties or composition of an object.
- Lagrange Point – A position in space where the gravitational pull of two large bodies balances out.
- Kelvin – A unit for measuring temperature, used mainly in scientific research.
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