Slippery oil rally: on the oil-price rise

The price of oil has risen sharply in recent weeks leading to renewed forecasts of a sustained bull market in the price of the commodity. The price of Brent crude, which breached the $60 mark late last month, is currently trading at about $64 per barrel, a two-year high. In fact, in the last one month alone, oil has gained well over 12%. The oil rally has been even sharper from its June low of a little below $45, from where the commodity has rallied more than 40% to reach its current price, with some experts saying the ongoing rally could portend even higher prices in the coming months. The upsurge this week has been driven primarily by political uncertainty in Saudi Arabia, the world’s second largest producer of oil, and the tightening of supply by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which is expected to extend its supply-cut agreement beyond March. Whether the price gains would sustain and continue over an extended period of time still remains a big question for various reasons, however. Shale oil production is the biggest among them. In the past, North American producers of shale brought a multi-year bull market in oil to an abrupt end. Since then, OPEC has struggled to maintain control over oil prices except for brief spells. The American shale industry has been let free to increase production in response to higher prices, thus imposing a cap on the price of oil. There are no signs yet of a structural change in the oil market to suggest that it could be any different this time.

Shale producers have continued to pump more oil into the market as crude prices have crossed the $50 mark. According to the Energy Information Administration, a body under the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. shale production is likely to increase by about 81,000 barrels per day in the current month. In addition, in its World Oil Outlook report released this week, OPEC said it expects shale output to grow much faster than it had previously estimated. The cartel’s new estimate is, in fact, more than 50% higher than its projection last year. It also noted that shale output from North America has increased by about 25% over the past one year. All this suggests that shale is likely to remain OPEC’s nemesis for a long time. India has derived huge benefits from lower oil prices since 2014, with the government’s fiscal management and inflation-targeting being rendered a lot easier. There is bound to be some economic unease now as the price of oil fluctuates in what looks likely to be a range-bound market. A repeat of the huge damage caused by the last oil bull market, however, seems unlikely. Nonetheless, policymakers in Delhi will surely take a cautious stance given the extensive impact that oil prices have on the Indian economy.

Capital crisis on Delhi ,deteriorating air quality and degrade air quality level

Delhi's air quality deteriorates with unfailing regularity at this time of the year, with large swathes of north India in the grip of a suffocating smog, but the State governments that can make it easier for millions to breathe do not act with any sense of urgency. That it has turned into a public health emergency in the capital, with the air quality index touching extremely hazardous levels in some parts, necessitating the closure of primary schools, has further lowered its standing. It is unconscionable for governments, through indifference and inaction, to subject citizens to such toxic air, and cause extreme suffering especially among people with respiratory ailments and impaired lung function. The smog that envelops the region is exacerbated by the burning of biomass in Punjab and Haryana, and the winter atmosphere is marked by weak ventilation. An analysis of local sources by IIT Kanpur last year pointed to construction dust, vehicular pollution, and domestic and industrial emissions as other major factors. Clearly the burden of such chronic problems has outweighed the benifits confeterred by measure such as the ban on Deepawali crackers, and in the past, the shift to compressed natural gas for commercial vehicles and restricting car use to odd and even number plates on alternate days. A comprehensive solution demands that the  Govt of Delhi, Punjab, haryana and Uttar Pradesh, assisted by the Centre, address farm residue burning and constuction dust .

The post- monsoon -- as opposed to pre-monsoon-- burning of rice and wheat residue releases maximum aerosols that contribute to the volume of PM 2.5 ,which gets embedded in the lungs. Automation of farm operations leaves root-bound crop waste after machine harvesting, running to millions of tonnes, requiring a solution of scale.
Sustainable residue removal cannot be achieved by the farmerss alone, and require s help from the state machinery. Here Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should be commended for his initiative to discuss the modalities of joint action with the Punjab and Haryana Govt. The national capital needs a major greening effort.
There is every reason to think that even the Ministry of Environment's orders issued in 2015 under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 to comprehensively green Delhi's road margins and open spaces were not pursued seriously. Shifting more of the city's travel to comfort .

Unpaved surfaces raise dust levels as in all Indian Cities, but civic agencies ignore the problem. There is every reason to think that even the Ministry Of Environment's orders issued to think that even the Ministry of Environment orders issued in 2015 under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) act 1981.
Shifting more of the city's travel to cofort.

Light interferometer gravitational- wave observatory

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory(LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool.^[1]Two large observatories were built in the United States with the aim of detecting gravitational waves by laserinterferometry. These can detect a change in the 4 km mirror spacing of less than a ten-thousandth the charge diameter of a proton, equivalent to measuring the distance to Proxima Centauri with an accuracy smaller than the width of a human hair.^[2]

The initial LIGO observatories were funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and were conceived, built, and are operated by Caltech and MIT.^[3][4] They collected data from 2002 to 2010 but no gravitational waves were detected.

The Advanced LIGO Project to enhance the original LIGO detectors began in 2008 and continues to be supported by the NSF, with important contributions from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Max Planck Society of Germany, and the Australian Research Council.^[5][6] The improved detectors began operation in 2015. The detection of gravitational waves was reported in 2016 by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC) and the Virgo Collaboration with the international participation of scientists from several universities and research institutions. Scientists involved in the project and the analysis of the data for gravitational-wave astronomy are organized by the LSC, which includes more than 1000 scientists worldwide,^[7][8][9] as well as 440,000 active Einstein@Home users as of December 2016.^[10]

LIGO is the largest and most ambitious project ever funded by the NSF.^[11][12]

As of August 2017, LIGO has made five detections of gravitational waves, the first four of which were colliding black hole pairs. The fifth detected event, on August 17, 2017, was the first detection of a collision of two neutron stars, which simultaneously produced optical signals detectable by conventional telescopes

Gravitational Wave in according to Albert Einstein

Gravitational wave is  ripple in the curvature iof spacetime that are generated in certain gravitation intersections and propagate as waves outward from their source at the speed of light Predicted in 1916 by Albert Einstein on the basis of his theory of general relativity, gravitational waves transport energy as grvitational radiation a form of radiant energy similar to electromagnetic radiation. Newton's law of universal gravitation, part of classical mechanics, does not provide for their existance, since that law is predicted on the assumtion that physical intractions propagate at infinite speed -- showing one of the ways the methods of classicasl physics are unable to explain phenomenon associate with relativity.

Gravitational- wave astronomy id s brsnch of observational astronomy tahat uuses gravitational constant .

On NTPC boiler blast: Unsafe boilers

The boiler  boiler explosion at NTPC’s Unchahar power plant in Rae Bareli underscores the importance of inspections and protocols for hazardous industrial operations. It has cost at least 32 lives and caused severe injuries to scores of personnel. High pressure boilers are hazardous pieces of equipment, which are strictly regulated with special laws. In fact, the basic objective of the Indian Boilers Act, 1923 is to ensure the safety of life and protection of property by mandating uniform standards in the quality and upkeep of these units. That the Uttar Pradesh government failed miserably in meeting this objective is evident from the accident at the public sector facility. Quite clearly, the accident was entirely preventable because boilers are designed to provide warnings as soon as dangerous pressure builds up and trigger automatic safety devices at a critical point. They should undergo periodic inspections to ensure that all these features are working and intact. At the Unchahar plant, the blocking of an outlet for waste gases by ash, unusual in a fairly new boiler, calls for an inquiry into the quality of the equipment and the fuel used. Ideally, these aspects should be investigated by an external agency and not the NTPC.

Industrial regulation has, unfortunately, come to be viewed as a barrier to ease of doing business in India. This is a result of inefficiency and corruption and the typical response of governments has been to relax crucial safety checks. Self-certification and third-party certification of facilities has received support from policymakers even in the case of boilers. Soon after assuming office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi likened maintenance of boilers to that of a privately owned car, where owners should be trusted to do their best because they understand the need for safety in its operation. But the two are not comparable. The Unchahar accident shows it is in everyone’s interest to have a transparent regulatory mechanism for hazardous industrial activity. The safety and welfare of workers and the public at large cannot be compromised. A rigorous approach to accident reporting must become part of the process if the weak spots in regulation are to be addressed. National Crime Records Bureau data provide insights into casualties caused by industrial boiler and gas cylinder explosions — there were 61 deaths in 2015 — and the rise in the number of accidents over the previous year points to the need for strict enforcement of safety protocols. The loss suffered by families of workers due to an accident that could have been averted cannot be compensated just financially. It must be the Centre’s endeavour to see that measures taken to make it easy to do business do not translate into lack of regulation, and putting lives at risk. Administrative reform can eliminate the corruption of inspector raj and achieve transparent regulation, while keeping the workplace safe

The boiler  boiler explosion at NTPC’s Unchahar power plant in Rae Bareli underscores the importance of inspections and protocols for hazardous industrial operations. It has cost at least 32 lives and caused severe injuries to scores of personnel. High pressure boilers are hazardous pieces of equipment, which are strictly regulated with special laws. In fact, the basic objective of the Indian Boilers Act, 1923 is to ensure the safety of life and protection of property by mandating uniform standards in the quality and upkeep of these units. That the Uttar Pradesh government failed miserably in meeting this objective is evident from the accident at the public sector facility. Quite clearly, the accident was entirely preventable because boilers are designed to provide warnings as soon as dangerous pressure builds up and trigger automatic safety devices at a critical point. They should undergo periodic inspections to ensure that all these features are working and intact. At the Unchahar plant, the blocking of an outlet for waste gases by ash, unusual in a fairly new boiler, calls for an inquiry into the quality of the equipment and the fuel used. Ideally, these aspects should be investigated by an external agency and not the NTPC.

Change, yet continuity: on Jerome Powell's nomination as US Fed Chief

President Donald Trump's decision to name Federal Reserve board Governor  Jerome Powell   as his pick to head the central bank signals that the businessman-turned-politician has plumped for continuity even as he ushers in change. For a President whose first nine months in office have been marked by a succession of signature appointments to key posts ranging from a Supreme Court Justice to heads of federal regulatory bodies, the investment banker suggests that Mr. trump's business instrict won.Mr Powell , who was appointed by instict won. Mr Powell, who was appointed by President barak Obama as Fed Governor in 2012 and worked alongside the incumbent Chair and worked alongside the incumbent Chair,janet Yellen, over the past five years,will represent the policy continuity in the monetary management of the world's largest economy.After all ,with the economic engine ticking over nicely and creationg jobs,and the markets buoyant, there was little reason for Mr. Trump to run the risk of choosing someone who may have altered the calibrated field approach the fed had adopted in overseeing the recovery from the global financial crisi.Two of the other short-listed probables -- Kevin Warsh and John Taylor -- had both been served in the Fed's actions.

That Mr. Powell had served in the Treasery administration means that he will ,in all likehoodf, receive bipartisan backing in the Senate.
Emerging markets ,including India,C

Central Government launched the Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana, an annual scholarship for students collecting stamps

4 November 2017 Current Affairs: The central government launched the Deen Dayal SPARSH (Scholarship for Promotion of Aptitude and Research in Stamps as a Hobby) Yojana, an annual scholarship to promote philately, the hobby of collecting and studying postage stamps.

Only students of Class 6 to Class 9 will be eligible for the scholarship.

The amount of scholarship will be Rs 6,000 per annum.

The scholarship will be provided to 920 students who have a good academic record and pursue philately.