News in Shorts: 27 May 2025

Land Uplift in South Africa

Context: According to a 2025 study published in the ‘Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth’, land in South Africa has been rising at 2 mm per year, amounting to 6 mm uplift between 2012 and 2020.

Key Findings of the Study

• Reason For Uplift: The uplift is not due to magma activity or seismic movement, but primarily due to loss of water mass during droughts.
• Mechanism: The loss of water during droughts may have caused the earth’s surface to bounce up as an elastic response when excess water (groundwater, soil moisture, surface water) was removed. 
  • The mass of water pressing down the Earth’s crust is reduced, resulting in upward lift of the crust.

About Uplift vs. Subsidence

• Land uplift: Occurs when surface water is lost, reducing the weight on the Earth’s crust. This causes the crust to rebound upward—an elastic response.
• Land subsidence: Occurs when groundwater is over-extracted, causing aquifers to dry out and collapse—a poro-elastic response.
• Whether uplift or subsidence dominates depends on the type of water loss (surface vs groundwater) and the local geological conditions.

PY-3 Offshore Cauvery Field

Context: The production from the PY-3 Field in the Cauvery Basin has been restarted by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Ltd. located offshore in the Cauvery Basin.

About the PY-3 Field in the Cauvery Basin

• The field was originally brought onstream in 1997.
• Closed: It was initially closed in 2009 for repairs, faced further delays due to disputes over contract extensions and cost sharing among stakeholders.
  • The field had been permanently shut since July 2011. 

About Cauvery Basin

• Cauvery Basin is a major river basin in southern India encompassing parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the union territory of Puducherry.
  • Cauvery River originates in the Brahmagiri range of the Western Ghats, Kodagu district of Karnataka.
• Evolution: Cauvery basin is a pericratonic rift basin formed during the fragmentation of Gondwana land.
• Area: The Cauvery Basin covers an area of approximately 85,626.23 sq km, which is roughly 2.7% of India’s total geographical area.
• Regional Divisions: The basin can be divided into three sections,
  • The Western Ghats region, the Mysore Plateau, and the fertile delta area.
• Hydrocarbon Potential: It has an established hydrocarbon potential resource base of 700 MMT.

BRICS Industry Ministers’ Meeting

Context: India participated in the 9th BRICS Industry Ministers’ Meeting held at the Itamaraty Palace, Brasília. 

• Theme: Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance.
• Members: The Industry Ministers and representatives from the BRICS countries participated in the meeting,
  • Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates
• Joint Declaration: It reaffirmed the collective commitment to fostering an open, fair, and resilient global environment, strengthening the multilateral system, and enhancing economic and social resilience amid rapid global transformations. 

More on News

• BRICS Startup Knowledge Hub: The initiative is launched by India under the aegis of the BRICS Start-Up Forum.
  • It is a dedicated platform for BRICS nations, aimed at enhancing cross-border collaboration and strengthening startup ecosystems across member countries.

Tianwen-2 Mission

Context: China is set to launch its first asteroid exploration mission, Tianwen-2, to survey and sample near – Earth asteroid called 469219 Kamo‘oalewa.

What is Kamo‘oalewa?

• It is a small asteroid discovered in 2016 by the Pan-STARRS 1 asteroid survey telescope on Haleakalā in Hawaii.
• It is part of a rare group called quasi-satellites, meaning it orbits the Sun but is influenced by Earth’s gravity.
  • Quasi-satellites are known to shift their orbits over time. 
• The asteroid appears to move alongside Earth due to its unique orbit.

Why is China Studying This Asteroid?

• Scientists want to learn how quasi-satellites form and move over time.
• Some researchers suggest that Kamo‘oalewa could be the first known asteroid composed of lunar material.
  • Exploring the asteroid could help prove the idea that the Moon was formed when the Earth collided with another small planet. 

How Will China Collect Samples?

• The mission will use two techniques to collect samples:
  1. Touch-and-go method:In this technique, the spacecraft hovers close to the surface of the asteroid while a robotic arm fires an object or burst of gas to knock fragments into a collection chamber.
  2. Anchor-and-attach method: Robotic arms will drill into the surface for deeper material collection.

Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS)

Context: The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has issued a high wave warning along several coastal regions due to expected sea disturbances. 

About Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS)

• It’s a unit of the Earth System Science Organization (ESSO).
• Established: as an autonomous body in 1999 under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
• Objective: To Generate Global Ocean Analysis data daily using mathematical models & observations for monsoon forecasting and oceanic research.

What is the Earth System Science Organization (ESSO)?

• ESSO is a virtual organisation for various research and service units. 
• Established: 2007
• Nodal ministry: Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India.
• Objective: Aims to study Earth’s processes and provide ocean information for resource exploration for socio economic benefits. 
• Major branches; Ocean Science & Technology, Atmospheric Science & Technology and Geosciences and Technology.

Period Poverty

Context: Amazon India launched the next phase of its women’s health initiative at the Singahalli Community Centre in Bengaluru.

About Period Poverty

• It refers to the lack of access to menstrual products, hygiene facilities, education, and awareness needed to manage menstruation safely and with dignity.
• Causes of Period Poverty
  • Menstrual products are expensive – Many girls and women cannot afford sanitary pads or tampons.
  • Lack of clean toilets and water – Without proper hygiene facilities, managing periods becomes very difficult.
  • Societal stigma and myths – In some places, people don’t talk openly about periods, leading to shame and misinformation.
  • Lack of education – Many girls don’t know much about menstruation before their first period, causing fear and confusion.

Dark Patterns

Context: Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and New & Renewable Energy to address consumer concerns regarding dark patterns in a meeting with major e-commerce platforms.

About Dark Patterns

• These are deceptive user interface designs that mislead or manipulate consumers into making unintended choices. 
• Coined by: Harry Brignull, a user experience (UX) designer, in 2010.
• Types: There are 13 prominent dark patterns in e-commerce including,
  • False Urgency, Basket Sneaking, Confirm Shaming, Forced action, Subscription trap, Interface interference, Bait and Switch, Drip Pricing, Disguised advertisement, Nagging, Trick question, Saas Billing, and Rogue Malwares.
• Need: These practices erode consumer trust, distort fair market dynamics, and pose a serious threat to the integrity of digital commerce.
• Government Initiative:
  • Comprehensive guidelines on the prevention of dark patterns were released recognizing 13 prominent dark patterns in e-commerce.
  • Dark Patterns Buster Hackathon 2023 in collaboration with IIT (BHU) to design technological solutions to detect and fight dark patterns.
  • On National Consumer Day 2024, the Department of Consumer Affairs launched three apps ie. Jago Grahak Jago, Jagriti, and Jagriti Dashboard