CAG Girish Murmu reelected as external auditor of WHO for 4 year term (GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
Why in news?
- Comptroller and Auditor General of India Girish Chandra Murmu was overwhelmingly reelected as the external auditor of the World Health Organization (WHO) for a four-year term from 2024 to 2027.
- CAG is already holding this position in WHO for a four-year term from 2019 to 2023.
Details:
- The present election was held in the 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva, where the CAG of India was re-elected with an overwhelming majority (114 out of 156 votes) in the first round of voting itself.
Other Chairs held by CAG:
- This is the second major international audit assignment for the CAG this year following his selection for the post of external auditor (2024-2027) of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva in March 2023.
- Besides WHO, the CAG is currently the external auditor of the Food and Agriculture Organization (2020-2025), the International Atomic Energy Agency (2022-2027)and the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (2021-2023).
- CAG is a Member of the United Nations Panel of External Auditors. He is also a member of the Governing Boards of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and ASOSAI.
- CAG chairs the INTOSAI Knowledge Sharing Committee, its Working Group on IT Audit, and the Compliance Audit Sub-Committee.
Indian scientists discover alien planet 13 times bigger than Jupiter
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Why in news?
- Recently, an international team of scientists of the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad has discovered the densest alien planet, which is 13 times bigger than Jupiter.
- This is the third exoplanet to have been discovered from India, and by the PRL scientists.
Details:
- The team, including scientists from India, Germany, Switzerland, and the USA, used the indigenous PRL Advanced Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search spectrograph (PARAS) at the Gurushikhar Observatory in Mt. Abu to measure the mass of the planet precisely. The exoplanet has a mass of 14 g/cm3.
- The newly discovered planet orbits a star called TOI4603 or HD 245134, and NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) had initially declared the star as a possible candidate to host a secondary body of unknown nature.
- The body has now been confirmed to be a planet and has been named TOI 4603b or HD 245134b.
Key Highlights:
- The planet is located 731 light years away from Earth and orbits its star every 7.24 days. The planet is raging hot with a temperature of 1396 degrees Celsius.
- These planets' masses range from 11 to 16 times the mass of Jupiter and fewer than five exoplanets are currently known in this mass range so far.
- While the search for a life form beyond Earth continues, scientists have discovered over 5000 exoplanets outside the solar system that are of different natures, properties, and atmospheres.
- The newly discovered exoplanet TOI 4603b is one of the most massive and densest giant planets that orbit very close to its host star at a distance less than 1/10th the distance between our Sun and Earth.
Way Forward:
- The detection of such systems provides valuable insights into the formation, migration, and evolution mechanisms of massive exoplanets.
