New Delhi, Dec 12: In a move aimed at making its examinations more accessible, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has introduced a ‘Centre of Choice’ facility for all Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD), ensuring that every such candidate is allotted the exam centre they prefer.

Announced in New Delhi on Friday, the decision follows a review of five years of centre-allotment data. The analysis showed that popular locations such as Delhi, Cuttack, Patna and Lucknow often reach capacity early, forcing PwBD candidates to shift to less convenient centres.

UPSC Chairman Ajay Kumar said the new policy would remove this hurdle.

“Certain centres hit their capacity limits very quickly due to high application volumes, which inadvertently puts PwBD candidates at a disadvantage. With this decision, every PwBD applicant will be guaranteed their preferred centre, ensuring maximum convenience while appearing for UPSC examinations,” he said.

To implement the reform, the Commission has devised a three-step mechanism: First, each centre’s normal capacity will be open to both PwBD and non-PwBD candidates, Once capacity is reached, non-PwBD candidates will no longer be able to select that centre, but PwBD candidates will still retain the option.

Finally, UPSC will arrange additional capacity as needed to ensure that no PwBD candidate is denied their centre of choice.

New insights into the hidden patterns of airflow over the Himalayas are now making this possible. However, the limited studies of vertical air movement in this region so far have relied on indirect balloon or satellite-based measurements, which cannot capture the long-term fine-scale variability of vertical air motion in the complex Himalayan terrain.

Scientists from Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), an autonomous research institute under the Department of Science & Technology (DST) at Nainital along with Space Physics Laboratory (SPL) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), at Thiruvananthapuram carried out the first direct and high-resolution measurements of vertical air motion during the Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM) months over the central Himalayas within the Asian Summer Monsoon Anticyclone (ASMA) region.

For this they utilized long-term observation data from the indigenously developed Stratosphere-Troposphere (ST) radar located at ARIES, Nainital, in the central Himalayas. This radar helped them ‘see’ the wind sensing the faintest vertical motions of air.

For two years the scientists pointed this radar upward, collecting thousands of hours of data as the radar-based measurements from this study filled a critical gap, providing the first continuous, precise, and high-resolution measurements of mean vertical air velocity as low as 5 cm s-1 over the Himalayas in all-weather conditions.

They were hunting for the vertical push and pull of wind inside the Asian Summer Monsoon Anticyclone, a giant swirling system that sits over the region every monsoon.

They identified a persistent downward- moving air between 10 and 11 km above Earth’s surface, a new feature that reveals a distinct region of descending motion in the upper troposphere during the monsoon months, indicating that vertical circulation within the Asian Summer Monsoon Anticyclone is more complex than previously understood, with alternating regions of rising and sinking air. The study also shows clear variations in vertical air movement in the lower and middle troposphere, while the steady upward air flow above 12 km stayed mostly unchanged.

Fig. Contour Frequency Altitude Diagrams showing how often different values of vertical velocity occur at each height for each month during clear-air conditions, based on the 2-year composite. The solid black lines indicate the 1%, 10%, and 25% occurrence levels. The panel on the far right displays the monthly mean vertical velocity profiles for June, July, August, September, and October.

These results provide new insights into how air moves vertically within the anticyclone, especially the slow, steady rise above 12 km and the “two-step” process that carries air from the lower troposphere to the stratosphere.

The research, published in, “Earth and Space Science”, by American Geophysical Union (AGU), hold immense potential for developing more accurate weather forecasts, strengthening early warning systems, and improving climate models that can protect agriculture, water resources, and human health.

Understanding the vertical motion within the Asian Summer Monsoon Anticyclone will also enhance assessments of pollutant and greenhouse gas transport, thereby contributing to improved air quality management and more effective climate change mitigation strategies.

New Delhi, Dec 12: A Delhi court on Friday remanded three doctors and a preacher who were arrested in connection with the November 10 Red Fort blast case to 12 days of judicial custody.

Another accused Dr Bilal Naseer Malla was also produced before Principal and Sessions Judge Anju Bajaj Chandna to authenticate his voice sample.

The four accused — Dr Muzammil Ganai, Dr Adeel Rather, Dr Shaheena Saeed and Maulvi Irfan Ahmed Wagay — were produced before the expiry of their four-day NIA custody granted on December 8.

Mediapersons were barred from covering the court proceedings, which were held under tight security in and around the Patiala House district court premises.

Till now, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has made eight arrests in the case, which is linked to a ‘white collar’ terror module busted by the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

Dr Bilal Naseer Malla, a resident of Baramulla district in Jammu and Kashmir, is the eighth accused arrested so far. The NIA team arrested the doctor from Delhi on December 9, calling him a key accused in the conspiracy.

“As per NIA investigations, Bilal had knowingly harboured the dead accused Umar Un Nabi by providing him logistical support. He is also accused of destruction of evidence related to the terrorist attack,” the agency stated earlier on December 9.

“The agency continues to pursue various leads in connection with the suicide bombing, and has been conducting searches across states in coordination with the respective police forces to identify and track the others involved in the gruesome attack,” the agency said in a statement earlier.

Dr Umar Un Nabi was driving the explosive-laden i20 car that detonated outside the Red Fort on November 10, killing 15 people and injuring several others.

PTI had earlier reported that the sophisticated terror module spearheaded by a group of doctors had been actively scouting for a suicide bomber since last year, with Umar being the alleged key planner.