Grand Challenges Annual Meeting 2020
- While delivering the keynote speech at the inaugural function of 16th Grand Challenges Annual Meeting 2020, the Prime Minister said the future will be shaped by societies that invest in science and innovation.
- The three-day programme will bring together policymakers and scientific leaders, calling for deepened scientific collaborations in solving global health problems, with special focus on coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
- The Grand Challenges Annual Meeting, for the last 15 years, has fostered international innovation collaborations to address the biggest challenges in health and development.
- The Grand Challenges Annual Meeting 2020 co-hosted by the
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
- Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology,
- the Indian Council of Medical Research and NITI Aayog,
- along with the Grand Challenges Canada, the United States Agency for International Development and Wellcome.
- The Grand Challenges India was set up as a partnership of the Department of Biotechnology and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2012, and Wellcome also joined the partnership.
- It works across a range of health and developmental priorities ranging from agriculture, nutrition, sanitation, maternal and child health to infectious diseases.
PIB
India-Oman Joint Commission
- The 9th Session of the India-Oman Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) was held.
- The meeting was attended by representatives of various government departments/ministries from both sides.
- Both sides reviewed the recent developments in trade and investment ties and reaffirmed their commitment to expand the bilateral trade and encourage businesses
- to invest in each other’s country in order to realize the untapped potential in the commercial and economic relationship.
- They both agreed to cooperate in areas of Agriculture & Food Security, Standards & Metrology, Tourism, Information Technology, Health & Pharmaceuticals, MSMEs, Space, Civil Aviation, Energy including renewable energy, Culture, Mining, and Higher Education.
- Also reviewed the progress of prospective Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) in the field of mining, standards and metrology, financial intelligence, cultural exchange, and information technology, and agreed to conclude them expeditiously.
- Also agreed to expedite their internal procedures for signing and ratification of the Protocol amending India-Oman Double Taxation Agreement and conclusion of the India-Oman Bilateral Investment Treaty.
- Indian side appreciated Oman for signing and ratification of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Framework Agreement.
- The close bilateral ties, including vibrant trade and cultural exchanges, have now expanded into a strategic partnership based on trust and mutual respect.
- Increasing bilateral trade and investment between the two countries is a key element of the strategic partnership. India is among Oman’s top trading partners.
- For Oman, India was the 3rd largest source for its imports and 3rd largest market for its non-oil exports.
- Indian firms have invested heavily in Oman in various sectors like iron and steel, cement, fertilizers, textile, cables, chemicals, automotive, etc.
PIB
Australia Returns to the Malabar Exercise
- Recently, the Indian Ministry of Defense issued a release on the upcoming trilateral India-U.S.-Japan Malabar exercises, noting that this year’s iteration would include Australia.
- The exercise will be held in the Indian Ocean.
- The decision to add Australia will make the upcoming iteration of Malabar the first exercise to include all four Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or “Quad,” states since the grouping’s reconvening in November 2017 after a decade-long hiatus.
- Royal Australian Navy last participated in Malabar 07-02 in September 2007; that iteration of the exercises also included a small Singaporean contingent.
- That exercise also coincided with the original convening of the Quad.
- The grouping was later disbanded after Chinese opposition.
- Australia’s inclusion in the drills comes at a time of heightened tensions between China and the Quad states.
- Notably, India, which viewed Canberra’s participation in Malabar with a certain degree of caution, has shed its previous hesitations amid a monthslong border standoff with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in Eastern Ladakh this year.
- The expansion of Malabar is likely to further the integration of the Quad and reflects positive trends in India-Australia security cooperation.
- Having started as bilateral U.S.-India naval exercise in 1992, Malabar was formally trilateralized in 2015 to include the participation of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on a permanent basis.
- The decision to add Japan came seven years after India and Japan signed a 2008 joint declaration on security cooperation, reflecting growing convergence between New Delhi and Tokyo.
- Australia’s return to Malabar underscores the Quad’s expanding agenda in its post-2017 incarnation and will no doubt be closely watched in China.
- This year’s Malabar will likely have the effect of raising expectations for the Quad going forward.
Malabar Exercise
- Earlier, the annual Malabar Exercise has been conducted off the coast of Guam in the Philippine Sea in 2018 and off the coast of Japan in 2019.
- This year it is expected to be held in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
- This year, the exercise has been planned on a ‘non-contact – at sea’
- The exercise will strengthen the coordination between the Navies of the participating countries.
- The participants of Exercise Malabar 2020 will engage to enhance safety and security in the maritime domain.
- They collectively support free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and remain committed to a rules-based international order.
THE DIPLOMAT
IFSCA releases framework for regulatory sandbox
- The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) introduced a framework for regulatory sandbox enabling entities regulated by the watchdog
- to test their new solutions in a live environment and on a limited set of real customers with necessary safeguards.
- Under this sandbox framework, entities operating in the capital market, banking, insurance and financial services space shall be granted certain facilities and flexibilities to experiment with innovative financial technology (fintech) solutions in a live environment with a limited set of real customers for a limited timeframe.
- These features shall be fortified with necessary safeguards for investor protection and risk mitigation, and the regulatory sandbox will operate within the IFSC located at GIFT City.
- The IFSCA was established on April 27 this year with head office in Gandhinagar.
- In December 2019, Parliament passed a Bill to set up a unified authority for regulating all financial activities at the IFSCs in the country.
- IFSCA, with an objective to develop a world-class fintech hub at the IFSC located at GIFT-City in Gandhinagar (Gujarat), endeavours to encourage the promotion of fintech initiatives across the spectrum of banking, insurance, securities and fund management.
- All entities (regulated as well as unregulated) operating in the capital market, banking, insurance and pension sectors as well as individuals and start-ups from India and FATF-compliant jurisdictions, shall be eligible for participation in the regulatory sandbox.
- As an additional steps towards creating an innovation-centric ecosystem in the IFSC, IFSCA has proposed the creation of an ‘Innovation Sandbox’.
- It will be a testing environment where fintech firms can test their solutions in isolation from the live market, based on market-related data made available by the market infrastructure institutions (MIIs) operating in the IFSC.
- The Innovation Sandbox will be managed and facilitated by the MIIs operating within the IFSC.
ET
ICT Grand Challenge
- National Jal Jeevan Mission in partnership with Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) had launched an ICT Grand Challenge
- to create innovative, modular, and cost-effective solution to develop a ‘Smart Water Supply Measurement and Monitoring System’ to be deployed at the village level.
- The ambitious mission focuses on service delivery rather than mere creation of infrastructure.
- This kind of technological challenge offers a great opportunity to ensure long-term sustainability of water supply systems in rural areas.
- This grand challenge will harness the vibrant IoT eco-systems of India for creating smart rural water supply eco-system to measure and monitor the service delivery of the water supply in rural areas.
- This challenge will provide opportunity to work for casue of Jal Jeevan Mission and to assure potable water supply through functional household tap connection to every rural household of the country.
- The successful developers will be given an opportunity to join the MeitYsupported incubator for further nurturing of the solution.
- Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is being implemented in partnership with States for providing Functional Household Tap Water Connection (FHTC) to every rural household by 2024.
- The programme focuses on service delivery at the household level, i.e. water supply regularly in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality, on long-term basis.
- This necessitates the use of modern technology in systematic monitoring of the programme and to capture service delivery data automatically for ensuring the quality of services.
- Digitisation of water supply infrastructure has the potential to solve some of the biggest societal problems facing the nation.
Asafoetida (Heeng) cultivation in Indian Himalayan region
- Asafoetida, or heeng, is a common ingredient in most Indian kitchens –– so much so that the country imports Rs 600 crore worth of this pungent flavoured herb every year.
- Now, scientists at CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource, Palampur (IHBT), are on a mission to grow heeng in the Indian Himalayas.
- The first sapling has been planted in Himachal Pradesh’s Kwaring village in Lahaul valley last week.
What is asafoetida and where is it commonly cultivated?
- Ferula asafoetida is a herbaceous plant of the umbelliferae family.
- It is a perennial plant whose oleo gum resin is extracted from its thick roots and rhizome.
- The plant stores most of its nutrients inside its deep fleshy roots.
- Asafoetida is endemic to Iran and Afghanistan, the main global suppliers. It thrives in dry and cold desert conditions.
- While it is very popular in India, some European countries too use it for its medicinal properties.
How is India entering into heeng cultivation?
- Heeng is not cultivated in India.
- Government data states that India imports about 1,200 tonnes of raw heeng worth Rs 600 crore from Iran, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
- Between 1963 and 1989, India once attempted to procure asafoetida seeds, the ICAR – National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi stated. However, there are no published results of the same.
- In 2017, IHBT approached NBPGR with an experimental project idea to cultivate heeng in the Indian Himalayas.
- The challenge for the scientists here was that heeng seeds remain under a prolonged dormant phase and the rate of seed germination is just one per cent.
- To tackle this dormancy, which according to scientists is part of the plant’s adaptation technique to survive in desert conditions, they subjected the seeds to some special chemical treatments.
- In June this year, the CSIR institute inked an MoU with the agriculture ministry of Himachal Pradesh.
Which regions offer favourable conditions for asafoetida cultivation in India?
- The first asafoetida sapling, grown at IHBT’s Centre for High Altitude Biology, was planted by IHBT director in Kwaring village of Lahaul valley on October 15.
- Asafoetida best grows in dry and cold conditions.
- The plant can withstand a maximum temperature between 35 and 40 degree, whereas during winters, it can survive in temperatures up to minus 4 degree.
- During extreme weather, the plant can get dormant,
- Regions with sandy soil, very little moisture and annual rainfall of not more than 200mm are considered conducive for heeng cultivation in India.
What are some of the benefits of asafoetida?
- Published studies list out a range of medicinal properties of heeng, including relief for digestive, spasmodic and stomach disorders, asthma and bronchitis.
- The herb is commonly used to help with painful or excessive bleeding during menstruation and pre-mature labour.
- Being an anti-flatulent, the herb is fed to new mothers.
IE
Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Center
- To address societal challenges through digital innovation, NITI Aayog announced the establishment of a Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Center (CIC) with Amazon Web Services (AWS)—the first of its kind in India.
- This CIC is part ofthe AWS CIC Global Program, which provides an opportunity for government agencies, non-profits, and educational institutions, to come together on pressing challenges, apply design thinking, test new ideas, and access the technology expertise of AWS.
- The NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Center will enable government stakeholders, start-ups, and local organizations in India to innovate and create new approaches to solving problems.
- Through the AWS CIC program, we now have the opportunity to experiment with the latest technology, and access world-class expertise that will help us advance citizen services, and better understand how frontier technologies can address the unique needs of our country.
- The NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies CICjoins a global network ofAWS public sector cloud innovation centers across Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, South Korea, and United States.
PIB
European Union’s Natural Habitats
- More than 80% of the European Union’s natural habitats are in poor or bad condition and more must be done to protect them, the European Environment Agency (EEA) warned in a report.
- The report, which covers the period 2013-2018, shows a deterioration from the 2007-2012 period when 77% of natural habitats were in “unfavourable”
- Common farmland species such as the skylark, and habitats such as wet heaths, are declining across the continent.
- Habitats and species are facing numerous pressures, including intensive agriculture, urban sprawl — coupled with tourism and recreation — unsustainable forestry activities, and pollution, among others.
- Climate change, with increasing drought and decreasing rainfall, also poses a challenge.
- In the six-year study, the EAA registered over 67,000 types of human activities that harmed the environment in the 28 EU member states, including Britain.
- Less than half of bird species in the EU, 47%, have a “good” conservation status, 5% points fewer than in the previous 2007-2012 reporting period.
- Habitats important to pollinators are another area of concern, as they are crucial to the planet’s biodiversity.
- Their conservation status has deteriorated more than others.
- The number of animal species whose conservation status was “good” was 27 %, which, while low, was 4% points higher than in the previous study.
- The areas protected by Natura 2000 covered 18% of EU land, unchanged from 2012, and 10% of marine areas, up by 4% points.
- Danish environmental group Noah, a member of the “Friends of the Earth” umbrella organisation, said however that this was not enough.
- At least 30% of land and 30% of marine areas in the EU should be protected by law, and environmental corridors should be made a part of a real trans-European nature network
THE HINDU
Govt Enhances Expenditure Limit Of Candidates
- The poll spending limit for candidates contesting Lok Sabha and assembly elections has been enhanced by 10% based on the recommendation of the Election Commission
- that contestants be allowed to spend more on campaigning keeping in mind difficulties they may face due to COVID-19 curbs.
- The hike in expenditure limit will help candidates contesting Bihar assembly poll as well as bypolls to one Lok Sabha and 59 assembly seats.
- Over a month ago, the Election Commission had recommended a 10% hike in expenditure for all elections to be held during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The notification issued by the Law Ministry said the maximum expenditure a candidate can incur for campaigning in Lok Sabha polls is now ₹77 lakh. It was so far ₹70 lakh.
- For assemblies, it has been hiked from ₹28 lakh to ₹8 lakh.
- The maximum expenditure limit for candidates to spend for their campaigning varies from State to State.
- The notification, which amended the Conduct of Elections Rules, does not mention that the limit has been hiked keeping in mind the pandemic and whether it is limited for polls being held amid COVID-19.
- The amended rules, the notification said, “Shall come into force on the date of their publication in the official Gazette and shall remain in force till such date as may be notified by the Central Government.”
THE HINDU
Huge cat found etched into desert among Nazca Lines in Peru
- The dun sands of southern Peru, etched centuries ago with geoglyphs of a hummingbird, a monkey, an orca – and a figure some would dearly love to believe is an astronaut – have now revealed the form of an enormous cat lounging across a desert hillside.
- The feline Nazca line, dated to between 200 BC and 100 BC, emerged during work to improve access to one of the hills that provides a natural vantage point from which many of the designs can be seen.
- A Unesco world heritage site since 1994, the Nazca Lines, which are made up of hundreds of geometric and zoomorphic images, were created by removing rocks and earth to reveal the contrasting materials below.
- Between 80 and 100 new figures had emerged over recent years in the Nazca and Palpa valleys, all of which predated the Nazca culture (AD200-700).
- These are smaller in size, drawn on to hillsides, and clearly belong to an earlier tradition.
- The archaeologist said the cat had been put out during the late Paracas era, which ran from 500BC to AD200.
THE GUARDIAN
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Brilife
- Israel has named its COVID-19 vaccine candidate ‘Brilife’ and its human trials will begin by October-end.
- The prospective vaccine is being developed by the Israel Institute of Biological Research (IIBR) that was established in 1952 as part of the Israel Defence Forces’ Science Corps, and later became a civilian organisation.
- ‘Brilife’ is a combination of the Hebrew word “Bri” (health) and “il” (the internet country code for Israel) and “life”.
- The IIBR is technically under the supervision of the Prime Minister’s Office, but works in close communication with the defence ministry.
THE HINDU
Multi-modal Logistics Park
- Union Minister Nitin Gadkari lay the foundation stone for India’s first multi-modal logistics park in Assam.
- The multi-modal logistic park will be developed under the ambitious Bharatmala Pariyojna.
- The Rs 693.97 crore park at Bongaigaon district will provide direct connectivity through air, road, rail and waterways to the people.
- The fund for the multimodal logistics park would be spent in 3 components – road and railway connectivity as well as building and infrastructure work.
AIR
First SCO Startup Forum
- The first-ever SCO Startup Forum will be launched on 27th October 2020 ahead of the SCO trade ministers meeting on 28th October.
- The forum will lay the foundation for multilateral cooperation and engagement among the SCO Member States to develop and hone their startup ecosystems, collectively.
- Innovation and Startups will be the key focus area of SCO Heads of Government meeting on 30th November 2020 to be hosted by India.
- The Forum shall identify areas of cooperation by launching multiple entrepreneurial activities like
- startup showcase through a dedicated virtual platform, mobilizing capital for startups, sharing of best practices, procuring social innovations, multilateral incubator programs and knowledge exchange workshops etc.
- It will aid to understand the cultural and economic features of the startup ecosystem in the SCO Member States.
- India is currently the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world with over 35,000 startups, close to 25% of which are core technology startups operating in areas of AI, Robotics, Cloud Computing, IoT, Digital Health, Financial & Education Technology.
- The ‘Startup India’ has launched 10 bilateral bridges since its inception and has helped many technology-based startups to expand their businesses to global markets.
DD NEWS
Bangladesh’s economic rise
- The International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook published last week has triggered much outrage in India.
- The provocation was the IMF’s prediction that Bangladesh’s per capita GDP will overtake that of India this year.
Five key implications of Bangladesh’s economic success.
- First, rapid and sustained economic growth in Bangladesh has begun to alter the world’s mental maps of the subcontinent.
- Over the last five decades and more, South Asia, for most purposes, has meant India and Pakistan. The economic rise of Bangladesh is changing some of that.
- The second implication is about the changing economic weights of Bangladesh and Pakistan in South Asia. A decade ago, Pakistan’s economy was $60 billion larger than Bangladesh. Today, Bangladesh’s weight is bigger than Pakistan by the same margin. A US dollar today gets you 85 Bangladeshi taka and 162 Pakistani rupees.
- Third, Bangladesh’s economic growth can accelerate regional integration in the eastern subcontinent. Instead of merely praying for the revival of Saarc, Delhi could usefully focus on promoting regionalism among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal.
- Fourth, the economic success of Bangladesh is drawing attention from a range of countries in East Asia, including China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. The US, which traditionally focused on India and Pakistan, has woken up to the possibilities in Bangladesh.
- Finally, the economic rise of Bangladesh could boost India’s national plans to accelerate the development of its eastern and north-eastern states. Consider this: Bangladesh’s economy is now one-and-a-half times as large as that of West Bengal; better integration between the two would provide a huge boost for eastern India. So would connectivity between India’s landlocked Northeast and Bangladesh.
IE
How Fertiliser Subsidy Works
- The Centre is working on a plan to restrict the number of fertiliser bags that individual farmers can buy during any cropping season.
What is fertiliser subsidy?
- Farmers buy fertilisers at MRPs (maximum retail price) below their normal supply-and-demand-based market rates or what it costs to produce/import them.
- The MRP of neem-coated urea, for instance, is fixed by the government at Rs 5,922.22 per tonne,
- whereas its average cost-plus price payable to domestic manufacturers and importers comes to around Rs 17,000 and Rs 23,000 per tonne, respectively.
- The difference, which varies according to plant-wise production cost and import price, is footed by the Centre as subsidy.
How is the subsidy paid and who gets it?
- The subsidy goes to fertiliser companies, although its ultimate beneficiary is the farmer who pays MRPs less than the market-determined rates.
- Companies, until recently, were paid after their bagged material had been dispatched and received at a district’s railhead point or approved godown.
- From March 2018, a new so-called direct benefit transfer (DBT) system was introduced, wherein subsidy payment to the companies would happen only after actual sales to farmers by retailers.
- Each retailer, now has a point-of-sale (PoS) machine linked to the Department of Fertilisers’ e-Urvarak DBT portal.
- Anybody buying subsidised fertilisers is required to furnish his/her Aadhaar unique identity or Kisan Credit Card number.
- The quantities of the individual fertilisers purchased, along with the buyer’s name and biometric authentication, have to be captured on the PoS device.
- Only upon the sale getting registered on the e-Urvarak platform can a company claim subsidy, with these being processed on a weekly basis and payments remitted electronically to its bank account.
What was the new payment system’s underlying purpose?
- The main motive is to curb diversion.
- This is natural with any under-priced product, more so in urea, whose basic MRP (excluding taxes and neem-coating cost) has been raised by hardly 11% from Rs 4,830 to Rs 5,360 per tonne since April 2010.
- The same period — from when all other fertilisers were decontrolled — has seen the per-tonne MRP of DAP rise from Rs 9,350 to Rs 24,000, while similarly going up for MOP (Rs 4,455 to Rs 17,500) and ‘10:26:26’ (Rs 7,197 to Rs 23,500).
- Being super-subsidised, urea is always prone to diversion for non-agricultural use — as a binder by plywood/particle board makers, cheap protein source by animal feed manufacturers or adulterant by milk vendors — apart from being smuggled to Nepal and Bangladesh.
What is the next step being proposed?
- At present, the Centre is following a “no denial”
- Anybody, non-farmers included, can purchase any quantity of fertilisers through the PoS machines.
- While there is a limit of 100 bags that an individual can purchase at one time, it does not stop anyone from buying any number of times.
- One plan under discussion is to cap the total number of subsidised fertiliser bags that any person can buy during an entire kharif or rabi cropping season.
IE
Assam-Mizoram, and the other boundary issues in Northeast
- Over the last one week, residents of Assam and Mizoram have clashed twice over territory, injuring at least eight people and torching a few huts and small shops.
- It spotlights the long-standing inter-state boundary issues in the Northeast, particularly between Assam and the states that were carved out of it.
What were the recent clashes about?
- Recently, residents of Lailapur village in Assam’s Cachar district clashed with residents of localities near Vairengte in Mizoram’s Kolasib district.
- On October 9, a similar clash took place on the border of Karimganj (Assam) and Mamit (Mizoram) districts.
- And many such incidents.
What led to this?
- According to an agreement between governments of Assam and Mizoram some years ago, status quo should be maintained in no man’s land in the border area.
- However, people from Lailapur broke the status quo and allegedly constructed some temporary huts. People from Mizoram side went and set fire on them.
- In the October 9 incident, according to Mizoram officials, the land claimed by Assam is being cultivated for a long time by residents of Mizoram.
- Mizoram borders Assam’s Barak Valley; both border Bangladesh.
- Mizoram civil society groups blame “illegal Bangladeshis” (alleged migrants from Bangladesh) on the Assam side. Illegal Bangladeshis are creating all this trouble.
How complex is the boundary dispute?
- In the Northeast’s complex boundary equations, showdowns between Assam and Mizoram residents are less frequent than they are between, say, Assam and Nagaland residents.
- Nevertheless, the boundary between present-day Assam and Mizoram, 165 km long today, dates back to the colonial era, when Mizoram was known as Lushai Hills, a district of Assam.
- The dispute stems from a notification of 1875 that differentiated Lushai Hills from the plains of Cachar, and another of 1933 that demarcates a boundary between Lushai Hills and Manipur.
- Mizoram believes the boundary should be demarcated on the basis of the 1875 notification, which is derived from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) Act, 1873.
- Mizo leaders have argued in the past argued against the demarcation notified in 1933 because Mizo society was not consulted.
- MZP’s Vanlaltana said the Assam government follows the 1933 demarcation, and that was the point of conflict.
What are the other boundary issues in the Northeast?
- During British rule, Assam included present-day Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya besides Mizoram, which became separate state one by one.
- Today, Assam has boundary problems with each of them.
IE
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District Development Councils (DDC)
- The Centre on Saturday (October 17) amended the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, to facilitate the setting up of District Development Councils (DDC), the members of which will be directly elected by voters in the Union Territory.
What are DDCs and how will they be represented?
- The District Development Councils (DDCs) are set to become a new unit of governance in Jammu and Kashmir.
- A legislation to this effect was brought in by the Ministry of Home Affairs on October 16 through an amendment to the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989.
- This structure will include a DDC and a District Planning Committee (DPC).
- The J&K administration has also amended the J&K Panchayati Raj Rules, 1996, to provide for establishment of elected District Development Councils in J&K.
- This system effectively replaces the District Planning and Development Boards in all districts, and will prepare and approve district plans and capital expenditure.
- Their key feature, however, is that the DDCs will have elected representatives from each district.
- Their number has been specified at 14 elected members per district representing its rural areas, alongside the Members of Legislative Assembly chairpersons of all Block Development Councils within the district.
- The term of the DDC will be five years, and the electoral process will allow for reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women.
- The Additional District Development Commissioner (or the Additional DC) of the district shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the District Development Council.
- The council, as stated in the Act, will hold at least four “general meetings” in a year, one in each quarter.
IE
Nasa and Nokia to install 4G on lunar surface
- Equipment maker Nokia has announced its expansion into a new market, winning a deal to install the first cellular network on the moon.
- The Finnish equipment manufacturer said it was selected by Nasa to deploy an “ultra-compact, low-power, space-hardened” wireless 4G network on the lunar surface, as part of the US space agency’s plan to establish a long-term human presence on the moon by 2030.
- The $14.1m contract, awarded to Nokia’s US subsidiary, is part of Nasa’s Artemis programme which aims to send the first woman, and next man, to the moon by 2024.
- The astronauts will begin carrying out detailed experiments and explorations which the agency hopes will help it develop its first human mission to Mars.
- Nokia’s network equipment will be installed remotely on the moon’s surface using a lunar hopper built by Intuitive Machines in late 2022.
What is the Artemis program?
- With the Artemis program, NASA wishes to demonstrate new technologies, capabilities and business approaches that will ultimately be needed for the future exploration of Mars.
- he program is divided into three parts, the first called Artemis I is most likely to be launched next year and involves an uncrewed flight to test the SLS and Orion spacecraft.
- Artemis II will be the first crewed flight test and is targetted for 2023.
- Artemis III will land astronauts on the Moon’s South Pole in 2024.
THE GUARDIAN
Bottle-fed babies swallow millions of microplastics a day
- Bottle-fed babies are swallowing millions of microplastic particles a day, according to research described as a “milestone” in the understanding of human exposure to tiny plastics.
- Scientists found that the recommended high-temperature process for sterilising plastic bottles and preparing formula milk caused bottles to shed millions of microplastics and trillions of even smaller nanoplastics.
- The polypropylene bottles tested make up 82% of the world market, with glass bottles being the main alternative.
- Polypropylene is one of the most commonly used plastics and preliminary tests by the scientists found kettles and food containers also produced millions of microplastics per litre of liquid.
- Microplastics in the environment were already known to contaminate human food and drink, but the study shows that food preparation in plastic containers can lead to exposure thousands of times higher.
- The health impacts are unknown and the scientists say there is an “urgent need” to assess the issue, particularly for infants.
- The team has also produced sterilisation guidelines to reduce microplastic exposure.
- Microplastics from plastic waste have polluted the entire planet, from Arctic snow and Alpine soils to the deepest oceans.
- The team followed international sterilisation guidelines to make baby formula in 10 different feeding bottles. This involves sterilising with 95C (203F) water, then shaking the formula powder with 70C water in the bottle.
- The US, Australia and European countries had the highest levels – more than 2m particles per day, due to higher levels of bottle feeding.
- Other solutions include using glass bottles, though these are heavier for babies to hold and are breakable, and developing tough new coatings to prevent plastics shedding particles.
THE GUARDIAN
Heavy metals on urban beaches a potential threat
- A study on the health of urbanised tourist beaches along the southeastern coastline of India has revealed that many of these popular beaches are now facing the threat of different types of environmental pollution, of which,
- heavy metal pollution from both natural and anthropogenic sources is emerging as one of the potential threats.
- They analysed sediment samples for concentrations of heavy metals like iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni) and, lead (Pb).
- Though the concentration level of these heavy metals was found to be under the safe limit defined by the Bureau of Indian Standards,
- the researchers expressed their concern that long term exposure to these heavy metals would have an adverse effect on the marine biota.
- The research team suggested governmental intervention to strengthen and enforce stricter environmental laws to stop illegal anthropological activities to stop heavy metal intrusion into these beaches through a different type of wastewater seepage.
- The term ‘heavy metals’ usually refers to naturally occurring elements with a density greater than 5.0 g cm-3.
- Toxic heavy metals such as nickel (Ni), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn) have the potential to cause serious marine ecosystem problems due to their persistent nature in the environment, toxicity and ability to enter the food chain.
- When the heavy metals in water enter aquatic organisms, they are not easily decomposed and not eliminated from the bodies of the aquatic animals.
- They accumulate in the different organs of the aquatic animals like the liver, spleen, kidney, and viscera, etc.
- Heavy metal pollution of aquatic environment can be detrimental to human health also as people consuming contaminated seafoods would be suffering from the same ill effects of toxic heavy metals.
- This can lead to the damage of the multiple organs causing diseases or even death.
- In the study conducted by the scientists in Tamil Nadu covering three prominent urban beaches, it was found that Ni, Co, Zn, Mn, Cu, and Cd posed a lower ecological risk than Pb (Lead) at all the three locations.
- Pb was found to be present in the sediments with a moderate level of ecological risk.
- For example, the results of the present study confirmed that arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg) and zinc (Zn) are the five metals that entered the marine environment of these beaches from agricultural activity.
- However, other heavy metals such as nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), and lead (Pb) found in the sediments of these beaches are primarily from industrial wastes through river mouths.
- Iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and cobalt (Co) found in the beach sediments are however believed to be from natural weathering processes with mild anthropogenic influence.
- The use of leaded petrol and chromic anti-biofilling paints in beach environments is believed to be mildly influencing the increase in lead (Pb).
DTE
Aldabra’s Coral Reefs Recovered Faster From Bleaching
- Climate change is the greatest threat to coral reef ecosystems. Ocean warming and associated coral bleaching are one of the foremost causes of coral loss across the world.
- Record-breaking high ocean temperatures, which occurred between 2014 and 2017, resulted in a prolonged and widespread coral bleaching, with the hottest temperature recorded (36.3 degrees Celsius) in early April 2016.
- Coral reefs in the lagoon of the Seychelles’ Aldabra atoll, however, recovered faster after the 2015-2016 bleaching event due to tolerance to heat stress.
- Bleaching is a process where corals lose their vivid colour and turn white.
- This happens when the zooxanthellae algae, which is in a symbiotic relationship with corals and provide them with food, die due to ocean warming and acidification.
- If bleaching continues for an extended period of time, corals eventually die.
- Coral bleaching and mortality exacerbated by climate change are one of the biggest threats to oceanic biodiversity.
- Aldabra — one of the world’s largest atolls — is a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site in Seychelles and located in the Indian Ocean.
- With severe bleaching events expected to occur annually on 90 per cent of the world’s coral reefs by 2055, such research and long-term commitment to monitoring these valuable ecosystems is critical.
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