ENLIGHTENED MINDS_Inspiring Excellence

  National Hydrogen Energy Mission About the National Hydrogen Energy Mission: Focus on  generation of hydrogen from green power resources. To  link India’s growing renewable capacity with the hydrogen economy. India's ambitious goal of 175 GW by 2022 got an impetus in the 2021-22 budget which allocated Rs. 1500 crore for renewable energy development and NHM. The usage of hydrogen will not only help India in achieving its emission goals under the  Paris Agreement , but will also  reduce import dependency on fossil fuels. Hydrogen: Hydrogen is the  lightest  and  first element  on the  periodic table.  Since the  weight of hydrogen is less than air , it rises in the atmosphere and is therefore  rarely found in its pure form, H 2 . At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a nontoxic, nonmetallic, odorless, tasteless, colorless, and  highly combustible diatomic gas. Hydrogen fuel is a zero-emission fuel burned with oxygen. It can be  used in fuel cells or internal combustion

  Li-Fi What is Li-Fi? LiFi(Light Fidelity) is a high-speed wireless communication technology that uses visible light to transmit information. It has some similarities to existing WiFi technology, as well as some huge differences. WiFi and LiFi are similar because both technologies are wireless, but also very different, because unlike WiFi, which relies on radio waves, LiFi uses visible light communication (VLC) or infrared and near-UV spectrum waves. In other words, LiFi works by using visible light, like the light that is emitted by any regular lamp or bulb!. Working of Li-Fi Li-Fi is a Visible Light Communications (VLC) system. This means that it accommodates a photo-detector to receive light signals and a signal processing element to convert the data into ‘stream-able’ content. Unlike Wi-Fi, which uses radio waves, Li-Fi runs on visible light. Here, data is fed into an LED light bulb (with signal processing technology), it then sends data (embedded in its beam) at rapid speeds to t

  Hesaraghatta Lake and Grasslands The CM announced that a theme park will be established in Hesaraghatta  with private partnership to provide information and training with permanent exhibition and demonstration of native livestock, breeds of sheep/goats and poultry breeds Criticism of the move:  The recent announcement has raised many an eyebrow as it comes on the back of a big blow to conservation efforts for the grasslands during the recent meeting of the State Wildlife Board in January this year  The Chief Minister had shot down the proposal to declare it ‘Greater Hesaraghatta grasslands conservation reserve’. About Hesaraghatta Lake The Hesaraghatta lake bed and grasslands in the surrounding catchment area are considered an important reservoir of biodiversity  Hesaraghatta Lake is a freshwater man made reservoir  Formation:  It was created  in 1894 across the Arkavathi River  to meet the drinking water needs of Bengaluru city This lake was conceived by Sir K. Seshadri Iyer, the De

  Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) What is Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)? BOD refers to the amount of oxygen consumed by bacteria and other microorganisms while they decompose organic matter under aerobic (oxygen is present) conditions at a specified temperature. In other words, BOD is the amount of dissolved oxygen used by microorganisms in the biological process of metabolizing organic matter in water How BOD is helpful in measuring water pollution? The more organic matter there is (e.g., in sewage and polluted bodies of water), the greater the BOD; and the greater the BOD, the lower the amount of dissolved oxygen available for higher animals such as fishes. The BOD is therefore a reliable gauge of the organic pollution of a body of water.  The BOD value is most commonly expressed in milligrams of oxygen consumed per litre of sample during 5 days of incubation at 20 °C and is often used as a surrogate of the degree of organic pollution of water. Its reduction is used as a gauge of t

  Drinking water quality testing, monitoring & surveillance The Union Minister of Jal Shaki chairing a Conference of States/ UTs Ministers on Jal Jeevan Mission released the ‘Drinking water quality testing, monitoring & surveillance’  Drinking water quality testing, monitoring & surveillance-JJM Water testing:  It is important for monitoring the Operation of water supply, verification of the safety of drinking water, investigation of disease outbreaks, validation process and preventive measures. Water quality testing tools need to be used for deciding safety of drinking water: at the source; within a piped distribution system; or at the end of the consumer. Monitoring:  The drinking water quality will be monitored by the PHED/ RWS Department, i.e. supplier/ agency responsible/ mandate for water quality whereas the surveillance of water quality at grass roots will be responsibility of the GPs/ rural community. Funding:  Up to 2% of the allocation to States can be utilized fo

  Kisan Rail The railways has begun its Kisan Rail services to transport perishable goods. This will be the first such train, carrying vegetables and fruits, that would run between Maharashtra and Bihar. This is a step towards doubling the income of farmers by 2022 and fulfilling the Prime Minister’s promise made in the Union Budget The announcement regarding the “Kisan Rail” was made in the current year’s Budget, which envisaged setting up of the rail through the  public private partnership (PPP) mode. This train will help in bringing perishable agricultural products like vegetables, fruits to the market in a short period of time.  The train with frozen containers is expected to build a  seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of fish, meat and milk. This train’s freight will be charged as per Indian Railways’ parcel tariff of normal train (P Scale). KISAN RAIL-1 The ‘Kisan Rail’ will start from  Devlali in Maharashtra’s Nashik  at 11 am and will reach  Danapur

  e-Gopala App The app is a comprehensive  breed improvement marketplace and information portal  for direct use of farmers.  Features: It acts as a digital platform to support farmers in managing livestock: buying and selling of disease free germplasm in all forms (semen, embryos) availability of quality breeding services (artificial insemination, veterinary first aid, vaccination, treatment) guiding farmers for animal nutrition, treatment of animals using appropriate medicine (including ayurvedic medicine/ ethno veterinary medicine) There is no mechanism to send alerts (on due date for vaccination, pregnancy diagnosis, calving etc) and inform farmers about various government schemes.

  Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Nidhi (PMSSN) Cabinet approves creation of Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Nidhi as a singl e non-lapsable reserve fund for Health from the proceeds of health and Education Cess Salient features of the PMSSN A non-lapsable reserve fund for Health in the Public Account; Proceeds of share of health in the Health and Education Cess will be credited into PMSSN; Accruals into the PMSSN will be utilized for the flagship schemes of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare namely, Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) Ayushman Bharat – Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs) National Health Mission Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) Emergency & disaster preparedness and responses during health emergencies Any future programme/scheme that targets to achieve progress towards SDGs and the targets set out in the National Health Policy (NHP) 2017. Administration and maintenance of the PMSSN is entrusted to Ministry of Hea

  SAMPADA Scheme for Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure under PM SAMPADA Objective  The objective of the Scheme of Cold Chain, Value Addition and Preservation Infrastructure is to  provide integrated cold chain and preservation infrastructure facilities, without any break, from the farm gate to the consumer. Key features  Coverage:  The scheme covers creation of infrastructure facility along the entire supply chain viz. pre-cooling, weighing, sorting, grading, waxing facilities at farm level, multi-product/ multi-temperature cold storage, CA storage, packing facility, IQF, blast freezing in the distribution hub and reefer vans, mobile cooling units for facilitating distribution of horticulture, organic produce, marine, dairy, meat, and poultry, etc. The scheme allows flexibility in project planning with special emphasis on the creation of cold chain infrastructure at the farm level. Eligible organizations/entities   Integrated cold chain and value addition infrastr