01 Dec 2020: PIB Summary & Analysis

December 1st, 2020 PIB:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Nagaland Statehood Day
2. BSF’s Raising Day
3. BrahMos
4. Cyclonic Storm ‘Burevi’
5. ADB, India sign $132.8 million loan
6. Green Charcoal Hackathon
7. DST–CII Technology Summit 2020
8. Aadi Mahotsav

1. Nagaland Statehood Day

Context:

The 58^th Statehood Day of Nagaland was observed on 1^st December.

Details:

• Nagaland became the 16^th state of India on 1 December 1963.

Also read: Reorganisation of states

2. BSF’s Raising Day

Context:

56^th Raising Day of Border Security Force (BSF).

Details:

• The BSF is the world’s largest border guarding force securing the 6,386.36 km long international borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
• It is one of the five central armed police forces in India and comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Read more about the BSF and its formation on This Day in History dated 1 December.

3. BrahMos

Context:

Successful Test Firing of BrahMos by Indian Navy.

Details:

• BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile in Anti-Ship mode was successfully test-fired against a decommissioned ship by the Indian Navy.

Read more about BrahMos in the linked article.

4. Cyclonic Storm ‘Burevi’

Context:

Cyclonic Storm ‘Burevi’ over southwest Bay of Bengal.

About ‘Burevi’:

• According to the Cyclone Warning Division of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the deep depression over southwest Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards with a speed of 9 kmph, intensified into a cyclone storm and lay centred over southwest Bay of Bengal, about 400 km east-southeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka) and 800 km east-southeast of Kanniyakumari (India).
• It is very likely to intensify further during the next 12 hours.
  • It is very likely to cross the Sri Lanka coast (near Trincomalee) during evening/night of 2^nd December as a Cyclonic Storm with a wind speed of 75-85 kmph gusting to 95 kmph.
  • It is very likely to move nearly westwards thereafter, emerge into the Gulf of Mannar and adjoining Comorin area on 3^rd December morning.
  • It would then move nearly west-southwestwards and cross south Tamil Nadu coast between Kanniyakumari and Pamban around the early morning of 4 December.
• A cyclone alert has been issued for South Tamil Nadu and Kerala coasts (Yellow Message).
• Heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with extremely heavy fall is expected over a few places in South Tamil Nadu and South Kerala. Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Lakshadweep can also expect heavy rainfall at isolated places.
• IMD advises total suspension of fishing operations from 1^st to 4^th December.

Also read: Cyclone Nivar

5. ADB, India sign $132.8 million loan

Context:

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $132.8 million loan to strengthen and modernize the distribution network and improve the quality of power supplied to households, industries, and businesses in Meghalaya.

Details:

• Though Meghalaya has achieved 100% electrification, remote rural areas in the state suffer from frequent power interruptions due to overloaded distribution networks and substations that use outdated technology, resulting in high aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses.
• The Government of India and the state government of Meghalaya embarked on a joint 24×7 Power for All Meghalaya initiative to provide uninterrupted, quality, reliable, and affordable power supply to all electricity consumers.
  • The project will construct 23 substations; renovate and modernize 45 substations, including the provision of control room equipment and protection systems; install and upgrade 2,214 kilometres of distribution lines and associated facilities covering three out of the six circles in the state.
  • Installation of smart meters will benefit about 180,000 households.
• The loan is proposed to be supplemented by a $2 million grant from ADB’s Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction that will finance renewable energy mini-grids for improving power quality and supporting income generation activities, especially for women and other socially disadvantaged groups in three villages and three schools.

Read more about the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the linked article.

6. Green Charcoal Hackathon

Context:

NVVN (NTPC VidyutVyapar Nigam), a wholly-owned subsidiary company of NTPC Ltd, launched the Green Charcoal Hackathon.

About the Green Charcoal Hackathon:

• It is a technology challenge with an aim to fast-track technology developments conducted by NVVN in partnership with EESL (Energy Efficiency Services Ltd – a 100% govt. owned energy service company).
• The purpose of the event is to leverage the innovative Indian mind to bridge the technology gap, with the prime objective to:
  • Clean the air by eliminating farm fire, producing renewable energy out of the agro residue.
  • Promote local entrepreneurship.
  • Increase the income of the farmers.
• The ultimate goals is to reduce the carbon footprint of the nation.
• At the end of the hackathon, the organisers hope to come up with an economical and commercially viable machine that can convert agro residue to charcoal without emissions.
• This is expected to benefit farmers as well as the environment.

Background:

• The increasing air pollution due to the burning of stubble and agro residue by local farmers has become a major concern for the country. As a result, NVVN is looking for technologies to convert the agricultural waste to a form that can be used in the power plants in the form of the Green Charcoal Hackathon. One such option is torrefaction which converts the agro residue to green charcoal.
• The technology to produce torrefied fuel using agro residue biomass is not easily accessible to small entrepreneurs due to the higher cost of imported machines, lack of sufficient manufacturers.
• The technology to produce torrefied fuel using agro residue biomass once developed in India will be made accessible to small entrepreneurs.

7. DST–CII Technology Summit 2020

Context:

Curtain raiser of the 26^th DST – CII Technology Summit takes place.

About the DST – CII Technology Summit:

• The Dept. of Science & Technology (DST) has been co-organizing the Technology Summit with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for over 25 years.
• The yearly summit has been instrumental in providing significant opportunities to forge and foster global technology partnerships.
• The heads of the partnering countries have addressed the technology summits in the past – a significant testimony of considering science and technology as one of the topmost priorities in the world.
• Portugal is the partner country this year.
• The focus areas of the summit are water, agriculture, healthcare, cleantech, energy, climate change and IT/ ICT.
• The conference and digital exhibition will also cover tech talks and business sessions on several other technology areas.
• This virtual summit and exhibition will provide a corridor for showcasing and collaborating unbeatable business and technology solutions of India and the partner countries.
• The digital conference would bring together global innovators, technology leaders, disruptive entrepreneurs, policymakers, industry stalwarts and eminent academicians from India and partner countries to share their experiences, and virtually everyone directly or indirectly associated with the technology sectors.

8. Aadi Mahotsav

Context:

The virtual edition of the Aadi Mahotsav – Madhya Pradesh launched.

About Aadi Mahotsav:

• Aadi Mahotsav is a national tribal festival and a joint initiative of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India & Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED).
• The festival showcases traditional art and handicrafts and cultural heritage of the country.
• The concept of organising Aadi Mahotsav in major cities is to eliminate the middleman and provide direct access to large markets, otherwise impossible for tribal artisans.
• This year, the festival will be held in the virtual format on the Tribes India website.

Read more about TRIFED on PIB dated Jun 28, 2020.

Read previous PIB here.

December 1st, 2020, PIB:- Download PDF Here