09 July 2020: PIB Summary & Analysis

July 9th, 2020 PIB:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Rewa Solar Project
2. Mongolian Kanjur Manuscripts
3. Six strategic bridges in Jammu & Kashmir
4. Central Pollution Control Board

1. Rewa Solar Project

Context:

PM to dedicate to the nation the 750 MW Rewa Solar Project.

About the Rewa Solar Project:

• This project comprises of three solar generating units of 250 MW each located on a 500-hectare plot of land situated inside a Solar Park (total area 1500 hectare).
• The Solar Park was developed by the Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited (RUMSL), a Joint Venture Company of Madhya Pradesh UrjaVikas Nigam Limited (MPUVN), and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a Central Public Sector Undertaking.
• RUMSL received financial assistance from the Central Government for the development of the Park.
• The solar generating units inside the park were developed by other private companies.
• The Rewa Solar Project was the first solar project in the country to break the grid parity barrier.
  • Compared to prevailing solar project tariffs of approximately Rs. 4.50/unit in early 2017, the Rewa project achieved historic results: a first-year tariff of Rs. 2.97/unit with a tariff escalation of Rs. 0.05/unit over 15 years and a levelized rate of Rs. 3.30/unit over the term of 25 years.
• This project will reduce carbon emission equivalent to approximately 15 lakh tons of CO₂per year.
• The Rewa Project has been acknowledged in India and abroad for its robust project structuring and innovations.
• Its payment security mechanism for reducing risks to power developers has been recommended as a model to other States by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
• It has also received the World Bank Group President’s Award for innovation and excellence.
• The project is also the first renewable energy project to supply to an institutional customer outside the State, i.e. Delhi Metro, which will get 24% of energy from the project with the remaining 76% being supplied to the State DISCOMs of Madhya Pradesh.
• India has committed to achieving the target of 175 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by the year 2022, including 100 GW of solar installed capacity.

Also read: National Solar Mission

2. Mongolian Kanjur Manuscripts

Context:

First five re-printed volumes of Mongolian Kanjur Manuscripts released.

Details:

• The Ministry of Culture has taken up the project of reprinting of 108 volumes of Mongolian Kanjur under the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM).
• The first set of five volumes of Mongolian Kanjur published under the NMM was presented to the President of India and the Mongolian Ambassador on the occasion of Guru Purnima.
• It is expected that all the 108 volumes of the Mongolian Kanjur will be published by March 2022.

What is Mongolian Kanjur?

• Mongolian Kanjur, the Buddhist canonical text in 108 volumes, is considered to be the most important religious text in Mongolia.
• In the Mongolian language ‘Kanjur’ means ‘Concise Orders’- the words of Lord Buddha in particular.
• It is held in high esteem by Mongolian Buddhists and they worship the Kanjur at temples and recite the lines of Kanjur in daily life as a sacred ritual.
• The Kanjur is kept in almost every monastery in Mongolia.
• The Mongolian Kanjur has been translated from Tibetan. The language of the Kanjur is Classical Mongolian.
• During the socialist era in Mongolia (1924 to the early 1990s), xylographs were consigned to flames and monasteries were bereft of their sacred scriptures.
• During 1956-58, Professor Raghu Vira obtained a microfilm copy of the rare Kanjur manuscripts and brought them to India.
• And, the Mongolian Kanjur in 108 volumes was published in India in the 1970s by Prof. Lokesh Chandra, former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha).
• Now, the present edition is being published by the National Mission for Manuscripts, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, in which every volume will have a list of contents indicating the original title of the sutra in Mongolian.

Historical connection between India and Mongolia

• Historical interaction between India and Mongolia goes back centuries.
• Buddhism was carried to Mongolia by Indian cultural and religious ambassadors during the early Christian era.
• As a result, today, Buddhists form the single largest religious denomination in Mongolia.
• India established formal diplomatic relations with Mongolia in 1955.

About the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM):

• NMM was launched in February 2003 by the Government of India, under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.
• It has the mandate of documenting, conserving and disseminating the knowledge preserved in manuscripts.
• One of the objectives of the mission is to publish rare and unpublished manuscripts so that the knowledge enshrined in them is spread to researchers, scholars and the general public at large.
• India possesses an estimate of ten million manuscripts, probably the largest collection in the world. These cover a variety of themes, textures and aesthetics, scripts, languages, calligraphies, illuminations and illustrations.
• Objectives of NMM:
  • Locate manuscripts through national-level surveys.
  • Document each and every manuscript and manuscript repository for a National Electronic Database that currently contains information on four million manuscripts, making this the largest database on Indian manuscripts in the world.
  • Conserve manuscripts incorporating both modern and indigenous methods of conservation and training a new generation of manuscript conservators.
  • To train the next generation of scholars in various aspects of Manuscript Studies like languages, scripts and critical editing and cataloguing of texts and conservation of manuscripts.
  • To promote access to manuscripts by digitizing the rarest and most endangered manuscripts.
  • To promote access to manuscripts through the publication of critical editions of unpublished manuscripts and catalogues.
  • To facilitate the public’s engagement with manuscripts through lectures, seminars, publications and other outreach programmes.

3. Six strategic bridges in Jammu & Kashmir

Context:

Defence Minister e-inaugurates six strategic bridges in Jammu & Kashmir.

Details:

• These bridges of strategic importance were completed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in record time.
• The two bridges on the Tarnah Nallah in Kathua District and four bridges located on Akhnoor-Pallanwala road in Akhnoor/Jammu district have spans ranging from 30 to 300 metres and were constructed at a total cost of Rs 43 crores.
• These bridges constructed by Project Sampark of the BRO will facilitate the movement of the Armed Forces in this strategically important sector and will also contribute towards the overall economic growth of remote border areas.

4. Central Pollution Control Board

Context:

The Central Pollution Control Board to strengthen monitoring of pollution in tributaries of Ganga.

To know more about pollution in the Ganga, check PIB dated 7 July 2020.

July 9th, 2020 PIB:- Download PDF Here