18 September 2018: UPSC Exam PIB Summary & Analysis

Read the daily PIB update and stay up-to-date on current affairs for the UPSC exam

Medical Cyclotron Facility Cyclone-30

• Cyclotrons are used to produce radioisotopes for diagnostic and therapeutic use for cancer care.
• Cyclone-30, the biggest cyclotron in India for medical application became operational this month when 30 MeV beam reached the Faraday Cup for the first time last week.
• This will start regular production by the middle of the next year after the commissioning of the supporting nuclear systems and regulatory clearances.
• After the commissioning of liquid target (for FDG production) and solid targets (production of Germanium-68, Palladium-103 and other isotopes), work on studies related to installation of Iodine isotope [1-123] production target, material study target and Accelerator Driven System target will also be taken up.

Benefit:

• This will provide for affordable radio isotopes and related radiopharmaceuticals for the entire country especially, for Eastern India and also have export potential for Germanium-68/Gallium-68 generator for in-situ production of Gallium-68 and Palladium-103 isotopes, used for breast cancer diagnosis and prostate cancer treatment, respectively.
• Cyclone-30 commissioning re-emphasises the capability of Indian scientists and engineers to deliver at the highest level of science and technology.

The logo and web portal for commemoration of 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi

• The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind launched the logo and the web portal (http://gandhi.gov.in/) for commemoration of 150^thbirth anniversary of Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
• The designs of the logo with colour guide are available on the web-site of https://gandhi.gov.in/download.htmlfor download:-

1. Logo in original form (Main Logo)
2. Logo for use in single colour (for use in black and white)
3. Logo in reverse form with light/bright background
4. Logo in reverse form with dark background

• The salient features of the new web portal are:

1. To identify visitors from different geography and serve them personalized information;
2. Organizations & individuals can join celebration and submit their Karyanjali through an easy upload process.
3. Information related to Gandhian literature, philosophy, audios, videos, rare photos are available in the portal.

• The webportal is participatory in nature and all the participating organizations will be able to upload their activities regarding commemoration on the website.
• It also has a unique feature Gandhipedia which will be a repository of Gandhian knowledge and will continue to grow with time.
• The two year long celebrations from 2^ndOctober, 2018 to 02^nd October, 2020 will be held across the country and all over the globe to mark the 150^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

All India Pension Adalat

• The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated the ‘Pension Adalat’, organised by the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India.
• Pension Adalats will help in on-the-spot redressal of pensioners’ grievances.
• The Pension Adalats are being convened with the objective of bringing on a common table the aggrieved pensioner, the concerned department, the bank or CGHS representative, wherever relevant, so that such cases can be settled across the table within the framework of extant rules.

Local Treatment of Urban Sewage Streams for Healthy Reuse (LOTUS^HR)

• Union Science & Technology minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan today inaugurated a novel holistic Local Treatment of Urban Sewage Streams for Healthy Reuse (LOTUS^HR)project at Sun Dial Park in New Delhi that produces clean water which is reused for various purposes, while simultaneously recovering nutrients and energy from the urban waste water, thus converting the Barapullah drain into profitable mines.
• This plant, can convert 10 lakh litre of sewage into clean water and generate 3 tonnes of biofuel, will be scaled up and will become a model for example for the whole world.
• In another unique initiative at the site Department of Biotechnology has undertaken afforestation of marshy flood plains, degraded and unusable land and planted 2281 plant and tree species.
• This not only cleans the area, mitigates mosquito breeding but also purifies the air and soil.
• The species and the spacing of the planted material is carefully planned using a technology which allows these trees to grow rapidly and within a short span of two-three years recover a unique ecosystem of birds, insects and animals.

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