Daily Current Capsules

Space Awareness

Satellite Applications Catapult at Oxford

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Prelims – about Satellite Applications Catapult

Mains – GS II bilateral relations +GS III – space awareness)

What’s the NEWS

• Recently the Union Minister of Science & Technology visited the Satellite Applications Catapult at Oxford

Know! about Satellite Applications Catapult

• The Satellite Applications Catapult is one of nine Catapults, uniquely established to transform the UK’s capability for innovation in specific areas and to help drive future economic growth.
• It is helping organizations make use of, and benefit from, satellite technologies, and bring together multi-disciplinary teams to generate ideas and solutions in an open innovation environment.
• The aim of the Catapult Centre is to support the UK industry by accelerating the growth of satellite applications and to contribute to capturing a 10% share of the global space market by 2030.

Indigenisation of Technology

National Conference on Condition Monitoring (NCCM 2023)

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Prelims – about NCCM 2023

Mains – GS III Indigenisation of technology

What’s the NEWS

• A two-day National Conference on Condition Monitoring (NCCM 2023) was inaugurated by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

NCCM Conference Objective

• The conference has been organised by Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), a premier laboratory of DRDO in association with Condition Monitoring Society of India.
• The objective is to bring together practitioners and experts of Condition Monitoring and spread the message of effectively implementing related practices in the industry for enhanced productivity and increased availability.
• The conference is deliberating on various themes such as ‘vibration-based diagnostics’, ‘wear debris analysis’, ‘Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning in Condition Monitoring’ and ‘Sensors and Signal Processing for Condition Monitoring’.

Prelims Factoids

Bureau of Civil Aviation (BCAS)

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Prelims – about BCAS

What’s the NEWS

• The Bureau of Civil Aviation (BCAS), the national Regulator for Civil Aviation Security, commemorated its 37^th raising day in New Delhi.

Know! about BCAS

• The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security was initially set up as a Cell in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in January 1978 on the recommendation of the Pande Committee constituted in the wake of the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight on 10th September, 1976. 
• The role of the Cell was to coordinate, monitor, inspect and train personnel in Civil Aviation Security matters.
• The BCAS was reorganized into an independent department on 1st April, 1987 under the Ministry of Civil Aviation as a sequel to the Kanishka Tragedy in June 1985. 
• The aim of BCAS is to safeguard civil aviation operations against acts of unlawful interference.
• The Bureau is responsible for laying down the standards for security in respect of civil flights operating to / from India and ensuring their compliance through regular inspections and security audits.     

Prelims Factoids

AJEYA WARRIOR – 2023

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Prelims – about Ajeya Warrior 23

What’s the NEWS

• The 7^th edition of joint military exercise “AJEYA WARRIOR-23” between India and the United Kingdom is being conducted at Salisbury Plains, United Kingdom from 27 April to 11 May 2023.

Know! about the exercise

• Exercise AJEYA WARRIOR is a biennial training event with the United Kingdom which is conducted alternatively in the United Kingdom and India, the last edition was held at Chaubatia, Uttarakhand in October 2021.
• The scope of this exercise involves a Command Post Exercise (CPX) at the Battalion level and Company level Field Training Exercise (FTX).
• “Exercise AJEYA WARRIOR” is yet another significant milestone in defence cooperation between the Indian Army and British Army which will further foster the bilateral relations between the two nations.

Infrastructure Development

Northeast Gas Grid project 

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Prelims – about Northeast Gas Grid project

Mains – GS III – Infrastructure development energy

What’s the NEWS

• The Prime Minister hailed the major milestone in Northeast Gas Grid project with construction of 24-inch diameter natural gas pipeline through HDD method under Brahmaputra River.
• It is an ambitious project to connect major cities across north-eastern India with a gas grid envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016 is well on track.
• The first phase of this Rs 9265 crore venture will be commissioned by early 2024.

Know! about Northeast Gas Pipeline Grid Project

• This proposed gas pipeline grid will connect Guwahati to the major Northeast cities such as Itanagar, Dimapur, Kohima, Imphal, Aizwal, Agartala, Shillong, Silchar, Gangtok, and Numaligarh.

• It is 1, 656 km long.

• The project is being implemented under ambitious Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga Gas Pipeline Project.

• Besides connecting all the state capitals in the region, the pipeline will also connect with the National Gas Grid through Barauni-Guwahati Gas Pipeline, which is being laid by GAIL.

• The pipeline will enable the supply of piped cooking gas to households and CNG to automobiles, besides fuel to industry.

• The North-East pipeline grid is to be implemented by Indradhanush Gas Grid

• The Union Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas created Indradhanush Gas Grid Limited (IGGL), a joint venture between five PSUs–ONGC, Oil India Ltd (OIL), GAIL, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) and Numaligarh Refinery ltd (NRL)–to execute and administer the project in 2018.

Prelims Factoids

City Beauty Competition

What’s the NEWS

• The ‘City Beauty Competition’ portal https://citybeautycompetition.in has been made live by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs on April 26, 2023.

Know! about the competition.

• Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across the country can participate in this competition through an online process.

• The objective of the competition is to encourage and recognize the transformational efforts made by cities and wards across the country to create beautiful, innovative, and inclusive public spaces.

• Under this competition, wards and public spaces in cities would be judged against five broad pillars viz., (i) accessibility (ii) amenities (iii) activities (iv) aesthetics and (v) ecology.

• The competition would felicitate the most beautiful wards and public spaces in the cities.

Prelims Factoids

IFFCO Nano DAP (Liquid)

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Prelims – about Nano  Di-Ammonia Phosphate (DAP) 

What’s the NEWS

• Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched IFFCO’s liquid nano Di-Ammonia Phosphate (DAP) 
• Nano DAP is manufactured by the cooperative major IFFCO.
• Recently, the Centre notified the Nano DAP in the Fertilizer Control Order, which regulates the sale, pricing, and distribution of fertilizers in the country.
• Urea and Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) are largely consumed fertilizers in the country.
• IFFCO has received the patent for their nano variants from the Indian government for a period of 20 years

Benefits of Nano DAP

• It will make farmers prosperous and India self-reliant in the field of production and fertilizer.

• The use of liquid DAP, through spraying on the plant, will help increase both the quality and quantity of production as well in the conservation of the land.

• This will contribute a lot to restoring the fertility of the land and will reduce the threat to the health of crores of Indians caused by chemical fertilizers.

• Due to it being a liquid, the land will be minimally contaminated by chemicals.

• Earthworms themselves work like a fertilizer factory when they are in good quantity.

• By using liquid DAP and liquid urea, the farmers can increase the number of earthworms in their land and move towards natural farming without reducing production and income.

IFFCO NANO UREA (Liquid)

• IFFCO Nano Urea is the only Nano fertilizer approved by the Government of India and included in the Fertilizer Control Order (FCO).

• It is developed and Patented by IFFCO.

• Application of 1 bottle of Nano Urea can effectively replace at least 1 bag of Urea.

• When sprayed on leaves, Nano Urea easily enters through stomata and other openings and is assimilated by the plant cells.

• It is easily distributed through the phloem from the source to sink inside the plant as per its need.

• Unutilized nitrogen is stored in the plant vacuole and is slowly released for proper growth and development of the plant.

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