DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

By admin: Feb. 11, 2022

International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Tags: Important Days

11 February is celebrated in the world as “International Day of Women and Girls in Science”

Theme of “International Day of Women and Girls in Science” 2022: 'Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Water Unites Us'.

The United Nations declared 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science in 2015.

Atal Innovation Mission and UNDP India launches Community Innovator Fellowship

Tags: National News

Atal Innovation Mission of  National Institution for Transforming India (NITI)  Ayog, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has introduced a Community Innovator Fellowship to mark the ‘International Day of Women and Girls in Science’. 11 February is celebrated in the world as the “ International Day of Women and Girls in Science”.

The fellowship is developed as a pre-incubation model which will provide youth with an opportunity to establish their social enterprise focusing on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) based solutions for solving community issues. 

UNDP

The United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) was set up in 1965 by the United Nation .

Its headquarters is in New York , United States .

UNDP helps countries in  eradicating  poverty, reducing inequalities, and building resilience so countries can sustain progress. As the UN’s development agency, UNDP plays a critical role in helping countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

NITI Ayog 

National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Ayog  was set up on 1 January 2015 to replace the Planning Commission.

• Prime Minister is the ex-officio chairman of NITI Ayog

• Current Vice-chairman : Rajiv Kumar  

• Its headquarters : New Delhi 

INCOIS Brings out Coastal Vulnerability Index

Tags: National News

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad  has brought out the Coastal Vulnerability Index(CVI).

The Coastal Vulnerability Index ranks the coastal areas of the States /Union Territories on the basis of physical and geological risk they  face if there is rise in sea level in future.

To prepare the Index, INCOIS used various parameters.  The parameters were selected on the basis of the change expected in the coastal area when the sea level rises. These  parameters are based on : 

•  Tidal range;

•  Wave height; 

• Coastal slope; 

• Coastal elevation; 

• Shoreline change rate; 

• Geomorphology; and

• Historical rate of relative sea-level change,  

Risk assessment of the coastal states

According to the  CVI the States/Union Territories which are going to be affected are as follows 

•  Gujarat’s 124 coastal km  or 5.36 % of its coastal area is  going to get affected ,  similarly 

•  Maharashtra 11 km or 1.22% 

•  Karnataka & Goa 48 km or 9.54% each ,

•  Kerala 15 km or 2.39%, 

• Tamil Nadu 65 km or 6.38%, 

• Andhra Pradesh 6 km or 0.55 %,

•  Odisha 37 km or 7.51% 

• West Bengal 49 km or 2.56%,

•  Lakshadweep Islands 1 km or 0.81%,

• Andaman Islands 24 km or 0.96 km and Nicobar Islands 8 km or 0.97%.

INCOIS

 Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services was established as an autonomous body in 1999 under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and is a unit of the Earth System Science Organisation (ESSO).

  Functions :

• It issues alerts on Tsunami,  storm,high waves alerts etc.

• It provides information to the fisherman on areas having  abundant fish in the ocean.

Headquarter : Hyderabad 

Facts 

India has a coastline of 7516.6 Km.

It has  6100 km of mainland coastline plus a coastline of 1416.6Km of  1197 Indian islands .

Source: Ministry of Home Affairs .

Important full form for EXAMS : 

INCOIS: Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services

CVI : Coastal Vulnerability Index.

ESSO.: Earth System Science Organisation 

America is the biggest customer of ISRO

Tags: National News

Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) has launched 222 American satellites during 2016-17 to 2021-22.

•  The Government of India has informed the Parliament on 10 February 2022 that ISRO successfully  launched 285 customer satellites from 29   foreign countries, on-board  Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on commercial basis.

• Country wise breakup of number of foreign satellites launched during 2016-17 to 2021-22:

• Algeria (3), Australia (1), Austria (1), Belgium (3), Brazil (1), Canada (5), Chile (1), Colombia (1), Czech Republic (1), Finland (3), France (2), Germany (2), Indonesia (1), Israel (2), Italy (4), Japan (2), Kazakhstan (1), Latvia (1), Lithuania (7), Luxembourg (1), Malaysia (1), The Netherlands (2), Republic Of Korea (5), Slovakia (1), Spain (2), Switzerland (2), UAE (1), United Kingdom (6), USA (222).

ISRO 

• The Indian Space Research Organisation was founded on  15 August 1969.

• It is the premier space agency in India 

• Its headquarters is at Bengaluru 

• It launches its rockets from  Satish Dhawan Space Centre at SriHarikota , Andhra Pradesh. 

Antrix Corporation 

• Antrix corporation was set up as a company owned by the Government of India in 1992.

• It is a marketing company which promotes ISRO’s capabilities to launch satellites successfully  at a  low cost around the world . It brings foreign clients to India for launching their satellites through ISRO’s  PSLV  rockets .

NewSpace India Limited  (NSIL)

•  To involve the Private sector in the space programme and to develop technologies and products for the world market, the government of India set up a  new company NewSpace India Limited  (NSIL).

•  It was set up in 2019 as a company owned by the Government of India under the administrative control of the Department of Space .

• Unlike Antrix Corporation which is a pure marketing company NSIL will involve the Indian companies to develop technology and products for the foreign  buyers.

Government of India to set up two Centre for excellence in Carbon capture facility in India

Tags: National News

The Government of India is setting up two National Centres of Excellence in Carbon Capture and Utilisation  for  long-term research, design development, collaborative and capacity-building hubs for state-of-the-art research and application-oriented initiatives in the field of Carbon capture.

The two centre s are: 

• National Centre of Excellence in Carbon Capture and Utilisation (NCoE-CCU) at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay,

• National Centre in Carbon Capture and Utilisation (NCCCU) at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru 

Concept clearing 

Carbon Capture and Storage and Utilisation 

Carbon Capture and Storage is the process of capturing the carbon dioxide  which is released due to industrial activities/power generation using fossil fuels, before it is released in the atmosphere . 

• The captured carbon- dioxide  can be used to make commercially marketable products . This  is called Capture Capture Storage and Utilisation (CCSU). Normally it is used in enhanced oil extraction where carbon dioxide is injected in oil fields to increase their extraction efficiency.

• The first large-scale CCSU project began operating at Sleipner in Norway in 1996.

Important full form for EXAMS : 

NCoE-CCU: National Centre of Excellence in Carbon Capture and Utilization

National Centre in Carbon Capture and Utilisation.

NCCCU: National Centre in Carbon Capture and Utilisation 

CCSU.: Carbon Capture Storage and Utilisation 

JNCASR: Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research 

Prime Minister address One Ocean Summit

Tags: National News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the One Ocean Summit organised by France at the French city of Brest on 11 February 2022.

• The One Ocean Summit is being organised by France from 9 to 11 February 2022 in cooperation with the United Nations and the World Bank.

• The objective of the Summit is to mobilise the international community to take tangible action towards preserving and supporting healthy and sustainable ocean ecosystems.