DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

By admin: Oct. 17, 2021

INDIA-RUSSIA signed MoU on DAP fertilizers supply

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Why in the news?

India on 12 October signed a long-term memorandum of understanding with Russia on DAP fertilizers supply.

What is DAP?

• Di-ammonium Phosphate popularly known as DAP is a preferred fertilizer in India because it contains both Nitrogen and Phosphorus which are primary macronutrients and part of 18 essential plant nutrients. 
• It is a very popular fertilizer because of its excellent physical properties and nutrient content. 
• DAP is almost water-soluble and ultimately leaves acid effect on soils because of ammonia (NH4) it contains

Composition:

• DAP Contains 18% Nitrogen and 46% Phosphorus.
• IUPAC Name: diammonium hydrogen phosphate
•  chemical formula: (NH4)2(HPO4)

Key Points:

• To stabilize prices of DAP, which is increasing continuously due to high demand.
• To minimize dependence on countries such as Jordan, Morocco, China, etc.
• India is the largest importer of DAP in the world
• China is the largest exporter in the world
• Russia comes under the top five exporters of DAP.
• After Urea DAP is used on a big scale in India

Waste of health portal:

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Why in the news?

The govt. launched a web portal on the occasion of the Gandhi Jayanti. It has brought together technology providers, Govt. stakeholders and urban local bodies to find the country’s waste problems. 

Objectives: 

• To identify and support the development of new technologies that can help create a cleaner and greener environment
• To boost and augment the Swachh Bharat Mission and Smart Cities Project by leveraging science, technology and innovation
• To create circular economic models that are financially viable for waste management
• To create circular economic models that are financially viable for waste management
• Collecting plastic waste is also the main object.

Additional information:

Wetland of India portal:

The union environment minister Mr. Bhupendra Yadav launched a portal” Wetland of India” on 2 October. 

• It will act as a single point of access to all the information relating to the wetlands.
• On the portal, each State and UT has a dashboard, through which it can access information of wetlands in their administration. Soon, the portal will host additional features.

Wetlands:

• Wetlands are vital not only for the ecosystems but our climate, providing essential services such as water regulation, flood control, and water purification.
• Wetlands are also capable of absorbing carbon dioxide.
• Wetlands are called “Kidneys of the Earth”.

Additional Information:

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  • There are a total of 46 Ramsar Sites now in India.
  • Recently 4 new wetland sites have been added to the list of wetlands.
  •  The two from Haryana are Bhindawas WildLife Sanctuary and Sultanpur National Park.
  •  The other two are from Gujarat namely Thol Lake WildLife Sanctuary and Wadhvana Wetland.

• Ramsar Convention or the Convention of Wetlands was established in 1971 and came into force in 1975.

•  India signed the Ramsar Convention on 1 February 1982.
• The first World Wetlands Day was celebrated on 2 February 1997.
•  Chilika Lake is the largest Ramsar Site of India.
•  Chilika Lake (Orissa) and Keoladeo National Park (Rajasthan) were recognized as the first Ramsar Sites of India. 
•  Uttar Pradesh has the largest number of Ramsar Sites in India with 8 Indian Wetlands. 

 Renuka Wetland in Himachal Pradesh is the smallest wetland of India.

Mount Balbala peak has been successfully climbed by a team from the first battalion of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

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Why in the news?

Recently, A team from the first battalion of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has successfully scaled the Mount Balbala peak at a height of 21,050 feet in Uttarakhand.

• It is for the first time that an Indian team has climbed the peak.

Additional Information.

• The International Everest Day is observed every year on 29 May. 
•  The day is observed every year in memory of the first summit of Mt. Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary on 29 May 1953.
•  A Hong Kong mountaineer (Tsang Yin-hung) recorded the world's fastest ascent of Everest by a woman in just 26 hours.
• An Indian mountaineer Bhawna Dehariya has successfully climbed Mount Kosciuszko. It is the highest mountain peak of Australia. 
• Junko Tabei was the first woman to climb Mt Everest and She was the first woman to climb the seven highest mountains in all the seven continents.