Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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3,000 year old tombs unearthed in Tibet

News

• Archaeologists announced that they have excavated tombs dating back some 3,000 years in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.

Beyond News

• A total of nine tombs were found at ruins 10 km from the county seat of Zanda in Ali Prefecture, Xinhua quoted Shaka Wangdui, an archaeologist with the regional institute of cultural heritage protection said.
• The institution, in cooperation with the Shanxi provincial institute of archaeology, excavated the ruins in the Sangda valley along the Langchen Zangbo River from July to August 2017.
• Stoneware, earthenware and bones and bells were found in the tombs. The tombs are also the oldest with bronze articles, including rings and bells, in Tibet.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Bride’s consent to marriage inherent part of Hindu marital law-Supreme Court

News

• Consent of a bride to marriage is an inherent part of the Hindu marital law, the Supreme Court said.

Beyond News

• With this, the court refused a plea to judicially declare that a Hindu marriage entered into without the bride’s voluntary consent or after playing fraud on her is invalid.
• A three-judge Bench said the Hindu Marriage Act inherently held a forceful marriage or a fraudulent one held without the woman’s voluntary consent as invalid.
• The court said there was no need for a judicial declaration when the statute itself was amply clear.

Saudi Aramco signs $44 bn deal for Indian refinery complex

News

• Saudi Aramco signed an initial deal with a consortium of Indian refiners to build a $44 billion refinery and petrochemical project on India’s west coast, as the kingdom moves to secure buyers for its crude in a market awash with oil.

Beyond News

• Top executives of Aramco and India’s Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals a joint venture of Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp  signed a memorandum of understanding to take equal stakes in the project in Maharashtra.
• The project includes a 1.2-million-barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery integrated with petrochemical facilities with a total capacity of 18 million tonnes per year, the officials said on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum.
• Aramco, the world’s biggest oil producer, is expanding its footprint globally by signing new downstream deals and boosting the capacity of its existing plants ahead of an initial public offering that is expected later this or next year.
• The Indian plant will be one of the largest refining and petrochemical complexes in the world, built to meet fast-growing fuel and petrochemicals demand in India and elsewhere.
• Saudi Aramco will supply at least 50% of the crude to be processed at the planned refinery.
• Saudi petrochemical company SABIC is also keen to invest in a cracker and other facilities in India.
• Aramco, like other major producers, wants to tap rising demand growth and invest in the world’s third-biggest oil consumer. Last year it opened an office in New Delhi.
• Saudi Arabia is competing with Iraq to be India’s top oil supplier. Iraq displaced Saudi Arabia for the first time on an annual basis in 2017, data compiled by Reuters showed.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Dubai to launch digital vehicle number plates

News

• Car number plates will soon go digital in Dubai in a trial beginning in May.

Beyond News

• Vehicles will be fitted with smart plates with digital screens, GPS and transmitters to inform emergency services if a driver meets an accident.
• The technology also allows the real-time tracking of the vehicle driver.

New source of global nitrogen discovered

News

• Over a quarter of nitrogen on Earth comes from the planet’s bedrock, according to a study that could greatly improve climate change projections.
• For centuries, the prevailing science has indicated that all of the nitrogen on Earth available to plants comes from the atmosphere.

Findings

• The study found that up to 26 per cent of the nitrogen in natural ecosystems is sourced from rocks, with the remaining fraction from the atmosphere.
• The discovery could greatly improve climate change projections, which rely on understanding the carbon cycle.
• This newly identified source of nitrogen could also feed the carbon cycle on land, allowing ecosystems to pull more emissions out of the atmosphere, the researchers said.
• Ecosystems need nitrogen and other nutrients to absorb carbon dioxide pollution, and there is a limited amount of it available from plants and soils.
• If a large amount of nitrogen comes from rocks, it helps explain how natural ecosystems like boreal forests are capable of taking up high levels of carbon dioxide, researchers said.

However, not just any rock can leach nitrogen. Rock nitrogen availability is determined by weathering, which can be physical, such as through tectonic movement, or chemical, such as when minerals react with rainwater.

New fund for defence enterprises

News

• The Indian government is planning to set up a new fund for small and medium defence enterprises. It will be a dedicated Defence and Aerospace SME fund, Secretary, Defence Production, said.

Beyond News

• The fund will be registered with SEBI and minority stake can be taken up by investors, the fund will help channelise investments to the two defence corridors, in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
• Meanwhile, the Adani Group said it was setting up a new facility to manufacture composite aero structures for Hermes 900, a tactical medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system, in Hyderabad.
• Ashok Leyland, said it was targeting revenue of about ₹50 billion from the defence sector. It currently has revenues of around ₹8 billion from the sector. The company unveiled 6 products at the Defence Expo.
• Another JV was signed at the Expo by Cyient Solutions & Systems and Israel-based BlueBird Aero Systems.
• Under the agreement, Cyient will indigenise, manufacture, assemble, integrate and test advanced Unmanned Aerial Vehicles at its Hyderabad factory for which BlueBird will provide its technology and manufacturing know-how, a press release said.

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