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IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

Minimum temperature rises in Delhi due to cloud cover

Source: Business Standard

News

• Delhi’s minimum temperature rose to 9 degrees Celsius, two notches more than normal, due to partly cloudy weather and prevailing easterly winds, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Cold day

• A cold day is when the minimum temperature is less than 10 degrees Celsius and the maximum is at least 4.5 degrees Celsius below normal.
• Easterly winds are blowing in Delhi which is not as cold as northwesterly coming in from the snow-clad western Himalayas.
• The city’s air quality index was 380. The 24-hour average AQI was 347.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered good, 51 and 100 satisfactory, 101 and 200 moderate, 201 and 300 poor, 301 and 400 very poor, and 401 and 500 severe.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

Government of India strengthens cargo handling capacity of Chabahar Port, Iran

Source: PIB INDIA

News

• India has supplied a consignment of two Mobile Harbour Cranes (MHC) to Iran’s Chabahar port, with a total contract value of over USD 25 Million under a contract agreement for supply of 6 MHC.

Infrastructure development

• The consignment of cranes arrived from Marghera port, Italy has been unloaded successfully at Chabahar port and presently undergoing trials run.
• This is a step towards India’s commitment towards infrastructure development of ‎Shahid Beheshti Port of Chabahar.
• The bilateral contract between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Republic of India was signed with a total value of USD 85 million ‎for Equipping, Mechanizing and starting Operations at Shahid Beheshti Port of Chabahar development Phase- I.
• To achieve this ambitious aim, an SPV namely India Ports Global Limited (IPGL) Mumbai was incorporated under the ambit of the Ministry of Ports, ‎Shipping and Waterways.
• The delivery of consignment of heavy equipment, including cranes shows India’s commitment to the strategic connectivity of Chabahar port project that will provide access to markets in Central Asia.
• Development of Chabahar port is the anchor for the expansion of economic and mutual relations between India and Iran and it will give a further boost to the maritime trade between both the countries.

The location of Chabahar Port has strategically advantage and high potential to provide connectivity among India, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and other CIS countries specially Eastern CIS countries to increase trade between these countries.

Bihar police nod to appoint trans genders

Source: Indian Express

News

• Bihar Police has given a nod to appointment of transgenders in the force. For every 500 appointments, a transgender would be appointed.

Appointment of transgenders

• The state police is likely to issue an advertisement regarding recruitment to 10,000 posts of constables soon.
• A resolution passed by the state home department said the state police had taken a policy decision on the employment of transgenders on the pattern of other government departments.
• As per the 2011 Census, the state has a population of 10.41 crore and out of them, 40,827 people are transgenders 39 transgenders per one lakh population.

The transgenders would not be given any relaxation in terms of physical and academic tests during selection. They will be part of the district police force.

India’s first Labour Movement museum to come up in Kerala

Source: Indian Express

News

• The country’s first Labour Movement Museum, showcasing the history of world labour movement, would be launched in Kerala’s houseboat tourism hub, Alappuzha.

Labour Movement Museum

• The museum will feature a huge repository of documents and exhibits that shaped the labour movements across the continents and impacted Alappuzha, the cradle of the labour movement in the country, in particular and Kerala in general.
• Located alongside the Port and Coir museums displaying the town’s rich maritime heritage, the Labour Movement Museum, the first such window in the country on the class struggle and spirited fight of workers, is part of a larger project that will also be of tourist appeal.
• It will portray, through pictures, documents and other exhibits, the growth of the world labour movement and the history of Keralas labour movement”, the tourism department said.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

DST Scientists find clue to anomalous behaviour of self-propelled fluctuations like fish schools ,flocking birds, bacterial colonies

Source: PIB india

News

• Scientists have found a clue to dynamical origin of fluctuations in systems like fish schools, swarm of insects, flocking birds and bacterial colonies, which are called active matter systems.

Importance

 This understanding can be useful in nanotechnology applications like building small-scale energy-efficient bio-devices as well as biomedical applications like characterizing infection spread in organs, antibiotic resistance and so on.

Active matter systems

• Such systems are made up of self-driven components which extract energy from their surroundings to generate mechanical work. 
• Due to continuous energy input, such systems are driven far from equilibrium and exhibit, unlike in equilibrium, fascinating collective behaviours, like clustering, “giant” mass fluctuations and anomalous transport.
• Particularly, their transport properties (molecular properties, analogous to viscosity, thermal conductivity and mobility that indicate the rate at which momentum, heat, and mass are transferred from one part of a system to another) can be perplexing at times.

DRDO hands over Motor Bike Ambulance ‘Rakshita’ to CRPF

Source: PIB India

News

• Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), Delhi based DRDO laboratory, handed over Rakshita, a bike-based casualty transport emergency vehicle to Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)  \ in a ceremony held at CRPF HQ.

Bike ambulance

• The bike ambulance will help in overcoming the problems faced by Indian security forces and emergency healthcare providers.
• It will provide life-saving aid for evacuation of injured patients from low intensity conflict areas.
• This will be handy in the congested streets and remote locations, where access through ambulance is difficult and time consuming.
• The bike can respond to a medical emergency need of patients faster than a four-wheeler due to its functionality and integrated emergency medical support system.
• Rakshita is fitted with a customized reclining Casualty Evacuation Seat (CES), which can be fitted in and taken out as per requirement.
• Other major features are the head immobilizer, safety harness jacket, hand and foot straps for safety, adjustable footrest, physiological parameter measuring equipment with wireless monitoring capability and auto warning system for driver.
• The vital parameters of the patient can be monitored on the dashboard mounted LCD. It is also equipped with air splint, medical and oxygen kit for on spot medical care.

This bike ambulance is useful not only for the paramilitary and military forces but has potential civil applications too.

Polluted Haryana drains among reasons for high Yamuna ammonia levels: Experts

Source: Indian Express.

News

• An inspection done by experts from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) in December 2018 largely attributed the high levels of ammonia in river Yamuna reaching Delhi to pollution from drains in Haryana.
• The National Green Tribunal-appointed Yamuna Monitoring Committee (YMC) shared the findings of this inspection with the new chief secretary of Haryana, who took charge of the post.

Pollution of Yamuna

• Experts from CPCB and NEERI were asked by the YMC in December 2018 to identify sources of high ammonia levels in the river between Haryana’s Hathnikund and Delhi’s Wazirabad barrage.
• Among the observations made by the inspection team was that water quality of the river begins to deteriorate after Yamuna Nagar and Panipat, downstream of the Hathnikund barrage.
• The surveyors also recommended construction of a dividing wall between two drains in Sonepat area, as one drain carries freshwater and the other carries industrial and domestic wastewater, which at the time included untreated waste.
• Water from the two drains often gets mixed as they are divided by an embankment, which was damaged during the inspection and still remains damaged.
• The Haryana irrigation department is now in the process of constructing a closed conduit pipeline in the area to prevent mixing of wastewater and freshwater.
• YMC told that Haryana is presently discharging 506 million litres per day (MLD) of untreated sewage into the Yamuna due to incomplete work for diversion of sewage and non-functioning sewage treatment plants (STPs).
• As a short-term measure, in-situ bioremediation or phytoremediation has to be undertaken in drains to stop untreated effluents going into the river.