Contents:
1. Bhuvan Panchayat Project
2. WTO ministerial gathering at Davos
3. Ramsar declaration
4. Jal Jeevan Mission
5. Zonal Councils
6. POLYCRACK Technology for waste to energy
BHUVAN PANCHAYAT PROJECT
Why in news?
ISRO launched Space Based Information Support for Decentralized Planning Update (SISDP)”
Details:
- SISDP project to assist Gram Panchayats at grassroot level with basic planning inputs derived from satellite data for preparing developmental plans, its implementation and monitoring the activities.
- The Web Geo portal is an easy to use Geo portal developed for database visualization, data analytics, generation of automatic reports, model based products and services for the benefit of Gram Panchayat members and other stake holders.
WTO MINISTERIAL GATHERING A DAVOS
Context and Details:
- Commerce & Industry and Railways Minister, Piyush Goyal participated in an Informal Ministerial Gathering in Davos.
- During his intervention at the Gathering Commerce and Industry Minister said that the current challenges throw up some key priorities for MC12 (The Twelfth Ministerial Conference will take place from 8-11 June 2020 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan), including WTO reform.
- The agenda for WTO reforms should be balanced and inclusive, to address the historic asymmetries in the Uruguay Round Agreements stated Commerce and Industry Minister.
- A good starting point for the reform agenda, would be removing the imbalances in the Agreement on Agriculture, and ensuring a level playing field, particularly for developing economies
- Commerce and Industry Minister also addressed India’s concerns about fisheries subsidies to be adopted at MC12.
- Unregulated industrial fishing by some nations, has led to a major depletion of the global marine stock said Piyush Goyal and there is an urgent need for strong disciplines to regulate harmful fisheries subsidies in order to ensure the sustainable use of marine resources
- Commerce and Industry Minister in his intervention also said that as an overall objective, the WTO must ensure transparency and fair practices in global trade, to ensure that our mutual economic engagement results in growth and prosperity for all.
RAMSAR DECLARATION
Why in news?
10 more wetlands from India get the Ramsar site tag.
What is Ramsar convention ?
- The Ramsar Convention signed on February 2, 1971, is one of the oldest inter-governmental accord signed by members countries to preserve the ecological character of their wetlands of international importance.
- The aim of the Ramsar list is to develop and maintain an international network of wetlands which are important for the conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the maintenance of their ecosystem components, processes and benefits.
- Wetlands declared as Ramsar sites are protected under strict guidelines of the convention.
- With this, the numbers of Ramsar sites in India are now 37 and the surface area covered by these sites is now 1,067,939 hectares.
- Maharashtra gets its first Ramsar site (Nandur Madhameshwar)
- Punjab which already had 3 Ramsar sites adds 3 more (Keshopur-Miani, Beas Conservation Reserve, Nangal)
- UP with 1 Ramsar site has added 6 more (Nawabganj, Parvati Agra, Saman, Samaspur, Sandi and SarsaiNawar)
- Conservation of wetlands would also go a long way in achieving dream of ‘Nal se Jal’ in each household.
- The government has in July, 2019 launched the new ‘Nal se Jal’ scheme, which aims to provide piped water connection to every household by 2024
JAL JEEVAN MISSION
Why in news?
The magnificent tableau of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, highlighting the Government’s new initiative ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ which aims at providing Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household by 2024, has been adjudged the best tableau, jointly with the NDRF tableau
ZONAL COUNCILS
Why in news?
22nd Meeting of the Central Zonal Council held at Nava Raipur, Chhattisgarh
Details:
- Zonal councils are statutory bodies established by the parliament by states reorganization act, 1956
- They are advisory councils
and are made up of the states of India that have been grouped into five
zones to foster cooperation among them.
- Northern Zonal Council, comprising Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Punjab, and Rajasthan;
- Central Zonal Council, comprising the States of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh
- Eastern Zonal Council, comprising Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal;
- Western Zonal Council, comprising Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra;
- Southern Zonal Council, comprising Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.
- The North Eastern Council was created by the North Eastern Council Act, 1971. This council originally comprised Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura; later the state of Sikkim was also been vide North Eastern Council (Amendment) Act, 2002 notified on 23 December 2002.
- Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep are not members of any of the Zonal Councils. However, they are presently special invitees to the Southern Zonal Council
POLYCRACK: TECHNOLOGY TO CONVERT WASTE INTO ENERGY
Why in news?
Indian Railways has commissioned country’s first governmental Waste to Energy Plant, having capacity of 500 Kg waste per day, in Mancheswar Carriage Repair Workshop at Bhubaneswar
Features of Polycrack Technology
Polycrack has the following advantages over the conventional approach of treating solid waste:
- Pre-segregation of waste is not required to reform the waste. Waste as collected can be directly fed into Polycrack.
- It has high tolerance to moisture hence drying of waste is not required.
- Waste is processed and reformed within 24 hours.
- It is an enclosed unit hence the working environment is dust free.
- Excellent air quality surrounding the plant.
- Biological decomposition is not allowed as the Waste is treated as it is received.
- The foot print of the plant is small hence the area required for installing the plant is less when compared with conventional method of processing.
- All constituents are converted into valuable energy thereby making it Zero Discharge Process.
- Gas generated in the process is re-used to provide energy to the system thereby making it self-reliant and also bring down the operating cost.
- There is no atmospheric emission during the process unlike other conventional methods except for combustion gases which have pollutants less than the prescribed norms the world over.
- Operates around 450 degrees, making it a low temperature process when compared with other options.
- Safe and efficient system with built-in safety features enables even an unskilled user to operate the machine with ease.
- Low capital cost and low operating cost.
- Fully automated system requires minimum man power.
