Facts in News

Facts in News

Project REPLAN (REducing PLAstic from Nature)

• Recently, the Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has secured Patent registration for its plastic-mixed handmade paper.
• The invention is aligned with the Prime Minister’s call for fighting the menace of single-use plastic.

Key Points

• The plastic-mixed handmade paper was developed under Project REPLAN (REducing PLAstic from Nature).
• The idea of developing plastic-mixed handmade paper was invented in 2018 and it is recyclable and eco-friendly.
• Objective: Protecting the environment alongside creating sustainable employment
  • The technology developed by KVIC uses both high & low-density waste polythene that not only adds extra strength to the paper but also reduces the cost by up to 34%.

About Project REPLAN (REducing PLAstic from Nature)

• This is the first of its kind project in India, where plastic waste is de-structured, degraded, diluted and used with paper pulp while making handmade paper and thus reduces plastic waste from nature.
• It was launched in 2018 in line with the Prime Minister’s ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission).

Red Tide

• Recently, Red Tide has swept Florida’s Gulf of Mexico Coast, killing 1,400 tonnes of fish in and around Tampa alone.
• Its origins have been traced back to another red tide in December 2020.

About 

• Karenia Brevis is a type of algae commonly known as ‘Red Tide’ and Harmful Algal Bloom(HABs).
• It occurs when colonies of algae simple plants that live in the sea and freshwater grow out of control while producing toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, and birds. 
• The human illnesses caused by HABs, though rare, can be debilitating or even fatal.

Concerns 

• HABs are a national concern because they affect not only the health of people and marine ecosystems but also the ‘health’ of local and regional economies.

What are Algal Blooms?

• Algal blooms are dense layers of tiny green plants that occur on the surface of lakes and other bodies of water when there is an overabundance of nutrients (primarily phosphorus) on which algae depend.
• Benefits 

• Not all algal blooms are harmful. Most blooms, in fact, are beneficial because the tiny plants are food for animals in the ocean.
• They are the major source of energy that fuels the ocean food web.

Mekedatu Project

• The Mekedatu drinking water project is being constructed by the Karnataka government across the Cauvery River. 
• It is aimed at providing drinking water facilities to the Bengaluru Metropolitan region and its surrounding areas (4.75 TMC) and generates 400 MW of power as an additional benefit.
• The project cost is estimated at Rs 9,000 crore.
• Significance 
  • As per the plan, Bengaluru and other areas would get regular potable water.
  • It would be able to help the city address its water woes.

                       (Image Courtesy: Economic Times)

Polyhouse Technology

• Recently, the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’s Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-CMERI) inaugurated a “naturally ventilated polyhouse facility” and laid the foundation stone of “retractable roof polyhouse” in its Ludhiana centre. 

Key Points 

• Polyhouse 
  • It is a specially constructed structure like a building where a specialised polythene sheet is used as a covering material under which crops can be grown in partially or fully controlled climatic conditions.
  • It is covered with transparent material to permit the entry of natural light. 
  •  Crop losses in India due to insect pests is about 15 per cent at present and this loss may increase as climate change lowers the plant defence system against insects and pests.
    • Polyhouses are helpful in reducing threats such as extreme heat and pest attacks in crops.

Retractable Roof Polyhouse Technology 

• It will have an automatic retractable roof which will be operated based on weather conditions and crop requirements from the conditional database using PLC software. 
• It would be used to manipulate sunlight quantity, quality & duration, water stress, humidity, carbon dioxide levels as well as crop and soil temperatures. 
• This ongoing development will be useful in India with its 15 different agro-climatic zones.
• Benefits 
  • It will help farmers to cultivate both seasonal and off-season crops which can fetch higher yield, firmer and high shelf-life produce by creating optimal indoor microclimate conditions compared to conventional open field tunnels & naturally ventilated poly houses.
  • It is a viable technology for organic cultivation
  • A combination of open field conditions and conventional greenhouse conditions is a more robust way to deal with climate change and associated problems in the future. 

E Prisons Project

• The Ministry of Home Affairs has provided financial assistance of Rs 99.49 crores to the States and Union Territories for the E- Prisons Project.

About

• It aims at computerization of the functioning of prisons in the country and has been operationalised in all States and Union Territories.
• The e-Prisons application suite integrates all the activities related to prison and prisoner management. 
• The E-Prisons application suite has been developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC), Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY).
• It provides vital information about the inmates lodged in the prisons in a real-time environment to the courts, prison officials and other entities involved in the Criminal Justice System. It facilitates online visit requests and grievance redressal. 

Key Features

• e-Prisons MIS: Management Information System used at the prisons for their day to day regular activities; 
• National Prisons Information Portal (NPIP): It is a citizen-centric portal showing statistical data of various prisons in the country. Visitors can book their visit request to meet their ward inside the prison through this portal. Grievances with respect to their wards inside the prisons can also be submitted through the portal; 
• Kara Bazaar: Portal for showcasing and selling the products manufactured in various prisons of the country by inmates.
• Controlled registration of prisoners (checking duplicity of prisoner’s entry to the jail); the system helps in recording and tracking prisoners’ movement activities and their management throughout the term.

Prisons in India

• It is a State subject under Entry 4 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India.
• The administration and management of prisons is the responsibility of respective State Governments.
• However, the Ministry of Home Affairs provides regular guidance and advice to States and UTs on various issues concerning prisons and prison inmates.
• The Supreme Court had in September 2018 appointed the Justice Roy Committee to examine the various problems plaguing prisons, from overcrowding to lack of legal advice to convicts to issues of remission and parole.

Pahchan Initiative

• A total of 26.79 lakh artisans have been registered so far under the Pahchan initiative. 

Pahchan Initiative

• It was launched in 2016 by the then Union Minister of Textiles.
• It is an initiative of the Ministry of Textiles to register and provide Identity (ID) cards to handicraft artisans and link them to a national database.
• Pahchan cards scheme is a newly upgraded ID card for artisans that will be linked with their Aadhaar numbers and bank accounts so that they can receive direct cash-transfer benefits.
• It has the information of handicrafts artisans viz. name & address, Aadhaar Card number, mobile number and craft practised.

Benefits:

• The ID cardholders will get the benefit of life insurance and Rs.1200 per year for their children studying between Class IX and Class XII.
• The ID card will enable the artisans to avail easy loans at the nominal interest rates.