Facts in News

Facts in News

CEO Water Mandate

Recently, NTPC Ltd, India’s largest power utility under the Ministry of Power, has become a signatory to the CEO Water Mandate.

• It is a UN Global Compact initiative.
• It was established in 2007 and is implemented in partnership with the Pacific Institute.
• Aim: To demonstrate commitment and efforts of companies to better their water and sanitation agendas as part of long term Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Commitment Areas: Direct operations, supply chain and watershed management, collective action, public policy, community engagement and transparency.
• It is designed to assist companies in the development, implementation and disclosure of comprehensive water strategies and policies.
• It also provides a platform for companies to partner with like-minded businesses, UN agencies, public authorities, civil society organizations and other key stakeholders.
• UN Global Compact initiative
  • It is a non-binding pact to encourage businesses worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies and to report on their implementation.
  • It is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, with more than 12,000 corporate participants and stakeholders from more than 140 countries.
  • India is also a part.

Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs)

Recently, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered a new way to generate electricity by carbon nanotubes.

• By grinding up nanotubes and dipping them in special solvents, it is possible to generate enough current to run important electrochemical reactions.
• CNTs are cylindrical molecules consisting of a hexagonal arrangement of hybridized carbon atoms, formed by rolling up sheets of graphene.
• They can be single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with a diameter of less than 1 nanometer (nm) or multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), consisting of several concentrically interlinked nanotubes, with diameters reaching more than 100 nm.
• Types
  • Armchair NTs: Called so because of the armchair-like shape of their edges and have identical chiral indices and are highly desired for their perfect conductivity.
    • Chirality describes the angle of the nanotube’s hexagonal carbon-atom lattice.
  • Zigzag NTs: May be semiconductors. 
    • Turning a graphene sheet a mere 30 degrees will change the nanotube it forms from armchair to zigzag or vice versa.
• Properties
  • Mechanical tensile strength can be 400 times that of steel.
  • Very light-weight (one sixth density of steel).
  • Thermal conductivity is better than a diamond’s.
  • Very high aspect ratio i.e. in relation to their length they are extremely thin.
  • Highly chemically stable and resist virtually any chemical impact making them extremely resistant to corrosion.
  • Hollow interiors can be filled with nanomaterials, separating and shielding them from the surrounding environment.
• Applications
  • Electronic devices, chemical/electrochemical and biosensors, lithium-ion batteries, hydrogen storage cells, cathode ray tubes (CRTs), electrostatic discharge (ESD) and nanomedicine applications like drug delivery.

(Image Courtesy: tuball)

Operation Pangea XIV

Recently, the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) has coordinated Operation Pangea XIV.

• It is a collaborative effort against the sale of fake and illicit medicines and medical products.
• It involved police, customs and health regulatory authorities from 92 countries.
  • Indian agencies also participated in the operation.
  • The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the nodal body for the INTERPOL in the country.
• It resulted in 113,020 web links (websites and online marketplaces) being closed down or removed, arrest of 277 suspects and seizure of potentially dangerous pharmaceuticals worth over USD 23 million, the highest number since the first Operation Pangea in 2008.
  • More than half of all the medical devices seized during the operation in May only were fake and unauthorised Covid-19 test kits.
• The online sale of illicit medicines continues to pose a threat to public safety, which is why such operations remain vital.
  • The pandemic forced more people to move their lives online and criminals were quick to target these new ‘customers’.

Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum Abhiyaan

• Recently,the NITI Aayog and Piramal Foundation launched the ‘Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum Abhiyaan’ in 112 Aspirational Districts. 
• The campaign will be led by district magistrates in partnership with over one thousand local NGOs, which will enlist and train over one lakh volunteers to connect with patients through inbound and outbound calls. .
• Aim:To assist the district administrations in providing home-care support to Covid-19 patients who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.
• Significance:It will provide long-term support to India’s poorest communities in the Aspirational Districts by addressing the lasting impact of Covid-19.
  • The campaign is expected to prepare districts to manage nearly 70% of Covid cases at home. 
  • This would further help in reducing the pressure on the health system.
  • The campaign will also undertake capacity building of citizens for the correct usage of oxygen concentrators that have been supplied to the districts.

Aspirational Districts Programme

• It is one of the largest experiments on outcomes-focused governance in the world. Spread across 112 of India’s socio-economically challenged districts.
• It is Niti Aayog’s flagship initiative to improve health, nutrition, education, and economic outcomes.
• The programme aims at convergence (of Central & State Schemes), collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and competition among districts driven by a mass movement. 
• The programme focuses on the strength of each district, identifies districts that require immediate improvement, measures their progress, and ranks them accordingly

Vaccine Nationalism

• Vaccine nationalism occurs when a country manages to secure doses of vaccine for its own citizens or residents before they are made available in other countries and this is done through pre-purchase agreements between a government and a vaccine manufacturer.
• Vaccine nationalism is not new
  • The present race to hoard Covid-19 vaccines are similar to a situation that happened in 2009 during the H1N1 flu pandemic.
  •  Australia, the first country to come up with a vaccine, blocked exports while some of the wealthiest countries entered into pre-purchase agreements with several pharmaceutical companies.

• It was only when the H1N1 pandemic began to recede that developed countries offered to donate vaccine doses to poorer economies.
• However, it must be noted that H1N1 was a milder disease and its impact was far lesser than Covid-19.

Pakke Tiger Reserve

• More than 200 contingency workers of the Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh went on an indefinite strike over non-payment of wages.
• It lies in the foothills of the Eastern Himalaya in the East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. 
• It falls within the Eastern Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot.
• It lies to the east and the Bhareli River to the west and the north.
• The 862-sq km Pakke Reserve is home to many rare and endangered wildlife species, such as leopard, wild dog, Himalayan black bear and elephant.
• It is considered one of the best protected national parks in the country.
• Pakke is also known for its amazing sightings of four resident hornbill species.
• It is also the only Hornbill sanctuary in India. 
  • The great hornbill is the state bird of Arunachal Pradesh and it is ‘vulnerable’ under the IUCN Red List.

CORPAT Exercise

• The navies of India and Thailand started  their three-day, bi-annually India-Thailand Coordinated Patrol (Indo-Thai CORPAT) in the Andaman Sea .
  • The 31st edition of the joint exercise comes in the backdrop of China’s expanding presence in the Indian Ocean region. 
• The Indo-Thai CORPAT, which began in 2005, serves to reinforce maritime links between Thailand and India and forge strong bonds of friendship between the two navies, besides helping consolidate interoperability. 
• The CORPAT ensures an exchange of information pertaining to the prevention of smuggling, illegal immigration and in the conduct of search and rescue operations at sea, thereby enhancing the operational synergies.
• It aims to keep this vital part of the Indian Ocean safe and secure for international trade.
• It facilitates institution of measures to prevent and suppress unlawful activities like illegal unreported unregulated (IUU) fishing, drug trafficking, maritime terrorism, armed robbery and piracy.

Other similar exercise

• The Indian Navy has been holding several such exercises and combat readiness war games with friendly countries. 
  • In April 2020  witnessed the bilateral ‘Varuna’ naval exercises between India and France in the western Arabian Sea.
  • The exercise also saw the participation of the fledgling United Arab Emirates (UAE) Navy, making Varuna-21, a trilateral exercise. 
  • The French navy had, prior to Varuna-21, also joined in an exercise with the navies of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) member countries.