CHHATTISGARH

The state government’s move to make District Mineral Funds more people-centric has garnered a lot of praise. Lauding Chhattisgarh’s efforts to amend the State DMF rules (2015), the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said that it will help improve the lives of people residing in mining-affected regions.

The move is significant, considering that Chhattisgarh is one of the top states in India in terms of DMF accrual. The amended rules have also emphasized that at least 50 per cent of the DMF funds must be spent on directly-affected areas. This is in addition to the requirement that at least 60 per cent of the DMF funds must be used on certain high-priority issues such as drinking water, livelihoods, health care, women and child development, education etc.

The amendments create a huge scope for mining districts in the state to improve the lives and livelihoods of those affected by mining. DMF has been instituted as a non-profit Trust under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015.

A key provision of the latest amendments is the inclusion of 10 Gram Sabha members from directly mining-affected areas, in the DMF Governing Council (GC). In Scheduled Areas, at least 50 per cent of the Gram Sabha members must be from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. The amended rules also give more stature to women in the GC as the amendments mandate that from each Gram Sabha, there will be one male and one female member in the GC.

INTERNATIONAL

· Astronomer discovered that K2 18b has earth like temperatures

For the first time ever the NASA astronomershave discovered water in the atmosphere of a planet named K2-18b. The researcher said that the planet has earth-like temperatures which can support life.

The astronomers used archive data from2016 and 2017 captured by the ESA/NASA Hubble Space Telescope. They then developed open-source algorithms which was used to analyze the starlight filtered through K2-18b’s atmosphere. The analysis showed the molecular signature of water vapour. It also showed the presence of hydrogen and helium in the planet’s atmosphere.

· US briefly overtakes Saudi Arabia as worlds top oil exporter

The US has topped as the world’s top oil exporter.The country defeated Saudi Arabia and Russia. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in June, the US exports of crude topped 3 million barrels per day. This pushed its total oil exports to nearly 9 million barrels per day. This has proved the US with a new status as one of the world’s most influential energy producers.

Saudi Arabia reduced the exports of crude and other energy products. The move is a part of a longstanding Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) effort to boost prices.

Russian exports were constrained by problems with a pipeline that delivers oil to central and eastern Europe.

Non-OPEC production growth has increased to 2.3 million bpd in 2020, up to 400,000 from 2019. Also, the demand for OPEC crude has been set to reach 28.3 million bpd in the first half of 2020, 1.4 million bpd less than the group produced in August.

NATIONAL

Hindi Diwas: 14 September
Hindi Diwas is observed every year on 14 September to mark the popularity of Hindi as an official language of India.

On the occasion, the International Hindi Conference was also organised by the World Hindi Council in New Delhi.

Under Article 343 of the Indian Constitution, Hindi written in Devanagari script was adopted as the official language.

Government of India has decided to indigenously build 60 supercomputersin the next three years. The announcement was made by Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary of Department of Science and Technology.

The 60 supercomputer systems will be implemented by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).Initially, six machines will be installed by the end of the year.

Two supercomputers are functioning atIIT-BHU and IIT-Kharagpur with 6 petaflops. The third supercomputers will be assembled at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune in September.
Also, C-DAC has floated Request for Proposal and a company procured material for six supercomputers.

The second phase will begin in 2020. Except chips, most of the parts would be assembled and integrated within the country.

Under phase three, the Centre will be making the supercomputer, except the chips.

The govt besides the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID)plans to connect to social media with records including immigration entry, banking, and phone numbers and all database information in one platform case. Home Minister has reviewed the progress of NATGRID on 12th Sept in Delhi.

The National Intelligence Grid wass first began in 2009 with a spending limit of 2,800 crore.About 10 central agencies like Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and others will approach the information in a secured manner. After Mr.Patnaik resignation, NATGRID is presently headed by IAS Ashish Gupta.NATGRID’s information recover center in Bengaluru has been built its office complex in South Delhi is nearing fulfillment.

NATGRID is aiming to set up an Entity Extraction, Visualization and Analytics (EVA) framework data accessible from different information sources. The database will be gathred by 10 user offices from 21 associations like telecom, tax records, bank, immigration to empower the generation of intelligence inputs.

The Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) handed over the second airborne warning plane, Netra, to the Indian Air Force.

The Netra, an Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) aircraft, had played a stellar role during the Balakot airstrikes that had been carried out by the IAF in February this year.

It provided surveillance and radar coverage to the five Mirage jets that bombed terror launch pads in Balakot in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.

Designed and developed by scientists of the DRDO, with assistance from the Bengaluru-based Centre for Airborne Systems, the Netra is fitted with indigenously developed electronics and hardware.