Facts in News

                            Facts in News

Donimalai Iron Ore Mine

• Commissioned in 1977, the mine is located in Bellary region of Karnataka.
• It produces 4 million tonnes of Run of Mine (“ROM” means ore in its natural, unprocessed state) ore per year.
• The average grade of ore extracted has 65% Iron.
• Port of Export
  • Chennai outer harbour, TamilNadu: linked by 532km Rail
  • Marmagao Port, Goa: linked by 370 km Rail
• It is being mined by the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC).
  • Recently, for a short period, NMDC stopped its operation because the state government imposed an 80% premium on the iron ore sales from the mine.
  • But now lease has been extended for the next 20 years for NMDC and NMDC is resuming its operations.
• Few other major Iron Ore mines in Karnataka are Kudremukh, Bababudan, Kumaraswamy and Ramandurg.

About NMDC

• NMDC, under the Ministry of Steel, is the country’s largest iron ore miner.
• Incorporated in 1958 as a Government of India fully owned public enterprise.

Russia’s Kalashnikov may make AK­203 rifle in India

                                                           Source: ET

• It is a hi-tech shotgun variant of AK 47.
• Production in India may help Kalashnikov to expand its business by 60% even after sanctions from the US and EU
  • The sanction was imposed after Crimean Peninsula Annexation by Russia.
• It will give a boost to Make in India initiative in Defence Sector.
• It will also strengthen India-Russia ties.
• India- Russia in August 2020 closed a deal for supplying 6 lakh AK203 rifles to India.
  • Out of these 20,000 will be directly imported whereas rest manufactured in India.
  • Amethi factory may be a probable site for this manufacturing.

Hyderabad wins global ‘Tree City’ status

• Hyderabad is one of new ‘Tree Cities of the World’ for 2020.
• The award is jointly declared by
  • the Arbor Day Foundation &
  • the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations Organisation.
•  This recognition stands for Hyderabad alongside 120 cities from 23 countries, including developed nations such as the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, etc.
• Hyderabad is the only city in India to gain such recognition.
• The city was evaluated based on the five standards:
  • ‘Establish Responsibility’.
  • ‘Set the Rules’.
  • ‘Know What You Have’.
  • ‘Allocate the Resources’.
  • ‘Celebrate the Achievements’.
• The award validates the efficiency of the State government’s Haritha Haram programme and its initiative for the Urban Forest Parks.
• Key Highlights of efforts taken by Hyderabad
  • Tree Boards: City leaders delegated government staff and groups of citizens with written responsibility to cater to trees
  • Rules-based Approach: There were penalties defined for non-compliance with rules.
  • Updated Inventory of Trees: It helped in long term pattern recognition and effective long term planning.
  • Dedicated Annual Budget: It helped in effective implementation of new and creative ideas.

K9 Vajra Howitzer

• The K-9 Vajra is an indigenized version of the basic K9 Thunder of South Korea.
• They are manufactured by Larsen & Toubro in partnership with the South Korean company.
• 155mm/52 calibre tracked, self-propelled Howitzer Guns have a range of 38 kilometres.
• The howitzers were delivered with more than 80% of indigenous work packages and above 50% indigenisation (by value).
• The K9 Vajra programme-
  • It  involved the delivery of 100 howitzers with associated engineering support packages covering spares, system documentation and training.
  •  It also involves maintenance transfer of technology to an army base workshop to support the howitzers throughout their operational life cycle,
• The next ‘Made in India’ howitzer that’s likely to be inducted would be the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)-developed the Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) system.

ECOpact- Green concrete

• ACC Ready Mix Concrete( a subsidiary of cement major ACC) has launched ECOPact – a Green Concrete.
• It is a low carbon and high-performing concrete which has been launched in Mumbai and Hyderabad.
• It reduces CO2 emissions completely.
•  It has 30-50 per cent lower embodied carbon content compared to a reference concrete designed with Ordinary Portland Cement.
• It uses CO2 reduced binders and is manufactured with optimised mix designs to reduce its carbon footprint and superior durability and finish when compared to conventional concrete.
• It is suitable for all structural components such as foundations to roof including columns, beams, slabs, external, internal walls, driveways and walkways.

Sub Mission on Plant Protection and Plant Quarantine (SMPPQ)

It is one of the Schemes under the Green Revolution (Krishonnati Yojana) under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare.

Under this, regulatory, monitoring, surveillance and capacity building functions are performed.

Aims –

• To minimize loss to quality and yield of agricultural crops from the ravages of insect pests, diseases, weeds, nematodes, rodents, etc.
• To shield our agricultural biosecurity from the incursions and spread of alien species
• To facilitate exports of Indian agricultural commodities to global markets.
• To promote good agricultural practices, particularly with respect to plant protection strategies and strategies.