Current Affair 1:

Three Indian Cities Nominated for Wetland City Tag

 

News:

Currently, India does not have any cities under this:

This is the first time, MoEFCC has submitted three nominations from India for Wetland City Accreditation (WCA) of Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) & Udaipur (Rajasthan) under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. These are the first three Indian cities for which nominations have been submitted for WCA based on the proposals received from respective State Wetlands Authorities in collaboration with the Municipal Corporations.

To be formally accredited, a candidate for the Wetland City Accreditation should satisfy the standards used to implement each of the six international criteria mentioned Operational Guidance for WCA of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

This voluntary scheme provides an opportunity for cities that value their natural or human-made wetlands to gain international recognition and positive branding opportunities for their efforts in demonstrating strong positive relationships with wetlands.

Current Affair 2:

CSIR- ‘REJUPAVE’ Technology

 

News:

Arunachal Pradesh has successfully utilized an indigenous road construction technology “REJUPAVE” developed by India’s oldest and premier road research organization CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI), Ministry of Science and Technology to construct high altitude bituminous roads at low and sub-zero temperature conditions.

Why we need this technology?

1. Building a robust road infrastructure to improve operational capacity of our defence forces ay Indo-China border.
2. Construction and maintenance of high-altitude bituminous roads on China Border in state of Arunachal Pradesh under low and sub-zero temperature conditions was always a challenging task.
3. Majority of bituminous road construction work’s either got halt up or delayed when the winter months roll in, as the production of hot bituminous mix for road construction requires increased heating time at elevated temp ranges i.e160 to 170 0 Cin hot mix plant.

To address all these challenges Border Road Organization, Arunachal Pradesh has successfully utilized an indigenous road construction technology “REJUPAVE” to construct high altitude bituminous roads at low and sub-zero temperature conditions.

Advantages:

This technology brings down the production and rolling temp of bituminous mixes by 30 to 400 C with negligible heat loss in bituminous mix during transit, despite long haulage time amid snow falls.

REJUAPAVE asphalt modifier is a biooil based product which significantly lower the heating requirement of bituminous mixes besides preserving the bituminous mix temperature during transit. It also brings down the greenhouse gas emissions in the pristine eco-sensitive mountainous environment of Arunachal Pradesh.

Current Affair 3:

PSLV-C58 X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) mission

 

News:

XPoSat (X-ray Polarimeter Satellite) is the first dedicated scientific satellite from ISRO to carry out research in space-based polarisation measurements of X-ray emission from celestial sources.

The spacecraft will carry two scientific payloads in a low earth orbit. The primary payload POLIX (Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays) will measure the polarimetry parameters (degree and angle of polarization) in medium X-ray energy range of 8-30 keV photons of astronomical origin. The XSPECT (X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing) payload will give spectroscopic information in the energy range of 0.8-15 keV.

The objectives of this mission are:

1. To measure polarisation of X-rays.
2. To carry out long term spectral and temporal studies of cosmic X-ray sources.
3. To carry out polarisation and spectroscopic measurements of X-ray emissions from cosmic sources.

The PSLV C-58 was the 60th flight of the Indian Space Research Organisation's Polar Satellite launch Vehicle.

Current Affair 4:

United Nations Statistical Commission

 

News:

India started its four-year term as a member of the United Nations Statistical Commission. The country had won the election to the global statistics body in April after a gap of nearly two decades.

About:

The United Nations Statistical Commission, established in 1946, is the highest body of the global statistical system bringing together the Chief Statisticians from member states from around the world.

A Statistical Commission was established by the Economic and Social Council which state that the Commission shall assist the Council:

The Statistical Commission oversees the work of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), and it is a Functional Commission of the UN Economic and Social Council.

The Statistical Commission consists of 24 member countries of the United Nations, elected by the United Nations Economic and Social Council on the basis of an equitable geographical distribution. The term of office of members is four years.

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