• 09 Jun 2022

Uttar Pradesh's First Carbon-Free Zone to be 'Kashi Vishwanath Dham'

Why in News?

• On June 8, 2022, Varanasi Divisional Commissioner Deepak Agarwal informed that the temple administration has started an initiative to make the Kashi Vishwanath Dham area carbon-free. It will be the first such temple in the state, which will be completely free from carbon and dust particles.

Key Points

• In view of the pollution level, the temple administration has decided to install air purifiers to make the dham area carbon and pollution free. For this, air purifiers will be installed at 12 places in dham area under csr fund.
• It is worth mentioning that due to the burning pyres at Manikarnika Ghat, the Kashi Vishwanath Dham has registered an unexpected increase in the amount of carbon along with PM 2.5 and PM 10. At the same time, due to the construction work, there has also been a decrease in the trees and plants in the surrounding area.
• As a trial run by the temple administration in collaboration with the district administration and a company, a trial was conducted to purify the atmosphere around the temple by installing an air purifier. Five km in this machine installed in the temple area. Up to the area had the ability to absorb dust particles from the area.
• Air purifiers based on Hepa (High Efficiency Particulate Air) technology will be installed at Kashi Vishwanath Dham. This technique has been used to clean the air for many years.
• The Hepa filter is capable of capturing more than 99.97 particles larger than 0.3 microns. These filters provide a more clean environment because of the mold and bacteria being able to catch.

Bihar Textile and Leather Policy, 2022 Launched

Why in News?

• On June 8, 2022, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launched the Investors Meet-cum-Bihar Textile and Leather Policy, 2022 at The Convention Building in Patna.

Key Points

• Addressing the conference, he said that the new policy will greatly benefit investors setting up industries in Bihar. The state will soon become a major textile hub of the country.
• The textile and leather policy provides for a wide range of incentives including capital grant, employment grant, power grant, freight grant, patent grant, skill development grant. There are provisions like interest subvention on loan, reimbursement of SGST, waiver of stamp duty, registration, exemption on land conversion.
• The Chief Minister said that the main objective of the policy is to develop Bihar as a major potential investment hub for domestic and global investors in the region and to provide a variety of incentives to entrepreneurs starting textile and leather businesses.
• Under the new policy, 15 percent of the cost of capital investment for plant and machinery will be given, subject to a maximum of Rs.10 crore. Apart from this, the grant of electricity charges will be two rupees per unit.
• The employees working in the industry will be given a grant for a period of five years at the rate of Rs 5,000 per month. 30% transport subsidy will be given to the respective units for export.
• Under the new policy, a grant of Rs.10 lakh per annum will be given on freight movement for five years. A grant of 50 per cent of the registration expenses will be given on patenting your product, subject to a maximum of Rs 10 lakh.

Gwalior Arm-Wrestling Team wins 25 medals in National Tournament

Why in News?

• Recently, the Gwalior arm-wrestling team won 25 medals in a stellar performance at the 44thNational Arm-Wrestling Championships held in Hyderabad.

Key Points

• The 44^th National Arm-Wrestling Championship was held from May 31 to June 6, 2022 at the Gachibowli Sports Complex Stadium in Hyderabad. More than 900 players from 25 states participated in this competition.
• Madhya Pradesh finished second after Kerala in the championship. Gwalior team has broken its 44-year-old record by winning 25 medals in the championships.
• Keshav Pandey, president of Gwalior Arm-Wrestling Federation, said vikram award winner Manish Kumar; World silver medallist Arvind Rajak; Niranjan Gurjar; Rajendra Mahore; Sachin Goel; Sujit Mahore; Umesh Pal; Yogendra Yadav; Pooja Bhadauria; Ayush Kaushal and Shivam Gurjar won gold medals. Also, some of them won silver and bronze medals.
• Keshav Pandey informed that Gwalior Arm-Wrestling Academy is the first full-fledged academy in the country for arm-wrestling.

Scientists at IIT (ISM) Develop Absorbers to Remove Arsenic from Groundwater

Why in News?

• In a recent research, scientists from IIT (ISM) Dhanbad have succeeded in developing an adsorbent that helps in removing arsenic from groundwater.

Key Points

• Associate Professor of Environmental Science Engineering Department Dr. S.R. A four-member team of researchers led by Samaddar claims that arsenic can be removed through the coating of nano-manganese on calcinated laterite soil arsenic.
• Researcher Roshan Prabhakar and two MTech students Somparna Ghosh and Ali helped in the research.
• Dr. Samaddar pointed out that arsenic has been identified as a first-class human carcinogen and the World Health Organization has set its permissible limit in drinking water at 10 micrograms per litre.
• Dr. Samaddar said that we have developed an absorption based scalable treatment system for the resource deprived community living in rural areas .
• He said that nano-based adsorption systems have been popular among researchers for the removal of arsenic ions, but since nano-absorbers are expensive to synthesize, this research uses cheap and readily available laterite soil as the base material for nano coating.
• Dr. Samaddar pointed out that the treatment of 1000 liters of water with a concentration of 200 ppb requires about 0.70 kg of laterite nano manganese, most of which contains laterite clay particles. It can help in removing arsenic from groundwater in different parts of the country on a percentage basis.

The State now Bought Paddy for Rs. 2640

Why in News?

• On June 8, 2022, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel announced to buy paddy at the rate of Rs. 2640 per quintal in the next kharif season in the state.

Key Points

• Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel made the announcement after the Central government increased the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of general grade paddy by Rs 100 for the crop year 2022-23.
• On June 8, 2022, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the increase in the MSP of 14 kharif crops, including paddy.
• The MSP of general grade paddy has been increased by Rs.100/- per quintal to Rs.2040 per quintal for the crop year 2022-23. It was Rs.2040 per quintal last year.
• Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said that after the increase of Rs.100 in the Centre's MSP, the farmers of Chhattisgarh will get an amount of Rs.2640 per quintal by adding the amount of input subsidy.
• Due to nyaya scheme and input subsidy, farmers of Chhattisgarh will get Rs.700 more for one quintal of paddy as compared to other states.
• The state government had purchased paddy at Rs.2540 per quintal in the last kharif season, which also includes an incentive of Rs.600.
• It is worth mentioning that the Chhattisgarh government buys 15 quintals of paddy behind one acre of farmland. Under the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay yojana, farmers are given input subsidy of 9,000 rupees per acre i.e. 15 quintals of paddy.

Uttarakhand to become Third State to Launch Food Grain ATM Scheme

Why in News?

• On June 8, 2022, Uttarakhand's Food and Civil Supplies Minister Rekha Arya informed that under the World Food Scheme, the Uttarakhand Food Department is soon going to launch the Food Grain ATM scheme in the state.

Key Points

• It is to be noted that Uttarakhand will be the third state in the country to launch the Food Grain ATM scheme. At present, the Food Grain ATM scheme is running only in the state of Odisha and Haryana.
• Minister Rekha Arya said that the eligible people for free ration from the government ration shop will no longer have to make rounds of the shops, just as the common man withdraws money for his need from the ATM machine, now the eligible people can take the food grains.
• This system will work like an ATM machine. It will also have a screen like an ATM machine on it. Ration Card holders will be able to come here and extract wheat, rice and pulses like an ATM machine. The scheme is being launched under a pilot project.