SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS JANUARY 2014

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AFFAIRS JANUARY 2014

• Agriculture Ministry on 31 January, issued detailed guidelines and strategy to be adopted for implementation of the National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP). Rs. 3507 crore have been sanctioned for NMOOP in the 12th Plan. The scheme aims at enhancing production of traditional oilseed and tree-borne oilseed. In addition, significant area is sought to be brought under oil palm. The strategy to implement the proposed Mission includes--
  
  1) Increasing Seed Replacement Ratio (SRR) with focus on Varietal Replacement;
  
  2) Increasing irrigation coverage under oilseeds from 26% to 36%;
  
  3) Diversification of area from low yielding cereals crops to oilseeds crops; inter-cropping of oilseeds with cereals/ pulses/ sugarcane;
  
  4) Use of fallow land after paddy /potato cultivation;
  
  5) Expansion of cultivation of Oil Palm and tree borne oilseeds in watersheds and wastelands;
  
  6) Increasing availability of quality planting material enhancing procurement of oilseeds and collection; and
  
  7) Processing of tree borne oilseeds.
  
  The scheme would be implemented in mission mode through active involvement of all the stakeholders. The Centre and States will bear costs in the ratio of 75:25.
  
  NMOOP is to be implemented under three mini-missions.
  
  The Mini Mission I, on oilseeds, aims at increasing production from 28.93 million tonnes during 11th Plan to 35.51 million tonnes in 12th Plan. The productivity will rise from 1081 kg/ha during the 11th Plan period to 1328 kg/ha of oilseeds during 12th Plan period.
  
  Mini Mission II, on oil palm, aims at bringing additional 1.25 lakh hectare area under oil palm cultivation through area expansion. Wastelands will also be ustilised for this purpose. The mini-mission seeks to increase productivity of fresh fruit brunches from 4927 kg per ha to 15000 kg per ha.
  
  Mini Mission III, on tree-borne oilseed (TBOs), aims at enhancing seed collection of TBOs from 9 lakh tonnes to 14 lakh tonnes.
  
• India's financial capital Mumbai on 2 February, unveiled its first monorail system, a much-delayed project that aims to boost the city's creaking transport infrastructure and ease traffic on its notoriously congested roads. The first phase of the transit system, which opens to the public on 2 February, will ferry passengers along an 8.8 kilometre stretch in the city's east. The line expected to extend to about 20 kilometres in length and into south Mumbai next year. The monorail aims to ease congestion for commuters in the busy eastern suburbs and help connect them with the city's trains. The city is the most populated in India, with over 12 million people. When completed, it will have capacity for 100,000 to 200,000 passengers a day, according to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.
  
• AGNI-IV, the 4000 kms range Nuclear Capable Ballistic Missile was successfully launched on 20 January, from the Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha. This was the third consecutively successful trial and the last one in the series of development launches. The missile hit the target with two digit accuracy; meeting all mission objectives and proving the capabilities of the missile. The AGNI-IV missile propelled by composite solid fuel rocket motor technology was launched from its road mobile launcher indigenously developed by DRDO. The long range Radars and Electro-Optical Tracking Systems (EOTS) located all along the coast have tracked and monitored all the parameters throughout the flight. Two ships located near the target point tracked the vehicle and witnessed the final event. Agni-IV is equipped with state-of-the-art Avionics, 5th generation On Board Computer and distributed architecture. It has the latest features to correct and guide itself for in flight disturbances. The most accurate Ring Laser Gyro based Inertial Navigation System (RINS) and supported by highly reliable redundant Micro Navigation System (MINGS), ensured the vehicle reach the target within two digit accuracy.
  
• Led by an Indian-American, a team of scientists at a US university are genetically engineering tulsi or basil to enhance its pharmaceutical value, the institute said. In his lab at the Owensboro facility, Chandrakanth Emani, Assistant Professor of Plant Molecular Biology at the Western Kentucky University and his students are genetically engineering the basil to produce more eugenol, a compound in basil that "has a very great pharmaceutical value because it's shown to control breast cancer," the University said in a statement. "When you grind these basil leaves there is a compound called eugenol that comes out...Eugenol, when they put it on a plate where there are tumor cells, it stopped growth of the tumour cells. That was a proof of concept experiment which was done a long time back," Emani claimed. The next phase in the research project would be to test the compound as an effective cancer treatment.
  
• The Indian Coast Guard Ship ‘Abhinav’, the third in the series of twenty Fast Patrol Vessels (FPVs), designed and built by M/s Cochin Shipyard Limited, was commissioned on 15 January, at Kochi by the Director General of Coast Guard, Vice Admiral Anurag G Thapliyal. The 50 meter indigenous FPV displaces 290 tones and can achieve a maximum speed of 33 knots with an endurance of 1500 nautical miles at economical speed of 13 knots, equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry and advanced communication and navigational equipment. She makes an ideal platform for undertaking multifarious close-coast missions such as surveillance, interdiction, search and rescue and medical evacuation. The special features of the ship include an Integrated Bridge Management System (IBMS), Integrated Machinery Control System (IMCS) and an integrated gun mount with indigenous Fire Control System (FCS). The ship has been named ICGS ‘Abhinav’, literally meaning ‘Modern’, and will be based at Kochi under the administrative and operational control of the Commander, Coast Guard Region (West). The ship is commanded by Commandant (JG) Raman Kumar and has complement of 05 officers and 34 other ranks.
  
• Giving more power to women to defend themselves and as a tribute to December 2012 gangrape victim Nirbhaya, the Indian Ordnance Factory, Kanpur, has manufactured Nirbheek, a .32 bore light weight revolver, India's first firearm designed for women. At 500 grams, it is also the first IOF handgun made of titanium alloy. Priced at Rs 1, 22,360, Nirbheek was launched on January 6 and has already received around 80 formal enquiries and over 20 bookings. "At least 80% bookings are from women licensees," says Abdul Hameed, general manager of IOF. Described by arms experts as an Indian hybrid of a Webley & Scott and Smith & Wesson, for its simple mechanism and light frame, it is the smallest revolver made in India — an ideal to fit a purse or a small hand bag.
  
• Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on 5 January 2014 launched its heavy-duty rocket GSLV-D5 for placing communication satellite GSAT-14 into the orbit. The rocket GSLV-D5 lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota at 4:18 IST. It was powered by an indigenously developed cryogenic engine. The capacity of the INSAT/GSAT system will be augmented further by the 12 communication transponders onboard GSAT-14. It will help the country in providing many satellite-based communication services, which includes tele-education and tele-medicine. This successful launch has helped India to join the groups of nations namely US, Russia, France, China and Japan in mastering the complex cryogenic technology. This is a major achievement for the GSLV programme, said by Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, the Chairman of ISRO.
  
• POSCO, the South Korean steel maker giant on 10 January 2014 received environment clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) for a steel plant worth 52000 crore rupees in Odisha. The project was in the pipeline for clearance and all for past eight years. The clearance has come a week ahead of the India visit of the President of South Korea, Geun Hye. This clearance to POSCO has paved a way to build the steel plant with an annual production capacity of 12 million tones.With this investment, POSCO project will emerge as the largest foreign direct investment in India, which was stalled since 2005 because of the problems related to land procurement and environmental clearance.
  
• Researcher from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) designed the software Monitoring Climate Change (Moclic) through which is possible to organize, store and operate geo-referenced data from climate elements. Moclic can calculate bio and agro climatic indicators such as humidity, aridity, rain erosion and rainfall concentration. Using the new software information regarding temperature can be known more accurately which feeds on data from weather stations in any state or country. Moclic project allows an agronomist to obtain annual rainfall records and relate them to the crops production figures for explanation of a possible event.
  
  It is also possible to identify desiccation processes in a region which comes useful while considering the seeds that can resist droughts or the optimization of rainwater catching techniques, storage or types of irrigation. The software is very simple and can be used by decision making characters, as governors, breeders, physicians, farmers, students or anyone whose repercussions could have economic politic or social effects.