What is in news : Shivamogga district administration has taken steps to re-start an oxygen plant on the Visvesaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISP) campus in Bhadravati to fulfil the medical oxygen requirement of the government hospitals in the district.
About VISVESARAYA IRON AND STEEL PLANT
VISP is a unit of Steel Authority of India Limited, is a plant involved in the production of alloy steels and pig iron.
It was started as the Mysore Iron Works on 18 January 1923 by Sir M Visvesvaraya.
It is now a steel plant under the jurisdiction of the Steel Authority of India Limited.
What is it : An Oxygen Concentrator is a device that takes in air and separates the oxygen and delivers it into a person via a nasal cannula, which is around 95% pure
How does it work?
A concentrator consists of a compressor and sieve bed filter.
The former squeezes atmospheric air and also adjusts the pressure at which is delivered.
The sieve bed is made of a material called Zeolite that separates the nitrogen.
There are two sieve beds that work to both release oxygen into a tank that’s connected to the cannula as well as release the separated nitrogen and form a continuous loop that keeps producing fresh oxygen.
When is an oxygen concentrator needed?
When blood saturation levels drop below 94%, it could be a sign of respiratory distress. Usually this merits hospitalisation, but due to the surge in COVID-19 cases and oxygen beds in short supply, the device could help those whose saturation levels range between 88-92 if they can’t access hospital services. Any lower would require more intensive oxygenation and any higher would mean that an improvement in lung function can obviate the need for device like Oxygen Concentrator.
Is there any drawback : In cases of severe respiratory distress, it may be necessary to provide oxygen that is almost 99% pure and an oxygen concentrator is not up to that job.
What is in news : Karnataka government to import 500 oxygen concentrators from China
What : Insectivorous Shrew
What is the news : Scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have discovered a new species of insectivorous mammal, a white-toothed shrew Where: Narcondam Island of the Andaman and Nicobar group of islands.
What are shrews : Shrews are small and mouse-like mammals, and they live in sub-leaf stratum in the forests. Insects are the primary diet of these animals
What is special about this discovery : This is the first discovery of a shrew from the volcanic Narcondam Island
Note : The total species of Shrew in India is 12 now
About Narcodam Island : Narcondam, India's easternmost Island, is a small volcanic island located in the northern Andaman Sea. The island's peak rises to 710 m above mean sea level, and it is formed of andesite. It is part of the Andaman Islands, the main body of which lie approximately 124 km (77 mi) to the west.
How was it done : The researchers transmitted radio waves toward Venus 21 times from 2006 to 2020 from NASA's Goldstone Antenna in the Mojave Desert of California and studied the radio echo, which provided information on certain planetary traits, at Goldstone and at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia.
What are the findings :
The study found that a single Venusian rotation takes 243.0226 Earth days. That means a day lasts longer than a year on Venus, which makes a complete orbit around the sun in 225 Earth days. This again confirms that Venus has the longest day in our solar system
Venusian planetary core has a diameter of about 4,360 miles (7,000 km), comparable to Earth's core.
Venus spins on its axis almost upright - meaning it lacks discernable seasons — while Earth has more of a tilt. The study calculated the Venusian tilt at about 2.64 degrees. Earth's is about 23.5 degrees.
Diameter of Venus : 7500 Miles (12k kilometers)
Atmosphere of Venus is thick and toxic and consists primarily of carbon dioxide, with clouds of sulfuric acid droplets
With a runaway greenhouse effect, its surface temperatures reach 880 degrees Fahrenheit (471 degrees Celsius), hot enough to melt lead.
Venus spins from east to west, the opposite direction from all other planets, except URANUS
What is the news : Framework for implementation of the SVAMITVA Scheme and Coffee Table Book (CTB) to mark the nationwide roll-out of the SVAMITVA Scheme was recently released
Framework developed by : Ministry of Panchayati Raj
What is Coffee Table Book on the scheme : Coffee Table Book on SVAMITVA Scheme is an effort to condense the vast efforts of various stakeholders involved in the implementation of the Scheme, learnings and best practices that have emerged during the course, glimpses of various challenges and success stories and provide a way forward.
About Swamitva scheme :
SVAMITVA
Is a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj was nationally launched by the Prime Minister on the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day on 24th April 2021 after successful completion of the pilot phase of the Scheme in 9 States.
Aims to provide property rights to the residents of rural inhabited areas in India by using Drone survey and CORS Networks which provides mapping accuracy of 5 cms.
NOTE: The Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) is the Nodal Ministry for implementation of the SVAMITVA scheme. In the States, the Revenue Department/Land Records Department will be the Nodal Department and shall carry out the scheme with the support of State Panchayati Raj Departments.
What is it : Biodegradable Yoga mat developed from Water Hyacinth
By: Six young girls from the fishing community in Assam
Additional Facts:
The girls belong to the fishing community living in the fringe of the Deepor Beel, a permanent freshwater lake in south west of Guwahati city, recognised as a Ramsar Site (a wetland of international importance) and a bird wildlife sanctuary.
The intervention was triggered through an initiative by North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR), an autonomous body under Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India to involve the entire women community associated with a collective called ‘Simang’ meaning dream, led by the 6 girls to create wealth from water hyacinth plants.
“7WEAVES”, (a sister concern of the Simang Collectives) team provided expertise on natural dyeing from locally available natural materials of Loharghat Forest Range, Kamrup District enabling NECTAR to include naturally dyed cotton yarns from lac, onion skins, iron and jaggery, in various patterns for the mat. Various equipment of the loom was changed to adapt to the woven structure of the mat.
What :
Launched in 2018,it is a health insurance scheme that was introduced for the journalists by the Odisha state government. The scheme provides two lakh rupees of health insurance cover to all the working journalists of the state.
The scheme includes cashless treatment in government and private hospitals and covers illness and injuries faced by journalists while performing their duties.
Recent News: The Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik recently declared working journalists of the State of Odisha as the frontline COVID-19 warriors. This announcement was made under the Gopabandhu Sambadika Swasthya Bima Yojana.
Additional facts:
About Gopal-bandhu Das
The scheme has been named after Gopalbandhu Das. He was a popular reformer, social worker, journalist, political activist, essayist and a poet in Odisha.
His contributions to the field of culture, art and society earned him the “Epithet of Utkalmani”. It means the Jewel of Odisha.
He launched a magazine called “Satyabadi”. His contributions to journalism were short but remarkable.
What is the news: A trust based in Assam recently made videos using the traditional art called “Putola Nach”.
Why:
The art form was used to take the messages related to COVID-19 to the public through social media.
The videos were produced in collaboration with the UNICEF.
The names of the videos were COVID Shatru (enemy), COVID Bibharat (confusion). These two were released in Assamese. Mama ro Mina ko COVID Katha (COVID Tale of Mama and Mina) was released in Nepali language.
About Putola Nach:
It is a traditional string puppet theatre from Assam in North East India.
The other forms of puppetry and shadow theatre have disappeared.
The Putala nach is also called putala bhaona.
Usually, Putola Nach is used to perform scenes from the epics such as Ramayana or Mahabharatha.
These dolls are 1.5 metres tall and are made of hollow wood or bamboo. Their heads are made of terracotta.
Musical Instruments used in performing the art are dhol, harmonium, kansi, double reed wind instrument and a bell metal plate beaten with a stick.
There were three different styles of string puppetry in Assam. They were Kalaigaon in Northern Assam, Barpeta-Nalbari in western Assam and Majuli “island” in eastern Assam.
What is the news: The Indian Army recently launched the first Green Solar Energy About the plant
The plant uses Vanadium based battery technology.
It was built at an altitude of 16,000 feet.
The capacity of the plant is 56 KVA.
It was completed in collaboration with IIT Mumbai. harnessing plant in Sikkim.
It was launched to benefit the troops of the Indian army.
What is the news: On May 4, 2021, the Union Minister of Petroleum Shri Dharmendra Pradhan flagged off the first supply of used cooking oil-based biodiesel.
Additional Information:
It was launched under the Expression of Interests Scheme.
About the Scheme
It was launched in 2019.
It was launched for the procurement of bio diesel produced from used cooking oil.
It mainly aims to create a system for collection and conversion of Used Cooking Oil into biodiesel.
Between August 2019 and November 2020, that is, during the first phase of the scheme, eleven Expression of Interests were received.
Why Bio-diesel?
Biodiesel is an alternate to “fossil fuels”. Bio diesel can be produced from animal fats, vegetable oil, waste cooking oil. Also, the main advantage of using bio-diesel is its carbon-neutrality. Also, it is completely non-toxic, biodegradable.
What is the news: The astrophysicists from the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics have discovered the first blow away galaxy using the “Gemini Telescope”.
Additional information :
The galaxy has been named as Pox 186.
The Blow away state means that the hydrogen clouds have been removed. This allows light to escape.
The Blow away state may be was caused by dying stars, super novas.
Gemini Telescope
It is an astronomical observatory that consists of two telescopes namely Gemini North and Gemini South.
They are located in Hawaii and Chile respectively.
These telescopes are the largest and most advanced optical telescopes available to the astronomers.
The English professional snooker player Mark Selby has won the World Championship for the fourth time.
The United States recently approved 550 million USD for the Crimson Solar Project. The project is to be set up on 2,000 acres of land in the Desert of California
The alpha particle are those particles that gets ejected from radioactive elements as they decay.
What is Significant Economic Presence? It means that a transaction in goods or services or property carried out by a Non-Resident in India. This includes download of software or data.
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