Daily Current Affairs : 21-12-2020

1.E20 Fuel

Recently, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has published a draft notification and invited comments from the public for adoption of E20 Fuel.

Background

• The current permissible level of blending is 10% of ethanol but India has reached only 5.6% of blending in 2019.

• The move assumes significance in the wake of Transport Minister stressing on promoting green fuel like ethanol to reduce huge Rs 8 lakh crore crude import dependence.

• The government aspires to take the ethanol economy to Rs 2 lakh crore in the next five years from Rs 22,000 crore at present.

What is E20 Fuel?

• E20 fuel, i.e. blend of 20% of ethanol with gasoline, as an automotive fuel and for the adoption of mass emission standards for this fuel

Significance of E20 Fuel

• It is an automobile fuel that is capable of reducing vehicular emissions such as carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, etc.

• It will help reduce the oil import bill, thereby saving foreign exchange and boosting energy security.

• It added the compatibility of vehicles with the percentage of ethanol in the blend would be defined by the vehicle manufacturer, which would have to be displayed on the vehicle with a sticker.

Ethanol Blending Policy in India

 

Ethanol is a biofuel and a common by-product of biomass left by agricultural feedstock such as corn, sugarcane, hemp, potato, etc.

 

The government has set targets of 10 per cent bioethanol blending of petrol by 2022 and to raise it to 20 per cent by 2030 under the ethanol blending programme to curb carbon emissions and reduce India’s dependence on imported crude oil.

 

1G bioethanol plants utilise sugarcane juice and molasses, byproducts in the production of sugar, as raw material, while 2G plants utilise surplus biomass and agricultural waste to produce bioethanol.

Source: The Hindu

2.Varasat Campaign

Recently, the Uttar Pradesh government has launched the ‘Varasat’ Campaign.

About Varasat Campaign

• It is a special campaign of Uttar Pradesh to curb property & land-related disputes in rural areas.

• It is a first of its kind campaign to end the nagging land-related issues in the rural areas.

• It is aimed at eradicating the exploitation of the villagers in the name of 'Varasat' of land and property.

Significance of Varasat Campaign

• The 'Varasat' campaign will not only end the long-pending land disputes but will also put a check on the land mafia who generally target disputed lands, especially in the rural areas.

• The new initiative is expected to settle case pending for years in the around one lakh revenue villages of the state.

• After the 'Varasat' exercise, people will get proper paper documents of their land property and could also get loans from banks.

• It will also be helpful in minimizing disputes and animosity within families and relatives.

Source: All India Radio

3.Human Freedom Index

Recently, the Human Freedom Index 2020 was released by the Cato Institute in the United States and Fraser Institute in Canada.

Key Highlights

• The Human Freedom Index 2020, which uses data from 2008 to 2018, noted a decrease in personal freedoms since 2008 globally.

• This sixth annual index uses 76 distinct indicators of personal and economic freedom in the following areas:

  • Rule of Law

  • Security and Safety

  • Movement

  • Religion

  • Association, Assembly, and Civil Society

  • Expression and Information

  • Identity and Relationships

  • Size of Government

  • Legal System and Property Rights

  • Access to Sound Money

  • Freedom to Trade Internationally

  • Regulation of Credit, Labor, and Business

• New Zealand was ranked one in the index, followed by Switzerland and Hong Kong.

• The index put China at 129, Bangladesh at 139 and Pakistan at 140.

• The report highlighted that the level of global freedom has decreased slightly (−0.04), with 70 countries in the index increasing their ratings and 70 decreasing.

  • Only 15% of the world’s population lives in the top quartile of countries in the HFI, and 34% live in the bottom quartile.

• The gap in human freedom between the most free and the least free countries has widened since 2008, increasing by 6% when comparing the top and bottom 10% of nations in the HFI.

• The report added that out of 10 regions, the regions with the highest levels of freedom are North America (Canada and the United States), Western Europe and East Asia.

• Women-specific freedoms are strongest in North America, Western Europe, and East Asia and are least protected in the Middle East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia.

India’s performance in Human Freedom Index 2020

• India was ranked 111th out of the 162 countries under personal, civil and economic freedom.

• India was ranked 110 in terms of personal freedom and 105 on economic freedom, with an overall score of 6.43 out of 10.

• India ranks above neighbours Pakistan (140), Bangladesh (139) and China (129) but below Bhutan (108), Sri Lanka (94) and Nepal (92).

About Human Freedom Index

• It presents the state of human freedom in the world based on a broad measure that encompasses personal, civil, and economic freedom.

• Human freedom is a social concept that recognizes the dignity of individuals and is defined here as negative liberty or the absence of coercive constraint.

• It is a resource that can help to more objectively observe relationships between freedom and other social and economic phenomena.

Source: The Hindu

4.India's First Hypersonic Wind Tunnel Test Facility

Recently, the Union Minister of Defence has inaugurated India's First Hypersonic Wind Tunnel (HWT) Test Facility at DRDO.

About Hypersonic Wind Tunnel

• The state-of-the-art HWT Test facility is a pressure vacuum-driven enclosed free jet facility having nozzle exit diameter of 1 meter and will simulate Mach No 5 to 12.

• India is the third country to have such a large facility in terms of size and operating capability after US and Russia.

• It is an indigenous development and an outcome of synergistic partnership with Indian industries.

• The facility has the capability to simulate hypersonic flow over a wide spectrum and will play a major role in the realization of highly complex futuristic aerospace and defence systems.

Application of Hypersonic Wind Tunnel

• Air-directly-heated hypersonic wind tunnel: It can be operated in a continuous mode for long test time and are broadly used in aerodynamic tests for hypersonic vehicles.

• Light-gas-heated high-enthalpy shock tunnel: For shock tunnels, the shock theory indicates that the incident shock Mach number increases with the increase of the pressure and the sound speed of the driver gas and the total temperature of the test gas depends on the incident shock Mach number.

• Free-piston driven high-enthalpy shock tunnel: In a free-piston driven high-enthalpy shock tunnel, the high pressure driver gas is generated by a rapidly-moving piston.

  • During shock tunnel operation, a heavy piston is first accelerated to a high speed in a shock tube, and then compresses the driver gas in front of its nose.

• Detonation-driven high-enthalpy shock tunnel: A detonation driver is established based on high pressure and temperature detonated products from which the required incident shock wave is generated.

Source: The Hindu

5.Shigella

Recently, the Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, has begun an investigation into the outbreak of Shigella infection at Mayanad area in the city.

What is Shigella Infection?

• Shigella is a Gram-negative, non-motile bacillus belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family

• The experts have provided that shigella bacteria causes an infection called shigellosis, and the infected will have diarrhoea, stomach cramps and fever.

• Diarrhoea, often containing blood or mucus in stool, stomach pain, cramps, fever and vomiting are the main symptoms of the infection.

Transmission of Shigella Infection

• Infants, non-breast fed children, children recovering from measles, malnourished children, and adults older than 50 years have a more severe illness and a greater risk of death.

• It is highly contagious and can be transmitted after using a common toilet also.

• The transmission occurs via the faecal-oral route, person-to-person contact, household flies, infected water, and inanimate objects.

Treatment of Shigella Infection

• The 2005 guidelines recommend ciprofloxacin as first-line treatment and noted that pivmecillinam and ceftriaxone were the only antimicrobials that are usually effective for the treatment of multi-resistant strains of Shigella in all age groups.

• The WHO 2013 Pocketbook of hospital care for children includes a section on the treatment of Shigella dysentery.

  • The treatment protocol is concurrent with the 2005 guidelines outlined above, with the exception of a slightly lower dosage range listed for ceftriaxone.

Source: The Hindu

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