EDITORIALS & ARTICLES
1st March 2021
ISRO puts Brazil’s Amazonia-1, 18 other satellites into orbit
- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently successfully launched Brazil’s optical earth observation satellite, Amazonia-1, and 18 co-passenger satellites — five from India and 13 from the U.S. — from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
- The satellites were carried on board the PSLV-C51, the 53rd flight of ISRO’s launch vehicle and the first dedicated mission of its commercial arm, NewSpace India Ltd.
- The mission was undertaken under a commercial arrangement with Spaceflight Inc., U.S.
- The PSLV-C51, equipped with two solid strap-on boosters, the third such launch of the PSLV-DL variant, lifted off from the first launch pad at Sriharikota.
- Of the 13 satellites from the U.S., one is a technology demonstration satellite and the remaining are for two-way communications and data relay.
- The satellites from India are the Satish Dhawan SAT (SDSAT) built by Space Kidz India, a nano-satellite intended to study the radiation levels, space weather and demonstrate long-range communication technologies; the UNITYsat, a combination of three satellites for providing radio relay services; and another satellite belonging to the DRDO.
- The SDSAT has an engraving of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the top panel to show solidarity for the aatmanirbhar initiative and space privatisation, SpaceKidz said.
- The Bhagavad Gita was also sent on board an SD card to give the scripture, which teaches oneness as the highest form of humanity, the highest honour.
- Roughly 16 minutes after lift-off, the PS-4 engine was cut-off and the Amazonia-1, weighing 637 kg, belonging to the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE), was separated a minute later.
NEW REFORMS
- The satellite will further strengthen the existing structure by providing remote sensing data to users for monitoring deforestation in the Amazon region, according to ISRO.
- The Amazonia-1 was injected into its precise orbit of 758 km in a sun-synchronous polar orbit.
- Thereafter the other 18 customer satellites were placed into their intended orbits. The entire operation took about 1 hour and 55 minutes to completion.
- “This particular mission is special because these five Indian satellites are coming under the new space reformannounced by the Government of India.
- ISRO has 14 missions planned this year, including the first unmanned mission around the end of the year.
CSIR lab helped develop key molecule for Covaxin
The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), a Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) lab here, played a role in the development of Covaxin, the indigenous vaccine developed by the city-based Bharat Biotech International Limited.
- The vaccine is a highly purified, whole virion, inactivated SARS-Cov-2.
- The vaccine has been formulated with ‘Algel-IMDG’, which contains chemically absorbed TLR7/8 as an agonist or an adjuvant onto aluminium hydroxide gel to generate the requisite type of immune responses without damaging the body.
- The firm had approached the IICT to develop the synthetic route for the adjuvant molecule TLR 7/8 with indigenous chemicals at an affordable price and with highest purity.
- This indigenously developed molecule aided Bharat Biotech to scale up the production of the adjuvant.
SWIFT PROCESS
- Senior scientists completed the chemical process in a record four months for the development of analytical method for testing TLR7/8 adjuvant molecule and also got the method validation procedures through National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accredited lab.
- The process technology developed by CSIR-IICT for the molecule is playing an important role in the production of adjuvant for COVAXIN.
- CSIR-IICT team rose to the occasion in making the process affordable and enabling development of the molecule in record time.
- This is another instance of the CSIR’s commitment towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ or self-reliant India.
- CSIR labs, apart from helping the pharma industry launch repurposed drugs through process development and conducting clinical trials, have extensively contributed towards launching of diagnostic kits including ‘Feluda’ and dry swab direct RT-PCR method for the screening of SARS-CoV-2.
PM calls for water conservation drive
- Prime Minister recently said there was a need to start conserving water right away and that the Jal Shakti Ministry would be launching a 100-day “catch the rain” campaign soon.
- PM said there was a need to have collective responsibility on water conservation.
- In most parts of India, rainfall begins in May-June. In a few days from now, Jal Shakti Abhiyan 100 days ‘catch the rain’ is being initiated by the Jal Shakti Ministry for the sake of cleaning up the water sources around us and conserving rainwater.
‘SELF-RELIANT INDIA’:
- When we talk of science, many a time people restrict it to physics, chemistry or labs, but the spread of science is much more than that.
- And there is a lot of contribution of the power of science to the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign.
- PM said we have to move science forward with the mantra of ‘Lab to Land’.
- For making India more self-reliant, it was not just “bigger things”, such as missiles, aircraft, tanks and Metro trains, that would achieve the goal. PM cited the example of a farmer in Uttar Pradesh who has started growing chia seeds.
CHIA SEEDS
- Chia seeds has been in the news for some time now. People connected to health awareness give a lot of importance to Chia seeds and it has a lot of demand too in the world.
- In India, it is mostly sourced from abroad, but now people are taking up the challenge to be self-reliant in chia seeds, too.
- Similarly, a farmer in Uttar Pradesh has begun farming of chia seeds. Cultivation of chia seeds will also increase his income and will help in the self-reliant India campaign too.
Rural engg. colleges to lose 1,200 teachers
- A World Bank-funded project to take graduates from elite institutions to rural and remote engineering colleges in poorer States is coming to an end in March, leaving more than 1,200 assistant professors out of a job and some rural colleges bereft of half their faculty.
- The Centre is preparing its own MERITE project with some similar objectives to improve technical education, but that may be too late for the faculty employed under the current project.
EXAMPLE:
- Tanmay Rath holds a Ph.D. in polymer chemistry from IIT, Kharagpur, with post-doctoral experience in nanomaterials research in eastern Asia.
- However, for the past three years, he has been engaged in a project teaching chemistry to undergraduate engineering students in Motihari, a small town in East Champaran district of Bihar.
- Tanmay was hired under the TEQIP [Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme] project along with other NIT and IIT graduates and recruited to teach in some of the poorest and most remote areas.
- In Motihari Engineering College, there are 52 faculty but 20 are from TEQIP.
- Students have transformed the teaching system here. There were no practical lab classes being conducted at all until students under TEQIP came and now they don’t know how they will manage to teach the classes once our contract ends on March 31.
- In the Chemistry Department, the only other faculty is also retiring at the end of the month.
- Students have been appealing to the State and Central governments, but no one is willing to take the responsibility for the fate of these faculty or the students.
PHASES
- Three phases of the ?3,600-crore TEQIP project have been completed since it was launched in December 2002.
- The third phase focused on improving quality and equity in engineering institutions in seven low-income, eight northeastern and three hilly States.
- Among the initiatives was a bid to recruit more than 1,500 faculty from top institutions and send them to colleges that could never have afforded them. T
- hey were paid salaries in accordance with the Seventh Pay Commission. Now, neither the States nor the Centre is willing to commit to funding.
- What is the government talking about a new National Education Policy when it cannot even sustain the gains of an existing project,” asked a computer science faculty hired under TEQIP at the University College of Engineering and Technology in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.
- About 300 faculty have already quit TEQIP for other jobs, but 250 of those remaining have filed cases in the Delhi High Court. The next hearing is on March 15.
The third edition of Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav begins with great enthusiasm at Murshidabad
- The third and final edition of the Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav 2021 in West Bengal organized by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India began on 27th February 2021 at Murshidabad, West Bengal.
- The Mahotsav started with colourful performances by the local artists, which included ‘Baul Gaan’, ‘Alkup Gaan’, ‘Leto gaan’, ‘Jhumuriya’ and Ranpa folk dances.
- Besides the performances of the artists, 70 stalls of handicrafts, paintings, embroidery, and jute crafts etc. also attracted the people.
RASHTRIYA SANSKRITI MAHOTSAV:
- Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav, the flagship festival of Culture Ministry has been organized since 2015 with the active participation of Seven Zonal Culture Centres and has been playing a pivotal role to take the vibrant culture of India out to the masses instead of confining to auditoria and galleries.
- It has been instrumental in showcasing, folk and tribal art, dance, music, cuisines & culture of one state in other states reinforcing the cherished goal of “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” and at the same time providing an effective platform to the artists and artisans to support their livelihood.
- Earlier Rashtriya Sanskritik Mahotsavs have been held till date since November, 2015 in various states and cities such as Delhi, Varanasi, Bengaluru, Tawang, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tehri and Madhya Pradesh.
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