Centre clears 15 R&D Projects in the strategic areas such as Specialty Fibres, High Performance Textiles, Protech, Sustainable Textiles, Meditech and Geotech segment under NTTM

• Technical Textiles are textile products which are manufactured primarily for their functionality and use rather than aesthetic appeal.
• Technical textiles are classified into 12 major groups based on their application areas namely; Agrotech, Geotech, Buildtech, Mobiltech, Hometech, Clothtech, Indutech, Meditech, Sportstech, Protech, Packtech, Oekotech.

Key features of the National Technical Textiles Mission India

• The Ministry of Textiles has launched NTTM to increase the penetration level of technical textiles in India while leveraging the extraordinary growth rate of the sector.
• The mission aims to position India as a global leader in Technical Textiles.
• The mission will comprise the following four components:
  • Research, Innovation and Development
  • Promotion and Market Development
  • Export Promotion
  • Education, Training, Skill Development
• **Implementation:**It has been approved with an implementation period of four years starting from FY 2020-21 till FY 2023-24. The total outlay of the mission is INR 1480 Cr.

MeitY, Meta announce list of 120 startups, innovators for XR Startup Programme

• The XR Startup Program is a collaboration between Meta and MeitY Startup Hub (MSH).
• Aim: To accelerate India’s contribution towards building the foundations of the metaverse and nurturing the development of Extended Reality (XR) technologies in India.
• It includes two segments namely; an Accelerator and a Grand Challenge
• Accelerator:
  • The Accelerator will nurture and foster 40 early-stage startups working with XR technologies through a well-designed 6-month program.
  • Each startup will get access to many benefits, including a grant of ₹ 20,00,000, mentorship by industry experts and researchers, access to a network of potential strategic partners and investors, technology and infrastructure support, and opportunities to participate and present at relevant industry events.
• Grand Challenge:
  • The Grand Challenge is aimed at supporting early-stage innovators to upscale from the R&D phase to developing workable prototypes and Minimum Viable Products (MVPs).
  • It will encourage early-stage innovators in sectors like Education, Learning and Skills, Healthcare, Gaming and Entertainment, Agritech & Climate Action and Tourism & Sustainability.
  • It will include 4 sector-specific challenges to advance the XR technology ecosystem in India.
  • A total of 80 shortlisted innovators will receive a grant of ₹ 50,000 and an opportunity to attend the boot camp.
  • Of the 80 shortlisted innovators, 16 innovators will be supported with grants worth ₹ 20,00,000 to help them develop MVP(s)/ prototypes.

Shri Sarbananda Sonowal Inaugurates National Logistics Portal

• The National Logistic Portal (marine) (NLP) is a project of national importance, as envisaged by the Ministry of Ports Shipping Waterways and the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
• Aim: To use IT to connect all logistics community stakeholders, to improve efficiency and transparency by reducing costs and time delays and achieving easier, faster, and more competitive service offerings.
• NLP will serve as a single point of contact for all logistics trade processes across the country, including all modes of transportation via waterways, roads, and airways.
• The activities of NLP Marine are categorized into four distinct verticals
  • Carrier
  • Cargo
  • Banking and Finance
  • Regulatory Bodies and Participating Government Agencies (PGAs).
• The Latch On feature facilitates the trade in providing the required features that are not directly embedded into NLP Marine, by linking through systems developed by other agencies seamlessly without duplication of efforts.
• It is envisaged that many standalone applications, developed by multiple vendors, users, and other stakeholders will integrate with NLP Marine through appropriate curation.
• It also enables digital transactions for payments required for the clearance processes such as Port charges, CFS charges, shipping line charges, transportation charges.

Antarctica weather patterns changing, leading to record loss of ice: NCPOR study

• It is an autonomous research institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) established in 1998.
• NCPOR is tasked with planning and executing polar expeditions and scientific research in Antarctica, Arctic, Himalayas and Southern Ocean.
• NCPOR is the nodal agency for planning, promoting, coordinating, and executing the entire gamut of polar and southern ocean scientific research in the country and the associated logistics activities.
• It also undertakes research on some of the country’s strategically vital projects like mapping of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), continental shelf margins and the Deep Ocean Mission.
• The Center maintains a Research Advisory Committee (RAC) to help guide and concentrate the research activities.
• It is located in Vasco da Gama, Goa, and was formerly known as the National Center for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR).

Chemical weapons watchdog blames Syrian air force for Douma attack

Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW):

• It is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
• Mission: To implement the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in order to achieve the OPCW’s vision of a world that is free of chemical weapons and of the threat of their use, and in which cooperation in chemistry for peaceful purposes for all is fostered.
• Its headquarters are located in The Hague, Netherlands.
• The OPCW receives states-parties’ declarations detailing chemical weapons-related activities or materials and relevant industrial activities.
• The OPCW is authorized to perform inspections to verify that signatory states are complying with the convention.
• It also performs testing of sites and victims of suspected chemical weapons attacks.
• OPCW reports on its inspections and other activities to the UN through the office of the secretary-general.
• The OPCW was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013.

Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC):

• It is a multilateral treaty that bans chemical weapons and requires their destruction within a specified period of time.
• It entered into force on April 29, 1997.
• The CWC requires states-parties to declare in writing to the OPCW their chemical weapons stockpiles, chemical weapons production facilities (CWPFs), relevant chemical industry facilities, and other weapons-related information.
• The CWC is open to all nations and currently has 193 states-parties.

Two Potentially Habitable Earth-Like Planets Discovered Around a Star Near the Sun

• The two new planets are named, GJ 1002 b and GJ 1002 c.
• These planets lie in so-called habitable zones, within which water could be found in liquid form, and which is located in the immediate vicinity of the star due to its low luminosity.
• Planet b has a mass slightly higher than Earth’s, is the closer of the two and its year lasts only 10 days.
• Planet c is about a third more massive than Earth and takes about 20 days to orbit the star.
• The two planets were discovered using the radial velocity (RV) method.

Radial Velocity method

• This method is based on the detection of variations in the velocity of the central star, due to the changing direction of the gravitational pull from an unseen exoplanet as it orbits the star.

Climate change fuelling conflict in Lake Chad Basin

• Lake Chad is located in the Sahel, the vast semi-arid region south of the Sahara desert.
• It is bordered by 4 countries - Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria.
• Source of the Lake: It is fed mainly by the Chari River through the Lagone tributary.
• The Lagone tributary used to provide 90 % of its water.
• Significance of the Lake: The Lake is vital for indigenous, pastoral and farming communities in these countries.
• The lake has been supporting drinking water, irrigation, fishing, livestock and economic activity for over 30 million people in the region.
• The Lake Chad basin in west and central Africa covers 8% of the African continent and is home to 42 million people.

Lake Basin Region

• Lake Chad has shrunk by 90% in 60 years, and climate change is a significant contributor.
• A 13-year insurgency of the Boko Haram extremist group and other militant groups has destabilized the Lake Chad basin and the wider Sahel region.

Indus Waters Treaty: India issues fresh notice to Pakistan for modification in water-sharing deal

• It was signed in September 1960 between India and Pakistan.
• The treaty was brokered by the World Bank, which too is a signatory to the treaty.
• The treaty fixed and delimited the rights and obligations of both countries concerning the use of the waters of the Indus River system.
• It gives control over the waters of the three "eastern rivers'' -- the Beas, Ravi, and Sutlej -- to India, while control over the waters of the three "western rivers'' '' -- the Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum -- to Pakistan.
• The treaty allows India to use the western river waters for limited irrigation use and unlimited non-consumptive use for such applications as power generation, navigation, floating of property, fish culture, etc.
• It lays down detailed regulations for India in building projects over the western rivers.

Rare Cats Discovered On Mount Everest In First Such Sighting

• The Pallas’s cat, also known as manul, is a small wild cat, perfectly adapted to the harsh conditions typical of its habitat.
• Naturally secretive, it is rarely seen and little known.
• Habitat: Wide but fragmented distribution throughout montane grasslands and steppes of Central Asia.
• Its core populations are in Mongolia and China.
• Conservation status
• IUCN Red List: Least concern

NASA adds another asteroid target for the trojan explorer Lucy mission

• NASA’s Lucy mission is the first spacecraft launched to explore the Trojan asteroids, a population of primitive asteroids orbiting in tandem with Jupiter.
• Lucy was successfully launched Oct. 16, 2021, and will visit eight asteroids over 12 years — one asteroid in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter, and seven Trojan asteroids leading and trailing Jupiter in its orbit.

Trojan Asteroids

• Asteroids sharing an orbit with a planet, but which are located at the leading (L4) and trailing (L5) Lagrangian points, are known as Trojan asteroids.
• These asteroids occupy a stable Lagrangian point in a planet’s orbit around the Sun.
• Trojan Asteroids are some of the oldest remnants from the formation of our solar system 5 billion years ago.
• There are currently over 4,800 known Trojan asteroids associated with Jupiter.
• They orbit the Sun in two loose groups: one group leading ahead of Jupiter in its orbit, the other trailing behind at the same distance from the Sun as Jupiter.
• Due to the combined gravitational influences of the Sun and Jupiter, these Trojan asteroids have been trapped on stable orbits (around what is known as the Lagrange Points) for billions of years.

Lagrange point

• Lagrange Points are positions in space where the gravitational forces of a two body system like the Sun and the Earth produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion.
• The Lagrange Points are positions where the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them.
• These can be used by spacecraft to reduce fuel consumption needed to remain in position.