11th January 2021
Arunachal harbours a vanadium source
- Recently, Geological Survey of India (GSI) has carried out exploration in palaeo-proterozoic carbonaceous phyllite rocks in the Depo and Tamang areas of Papum Pare district in Arunachal Pradesh and placed this eastern Himalayan State on the vanadium map of the country. Now, this state likely to become India’s prime producer of vanadium.
- It is recovered as a by-product from the slag collected from the processing of vanadiferous magnetite ores (iron ore).
- This was the first report of a primary deposit of vanadium in India, with an average grade of 0.76% V2O5 [vanadium pentoxide].
- India is a significant consumer of vanadium but is not a primary producer of the strategic metal.
- India consumed 4% of about 84,000 tonnes of vanadium produced across the globe in 2017.
- The largest deposits of vanadium of the world are in China, followed by Russia and South Africa.
- China, which produces 57% of the world’s vanadium, consumed 44% of the metal in 2017.
Vanadium
- Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal.
- The elemental metal is rarely found in nature. It is recovered as a by-product from the slag collected from the processing of vanadiferous magnetite ores (iron ore).
Vanadium is a high-value metal used in strengthening steel and titanium.
"Period Room" set up for women at a public toilet in Maharashtra
- In a bid to help the women, residing in congested slums, during their menstruation days, a ‘period room’ has been set up at a public toilet by the Thane Municipal Corporation in collaboration with an NGO Muse Foundation, at a slum in Shanti Nagar locality of Wagle Estate area in Thane.
- The period room is equipped with several basic facilities, and it aims to facilitate menstrual hygiene among women dwelling in slums.
- Claimed to be the first-of-its-kind initiative, the ‘period room’ set up at a public toilet in a slum in Thane, was opened recently for women.
- The facility is set up keeping in mind the women living in small houses, who do not have a separate bathing section.
- Many times they find it difficult to change during periods. This facility will be a boon for such women and go a long way in promoting good hygiene.
- The NGO would be taking up the task of informing the women of the slum about the existence of such a room when they hold one of their regular sessions on menstrual hygiene.
World Hindi Day
- World Hindi Day is observed on 10 January 2021.
- The day is commemorated every year with the objective to promote use of the Hindi language abroad.
- On this day in 2006, the First World Hindi Conference was held in Nagpur with the aim to promote the language worldwide and since then, every year 10th January is being observed as the World Hindi Day.
- The Ministry of External Affairs and Indian Missions abroad also observe the day annually.
- The languages play an important role in the social, political and cultural development of a country.
- It is an important link in the unity and integrity of the entire nation. The Hindi language is the key to establishing unity in diversity.
- Hindi is one of the most spoken languages of the world. On World Hindi Day, people celebrate linguistic diversity to better understand each other.
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