NHAI To Explore Use Of Phosphor-Gypsum In National Highway Construction

• Phosphorus is a mineral critical to all life on Earth. As a requirement of all biological beings, it is a cornerstone of nutrition for plants, animals, and people.
• Phosphogypsum is a waste by-product from the processing of phosphate rock in plants producing phosphoric acid and phosphate fertilizers, such as superphosphate.
• It is used in agriculture for soil amendment or as fertilizer, as well as in the brick and cement industry, and road construction.

NHAI

• It was constituted by an Act of Parliament in 1988under the administrative control of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
• NHAI has been set up as a Central Authority to develop, maintain and manage the National Highwaysentrusted to it by the Government of India.
• The Authority consists of a full-time Chairman and not more than five full-time Members and four part-time Members who are appointed by the Central Government.

Reservation norms for Jute Packaging Materials for Jute Year 2022-23 under JPM Act, 1987

• The reservation norms under JPM Act provide for direct employment to 3.70 lakh workers and protect the interest of approximately 40 lakh farm families in the jute sector.
• It protects the interest of Jute farmers, workers and persons engaged in jute goods’ production
• The Mandatory norms for full reservation for packaging of food grains and 20% reservation for packaging of sugar in jute bags will be a big boost for West Bengal.

Jute

• Jute is one of the most important natural fibres after cotton in terms of cultivation and usage
• Climatic conditions required for its growth
  • Temperature: Between 25-35°C
  • Rainfall: Around 150-250 cm
  • Soil Type: Well-drained alluvial soil.
• India is the largest producer of jute followed by Bangladesh and China.
• It is mainly grown in eastern India because of the rich alluvial soil of the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta.
• In India, major jute-producing states include West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura.

At least 2 dead, more than 50 missing in China mine collapse

• What is it? Open-pit mining, also known as opencast mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts minerals from an open pit in the ground.
• It is the most common method used worldwide for mineral mining and does not require extractive methods or
• It is an appropriate extraction method when mineral or ore deposits are found relatively close to the earth''s surface, which is overlain by relatively thin vegetation, topsoil, and rock (collectively called overburden).
• It uses a series of level surfaces or benches to reach the deposit, forming an open pit that looks similar to an inverted pyramid.
• Open-pit mines undergo constant expansion until all mineral resources are exhausted.
• Most of the world''s annual output of copper, gold, and iron ore is from open-pit mining
• Other commodities produced from open-pit mining include diamonds, molybdenum, manganese, lead and zinc, uranium, and a variety of industrial minerals, such as borates, talc , etc.
• Open-pit mining has higher productivity, lower operating costs, and is relatively safer than other mining methods.
• Environmental effects of open pit mining:
• It consumes enormous amounts of water;
• heavily pollute water and air;
• disfigures landscapes;
• permanently destroys habitat;
• the pit area retains elevated risks of erosion and flooding even after pits are exhausted.

IISc shows how neuromorphic camera, machine learning aid nanoscopic imaging

• A neuromorphic camera mimics the way the human retina converts light into electrical impulses.
• In a typical camera, each pixel captures the intensity of light falling on it for the entire exposure time the camera focuses on the object. All these pixels are pooled together to reconstruct an image of the object.
• In neuromorphic cameras, each pixel operates independently and asynchronously, generating events or spikes only when there is a change in the intensity of light falling on that pixel.
• This generates sparse and lower amounts of data compared to traditional cameras, which capture every pixel value at a fixed rate, regardless of whether there is any change in the scene.
• This allows a neuromorphic camera to "sample" the environment with much higher temporal resolution because it is not limited by a frame rate like normal cameras and also performs background suppression.
• Neuromorphic cameras have a very high dynamic range ( >120 dB) which means they can be used in different conditions ranging from a very low-light environment to very high-light conditions.

Diffraction limit in Optical Microscopy

• The resolution of a microscope is proportional to the size of its objective and inversely proportional to the wavelength of light being observed.
• In 1873 the German physicist Ernst Abbe discovered how microscopes were limited by the diffraction of light. He revealed that the resolution of a microscope is not controlled by the instrument’s quality but by the wavelength of light used and the aperture of its optics.
• Due to this phenomenon, a microscope cannot resolve two objects located closer than λ/2NA, where λ is the wavelength of light and NA is the numerical aperture of the imaging lens. This is known as the diffraction limit.
• Thus diffraction limits the ability of the microscope to distinguish between two objects divided by a lateral distance of less than half the wavelength of light used to image the sample.

PM congratulates MP colleagues who will be conferred the Sansad Ratna Awards 2023

• The Sansad Ratna Awards were instituted in 2010, inspired by the teachings of former President APJ Abdul Kalam, who launched the first edition of the Award function in Chennai.
• The Jury Committee has chosen a total of 13 MPs and two parliamentary committees for the award, with a lifetime award being presented for the first 2023 awards.
• The jury committee comprises “eminent Parliamentarians and (members of) civil society”.
• The nominations were based on an MP’s cumulative performance in Parliament, from the beginning of the 17th Lok Sabha until the end of Winter Session 2022
• Factors that the decision is based on include questions asked, private members’ Bills introduced, debates initiated, attendance, funds utilised, etc.
• The performance data of the members have been sourced from information provided by PRS Legislative Research.

ITCM takes off with Manik success in Chandipur

• It was tested on the subsonic cruise missile Nirbhay platform from launching complex III of the integrated test range (ITR).
• It was equipped with the indigenously developed small turbofan engine (STFE) Manik and an upgraded radio frequency seeker, the missile was test fired for a reduced range.
• The domestic Manik engine with a thrust rating of 450 kgf has been designed and developed by Bengaluru-based Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) for cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.
• It is a generic twin-spool engine without an afterburner.

Nirbhay missile

• Nirbhay is a Long-Range Sub-Sonic Cruise Missile, which can be deployed from multiple platforms.
• It is capable of loitering and cruising at Mach 0.7 (sub-sonic) at an altitude as low as 100 meters. It can carry a nuclear warhead.
• Developed by: It has been indigenously designed & developed by Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO).

Term of 22nd Law Commission extended till August, 2024

• The Law Commission of India is a non-statutory body constituted by the Government of India from time to time.
• It functions to the Ministry of Law and Justice as an advisory body.
• History:
• The first Law Commission was established during the British Raj era in 1834 by the Charter Act of 1833 and was chaired by Lord Macaulay.
• In 1955, the first independent Law Commission was created.
• Objective: To carry out research in the field of law and makes recommendations to the Government (in the form of Reports) as per its terms of reference.
• The commission''s recommendations are not binding on the Government.
• The Law Commission has so far submitted 277 Reports.
• The commission consists of legal experts and is headed by a retired judge.
• The Commission is constituted for a fixed tenure.

The significance of the findings in Keeladi

• Keeladi excavation site is a Sangam period settlement that is being excavated by the Archaeological Survey of India and the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department.
• The settlement lies on the bank of the Vaigai River. This is a large-scale excavation carried out in Tamil Nadu after the Adichanallur archaeological site.
• This site is estimated to be from the period between the 5th century BCE and the 3rd century CE.

Sangam period

• The word ‘Sangam’ is the Tamil form of the Sanskrit word Sangha which means a group of persons or an association.
• This sangama was an academy of poets who flourished in three different periods and different places under the patronage of the Pandyan kings.
• The Sangam literature, which was largely consolidated from the third Sangam, sheds light on people''s living conditions at the start of the Christian era.
• It gives information about the secular matter relating to public and social activities like government, war charity, trade, worship, agriculture, etc.
• Sangam literature consists of the earliest Tamil works (Tolkappiyam), the ten poems (Pattupattu), the eight anthologies (Ettutogai) and the eighteen minor works (Padinenkilkanakku), and the three epics.

BEL to Manufacture Israel’s LORA Ballistic Missile for Indian Tri-Services

• It is a sea-to-ground and ground-to-ground system which comprises a long-range ballistic missile, a unique launcher, a command and control system, and a ground/marine support system.
• It is developed by IAI’s Missiles & Space Group MALAM division.
• It provides ballistic assault capabilities for multiple ranges with a precision level of 10 meters CEP (circular error probable).
• The ballistic missile can be launched from both groundand sea-based platforms.
• It has a range of 280 km.
• It is propelled by a single-stage, solid-fuel rocket motor.
• Its guidance system is based on both the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Inertial Navigation System (INS), with possible in-flight maneuvering capability.