GS PAPER II NEWS
Mission Coking Coal
Why in News
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- The recently constituted Inter-Ministerial Committee has submitted its recommendations for formulating a strategy to increase the production of coking coal in India.
Key Recommendations
- Identification of additional coking coal blocks for production by Coal India Ltd (CIL) and private sector and auction of CBM overlap coking coal blocks.
- Adopting existing advance technology for beneficiation of coking coal, developing policy framework for disposal of washery rejects and middlings may be reviewed and made more elaborate.
- Allocation of coking coal linkages by CIL to private washeries, setting up of coking coal washeries on aggregator model basis.
- Suggested formulating import parity based pricing mechanism for domestic coking coal factoring the quality parameters.
- Suggested having an incentive based framework to encourage steel sector for utilisation of stamp charging technology and invest into R&D initiatives for redesigning blast furnaces for utilisation of domestic coking coal.
- Recommended that CIL should publish mine-wise/seam-wise details of coking properties of coal on its website and purchaser may be allowed to choose from specific source.
- Tax incentives may be provided to the entities for manufacturing of underground mining machinery and entities engaged in underground mining.
Key point
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- Some of the suggestions of this committee are being implemented in the subsidiaries of CIL. Under this, these companies are utilizing the surplus capacity of Tata’s washeries and getting washed coking coal to augment the supply.
- Nine coking coal washeries are proposed. Four of these are already under construction stage. The New Build-Operate (BOO/BOM) washeries being set up at BCCL and CCL are using the existing state-of-the-art profitable technology as suggested by the successful bidders.
- The decision to reduce the ash content with advanced technology and cost of imported coking coal is being considered to ensure more supply of coking coal at affordable rates in the country.
- For the first time in the first tranche of commercial coal auction, four blocks of coking coal were put up for auction without any end use restrictions. Three of these were successfully auctioned. At the same time, in the second phase of auction of commercial coal mines, six blocks were put up for auction. One of these was successfully auctioned.
Importance
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- The idea behind the launch of Mission Coking Coal is to prepare an action plan to reduce the import of coking coal. The action plan includes exploration, increased production, adoption of new technologies, allocation of coking coal blocks for private sector development, setting up of new coking coal washeries, advanced R&D activities and improvement in quality standards.
- It will give necessary boost to the production of coking coal in our country and strengthen internal capabilities.
- This will help in bringing down the import of coking coal substantially and will take us on the path of becoming a self-reliant India.
- The coking coal and steel sectors have a strong relationship with each other. Coking coal is mainly used in the manufacture of steel through blast furnace.
- Domestic coking coal is high ash coal (at most 18 per cent-49 per cent) and is not suitable for direct use in blast furnaces.
- In view of this, the coking coal is washed and mixed with imported coking coal (< 9 per cent ash) before its use in the blast furnace to reduce the ash content. About 50 metric tonnes of coking coal is imported in the country on an annual basis and coking coal worth Rs 45,435 crore was imported in the financial year 2020-21.
- Thus, increasing the supply of domestic coking coal will not only help in reducing the import of coking coal, but will also help in strengthening our foreign exchange reserves by saving foreign exchange.
Coal production
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- Production of coking coal in the country was 41 MT in the financial year 2019. This increased to 53 MT in the financial year 2020.
- In the last 4 years, only 20-30 per cent of the coking coal produced was washed before use. This was ~47 per cent of the average production.
- As per the National Steel Policy 2017, the target of steel production by the financial year 2029-30 is 300 MT. Out of this, 181 metric tonnes of steel will be produced through blast furnace. That is, the target is to increase the capacity of steel production by 3 times through blast furnace.
- This would require a manifold increase in domestic coking coal supply to achieve targeted steel production and limit coking coal imports.
GS PAPER II
Four Defense Agreements between India and Russia
Why in News
- Giving impetus to their time-tested defense partnership, India and Russia have recently signed an agreement for joint production of over six lakh AK-203 assault rifles at a manufacturing facility in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh.
Key point
- These two countries have also finalized another agreement on military cooperation for 10 years.
- These agreements have been signed at the 20th meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military-Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC).
- The meeting, co-chaired by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart General Sergei Shoigu, coincided with the annual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- The two sides have also recently discussed ways to further promote strategic cooperation, including increasing joint production of military equipment.
- Himachal Pradesh of India achieved 100% vaccination with second dose
- These two countries have also signed an agreement to amend the Agreement for Cooperation in the Field of Manufacturing of the Kalashnikov Series of Small Arms, which was originally signed in February, 2019.
India-Russia Assault Rifle Agreement
- The most important of these four agreements was the agreement signed through the Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited (IRPL) for the manufacture of 6,01,427 AK-203 assault rifles (7.63X39mm).
- This 10-year agreement on military cooperation is a renewal of the existing framework. These rifles will be manufactured for the Indian Armed Forces at a cost of around Rs 5000 crore.
GS PAPER II
Vertical launch short range missile
Why in News
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- The Vertical Launch Short Range Surface to Air Missile was successfully test-fired by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha.
Key point
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- The launch was carried out from a vertical launcher against an electronic target at very low altitude.
- The flight path of the vehicle was monitored along with technical parameters by using multiple tracking devices deployed by ITR, Chandipur. All subsystems performed as expected.
- The system was launched today to validate the integrated operation of all the weapon system components including the Vertical Launcher Unit with Controller, Canistered Flight Vehicle, Weapon Control System, etc., required for future missile launches from Indian Navy ships.
- The test launch was monitored by senior officials of DRDO and Indian Navy.
- The first test was conducted on 22 February 2021 and is a confirmatory test to prove the consistent performance of the configuration and integrated operation.
- This system will further enhance the defense capability of Indian Navy ships against aerial threats.
GS PAPER III
India becomes the largest food supplier of Arab countries
Why in News
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- India has reached the first place in the year 2020 in terms of food exports to Arab countries. For the first time in the last 15 years, this has happened, when India has reached the first place in this matter. The deteriorating supply chain due to the Corona epidemic has badly affected the business.
Key point
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- After almost 15 years, India has overtaken Brazil to become the largest country to export food grains to Arab countries.
- According to the report of Reuters, this data has been provided by the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce on 07 December 2021.
- According to a report, Arab countries are the most important trading partners for Brazil.
- business partner
- Brazil is a very important trading partner for Arab countries. The supply chain between the two countries has been disrupted due to the Corona epidemic.
- According to statistics, among 22 countries that supply logistics to Arab countries, Brazil accounted for 8.15 percent of exports, but India captured 8.25 percent of the market, and for the first time in the last 15 years, was the largest contributor to Arab countries.
- Brazil lost its ground due to disruption from its traditional shipping routes like India, Turkey, America, France, and Argentina.
- India got the benefit of this. According to the report, Brazil now takes 60 days instead of 30 to export food grains to Arab countries.
- Due to low exports from Brazil, Saudi Arabia insisted on domestic production and encouraged imports from other options like India.
- According to the report, where earlier Brazilian ships used to reach Saudi Arabia in a month, now it takes two months to reach them, whereas due to India being very close to it, fruits, vegetables, Delivers sugar, grains and meats.
- During the Corona epidemic, China has also increased the availability of its food products in Arab countries.
- Due to this, Brazilian business in the region suffered. Brazil lost its ground due to disruption from its traditional shipping routes like India, Turkey, America, France, Argentina and India got the benefit of this.
GS PAPER III
Seaweed cultivation
Why in News
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- The life of Mrs. Mutha Muthuvel Sambai, a resident of Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu has changed for good through exposure to the market demands of seaweed along with the cultivation of seaweed and training in that cultivation. Eliminating the role of middlemen, she is now selling her produce and products made from it directly to the entrepreneurs, which is increasing their income by about 50 percent.
Key point
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- Mrs. Mutha Muthuvel is a member of Kanthariyamman Committee (Society) for Seaweed Cultivation and Seaweed Product Manufacture Organization, who has been doing seaweed farming since last 17 years.
- He is among 2000 people trained by the Seaweed Research Station, a unit of the Scientific Council and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research- Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR-CSMCRI) located at Mandapam, Tamil Nadu.
Seaweed
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- Seaweeds are macroscopic algae that are also referred to as the ‘medical food of the 21st century’ due to their use as a laxative.
- They are also used to make pharmaceutical capsules for goiter, cancer, bone-replacement therapy, and heart and vascular surgery (cardiovascular surgery). These myriad uses make seaweed a highly sought-after product.
- Local people have been cultivating it for a long time but lack the necessary skills to utilize its full potential.
- It is here that the Center Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR-CSMCRI) stepped in and took the initiative to impart the necessary skills.
- The efforts of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR-CSMCRI) in Mandapam in Tamil Nadu and in the state of Gujarat to promote seaweed cultivation, use of appropriate technology, among community-based organizations and self-help groups, Has helped in developing skills in increasing the biomass productivity of seaweed for industrial requirements and encouraging entrepreneurship development on seaweed based activities.
- The trained local people include many women who are earning members of their respective families.
- They are now earning good dividend through seaweed cultivation. Several women groups have benefited from this and the capacity built through training and technology from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research- Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR-CSMCRI) has ensured livelihood for the local population and empowered them. I have come a long way too.