Downloaded from: http://www.upscportal.

com

Science & Technology, Defence, Environment: April 2011

Ministry finalises National Health Research Policy

• To overcome the weaknesses of the publicly funded health structures that restricted
research in priority health areas, the Union Health and Family Planning Ministry has
finalised the National Health Research Policy. It would maximise the returns on
investments in health research through creation of a health research system to prioritise,
coordinate and facilitate conduct of effective and ethical research and its translation into
products, policies and programmes aimed at improving health especially of the
vulnerable population. It proposes to ensure at least two per cent of the national health
funding is utilised for research.
• The Policy envisages creation of an overarching National Health Research Management
Forum having representation from all stakeholders and will function from the Department
of Health Research that has drafted the new proposed policy.
• The Forum will advise on and evolve national health research policies and priorities and
evolve mechanism and action plans for their implementation. It will develop a five-year
projection of the plans for health research and prepare an annual National Health
Research Plan, do a mid-Plan appraisal for course correction, if needed.
• In addition to suggesting mechanisms to nurture a scientific environment to attract talent
and to develop human resource for biomedical and health research, the Forum will
facilitate utilisation and dissemination of results of health research. To be chaired by the
Minister of Health and Family Welfare, and co-chaired by the Minister of Science and
Technology, the State Health Ministers would be its vice-chairpersons and the Secretary,
Department of Health Research, its member-secretary. All Union Secretaries of various
departments of Science and Technology will be the members as also the Directorate-
General of Health Services and some health experts.

Navy preparing for takeover of Vikramaditya

• The Navy has started preparations to take charge of aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya
(Admiral Gorshkov) from Russia, with the first batch of officers and sailors having
commenced training there ahead of its induction next year.

http://upscportal.com/civilservices/current-affairs
Downloaded from: http://www.upscportal.com

• Earlier, the Navy began a shore-based test facility in Goa to train the naval aviators who
would eventually fly the MiG29-K fighter aircraft that would be operated from INS
Vikramaditya.
• India paid $974 million for the aircraft carrier in 2004 and another $526 million for 16
MiG-29K fighter aircraft to be operated in a Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery
(STOBAR) configuration. While Russia has delivered the fighter jets to India, the Navy
is planning to place an additional order for 29 MiG-29K.
• The INS Vikramaditya project, sanctioned in January 2004 envisaged delivery of the
warship in August 2008 but it got delayed over price with Russia demanding $2.9 billion
to carry out repair and re-equipping for converting the cruiser into an aircraft carrier.

Nagpur to be promoted as tiger capital: Jairam

• Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh complimented
Maharashtra on the increase in tiger population in the State. Nagpur will be promoted as
the tiger capital and a gateway to tiger land, he said.
• Thirteen of the country's 39 tiger reserves are in Maharashtra.
• New tiger reserves have been approved in the State at Nagzira-Navegaon and Bor.
• Another major decision was to decentralise the National Tiger Conservation Authority
(NTCA) and set up three field offices and the first one would be opened in Nagpur. Mr.
Ramesh said he would extend all assistance to help Nagpur emerge as a major eco
tourism destination and the setting up of the NTCA office would be a step forward.

Jairam says ‘no' to Ken-Betwa river link project

• On his first visit to Bundelkhand, Union Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam
Ramesh announced that the Ken-Betwa river linking project, the first of its kind proposed
in India, was a disastrous idea and should not be pursued.
• The ambitious project, estimated to cost over Rs.9000 crore, is expected to be included in
the 12th Five-Year Plan, starting April next.

Stockholm Convention discuss global ban on endosulfan

• The Stockholm Convention meet in Geneva from April 25 to 29 to discuss, among other
things, a global ban on the pesticide endosulfan.
• India was the only member country take a stand against the ban at the Sixth Meeting of
the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee to the Convention that
recommended the ban last year.
• Already 81 countries have either banned or decided to phase out endosulfan, while 27 are
still using the insecticide
• As of now, 173 countries are parties to the Convention and about 20 chemicals have been
approved for elimination, restriction or curtailing of unintentional production under the
Convention with or without exemptions.

http://upscportal.com/civilservices/current-affairs
Downloaded from: http://www.upscportal.com

• India exports about 50 per cent of its production of endosulfan and the manufacturers are
pressing the Union government to oppose the move for a global ban. They say that the
ban would deprive the farmers of a cheap and effective broad spectrum pesticide.
• A chemical has to be persistent, bio-accumulative and capable of endangering human
health and long-range transport to attract ban under the Stockholm Convention which
deals with persistent organic pollutants.

PSLV-C16 puts 3 satellites in orbit

• It was “sweet seventeen” for the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), with the PSLV-
C16 scoring a spectacular success by putting three satellites into orbit with precision.
• It was the PSLV's 17th consecutive successful mission out of the 18 launches from
Sriharikota. At the end of 18 minutes of “a delightful” flawless flight, the fourth stage of
the rocket shot India's Resourcesat-2 into its orbit. About 40 seconds later, the fourth
stage bulleted again the Youthsat and the X-sat into their orbits. The accuracy was such
that the Resourcesat-2 reached an orbit at an altitude of 822.9 km against the targeted 822
km.

Resourcesat-2 will beam back huge data on resources

• The remote-sensing satellite, Resourcesat-2, put up by PSLV-C16, “will become a

workhorse for the global community” with the huge data it will send back on the earth's
resources, said R.R. Navalgund, Director, Space Applications Centre (SAC),
Ahmedabad.
• The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-
C16) put three satellites in orbit – India's 1,206-kg Resourcesat-2, the Indo-Russian 93-kg
Youthsat and the 106-kg X-Sat from the Nangyang Technological University of
Singapore. The Resourcesat-2 is a continuation of Resourcesat-1, launched in October
2003, but has enhanced capability, he said. The SAC built the Resourcesat-2 payloads.
• The Youthsat's three payloads — one from Russia and two from India — would be useful
in studying the solar X-ray and gamma ray fluxes, and the influence of the activities in
the sun on the upper layers of the earth's atmosphere. The X-Sat is a remote-sensing
satellite that can process the images it takes and send more refined images to the ground.

ISRO to build orbiter for NASA

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has asked the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) to build an orbiter that will provide the communication
between the soil samples collected from the far side of the moon and the earth, according
to ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan.
• This joint venture between the ISRO and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
California, would be part of the Moonrise missions planned by the NASA.
• The ISRO would provide an orbiting communicator to the NASA for this mission,
scheduled for 2016.

http://upscportal.com/civilservices/current-affairs
Downloaded from: http://www.upscportal.com

Green technology to tackle water pollution

• Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has launched a
“bioremediation technology” project to curb pollution caused by sewerage and industrial
effluents in the Buddah Nallah of Ludhiana in Punjab.
• The project is estimated to cost Rs. 16 crore in the initial phase and it will be borne by
The National River Conservation Directorate of the Union government. It is expected to
take one year for completion.
• The project will provide relief to thousands living along the Sutlej river and canals off the
Harike barrage in Punjab and Rajasthan. Water pollution has caused severe disorders
among them.
• Flowing parallel to the Sutlej, the 31-km-long Buddah Nallah, of which about 14 km falls
in Ludhiana, has, for decades, been polluted by industrial effluents, sewage water, solid
waste from dairies, leather and electroplating industries and dumping of garbage. It
merges with the Sutlej near Moga, from where the polluted water is carried downstream.

India seeks postponement of decision on Endosulfan ban at Geneva

• India is seeking a postponement of the decision on a global ban on Endosulfan to the next
meeting of the conference of parties to the Stockholm Convention in 2013, according to
observers.

Contact Group recommends global ban on endosulfan

• The Contact Group on endosulfan and new persistent organic pollutants to the Stockholm
Convention, meeting in Geneva, finalised a draft decision proposing global ban on
endosulfan with many exemptions.
• The draft will now go to the conference of parties for approval. If approved, the ban will
cover technical endosulfan, its related isomers and endosulfan sulphate (one of the
degradation products of endosulfan). Exemptions are proposed for use against specified
pests in cotton, jute, coffee, tea, tobacco, cowpeas, beans, tomato, okra, eggplant, onion,
potato, chillies, apple, mango, gram, arhar, maize, rice, wheat, groundnut and mustard.
• This would mean that endosulfan will be allowed to be used for several of the crops in
India, as wanted by the Indian delegation. Their use would be mainly against aphids in
most crops besides several specified pests such as bollworms in cotton, berry borer and
stem borer in coffee and a host of insects in tea. Exemptions have even been proposed for
use of endosulfan for hopper and fruit flies in mango and several pests in tomato. (They
are not generally recommended usages in India). Countries will have five years to
implement the ban as per terms of the treaty.

Bamboo is liberated, says Jairam Ramesh

• “Today, bamboo is liberated,” proclaimed Union Minister of State for Environment and
Forests Jairam Ramesh at a function in Mendha-Lekha (Gadchiroli district) where he

http://upscportal.com/civilservices/current-affairs
Downloaded from: http://www.upscportal.com

handed over to Mendha's community leader Devaji Tofa a transit pass that would allow
the sale and transportation of bamboo within the community.
• Ever since bamboo was given the status of a minor forest produce (MFP) in the Forest
Rights Act, 2006 (Scheduled Tribes and Traditional Forest Dwellers [Recognition of
Forest Rights] Act), there has been a campaign for its selling rights — something which
the Forest Department has jealously guarded. The Act, which seeks to redress a historical
injustice to Adivasis, apart from entitling them to land ownership, also gives communities
rights to collect, use and sell bamboo as an MFP.

U.S. “deeply disappointed” by thumbs down to fighter jets

• With both Boeing and Lockheed Martin failing to make it to the Indian Air Force's final
shortlist for the $11 billion deal for 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA)
— a contract that American leaders and diplomats had said would determine the direction
of strategic relations between the two countries — the United States expressed deep
disappointment at the outcome and indicated it would continue to press its case with
India.
• Representatives of the European consortium offering Eurofighter and French Dassault
offering Rafale were asked by the Ministry of Defence to extend the validity of the
commercials bids — that expire on April 28 — till December 31, 2011, officials said.
• The process of ‘down selecting' the two meant elimination of the other four competitors
including two American firms — Boeing (F/A-18 Super Hornet) and Lockheed Martin
(F16IN Super Viper). Sweden's SAAB (Gripen) and Russian Mikoyan (MiG35) were the
other two to lose out in the deal that is estimated around Rs. 45,000 crore.
• Of the 126 MMRCA , 18 would be in ready-to-fly condition while the rest were to be
produced in India under Transfer of Technology. That 50 per cent value of the deal would
have to be sourced within the country is among the terms and conditions.

Stockholm Convention approves recommendation for ban on Endosulfan

• The Conference of Parties to the Stockholm Convention in Geneva approved the

recommendation for elimination of production and use of Endosulfan and its isomers
worldwide, subject to certain exemptions.
• The decision will not be binding on India unless specifically ratified by the country
• Endosulfan is the 22nd chemical to be listed in the Convention.

http://upscportal.com/civilservices/current-affairs
Downloaded from: http://www.upscportal.com

IAS PRE 2011

Current Affairs Books
ORDER ONLINE

http://upscportal.com/civilservices/order-online/current-affairs-books

Search More Books@: http://upscportal.com/civilservices/order-books

http://upscportal.com/civilservices/current-affairs