Agriculture
India has become the first country globally to start commercial production of Nano Urea

Relevance IN - Prelims ( all about Nano Urea) + Mains ( GS III Farmer's welfare - steps taken to double the farmer's income + GS II government policies and interventions)'
What's the NEWS

• National Fertilisers Limited (NFL) and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd (RCF) signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) for ‘transfer of technology' of a revolutionary and game changer fertiliser Nano Urea Liquid
• This nano fertiliser has been developed indigenously, for the first time in the world at IFFCO

Know! about the MoU (highlights)

• This technology transfer will ramp up the production leading towards consistent supply resulting in faster adoption and would also result in more savings to farmers and government subsidies.
• Under these agreements, IFFCO will transfer the technology of Liquid Nano Urea to NFL and RCF.
• In the near future, NFL and RCF will establish new Nano Urea production plants to increase the supply of Nano Urea to farmers of the country.

Why Nano Urea?

• FFCO developed nanotechnology based Nano Urea (Liquid) fertiliser to address the imbalanced and excessive use of conventional Urea.
• The imbalanced use of fertilizers in India deteriorating the health of soil.
• Imbalanced use is also causing water pollution and air pollution.
• Nano urea will help in solving these problems by reducing the use of urea by upto 50 percent.
• Nano Urea being an eco-friendly product will protect the health of the soil.
• The storage of Nano urea will also be easy for the farmers.
• Direct financial savings, reduction in transportation cost and better production will increase the income of the farmers.
• Nano urea will also reduce the import of conventional urea in India.

Know! more bout Nano Urea

• Nano Urea (Liquid) contains nanoscale nitrogen particles which have more surface area (and number of particles which makes it more impactful.
• In comparison to Urea the uptake efficiency of Nano Urea is more than 80 %.
• It is thus, required in lesser measure compared to the conventional urea fertiliser to fulfil plant's nitrogen requirement.
• Nano urea prepared by nanotechnology contains nanoscale particles of Nano Urea.
• Nano Urea contains 4 % nitrogen by weight in its nano form.
• Nitrogen present in Nano Urea effectively meets the crop nitrogen requirement.
• It has better use efficiency than conventional urea.
• Nano Urea is suitable for application as a source of nitrogen for most of the crops/plants.

Benefits of IFFCO Nano Urea

• Reduces the requirement of conventional Urea by 50% or more
• Required less and produces more: Efficacy of one bottle of Nano Urea (500 mL) is equivalent to one bag of urea.
• Environment friendly product, can improve Soil, Air & Water quality thus, helps in addressing the concerns of Global Warming and in meeting the UN SDGs.
• Cheaper than conventional urea.
• Reduce input cost to farmers, leads to increase in farmers' income.
• Improves crop productivity, soil health and nutritional quality of produce.
• Nano Urea (Liquid) does not involve any government subsidy and will be made available to farmers at a 10% lower price than a bag of subsidised Urea.
• Transportation would be easier and economical, as one 500 ml bottle would be equivalent to one bag of regular urea fertiliser.

Know! how it works

• When sprayed on leaves Nano Urea easily enters through stomata and other openings and is assimilated by the plant cells.
• It is easily distributed through phloem from source to sink inside the plant as per its need.
• Unutilised nitrogen is stored in the plant vacuole and is slowly released for proper growth and development of plant.

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO)

• Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) is one of India's biggest cooperative society which is wholly owned by Indian Cooperatives.
• It is a Multi-state cooperative society engaged in the business of manufacturing and marketing of fertilisers headquartered in New Delhi, India .
• Started in 1967 with 57 member cooperatives it is today the biggest co-op in the world by turnover on GDP per capita with around 35,000 member cooperatives reaching over 50 million Indian farmers.
• With around 19% market share in Urea and around 29% market share in complex fertilisers (P2O5 terms) IFFCO is India's largest fertiliser manufacturer.

Prelims Factoids
MoES-ESSDP (Earth System Science Data Portal)

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about MoES - ESSDP)
What's the NEWS

• The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) celebrated its 15^th Foundation Day
• The Ministry launched multiple societally beneficial initiatives
• MoES launched the MoES-ESSDP (Earth System Science Data Portal)

Know! about MoES-ESSDP

• It is an integrated digital web portal of MoES institutes, which makes available data on various themes of earth system science for public use.
• The portal has been developed using the latest information technology tools and is available at https://incois.gov.in/essdp.
• The portal is aligned with the Digital India initiative of the Government of India to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
• It would facilitate search and retrieval of earth system science data (of atmosphere, ocean, poles, geosciences and seismology) for societal benefit in a big way.
• It a one-of-a-kind digital platform bringing together data and information of earth system science on a single dynamic web platform.

Space Awareness
Moon-forming region seen around exoplanet for the first time

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about exoplanet + ALMA observatory + discovery of young stars - PDS 70 + process of formation of moon or planet) + Mains (GS III awareness in the field of space)
What's the NEWS

• Scientists for the first time have spotted a moon-forming region around a planet beyond our solarsystem - a Jupiter-like world surrounded by a disc of gas and dust
• Scientists detected a disc of swirling material accumulating around two exoplanets seen orbiting a young star called PDS 70.

Know! more about the moon-forming region

• The researchers used the ALMA observatory in Chile's Atacama desert to detect the disc of swirling material accumulating around one of two newborn planets seen orbiting a young star called PDS 70, located a relatively close 370 light years from Earth. (A light year is the distance light travels in a year, about 9.5 trillion km.)
• It is called a circumplanetary disc, and it is from these that moons are born.
• More than 4,400 planets have been discovered outside our solar system, called exoplanets.
• No circumplanetary discs had been found until now because all the known exoplanets resided in "mature" - fully developed - solar systems, except the two infant gas planets orbiting PDS 70.
• In our solar system, the impressive rings of Saturn, a planet around which more than 80 moons orbit, represent a relic of a primordial moon-forming disc

Know! about PDS 70

• The orange-coloured star PDS 70, roughly the same mass as our Sun, is about 5 million years old- a blink of the eye in cosmic time.
• The two planets are even younger.
• Both planets are similar (although larger) to Jupiter, a gas giant.
• It was around one of the two planets, called PDS 70c, that a moon-forming disc was observed.
• Both planets are "still in their youth
• The disc around PDS 70c, with a diameter about equal to the distance of the Earth to the sun, possesses enough mass to produce up to three moons the size of Earth's moon.

Exoplanet

• It is a planet outside the Solar System.
• The first confirmation of detection of exoplanets occurred in 1992.
• More than 4,400 exoplanets have been discovered till now.
• Exoplanets are very hard to see directly with telescopes.
• They are hidden by the bright glare of the stars they orbit.
• Astronomers use other ways to detect and study exoplanets such as looking at the effects these planets have on the stars they orbit.

Know! the process of formation of moon

• Stars burst to life within clouds of interstellar gas and dust scattered throughout galaxies.
• Leftover material spinning around a new star then coalesces into planets, and circumplanetary discs surrounding some planets similarly yield moons.
• The dominant mechanism thought to underpin planet formation is called "core accretion,"
• In this scenario, small dust grains, coated in ice, gradually grow to larger and larger sizes through successive collisions with other grains.
• This continues until the grains have grown to a size of a planetary core, at which point the young planet has a strong enough gravitational potential to accrete gas which will form its atmosphere
• Some nascent planets attract a disc of material around them,with the same process that gives rise to planets around a star leading to the formation of moons around planets.

Prelims Factoids
Data Bank on Palaeochannels

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about palaeochannels + NAQUIM + Aquifers +Ground Water Management and Regulation Scheme
What's the NEWS

• Information on traces of palaeochannels found in parts of the Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh have been generated as part of various studies carried out by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB).

National Aquifer Mapping and Management program (NAQUIM)

• Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) is implementing National Aquifer Mapping and Management program (NAQUIM) in the country, which envisages mapping of aquifers (water bearing formations), their characterization and development of Aquifer Management Plans to facilitate sustainable management of Ground Water Resources.
• NAQUIM was initiated as a part of the Ground Water Management and Regulation Scheme to delineate and characterize the aquifers to develop plans for ground water management.
• Water being a State subject, initiatives on water management including study and recharge of Palaeo-channels in the Country is primarily States' responsibility.

Palaeochannels activities and development

• CGWB in collaboration with National Geo-physical Research Institute (NGRI) has initiated few studies in parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for aquifer mapping as a part of which distribution of palaeochannels and aspects related to artificial recharge are being studied.
• There is no proposal in CGWB for the creation of a separate cell for palaeochannels activities and development of groundwater resources at present.
• Activities related to palaeochannels and groundwater development are being carried out through the respective Regional Offices of CGWB with existing officers/staffs

Aquifers

• The rocks in which groundwater is stored are called aquifers. They are typically made up of gravel, sand, sandstone or limestone.

Ground Water Management and Regulation Scheme

• It is a Central Sector Scheme of the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation.

• It is a subordinate office of the Ministry of Water Resources and is the National Apex Agency entrusted with the responsibilities of providing scientific inputs for management, exploration, monitoring, assessment, augmentation and regulation of groundwater resources of the country.
• It was established in 1970 by renaming the Exploratory Tubewells Organization under the Ministry of Agriculture and later on merged with the Groundwater Wing of the Geological Survey of India during 1972.

Palaeochannel

• A palaeochannel is a geological term describing a remnant of an inactive river or stream channel that has been filled or buried by younger sediment.
• The sediments that the ancient channel is cut into or buried by can be unconsolidated, semi-consolidated, consolidated or lithified.

Connect the dots (June 2019)

• The Union Water Ministry has excavated an old, dried-up river in Prayagraj that linked the Ganga and Yamuna rivers.
• The aim is to develop it as a potential groundwater recharge source.

• This "ancient buried river" is around 4 km wide, 45 km long and consisted of a 15-metre-thick layer buried under soil.
• The newly discovered river was a "buried paleochannel that joins the Yamuna river at Durgapur village, about 26 km south of the current Ganga-Yamuna confluence at Prayagraj.
  These paleochannels reveal the course of rivers that have ceased to exist.
• Evidence from palaeochannels suggested that the mythological Saraswati river did indeed exist.
• The discovery was made by a team of scientists from the CSIR-NGRI (National Geophysical Research Institute) and the Central Groundwater Board.

Information given by Ministers in the Parliament ( Parliament Monsoon Session)
Minority Affairs
Garib Nawaz Skill Development Centres
Know! about the scheme

• Maulana Azad Education Foundation an autonomous body under the aegis of Ministry of Minority Affairs implements Gharib Nawaz Employment Scheme to provide short term job oriented skill development courses to minorities' youth in order to enable them for skill based employment through the empanelled Program Implementation Agencies (PIAs) as per common norms of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSD&E).
• As per the scheme guidelines, employment opportunities (organized & unorganized Sectors) is being provided to all the beneficiaries.
• The PIA is mandated to place minimum 70% trainees out of total trained trainees.
• The monthly stipend for maximum of three months and post placement support for maximum of two months after getting employment are also being paid to the beneficiaries directly into their account.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakaram (PMJVK)
Know! about PMJUK

• The Ministry of Minority Affairs implements the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakaram (PMJVK), in the identified Minority Concentration Areas (MCAs) of the country, with the objective to develop socio economic assets and basic amenities in the MCAs.
• The scheme was restructured in May 2018 and areas identified for implementation of the scheme was increased from a coverage of 196 districts to 308 districts
• The District Headquarters were identified as Minority Concentration Areas for the first time.
• In the last 7 years, under the "Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karykram" (PMJVK) more than 43 thousand basic infrastructure projects have been created such as schools, colleges, hostels, community centres, common service centres, ITIs, Polytechnics, Girls Hostels, Sadbhavana Mandap, Hunar Hub etc in backward Minority concentrated areas across the country.

Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)
Know! about PLFS

• Considering the importance of availability of labour force data at more frequent time intervals, National Statistical Office (NSO) launched Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) in April 2017.

The objective of PLFS is primarily twofold:

1. to estimate the key employment and unemployment indicators (viz. Worker Population Ratio, Labour Force Participation Rate, Unemployment Rate) in the short time interval of three months for the urban areas only in the ‘Current Weekly Status' (CWS).
2. to estimate employment and unemployment indicators in both ‘Usual Status' (ps+ss) and CWS in both rural and urban areas annually.

• The first Annual Report (July 2017- June 2018) covering both rural and urban areas giving estimates of all important parameters of employment and unemployment in both usual status (ps+ss) and current weekly status (CWS) was released in May 2019 and the second Annual Report ( July 2018 - June 2019) was released in June 2020.
• Now the third Annual Report is being brought out by NSO on the basis of Periodic Labour Force Survey conducted during July 2019-June 2020.
  

Conceptual Framework of Key Employment and Unemployment Indicators:
The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) gives estimates of Key employment and unemployment Indicators like

• Labour Force Participation Rates (LFPR)
• Worker Population Ratio (WPR)
• Unemployment Rate (UR), etc

These indicators, and the ‘Usual Status' and ‘Current Weekly Status' are defined as follows:

• Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR): LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons in labour force (i.e. working or seeking or available for work)in the population.
• Worker Population Ratio (WPR): WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.
• Unemployment Rate (UR): UR is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force.
• Activity Status- Usual Status: The activity status of a person is determined on the basis of the activities pursued by the person during the specified reference period. When the activity status is determined on the basis of the reference period of last 365 days preceding the date of survey, it is known as the usual activity status of the person.
• Activity Status- Current Weekly Status (CWS): The activity status determined on the basis of a reference period of last 7 days preceding the date of survey is known as the current weekly status (CWS) of the person.

Environment
Microplastics
Relevance IN -Prelims ( about Microplastics)
What's the NEWS

• The Ganga is heavily polluted with microplastics at Varanasi, Haridwar and Kanpur, Delhi-based non-profit Toxic Link claimed.

Know! about the findings

• Varanasi showed the maximum load of microplastics in the water of the Ganga, as compared to the other two cities.
• This might be due to cumulative downstream pollution as well as industrial and human activities. Assi Ghat in Varanasi had the maximum abundance of microplastics.
• The Dohri ghat in Kanpur ranked topmost among all 15 sites (five each from all three cities) from where the river water sample was collected.
• It indicates that municipal and industrial discharges are responsible for microplastics pollution in the river water.
• The researchers tried to compare the microplastics concentration in Ganga water with similar studies on other rivers across the globe, like the Rhine in Europe, the Patapsco, Magothy, Rhode in North America and the Elqui, Maipo, Biobio, and Maule in South America.
• They found the Ganga microplastics pollution was much higher.
• The study measured the amount of microplastics and analysis of its types present in the Ganga.

Type of Microplastic found in Ganga

• Ehylenevinyl (particularly suited for food, drugs and cosmetic packaging)
• Polyacetylene is used as a doping agent in the electronics industry.
• Polypropylene is also used in packaging, plastic sheets, fibre, fabrics, rope, etc.
• PIP is mainly used in footwear and baby bottle nipples.
• Polyamide, commonly known as nylon, is used as a natural fibre and as metal wires in clothing and industry.

Harmful effects of Microplastics

• Microplastics in river water, if ingested in humans or other organisms, can cause toxicity through various means.
• Not only are these microplastics toxic themselves, they also have a tendency to absorb various toxins present in water, including harmful chemicals.
• The study also shows that the river is acting as a carrier of plastics and microplastics and transporting significantly large quantities into the ocean.

Know! about Microplastics

• Microplastics are plastics that are less than 5 mm in size but are a major source of marine pollution.
• They are recognized as a major source of marine pollution.
• The plastic products and waste materials released or dumped in the river break down and are eventually broken down into microparticles.
• The rivers finally transport significantly large quantities downstream into the ocean, which is the ultimate sink of all plastics being used by humans.

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