Science & Technology
The Advanced Oxidation Technology or TADOX

elevance IN - Prelims ( about TADOX) + Mains ( GS III awareness in the field of science and technology)
What's the NEWS

• The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi, has developed a technology called The Advanced Oxidation Technology or TADOX® which ‘can reduce less dependence and load on biological and tertiary treatment systems and help achieve Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD).
• It can bring down capital expenditure on ZLD by 25-30% and operating expense by 30-40% for industrial wastewater treatment.

Know! all about TADOX

• The Advanced Oxidation Technology, TADOX® developed by TERI New Delhi for wastewater treatment is an effort in this direction.
• Department of Science and Technology (DST), GoI- Water Technology Initiative (WTI) has supported TERI to develop this technology at bench scale collaboration in tie-up with ONGC Energy Centre (OEC), Delhi.
• The technology supported by the Water Technology Initiative (WTI) of the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India involves UV-Photocatalysis as an Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) at the secondary treatment stage leading to oxidative degradation and mineralization of targeted pollutants.
• It improves biodegradability, thereby preventing bio-fouling of membranes and enhancing life span and efficiency of RO systems as also overall load on evaporators like Multiple Effect Evaporators and Mechanical vapor recompression (MVR), and so on.
• It can reduce Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), dissolved organics, pathogens, Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), and Micropollutants.
• TADOX® could be integrated and retrofittable in existing treatment systems making it a viable option as a novel Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Technology (DWTT) applicable in upcoming and existing infrastructural projects, townships, commercial complexes, green buildings, and smart cities.

Prelims Factoids
KAZIND-21

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about KAZIND-21)
What's the NEWS

• As part of military diplomacy and to strengthen the growing strategic relation with Kazakhstan, the 5th edition of Indo- Kazakhstan Joint Training Exercise, "KAZIND-21" will be conducted at Training Node, Aisha Bibi, Kazakhstan, from 30 August to 11 September 2021.
• The exercise is a joint training between both the Armies, which will boost the bilateral relations between India and Kazakhstan.
• The Indian Army contingent represented by a battalion of The Bihar Regiment consists of a total of 90 personnel led by a Contingent Commander.
• The Kazakhstan Army will be represented by a company group.
• The Exercise will provide an opportunity to the Armed Forces of India & Kazakhstan to train for Counter Insurgency/ Counter Terrorism operation in mountainous, rural scenario under UN mandate.

Government Schemes
100 days ‘SUJALAM' Campaign begins

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

• The Ministry of Jal Shakti began ‘SUJALAM', a ‘100 days campaign' as part of the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' celebrations to create more and more ODF Plus villages by undertaking waste water management at village level particularly through creation of 1 million Soak-pits and also other Grey water management activities.

Know! about the Campaign

• The effort of campaign would be directed towards achieving the ODF plus status for villages across the country in an accelerated manner in a short time.
• The Campaign has started from today i.e. 25th August, 2021 and will continue to run for the next 100 days.
• The campaign will not only build desired infrastructure i.e. soak pit for management of greywater in villages but will also aid in sustainable management of waterbodies.
• The disposal of waste water and clogging of waterbodies in the villages or on the outskirts of the villages remain one of the major problems.
• The Campaign would help in management of the wastewater and in turn would help to revive the waterbodies.

The key activities that will be organised in the villages under this campaign include:

• Organizing Community consultations, Khuli Baithaks and Gram Sabha meetings to analyze the current situation
• Pass resolution to maintain ODF sustainability and achieve needed number of soak pits to manage the grey water
• Develop a 100 days' plan to undertake sustainability and soak pit construction related activities
• Construct requisite number of soak pits
• Retrofit toilets where needed through IEC and community mobilization and
• Ensure all newly emerging Households in the village have access to toilets.

Culture
The saroop of Sikh Holy Book

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Saroop + Guru Granth Sahib)

What's the NEWS

• Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and others have carried on their heads saroops of the Guru Granth Sahib flown in from Afghanistan.

Know! about saroop

• Saroop is a physical copy of Sri Guru Granth Sahib, also called Bir in Punjabi. Every Bir has 1,430 pages, which are referred to as Ang. The verses on every page remain the same.
• The Sikhs consider the saroop of Guru Granth Sahib a living guru and treat it with utmost respect.
• They believe that all the 10 Gurus were the same spirit in different bodies, and the Guru Granth Sahib is their eternal physical and spiritual form.
• It was the fifth Sikh master, Guru Arjan Dev, who compiled the first Bir of the Guru Granth Sahib in 1604, and installed it at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
• Later, the tenth Sikh master, Guru Gobind Singh, added verses penned by the ninth master, his father Guru Tegh Bahadur, and compiled the Bir for the second and last time.
• It was in 1708 that Guru Gobind Singh declared the Guru Granth Sahib the living Guru of the Sikhs.
• Guru Granth Sahib is a compendium of hymns written by six Sikh gurus,15 saints, including Bhagat Kabir, Bhagat Ravidas, Sheikh Farid and Bhagat Namdev, 11 Bhatts (balladeers) and four Sikhs.
• The verses are composed in 31 ragas," said Giani Harpreet Singh, Akal Takht Jathedar.
• The installation and transportation of Guru Granth Sahib is governed by a strict code of conduct called rehat maryada.
• Under ideal circumstances, five baptised Sikhs are required to transfer the Guru Granth Sahib from one place to another.
• Gurdwaras have a separate resting place for the Saroop, called ‘Sukh Asan Sthan' or ‘Sachkhand' where the Guru rests at night.
• This takes place at the end of the day when the holy book is ceremoniously shut and rested. In the morning, the saroop is again installed in a ceremony called ‘prakash'.

Birs of the Guru Granth Sahib

• There was a tradition among Punjabis, both Sikhs and Hindus, to copy the Guru Granth Sahib by hand and produce multiple copies.
• The Udasi and Nirmla sects also played a role in making handwritten copies of the Birs until the British introduced the printing press.
• Nowadays, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has the sole rights to publish the Birs of the Guru Granth Sahib, and this is done at Amritsar.

International Organisations
UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about UNAMA)
What's the NEWS

• World leaders are planning to meet to discuss the renewal of the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which expires on September 17.

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan

• The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) is a UN Special Political Mission established to assist the state and the people of Afghanistan in laying the foundations for sustainable peace and development.
• UNAMA was established on 28 March 2002 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1401.
• Its original mandate was to support the implementation of the Bonn Agreement (December 2001).
• Reviewed annually, this mandate has been altered over time to reflect the needs of the country and was extended for another year, on 15 September 2020, by UN Security Council Resolution 2543 (2020).
• UNAMA is an integrated mission. This means that the Special Political Mission, all UN agencies, funds and programmes, work in a multidimensional and integrated manner to better assist Afghanistan according to nationally defined priorities.

Bonn Agreement

• Bonn was a closed-door negotiation; participants were isolated, outside contact was limited during the negotiations, and there was no publicity until after the agreement was signed.
• The existing nominal head of state (Rabbani) was sidelined and did not participate, and the Taliban were completely excluded from the Bonn negotiations.
• The United Nations and several other international actors played major roles in pushing the negotiations forward, and the Bonn Agreement was blessed by the U.N. Security Council.
• The Bonn Agreement set an ambitious three-year political and administrative roadmap which was, by and large, followed:The Emergency Loya Jirga (grand council) of June 2002 established the transitional administration, a new Constitution was ratified in early 2004, and presidential and parliamentary elections were held in 2004 and 2005.

UN special political missions

• The term ‘Special Political Mission' encompasses entities that are not managed or directed by the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) such as the Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide.

Prelims Factoids
EZU AIRPORT

What's the NEWS

• The first commercial flight landed on the easternmost tip of the Indian landmass, Tezu in the Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh
• Tezu's inclusion on the country's aviation map is projected to enhance tourism in the Arunachal Pradesh.
• Tezu is the seventh domestic destination in the North East under UDAN, giving a boost to regional connectivity.
• With Guwahati - Tezu route, flybig has provided air connectivity in 10 out of 16 routes in the region under the UDAN-RCS scheme.
• Flybig will operate on this route with a frequency of four flights each week.
• The opening of the Guwahati-Tezu route is a success story for RCS-UDAN route in the northeast.
• In October 2016, the Ministry launched the ‘Ude Deshka Aam Naagrik' (UDAN) Regional Connectivity Scheme to make air travel more accessible to residents in regional cities.

Sree Narayana Guru

What's the NEWS

• The Prime Minister has paid tributes to Sree Narayana Guru on his Jayanti.

Know! about Sree Narayana Guru

• Narayana Guru (1855 - 1928) was a philosopher, spiritual leader and social reformer in India.
• He was born into a family that belonged to the Ezhava caste.
• He led a reform movement against the injustice in the caste-ridden society of Kerala in order to promote spiritual enlightenment and social equality.
• Shri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (also known as SNDP Yogam) is an Indian spiritual organization that was formally founded by Dr. Padmanabhan Palpu in 1903, with the guidance of Shri Narayana Guru.
• The main aim of SNDP Yogam was to spiritually uplift the people of the Ezhava/Tiyyar communities.
• Vaikom Satyagraha (1924-25) was a social protest in erstwhile Travancore against untouchability and caste discrimination in Hindu society of Kerala.
• Sree Narayana Guru involved himself with the Vaikom Satyagraha and extended much co-operation.
• He published 45 works in Malayalam, Sanskrit and Tamil languages which include Atmopadesa Śatakam, a hundred-verse spiritual poem and Daiva Dasakam, a universal prayer in ten verses.

INS CHILKA

What's the NEWS

• The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence (SCOD) visited the prestigious ab-initio sailors training establishment of Indian Navy, INS Chilka 
• The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence (SCOD) is a Department Related Standing Committee (DRSC) of selected members of parliament for legislative oversight of the defence policies and decision making of the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

Know! about INS Chilka

• INS Chilka is the only ab-initio training establishment of the Indian Navy, which trains more than 6600 raw recruits annually to make them able bodied sailors.
• INS Chilka is the only ab-initio training establishment of the Indian Navy, which trains more than 6600 raw recruits annually to make them able bodied sailors
• INS Chilka is located in the coastal state of Odisha in the vicinity of Chilka Lake.

Science & Technology

Directed Energy Deposition process

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Directed Energy Deposition process)

What's the NEWS

• Indian Scientists have for the first time repaired aero-engine components through emerging additive manufacturing or 3D printing technique called Directed Energy Deposition process that can significantly reduce repair costs and overhaul time.

Directed Energy Deposition process

• They indigenously made powders suitable for the additive manufacturing process called the Directed Energy Deposition process.
• Ni-based superalloys are widely used in aero-engine components.
• Despite having exceptional properties, they are prone to damage due to extreme operational conditions.
• Manufacturing defects during the casting or machining process are another major cause of rejection, and tons of such unused components are scrapped due to minor defects.
• The indigenously developed powders suitable for additive manufacturing using inert gas atomizer by melting unused scrap material.

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