• The 'Samudrayaan' project undertaken by the NIOT, Chennai, is in line with the ISRO's ambitious 'Gaganyaan' mission of sending an astronaut to space by 2022
• The indigenously developed vehicle is capable of crawling on the sea bed at a depth of six kilometre for 72 hours

• India's ambition to send men to the deep sea in a submersible vehicle is likely to be a reality in 2021-22 with the 'Samudrayaan' project
• The project proposes to send a submersible vehicle with three persons to a depth of about 6000 metres to carry out deep underwater studies
• The indigenously developed vehicle is capable of crawling on the sea bed at a depth of six kilometre for 72 hours
• Similar to ISRO's plan to carry persons on a space mission, NIOT has undertaken Samudrayaan. The Rs.200 crore project proposes to carry three persons in a submersible vehicle to a depth of 6000 metres under sea for various studies. Submarines go only about 200 metres
• The project has been undertaken by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT).

Know! more about Samudrayaan project'

• The 'Samudrayaan' project undertaken by the NIOT, Chennai, is in line with the ISRO's ambitious 'Gaganyaan' mission of sending an astronaut to space by 2022.
• The success of the 'Samudrayaan' will help India to join the league of developed nations in exploration of minerals from oceans
• Such missions had already been carried by developed countries and India could be the first among the developing nations
• The 'Samudrayaan' is a part of the Ministry of Earth Sciences' pilot project for deep ocean mining for rare minerals.
• This will be a part of the Rs.6000 crore 'Deep Ocean Mission' that has received in-principle approval but is awaiting a final nod from the Union Finance Ministry.
• India has been allocated a site of 75,000 sq km in the Central Indian Ocean Basin by the International Sea Bed Authority for exploration of polymetallic nodules from seabed.
• The estimated resource of polymetallic nodules is about 380 million tonnes, containing 4.7 million tonnes of nickel, 4.29 million tonnes of copper and 0.55 million tonnes of cobalt and 92.59 million tonnes of manganese.
• NIOT has similarly undertaken Samudrayaan as ISRO has envisioned carrying an astronaut to space under its 2022 'Gaganyaan' mission.
• The submersible vehicle, which will be indigenously developed, would be capable of crawling on the sea bed at a depth of six-kilometer for 72 hours.
• The project will go deeper in phases with more trials and the ocean mining is expected to commence in 2022.
• The submarines deployed currently go only about 200 metres deep into the sea. The expenditure of the ambitious project is expected to be around Rs 200 crore.
• If the 'Samudrayaan' project is successful, India will join the league of developed nations in the exploration of minerals from oceans.
• Developed countries have already carried out such missions. India could be the first developing country to undertake such a project.

Environment Conservation
India takes over COP Presidency from China for next two years

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about COP 14 and about UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) + Mains ( GS III environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Shri Prakash Javadekar and Executive Secretary, UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Mr.IbrahimThiaw today jointly inaugurated the 12- day 14th Conference of Parties (COP14) to UNCCD
• The Environment Minister who is also elected as the COP President for next two years, expressed India's resounding commitment to finding a long-term solution for minimizing the impact of desertification and land degradation.

Know! more about COP 14 and role of India in combating desertification

• This year, India being the global host for COP 14 will take over the COP Presidency from China for the next two years till 2021.
• India is privileged to be among the select few countries to have hosted the COP of all three Rio conventions on climate change, biodiversity and land.
• Through hosting COP 14, India will highlight its leadership in navigating the land management agenda at global level. It will also provide a stage to mainstream sustainable land management in country's national development policies
• The key outcomes of COP 14 will facilitate in delivering convergence and synergies among the existing programmes in the field of agriculture, forestry, land, water management and poverty alleviation, which will cater the need to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• India has been proactive in combating land degradation, desertification and drought. We have added more than 15000 Sq km of tree cover inside and outside forest areas in last 5 years, which is a big success in land restoration".
• The Conference is being attended by delegates from 197 parties comprising of scientists and representatives of national and local governments, global business leaders, NGOs, gender-based organisations, youth groups, journalists, and faith and community groups

Know! more about UNCCD

• United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was adopted in Paris on 17 June 1994 and ratified by 196 countries & European Union.
• India ratified the UNCCD Convention on 17th December 1996. This convention can be called as "Mother convention" of the other two Rio Conventions that emerged as a major outcome of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit viz. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
• The objective of the COP 14, accompanied with fourteenth meeting of Committee on Science and Technology (CST 14) and eighteenth meeting of Committee to Review the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 18), is to discuss on various issues of land such as sustainable land management, reversing land degradation, mitigating drought, halting desertification, addressing sand and dust storms, linkages with gender, tenure, etc. and guide the Convention as global and national circumstances needs change.

Prelims Factoids
KVIC Launches ‘Terracotta Grinder' at Varanasi to Re-use wasted pottery

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

• Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) launched a first ever ‘Terracotta Grinder' at Sewapuri in Varanasi. This machine will grind the wasted and broken pottery items for re-using in pottery-making.

Know! more about it

• Earlier the wasted pottery items were grinded in normal khal-musal (mortar and pestle) and its fine powder was mixed with the normal clay.
• Mixing this powder in stipulated ratio to normal clay makes the resulting pottery items stronger.
• On this occasion, the KVIC Chairman also distributed 200 Electric Potter Wheels and other pottery machines among the villagers.
• This will not only create 900 new jobs, but will also meet the growing demand for terracotta products at Varanasi railway station following a direction by the Ministry of Railways to Zonal Railways and IRCTC to take urgent necessary action to ensure use of locally produced, environment friendly terracotta products like Kulhad, glasses and plates for serving passengers through all static catering units at Varanasi and Raibareilly railway stations.
• This machine will be a boon for potters as Union Minister of MSME Shri Nitin Gadkari has proposed to introduce kulhads and other terracotta products at 400 prominent railway stations. The proposal is under active consideration of the Railways.

REPLAN (REducin PLAstic in Nature)

• KVIC, as part of its commitment to Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, had also started manufacturing of plastic-mixed handmade paper at Kumarappa National Handmade Paper Institute (KNHPI), a KVIC unit in Jaipur under its project REPLAN (REducing PLAstic in Nature).
• In this project, the waste plastic is collected, cleaned, chopped, beaten and treated for softness. After that, it is mixed with the paper raw material i.e. cotton rags pulp in a ratio of 80 % (pulp) and 20% (plastic waste). The institute has sold over six lakh handmade plastic mixed carry bags since September 2018.

Health Sector
72nd Session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia) + Mains ( GS II issues relating to development and management of various sector/services relating to health)

What's the NEWS

• Dr Harsh Vardhan inaugurated the 72nd Session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia and he was also unanimously elected as Chair of the 72nd Session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia.
• Eight Ministers of Health from the 11 countries of the WHO South East Asia Region (SEAR),were also present at the inaugural session. This is the second time that India is hosting the Regional Committee meeting; the previous one was also hosted by India in New Delhi.

Know! the step taken by India in Health Sector

• The government is observing the entire month of September as "Poshan Maah" (Nutrition Month) to sensitize the public towards healthy eating, address the twin issues of malnutrition/undernutrition and problem of obesity in some sections of the population, and intensifying the campaign towards a ‘Malnutrition-Free India'.
• India is passing through an epidemiological shift from communicable to non-communicable diseases, and the burden of diet-related diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity is rising rapidly. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has adopted a "food systems approach" to ensure our citizens have access to safe and healthy food,
• Citizens are being sensitized through a people's movement called ‘Eat Right India'. "It's tagline, Sahi Bhojan. Behtar Jeevan' - ‘Right diet leads to better quality life' depicts India's commitment to preventive and promotive healthcare as an important pillar of our health policy
• The launch of 'Fit India' Movement' coinciding with the National Sports day celebrations. This campaign aims at encouraging people to include physical activity and sports as a routine in their everyday life.
• This, along with Eat Right India campaign, will help us to fight lifestyle diseases like hypertension, obesity and diabetes effectively
• Ayushman Bharat is India's road to Universal Health Care. The first component of this is establishing 1,50,000 Health and Wellness Centres by the year 2022, which shall provide an entire gamut of preventive healthcare.
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana, is aimed at providing health protection cover to over 100 million poor and vulnerable families for secondary and tertiary care including pre- and post-hospitalization expenses.
• Key features include health cover of up to Rs. Five hundred thousand per family. A total of 17,000 hospitals have been empanelled so far under this scheme.
• More than 4.1 million persons have become beneficiaries under this scheme and have thus saved a total of an approximate120 billion Indian Rupees on health expenditure.
• A plan to increase full immunization coverage to 90% people through intensification of campaigns under Mission Indradhanush.
• The range of diseases covered under Universal Immunization Program has also been increased with inclusion of Rotavirus, Pneumococcal and Measles Rubella Vaccines.

Know! about WHO South East Asia Region (SEAR )

• The Regional Committee for South-East Asia is the World Health Organization's governing body in the South-East Asia Region, with representatives from all 11 Member States of the Region.
• It meets in September every year to review progress in health development in the Region, formulate resolutions on health issues for the Member States, as well as to consider the regional implications of World Health Assembly resolutions, among others.

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