Daily Current Capsules –  10th July   2020
Culture
Mongolian Kanjur Manuscripts

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about NMM + about Mongolian Kanjur )
What’s the NEWS

• The Ministry of Culture has taken up the project of reprinting of 108 volumes of Mongolian Kanjur under the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM).

Know! more about it

• The first set of five volumes of Mongolian Kanjur published under the NMM was presented to the President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind on the occasion of Guru Purnima, also known as Dharma Chakra Day, on 4th July 2020.
• A set was then handed over to the Ambassador of Mongolia to India
• It is expected that all the 108 volumes of the Mongolian Kanjur will be published by March, 2022.
• The Mongolian Kanjur is widely respected in Mongolia.

 
Know! about National Mission for Manuscripts

• The National Mission for Manuscripts was launched in February 2003 by the Government of India, under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, with the mandate of documenting, conserving and disseminating the knowledge preserved in the manuscripts.
• One of the objectives of the mission is to publish rare and unpublished manuscripts so that the knowledge enshrined in them is spread to researchers, scholars and general public at large.
• Under this scheme, reprinting of 108 volumes of Mongolian Kanjur has been taken up by the Mission.
• It is expected that all the volumes will be published by March, 2022.

 
Know! about Mongolian Kanjur

• Mongolian Kanjur, the Buddhist canonical text in 108 volumes is considered to be the most important religious text in Mongolia.
• In the Mongolian language ‘Kanjur’ means ‘Concise Orders’- the words of Lord Buddha in particular.
• It is held in high esteem by the Mongolian Buddhists and they worship the Kanjur at temples and recite the lines of Kanjur in daily life as a sacred ritual.
• The Kanjur are kept almost in every monastery in Mongolia.Mongolian Kanjur has been translated from Tibetan.
• The language of the Kanjur is Classical Mongolian.The Mongolian Kanjur  is a source of providing a cultural identity to Mongolia.

 
Defence
Six strategic bridges in Jammu & Kashmir inaugurated under Project Sampark

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about BRO and its different projects)
What’s the NEWS

• The Defence Minister dedicated six major bridges to the nation through video conferencing from here today.

Know! about these bridges and about Project Sampark

• These bridges of strategic importance were completed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in a record time.
• The two bridges on the Tarnah Nallah in Kathua District and four bridges located on Akhnoor-Pallanwala road in Akhnoor/Jammu district have spans ranging from 30 to 300 metres and were constructed at a total cost of Rs 43 crores.
• These bridges constructed by Project Sampark of the BRO will facilitate movement of Armed Forces in this strategically important sector and will also contribute towards the overall economic growth of remote border areas.

Know! about BRO

• The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) develops and maintains road
• The BRO maintains operations in twenty-one states, one UT (Andaman and Nicobar Islands), and neighboring countries such as Afghanistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka.
• The BRO operates and maintains over 32,885 kilometers of roads and about 12,200 meters of permanent bridges in the country.
• The BRO consists of Border Roads Wing under the Ministry of Defense and the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF).
• The BRO operates in 18 Projects namely: Arunank, Beacon, Brahmank, Chetak, Deepak, Dantak, Himank, Hirak, Pushpak, Sampark, Setuk, Sewak, Shivalik, Swastik, Udayak, Vartak, Vijayak and sela tunnel.

Prelims Factoids
India Global Week 2020

 
Relevance IN – Prelims ( about India Global week)
What’s the NEWS

• Prime Minister addressed the inaugural address at India Global Week 2020

 
Know! about the India Global week

• The India Global Week 2020 is a three-day virtual conference, being held from July 9 to July 11, themed 'Be The Revival: India and a Better New World', will have 5,000 global participants from 30 nations being addressed by 250 global speakers across 75 sessions.
• The forum focused on India’s trade and foreign investment prospects.
• India Global Week 2020, a virtual conference being organised in the UK
• This Forum is also marking the 100th birth anniversary of Pandit Ravi Shankar. He took the beauty of Indian classical music to the world.

Infrastructure Development
Rewa Solar Project

 
Relevance IN – Prelims ( about Rewa solar project and its highlights + about SECI) + Mains ( GS III Infrastructure development – energy)
What’s the NEWS

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation the 750 MW Solar Project set up at Rewa, Madhya Pradesh on July 10, 2020.

Know! about the Project

• This Project comprises of three solar generating units of 250 MW each located on a 500 hectare plot of land situated inside a Solar Park (total area 1500 hectare).
• The Solar Park was developed by the Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited (RUMSL), a Joint Venture Company of Madhya Pradesh UrjaVikas Nigam Limited (MPUVN), and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a Central Public Sector Undertaking.
• Central Financial Assistance of Rs. 138 crore has been provided to RUMSL for development of the Park.
• The Rewa Solar Project was the first solar project in the country to break the grid parity barrier.

Grid parity (or socket parity) occurs when an alternative energy source can generate power at a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) that is less than or equal to the price of power from the electricity grid. The term is most commonly used when discussing renewable energy sources, notably solar power and wind power.
Know! the features of Rewa Solar Project

• The Rewa Project has been acknowledged in India and abroad for its robust project structuring and innovations.

• It has also received World Bank Group President’s Award for innovation and excellence and was included in the Prime Minister’s “A Book of Innovation: New Beginnings”.

 

• The project is also the first renewable energy project to supply to an institutional customer outside the State, i.e. Delhi Metro, which will get 24% of energy from the project with remaining 76% being supplied to the State DISCOMs of Madhya Pradesh.

• The Rewa Project also exemplifies India’s commitment to attain the target of 175 GW of installed renewable energy capacity by the year 2022, including 100 GW of Solar installed capacity.

Know! about SECI

• Solar Energy Corporation of India ltd" (SECI) is a CPSU under the administrative control of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), set up on 20th Sept, 2011 to facilitate the implementation of JNNSM and achievement of targets set therein.

• It is the only CPSU dedicated to the solar energy sector. It was originally incorporated as a section-25 (not for profit) company under the Companies Act, 1956.

• However, through a Government of India decision, the company has recently been converted into a Section-3 company under the Companies Act, 2013.

• The mandate of the company has also been broadened to cover the entire renewable energy domain and renamed to Renewable Energy Corporation of India (RECI).

• The company is responsible for implementation of a number of government schemes, major ones being the VGF schemes for large-scale grid-connected projects under NSM, solar park scheme and grid-connected solar rooftop scheme, along with a host of other specialised schemes such as defence scheme, canal-top scheme, and Indo-Pak border scheme.

Space Awareness
ISRO to launch Amazonia-1 satellite of Brazil onboard PSLV
Relevance IN – Prelims ( about Amazonia -1 satellite ) + Mains ( GS III
Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology
What’s the NEWS

• After the recent successful launch of a Colombian satellite by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) along with other countries onboard PSLV-C43, another South American country Brazil is getting ready for launching its satellite in 2020.
• The Indian Space Research and Research Organisation (ISRO) gets ready to launch Brazil’s Amazonia -1 satellite next month onboard PSLV.

Know! all about the Brazilian Satellite

• This Brazilian Satellite has been locally designed, assembled and tested in Brazil and will be the first satellite for Earth Observation. It will the primary payload and will not be a hitch-hiking satellite.
• The images from the Brazilian satellite will help in observing and monitoring the deforestation of the Amazon Region. And it now has a much more critical role to play after the recent fires in the Amazon Region. Also, the images will help in the agricultural and vegetation areas.

Know! about India-Brazil Space Cooperation

• At the 6th BRICS Summit in 2014, the two countries –India and Brazil had an agreement all signed which talked about setting up a Brazilian earth station to receive data from the Indian satellites.
• For operating the station and gathering data through remote sensing, the Brazilian scientists have been getting training at the ISRO facility.
• Space Cooperation between the two countries goes back to the early 2000s when the two had an agreement in place at the Government to Government level, under which the South American nation started receiving data from Resourcesat-1 satellite of India from October 2009 to September 2013. Since October 2014 has been receiving data from Resourcesat-2.
• On commercial basis, India gets tracking support from ground stations located Alcantara and Cuiaba, in Brazil.
• This tracking support is for Indian satellites and other space programmes including Chandrayaan-I, Megha Tropiques, MOM, and ASTROSAT.

The global role of ISRO

• Several countries have been coming to ISRO for launching their satellite purely because of commercial consideration.
• A lot of South American countries have been reaching out to ISRO through the Indian Missions looking for a commercially feasible launch.
• Post-MARS mission in 2014, India’s sophisticated and cost-effective programmes attracted big and small countries from across the globe.
• Countries like Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Bolivia are among some of the countries who have a Space Cooperation with ISRO at a different level.

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