Daily Current Capsules 31^st December 2020

Defence
Maiden Flight Trial of SAHAYAK-NG, Air Droppable Container

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

• Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) along with Indian Navy conducted the successful maiden test trial of ‘SAHAYAK-NG' India's first indigenously designed and developed Air Dropped Container from IL 38SD aircraft (Indian Navy) off the coast of Goa.

Know! about SAHAYAK-NG

• The trial was conducted by Indian Navy to enhance its operational logistics capabilities and provide critical engineering stores to ships which are deployed more than 2000 km from the coast.
• It reduces the requirement of ships to come close to the coast to collect spares and stores.
• Two DRDO laboratories i.e. NSTL, Visakhapatnam and ADRDE, Agra were involved in the development of SAHAYAK-NG container along the industry partner M/s Avantel for GPS integration.
• SAHAYAK-NG is an advanced version of SAHAYAK Mk I.
• The newly developed GPS aided air dropped container is having the capability to carry a payload that weighs upto 50 kg and can be dropped from heavy aircraft.

Defence
Induction of Indigenous Bridging System into the Indian Army

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about short span bridges)
What's the NEWS

• Indian Army has inducted first three sets of 10-metre short span bridges.
• The equipment will meet the important requirement of providing mobility to own forces by speedy bridging of gaps during operations.

Know! the benefits of short span bridges.

• The bridge is indigenously designed and developed in close coordination between the Corps of Engineers and the DRDO laboratory in Pune
• The Indian Army has inducted three sets of 10-metre short span bridges, which were formally handed over on 29 December 2020 at the Talegaon facility of Larsen & Toubro Limited.
• The equipment will meet the important requirement of providing mobility to own forces by speedy bridging of gaps during operations.
• This accomplishment is a step towards weaning away our armed forces from foreign manufactured equipment with the the Bridge indigenously designed, developed and delivered as per schedule.
• The bridge is one of the numerous indigenous projects of Corps of Engineers which have made significant progress.

Infrastructure Development
Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India)

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about GHTC + about NAVARITIH + The Light House Projects+ ASHA-India + PMAY-U Mission) + Mains ( GS III Infrastructure development)
What's the NEWS

• Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of Light House Projects (LHPs) under Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India) at six sites across six States on 1st January 2021
• Prime Minister will also announce winners under Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators - India (ASHA-India) and give out annual awards for excellence in implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) Mission.
• Prime Minister will also release a certificate course on innovative construction technologies named NAVARITIH (New, Affordable, Validated, Research Innovation Technologies for Indian Housing) and a compendium of 54 innovative housing construction technologies identified through GHTC-India.

Light House Projects

• The Light House Projects (LHPs) showcase the best of new-age alternate global technologies, materials and processes in the construction sector for the first time in the country at such a large scale.
• They are being constructed under GHTC-India which envisages to provide an ecosystem for adoption of innovative technologies in the housing construction sector in a holistic manner.
• The LHPs are being constructed at Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Rajkot (Gujarat), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Agartala (Tripura) and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh).
• They comprise about 1000 houses at each location along with allied infrastructure facilities.

• These projects will demonstrate and deliver ready to live houses at an expedited pace within twelve months, as compared to conventional brick and mortar construction, and will be more economical, sustainable, of high quality and durability.
• The LHPs will serve as live laboratories for facilitating transfer of technology to the field and its further replication.
• This includes planning, design, production of components, construction practices and testing for both faculty and students of IITs, NITs, other Engineering colleges, Planning and Architecture colleges, builders, professionals of private and public sectors and other stakeholders.

ASHA-India

• Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators - India (ASHA-India) aims to promote domestic research and entrepreneurship by providing incubation and acceleration support to potential future technologies.
• Under ASHA-India initiative, five ASHA-India Centers have been set up for providing incubation and acceleration support.
• The potential technology winners under acceleration support will be announced by the Prime Minister.
• The technologies, processes and materials identified through this initiative will provide a major fillip to young creative minds, start-ups, innovators and entrepreneurs.

PMAY-U Mission

• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) Mission has been designed to achieve the vision of "Housing For All by 2022".
• In order to recognize the outstanding contribution by States, UTs,Urban Local Bodies and beneficiaries, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has introduced annual awards for excellence in implementation of PMAY-Urban.
• The winners of PMAY(Urban) Awards-2019 will be felicitated during the event.

Prelims Factoids
First pollinator park of India inaugurated in Uttarakhand

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the first pollinator park + importance of pollinator)
What's the NEWS

• Sprawling across four acres, India's first pollinator park was inaugurated at Haldwani in Nainital district of Uttarakhand.
• The park has around 50 different pollinator species which include various species of butterflies honeybees birds and other insects
• The park was inaugurated by Peter Smetacek, a butterfly expert and it has around 50 different pollinator species, which include various species of butterflies, honeybees, birds and other insects.

Know! about the Pollinator Park

• The objective is to conserve various pollinator species, to create awareness among the public about the importance of pollination and to promote further research on its various aspects including a threat to habitat and impact of pollution, use of pesticides or insecticides and relation between various pollinators and plant species
• At present, between 75-95 per cent of all flowering plants on earth depend on pollinators to provide pollination services to over 180,000 different plant species.
• In this park, habitat has been created for various pollinators, including plantation of nectar and pollination producing plants, like marigold, rose, hibiscus, jasmine for various honeybee and butterfly, bird and moth species and also host plants to provide shelter to eggs, larvae and pupa, like curry leaf plant, citrus species, cassia species and lantana.
• Apart from that, to attract various bird and butterfly species, bird feeders and nests along with many fruit trees have been placed throughout the park for various bird species.
• Use of all type of chemicals, including pesticides and insecticides have been totally stopped in the park and neighbouring area, the statement informed.

Know! about Pollinator

• Pollination is the act of transferring pollen grains from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma.
• Pollinators are responsible for assisting over 80% of the world's flowering plants to reproduce
• A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower.
• This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains.

Personalities/Indian National Movement
PM remembers Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on 75^th Anniversary of tricolor hoisting at Port Blair

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the renaming of three islands of Andaman and Nicobar +75th Anniversary of tricolor hoisting at Port Blair)
What's the NEWS

• The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has remembered Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on 75^th Anniversary of tricolor hoisting at Port Blair.
• On 30^th December 1943the brave Netaji Subhas Bose unfurled the Tricolour at Port Blair.

Connect to the Past

• On 31^st December 2018 Prime minister Narendra announced the renaming of three islands of Andaman and Nicobar archipelago as a tribute to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
• The Ross Island was renamed as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Dweep, the Neil Island as Shaheed Dweep and the Havelock Island as Swaraj Dweep.
• On December 30, 1943, Bose had suggested that Andaman and Nicobar Islands be renamed as Shahid and Swaraj Dweep respectively.
• During World War II, the Japanese had captured the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Netaji came here as the Azad Hind Fauz led by him was an ally of the Japanese force.
• The Government of India renamed three islands of Andaman Group. It was to commemorate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose visit to the Andaman as the Commander of Azad Hind Fauj in December 1943.
• British colonized the islands since 1858. However, during the World War II, Japanese occupied the islands as allies of Indian National Army.

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