Wednesday, December 5, 2018

AUG 18 MISCELLANEOUS

10.1. E ASTE R N R AJASTHA N CA NA L PR OJE CT (E CR P)

Why in news?

The Ministry of water resources recently moved a proposal for cabinet approval of the Rs 400 billion Eastern
Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP).

More about ECRP

The project’s core aim is to move surplus water from rivers in South Rajasthan (such as the Chambal, Kalisindh, Gambhiri, Parbati), through a system of canals to areas in South Eastern Rajasthan which face large water deficits.
•   This project is planned to meet the Drinking / Irrigation and
Industrial water needs of the thirteen districts of Southern
& South Eastern Rajasthan.
It will irrigate nearly 10 Lakh acres of land. Additionally, it will help in recharging ground water and better management of floods and drought.
Rajasthan  government  had  been  trying  to  get  national project status (projects which are funded in the ratio of 90-
10 between centre-state) for the project.

10.2. GLOB AL LI V E ABI LI TY I NDE X

Why in news?

Recently Economic Intelligence Unit, part of The Economist magazine of United Kingdom, released the Global
Liveability Index 2018.

About the Global Liveability Index

•   It is an annual index which has been running since about a decade.
•   It ranks 140 global cities according to their living conditions and quantifies challenges that might be presented
to an individual’s lifestyle.
It is based on 30 qualitative and quantitative  indicators  covering  five broad categories–  stability (25%), healthcare (20%), culture and environment (25%), education (10%) and infrastructure (20%) and uses New York as a baseline to measure each city
•   While Damascus (Syria) is the least liveable city, Vienna has come at the top of the 2018 list
Delhi and Mumbai are the only two cities to feature on the Global Liveability Index which and they have been ranked 112 and 117 respectively.

10.3. V I DY ALAK SHMI POR TA L

Why in news?

As per National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) report, 22119 applications are pending as on 29.07.2018 for more than 6 months on VidyaLakshmi Portal.

About the portal

It is IT-based mechanism under the Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram to provide students a single window electronic platform for Scholarships and Educational Loans
It aims to enable all poor and middle class students to pursue higher education of their choice without any constraint of funds.
It has been developed and being maintained by NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited under the guidance of Department of Financial Services, Department of Higher Education and Indian Banks Association (IBA).

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Students can view, apply and track the education loan applications to banks anytime, anywhere by accessing the portal.
•   The portal also provides linkages to National Scholarship Portal.

10.4. FI E LDS ME DA L

Why in news?

Recently, Indian- Australian mathematician Akshay Venkatesh was awarded Fields Medal, also known as the
Nobel prize for math.

About Fields Award

•   It   is   awarded   every   four  years   on   the   occasion   of
International  Congress  of Mathematicians  to  recognise  the  outstanding  mathematical  achievements  for
existing work to the mathematicians under the age of 40 years.
•   The prize was inaugurated in 1932. Each winner is awarded with a cash of 15000 Canadian dollars cash prize.
•   During the award ceremony preferably two or four scholars are awarded.
•   The medals and cash prizes are funded by a trust established by John Charles Fields at the University of
Toronto, which has been supplemented periodically.
Venkatesh was recognised for his use of dynamics theory, which studies the equations of moving objects to solve problems in number theory, which is the study of whole numbers, integers and prime numbers.

10.5. MOV E HACK

Why in News?

Recently, NITI Aayog has launched Move Hack, a global mobility hackathon to crowd source solutions aimed at the future of mobility in India.

Details

•   Mobility Hackathon have two-pronged campaign approach:


Deep learning technology is a subset of machine learning (ML) in artificial intelligence (AI) that has networks capable of learning unsupervised from data that is unstructured or unlabelled.
o 'Just Code It' which is aimed at solutions through innovations in technology/product/software and data analysis.
o 'Just Solve  It' which aims at innovative  business  ideas or sustainable  solutions to transform mobility infrastructure through technology.
•   It’s organized in partnership with Government of Singapore and NVIDIA-will be the deep learning technology
partner of Move-Hack.

10.6. TE SLA’S BL ACK HO LE

Why in news?

Tesla's BlackHOLE machines are to be used for waste management in Ladakh.

More about the News

To tackle the garbage crisis in Ladakh, Bengaluru-based Tesla Energy (an arm of the US-based Tesla Green) has come up with a ‘Blackhole’ machine that works without fuel or electricity, and converts all waste, except glass & concrete material, into ash.
Ladakh is suffering from a serious waste management crisis due to rising tourist footfall during peak season in June-August generating around 15-16 tonne of trash daily in a narrow arc covering the popular tourist haunts of Nubra valley in north-west Ladakh, Pangong-Tso and Tso-Moriri lakes in the east.
Sending trash to the plains for disposal is economically and geographically unviable due to the rugged terrain and a short window when roads remain open hence BlackHOLE serve as solution to bridge that gap.
The BlackHOLE machine is small and can be installed anywhere in the city for garbage disposal without segregating dry and wet waste.


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•   It reduces the volume of garbage in the ratio of 1/300 – 1/400 and the residue can be used as a by-product for
improving soil conditions and can act as a disinfectant, alter mixing with water.
The  BRO  (Border  Roads  Organisation)  has  already  agreed  to  buy  the  ash  for  building  roads  on  the mountainside.
As compared to the incinerators, BlackHOLE requires no high temperatures and secondary combustion system as it is based on unique feature of Plasmic Decomposition

10.7. I NDI AN H UMA N OI D R ASHMI

Why in news?

Recently an Indian version of humanoid robot Sophia was made and is named as Rashmi.

About the robot

•   Rashmi can speak Hindi, Bhojpuri and Marathi along with English.
•   It is claimed to be as world’s first Hindi speaking realistic humanoid robot and India’s first lip-synching robot.
Rashmi  uses linguistic  interpretation  (LI), artificial intelligence  (AI), visual  data and facial  recognition systems.
•   It gives facial, eye, lips, and eyebrow expressions and it can move its neck.


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