[Environment] Floating Solar Farms, Banni Grassland, Nairobi flies & more Weekly Mrunal Digest from Jul week1-2022 (WMD)

• Environment/Pollution: Solar plants can be either ground-mounted or set up on the surface of waterbodies. Floating solar farms are expensive but has advantages as well.
• 🤩1) Do not require land
• 🤩2). More efficient due to presence of water underneath helps them keep cool.
• 🤩3) Help reduce water evaporation, thereby saving more water for hydropower generation.🤩 INDIA’S LARGEST floating solar plant at Ramagundam in Telangana (100MW). Made by by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). (सौर ऊर्जा प्लांट को या तो ज़मीन पर स्थापित किया जा सकता है या पानी पर स्थापित किया जा सकता है। पानी पर स्थापित करने के फ़ायदे का एक तो ज़मीन की बचत। पानी के चलते पूरी प्रणाली काफ़ी ठंडी रहती है। और वो जलाशय के पानी का वाष्प उत्सर्जन को भी कम करता है।)

• Environment/Pollution: economic growth versus environment conservation: VEDANTA’S copper smelter plant in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, It supplied 40% of India’s copper demands but was shut down by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board in 2018 after violent protests. Now it is unlikely to be started again so company is planning to sell it off. (ज़माने में पूरे भारत की ताम्बे की ४०% आपूर्ति तुतीकोरिन प्लांट से होती थी। किन्तु प्रदूषण विरोधी आंदोलन के चलते इसे बंद करना पड़ा। वेदांत कम्पनी अब इसे बेचकर निकल जाना चाहती है, क्योंकि सर पर बैंकों के दिवालियेपन की तलवार लटक रही है।)
• Environment/Pollution: THE GUJARAT forest department will restore 10,000 hectares of the Banni grasslands in Kutch region. Banni grassland is degraded by has shown drastic changes with the deterioration of the grassland taking place due to 😥1) heavy uncontrolled grazing 😥2)widespread ingress of Prosopis Juliflora (a harmful exotic tree species 😥3) dams constructed on rivers flowing towards Banni 😥4) periodic occurrence of droughts and continuous increase in soil salinity. (गुजरात के बन्नी घास मैदान लुप्त हो रहा है क्योंकि वे पशुओं द्वारा अत्यधिक मात्रा में घास खाना, विलायती बबूल के पेड का उपद्रव, नदियों पर बाँध बनाने से पानी की क़िल्लत, और ज़मीन में खारेपन की बढ़ोतरी.)
• Environment/ biodiversity: Bird- INDIAN skimmers, an endangered bird species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list. Mostly found in Chambal region. Now spotted in Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary (NSBL)—the famous wetland near Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Geography

• Geography/Disasters: ITALY GLACIER COLLAPSE: Avalanche took place on the Marmolada is a mountain in northeastern Italy. (हिम स्खलन)
• Geography/Disaster: Derechos storm mostly occur over the central and eastern United States.For a storm to be classified as a derecho it must have wind gusts of at least 93 km per hour. (डेरेंको एक ख़ास क़िस्म के चक्रवात है जो अमेरिका में पाए जाते हैं जिसकी रफ़्तार ९३ किलोमीटर प्रति घंटे से भी ज़्यादा होती है)
• Geography: Uzbekistan’s Karakalpakstan province. The protests for demand of autonomy. (उज्बेकिस्तान का यह इलाक़ा स्वायत्ता की माँग कर रहा है)
• Geography: Hyderabad – BJP proposed to name it Bhagyanagar. (हैदराबाद का नाम बदलकर भाग्यनगर किया जाए ऐसी BJP की माँग है)
• Geography: SPAIN’S San Fermin bull-running festival

History

• History- Freedom Struggle: Forest Act of 1882 banned collection of minor forest produce such as roots and leaves, and tribal people were forced into labour. 1922: Tribals started armed struggle against exploitation by muttadars, village headmen. 💪 Colonial rule threatened the tribals’ traditional podu (shifting) cultivation. 💪 Alluri Sitharama Raju mobilized the hill people in Ganjam, Visakhapatnam, and Godavari for guerrilla resistance against the British. 💪Alluri Sitharama Raju attacked the Chintapalle, police stations in the Godavari. 💪 Rampa or Manyam Rebellion continued in the form of a guerrilla war until May 1924. 1924: Raju, the ‘Manyam Veerudu’ or Hero of Jungle, was finally captured and executed. 2022: S S Rajamouli’s Telugu blockbuster: RRR is a fictional account of the friendship between Raju and tribal leader Komaram Bheem, with Ram Charan in the role of Raju. 2022: PM Modi unveiled a 30-foot-tall bronze statue of Alluri Sitharama Raju at Bhimavaram in Andhra Pradesh. 2022 marks this freedom fighter’s 125th birth anniversary. (आँध्र प्रदेश के स्वतंत्रता सेनानी अल्लूरी सीतारामराजु की कांस्य प्रतिमा का प्रधानमंत्री भिमावरण मैं अनावरण कर रहे हैं. अल्लूरी सीतारामराजु ने अंग्रेजों द्वारा आदिवासियों के हो रहे दमन के ख़िलाफ़ रामपा-विद्रोह किया था। )

Sci-Tech

• Sci-Tech: Public Health: Nairobi flies: Also called Kenyan flies or dragon bugs, are beetle-like insects. If disturbed they release potent acidic substance “penderin” that causes skin burns. Students of Sikkim Manipal Institute reported this infection. (जो नेरोबी मक्खी- जो एक एसिडिक द्रव्य का स्त्राव करती है, और मनुष्य की चमड़ी को नुक़सान होता है)
• Sci-Tech: ICT/ Cybercrime: Apple mobiles to have ‘Lockdown Mode’ – a new layer of protection for human rights advocates, political dissidents and other targets of sophisticated hacking attacks like Pegasus. (Apple मोबाइल फ़ोन में जासूसी को रोकने के लिए एक अतिरिक्त कवच)
• To download the PDF compilation of current affairs– Visit Mrunal.org/current

PIN

• Sports: Elena Rybakina becomes the first female player from Kazakhstan to win a Grand Slam singles title beating Ons Jabeur.
• PIN: Award- Fields Medals for Maths. First woman to win it Maryam Mirzakhani. Second woman to win it- Ukraine’s Maryna Viazovska.
• PIN: Award: Gita Gopinath on IMF’s ‘wall of former chief economists’. She is 1st Woman and 2nd Indian (after dr Raghuram Rajan) to get this status.
• PIN: Appointment: LIEUTENANT GENERAL Mohan Subramanian has been appointed by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres as his new Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)
• Death: former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assassinated while he was addressing a campaign rally. Killer was a former member of Japan’s navy who used a homemade gun
• PIN: Resignation- SRI LANKA’S President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will step down after violent protests / popular pressure due to financial crisis in Sri Lanka.
• Death: Peter Brook- English theatre and film director won Padma Shri and Tony awards.
• Death: NARENDRA SINGH, former Bihar agriculture minister and a key leader of JP movement, died.
• Death: Tarun Majumdar. WRITER-DIRECTOR, a Padma Shri recipient, was the son of a freedom fighter.
• Movie: Actress Taapsee Pannu as cricketer Mithali Raj in movie Shabaash Mithu, which releases on July 15.- GPSC: THE MAHARAJA Sayajirao University (MSU) of Baroda is all set to open admissions to the country’s first undergraduate course in Hindu studies
• GPSC: Gujarat to host 36th National Games from Sept 27 to October 10
• GPSC: Saurashtra University in Rajkot announced that it will live webcast examinations on its website for public viewing in its attempt to curb the menace of unfair practices in examinations.