Kamov Ka-226T
- Russia plans to deliver 10 Kamov Ka-226T military helicopters to India in a first tranche as part of a $1-billion deal, signed in Indo-Russia Summit in Moscow, 2015.
- The Kamov 226T is a light weight, twin-engine multi-role chopper offers services for both military and civilian purposes.
- It will replace India's ageing fleet of Cheetah and Chetak.
- The military version is capable of working in extreme and difficult weather conditions such as hot climate, marine areas and high mountains.
- The helicopter has a maximum speed of 250 km/hour and maximum takeoff weight is 3,600 kg.
Renewable Energy Pact
- India and Germany signed an agreement on technical cooperation under the Indo-German Energy Programme – Green Energy Corridors (IGEN-GEC).
- The main objective of this programme is to improve the conditions for grid integration of renewable energy.
- This programme component supports the implementation of the Renewable Energy Management Centre (REMCs), Green Energy Corridors (GEC) scheme which is a prerequisite for large scale grid integration of renewable energy.
- Thus the programme contributes to achieve the 175 GW target for renewable energy generation capacity by 2022.
REMC and GEC
- Green Energy Corridor is grid connected network for the transmission of renewable energy produced from various renewable energy projects.
- It helps in synchronising the electricity produced from solar, wind and other renewable energy resources.
- This dedicated transmission network has been divided into two parts. Intra state network is being implemented by State Transmission Utilities and Inter-state network by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.
- Germany has agreed to provide Euro 1 billion soft loan to this project in 2013.
- Renewable Energy Management Centre (REMC) will monitor renewable energy generation on a real-time basis and also make forecasts for hassle-free integration of solar and wind energies with the grid.
Enterprise Survey by NITI Aayog
- Recently, Niti Aayog and Mumbai-based IDFC Institute have conducted an enterprise survey on ease of doing business.
- The findings of the survey are at sharp variance with the World Bank’s ease of doing business report.
- The WB’s report showed that it took just 26 days to set up a business in India in 2016 whereas NITI Aayog’s report says that it takes 118 days on an average to set up a business.
- The WB report covered only Delhi and Mumbai, while the NITI surveyed pan-India, except Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar, and Lakshadweep.
- The Niti Aayog report is focused on organised manufacturing, while the World Bank report covers both manufacturing and services.
- The survey also highlighted that Tamil Nadu is the best-performing state. An enterprise can setup a business in 63 days in Tamil Nadu.
Production of Bio-Ethanol
- Scientists from CSIR have produced ethanol from discarded cotton-stalks by using a combination of chemical and biological techniques.
- The cotton stalks were first treated with an acid, alkali and enzymes to convert it to glucose.
- Then the fermentation using a novel yeast strain was carried out to convert the glucose into ethanol.
- The final alcohol obtained can be made to fuel grade Bio-ethanol, after distillation and dehydration using molecular sieves.
- Bio-ethanol has a number of advantages over conventional fuels as it comes from a renewable resource.
- It is mandatory to blend 10% ethanol with petrol.
- Presently it is obtained by fermentation of sugar cane molasses which is a by product of sugar production, and has food value.
- Converting the agro-residues (Cotton Stalks) to ethanol reduces the food and fuel competition.
Geological Stresses in Indian Ocean
- A Geological stresses is building along the Indo-Australian tectonic plate boundary in the Southern Indian Ocean.
- It has the potential to cause a powerful earthquake, triggering a tsunami across much of South India.
- This development is mainly due to the presence of diffuse deformation zone between Indian and Australian tectonic plates.
- Diffuse zones of deformation are in general characterized by complex morphological expressions and scattered seismicity of up to several 100Km width.
- The zones are capable of generating undersea earthquakes up to a magnitude of 8.
- Studies have to be conducted to understand how the event will unfold.
- The largest strike-slip earthquake on record had happened along the Indo-Australian boundary in 2012.
- Strike-slip earthquake occurrs when tectonic plates slips horizontally along a fault line, unlike most large earthquakes which are caused when two plates collided at their boundaries and one plate slid beneath the other.
