Prelim Bits 13-11-2019

APRACA

• The Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) aims to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of rural finance and access to sustainable financial services for small farmers in its member countries.
• Currently, APRACA has members in over 23 countries, and it acts to promote the exchange of information and expertise on rural finance between them.
• It also provides rural finance-related training, consultancy, and research publications to assist them.
• They were established to provide financial services to small farmers and rural people in general.
• The two other regional agricultural credit associations are

1. NENARACA (Near East - North Africa Agricultural Credit Association).
2. AFRACA (African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association)

• All the three credit associations were established, with the help of FAO, following the 1975 World Conference on Agricultural Credit.
• Recently APRACA co-hosted 6^th World Congress on Rural and Agricultural Finance along with NABARD in New Delhi.

Suranga Bawadi

• Suranga Bawadi which is situated in Bijapur Karnataka has entered the World Monuments Watch List under “Ancient Water System of the Deccan Plateau” of the World Monument Funds.
• It is an integral part of the ancient Karez System of supplying water through subterranean tunnels.
• It was built by Adil Shah-I of Adilshahi dynasty of Bijapur in the 16th century to supply water to Vijaypura in Karnataka.

Karez System

• Karez is a water harnessing technology in which groundwater is brought to the surface by a tunnel.
• In this system, no mechanical pump or lift is used, Gravity alone brings the water from the underground source.
• The technology originated in Persia/Iran and was widely used during the medieval period.

World Monument Watch

• The World Monuments Watch is a biennial selection program of ‘at-risk cultural heritage sites’ that combine great historical significance with contemporary social impact.
• It is a nomination-based program uses cultural heritage conservation to empower communities and improve human well-being.
• It was launched in 1995 on the 30th anniversary of World Monuments Fund to identify imperilled cultural heritage sites and provide direct financial and technical support for their preservation.
• The program also seeks to improve the resilience of communities, enhance social inclusion, and build new capacities in the heritage conservation field and beyond.
• Anyone can nominate a site to the World Monuments Watch, including private individuals and representatives of civil society organizations, community groups, government agencies, educational institutions, or other entities.

World Monument Fund

• World Monuments Fund is a private nonprofit organization.
• It was founded in 1965 by individuals concerned about the accelerating destruction of important artistic treasures throughout the world.

Geochemical Baseline Atlas of India

• Geochemical Baseline Atlas of India is developed by CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI).
• The atlas consists of 45 maps of metals, oxides and elements present in top and bottom soils across India.
• These maps help in finding out future contamination caused by industries or other bodies, which cause pollution on the earth surface.
• For instance, tanneries release chromium, by going through the map of chromium, policymakers will get to know regions with a high concentration of it.
• Earlier, there was no way to prove if polluters denied causing damage to the environment.

Ex- Tiger Triumph

• It is the maiden India US joint Tri services Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Exercise.
• Indian Naval ships Jalashwa, Airavat and Sandhayak, would be participating in the exercise.
• The US would be represented by US Navy Ship Germantown.  
• The Exercise is aimed at developing interoperability for conducting HADR operations.

CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH)

• The Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH) based in Chandigarh, India, was established in 1984.
• It is one of the constituent establishments of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR).
• The institute is engaged in research in many areas of modern biological sciences and microbe-related biotechnology.

Source: The Hindu, PIB