Bureau of Indian Standards

The Government of India has recently mandated conformity to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for stainless steel and aluminium utensils.

• BIS is the National Standard Body of India established under the BIS Act, 2016 for the harmonious development of the activities of standardization, marking and quality certification of goods.
• BIS has its Headquarters at New Delhi and its 05 Regional Offices (ROs).
• Voluntary – The BIS certification scheme is voluntary in nature.
• However for a number of products, compliance to Indian Standards made mandatory by the Central Government under various statutes in public interest.
• Recently the government of India has mandated the Stainless steel and aluminium utensils produced in India to be in conformity with BIS certification.
• Composition of Governing Council of BIS:
  • President, Ex-officio – Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
  • Vice President, Ex-officio – Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
  • Member, Ex-officio – Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs.
  • Member, Ex-officio – Director General, Bureau of Indian Standards.
• Standards Formulation – BIS formulates Indian Standards in line with the national priorities for various sectors that have been grouped under 14 Departments.
• The standards cover important segments of economy and help the industry in upgrading the quality of their goods and services.
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO) – Is an independent, non-governmental membership organization and the world’s largest developer of voluntary International Standards.
• BIS is a founder member of ISO.
• ISO is actively involved in development of International Standards by acting as Participating member or Observer member on various Technical Committees, Sub-Committees, Working Groups, etc.
• International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) – Founded in 1906, is the world’s leading organization for the preparation and publication of International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.
• India is represented in IEC through BIS.
• Matters related to Technical Barriers to Trade (WTO-TBT), World Trade Organisation – BIS is the National Enquiry Point for WTO –TBT.
• National Institute Of Training For Standardization (NITS) – BIS imparts training through NITS to the technical and management personnel from industry, consumer organizations, PSUs and developing countries.
• The institute also conducts International Training Programmes (ITP) for developing countries under different cooperation schemes of India.

Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF)

The 15-member Governing Board of ANRF recently made public featured only one industrialist and two representatives from of State universities.

• Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) aims at equitable funding and democratisation of resources in research and academics.
• It seeks to provide strategic direction for research, innovation and entrepreneurship in several fields of science.
• It will have a corpus of 50,000 crore rupees at the outset with nearly 36,000 crore rupees projected to come from the private sector.
• ANRF is established by the ANRF Act that was passed by both Houses of Parliament in 2023.
• The Department of Science and Technology (DST) would be the administrative department of NRF.
• It is led by a Governing Board consisting of eminent researchers and professionals across disciplines.
• The Prime Minister will be the ex-officio President of the Governing Board and the Union Minister of Science & Technology & Union Minister of Education will be the ex-officio Vice-Presidents.
• NRF’s functioning will be governed by an Executive Council chaired by the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.
• The ANRF subsumes the existing Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), established in 2008, and in many respects identical to the ANRF.
• The SERB only envisaged funding research, whereas the ANRF can fund and receive money from private sources and philanthropic and international organisations.

Beki River

The changing course of Beki River displaces thousands of people in lower Assam.

• Beki River is also known as Kurissu River in Bhutan.
• Manas National park and wildlife sanctuary is located in this region of river.
• Beki River is one of the right bank tributaries of Brahmaputra River.
• It originates from the Mountain Reserve Forest at Mathanguri and joins the river Manas after traversing a length of about 85 km.
• Aai and Beki are the two closed rivers which are merged in the Brahmaputra confluence.
• Issues – The problem began in 2004 when the Beki started carrying 80% of the silt load from itself and the Manas River.
• Floods have worsened since 2004 due to excess water release from the Kurichu Dam in Bhutan.
• The river's course change has caused severe erosion in Manas National Park.
• The river's flood hazard has become increasingly severe.
• Lack of bank protection measures is a major factor contributing to the floods.
• Insufficient emergency measures have also led to increase in the causalities in the flood incidents.

Palm Trees

• Palm trees are iconic plants that belong to the family Arecaceae, also known as Palmae.
• They are one of the most recognizable and widely distributed plant families in tropical and subtropical regions around the world.
• Physical characteristics – Erect, slender-stemmed palm, usually 10-15m tall (can reach 30m).
• Single trunk, green when young and grey when old.
• Features – It is capable of growing in a wide variety of soil, from laterite to loamy soil.
• It is suitable for the soil has thorough drainage yet has capacity to retain optimum moisture.
• It has poor tolerance to drought and requires uniform moisture year-round.
• Its tolerance to salt spray, salinity and wind is poor.
• Palm trees act as natural conductors during lightning strikes and prevent loss of lives.
• Distribution – It is distributed in America and in Asia from India to Japan and south to Australia and the islands of the Pacific and Indian oceans.
• It is not endemic to Asia.
• Measures by Odisha government – Odisha, being one of India’s worst-affected states by lightning strikes has restricted the cutting of existing palm trees.
• Permission must be obtained from the forest department to cut palm trees on private land premises.
• The restriction on felling palm trees in the state was initially imposed under the Odisha Timber and Other Forest Produce Transit Rule.

Bustillos Lagoon

Increasing drought and lack of rain resulting in reduced water levels in Bustillos Lagoon have led to mass killing of fishes in the lagoon.

• Bustillos Lagoon is situated at Chihuahua, Mexico.
• The primary cause is attributed to intense drought in the region.
• Environmental conditions in the region – Severe dry spells in Chihuahua.
• Temperatures above 40°C (104°F) and drastically reduced water levels in the lagoon.
• Increased concentration of pollutants due to lower water volume.
• Similar incidents have occurred in previous drought years.
• Nearly 90% of Mexico experiencing drought, worst since 2011.
• It Affects agriculture, cattle farming and fisheries.
• Similar incidents – Recently, the Periyar River in Kerala, also suffered a massive fish kill allegedly due to pollution from the neighbouring Edayar Industrial Development Area.
• In 2023, Japan’s Hakodate experienced a surprise mass fish kill at its beach, allegedly due to colder water.