Current Affairs 13th November 2018

Current Affairs 13th November 2018 - Important Points

• Portable cold storage device developed by - IIT-Madras
• National Education Day celebrated on  -11th November 2018
• PM Narendra Modi inaugurates Inland Multi-Modal Terminal Port in Varanasi on - 12th November 2018
• Largest brain-mimicking supercomputer “SpiNNaker” switched on , constructed at - University of Manchester
• ISPRL, ADNOC sign MoU to explore storage of crude oil on - 12th November 2018

Current Affairs 13th November 2018  - Details

Portable cold storage device developed by - IIT-Madras

Indian Institute of Technology Madras has established portable solar power-driven cold storage device with 500 kgs capacity for storing vegetables and fruits, among other items. The device will benefit farmers for storing their produce for adequate time for preventing it being spoild before being sold, to avoid wastage of agricultural produce. The 1st unit of device was positioned at farm in Madurantakam in Kancheepuram district in Tamil Nadu.
Solar-powered cold storage device

• It has been established under project subsidized by Department of Science and Technology under
  Ministry of Science and Technology and IIT-Madras.
• It provides storage capability with temperature ADB to provide US $13 million loan to EESL to promote efficient energy usage in India Asian Development Bank will issue US $13 million loan to Energy Efficiency Services to encourage efficient energy use in India. It will be issued by Global Environment Facility as part of US $200 million Asian Development Bank financed Demand-Side Energy Efficiency Sector Project.

Important Points

• Asian Development Bank capital is assisting Energy Efficiency Services Limited finance energy service services for mounting recognized energy-efficient skills such as Light Emitting Diode- LED street lights with municipalities, while exploring fresh technologies and their self-supporting business models.
• The added financing for project through Global Environment Facility grant will be utilised by Energy
  Efficiency Services Limited for accomplishing investments in fresh and emerging technologies, consisting trigeneration, efficient motors and air-conditioners, smart meters and related new business models to increase usage of such innovations.
  Asian Development Bank
• Asian Development Bank is a regional development bank located out of Asia.
• It goals to encourage social and economic development in Asia by accomplishing a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while supporting its efforts to eliminate extreme poverty.
• It was recognized in December 1966 and its HQ is at Ortigas Centre in Manila, Philippines. It has over-all 67 members, of which 48 are from within Asia and the Pacific and 19 outside.

National Education Day celebrated on  -11th November 2018

National Education Day of India is observed every year on 11th November to celebrate the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who was the 1st education minister of independent India. Present year, it was 130th birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. As 1st education minister of India, Azad had overseen formation of national education system with free Primary Education and
modern foundations of higher education. He is also attributed with founding of IITs and laid foundation of UGCs, an imperative institution to supervise and advance higher education throughout the nation.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

• Maulana Abul Kalam was born on 11th November 1888 and passed away on 22nd February 1958.
• He was senior Muslim leader of Indian National Congress during Indian independence movement.
• He was 1st Minister of Education of Independent India.
• He had played vital role in foundation of Jamia Millia Islamia at Aligarh, UP. He supported in shifting campus of university from Aligarh to New Delhi in 1934.

Did you know?
National Education Day was introduced by Union Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2008
proclaimed to celebrate the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad for recalling his contribution
to cause of education in India. Its aim is to toughen educational institutions and to increase quality of
education to greater heights.

PM Narendra Modi inaugurates Inland Multi-Modal Terminal Port in Varanasi on - 12th November 2018

PM Narendra Modi on November 12th, 2018 initiated an Inland Multi-Modal Terminal Port on river Ganga at Ramnagar in Varanasi.  This Multi-Modal Terminal Port was built at the cost of Rupees 207 crores on National Waterways-I on River Ganga as part of the World Bank-aided Jal Marg Vikas project of the Inland Waterways Authority of India. The other 3 terminals are under construction at Sahibganj, Haldia and Gazipur.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, led by PM Narendra Modi on January 3rd, 2017 sanctioned the implementation of the Jal Marg Vikas Project for capacity augmentation of navigation on National Waterway-1.
The project was permitted at a cost of Rupees 5369.18 crore with the technical help and investment support of the World Bank.
More about Jal Marg Vikas Project

• The Jal Marg Vikas Project intends to enable commercial navigation of vessels with the size of 1500 - 2000 tons on NW-1.
• The development and operations of the NW-1 project will result to direct and indirect employment generation in the states of UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal. 
• The project consists development of fairway, Multi-Modal Terminals at Varanasi, Haldia and Sahibganj, strong river navigation system, modern River Information System, Digital Global Positioning System, night navigation facilities, construction of a navigational lock at Farakka.
• The NW-1 along with planned Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor and NH-2 constitutes the Eastern Transport Corridor of India linking the National Capital Region with the eastern and North-Eastern states.
• This waterway will work as a connection to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal and other east and South-East Asian nations via Kolkata Port and Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route. 
• The Jal Marg Vikas Project will result in an environment-friendly, fuel-efficient and less costly alternative mode of transportation, especially for bulk goods and over-dimensional cargo.

Largest brain-mimicking supercomputer “SpiNNaker” switched on , constructed at - University of Manchester

The World’s largest supercomputer “Spiking Neural Network Architecture- SpiNNaker” machine
planned to work in similar way as human brain was switched-on for the 1st time.
More about SpiNNaker

• It was designed and constructed at University of Manchester in United Kingdom.
• It can model additional biological neurons in real time than any other machine on planet.
• Biological neurons are basic brain cells found in nervous system that communicate by releasing spikes of pure electro-chemical energy.
• It is neuromorphic computing that utilises large scale computer systems having electronic circuits to mimic these spikes in a machine.
• It is talented for completing above 200 million actions/second, with each of its chips containing 100
  million transistors.
• It is unique as it mimics the immensely parallel communication architecture of brain, conveyance billions of small amounts of data instantaneously to thousands of different destinations.
• It also unique due to the reason that, unlike traditional computers, it does not interconnect by sending big sets of information from point A to B via standard network.
  Potential Applications
• It has huge potential for neurological innovations in science including pharmaceutical testing. It can be utilised to harnessed to control robot which can interpret real-time visual information and
  circumnavigate towards confident objects while ignoring others.
• It can also benefit to unlock few of secrets of how human brain performs by running unprecedentedly huge simulations.
• It will permit roboticists to design huge-scale neural networks into mobile robots so they can walk, talk and locomote with flexibility and low power.

ISPRL, ADNOC sign MoU to explore storage of crude oil on - 12th November 2018

The Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd- ISPRL on November 12th, 2018 inked a MoU with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company- ADNOC in Abu Dhabi to explore the possibility of storing Abu Dhabi National Oil Company crude oil at Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd.’s underground oil storage capability at Padur in Karnataka, which has a 2.5 million tonne storage capacity. 
The MoU was inked by Abdulla Salem Al Dhaheri, Director of Marketing, Sales and Trading at Abu Dhabi
National Oil Company and Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd CEO, MD HPS Ahuja on the side-lines of the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference. Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan witnessed the occasion along with UAE Minister of State and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company Group CEO Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber.
Important Points

• Under the agreement, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is predictable to store crude in compartments at Padur. 
• The Memorandum of Understanding follows the arrival of the final shipment of the early delivery on November 4th of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company crude to be stored in another Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd underground capability at Mangalore, also in Karnataka, which will store 5.86 million barrels of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company crude oil. 
• Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd is an Indian government-owned company mandated to store crude oil for emergency requests.
• Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is the only foreign oil and gas company, so far, to invest by way of crude oil in India’s strategic petroleum reserves programme. 
  Significance
• India is a vital oil market and the Memorandum of Understanding underlines the strategic energy
  corporation between the UAE and India that influences the UAE and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s expertise and oil resources.
• The agreement will permit Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd to explore, with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, opportunities linked to the possible storage of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company crude at Padur, which would benefit to knowingly support the nation’s strategic petroleum reserves.