Current Affairs 24th July 2019

Current Affairs 24th July 2019 -  Important Points

• Motihari-Amlekhgunj Oil Pipeline ready for commercial operation between India and - Nepal
• 11th DefExpo India- 2020 to be held from - 5th February 2020
• New Next Gen Sequencing facility unveiled by - CCMB

Current Affairs 24th July 2019 - Details

Motihari-Amlekhgunj Oil Pipeline ready for commercial operation between India and - Nepal

The landmark Motihari-Amlekhgunj Petroleum Products Pipeline between India and Nepal is now completed and is ready for commercial operation. The testing transfer of the pipeline was efficaciously completed by Indian Oil Corporation and Nepal Oil Corporation. As part of trial, diesel was released from Motihari which reached Amlekhgunj.
It is expected to be inaugurated soon by PM Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart K P Sharma Oli.
More about Motihari-Amlekhgunj Oil Pipeline

• It is a 69-kilometre-long pipeline that will operate from Motihari in Bihar to Amelkhgunj in Nepal.
  It has been built by India in just 15 months, which is half of its 30 months deadline.
• The admired project is the 1st oil pipeline in Nepal, 1st transnational petroleum pipeline from India
  as well as 1st South Asian oil pipeline corridor.
• Since 1974, Nepal has been introducing its entire major petroleum products including petrol,
  diesel, aviation turbine fuel and Liquefied Petroleum Gas from India.
• Yearly export worth of these products is above Rupees 8500 crore thus this new oil pipeline will be a game-changer for Nepal as it will make sure smooth, cost effective and eco-friendly supply of petroleum products to Nepal.
• It will benefit in tackling oil storage problem in Nepal and doing away with transportation of petroleum products via tankers.

11th DefExpo India- 2020 to be held from - 5th February 2020

The 11th edition of DefExpo India-2020 is planned to be organise for 1st time in Lucknow, UP. The two-yearly Expo will be a four days event, starting from 5th-8th February 2020. It suggests an excellent opportunity for Indian defence industry to demonstrate its capabilities and promote its export potential.
More about DefExpo

• Theme for DefExpo India- 2020 will be ‘India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub’. Its
  emphasis will be on ‘Digital Transformation of Defence’.
• It would deliver a unique platform for Defence industry Original Equipment Manufacturers,
  exhibitors and private industry to demo their latest innovations and capabilities in the field.
• It would also deliver an opportunity to major foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers to
  cooperate with Indian defence industry and assist promote Make in India initiative.
• The DefExpo is believed to be visited by Ministerial level delegations from foreign countries and
  visitors from all over world to witness India’s emergence as major manufacturing hub.
• At DefExpo international level shows are conducted that not only facilitates Government-to-
  Government meetings, signing of MoUs between participants but also Business-to-Business
  interaction with senior foreign delegations.
• The Expo would provide attractive opportunities for co-development and co-production of defence
  equipment and systems not only for our defence forces but also for distributing it internationally.
• It will also highlight emergence of Uttar Pradesh as an attractive destination for investment in
  Defence sector and act as a podium for alliances and joint ventures in defence industry.

New Next Gen Sequencing facility unveiled by - CCMB

Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, initiated Next Generation Sequencing facility at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, a CSIR lab in Hyderabad, Telangana.
More about Next Generation Sequencing Facility

• It would have technology for high genome sequencing and also diagnostic sequencing of clinical
  samples. It is 4th such facility in the nation.
• It is a state-of-the-art genome sequencing capability that can sequence 18000 samples in eight minutes. It is attained at a cost of Rupees 8 crore.
• It can sequence 30 human genomes per day. It would cost about Rupee 1 lakh to sequence one genome using this facility.

Applications

• It would benefit prenatal genetic screening and counselling, thus producing large scale genomic
  information critical for diagnosis and therapy.
• It would especially benefit patients suffering from rare genetic disease.
• It would benefit in finding medicines for rare genetic diseases, which medicine industry does not
  produce because of high costs involved.
• By using Next Generation Sequencing facility, scientists hope to find genetic cause of rare
  diseases and develop kits that can be utilised to find population at risk of genetic/other rare diseases.
• Much of current body of knowledge for therapies for genetic diseases comes from studies done
  with Caucasian populations but this new Next Generation Sequencing facility would benefit in
  generating large-scale genomic data from Indian populations, which was critical for genetic
  diagnosis and therapy.