Current Affairs 5th February 2018

Current Affairs 5th February 2018 - Important Points

• Floating Treatment Wetland launched to purify Neknampur Lake in Hyderabad on - 2nd February 2018
• Doctors to create three-parent babies through mitochondrial donation allowed by - UK
• KUSUM scheme to encourage farmers for solar farming to be launched by - Government
• 32nd Surajkund International Crafts Mela held in Haryana by -  UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath

Current Affairs 5th February 2018 - Details

Floating Treatment Wetland launched to purify Neknampur Lake in Hyderabad on - 2nd February 2018

The Floating Treatment Wetland was initiated on World Wetlands Day, February 2 nd , in Neknampur Lake in Hyderabad to clean and refine the polluted water reservoir. Plants planted on Floating Treatment Wetland can clean the lake by absorbing nitrates and various other pollutants in the water.
Key Points

• Floating Treatment Wetland is combined effort of NGO Dhruvansh, Hyderabad Metropolitan
  Development Authority, district administration and other institutions.
• It measures about 3,000 square feet and consists of 4 layers including floatable bamboo at base, styrofoam cubicles above it.
• The 3rd layer comprises of gunny bags and gravels on final layer to hold cleaning agents- plants. Cleaning agents planted on Floating Treatment Wetland contain cattalis, canna, bulrush, vetivers, citronella, fountain grass, tulsi, flowering herbs, hibiscus and ashvagandha.
• Floating Treatment Wetland’s functioning is based on soil-less hydroponics skill. Hydroponics allows plants to grow only on water and sunlight.
• It doesn’t require the soil. There are small pores at base which allows flow of nutrients from water to plants through biological uptake procedure.
• Small organisms growing on Floating Treatment Wetland and plant-root systems of cleaning agents
  breaks and ingest organic matter in water via microbial decay. The root systems purify sediments and pollutants, lessens content of these chemicals from water resources.

Doctors to create three-parent babies through mitochondrial donation allowed by - UK

Britain’s fertility regulator Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority- HFEA has permitted doctors to create nation’s 1st ‘three-parent’ babies with mitochondrial donation therapy. This initiative is focused at preventing passing of incurable genetic diseases from mothers to their offspring.
Key Points

• Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has allowed processes to be applicable on 2 women in the city of Newcastle in Northeast England.
• The process will use MRT for the women, having neuro- degenerative disorder genes which causes disability with mental functioning. It will form first 3 parent baby in UK within a year.
  Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy
• Mitochondrial donation is medical skill in which faulty mitochondria carried by a woman is replaced with the healthy mitochondria of a donor. Through invitro fertilization technique, the egg is then fertilised with the co-partner’s sperm.
• Thus, the embryo is free from any such problem. The 2 most regular abilities in mitochondrial donation are pronuclear transfer and maternal spindle transfer.
• United Kingdom was 1st nation to officially allow law to pass 3-parent baby. But procedure was successfully tested in Mexico, giving birth to world’s 1st 3-parent baby in September 2016.
  Benefits
• It will block transmission of mitochondrial genetic disease from one generation to the coming.
• It will provide parents chance of having a child that is more than 99 percent genetically parallel to them and most significantly free of the mitochondrial problem.
• It has no effect on personality or appearances of the offspring from 3rd DNA set, as surrogate
  mitochondrial DNA is distinct from core DNA in tissues.

KUSUM scheme to encourage farmers for solar farming to be launched by - Government

For promoting solar farming, the Union Government has declared Rupees 1.4 lakh crores for Kisan Urja
Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan plan, which means, de-centralised solar energy production of up to 28,250 Megawatt to help farmers. The Union Budget 2018-19 has assigned Rupees 48,000 crores for the plan for the 10 years period.
Key Points

• KUSUM plan will initiate with constructing 10,000 Megawatts solar power plants on uncultivated lands and supplying 1.75 million off-grid agricultural solar pumps. It will provide additional earnings to farmers, by providing them an option to sell extra power to grid via solar power plans set up on their uncultivated lands.
• It will aid in de-dieselising the agriculture sector as India had about thirty-million farm pumps that
  contain 10-million pumps working on diesel. The excess electricity produced by farmers will be bought by state electricity distribution companies. Thus, it will aid boost the nation’s emerging green economy.
  Components of plan
• Building 10,000 megawatt solar plants on uncultivated lands
• Supplying sops to DISCOMS to buy the electricity produced, Solarising existing pumps of 7250 megawatt as well as government tube-wells with a volume of 8250 megawatt 
• Giving 17.5 lakh solar pumps.
• Government will provide 60 percent subsidy on solar pumps to farmers. It will be shared among Centre and States while 30 percent will be given via bank loans. The rest amount will be borne by farmers.
  Positive Results
• It will boost decentralised solar power generation, lowering of transmission losses of discoms and giving support to upgrade financial health of DISCOMs by diminishing subsidy liability to agriculture sector.
• It will also support water conservation and energy efficiency and will give water security to farmers.

32nd Surajkund International Crafts Mela held in Haryana by -  UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath

• The 32nd Surajkund International Crafts Mela was organised at Faridabad, Haryana. It was officially begun by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the presence of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
• It is a yearly cultural festival organised since 1987 to showcase richness and diversity of the handi-crafts and ethnic heritage of India. This year UP is theme state and the Kyrgyzstan is the partner nation.
  Key points
• The Crafts Mela is held every year by Surajkund Mela Authority and Haryana Tourism in coordination with Union Ministries of Tourism, Textiles, Culture and External Affairs Ministry.
• The 15 days festival exhibits richness and diversity of handlooms, handi-crafts and ethnic heritage of the nation.
• The festival’s name Surajkund get its name from ancient amphitheatre build in 10th century AD by Raja Suraj Pal, Tomar’s chieftains.
• This is special monument was constructed to worship Sun God and it looks like a Greek amphitheatre.
• This year UP as theme state exhibited its rural tourism, religious tourism and spiritual tourism apart from its culture, art and heritage. 29 nations also participated in this craft Mela. It also exhibited religious tourism circuit for example, Kashi, Ayodhya, Mathura apart from the culture, art and heritage of Uttar Pradesh.