{"id":54671,"date":"2019-12-12T21:00:43","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T15:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=54671"},"modified":"2020-02-27T11:50:04","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T06:20:04","slug":"9-pm-current-affairs-brief-december-12th-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/9-pm-current-affairs-brief-december-12th-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"9 PM Current Affairs Brief \u2013 December 12th, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/heavy-metals-contaminating-indias-rivers\/article30279681.ece\">Heavy\nmetals contaminating India\u2019s rivers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> A study conducted by Central Water Commission (CWC) from May 2014\nto April 2018 revealed that India\u2019s major river systems are contaminated with\nheavy metals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key\ntakeaways:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Samples from only 35% of water\nquality stations were safe while rest were polluted with heavy metals, exceeding\nsafe limits set by the Bureau of Indian Standards.<\/li><li>Iron was the most common\ncontaminant. Other major contaminants found in the samples were lead, nickel,\nchromium, cadmium and copper.<\/li><li><strong>Main sources of heavy metal pollution:<\/strong> mining,\nmilling, plating and surface finishing industries that discharge a variety of\ntoxic metals.<\/li><li><strong>Reasons for contamination:<\/strong> population\ngrowth and rise in agricultural and industrial activities.<\/li><li><strong>Impact<\/strong>: Long term exposure may result in\nslowly progressing physical, muscular, and neurological degenerative processes.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"575\" height=\"420\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Picture1-25.png?resize=575%2C420&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Heavy metals contaminating India\u2019s rivers\" class=\"wp-image-54675\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Heavy metal refers to any metal and metalloid element that has a\nrelatively high density ranging from 3.5 to 7 g\/cm3. Example: Arsenic, copper,\nmercury, lead etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Additional\nInformation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"\"><tbody><tr><td>\n <strong>Heavy Metal<\/strong>\n <\/td><td>\n <strong>Disease<\/strong>\n <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\n Arsenic\n <\/td><td>\n Black foot \n <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\n Mercury \n <\/td><td>\n Minamata \n <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\n Cadmium\n <\/td><td>\n Itai-Itai\n <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>\n Nitrate \n <\/td><td>\n Blue Baby syndrome (Methaemoglobinemia)\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Central\nwater commission (CWC)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It is a premier Technical\nOrganization of India in the field of Water Resources<\/li><li>It functions as an attached\noffice of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water Resources, River\nDevelopment and Ganga Rejuvenation. It was founded in 1945 and is headquartered\nin New Delhi.<\/li><li>It is mandated with initiation\nand coordination of schemes introduced by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-what-are-rare-earths-and-why-is-us-military-getting-involved-in-their-processing\/\"><strong>What\nare Rare Earth Elements?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> The United States Army has planned to fund the construction of a Rare\nEarths processing facility to secure the domestic supply of minerals. The\ndecision comes after China threatened to stop exporting Rare Earth materials to\nthe US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rare Earth Elements<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of seventeen chemically similar\nmetallic elements on the periodic table. It comprises of 15 lanthanides\nelements (lanthanum to lutetium), plus scandium and yttrium.<\/li><li><strong>Characteristics:<\/strong> REEs are characterised by high\ndensity, high melting point, high conductivity and high thermal conductance.\nREEs are classified into Heavy REE and Light REE.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"254\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Picture2-18.png?resize=750%2C254&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Image result for Rare earth elements&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-54676\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Sources<\/strong>: REEs do not occur in a free\nstate. They are found in mineral oxide ores. The principal sources of rare\nearth elements are bastnaesite, xenotime commonly found in mineral sand\ndeposits, loparite which occurs in alkaline igneous rocks and monazite. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Use of REEs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Aerospace and Defence:<\/strong> Used in precision-guided munitions in missiles, high-power sonar on\nships and submarines, stealth helicopters etc.<\/li><li><strong>Health care<\/strong>: used in medical imaging devices, such as MRIs, modern surgical machines<\/li><li><strong>Clean Energy<\/strong>: Used in wind turbines, electric car batteries and energy-efficient\nlights (LEDs and CFLs)<\/li><li><strong>Nuclear Energy<\/strong>: useful for controlling nuclear reactions and are used in control rods.<\/li><li><strong>Electronics<\/strong>: Used as phosphors in cathode ray tubes, fluorescent lamps and X-ray\nintensifying screens.<\/li><li><strong>Chemicals, Oil Refining and manufacturing<\/strong>: Make the refining of crude oil\ninto gasoline more efficient and are used in many specialty metal alloys<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Production\nand Trade<\/strong>: China possesses one-third of the world\u2019s\nknown deposits of rare earth metals and is the world leader in REE supply\ncomprising 90% of the global market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Additional\nInformation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>REEs\nin India<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>In India, significant rare\nearths minerals found are ilmenite, sillimanite, garnet, zircon, monazite and\nrutile, collectively called Beach Sand Minerals (BSM). <\/li><li>Monazite is the principal\nsource. Monazite is mainly found in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala,\nwest Bengal and Jharkhand.<\/li><li>The two Government-owned producers\nof REE are the Rare Earth Division of Indian Rare Earths Ltd. (IREL) and Kerala\nMinerals and Metals Ltd. (KMML).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3 day \u201cInternational Seminar on Climate\nSmart Farming Systems\u201d for BIMSTEC countries begins in New Delhi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>News: \u2018International Seminar on Climate\nSmart Farming Systems\u2019 for BIMSTEC countries is being held in Delhi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Facts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>About \u2018International Seminar on Climate\nSmart Farming Systems\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It has been organised by the\nMinistry of Agriculture and Farmers\u2019 Welfare<\/li><li>The objective of the seminar is\nto share experiences to enable improvement of tropical smallholder farming\nsystems for greater productivity and resilience to climate change.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About<\/strong> <strong>Climate Smart Farming Systems<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA)\nis an approach to help farmers respond effectively to climate change and ensure\nfood security.<\/li><li>It has three main objectives:<\/li><li>Sustainably increasing\nagricultural productivity and incomes; <\/li><li>Adapting and building\nresilience to climate change; and <\/li><li>Reducing greenhouse gas\nemissions<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Global Alliance for Climate-Smart\nAgriculture: <\/strong>It\nis hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It is a\nmulti-stakeholder platform which seeks to improve food security, nutrition and resilience\namidst climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Additional Information<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About BIMSTEC:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Bay of Bengal Initiative\n for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an\n international organization.<\/li><li>It comprises of seven Member\n states lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of Bay of Bengal\n constituting a contiguous regional unity. The members include Bangladesh,\n India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.<\/li><li>It was founded in 1997. It is\n headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh.<\/li><li>The objective of BIMSTEC\n alliance is to enhance trade and accelerate growth with mutual cooperation\n in different areas of common interest.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pib.gov.in\/newsite\/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=195689\"><strong>2.95 crore\nreleased for \u2018Gandhi Encyclopedia\u2019 for promotion of appropriate Gandhian\nphilosophy<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Ministry of Culture has approved a project\nfor development of Gandhi Paedia by National Council of Science Museums<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About Gandhi Paedia: <\/strong>It seeks to promote appropriate\nGandhian philosophy and thoughts through social media platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About National Council of Science\nMuseums (NCM):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It is an autonomous organisation under Indian Ministry of\nCulture.&nbsp;It was established in 1978 and is headquartered in Kolkata.<\/li><li>It is the largest chain of science centers or museums under a single\nadministrative umbrella in the world. The first science museum in India is the\nBirla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM), Kolkata.<\/li><li>NCSM co-ordinates all informal science communication activities in the\nmuseum space in India. <\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Heavy metals contaminating India\u2019s rivers News: A study conducted by Central Water Commission (CWC) from May 2014 to April 2018 revealed that India\u2019s major river systems are contaminated with heavy metals. Facts: Key takeaways: Samples from only 35% of water quality stations were safe while rest were polluted with heavy metals, exceeding safe limits set&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/9-pm-current-affairs-brief-december-12th-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">9 PM Current Affairs Brief \u2013 December 12th, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":48116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-9-pm-brief","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/9-PM-Brief.png?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704685675},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}