DAILY GK: 6 JAN 2021

 DAILY GK: 6 JAN 2021

1. INDIAN SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION TO ANTARCTICA

      India flagged off the 40th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (40-ISEA) from the Mormugao Port, Goa.

      The Expedition will  have 43 members and the chartered ice-class vessel MV Vasiliy Golovnin will take the team to Antarctica.

      On return, the vessel will bring back the members of the 39th Expedition.

      The Ministry of Earth Science launched the expedition.

      National Centre for Polar & Ocean Research (NCPOR), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is the implementation agency of the Indian Antarctic Programme.

      They are responsible for carrying out expedition programs to Antarctica.

 

2. FSSAI REDUCES PERMISSIBLE LEVEL OF TRANS-FATTY ACIDS

      Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) released guidelines to reduce the permissible level of Trans-Fatty Acids (TFA) in oils and fats to 3% for 2021 & 2% by 2022 from the current permissible limit of 5%.

      The change has been brought through an amendment to the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulations.

      The regulation applies to edible refined oils, vanaspati (partially hydrogenated oils), margarine, bakery shortenings & other mediums of cooking like vegetable fat spreads & mixed fat spreads.

 

3. PATNA METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY CONFERRED WITH ‘CENTENNIAL STATUS’

      Patna Meteorological Observatory has been conferred the status of  ‘Centennial Observing Station Status’ by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to recognize its contribution towards long-term meteorological observation exceeding over 100 years.

      The decision to confer the status was taken during the 72nd WMO Executive Council Meeting held virtually from September-October, 2020.

      The Patna meteorological observatory was established in 1867 by the British Corps of Engineers.

      Centennial Weather Stations maintain the world’s longest robust records of weather observations, they are key to understanding of the climate system & global warming.

 

4. INDIA’S 1ST OF ITS KIND MIGRANT WORKER CELL

      Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Inaugurated India’s 1st of its kind Migrant Worker Cell at Surat, Gujarat.

      An initiative of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) it aims to help Migrants from Odia & other parts of the country working in different industries of Surat.

      The cell  will be based at  iLab, Udhna, Surat and has been created under the ‘National Urban Livelihood Mission Scheme’.

 

5. KOCHI-MANGALURU NATURAL GAS PIPELINE

      PM Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the 450 Km Long Kochi-Mangaluru Natural Gas Pipeline.

      The pipeline has been constructed by GAIL (India) Ltd at a cost of INR 3, 000 crores. 

      The pipeline will carry natural gas from Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) regasification terminal at Kochi, Kerala to Mangaluru, Karnataka.

      The PM cited the inauguration of the pipeline as a step towards Government’s ‘One Nation One Gas Grid’.

 

6. GENERAL MM NARAVANE VISITS REPUBLIC OF KOREA

      General Manoj Mukund(MM) Naravane, Chief of the Army Staff(COAS) of Indian army undertook a 3 day visit to South Korea(officially, Republic of Korea-ROK).

      He received a Guard of Honour at Republic of Korea Army(ROKA) Headquarters at Gyeryong, South Korea.

      It is the first-ever visit of an Indian Army COAS to the ROK.

 

7. INDIA’S 1ST TESTING PLATFORM FOR AUTONOMOUS NAVIGATION SYSTEMS

      Union Minister for Education, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ virtually laid the Foundation stone for ‘TiHAN Foundation’ – Technology Innovation Hub at the IIT Hyderabad (IITH).

      It will be India’s 1st Testing hub for Autonomous Navigation & Data Acquisition Systems (Terrestrial and Aerial).

      Department of Science & Technology, Government of India  sanctioned INR 135 Crore to IIT Hyderabad under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) to establish ‘TiHAN-IIT Hyderabad’.

 

8. WORLD’S FIRST WOODEN SATELLITE

      Sumitomo Forestry company and Kyoto University of Japan is all set to launch the world’s first wood-based space satellite by 2023 to combat the problem of space junk.

      In this regard, several wooden materials are being tested by the research team to find a suitable one for space missions.

      According to the European Space Agency (ESA) statistical model, there are more than 130 million pieces of anthropogenic space debris due to human activities.

      ESA is also planning to launch a mission to collect space debris in 2025.

      The debris can travel at a speed of more than 22,300 mph and can impact other satellites.