21st, April, 2022

 

 

Topic: Health care infrastructure.

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

What is the news?

• New Setup: Blood Report will be available from the ATM in Lahaul-Spiti, there will be many types of tests, including ECG.

 

Why important?

• For the first time in the state, the government has approved four medical ATMs in tribal districts. In these, from ECG to people, people will get the facility of testing for many diseases. Technical Education Minister Dr. Ramlal Markanda has confirmed this.

(Source: Amar Ujala)

 

 

Topic: Drinking Water

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

What is the news?

• A water test van took off from the Shimla district.

 

According to which program:

• Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Rajiv Saizal and Jal Shakti Minister Mahender Singh Thakur flagged off “Jeevan Dhara Mobile Medical Unit” equipped with a water testing kit.

Purpose:

• The state government has decided to provide a water testing facility in the mobile medical unit for the prevention of waterborne illnesses.

Jal Shakti Minister:

• A robust laboratory infrastructure is under development in the state. To date, 60 labs have been set up, seven of them this year. A total of 50 laboratories has been certified by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) to high standards,’ he said.
• Saizal said mobile vans function as primary health centers in remote areas of the state. The Jal Shakti Department and National Health Mission started the joint effort to pay special attention to water quality in five districts — Shimla, Solan, Mandi, Chamba and Kangra — where incidents of waterborne diseases have been reported in the past.

(Source: The Tribune)

 

 

Topic: Environmentally responsible Tourism.

 

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

What is the news?

• To encourage hotels to make energy and water savings and to have greenery, the government will start green rating of hotels, which will be voluntary.

 

Who prepared the draft?

• The Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board (HPPCB) has prepared the project to introduce the concept, which is underway across the globe.

 

Purpose:

• The board has prepared an outlay aimed at creating greater awareness towards protecting environment with small measures such as conserving energy and having more greenery on their properties,” says Prabodh Saxena, Additional Chief Secretary, Environment and Finance.
• Himachal has more than 10,000 hotels, Homestays and guesthouses, though the number registered with the Tourism Department is only 6,063. It is mandatory for hotels seek consent from the Environment Department to start operations.

 

How this will help?

• The green hotel concept will include the green rating of hotels on the basis of low water usage through measures such as the use of rainwater harvesting, low flow toilets and showers. It will also involve energy consumption through conservation measures like the use of LED lights and renewable energy sources like solar power.
• The concept of green hotels will not be binding on all and they may opt for it. However, the concept is popular abroad. As Himachal is a hill state with some ecologically sensitive areas, the introduction of the concept can help in creating sensitivity towards the environment.
• The rating of green or eco hotels will be undertaken by assessing whether a hotel is integrated into the environment without damaging it. Besides, the weightage will be given to the hotels, which help in the sustainable growth of tourism, besides contributing to the progress of the local community.
• The pollution board is yet to work out the modalities for rating green hotels, but such hotels are made from sustainable material, having a low carbon footprint.

 

Low water usage to be basis:

• Green rating of hotels will be made on the basis of low water usage through measures like use of rainwater harvesting, low-flow toilets and showers
  It will also involve energy consumption through conservation measures like use of LED lights and solar power.
• The concept not to be binding on all hotels.
• Green hotels are made of material having a low carbon footprint.

(Source: The Tribune)

 

 

Topic: Climate Study

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

What is the news?

• Mandi: IIT researchers are studying the climate risk for rail embankments.
• Researchers at the IIT, Mandi, and Durham University, UK, have developed a suction monitoring setup for soil cyclic triaxial testing to investigate the impact of climate change on railway embankments.

 

Challenges shared by Ashutosh Kumar, Assistant Professor, School of Engineering, IIT, Mandi:

• The main component of the railway infrastructure is tracked, which is supported by earthworks. This is mainly used to support the track infrastructure and carry the load imparted by moving traffic.
• “The present design protocols only consider the load developed due to moving trains, thereby ignoring the real case scenario of changing the natural state of the soil due to the ingress and egress of water.
• Oftentimes, soil used in earthworks is compacted and remains unsaturated during its lifetime. Seasonal variations in terms of precipitation and drought are capable of altering the amount of water present within this compacted soil mass, which can alter the strength of the embankment.

Solutions shared:

• To address the challenge of providing a sustainable and resilient transportation infrastructure under changing climatic conditions, the IIT, Mandi, is working closely with Durham University, UK. We all now understand the reality of climate change, which is causing intense rainfall.
• “Compacted soil is susceptible to deteriorate under changing climatic conditions due to changes in the water-holding capacity of the soil, causing hysteretic loss in the soil strength. Repeated train loading can exacerbate the deterioration process that will ultimately cause premature track degradation and result in failure
• Understanding the coupled impact of train and environmental loading is essential to design and maintain the railway embankment against changing climatic conditions. Therefore, this study developed a setup within a cyclic triaxial apparatus to monitor changes in soil suction and deformation brought by traffic-induced cyclic loading and environmental loading, which can be used to assess climate risk at the design stage of railway embankments,” says Ashutosh.
• He says that the soil sample used in the study was taken from a 650-km heavy haul South African coal line that connects around 40 mines to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal there.

 

What research suggest?

• During research it was observed that the suction-monitoring setup can test the soil sample that has undergone seasonal variation either in the laboratory environment or field conditions.
• This will help to develop strategies to mitigate climate risk at the design stage of railway embankments, leading to more sustainable construction.

(Source: The Tribune)

 

 

Topic: Financial literacy campaign for farmers.

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Mains

 

What is the news?

• Una: Special financial literacy campaign for farmers.
• Una DC Raghav Sharma today said that the special financial literacy campaign would be launched for farmers who are beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi from April 26 on the occasion of the National Panchayati Raj Day.
• DC said the campaign would continue till May 1 and would be organized at Panchayat level. He informed that there were 92,000 beneficiaries of the Kisan Samman Nidhi in the district, but the total Kisan Credit Card (KCC) holders in the district were 59,000, adding that efforts would be made during the campaign to plug the gap.
• Raghav Sharma said on April 26, a special general house meeting of all panchayats in the district would be conducted at the respective panchayat bhawans and officers from bank branches in whose service area the panchayat falls will attend the meeting to educate and inform the people regarding financial benefits to the farming community.
• The DC said the process for issuing Kisan Credit Cards for loans up to a maximum limit of Rs 1.6 lakhs has been simplified.

(Source: The Tribune)

 

 

Some More News:

1) Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur ji extended his warm greetings to all of you on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the ninth Guru of the Sikh community, “Hind ki Chadar” Guru Tegh Bahadur ji.

2) Prof. Jyoti Prakash, who took charge as the fifth Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University, is a professor in the Department of Mathematics.