26th, April, 2022

 

 

Topic: Agriculture Campaign

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

What is the news?

• Agricultural scientists interacted with farmers, organized under the ‘Farmer Partnership-Priority Our’ campaign Hamirpur 26 April.
• The Farmer Science Discussion was organized as part of the ‘Farmer Partnership-Priority Our’ campaign in Krishi Vigyan Kendra Bada. About 330 farmers and farm women from agriculture development blocks Sujanpur, Nadaun, Hamirpur and Bijri participated in this discussion.

 

What was shared?

• On this occasion, Virendra Pathania urged the farmers to do scientific farming to increase their income and more and more number of people should join Krishi Vigyan Kendra.
• On this occasion, Dr Niti Soni, Project Director of Atma apprised Dr Suresh Dhiman, Natural Farming and Subject Matter Expert about the activities of the Agriculture Department.
• Dr Chhavi told the methods of control of insects in guava, pomegranate and other fruits and control of flies in vine vegetables. Dr. Navneet Jaryal informed the farmers about the activities related to natural farming. Rekha Dogra told about post-harvest management of vegetables and fruits and advised the farmers to increase their income by working in groups.

(Source: HP Government)

 

 

Topic: New Airport Challenges

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

What is the news?

• Airports Authority of India (AAI) will set up the Doppler Very High Frequency Omni Range (DVOR) near the Bhuntar airport, the process for which was under way for the past five years.
• The DVOR and the Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) will be established on the top of Thachi Hill on the border of Kullu and Mandi districts, about 60 km from the Bhuntar airport.

 

How will this help?

• With the help of the DVOR and the Distance Measuring Equipment(DME), an aircraft can accurately predict its direction and distance during the flight. The DVOR station will support all aircraft flying within around 200 miles and air operations will be possible at the Bhuntar airport even during bad weather.

 

Frequent cancellations due to inclement weather:

• Kullu airport is difficult for the pilots because its runway is in a deep valley where the tops rise thousands of feet above.
• Experts say visibility up to 5,000 m is required for landing and with the establishment of the DVOR, the aircraft will be able to land even when the visibility is around 2,500 m.
• Flights to Kullu are often canceled due to bad weather, in particular during the winter and rainy season.
• DVOR will reduce flight cancellations due to severe weather conditions.

 

What is Doppler Very High Frequency Omni Range (DVOR)?

• DVOR refers to Doppler Very High Frequency Omni Range.
• DVOR is a standard International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) ground based radio navigational aid that provides bearing information to aircraft to define air traffic control routes for en-route, terminal and instrument approach/departure procedures.
• The chances of air operations during bad weather will improve with the setting up of the DVOR station.

(Source: The Tribune)

 

Topic: Food Processing Unit

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Mains

 

What is the news?

• High tomato cost a hurdle in setting up processing units in Solan.

 

Challenges shared:

• Baldev Bhandari, chairman, HP State Agricultural Marketing Board, addressing mediapersons here yesterday, said though announcements had been made to open such processing units, the unviability of the plan had acted as a deterrent.
• “The cost is Rs 10 to Rs 15 per kg, but tomato processing will be viable if the cost is Rs 5 per kg. Since this cost will fail to meet the farmer’s inputs, processing units have not been set up,” said Bhandari.

 

What is food processing unit operation?

• Examples of unit operations common to many food products include cleaning, coating, concentrating, controlling, disintegrating, drying, evaporating, fermentation, forming, heating/cooling (heat exchange), materials handling, mix- ing, packaging, pumping, separating, and others.

 

What comes under food processing industry?

• The key sub-segments of the Food Processing industry in India are Fruits & Vegetables, Poultry & Meat processing, Fisheries, Food retail, dairy industry, etc.

(Source: The Tribune)

 

 

Some More HP News:

1) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between National Highways Logistic Management Limited (NHLML) and Ropeways and Rapid Transport System Development Corporation HP Ltd (RTDC) for development of ropeways as innovative transport solution in Himachal Pradesh in the presence of Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur at New Delhi today.