13th, April, 2022
Topic: Glory for State
Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims
What is the news?
- Nadaun Block Development Committee to get national award.
- The Block Development Committee (BDC) of Nadaun and Daruhi gram Panchayat have been selected for national awards for the second time consecutively.
Other achievements:
- District Panchayat Officer Harbans Singh says that Daruhi gram Panchayat in the Hamirpur development block has been selected for two national awards. He adds that the awards will be given on National Panchayati Raj Day on April 24.
- He says that panchayati raj institutions that have done commendable work are given four national awards every year. He adds that this year, the Nadaun Panchayat Samiti has again bagged the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Empowerment Award. The Nadaun BDC will get this award for its outstanding work during 2020-21. The BDC had won this award in 2019-20, too.
- Harbans Singh says that Daruhi has been selected for the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Empowerment Award and the Child Friendly Gram Panchayat Award. He adds that it is a matter of pride for the PRIs of Hamirpur district to get three national awards.
(Source: HP Tribune)
Topic: Award
Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims
What is the news?
- Hemant Lata Nair, a school lecture of Government Senior Secondary School, Chailchowk, in Mandi district, was given the best sports achiever award by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale during a function held at Delhi recently.
- The American University, USA, conferred this award on Hemant Lata on the recommendation of the World Governing Council of Governors and Senate members of American University, USA.
- Hemant Lata has represented Himachal at national level on many occasions in master games and won various awards. In 2019, Hemant Lata received Victorious Women Award for being a role model in the community, while in 2021 she was guest of honor for being an Allrounder in master games.
(Source: HP Tribune)
Topic: Glory for State
Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims
What is the news?
- Himachal: Solan’s e-NAM market tops the country, will get an incentive of ten lakhs.
- The e-NAM Mandi at Solan has topped the Mandis across the country for doing excellent work. The Central Government has selected Solan Mandi for the Prime Minister’s Award-2019 for its best arrangement.
- The award is to be presented on Civil Services Day on 21st April at Vigyan Bhawan, Delhi.
- As an award, Mandi will get an incentive of ten lakh rupees and a citation. Solan Mandi sold 91,928 quintals of product in the year 2019-20 and did a total business of Rs 44,89,47,500.
(Source: Amar Ujala)
Topic: Research
Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains
What is the news?
- IIT-Mandi develops soil stabilization methods
- The process does not involve hazardous chemicals and natural resources can be used sustainably.
What are soil stabilization methods?
- Dr KV Uday, Assistant Professor, School of Engineering, IIT, Mandi says that soil stabilization is the process of conferring long-term permanent strength to the soil by artificial means. It is used when construction work is carried out on unstable grounds or to prevent soil erosion.
- Traditionally, mechanical processes such as compression and chemical processes such as the injection of chemical grout fluids into the soil are used for soil stabilization.
How it will be beneficial?
- “In the past decades, an eco-friendly and sustainable soil stabilization technique called Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) is being investigated worldwide. In this method, bacteria are used to produce calcium carbonate (calcite) within soil pores, which cements individual grains together, thereby enhancing the soil/ground strength,” he says.
- “Our study will be helpful in designing microbial methods to improve the soil shear strength at the field scale, to protect the soil from erosion in hilly areas and during Geo-disasters. We are also working on the microbe-driven production of construction material from quarry waste,” says Uday.
(Source: HP Tribune)
Topic: Weather & Diseases
Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains
What is the news?
- A survey of the WHO team in Himachal: Malaria, mosquitoes started growing even in cold areas.
- In Himachal Pradesh, malaria mosquitoes have started breeding in the hot plains as well as in the cold and hilly areas of Solan, Shimla and Kandaghat. Due to the continuous changes in the environment, a favorable environment has been created for the mosquito. In Solan’s Kandaghat, Darlaghat, Arki, Shimla’s Shoghi, Taradevi, Junga and Bilaspur, these mosquitoes can breed for eight months of the year and can live for a long time. This has been revealed in a recent test.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) team has conducted a survey in different areas of the state regarding malaria. It has been found that malaria mosquitoes are breeding even in cold areas. The team has asked the department to remain alert. After the alert, now the Health Department has decided to run an awareness campaign. A special team has been constituted for this. This team will go to make people aware in those areas where there is a possibility of malaria mosquito breeding.
Reason:
- The temperature is increasing continuously due to the changing weather in the state. The weather is also heating up in the upper regions of Himachal.
- Due to this, Anopheles calciphages mosquitoes are also able to breed in the mountainous area.
- More species of Plasmodium (Protozoa) mosquito are also found in the state. Malaria mosquitoes can spread easily when the average temperature is 18 to 28 degrees and the maximum temperature is 30 to 32 degrees and the humidity is 50 to 80 percent.
(Source: Amar Ujala)