RAJASTHAN

• M-sand policy in final stage, to be out soon

• The manufactured sand (m-sand) policy of Rajasthan is in the final stage and will be out soon.

• Rajasthan’s policy has been prepared after consulting m-sand policies of other states such as Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

• The state government is likely to make at least 50% use of m-sand mandatory in government projects, besides announcing incentives such as stamp duty and VAT/GST concessions and subsidy on loans.

• The Andhra Pradesh government buys 50% of production of m-sand, apart from reimbursing stamp duty on purchase and lease of land for industry, VAT/GST/CGST for 5 years, said an official who has studied the state’s policy. In 2017, the Supreme Court banned river sand mining without environmental clearance and a scientific replenishment study. River sand mining is currently being done on plots less than four hectares, which numbers around 90 in Rajasthan.

• The government will soon bring a policy for m-sand, which is produced by crushing rocks, quarry stones or larger aggregates pieces into sand sized particles.

INTERNATIONAL

·         Astronomer discovered that K2 18b has earth like temperatures

• For the first time ever the NASA astronomershave discovered water in the atmosphere of a planet named K2-18b. The researcher said that the planet has earth-like temperatures which can support life.

• The astronomers used archive data from2016 and 2017 captured by the ESA/NASA Hubble Space Telescope. They then developed open-source algorithms which was used to analyze the starlight filtered through K2-18b’s atmosphere. The analysis showed the molecular signature of water vapour. It also showed the presence of hydrogen and helium in the planet’s atmosphere.

·         US briefly overtakes Saudi Arabia as worlds top oil exporter

• The US has topped as the world’s top oil exporter.The country defeated Saudi Arabia and Russia. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in June, the US exports of crude topped 3 million barrels per day. This pushed its total oil exports to nearly 9 million barrels per day. This has proved the US with a new status as one of the world’s most influential energy producers.

• Saudi Arabia reduced the exports of crude and other energy products. The move is a part of a longstanding Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) effort to boost prices.

• Russian exports were constrained by problems with a pipeline that delivers oil to central and eastern Europe.

• Non-OPEC production growth has increased to 2.3 million bpd in 2020, up to 400,000 from 2019. Also, the demand for OPEC crude has been set to reach 28.3 million bpd in the first half of 2020, 1.4 million bpd less than the group produced in August.

NATIONAL

• Hindi Diwas: 14 September
• Hindi Diwas is observed every year on 14 September to mark the popularity of Hindi as an official language of India.

• On the occasion, the International Hindi Conference was also organised by the World Hindi Council in New Delhi.

• Under Article 343 of the Indian Constitution, Hindi written in Devanagari script was adopted as the official language.

·         India to develop 60 supercomputers in 3 years

• Government of India has decided to indigenously build 60 supercomputersin the next three years. The announcement was made by Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary of Department of Science and Technology.

• The 60 supercomputer systems will be implemented by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).Initially, six machines will be installed by the end of the year.

• Two supercomputers are functioning atIIT-BHU and IIT-Kharagpur with 6 petaflops. The third supercomputers will be assembled at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune in September.
  Also, C-DAC has floated Request for Proposal and a company procured material for six supercomputers.

• The second phase will begin in 2020. Except chips, most of the parts would be assembled and integrated within the country.

• Under phase three, the Centre will be making the supercomputer, except the chips.

·         Govt plans to link social media accounts to the central database

• The govt besides the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID)plans to connect to social media with records including immigration entry, banking, and phone numbers and all database information in one platform case. Home Minister has reviewed the progress of NATGRID on 12th Sept in Delhi.

• The National Intelligence Grid wass first began in 2009 with a spending limit of 2,800 crore.About 10 central agencies like Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and others will approach the information in a secured manner. After Mr.Patnaik resignation, NATGRID is presently headed by IAS Ashish Gupta.NATGRID’s information recover center in Bengaluru has been built its office complex in South Delhi is nearing fulfillment.

• NATGRID is aiming to set up an Entity Extraction, Visualization and Analytics (EVA) framework data accessible from different information sources. The database will be gathred by 10 user offices from 21 associations like telecom, tax records, bank, immigration to empower the generation of intelligence inputs.

• DRDO hands over second ‘Netra’ early warning system to IAF

• The Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) handed over the second airborne warning plane, Netra, to the Indian Air Force.

• The Netra, an Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) aircraft, had played a stellar role during the Balakot airstrikes that had been carried out by the IAF in February this year.

• It provided surveillance and radar coverage to the five Mirage jets that bombed terror launch pads in Balakot in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.

• Designed and developed by scientists of the DRDO, with assistance from the Bengaluru-based Centre for Airborne Systems, the Netra is fitted with indigenously developed electronics and hardware.