Comprehensive Current affairs 12 july 2020

Indian PM Modi hails role of solar energy in Atmanir bharbharat scheme.

Modi on Friday said solar energy would play a major role in achieving self-reliance in energy, essential for an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India).

The Rewa solar project, being touted as Asia’s largest, is the first such project in the country to break the grid parity barrier. While the Delhi Metro will use 24% of the electricity produced from it, Madhya Pradesh will use the rest. “The project, along with others, will make Madhya Pradesh a hub of cheap and clean energy,” said Modi.

While the world was in a quandary whether they should focus on environment or economy, he stated that India had shown these two were not in opposition to each other.

Boeing Completes Delivery of 37 Military Helicopters to India.

New Boeng Helicopters for Defence

In the month of June 2020, Boeing had completed delivery of all 37 military helicopters ordered by the Ministry of Defense for the Indian Armed Forces in 2015. Boeing told this via a news release announcement on its website on July 10th, 2020. AH-64E Apache Helicopter and 15 CH-47F(l) Chinook heavy-lift Helicopter were among 37 Military Helicopter- 22. The last five of the 22 Apache helicopters were delivered to the Indian Air Force at the Hindan Air Force Station in June 2020, while Chinook Helicopters delivery was completed in the month of March 2020.
Indian Cabinet Committee's Deal on Boeing.

Background.
The acquisition of the 37 Boeing military helicopters had been authorized by the Union Cabinet Committee on Security on 22 September 2015. The contract for the purchase of the 37 Military Helicopters was signed a week later, on 29 September 2015. The deal has an order provision that allows India to put an order for 11 more AH-64E Apache Helicopter and 7 additional CH-47F(l) Chinook Military Helicopters besides the 22 Apache and 15 Chinook. New Helicopters Contract Signed in February 2020 The US President's visit to India in February 2020 marked the signing of a joint USD 3 billion contract for the purchase of 24 MH-60 Romeo Seahawk Helicopter (built by Lockheed Martin 's subsidiary-Sikorsky Aircraft) for the Indian Navy at USD 2.6 billion and another 6 AH-64E Apache Combat Helicopters.

 

World’s First Reusable PPE Kits by Indian Manufacturing Company.

World’s First Reusable PPE Kits with Triple Viral Shield Technology launched
Indian Manufacturing Company- Loyal Textile Mills launched the first of its kind in the world-wide reusable PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) kits on 9th July 2020. Along with reusable

PPE kits, Loyal Textile Mills also unveiled reusable garments and face masks with zero virus penetration.
The reusable masks, clothing and PPE kits were introduced by Loyal Textile Mills in partnership with the textile manufacturing company headquartered in Reliance Industries Limited and Switzerland- HeiQ Materials AG.

The 3 items will be available on the market under the Loyal Textile Mills name 'Supera Shield.' Contents [hide] Triple Viral Shield Reusable Masks, Garments, and Kits Number of Times Reusable Triple Viral Shield Reusable Masks, Garments, and PPE Kits Technology 

1.  The reusable masks, garments, and PPE kits are made with the Viroblock Technology of HeiQ Materials AG.

2.       The fiber used for making the reusable masks, garments, and PPE kits was 'R ELAN Fibre' of Reliance Industries Limited. R ELAN Fiber inhibits bacterial and viral growth.

3.       Viral Barrier PU film Lamination: The fabric in the reusable mask and PPE kit has been engineered with viral barrier PU film lamination imported from the Republic of China (Taiwan). Number of Times Reusable As per Loyal Textile Mills, the garments and masks can be washed for up to 25 times for reuse while the PPE kit can be washed up to 10 times for reuse.

 

India- Bangladesh to expand trade and business partnerships.

India is adopting a multi-pronged strategy to enhance trade and business partnership with Bangladesh amid Beijing's recent efforts to woo Dhaka with duty-free access to its products.
While Chinese trade concessions can push Bangladesh into a “dual deficit and debt trap”, India is activating various connectivity initiatives for seamless movement of Bangladeshi products to the landlocked northeastern states and other parts of India.

India had offered duty-free access to several Bangladeshi products a decade before the Chinese decision and that step helped reduce deficit in Dhaka’s trade with New Delhi, said a source while  stating that India’s terms and conditions from trade concessions to loans are more favourable. Beijing has mulled over years before giving trade concessions to Dhaka and the step can push it towards a debt trap, said the above mentioned source.

WHO forms independent panel to review handling of COVID.

World Health Organization (WHO) has set up an independent panel to review its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the response by governments. The announcement follows strong criticism by US President Donald Trump, which accused the WHO of being China-centric.

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf have agreed to head the panel. The co-chairs will select the other members.

The panel will then provide an interim report to an annual meeting of health ministers in November and present a substantive report next May.

WHO Director-General TedrosAdhanomGhebreyesus said that the magnitude of this pandemic has virtually touched everyone and deserved a commensurate evaluation.

 

Exceptional Operational Efficiency from NTPC Singrauli.

NTPC Singrauli Unit 1, the oldest NTPC unit has emerged as the country's top-performing unit in the first quarter of the financial year, according to data released by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). The station's first unit began generating on 13 February 1982 and continues to serve the country with exceptional results.

As per a statement issued by NTPC Ltd, India’s largest power generation company and a central PSU under Ministry of Power, NTPC Singrauli Unit 1, has emerged as the top-performing Unit in the country in the first quarter of the financial year, as per the data released by Central Electricity Authority (CEA). NTPC Singrauli is the oldest Unit and a flagship power station of NTPC Ltd.

More About NTPC Singrauli

The first unit of the station started generating on February 13, 1982 and continues to serve the country with exceptional performance.

According to NTPC Ltd, NTPC Singrauli has an installed capacity of 2000 MW with five units of 200 MW each and two units of 500 MW each. Three units (1,4 & 5) of 200 MW have achieved PLF of 101.96%, 101.85% & 100.35% respectively in Q1 FY 20-21 among the Coal-fired Units, in the country.

With a total installed capacity of 62110 MW, NTPC Group has 70 Power stations comprising of 24 Coal, 7 combined cycle Gas/Liquid Fuel, 1 Hydro, 13 Renewables along with 25 Subsidiary & JV Power Stations.

 

Pace of contraction of factory output slows down in May.

The pace of contraction of India’s factory output slowed in May, falling 34.7% on year from 57.6% contraction in April, calculations based on data released by the government on Friday showed.

The government did not provide a number for the change in output from May 2020 but said the number of units responding has improved as compared to the earlier months of lockdown. The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation also revised the contraction in April from 55.5% earlier.

MoSPI said in a statement that this has had an impact on the items being produced by the establishments during the period of lockdown and the subsequent periods of conditional relaxations in restrictions.

 

RBI governor expects economy to return to normalcy after ease of lockdown.

According to RBI governor SK Dass "The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic may lead to higher non-performing assets and capital erosion of banks while the redemption pressure on

non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and mutual funds are emerging as crucial stress points in the financial system".

Flagging off these risks, the governor said that RBI’s policy action would depend on how the crisis unfolds even as he observed that the medium-term outlook still remains uncertain and depends on the COVID-19 curve.

Building buffers and raising capital in such a situation becomes imperative to strengthen the internal defences of financial intermediaries against the risks and to ensure credit flow, the governor said, alluding that the shocks to the financial system turning out to be more frequent than a ‘once in a lifetime events’ to ‘once in a decade’.

 

Cool Roofs and other solutions.

Context:
India is among the most rapidly urbanizing countries in the world.

In 2018, nearly 34% of the country’s population lived in the cities — this is expected to increase to 40% by 2030, contributing 75% of the GDP.

Driven by growing urbanization, the real estate sector contributed 6-7% of the GDP in 2017 — will increase to 13% by 2025, notwithstanding temporary setbacks due to the pandemic.

The exponential growth in urbanization implies using up most of the open spaces in urban and semi-urban areas and creating more of paved surface cover, heat-trapping roofs, buildings and Roads.

Heat island:

The term "heat island" describes built up areas that are hotter than nearby rural areas. The annual mean air temperature of a city with 1 million people or more can be 1.8–5.4°F (1–3°C) warmer than its surroundings.

In the evening, the difference can be as high as 22°F (12°C). Heat islands can affect communities by increasing summertime peak energy demand, air conditioning costs, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, heat-related illness and mortality, and water pollution.

Buildings- major contributors:

Often, buildings are one of the major contributors to incremental heat generation.

More than 60% of the roofs are made of concrete, metal and asbestos, all of which tend to trapheat.
Over time, these hot surfaces worsen the heat island effect and drive temperatures higher.

Further, buildings account for more than 30% of India’s electricity consumption and a significant share of annual carbon dioxide emissions.

It is thus imperative that any effort towards energy conservation must include a focused approach to urban areas and more specifically on buildings and built-up areas.

Mercers quality of living index:

Hyderabad has been rated as the best city in India in the Mercers Quality of Living Index for the last six years.

Hyderabad, since the second quarter of 2019, is also the fastest-growing real estate market in the country.
The commercial/institutional office space, which was 100 million square feet in 2015, is likely to double by 2021.

Telangana example:

In the short-term, it’s crucial to ascertain how to respond to extreme heat and urbanisation challenges during a major pandemic.

In the medium and long-term, we need proactive pre-disaster actions to reduce risk and to invest in forward-looking plans, policies and programmes to ensure we make the right choices to balance urban growth and sustainable development.

In the context of the urban built-up space, there is an opportunity upfront by ensuring the buildings are built smart.

Telangana has taken steps to ensure energy efficiency in its buildings by incorporating the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)’s Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC).

ECBC sets minimum efficiency standards for all commercial buildings, including categories such as multiplexes, hospitals, hotels and convention centres.

This will go a long way in ensuring the environmental footprint of the sector is controlled.
Cool roofs in low cost:

Additionally, there exist low-cost solutions to reduce the heat stress in homes and offices and bring down the dependence on air conditioners.

Cool roofs, for example, offer a simple and a cost-effective answer to urbanisation challenges.

Cool roofs reflect sunlight and absorb less heat.

Depending on the setting, they can help lower indoor temperatures by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius as compared to traditional roofs.

These roofs also potentially lead to less air pollution since they save energy, especially on cooling appliances, such as fans and air conditioners.

Telangana cool roofs programme:

The Government of Telangana, realising the importance of low-cost cool-roofing technology, has already undertaken several meaningful interventions.

Telangana tested these technologies through pilots undertaken in 2017.

As part of the state’s building energy efficiency programme to implement a cool roofs pilot in low-income neighbourhoods to showcase the benefits and impact of cool roofs in the city.

The project focused on a set of 25 low-income households.

Dupont India supplied a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) cool roof coating membrane called Tyvek.
The results found that indoor air temperatures were observed to be lower by an average of 2 degrees Celsius in the homes with cool roofs as compared to similar homes without cool roofs.

Working with knowledge partners, the Telangana Cool Roofs Programme has been designed and is ready for implementation.

The programme is a target-based initiative to increase the percentage of cool roofs in the state.

The programme will aim to install cool roofs in low-income housing and slum communities in the initial years, where the thermal comfort of the occupants is of paramount importance.

Commercial buildings are also an important segment, given the rising footprint of the commercial activity in the state.

While cool roofs have already been included in the prescriptive requirements of the state’s energy conservation building code, the government will eventually look to mandate the adoption in the latter years of the programme.

Conclusion:
A robust awareness generation and capacity building campaign is also a part of the programme.While it is important to focus on targets, the realisation of those targets has to be  ensured through a well-functioning ecosystem of suppliers and installers.

What is required at this stage is large scale marketing of the concept to make builders and owners aware of the advantages in terms of energy and cost savings.