03.05.23 Daily [Uttar Pradesh] UPPSC Current Affairs

The ethanol production in the current sugarcane crushing season (2022-23) has hit the billion litre (bl) mark and is counting. At present the sugarcane area and sugarcane output is estimated at 2.85 million hectares and 235 mt respectively.

Rising ethanol production is helping the sugar mills in making faster payments to farmers, said Additional Chief Secretary (sugarcane and excise) Sanjay Bhoosreddy.

The mills have settled nearly 75 per cent of their cane arrears in the current season, he added.

Uttar Pradesh is the countrys biggest ethanol producer. A sugar by-product, ethanol is used for a variety of purposes ranging from mixing in fossil fuel to pharmaceutical and chemical industries. The state has about 85 operational ethanol distilleries, while the annual capacity is estimated at 2.45 bl.

Sources say the UP distilleries have already received ethanol orders to the tune of 1.58 bl, thereby implying that the seasonal production would match the same and go further up based on prospective orders.

Ethanol produced in the state is exported to oil Marketing company depots, both within and outside the state, for the Centre mandated 10 per cent blending in fuel. UP sugar production has crossed the one crore MT mark and is expected to exceed 1.10 crore MT by the time the states crushing operations conclude by the end of this month.

At present, about 49 of the total 120 sugar mills in UP are crushing sugarcane, while the remaining have closed for the season. Of the total 120 mills, the private sector leads the tally with 93 Plants, followed by the cooperative sector with 24 units and UP State Sugar Corporation with three units.

UP has 75 distilleries with a production capacity of 2.49 crore litres per annum. UP is the largest producer of ethanol in the country. Establishment of 17 new distillery units is underway and new units are expected to be commissioned by the end of 2024.

Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Earth Sciences, and MoS for PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy, and Space, stated that theBlue Economywould be a significant contributor to Indias overall economy in the future, and theDeep Ocean Mission, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would be its core component. The Minister chaired thefirst-ever high-level Steering CommitteeMeeting of the Deep Ocean Mission at Prithvi Bhawan in New Delhi. The Committee includes Union Ministers of State for Environment, External Affairs, DEFENCE, and Finance, as well as the Vice Chairman of .

It is a groundbreaking initiative that aims to sendmanned submersibles into the deep seafor ocean exploration and rare mineral mining.

The project focuses on exploring Resources likepolymetallic manganese nodules,gas hydrates,hydrothermal sulfides, and cobalt crusts, typically found at depths ranging from 1000 to 5500 meters.

TheMinistry of , Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW)has achieved an outstanding accomplishment in securing the second position among 66 ministries in the highly influentialData Governance Quality Index (DGQI)assessment for 2022-2023 Q3. The Ministry has been awarded an impressive score of 4.7 out of 5, which highlights the ministrys unwavering commitment to achieving excellence in data governance.

TheDGQIsurveyis conducted by theDevelopment Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), NITI Aayog, with the intention of measuring the maturity level of administrative data systems used in decision-making processes by various Ministries and Departments for the implementation ofCentral Sector Schemes (CS)andCentrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS).

Uttar Pradeshhas achieved the second position nationally in terms of having the maximum number of Geographical Indication-tagged goods after receiving GI tags for three more ODOP crafts Mainpuri tarkashi,Mahoba Gaurastone craft, and Sambhal horn craft with the technical facilitation provided by the Varanasi-based NGO Human Welfare Association (HWA).

Naduhas maximum 55 GI-tagged goods while UP and Karnataka have 48 and 46 GI products, respectively. However, UP is first in terms of GI-tagged handicrafts with 36 crafts to its credit.

Currently Tamil Nadu has maximum 55 GI-tagged goods while UP and Karnataka have 48 and 46 Gi products, respectively. Among the 48 GI goods of UP, 36 products belong to the handicraft category. In Varanasi region alone, 18 GI-tagged goods out of 23 belong to the handicraft category.

In order to tackle Earths Climate crisis, a new study will be formed with the help of a Geospatial Model. The NASA Space Agency has joined hands with Technology Giant IBM to conduct environmental research and analysis and transform satellite data into detailed maps. Know here more about this exciting exploration of Earths HISTORY and future.

NASA together with IBM Company has come up with a new project that will be carried forward with the help of (AI) and Machine Learning for building a sustainable foundation model. In May this year, these two big corporations formed an alliance with each other to collect geospatial data.

Geospatial Modeling or GIS is a special technique to detect patterns in any data that is related to maps or geospatial content. Spatial or Geospatial data is acquired by location and demographic attributes.