• CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bio-resource Technology (IHBT), makes history by introducing asafoetida (Heeng) cultivation in Indian Himalayan region.
• The first seedling of asafoetida was planted by Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Director, CSIR-IHBT on 15th October, 2020 at farmer’s field in village Kwaring of Lahaul valley to mark initiation of cultivation of asafoetida in India.

Asafoetida

• It is one of the top condiments and is a high value spice crop in India.
• India imports about 1200 tonnes of raw asafoetida annually from Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan and spends approximately 100 million USD per year.
• Lack of planting material of Ferula assa-foetida plants in India was a major bottleneck in cultivation of this crop.
• The plant prefers cold and dry conditions for its growth and takes approximately five years for the production of oleo-gum resin in its roots, therefore cold desert areas of Indian Himalayan region are suitable for cultivation of asafoetida.
• Raw asafoetida is extracted from the fleshy roots of Ferula assa-foetida as an oleo-gum resin.
• Although, there are about 130 species of Ferula found in the world, but only Ferula assa-foetida is the economically important species used for the production of asafoetida.
• In India, we do not have Ferula assa-foetida, but other species Ferula jaeschkeana is reported from the western Himalaya (Chamba, HP), and Ferula narthex from Kashmir and Ladakh, which are not the species that yield asafoetida.

• Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari has virtually laid the foundation stone for the first-ever multi-modal logistic park in Assam recently.
• The park will provide direct connectivity to air, road, rail and waterways to the people.
• It will be developed under the ambitious Bharatmala Pariyojana of the Government of India.

• Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has recently launched Ayushman Sahakar, a scheme to assist cooperatives in creation of healthcare infrastructure in the country.

Ayushman Sahakar

• It is formulated by National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC).
• Under the initiatives NCDC would extend term loans to prospective cooperatives to the tune of Rs.10,000 crore in the coming years.
• Any Cooperative Society with suitable provision in its byelaws to undertake healthcare related activities would be able to access the NCDC fund.
• The scheme covers establishment, modernization, expansion, repairs, renovation of hospital and healthcare and education infrastructure.
• NCDC assistance will flow either through the State Governments/ UT Administrations or directly to the eligible cooperatives.
• The scheme also provides working capital and margin money to meet operational requirements.
• Further, the scheme provides interest subvention of 1% to women majority cooperatives.

• NTPC Dadri is striving to become the cleanest coal fired plant in the country and is complying with all the CPCB guidelines on emissions.
• NTPC Ltd is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under Ministry of Power.

Highlights of the plant

• The Flue gas emissions and Particulate matter are well within the CPCB norms with high efficiency ESP (Electrostatic Precipitators) in service in all the 210 MW & 490 MW units.
• For SOx reduction, Dry Sorbent Injection (DSI) system has been installed.
• SOFA (Separated Over fire Air) system has been installed for NOx emission.
• It has also pioneered co-firing of Biomass pellets along with coal in the boilers.
• The pellets are made of husk or agro-residue which would have been burnt otherwise in the fields increasing the pollution in NCR region.
• More than 8000 Tons of pellets have been fired in the boilers of NTPC Dadri, which is equivalent to almost 4000 acres of farm fire avoided.
• NTPC Dadri has set new benchmarks in Water consumption, going beyond compliances, by implementing Zero liquid discharge system, and Rain water harvesting system.

Malabar Exercise

• The Malabar series of Naval exercises started in 1992 as a bilateral Indian Navy-US Navy exercise.
• Japan joined the Naval exercise in 2015.
• This annual exercise has been conducted off the coast of Guam in the Philippine Sea in 2018, off the coast the Japan in 2019 and is expected to be held in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea later this year.
• As India Seeks to increase cooperation with other countries in the maritime security domain and in the light of increased defence cooperation with Australia, Malabar 2020 will see the participation of the Australian Navy.
• This year, the exercise has been planned on a ‘non-contact - at sea’ format.
• The exercise will strengthen the coordination between the Navies of the participating countries.
• The participants of Exercise Malabar 2020 are engaging to enhance safety and security in the maritime domain.
• They collectively support free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific and remain committed to a rules based international order.