4 January 2023
| Content Maliparvat bauxite mining India takes over leadership of the Asian Pacific Postal Union Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 SMART’ program for Ayurveda professionals to boost R&D in Ayurveda in the country Siachen’s Kumar Post gets first woman Army officer |
| GS 1 |
| Indian Geography |
Maliparvat bauxite mining
Call for permanent cancellation of bauxite mining lease in Odisha
Bauxite
Bauxite is an important ore that is used for making aluminium. It is an oxide of aluminium. It is not a specific mineral but a rock consisting mainly of hydrated aluminium oxides.
The deposits of Bauxite are mainly associated with laterites and occur as capping on hills and plateaus, except in coastal areas of Gujarat and Goa.
Production of Aluminium from Bauxite: This industry is divided into 2 segments. The plants for obtaining alumina from bauxite ore, such plants are located near bauxite mines and plants for reduction of Alumina into Aluminium, such plants are located near the cheap source of electricity.
For producing 1 ton of aluminium, 6 tons of bauxite is required (which produces 2 tons of alumina).
In this process, aluminium ore is treated with concentrated sodium hydroxide. Soluble sodium aluminate is formed which is filtered off. The filtrate on heating with water gives aluminium hydroxide which gives alumina on strong heating.
Production of Aluminium from Bauxite
Bauxite Distribution (Mining Centres) in India
Orissa –
Orissa is the largest producer, which produces about 50% of the total bauxite production of the country.
The main bauxite belt is in Kalahandi, Koraput, and Baragarh districts. This is the largest bauxite-bearing region of the country.
This 300 km long, 40 to 100 km wide and 950 to 1300 metre thick belt is the largest bauxite bearing region of the country. The main deposits occur in Kalahandi, Koraput, Sundargarh, Bolangir, and Sambalpur districts.
In this belt, there are two very large high grade bauxites deposits (in Orissa). The one at Panchpatmali (Koraput district) is considered as the largest in India. The second known as Gandha mardan deposits(Baragarh district).
Gujarat –
Gujarat is the second-largest producer and produces over 15 percent of the total bauxite of India.
The most important deposits occur in a belt which is 48 km long and 3 to 4.5 km wide lying between the Gulf of Kachchh and the Arabian Sea through Bhavnagar, Junagadh, and Amreli districts.
Jharkhand –
The reserves of all grades of recoverable bauxite in Jharkhand have been estimated at 63.5 million tonnes
These reserves are found in extensive areas of Ranchi, Lohardaga, Palamu, and Gumla districts
Some bauxite is also found in Dumka and Munger districts.
High-grade ore occurs in Lohardaga and adjoining areas.
Other areas of bauxite production –
Maharashtra: The largest deposits occur in the Kolhapur district capping the plateau basalts.
Chhattisgarh: The Maikala range in Bilaspur, Durg districts, and the Amarkantak plateau regions of Surguja, Raigarh, and Bilaspur are some of the areas having rich deposits of bauxite.
Tamil Nadu: Nilgiri and Salem are the main bauxite producing districts enabling Tamil Nadu to contribute slightly more than 2 percent of India’s bauxite.
Madhya Pradesh: Amarkantak plateau area, the Maikala range in Shahdol, Mandla, and Balaghat districts, and the Kotni area of Jabalpur district are the main producers.
Some bauxite is also found in Andhra Pradesh, (Vishakhapatnam, East Godavari, and West Godavari), Kerala (Kannur, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram), Rajasthan (Kota), Uttar Pradesh (Banda, Lalitpur, and Varanasi), Jammu and Kashmir (Jammu, Poonch, Udhampur) and Goa.
Export of Bauxite
As much as 80 percent of the bauxite is used for producing aluminium.
India’s exports of bauxite have been reduced considerably due to increasing demand in the home market. Still, India manages to export small quantities of bauxite. The main buyers of Indian bauxite are Italy (60%), U.K. (25%), Germany (9%), and Japan (4%).
Aluminium Plants in India
Renukoot
Hindalco has its largest aluminium plant located in Renukoot in Uttar Pradesh.
Hirakud
Hirakud plant is located on the bank of Hirakud Dam (longest earthen dam in the world), 320 km away from Bhubaneswar in Orissa.
Initially established by Indal in 1959, it’s the second aluminium smelter in India operating on grid power.
Alupuram
This smelter of Hindalco, located in the Ernakulam district of the state of Kerala, was shut down a long time back. However, the extrusion unit in this plant is still running.
It’s the plant where aluminium ingot was produced for the first time in this country.
National Aluminium Company Ltd. (Nalco) Aluminium Plants
Angul
The Angul plant of National Aluminium Company Ltd. (Nalco) is located in the state of Orissa.
Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd. (Balco) Aluminium Plants
Korba
The Korba plant of Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd. (Balco) is set to be the largest aluminium plant in the world with a capacity of 1 million tpa from a single location.
Located in Chhattisgarh,
Madras Aluminium Company Ltd (Malco) Aluminium Plant
Mettur
The Mettur plant of the Madras Aluminium Company Ltd (Malco) is located at the Mettur Dam complex in the state of Tamil Nadu.
| GS 2 |
| Government Schemes |
SMART’ program for Ayurveda professionals to boost R&D in Ayurveda in the country
‘SMART’ (Scope for Mainstreaming Ayurveda Research in Teaching Professionals) program aimed to boost scientific research in priority healthcare research areas through Ayurveda colleges and hospitals.
The proposed initiative is conceptualised with an objective to identify, support and promote innovative research ideas in healthcare research areas including Osteoarthritis, Iron Deficiency Anaemia, Chronic Bronchitis, Dyslipidaemia, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Obesity, Diabetes Mellitus, Psoriasis, Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
“The large network of Ayurveda colleges and hospitals across the country is an asset for the country in terms of its healthcare needs. This network has not only been offering healthcare services in hardest times, but it also has contributed significantly in terms of healthcare research in the country. The ‘SMART’ program will certainly motivate teachers for taking up projects in designated areas of healthcare research and create a large database.”
| International Relations |
India takes over leadership of the Asian Pacific Postal Union
Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU) is an intergovernmental organization of 32-member countries of the Asian-Pacific region.
APPU is the only Restricted Union of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in the region, which is a specialized agency of the United Nations.
The goal of APPU is to extend, facilitate and improve postal relations between member countries and to promote cooperation in the field of postal services. As the regional centre for various UPU projects, APPU also takes the lead in ensuring that all technical and operational projects of the UPU are fulfilled in the region so that the region is integrated into the global postal network in the best possible way. Secretary General leads the activities of the Union and is also the Director of the Asian Pacific Postal College (APPC) which is the largest intergovernmental postal training institute in the region.
This is the first time an Indian is leading an international organization in the postal sector.
| GS 3 |
| Environment |
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960
Context-Preventing animal cruelty is a duty of the state
The PCA Act isn’t without its shortcomings. While it criminalises several types of actions that cause cruelty to animals, it exempts, for example, from its coverage the use of animals for experiments with a view to securing medical advancement.
About the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960:
The legislative intent of the Act is to “prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animals”.
The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) was established in 1962 under Section 4 of the Act.
This Act provides for punishment for causing unnecessary cruelty and suffering to animals. The Act defines animals and different forms of animals.
Discusses different forms of cruelty, exceptions, and killing of a suffering animal in case any cruelty has been committed against it, so as to relieve it from further suffering.
Provides the guidelines relating to experimentation on animals for scientific purposes.
The Act enshrines the provisions relating to the exhibition of the performing animals, and offences committed against the performing animals.
This Act provides for the limitation period of 3 months beyond which no prosecution shall lie for any offences under this Act.
| Example For GS 4 |
Siachen’s Kumar Post gets first woman Army officer
Captain Shiva Chouhan, an officer from the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers, became the first woman officer to be operationally deployed at Kumar Post in the Siachen Glacier, which is located at an altitude of 15,632 feet.