18-06-21 Daily-Punjab-PPSC Current Affairs

The Pspcl top brass apprised the PSEB Engineers Association that its letter mentioning two points had been considered and a committee had been formed. The three-member committee should submit its report within a month, reads the letter. Till 2020, the PSPCL has surrendered unutilised power worth more than Rs 4,000 crore. The per-unit cost from the IPPs has been increasing. Moreover, the IPPs have been finding loopholes and indulging in litigation. The overall impact of such a litigation will be around Rs 20,000 crore over the next remaining 20 years of the agreements.

Under the agreements, fixed charges are to be paid to these three Plants even if the state does not require power. In its opinion to the government, the Punjab Advocate General office has already opined that there was deviation from bidding guidelines, adding that the very quantum of power required to be procured by the then was unnecessarily increased by the state.

Under the Namami Gange Programme, an agreement was signed for the development of a 35 MLD (Mega Liters per day) sewage treatment plant in Maheshtala (a city on the east bank of the Ganga). The project was signed in the form of a Hybrid Annuity PPP.

The Namami Gange program is a comprehensive conseration mission. It was approved by the Union Government as a “flagship program” in June 2014 to achieve the dual goals of effectively reducing pollution and protecting and rejuvenating the national river Ganges.

It is operated by the Ministry of <a href="https://exam.pscnotes.com/water-Resources“>Water Resources, River Development and Ganges Rehabilitation Department of Jal Shakti Ministry.

The program is implemented by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and its state counterpart, the State Program Management Group (SPMG).

The National Ganga Council’s implementation wing is the NMCG (set in 2016; which replaced the National Ganga River Basin Authority – NGRBA).

It has a Rs. 20,000-crore corpus that is centrally funded and non-lapsable, and it includes nearly 288 projects.

The Ministries of , Shipping, and Waterways (MoPSW) and Civil Aviation (MoCA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Development of Sea Plane Services in India.

Highlights:

The European Space Agency (ESA) has deliberate to launch the worlds first wood satellite. It is going to be launched from New Zealand. It will be launched from a Rocket Lab Electron rocket by the last of 2021. The satellite is the brainchild of Jari Makinen.

The satellite, WISA Woodsat, is a nanosatellite. It is 10cm on every side, length, height, and width.

The sensors of the satellite have been developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and designers have placed the timber in a thermal vacuum chamber to keep it dry.
A very thin aluminium oxide layer has been used to decrease the vapour coming from the wood and to defend it from the erosive outcomes of atomic Oxygen. The non-wooden external parts are made up of aluminium rails.

The Union Minister of <a href="https://exam.pscnotes.com/Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture and Farmers Welfare delivered a speech at the 42nd session of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The conference is held every two years. India is a founding member of FAO

Highlights:

The national planning framework developed by India’s FAO in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare of the Government of India adopts a multi sectoral approach.

India has provided technical expertise and assistance in cases of trans-boundary pests, primarily Fall Army Worm and Desert Locust.

The FAO also supported India’s proposal for an International Year of Pulses (2016) and an International Year of (2023).