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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 18 January 2021

::NATIONAL::

Railways ministry nod to new iron ore policy

The Ministry of Railways has approved a new iron-ore policy governing the allocation of rakes and transportation of iron-ore.
This new policy has been named as Iron-ore Policy 2021 and shall come into effect from February 10, 2021.
The provisions of the new policy will be updated in the rake allotment system module by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS).

About:

Iron ore is the second most important stream of traffic of Railways and along with steel accounts for nearly 17 per cent (53.81 million tonne of steel and 153.35 million tonne of iron ore) of total 1210 million tonne freight loading of Indian Railways in 2019-2020.
According to the Rail Ministry, this has been done to facilitate the ease of doing business.
As per the new policy, higher priority will be given to the movement of iron-ore traffic for domestic manufacturing activity.
Within the domestic movement of iron-ore traffic, priority preference will be given to steel, pig iron, sponge iron, pellet, or sinter plant owning customers having their own private sidings at both the loading as well as unloading ends.
They will be followed by customers with private siding at either loading or unloading end.
Customers without any private siding of their own relying totally on public good sheds, sidings will come next in the priority list.
Under the fresh policy, old and new plants will be treated similarly as far as allotment and loading of rakes is concerned.
The priority preferences for the customers will be self-generated by the system based on the customer profile fed in the system by the concerning zone.

Thiruvalluvar

On 16th January Thiruvalluvar Day is celebrated in Tamil Nadu to mark the birth anniversary of Tamil poetThiruvalluvar.
He boldly advocated a life of discipline, self-control, chastity, non-violence, temperance and devotion.
He is best known as the author of Thirukkural, a collection of 1330 couplets on ethics,political and economicmatters, and love.
Out of four aspects of life (Purushaarthas) Aram, Porul, Inbam and Veedu (Mokesha). Thirukkural addressesonly the first three and advocates the path to Veedu through the others and hence it is called Muppal (3Elements).

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Chinese city reports coronavirus found on ice cream

The coronavirus was found on ice cream produced in eastern China, prompting a recall of cartons from the same batch.
The Daqiaodao Food Co, Ltd in Tianjin, adjacent to Beijing, was sealed and its employees were being tested for the coronavirus.
There was no indication anyone had contracted the virus from the ice cream.
Most of the 29,000 cartons in the batch had yet to be sold, the government said. It said 390 sold in Tianjin were being tracked down and authorities elsewhere were notified of sales to their areas.
The Chinese government has suggested the disease, first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, came from abroad and has highlighted what it says are discoveries of the coronavirus on imported fish and other food, though foreign scientists are skeptical.

UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2020

The UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2020 finds that while nations have advanced in planning, huge gaps remain in finance for developing countries and bringing adaptation projects to the stage where they bring real protection against climate impacts such as droughts, floods and sea-level rise.
According to the report, cutting greenhouse gas emissions will reduce the impacts and costs associated with climate change.
Achieving the 2°C target of the Paris Agreement could limit losses in annual growth to up to 1.6 per cent, compared to 2.2 per cent for the 3°C trajectory.

Economy

SEBI eases norms for follow-on public offers

SEBI relaxed the framework for follow-on public offers (FPOs), a move that will help promoters of companies to raise funds more easily through this route.
The applicability of minimum promoters’ contribution norm and the subsequent lock-in requirements for the issuers making the FPO have been done away with by the regulator, as per a notification.
Earlier, promoters were mandated to contribute 20% towards a FPO.
Besides, in case of any issue of capital to the public, the minimum promoters’ contribution was required to be locked-in for three years.
SEBI said the relaxation would be available for those companies which are frequently traded on a stock exchange for at least three years. Also, such firms should have redressed 95% of investor complaints.

Vistadome coach

Prime Minister flagged off eight trains from different parts of the country to Kevadia in Narmada district, where the Statue of Unity is located, in a bid to attract tourism to this tribal belt.
Out of these eight trains, the Janshatabdi Express from Ahmedabad-has a Vistadome coach.

About:

The Vistadome coach is a state-of-the-art coach made by Indian Railways, designed to provide passengers with travel comfort as well as an enhanced viewing experience of their surroundings.
According to Indian Railway officials, the Vistadome coach in the Janshatabdi Express has been manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
It is for the first time that the Vistadome coach has been made on the Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) platform, made for passenger coaches for trains in India.
Some of the features of the Vistadome coach are an observation lounge with a large window for passengers to experience the scenic route to Kevadia.
The 44 recliner-180 degree rotatable seats ensure people can enjoy the view from both windows to their right and left, there are automatic sliding doors at both gates of the coach, glass rooftops offer a panoramic view, while there are five large windows on each side.
The coach also has foldable snack tables similar to what is provided in flights, seat numbers with Braille language, an in-built entertainment system integrated with digital display screens and speakers along with a GPS-based public-address-cum passenger information system, access to ‘content on demand’ for passengers through Wi Fi facility on their personal gadgets, a mini pantry with coffee maker, water cooler, hot oven and refrigerator, separate multi-tier luggage compartment, along with a separate cabin for train staff who will brief passengers regarding the coach in each ride.
The coach will also have CCTV surveillance, fire alarm system and an LED destination board.

Science and Technology

Mukundpura CM2

A new study by the Geological Survey of India, Kolkata has shed light on the mineralogy of the meteorite.

Carbonaceous chondrite

The meteorite named Mukundpura CM2 was classified to be a carbonaceous chondrite. “This is a type of stony meteorite, considered the most primitive meteorite and a remnant of the first solid bodies to accrete in the solar system.
The composition of carbonaceous chondrites are also similar to the Sun.
The meteorites are broadly classified into three groups – stony (silicate-rich), iron (Fe–Ni alloy), and stony-iron (mixed silicate–iron alloy).
Chondrites are silicate-droplet-bearing meteorites, and this Mukundpura chondrite is the fifth carbonaceous meteorite known to fall in India.

Degrees of alteration

The study revealed that Mukundpura CM2 had experienced varying degrees of alteration during the impact. Some minerals like forsterite and FeO olivine, calcium aluminium rich inclusion (CAI) minerals escaped alteration.
Few magnetites, sulphides and calcites were also found. Detailed spectroscopic studies revealed that the meteorite had very high (about 90%) phyllosilicate minerals comprising both magnesium and iron.
Further X-ray studies showed it also had aluminium complexes.

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