Daily Current Affairs Quiz PDF of 24th February 2018
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To celebrate the idea of unity in diversity, the Ministry of Culture is organising the the Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav at Gwalior.
The Mahotsav will cover a profusion of art forms from classical and folk, music and dance, theatre to literature and the visual arts and would offer the chance to experience the best in established and emerging virtuosity.
Heavy Water Board has signed a collaborative agreement with M/s Clearsynth, Mumbai for sale of 20 tonnes of Heavy Water in a year for development of deuterium labeled compounds, NMR Solvents, d-labeled Active Pharma Ingredients (APIs). This marks the beginning of an important era in the annals of Indian Nuclear industry leading to societal benefits for the masses.
About Heavy water board:
Heavy Water Board (HWB) is a constituent unit under the Department of Atomic Energy.
The organisation is primarily responsible for production of Heavy Water (D2O) which is used as a ‘moderator’ and ‘Coolant’ in nuclear power as well as research reactors. Other than Heavy Water, HWB is also engaged with production of different types of nuclear grade solvents and extraction of rare materials.
What is Heavy Water?
Heavy water or deuterium oxide (D2O) is a form of water that contains a large amount of the hydrogen isotope deuterium which is also known as heavy hydrogen. Deuterium differs from the hydrogen which is usually found in water. Heavy water may be deuterium protium oxide (DHO) or deuterium oxide (D2O). The increase in mass due to the presence of deuterium gives it a different chemical and physical property compared to normal water.
Applications:
Heavy water is used in certain types of nuclear reactors, where it acts as a neutron moderator to slow down neutrons. The different applications and uses of heavy water are:
- Nuclear magnetic resonance.
- In Organic chemistry.
- Fourier transform spectroscopy.
- Neutron moderator.
- Neutrino detector.
- Metabolic rate testing in physiology and biology.
- Tritium production.
The US government has announced a new policy that has made the procedure of issuing H-1B visas relatively harder than the existing one. The updated policy guidance is in sync with President Donald Trump’s ‘Buy American, Hire American’ Executive order.
Changes introduced:
- The H-1B visa program generally allows a foreign employee to work for a specific sponsoring American employer. As is true in many employment situations, the location of work can change. Under the new policy, the company would have to walk an extra mile to prove that its H-1B employee at a third-party worksite has specific and non-qualifying speculative assignments in speciality occupation.
- New employers must provide contracts and itineraries for employees who will work at a third-party location. This includes evidence of actual work assignments, which may include technical documentation, milestone tables, marketing analysis, cost-benefit analysis, brochures, and funding documents.
- When H-1B beneficiaries are placed at third-party worksites, petitioners must demonstrate that they have specific and non-speculative qualifying assignments in a specialty occupation for that beneficiary for the entire time requested on the petition.
Implications of this move:
The Indian IT companies are among the major beneficiaries of H-1B visas with a significant number of employees deployed at third-party worksites. IT workers from India are always in high demand in American banking, travel and commercial services.
What is H-1B Visa?
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year.
Criticisms:
The aim of the H1B visa programme was to supplement the US workforce with high-skilled workers to do jobs that Americans are not skilled to do, not to replace the US workers. But over time, there have been many grumblings that many companies use the H1B visa to replace American workers with foreign ones, as the latter can be hired at lower salaries without compromising on the skill sets. In some cases, American employees have alleged that they were made to train H1B holders to do their own jobs, and then fired.
Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India recently ceremonially broke ground on the Afghan section of an ambitious, multi-billion dollar gas pipeline expected to help ease energy deficits in South Asia.
About TAPI gas pipeline project:
The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Natural Gas Pipeline (TAPI) Project is a natural gas pipeline being developed by the Asian Development Bank. The TAPI pipeline will have a capacity to carry 90 million standard cubic metres a day (mscmd) gas for a 30-year period and be operational in 2018.
India and Pakistan would get 38 mscmd each, while 14 mscmd will be supplied to Afghanistan. From the Galkynysh field in Turkmensitan, the pipeline will run to Herat and Kandahar province of Afghanistan, before entering Pakistan. In Pakistan, it will reach Multan via Quetta before ending at Fazilka (Punjab) in India.
Benefits of this project for India:
- Energy is a growing need, and even if India is able to source energy from other countries like Iran and further afield, both the proximity and abundance of Turkmenistan’s reserves, that rank fourth in the world, will make it an attractive proposition.
- It will bring India much needed energy at competitive pricing, and could easily supply about 15% of India’s projected needs by the time it is completed in the 2020s.
- This project also gives India an opportunity to secure its interest in Central Asia. TAPI’s success will also ensure that India, Pakistan and Afghanistan find ways of cooperating on other issues as well.
Benefits for other countries:
- Holding 4% of the gas reserves of the world, presently, Turkmenistan exports gas to only very few countries. But, with the TAPI pipeline, it will be able to diversify its exports to nations like India, Pakistan etc. Turkmenistan will also earn a lot of revenue by these exports.
- The potential extension of the pipeline to the Gwadar Port in Pakistan will also enable Pakistan to export gas to several countries, thereby increasing its share of revenue.
- Since the pipeline passes through Afghanistan, it will earn some revenue too in the name of transit fees.
- This project could easily supply a quarter of Pakistan’s gas needs. It will also reopen a historic route that reconnects South Asia to Central Asia, in the way it was before the British Empire sealed it off.
Challenges before the project:
Security issues: The TAPI project crosses Afghanistan and Pakistan, the former deeply unstable and of uncertain future, the latter plagued by terrorist incidents and infested with militant groups that may find a gas pipeline easy pickings. Ensuring the security of those involved in the construction of the pipeline and then extending that security along its length once operational is going to be a challenge for all the signatories.
Maintenance: After its completion, maintenance in the presence of terrorist elements in Afghanistan and in the restive areas of Pakistan will also be a challenge.
India- Pakistan tensions: Another critical issue is the fraught relations of Pakistan with India and Afghanistan.
Way ahead:
Countries like India, Pakistan and Afghanistan are facing a severe energy crisis and badly need such a resource to give an impetus to their ailing economies. It is important for these countries to increase cooperation and take decisive action against the terrorists who are the main hurdle to any peace and development process. If utilized properly, the gas reserves can change the destiny of the people of these countries. It is a win-win situation for all stakeholder states and they must make up for lost time to explore this channel of prosperity.
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