#WorldWetlandsDay celebrated every year on?
- #2ndFebruary

#OnThisDay the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was adopted in?
- 1971

World Wetlands Day was celebrated for the 1st time in?
- 1997

What is the theme of #WorldWetlandsDay2022 is?
- "Wetlands Action for People and Nature"

2 new #RAMSAR sites announced in India.

Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat and Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh.

India now has 49 RAMSAR Sites.

#WorldWetlandsDay #Environment

#ENVIRONMENT

■ The Key Takeaways of a UNEP report on Noise Pollution-

✅A February report commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme on the environmental challenges posed by noise, wildfires and the disruption of biological rhythms of plants, animals and ecological cycles became controversial on account of the mention of a single city, Moradabad.

● About the Report:

✅The report - 'Frontiers 2022: Noise, Blazes and Mismatches' - draws attention to noise pollution and its long-term physical and mental health impacts

✅It also suggests measures that can be implemented to create positive and restorative soundscapes in urban areas.

✅It also puts together observations from global cities

✅Three cities in South Asia have filled the top three spots in the list - Bangladesh's Dhaka, Moradabad in India's Uttar Pradesh, and Pakistan's Islamabad.

● About the controversy:

✅The first chapter of the report compiles studies about noise levels in several cities around the world

✅It illustrates a subset of 61 cities and the range of dB (decibel) levels that have been measured.

✅Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata, Asansol and Moradabad are the five Indian cities mentioned in this list and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh was shown as having a dB range from 29 to 114.

✅At a maximum value of 114, it was the second-most-noisiest city in the list.

✅Moradabad had never been suggested as an unusually noisy city according to local officials

✅The author of that chapter later said that the confusion stemmed from errors in the bibliography.

● Importance of measurements of noise:

✅The latest 2018 World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines established a health-protective recommendation for road traffic noise levels of 53 dB.

✅Estimates suggest that in Europe 22 million and 6.5 million people suffer from chronic noise annoyance and sleep disturbance, respectively.

✅Regular exposure to over 85 dB for an 8-hour day or longer can cause permanent hearing damage.

✅Long-term exposures, even at relatively lower noise levels that are common in urban areas, can also damage both physical and mental health

✅The elderly, pregnant women and shift workers are among those at risk of noise-induced sleep disturbance.

✅Noise-induced awakenings can trigger a range of physiological and psychological stress responses because sleep is necessary for hormonal regulation and cardiovascular functioning.

✅Traffic noise exposure is a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders such as elevated blood pressure, arterial hypertension, coronary heart disease and diabetes.

✅India’s efforts to control noise pollution

✅The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is mandated to track noise levels, set standards as well as ensure, via their State units, that sources of excessive noise are controlled.

✅The agency has a manual monitoring system where sensors are installed in major cities and few cities have the facility to track noise levels in real time.

✅The CPCB also measures noise levels before and after Diwali in major cities, to publicise the impact of firecrackers.

● Conclusion:

✅The harms related to Noise Pollution recently highlighted by the UNEP report are often ignored in national and international policies. It's high time to include this aspect in the policies framed to deal with different pollutions.Tree belts and use of electric vehicles can be great steps to reduce this menace.


SOURCE - THE HINDU

Topic for today:

#ENVIRONMENT

■ PM inaugurates Asia's largest Bio-CNG plant in Indore-

✅The PM inaugurated Asia's biggest Bio-CNG plant in Madhya Pradesh's Indore via video conferencing under GOBAR-DHAN scheme

✅He said that the campaign will help a lot in making India's cities clean and pollution free

● About Bio-CNG plant:

✅It has been set up based on the concept of waste-to-wealth innovation in India's cleanest city Indore

✅The plant with 550 MT per day capacity is said to be the biggest of its kind in Asia.

● Bio-CNG:

✅It is a purified form of biogas with over 95% pure methane gas

✅It is similar to natural gas in its composition (97% methane) and energy potential

✅It is a renewable form of energy produced from agricultural and food waste

✅A typical bio-CNG station comprises a biogas purification unit, a compressor, and a high-pressure storage system

✅It is an environment-friendly alternative to diesel

● GOBAR(Galvanising Organic Bio-Agro Resources) DHAN Yojana:

✅It was launched by the Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation

✅It is being implemented as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin)

✅Aim: to positively impact village cleanliness and generate wealth and energy from cattle and organic waste

✅to create new rural livelihood opportunities and enhance income for farmers and other rural people

✅Focus: keeping villages clean, increasing the income of rural households, and generation of energy from cattle waste

✅The programme will be implemented using the Solid and Liquid Waste Management(SLWM) funding pattern of SBM-G Guidelines.

● Benefits of renewable energy:

✅Low maintenance cost: these need low maintenance as compared to the traditional sources of energy like coal-based or oil-based thermal power plants

✅Sustainable: is a cleaner source of pollution, thus, benefiting the environment in general and reducing pollution and the associated diseases in particular.

✅Last mile connectivity: it can be used to provide energy facilities to remote and inaccessible areas of the country

● Challenges associated with renewable energy:

✅Reliability: as the source of renewable energy are variable in nature they cannot be reliable as permanent source of energy

✅Costly: large initial investment, which can be a deterrent at the beginning of the project

✅Creation of storage infrastructure: proper infrastructure is needed for storing of energy which is not available in India as compared to that for non renewable source of energy

● Conclusion:

✅Since renewable energy requires huge investment to achieve economies of scale, it is necessary to lay down friendly policies so that its potential can be harnessed at maximum level in the country

SOURCE - INDIAN EXPRESS

#ENVIRONMENT

■ India’s solar power energy targets-

✅A report, jointly prepared by two energy-research firms — JMK Research and Analytics and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis — says India will likely miss its 2022 target of installing 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity. This is because rooftop solar is lagging behind.

● What is India’s solar policy?

✅Since 2011, India’s solar sector has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 59% from 0.5GW in 2011 to 55GW in 2021.

✅National Solar Mission (NSM), which commenced in January 2010, marked the first time the government focussed on promoting and developing solar power in India.

✅Under the scheme, the total installed capacity target was set as 20GW by 2022.

✅In 2015, the target was revised to 100GW and in August 2021, the government set a solar target of 300GW by 2030.

✅India currently ranks fifth after China, the U.S., Japan and Germany in terms of installed solar power capacity.

✅As of December 2021, the cumulative solar installed capacity of India is 55GW, which is roughly half the renewable energy (RE) capacity (excluding large hydropower) and 14% of the overall power generation capacity of India. Within the 55GW, grid-connected utility-scale projects contribute 77% and the rest comes from the grid-connected rooftop and off-grid projects.

● What does the report say?

✅As of April, only about 50% of the 100GW target, consisting of 60GW of utility-scale and 40GW of rooftop solar capacity, has been met. Nearly 19 GW of solar capacity is expected to be added in 2022 — 15.8GW from utility-scale and 3.5GW from rooftop solar.

● What are the reasons for rooftop solar adoption not meeting targets?

✅In December 2015, the government launched the first phase of the grid-connected rooftop solar programme to incentivise its use in residential, institutional and social areas.

✅Second phase: February 2019, had a target of 40GW of cumulative rooftop solar capacity by 2022, with incentives in the form of central financial assistance (CFA).

✅As of November 2021, of the phase 2 target of 4GW set for the residential sector, only 1.1GW had been installed.

✅The disruption in supply chains due to the pandemic was a key impediment to rooftop solar adoption.

✅In its early years, India’s rooftop solar market struggled to grow, held back by a lack of consumer awareness, inconsistent policy frameworks of the Centre/ State governments and financing.

✅Recently there has been a sharp rise in rooftop solar installations because of falling technology costs, increasing grid tariffs, rising consumer awareness and the growing need for cutting energy costs.

✅Rooftop solar adoption is expected to increase as land and grid connectivity for utility solar projects is expected to be hard to come by.

● Efficacy of solar power in India’s commitment to mitigate climate change:

✅Solar power is a major area of India’s commitment to addressing global warming according to the terms of Paris Agreement, as well as achieving net-zero, or no net carbon emissions, by 2070.

✅Indian PM at the United Nations Conference of Parties meeting in Glasgow, in November 2021, said India would be reaching a non-fossil fuel energy capacity of 500 GW by 2030 and meet half its energy requirements via renewable energy by 2030.

✅To boost the renewable energy installation drive in the long term, the Centre in 2020 set a target of 450GW of RE-based installed capacity to be achieved by 2030, within which the target for solar was 300GW.

✅Given the challenge of integrating variable renewable energy into the grid, most of the RE capacity installed in the latter half of this decade is likely to be based on wind-solar hybrid (WSH), RE-plus-storage and round-the-clock RE projects rather than traditional solar/wind projects, according to the report.


SOURCE - THE HINDU

BITS Pilani does it again. This time with an innovation at the #PhD programmes level. The question we asked ourselves is, why should all PhD programmes in the country be to produce university #professors?

So we devised a new PhD Programme. A #PhD Programme for the #startup track, named as PhD-DRIVE (Deep-tech Research, Innovation, Value generation & Entrepreneurship). Our senate approved this in its last meeting.

What do we propose to do under this PhD, startup track.

With Ph.D. #DRIVE , we want Ph.D. scholars to become #entrepreneurs along with becoming an innovator, and not just look for an academic career post their PhDs.

How do we plan to do this?

We will have two tracks of #admissions into the PhD startup track.

(i) One track will be to match students having a flair for entrepreneurship and #technology development and associate them with a faculty member working on a high #TRL (Technology Readiness Level) project having TRL above 3 or 4.

(ii) The second track will be to admit students who have an idea for a #deeptech startup and wish to execute their ideas using the resources and mentorship provided by #BITS #Pilani campuses.

All students will undergo training on new #venture creation, #economics, #business model writing and #team building in addition to their technology research. Idea is to orient these students from the beginning towards a start-up creation.

These students will receive 50% higher #stipend as compared to regular PhD scholarships in the country. They will also receive a generous #contingency grant for prototype building. We expect these students to file enough #patents and protect as much IP as possible. BITS #alumni and #Venturecapitalists will be involved with the students' from the beginning to groom them on the new venture Creation and identification of the problem.

What do we wish to accomplish?

It will be our endeavor to build 100 Deep-Tech / Deep Science Startups, from innovative Ph.Ds. in the fields of #Semiconductors, Human #Diseases, #Environment and #Climate Change, #Biotechnology, #Water Resources, #AI/ML #Food-technology, #quantum physics, #Space, #5G and #telecommunication, #Industry 4.0 and #Additive #Manufacturing, #Agriculture, #antimicrobialresistance, and #pharmaceuticals.

The Programme will be supported by #corporates, #alumni, and #VCs. We already have committed support from our partners Vishesh Rajaram, Managing Partner, Speciale Invest,
Suresh Kabra, Batch of 82-87 through Dr. Suman Kapur Memorial Charitable Trust and interest from many among our alumni and VC network.

Await a call for admissions under the PhD-DRIVE scheme.

The news as covered by Hemali Chhapia, The Times Of India is attached.

Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus Director BITS, Pilani - K.K. Birla Goa Campus BITS Pilani Dubai Campus Student Alumni Relations Cell, BITS Pilani-Goa Campus BITSAA International