First time Indian Railways loads Special Parcel Train to Bangladesh, Capturing FASTag details, Nanobiotechnology- the effective solutions for the problems
1. Come, Innovate in India appeals to Indian students from across the globe
- Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan has appealed to the Indian students from various top global universities to come and innovate in India, to explore the emerging opportunities.
- He interacted with a vibrant group of young overseas Indian scholars, students and friends, on last-mile energy access in India.
- Articulating India’s energy vision, Shri Pradhan said, India’s energy future which rests on five key enablers of energy availability and accessibility for all, energy affordability to the poorest of the poor, efficiency in energy use, energy sustainability for combating climate change as a responsible global citizen and energy security for mitigating global uncertainties.
- Government of India introduced the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana(PMUY) scheme, in 2016.
- Its objective is to provide LPG cooking gas connections, free of cost to 80 million poor households.
- With this, we have achieved the target of 80 million customers well ahead of schedule.
- With this, LPG connections are now available to 98% of the households in India, up from just about 56% in the year 2014.
- About self-reliance in oil and gas sector Prime Minister of India has set a target for reduction of 10 percent in energy import dependency by 2022.
- In this regard, the government has taken several policy as well as administrative measures to augment domestic oil and gas production and reduce dependency on imports for meeting the energy requirements of the country.
- If we talked about India’s energy diplomacy India has made its presence felt in the global energy map.
- India is leading the voice of consuming countries demanding for reasonable and affordable price of energy.
- India is engaging with OPEC, IEA, IEF and all other major voices in the world energy discussions.
- India has engaged with the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and all major energy producers, under a policy of diversification of supply sources.
- India’s transition to gas-based economy ndia is set to emerge as one of the primary drivers of growth in gas demand in Asia, despite the pressing Covid-19 challenges.
- Today, share of natural gas in India’s energy mix is about 6.3%. We have taken an ambitious target to increase the share of natural gas to 15% by 2030.
- On the current pandemic, Shri Pradhan said, “We are in the midst of an outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic that challenges the fundamental assumptions of our lives.
- While the immediate economic impact may slow us down, we are presented with an opportunity to pause, rethink, and redesign.”
- Dwelling upon the economic package announced during the pandemic, he said, “Prime Minister Modi has announced a massive stimulus package of $ 265 billion – accounting for 10% of India’s GDP, to deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Major reforms were announced for a self-reliant India that seek to convert Covid-19 challenges into an opportunity, and for becoming global manufacturing hub of the 21st century.
- Energy infrastructure is an integral component of these reforms.”
2. First time Indian Railways loads Special Parcel Train to Bangladesh
- For the first time the Indian Railways, loaded special Parcel train beyond the country borders to Benapole in Bangladesh with Dry Chillies from Reddipalem in Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh state.
- Guntur and its surrounding areas in the state of Andhra Pradesh are well known for Chillies cultivation.
- The quality of this farm produce is internationally renewed for its uniqueness in taste and brand.
- Earlier, the farmers and merchants in and around Guntur area have been transporting Dry Chillies by road to Bangladesh in small quantities and that was costing around Rs 7000 per tonne.
- During the lockdown period, they could not move this essential commodity by Road.
- Then Railway staff and Officials approached the consignors and explained the facilities to transport by Rail.
- Accordingly, they have moved the Dry Chillies by Rail in bulk through goods trains. But for moving the consignment by Goods trains, it is mandatory for the farmers and merchants to mobilise the quantity in bulk i.e. at least more than 1500 tonnes in each trip.
- To mitigate this problem and to facilitate the Rail users to move their quantities in smalls i.e., up to a maximum of 500 tonnes in each trip, Guntur Division of South Central Railway took the initiative and moved the Special Parcel Express to Bangladesh.
- This has helped the farmers and merchants of Guntur to market their farm produce beyond the country border by transporting the Dry Chillies in small quantities through Special Parcel Express.
- Accordingly, one Special Parcel Express train consisting of 16 Parcel Van moved to Benapole in Bangladesh.
- Each Parcel Van was loaded with 466 Dry Chillies bags, weighing around 19.9 Tonnes and the total weight carried by the Special Parcel Express is around 384 Tonnes.
- The cost per tonne for carrying by Special Parcel Express is Rs. 4,608 and which is very cheap and economical as compared to Road transport which is amounting to Rs. 7,000 per tonne.
- It may be noted that Indian Railways has taken a series of steps to boost parcel train traffic during the Covid period.
- Transportation of essential items like medical supplies, medical equipment, food, etc in small parcel sizes are a very important items that needed for business as well as consumption purposes.
- In order to fill in this vital need, Indian Railways has made railway parcel vans available for quick mass transportation by E-Commerce entities and other customers including State governments.
- Railways has been running time-tabled Parcel Special trains on select routes, to ensure uninterrupted supply of essential items.
- The total of 4434 parcel trains have run 22.03.2020 till 11.07.2020,out of which 4,304 have been time-tabled trains.
3. Ensure capturing FASTag details while registering new vehicles
- The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided to ensure capturing of FASTag details while registering or issuing fitness certificate to vehicles all over the country.
- In a letter addressed to NIC, with copies to all the States and UTs, the Ministry has informed that full integration of National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) with VAHAN portal has been achieved, and the same has gone live with API on 14th May last.
- The VAHAN system is now getting all information on FASTags through VIN/VRN.
- As such, the Ministry has asked to ensure capturing FASTag details while registering new vehicles, as also while issuing fitness certificates to vehicles plying under national permit.
- The fitment of FASTag in new vehicles at the time of sales of vehicles of category M and N, was made mandatory in 2017.
- But the integration with bank account or they being activated was being avoided by citizens, which would be checked now.
- Fitment of FASTag is to ensure that vehicles crossing the National Highway fee plazas use electronic medium of FASTag payment, and cash payment is avoided. This usage and promotion of FASTag will also be effective to minimising possibilities of spreading COVID at NH Toll Plazas.
About FASTag:
- FASTag is a simple to use, reloadable tag which enables automatic deduction of toll charges and lets you pass through the toll plaza without stopping for the cash transaction.
- FASTag is linked to a prepaid account from which the applicable toll amount is deducted.
- The tag employs Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) technology and is affixed on the vehicle’s windscreen after the tag account is active.
- FASTag is a perfect solution for a hassle free trip on national highways.
- FASTag is presently operational at 180 toll plazas across national and state highways.
- More toll plazas will be brought under the FASTag program in the future.
4. Nanobiotechnology provides several effective solutions for the problems
- Scientists from the Institute of Nano Science & Technology (INST), Mohali, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology Government of India, have formulated nano particles with chitosan and loaded these nano particles with zinc gluconate for reducing the severity of rheumatoid arthritis.
- Element Zinc is vital for maintaining normal bone homeostasis, and its levels are reported to get reduced in rheumatoid arthritis patients and arthritis-induced animals.
- It is also known that oral supplementation of zinc in the form of zinc gluconate have very low bio availability in humans.
- Chitosan, the bio compatible, biodegradable natural polysaccharide that is one of the most abundant bio polymers obtained from the exoskeleton of crustaceans have shown absorption promoting characteristics.
- The INST team have particularly chosen chitosan as it is biodegradable, biocompatible, non-toxic, and mucoadhesive in nature.
- A previously published report in the journal ‘Magnesium Research’ exhibited that after intraperitoneal administration in rats, zinc oxide in standard form resulted in a slight increase in serum zinc level, whereas that in nano form resulted in significantly high serum zinc levels thus increasing the zinc bio availability.
- This motivated the INST team to develop the nano formulation of zinc gluconate.
- In the recent past, ionic gelation method has been widely employed for formulating chitosan nanoparticles, which may contain various medicinally active pharmacological agents.
- The DST-Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) and DST-Nano mission supported study led by Dr. Rehan Khan, published in ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering journal has analyzed the superior efficacy of zinc gluconate-loaded chitosan nano particles over the free form of zinc gluconate.
- The team prepared Zinc gluconate loaded chitosan nano particles using chitosan and sodium tripolyphosphate in double-distilled water, and zinc gluconate was simultaneously added along with the synthesis of chitosan nano particles.
- Nano particles were characterized for various physicochemical properties, and then anti-arthritic potential was investigated against collagen-induced arthritis in Wistar rats.
- They observed that the treatment of rats with both zinc gluconate and zinc gluconate loaded chitosan nano particles reduced the severity of arthritis by reducing joint swelling, erythema, and edema but zinc gluconate loaded nano particles exhibited superior efficacy.
- The team assessed various parameters like biochemical analysis, histological observations, and immunohistochemical expression of inflammatory markers and suggested that zinc gluconate-loaded chitosan nanoparticles exerted superior therapeutic effects compared to the free form of zinc gluconate.
- This they attributed due to the inflammatory potential of zinc gluconate-loaded chitosan nano particles.
- Nano biotechnology provides several effective solutions for the problems that traditional pharmaceutical formulations are often not able to address as effectively, such as sustained and targeted release of drugs, bio availability, and efficacy of drugs and nutraceuticals, etc.
- The nano formulation of zinc gluconate-loaded chitosan nano particles developed at INST Mohali is a creative example of a superior therapeutics for rheumatoid arthritis.
