25th Nov Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

India’s Biggest Oil Refinery

• India’s biggest oil refinery proposed on the western coastline near Rajapur tehsil of the Ratnagiri district in Maharastra.
• The government has recently begun the joint measurement of land.
• The land has been notified as an industrial area under Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) Act, instead of Land Acquisition Act, 2013.
• MIDC law is draconian and gives no voice to the people.
• So farmers from in Maharashtra have been protesting against it.
• The villagers are also concerned at the pollution caused by the refinery once it is operational.
• The refinery will stand next to world’s biggest nuclear power project, the proposed 9900 MW Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP), which is another cause for concern among locals.
• A desiltation project and a 1,500 MW thermal power project are also proposed in the vicinity.

Panel to reform IBC

• The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code became operational in December 2016.
• It provides for a market-determined and time-bound insolvency resolution process.
• With rising number of cases under the IBC, the government has set up a 14-member panel to identify and suggest ways to address issues faced in its implementation.
• This committee will be chaired by Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas.
• The move also comes against the backdrop of concerns about the possibility of promoters wresting back control of a company under insolvency process.

North East Rural Livelihood Project

• It is a unique scheme proposed by the Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER) and is being supported by the World Bank.
• It will primarily benefit the tribals and the lower socioeconomic groups, especially women, in the North-Eastern Region (NER).
• Four states, - Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, will be taken up for helping the tribal and even the non-tribal lower groups living in remote areas.
• It is also aimed at assisting over 10,000 Self Help Groups (SHGs) and benefit about three lakh poor households.
• The more vulnerable tribal groups like Reang in Tripura and Lepsha and Bhutias in Sikkim will also benefit from it.

Indian Forest (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017

• Bamboo is taxonomically a grass.
• Yet it was legally defined as a tree under the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
• This was a major impediment for bamboo cultivation on non-forest land as the act mandates requirement of felling/transit permit for its economic use.
• Though India has 19% share of world’s area under bamboo cultivation, its market share in the sector is only 6%.
• So the Union Government has recently promulgated the Indian Forest (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017.
• It exempts bamboo grown in non-forest areas from the definition of tree.
• So there is no more a requirement of felling/transit permit.
• Hence this will promote cultivation of bamboo in non-forest areas to achieve twin objectives of increasing the farmer incomes and also increasing the green cover.
• It will greatly aid the success of recently constituted National Bamboo Mission.
• Bamboo grown in the forest areas will continue to be governed by the provisions of IFA, 1927.

Talanoa Dialogue

• It is facilitative dialogue among member of Conference of Parties of Paris Agreement to be taken in 2018.
• It is a year-long process to take stock of the collective efforts of Parties in relation to progress towards the long-term goal of economy-wide absolute emission reduction and to inform the preparation of nationally determined contributions.
• Talanoa is a traditional word used in Fiji and the Pacific to reflect a process of inclusive, participatory and transparent dialogue.

How bacteria survive?

• Aerobic bacteria cannot undergo metabolic processes without oxygen.
• Each cell must extract electrons from food that are then transported along the cell's membrane until they reach an oxygen molecule.
• The energy released during this metabolic process is used to sustain life.
• But Bacteria rarely live by themselves as single-celled organisms.
• Most grow in communities to form a biofilm with tissue-like properties that serves to fortify the community.
• As communities grow they can become overcrowded, creating an environment where each cell has to compete for limited nutrients and oxygen to survive.

• Biologists have recently revealed a mechanism by which bacterial cells access oxygen for energy production.
• They say that the communities can change the overall structure of the biofilm so that its surface area-to-volume ratio is higher and a larger proportion of the cells inside are able to access the oxygen on the outside.
• Some can also make molecules called phenazines, which help to shuttle electrons from the inside to the outside of the cell.
• Some make alternative versions of terminal oxidases i.e enzymes that transfer electrons to oxygen, which use oxygen more efficiently or are better at scavenging oxygen when the concentration is low.

Sources: PIB, The Hindu, The Indian Express