Daily Current Affairs – 2020

Topic: For Prelims and Mains

Narmada Landscape Restoration Project

Why in news?

NTPC Ltd. one of India’s largest integrated energy company and a PSU under Ministry of Power, has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, on 4^th December, to implement the Narmada Landscape Restoration Project.

• The four-year project will be implemented in the catchment area of selected tributaries of Narmada River between Omkareshwar and Maheshwar dams in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh.

Objectives:

• The project aims to establish an incentivisation mechanism that can continue to support the riparian forest and farm communities of the Narmada basin to maintain sustainable landscape practices.
• This is expected to positively impact the water quality and quantity in the Narmada tributaries.

This consortium project will open new possibilities that will enable the management of our watersheds to maintain water quality in smart cities while presenting a better way of purifying urban water supply.

 

Facts for Prelims:

 HL-2M Tokamak: The Artificial Sun of China:

China successfully powered up its “artificial sun” nuclear fusion reactor for the first time marking a great advance in the country’s nuclear power research capabilities.

Key Points:

• The HL-2M Tokamak reactor is China’s largest and most advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device.

Name of the mission: Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST).

Location: Sichuan province

• The reactor is often called an “artificial sun” due to the enormous heat and power it produces.
• It uses a powerful magnetic field to fuse hot plasma and can reach temperatures of over 150 million degrees Celsius which is approximately ten times hotter than the core of the sun.

Scientists hope that the device can potentially unlock a powerful clean energy source.