Project Sunrise’Launched in Imphal
- Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda has launched Project Sunrise on February 6, 2016 for prevention of AIDS in the eight North-Eastern States. The project is funded by the Centre for Disease Control of the USA.
- The Project will be implemented in addition to the existing projects of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO). The AIDS prevention special programme for the North-East will be implemented in 20 districts of the eight States including four districts of Manipur-Lmphal East, Bishnupur, Ukhrul and Churachandpur.
- The Centre is working towards bringing the people living with HIV/AIDS into the national mainstream.
- The new initiative will cover one lakh people living with HIV/AIDS giving them treatment and care facilities free of cost. NACO is going to directly transfer its funding to State AIDS Control Societies.
Prime Minister Modi Inaugurated NISER Campus at Bhubaneswar
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) campus to the nation on February 7, 2016. It is located in Jatni, Khurda in the outskirt of Bhubaneswar.
- The Prime Minister mentioned the possibilities for innovation in areas such as coal gasification and clean energy, the blue economy, and housing for all by 2022 in the context of NISER. He urged the students of NISER to work towards making NISER India’s greenest campus, and a zero-emission, zero-discharge campus which uses only renewable energy.
- The NISER has been established on the lines of IISc Bangalore and its five sister institutions. USERS has already being established at Pune, Kolkata, Mohali, Thiruvananthapuram and Bhopal. NISER operates under the umbrella of the DAE.
Prime Minister Modi Inaugurated Paradip Refinery
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Indian Oil I Corp’s Rs 34555 crore refinery in Paradip, on February 7, 2016. Located 140 km from Bhubaneswar, Paradip refinery is one of the most modern refineries in the world which can process cheaper high sulphur heavy crude oils.
- The Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on May 24, 2000 laid foundation stone of this ninth plant of IOC,. The 15 million tonnes per annum refinery was built over nearly 16 years. Prior to Paradip, its eight refineries had a cumulative capacity of 54.2 million tons of crude oil.
- I he refinery will produce 5.6 million tons per annum ol diesel, 3.79 million tonnes of petrol and 1.96 million tonnes ol kerosene/ATE. With this, the State-owned firm overtake Reliance Industries to again become country’s top refiner.
Indian Basmati Rice got GI Tag
- The Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) cleared the decks for issuing the ‘Geographical Indication’ (GI) tag on February 5, 2016 for Indian basmati rice grown in certain States. This clearance happened seven years after an application was made.
- As per the clearance basmati rice cultivated in the Indo-Gangetic Plains on the foothills of the Himalayas covering areas of the rice grown in Punjab, Haryana. Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Western Uttar Pradesh and two districts of Jammu and Kathua, will now be issued the GI tag.
- GI is an insignia on products having a unique geographical origin and evolution over centuries with regards to its special quality and a mark of authenticity which ensurcs-that registered authorized users or at least those residing inside the geographic territory are allowed to use the popular product name.
