Prelim Bits 12-01-2022 | UPSC Daily Current Affairs

Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight tested the final deliverable configuration of Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missile (MPATGM).

• MPATGM is an indigenously developed anti-tank missile.
• This low weight, fire & forget missile is for infantry and Parachute (Special Forces) of the Indian Army.
• It can be 'Soft' launched from a man portable launcher using an Ejection Motor.
• The missile has miniaturised infrared imaging seeker for homing on to the designated target and destroying it.
• The missile is designed for a maximum range of 2.5 km.
• It also has advanced avionics for on-board control and guidance.

Reference

1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1789153
2. https://www.drdo.gov.in/man-portable-anti-tank-guided-missile
3. https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/defence-research-and-development-organisation-flight-tests-man-portable-anti-tank-guided-missile-2702794

Grime-eating Bacteria

Scientists have started using grime-eating bacteria extensively to restore classical art.

• Usually, art restorers have usually employed chemical agents and, more recently laser techniques, to remove dirt, oil, glue, or pollutants from monuments, stoneworks, and paintings.
• But in the 1980s, the bacteria Desulfovibrio vulgaris was first used to clean a marble monument at the Cave Hill Cemetery in US.
• Since then, the role of micro-organisms has been recognised in protecting the artistic heritage of humanity.
• The process of using bacteria to restore classical art is called Bio-cleaning.
• The living bacterial cells were suspended in a gel and applied to the vertical walls and left for 24 and 48 hours.
• When the gel was removed, the inorganic dark brown layer and the other deposits were removed by the bacteria.
• The treatment was soft & delicate and didn’t show any structural damage.
• Other microbes used - Pseudomonas stutzeri CONC11 bacterium isolated from the waste of a tannery, Rhodococcus sp. ZCONT that came from soil contaminated with diesel.
• The Archaeological Survey of India is exploring the option of employing bio-restoration at the Taj.

Reference

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/how-scientists-are-using-grime-eating-bacteria-to-restore-classical-art-7718388/

Red Sanders

Red Sanders has fallen back into the ‘endangered’ category in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List.

• Red Sanders or Sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus) is an Indian endemic tree species, with a restricted geographical range in the Eastern Ghats.
• It is endemic to a distinct tract of forests in Andhra Pradesh.
• This light-demanding species grows in the rocky, degraded and fallow lands with Red Soil and hot and dry climate.
• Specialty - Red Sanders is known for their rich hue and therapeutic properties.
• They are high in demand across Asia, particularly in China and Japan, for use in cosmetics and medicinal products as well as for making furniture, woodcraft and musical instruments.
• Status - Red Sanders was classified as ‘near threatened’ in 2018 and has now joined the ‘endangered’ list once again in 2021.
• The IUCN’s Red List summary states that while the species retained its geographical area despite harvesting since the 16^th century, its population saw a sharp decline of 50-80%.
• Threats - Over-exploitation

IUCN Red List

• The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.
• It uses a set of quantitative criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of species.
• These criteria are relevant to most species and all regions of the world.
• The status ranges from ‘least concern’ for the species that are abundant in numbers to ‘extinct’ for those that have completely disappeared from the planet.
• Species that come under ‘critically endangered’, ‘endangered’ and ‘vulnerable’ categories are considered threatened.

Reference

1. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wildlife-biodiversity/red-sanders-falls-back-in-iucn-s-endangered-category-81053
2. https://agritech.tnau.ac.in/forestry/forestry_Redsander.html
3. http://www.apfdcl.com/pages/Activities/RedSanders.aspx
4. https://www.iucn.org/resources/conservation-tools/iucn-red-list-threatened-species

Equity Stake

The government is set to own 35.8% in Vodafone Idea and 9.5% in Tata Teleservices after these operators decided to offer equity stake against their dues related to spectrum auction instalments and AGR payments.

• An equity stake is the percentage of a business owned by the holder of some number of shares of stock in that company.
• Shareholders of an equity stake in a company may exercise some level of control, influence, or participation in the activities of the company.
• Ways - The most usual way to build up an equity stake is through the purchase of equity shares in the open market.
• But, the smaller companies may simply create such a stake for an investor through a contract.
• Businesses that wish to incentivise their employees sometimes give them an equity stake, and troubled companies sometimes offer their creditors equity stakes in lieu of the debt.

Reference

1. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/govt-set-to-become-a-shareholder-in-vodafone-idea-tata-teleservices/article38241554.ece?homepage=true
2. https://capital.com/equity-stake-definition

Bio-Mining of Solid Waste

Putting an end to the delay in starting the biomining of legacy waste at the Brahmapuram waste management plant, Zonta Infratech - the agency entrusted with the work, has set up its office at the plant.

• In the Bio-mining/ Landfill mining process, the garbage is treated with bio organisms or natural elements like air, sunlight, etc  
• Bio-mining is a technically assisted and economically managed extraction of recyclables and other revenue-generating fractions from waste materials already been disposed of by landfilling.
• Bio-mining of dumpsites is aided by bioremediation process.
• Bioremediation is a microbe-mediated degradation of organic waste carried out by adding biological inoculum to the dumpsite.
• But, bioremediation is only possible for dumpsites having a higher organic content.
• Bioremediation of legacy waste does not necessarily give efficient results in old / aged landfills where the waste has already reached the maximum level of microbial degradation.

Legacy Wastes

• Legacy wastes are those that have been collected and kept for years at some barren land or a place dedicated for Landfill.
• They are the result of uncontrolled and continuous dumping of municipal solid waste.
• In India, the legacy wastes has predominantly 4 fractions of waste,
  • Fine soil / sand-like material,
  • Scrap polymeric and combustible materials,
  • Stones (greater than 20 millimetres in size) and
  • Miscellaneous items.
• The composition of legacy waste majorly depends upon the landfills’ age.
• Older the landfill, the higher the fraction of residual organic waste or fine-fraction (mass remaining after microbial degradation).
• The higher proportion of fine soil-like material in the dumpsite is attributed to the microbial decomposition / degradation of the organic waste inside the dumpsite.

Bio-Mining of Metals

• Biomining is the process of using microorganisms (microbes) to extract metals of economic interest from rock ores or mine waste.
• Biomining techniques may also be used to clean up sites that have been polluted with metals.
• Biomining is used for metals that are commonly bound up in solid minerals.
• These metals can be more easily recovered when dissolved (by using microbes that can oxidize them) than from the solid rocks.
• Most biomining operations target valuable metals like copper, uranium, nickel, and gold that are commonly found in sulfidic (sulfur-bearing) minerals.
• Microbes oxidize sulfidic minerals, converting metals like iron and copper into forms that can dissolve more easily.
• Processes - When the metal of interest is directly dissolved, the biomining process is called “bio-leaching”.
• When the metal of interest is made more accessible or “enriched” in the material left behind, it is called “bio-oxidation.”
• Both processes involve microbial reactions that can happen anywhere the microbes, rocks, and necessary nutrients, like oxygen, occur together.
• Risk - The greatest environmental risks are related to leakage and treatment of the acidic, metal-rich solution created by the microbes (similar to the acid mine drainage from some abandoned mines.)
• This risk can be managed by ensuring that bio-mining is conducted under controlled conditions with proper sealing and waste management protocols.

Reference

1. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/3000-tonnes-of-waste-to-be-handled-per-day/articleshow/88766137.cms
2. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/waste/towards-circular-economy-what-to-do-with-legacy-waste-in-india-75746
3. https://www.americangeosciences.org/critical-issues/faq/what-biomining