India’s First Public InvIT For Road, Highway Projects
- India is planning its first public Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) for national highways, building off the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) successful first InvIT with foreign institutional investors.
- The InvIT operates like a collective investment scheme, similar to a mutual fund, allowing both individual and institutional investors to directly invest in infrastructure projects.
- Structurally comparable to mutual funds, the InvIT can be established as a trust and registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
- The NHAI InvIT is an infrastructure investment trust sponsored by NHAI to support the government’s National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP). It is a Trust established under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 and complies with SEBI regulations.
Read more about the National Highway Authority of India
Offshore Areas Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023
- The Lok Sabha passed the Offshore Areas Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023 on August 1.
- The bill’s primary objective is to offer a fixed 50-year production lease for offshore minerals.
- The legislation introduces a transparent auction process for mine allocation.
- The bill allows the private sector to obtain production leases exclusively through auction via competitive bidding.
- It also grants operating rights without competitive bidding to a government entity or a government company, or a corporation in mineral-bearing areas reserved by the central government.
- The proposed legislation aims to abolish the provision for production lease renewals and instead affords a fixed fifty-year period for the production lease, consistent with the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957.
- The bill grants authority to the central government to formulate regulations for the preservation and methodical advancement of minerals in offshore regions.
- It also aims to address and manage any pollution resulting from exploration or production activities.
What Is A Mineral?
Minerals are unique substances that naturally occur in a solid state, featuring a highly organised atomic structure and a specific chemical composition. They are typically birthed through inorganic processes. Thousands of mineral species are known to us, with approximately 100 of them being vital components of rocks and thus termed rock-forming minerals.
Quartz, feldspar, calcite, sulfur, and clay minerals like kaolinite and smectite, are some examples of minerals.
Minerals can be found in many environments, from the deepest parts of the ocean to high atop a mountain. They are integral components of rocks and soils, but also exist as distinct crystals or even fill cracks that form within other rocks.
Upon differentiating between their mineral compositions, various properties can be observed such as colour, hardness, crystalline structure and streak. As a result, mineral specimens become important tools in identifying various types of rocks, soils and ores.
Also Read: Significance Of Critical Minerals For India
India’s First Captive Breeding Success
- Himalayan vultures were rescued in Assam from poisoning incidents in 2011-2012.
- Survival of vultures in hot and humid weather was initially doubted.
- A decade later, successful captive breeding recorded in March 2020 inside Assam State Zoo.
- The “success story,” was published in the latest edition of Journal of the Threatened Species.
- The captive breeding was a joint project undertaken by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and the Assam forest department, and was carried out with the help of Assam State Zoo.
- Nestling was hand-reared in temperature and humidity-controlled boxes and air-conditioned room
- Captive breeding of Himalayan vultures in Guwahati is second instance in the world and first in India
Himalayan vultures are a “near threatened” bird species. - The BNHS has already bred three other vulture species in captivity for conservation and reintroduction purposes.
Remember this: India is a habitat for nine distinct species of Vultures, including the Oriental white-backed, Long-billed, Slender-billed, Himalayan, Red-headed, Egyptian, Bearded, Cinereous, and Eurasian Griffon.
Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS)
The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) holds the distinction of being one of India’s oldest and most renowned non-governmental organizations (NGO) committed to the study and preservation of nature and wildlife. On September 15, 1883, the society was established with the primary aim of advancing the cause of natural history and conservation in the Indian subcontinent.
India’s Space Junk Found In Australia
- India has officially verified that an object discovered on a beach in Western Australia belongs to one of its rockets.
- In mid-July, a colossal metallic dome was discovered at Green Head Beach, situated approximately 250km (155 miles) north of Perth. This intriguing find has sparked speculation regarding its origins.
- Countries often plan for debris from their launches to land in oceans to prevent them from damaging people and property.
- The Australian Space Agency (ASA) has stated that it is collaborating with India’s space agency to “assess future actions, including the examination of responsibilities under the United Nations space treaties”.
- As per the mandate of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, nations are obligated to repatriate any space objects of “foreign” origin discovered within their jurisdiction back to their rightful owners.
- Australia has once again become a landing spot for space debris, with a recent incident marking a recurring occurrence.
- In a notable event last year, a fragment from one of Elon Musk’s Space X missions was discovered in a paddock located in the state of New South Wales.