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GS Paper: GS3

  • [pib] INS Karanj – A Kalvari Class Submarine

    Indian Navy’s third stealth Scorpene-class Submarine INS Karanj has been commissioned into the Indian Navy. It also completed the trials of the Indigenous Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) System jointly developed by Naval Materials Research Laboratory (NMRL) and DRDO.

    In a rare case, we would see a question based on various classes of Indian Submarines in the CSP. However, we can expect a question based on the AIP system in the CSP and CAPF exam.

    INS Karanj

    • INS Karanj is the third submarine of the first batch of six Kalvari-class submarines for the Indian Navy.
    • It is a diesel-electric attack submarine based on the Scorpene-class, designed by French naval defence and energy group DCNS and manufactured by Mazagon Dock Limited, an Indian shipyard in Mumbai.

    What is AIP?

    For this, we have to understand how a submarine works. Traditionally we hear about two types of submarines- Nuclear and Diesel Electric.

    Diesel Electric Submarines

    • While Nuclear Submarines can stay submerged for a prolonged period and remain undetected, Diesel Electric submarines cannot do so, and they must surface after a stipulated time interval.
    • Their Diesel Propulsion would need air to run the engine like any other Vehicle or Aircraft engines and for this, they would need oxygen which is not available underwater.
    • Hence they have to move closer to the surface so that their engines can breathe air through their snorkels.

    So, these diesel turbines charge the batteries available in the submarine and once the batteries are fully charged, the submarine goes underwater where the propeller shaft, as well as other systems, runs on the power stored in the batteries.

    • This makes the Submarine very much vulnerable to threats from Air, Sea or even underwater.
    • Not only has this, but the storage of excessive fuel also reduced the overall performance and weapon holding of the submarine too.

    Why don’t we can induct only the Nuclear Submarines in the Navy?

    • Though nuclear submarines can stay underwater for months, they cannot do so with total stealth.
    • While a diesel-electric submarine (while underwater) is making no noise, Nuclear submarines have a lot of vibrations that are generated from the coolant pumping system of their reactors which must run nonstop.
    • This makes even nuclear submarines vulnerable to depth sonars.
    • Moreover, the manufacturing cost of these submarines is several times higher than those of diesel-electric ones.
    • So, the most effective and commercially viable solution is a diesel-electric submarine with AIP.

    What is AIP, then?

    • Over the years the biggest challenge before the mariners was to ensure that the submarines can sustain underwater for a prolonged time.
    • AIP is any marine propulsion technology that allows a non-nuclear submarine to operate without access to atmospheric oxygen (by surfacing or using a snorkel).
    • While there are different types of AIP systems being pursued internationally, the DRDO has applied fuel cell-based AIP using hydrogen onboard.
    • Fuel cell-based AIP has merits in performance compared to other technologies
    • While the first two submarines (INS Kalvari & INS Khanderi) are equipped with French-made AIPs, the rest of the submarines will be equipped with an Indian system.

    Note: The Project 75I-class submarine is a follow-on of the Project 75 Kalvari-class submarine for the Indian Navy.

    Significance for India

    • With this induction, India has joined the club of six other elites who have the capacity to design and install such complex systems.
    • These countries are France, China, Spain, Sweden, Germany and Russia.
    • Indian AIP system is unique. It is one of the most advanced AIP systems of the world where Fuel Cell technology is used to generate onboard power.
    • With indigenous AIP, submarines can stay underwater for more than 3 weeks in low consumption mode, more than 2 weeks in endurance mode and 2-4 days in max power mode.

    Back2Basics: Various classes of Submarines in India

    In maritime terms, a class of ships is a group of vessels that have the same make, purpose and displacement.

    • Chakra Class: Under a 10-year lease from Russia since 2012
    • Arihant Class: Nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines
    • Shishumar Class: Diesel-electric attack submarines Indian variant of the Type 209 submarines developed by the German Navy
    • Kalvari Class: Diesel-electric attack submarines designed by French company DCNS
    • Sindhughosh Class: Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines built with the help of Russia

  • Ramagundam Floating Solar Power Plant

    The country’s biggest floating solar power plant, by generation capacity at Ramagundam in Peddapalli district of Telangana is set to be commissioned by May-June.

    Try this PYQ:

    With reference to technologies for solar power production, consider the following statements :

    1. ‘Photovoltaics’ is a technology that generates electricity by direct conversion of light into electricity, while ‘Solar Thermal’ is a technology that utilizes the Sun’s rays to generate heat which is further used in electricity generation process.
    2. Photovoltaics generate Alternating Current (AC), while Solar Thermal generates Direct Current (DC).
    3. India has manufacturing base for Solar Thermal technology, but not for Photovoltaics.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1, 2 and 3

    (d) None

    Ramagundam Solar Plant

    • It would be one of the renewable (solar) energy plants being developed by NTPC with an installed capacity of 447MW in the Southern Region and the entire capacity would be commissioned by March 2023.
    • It will be spread over 450 acres of water surface area in the reservoir.
    • It will be the single location largest floating solar plant in the country as of now; 92 MW floating unit at Kayamkulam gas plant in Kerala and a 25 MW unit at Simhadri power plant.
    • In addition, we are setting up a 230 MW ground-mounted solar power plant in Ettayapuram near Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu

    Why floating solar?

    • One of the biggest advantages of floating solar panels is that the installations do not require valuable land space.
    • Many of these installations can take up unused space on bodies of water, such as hydroelectric dam reservoirs, wastewater treatment ponds, or drinking water reservoirs.
    • Additionally, installing solar panels out on open water reduces the need for tree removal and forest clearing, a practice used in the case of some larger solar panel installations.
    • The bodies of water that host floating solar arrays help cool down the solar equipment, which means the panels produce electricity at higher efficiencies in hot climates than they might otherwise.
    • The floating solar panel structure shades the body of water and reduces evaporation from these ponds, reservoirs, and lakes.
    • This is a particularly useful benefit in areas susceptible to drought, as water loss to evaporation can add up over time and contribute to a shortage.

  • Critical information infrastructure

    The article underscores the threat of cyberattacks on the critical infrastructure and also suggests the steps to be taken to secure these infrastructures.

    Cyberattack on the power grid

    • On October 12 last year, Mumbai plunged into darkness as the electric grid supply to the city failed.
    • Recently, a study by Massachusetts-based Recorded Future,  said that the Mumbai power outage could have been a cyberattack aimed at critical infrastructure.
    • It was carried out by the state-sponsored group Red Echo.
    • As recently as in February, the Centre’s nodal agency National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) had reported concerted attempts by Red Echo to hack the critical grid network.
    • CERT-In, is reported to have detected the ShadowPad malware in one of the largest supply chain attacks a month after the Mumbai outage.
    • Many of the suspected IP addresses identified by NCIIPC and CERT-In were the same and most have been blocked in time.
    • The Chinese focus in the past was stealing information and not projecting power, but the situation with India might be different.

    Why critical infrastructures are so vulnerable

    • As many of these critical infrastructures were never designed keeping security in mind and always focused on productivity and reliability, their vulnerability is more evident today.
    • With devices getting more interconnected and dependent on the internet facilitating remote access during a pandemic, the security of cyber-physical systems has, indeed, become a major challenge for utility companies.

    Critical information infrastructure protection

    • For more than a decade, there have been concerns about critical information infrastructure protection (CIIP).
    • In January 2014, the NCIIPC was notified to be the national nodal agency for CIIP and over these years has been working closely with the various agencies.
    • In January 2019, the government also announced a National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS), with a budget of Rs 3,660 crore for the next five years, to strengthen the sector.

    Way forward

    • Most ministries and departments need better budget allocations for cybersecurity as well as a more robust infrastructure, processes and audit system.
    • The Industrial Cybersecurity Standards (IEC62443) launched by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), has to be adopted soon.
    • For the power sector, a strong regulation on the lines of the North American Electric Reliability Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC) policy could serve as a guide.

    Consider the question “Discuss the importance of critical information infrastructure protection (CIIP)? Also mention the steps taken by the government in this regard.” 

    Conclusion

    Clearly, the incident is a wake-up call for better preparedness in terms of a more robust cyber security ecosystem in place. The new cyber security policy awaiting imminent announcement will hopefully cater to that.

  • Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) 2019,

    Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) 2019, published by the World Bank highlights the constraints faced by farmers. The article highlights the key findings of the publication.

    Constraints in carrying out farming activity

    • Debates around the farm laws have brought to light the issue of developing a sound regulatory framework to promote India’s agricultural growth.
    • The fact remains that farmers, mainly smallholders, across India continue to face various constraints.
    • They include constraints in accessing agricultural inputs, markets, finance, human resources, and information, which are critical for increasing farmers’ competitiveness.
    • A recent publication by the World Bank titled Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) 2019 measures the extent to which government regulatory systems in 101 countries worldwide make it easier for their farmers to operate agricultural activities.
    • These indicators measure the strength of a country’s agricultural regulatory environment pertaining to market integration and entrepreneurship in agriculture.
    • Among 101 countries covered, India ranked 49 on the EBA aggregate score.

    Key takeaways from EBA for India

    • India lags behind its close competitors in world agriculture, namely China, Brazil, and Russia.
    • Compared to these three countries, India has the weakest performance on five out of eight indicators.
    • They are registering fertilizer and machinery, securing water, sustaining livestock, and protecting plant health indicators.
    • Registering fertilizer and machinery indicators measure domestic laws and regulations that provide farmers access to fertilizer and agricultural machinery.
    • The regulatory processes that help farmers make appropriate decisions regarding the level of investment in irrigation are measured by securing water indicator.
    • Sustaining livestock indicator captures the quality of regulations affecting farmers’ access to livestock farming inputs.
    • The quality of legislation on phytosanitary standards (SPS) is captured through the protecting plant health indicator.

    Need to develop a suitable regulatory system

    • Governments can play a critical role in this regard by enacting laws and regulations.
    • Such laws and regulations can influence farmers’ access to agricultural inputs, cost of production, agricultural markets and value chains, the competitiveness of farmers, and private investment in the farming sector.
    • The regulatory system that governs irrigation management is essential for reducing the variability of farm output, prices, and incomes, minimising vulnerability to natural shocks, and incentivising the production of riskier and high returns crops.
    • Gaining access to the global agricultural value chain requires a sound regulatory framework on SPS.

    India’s strong areas

    • The comparative score of India on supplying seed, trading food, and accessing finance indicators is high.
    • Supplying seed indicator evaluates laws and regulations that ensure timely release of seed to farmers.
    • The trading food indicator assesses laws and regulations that facilitate exporting of farm products by farmers.
    • The regulatory framework on the use of warehouse receipts is assessed using accessing finance indicator.
    • A robust warehouse receipts system enables the farmers to obtain the credit needed to invest in agriculture.

    Opportunity for India

    • The future of world agriculture and food production is expected to increasingly depend on middle-income countries such as China, India, Brazil, and Indonesia.
    • To make the best use of this great opportunity, India needs to put in place an agricultural regulatory system that would make it easier for its farmers to conduct agricultural activities.

    Consider the question “Farmers, mainly smallholders, across India continue to face various constraints in carrying out farming activities. What are the implications of such constraints? What role government can play in removing these constraints?”

    Conclusion

    The EBA project results reveal that, compared to its close competitors, the strength of India’s agricultural regulatory environment is weak on the whole and with respect to key performance indicators.

  • NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR)

    Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has completed the development of a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR).

    Note the key features of the Mission. Every statement has a unique information.

    NASA-ISRO SAR

    • NISAR is a joint collaboration for a dual-frequency L and S-band SAR for earth observation.
    • NASA and Bengaluru-headquartered ISRO signed a partnership on September 30, 2014, to collaborate on and launch NISAR.
    • The mission is targeted to launch in early 2022 from ISRO’s Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district, about 100km north of Chennai.
    • It is capable of producing extremely high-resolution images for a joint earth observation satellite mission with NASA.
    • It will be the first satellite mission to use two different radar frequencies (L-band and S-band) to measure changes in our planet’s surface less than a centimetre across.

    Objectives of the NISAR

    • NISAR will observe Earth’s land and ice-covered surfaces globally with 12-day regularity on ascending and descending passes, sampling Earth on average every six days for a baseline three-year mission.
    • It will measure Earth’s changing ecosystems, dynamic surfaces and ice masses, providing information about biomass, natural hazards, sea-level rise and groundwater, and will support a host of other applications.
    • It would also provide data on natural hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.

    What are L and S Bands?

    • L band waves are used for GPS units because they are able to penetrate clouds, fog, rain, storms, and vegetation.
    • The S-band is used by airport surveillance radar for air traffic control, weather radar, surface ship radar, and some communications satellites, especially those used by NASA to communicate with the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.
    • NISAR uses a sophisticated information-processing technique known as SAR to produce extremely high-resolution images.
    • Radar penetrates clouds and darkness, enabling NISAR to collect data day and night in any weather.

    What is collaboration?

    • NASA is providing the mission’s L-band SAR, a high-rate communication subsystem for science data, GPS receivers, a solid-state recorder and payload data subsystem.
    • ISRO is providing the spacecraft bus, the S-band radar, the launch vehicle and associated launch services for the mission, whose goal is to make global measurements of the causes and consequences of land surface changes using advanced radar imaging.

  • [pib] Glycemic Index in Rice

    The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has provided some useful information about some indigenous varieties of rice.

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2018:

    Q.With reference to the Genetically Modified mustard (GM mustard) developed in India, consider the following statements:

    1. GM mustard has the genes of a soil bacterium that give the plant the property of pest-resistance to a wide variety of pests.
    2. GM mustard has the genes that allow the plant cross-pollination and hybridization.
    3. GM mustard has been developed jointly by the IARI and Punjab Agricultural University.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 and 3 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 2 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    Indigenous varieties of rice

    • Indigenous varieties of rice are being promoted through varieties of programmes.
    • 574 indigenous varieties of rice have been propagated and tested at more than 10,000 farmers’ fields.
    • Nutritional profiling of 300 selected rice varieties has been done for market linkage and better price to the farmers.
    • Farmers are also being trained on conservation, improvement and use of traditional/ indigenous varieties through participatory variety selection.
    • Further, for access to seeds of these indigenous varieties, community seed banks have been established.

    Key varieties

    • Lalat and Improved Lalat (GI value: 54) as Low GI
    • Swarna, Sambha Mahsuri and Shaktiman (GI value <60) as intermediate GI have been identified

    There is no certification for GI (Glycemic Index) in rice in India.

    What is Glycemic Index (GI)?

    • GI is a number from 0 to 100 assigned to food, with pure glucose arbitrarily given the value of 100, which represents the relative rise in the blood glucose level two hours after consuming that food.
    • The GI of a specific food depends primarily on the quantity and type of carbohydrate it contains.
    • But it is also affected by the amount of entrapment of the carbohydrate molecules within the food, the fat and protein content of the food, the number of organic acids (or their salts) in the food, and whether it is cooked and, if so, how it is cooked.
    • A food is considered to have a low GI if it is 55 or less; high GI if 70 or more, and mid-range GI if 56 to 69.

  • [pib] Agriculture Voltage Technology

    An Agri-voltaic system of 105 KW capacity has been developed by ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur.

    Try this PYQ:

    With reference to technologies for solar power production, consider the following statements:

    1. ‘Photovoltaics’ is a technology that generates electricity by direct conversion of light into electricity, while ‘Solar Thermal’ is a technology that utilizes the Sun’s rays to generate heat which is further used in electricity generation process.
    2. Photovoltaics generate Alternating Current (AC), while Solar Thermal generates Direct Current (DC).
    3. India has manufacturing base for Solar Thermal technology, but not for Photovoltaics.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1, 2 and 3

    (d) None

    Agriculture Voltage Technology

    • This technology can increase the income of farmers by the generation of electricity and growing cash crops simultaneously on the same piece of land.
    • Under component-I of the KUSUM (Kisan Urja Suraksha Utthan Mahabhiyan) scheme, there is a provision for installation of the agri-voltaic system in farmers’ fields with a capacity ranging from 500 KW to 2 MW.
    • Moreover, the National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI) has also documented 13 operational agri-voltaic systems in the country managed by different solar PV functionaries and public Institutes.

    About KUSUM Scheme

    • The scheme aims to provide extra income to farmers, by giving them an option to sell additional power to the grid through solar power projects set up on their barren lands.
    • It was announced in the Union Budget 2018-19.

    Component of KUSUM Scheme

    The proposed scheme consists of three components:

    Component-A

    • Renewable power plants of capacity 500 KW to 2 MW will be set up by individual farmers/ cooperatives/panchayats /farmer producer organisations (FPO) on their barren or cultivable lands.
    • The power generated will be purchased by the DISCOMs at Feed-in tariffs determined by respective SERC.

    Component-B

    • Installation of 17.50 lakh standalone Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps.
    • Individual farmers will be supported to install standalone solar pumps of capacity up to 7.5 HP. Solar PV capacity in kW equal to the pump capacity in HP is allowed under the scheme.

    Component-C

    • Solarization of 10 Lakh Grid-connected Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps is included in this component,
    • Individual farmers will be supported to solarise pumps of capacity up to 7.5 HP.
    • Solar PV capacity up to two times of pump capacity in kW is allowed under the scheme.
    • The excess available energy will be sold to DISCOM.

  • Privatisation of Banks

    The article highlights the different aspects that need to be considered while contemplating the idea of privatisation of public banks.

    Opposite trends in India and the US

    • While the United States epitomises the private banking model, a nationwide public banking movement is coming into vogue.
    • In contrast, India seems to be quickly warming to the idea of bank privatisation.

    Public or the private?

    • The development view sees government presence in the banking sector as a means to overcome market failures in the early stages of economic development.
    • The government-owned banks can improve welfare by allocating scarce capital to socially productive uses.
    • The stellar success of Indian PSBs in implementing the PMJDY while missing the mark on creating high-quality credit highlights a critical divide between the asset and the liability side of a bank.
    • Banks provide two functions at a fundamental level: Payments and deposit-taking on the liability side and credit creation on the asset side.
    • The payment services function, a hallmark of financial inclusion, is similar to a utility business — banks can provide this service, a public good, at a low cost universally.
    • The lending side, in contrast, is all about the optimal allocation of resources through better credit evaluation and monitoring of borrowers.
    • Private banks are more likely to have the right set of incentives and expertise in doing so.
    • It comes as no surprise that the PSBs in India are better at providing the public good functions, whereas private banks seem better suited for credit allocation.
    • However, the political view argues that vested interests can influence the lending apparatus to achieve political goals.
    • This results in distortion of credit allocation and reduce allocative efficiency in government-owned banking systems.

    Reasons for privatisation of banks

    • Evidences shows that government ownership in the banking sector leads to lower levels of financial development and growth
    • This led to waves of banking sector privatisations that swept emerging markets in the 1990s.
    • Cross-country evidence suggests that bank privatisations improved both bank efficiency and profitability.

    How public banks performed in India

    • Public sector Banks (PSBs) dominate Indian banking, controlling over 60 per cent of banking assets.
    • The private-credit to GDP ratio, a key measure of credit flow, stands at 50 per cent, much lower than international benchmarks — in China it is150 and in South Korea it is 150 per cent.
    • India’s Gross NPA ratio was 8.2 per cent in March 2020, with striking differences across PSBs (10.3 per cent) and private banks (5.5 per cent).
    • The end result is much lower PSB profitability compared to private banks.
    • The rationale for privatisation stems from these considerations.

    Way forward

    • The optimal mix of the banking system across public and private boils down to what you need out of your banking system.
    • When the wedge between social and private benefits is large, as with financial inclusion, there is a strong case for public banks.
    •  At this stage, inefficiency in capital allocation seems to be a bigger issue for the Indian banking sector, whereas, in the US, the debate is centred around the public goods aspects of banking.

    Consider the question “What are the factors India needs to consider as it reverses the course of history by privatising the public banks?”

    Conclusion

    At this stage, inefficiency in capital allocation seems to be a bigger issue for the Indian banking sector, whereas, in the US, the debate is centred around the public goods aspects of banking.

  • What are Quasars?

    An international team of astronomers have discovered the most distant ‘radio-loud’ quasar with the help of the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT).

    Ever found this on YouTube? Take time to watch this amazing video. It will literally blow up your mind and curiosity!

     

    TIMELAPSE OF THE FUTURE: A Journey to the End of Time (4K)

     

    This video will make up your perceptions and conceptions of how a galaxy dies after the sun runs out of fuel and what a black hole actually is!

    What are Quasars?

    • A quasar known as a quasi-stellar object is an extremely luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN), in which a supermassive black hole with mass ranging from millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun is surrounded by a gaseous accretion disk.
    • As gas in the disk falls towards the black hole, energy is released in the form of electromagnetic radiation, which can be observed across the electromagnetic spectrum.
    • The power radiated by quasars is enormous; the most powerful quasars have luminosities thousands of times greater than a galaxy such as the Milky Way.
    • Most active galaxies have a supermassive black hole at the centre which sucks in surrounding objects.
    • Quasars are formed by the energy emitted by materials spiralling around a black hole right before being sucked into it.

    What makes this event special?

    • 90 per cent of quasars do not emit strong radio waves, making this newly-discovered one special.
    • It took 13 billion years for the quasar’s light to reach earth.
    • Named P172+18, the quasar emitted wavelengths had a redshift of 6.8.
    • Only three other ‘radio-loud’ sources with a redshift greater than six have been discovered so far and the most distant one had a redshift of 6.18.
    • The higher the redshift of the radio wavelength, the farther away is the source.

    As an object moves away from us, the sound or light waves emitted by the object are stretched out, which makes them have a lower pitch and moves them towards the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum, where light has a longer wavelength. In the case of light waves, this is called redshift.

  • [pib] SATAT Scheme

    Oil and Gas Marketing Companies (OGMCs) are inviting potential entrepreneur to procure Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) under the SATAT scheme.

    Try this MCQ:

    Q.SATAT is an initiative of the Government of India, aims at:

    (a) Promoting Self Help Groups in rural areas

    (b) Providing financial and technical assistance to young start-up entrepreneurs

    (c) Promoting affordable transportation

    (d) Providing affordable and quality education to the citizens for free

    SATAT Scheme

    • SATAT stands for Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation.
    • It is an initiative aimed at setting up Compressed Bio-Gas production plants and makes them available in the market for use in automotive fuels by inviting Expression of Interest from potential entrepreneurs.
    • The initiative was launched in October 2018 by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas in association with the PSUs- Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

    Its implementation

    • CBG plants are proposed to be set up mainly through independent entrepreneurs.
    • CBG produced at these plants will be transported through cascades of cylinders to the fuel station networks of OMCs for marketing as a green transport fuel alternative.
    • The 1,500-strong CNG stations network in the country currently serves about 32 lakh gas-based vehicles.
    • The entrepreneurs would be able to separately market the other by-products from these plants, including bio-manure, carbon-dioxide, etc., to enhance returns on investment.
    • So far 9 CBG plants have been commissioned and started supply of CBG under the scheme.
    • These plants are located in Andhra Pradesh (1No.), Gujarat (3 No.), Haryana (1 No.), Maharashtra (3 No.) and Tamil Nadu (1No.).

    Benefits of the programme

    There are multiple benefits from converting agricultural residue, cattle dung and municipal solid waste into CBG on a commercial scale:

    • Responsible waste management, reduction in carbon emissions and pollution
    • Additional revenue source for farmers
    • Boost to entrepreneurship, rural economy and employment
    • Support to national commitments in achieving climate change goals
    • Reduction in import of natural gas and crude oil
    • Buffer against crude oil/gas price fluctuations

    Back2Basics: Compressed Bio Gas (CBG)

    • Biogas is produced naturally through a process of anaerobic decomposition from waste / bio-mass sources like agriculture residue, cattle dung, sugarcane press mud, municipal solid waste, sewage treatment plant waste, etc.
    • After purification, it is compressed and called CBG, which has a pure methane content of over 95%.
    • CBG is exactly similar to the commercially available natural gas in its composition and energy potential.
    • With calorific value (~52,000 KJ/kg) and other properties similar to CNG, CBG can be used as an alternative, renewable automotive fuel.
    • Given the abundance of biomass in the country, CBG has the potential to replace CNG in automotive, industrial and commercial uses in the coming years.