Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare signed a MOU with Pixxel Space India Pvt. Limited (GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare recently signed a MOU with Pixxel Space India Pvt. Limited.
Aim:
- It aims to develop various geospatial solutions on pro bono basis for the Indian Agriculture Ecosystem using Pixxel’s hyperspectral dataset.
Key Highlights:
- The project focuses on leveraging sample hyperspectral data from Pixxel’s path finder satellites to develop analytics models focused on crop mapping, crop stage discrimination, crop health monitoring, and soil organic carbon assessments.
- This will enable the Government to develop use cases with hyperspectral data provided by PIXXEL.
- MNCFC on behalf of the DA&FW will associate with Pixel team for developing and implementing the suitable methodologies.
Hyperspectral data:
- Hyperspectral remote sensing technology includes spectral measurements in narrow wavelength bands by satellites and such measurements offer certain unique indices to monitor and assess health of crops and soils. This is an emerging technology with unique capabilities for monitoring agriculture.
- Crop health monitoring by detecting the changes in chlorophyll content and canopy moisture status, using hyperspectral data would be beneficial to find crop risk management solutions to farmers.
Soil nutrient mapping:
- Soil nutrient mapping including soil organic carbon assessments is one of the important applications of hyperspectral technology.
- The soil reflectance observations measured by the sensors offer more direct, cost-effective datasets to estimate soil organic carbon.
- This will also help to develop the early detection of crop stress, accurate diagnostics of crop stress due to pest/disease or water using hyper spectral data offer numerous opportunities to strengthen the current advisory system of the Government benefiting to millions of farmers.
Way Forward:
- Such types of collaboration with young startup company will go a long way for developing innovative geospatial solutions using advanced satellite imaging technology.
- The new technology will reduce dependence on manual surveys and measurements which are time consuming and prone to errors.
Power ministry establishes UTPRERAK, a Centre of Excellence to Accelerate Adoption of Energy Efficient Technologies in Indian Industry
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Ministry of Power, has set up a dedicated Centre of Excellence to accelerate industry adoption of clean technologies and thus scale up India’s contribution to the global energy transition.
Details:
- Named UTPRERAK, short for Unnat Takniki Pradarshan Kendra, the Centre of Excellence to Accelerate Adoption of Energy Efficient Technologies seeks to play a catalytic role in improving energy efficiency of Indian industry.
- The Centre, named otherwise as Advanced Industrial Technology Demonstration Centre (AITDC), has been set up by the Bureau of Energy efficiency (BEE), Ministry of Power, at the Badarpur, New Delhi campus of the National Power Training Institute (NPTI).
Key Highlights:
- AITDC will demonstrate and showcase energy-efficient technologies in key industry sectors. It will act as an exhibition cum information centre and knowledge repository.
- It will be a knowledge exchange platform, where best practices from across various key sectors could be diffused among industry professionals through workshops and seminars.
- More than 10,000 energy professionals are proposed to be trained in next five years
- Besides these, the Centre envisages to also provide key inputs for national energy policy formulation, link education and research in energy-efficient solutions, and develop innovative applied solutions for energy efficiency.
Decarbonization:
- The Centre will also operate as a Regional Hub for conducting Research and Development activities for clean energy technologies in identified sectors (other energy-intensive sectors will be included subsequently).
- Emerging technologies such as Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) can be developed for the decarbonization of these sectors.
Way Forward:
- When fully functional, it will have state-of-the-art facilities for networking, conferencing, training, and information dissemination on energy-efficient technologies.
India is introducing the Cape Town Convention Bill
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Why in news?
- The Indian government plans to introduce the Cape Town Convention Bill in the upcoming monsoon session of the Parliament.
- The move is aimed at making the process easier for aircraft leasing companies to seize the planes of airlines that miss rental payments.
- The proposed Bill will give primacy to the Cape Town Convention in case of conflict with any other local law, mainly the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016.
Cape Town Convention:
- The Cape Town Convention (CTC) is a global treaty that guarantees the rights of lessors to repossess leased high-value equipment such as aircraft, engines, and helicopters in case of payment defaults.
- It was adopted at a conference in Cape Town in November 2001 under the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT).
- The convention aims to solve problems of obtaining certain rights to aviation assets such as aircraft engines, helicopters and airframes, which, by their nature, have no fixed location.
- India is now a signatory to the convention, but the Indian Parliament has not ratified the same. Hence, the law prohibits such recovery once a company initiates bankruptcy proceedings.
Go First case:
- Go First filed for bankruptcy in 2023. The airline's total debt to financial creditors was Rs 6,521 crore as of April 28. The airline owes over Rs 2,600 crore to aircraft lessors, which include SMBC Aviation, CDB Aviation's GY Aviation Leasing, Jackson Square Aviation, and BOC Aviation.
- Go First blamed Pratt and Whitney, its engine suppliers, for the crisis. The airline said that P&W supplied faulty engines, which halted their flights.
- The recent admission of Go First's insolvency resolution plea by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) made the lessors concerned over leasing aircraft to India-based airlines. They feel that the country is a "risky jurisdiction".
- To reassure the lessors, the Centre has started to rework the Cape Town Convention Bill. The reworked Bill, once approved, will be presented before the Parliament.
How CTC Act will help in this case?
- If passed, the Cape Town Convention Act will guarantee the rights of lessors to repossess their leased equipment.
- If necessary, the Act will empower the Centre to make rules for implementing the convention and protocol in India. This is also expected to boost lessors' confidence in the Indian civil aviation space.
- It is also expected to lower the lease rentals in India and help finance high-value mobile equipment, like airframes, helicopters and engines.
- It would make it mandatory to return the aircraft to the lessor within two months from the start of the bankruptcy process.
Alternative route:
- The blowback from the crisis is also being felt by other airlines, especially SpiceJet. The situation has led an international body representing aircraft lessors to give a negative outlook on India.
- Worried lessors also filed for the deregistration of six aircraft with SpiceJet, which has defaulted on lease rentals.
- A separate legislation will benefit Indian airlines as countries that have implemented the Cape Town Convention are eligible for a 10 per cent discount on the loan processing fee to acquire aircraft.
