The DRUM App

Context: A team from IIT Kharagpur has recently launched an app named, “The Dynamic Route Planning for Urban Green Mobility (or DRUM)” allowing commuters to pick routes based on air quality and energy efficiency.

About the DRUM App

• The DRUM app is designed as a navigation app like Google Maps but with the added feature of allowing users pick green routes based on air quality and energy efficiency data.
• Objective: To provide the users with an option of alternative routes which can reduce their overall consumption of air pollutants.
  • Example: Ambient air pollution is responsible for 7.2% of deaths in major Indian cities every year.
• Route Options: DRUM gives users five route options ie, 
  • Shortest, fastest, least exposure to air pollution (LEAP), least energy consumption route (LECR), and a combination of all four factors called the suggested route.
• Data Collection: Real-time live air and traffic data is collected from the CPCB and the World Air Quality Index. 
  • Routes are determined using GraphHopper (a Java-based routing library) while fetching real-time traffic updates from Mapbox

Discovery of New Wasp Species in India

Context: A new species of parasitic wasp, Losgna occidentalis, has been discovered in Chandigarh, marking the rediscovery of the genus Losgna in India after nearly six decades.

Key Points

• The newly discovered species ‘Losgna occidentalis’ was found in an urban dry scrub forest in Chandigarh in winter 2023–24.
  • It is the first insect species formally described from Chandigarh.
  • Belongs to the family Ichneumonidae (parasitic wasps), known for their role in biological pest control.
• The genus Losgna was last recorded in India in 1965 and has no documented presence since then.
• Occidentalis signifies its status as the westernmost occurrence of the genus, previously known only from eastern India and Southeast Asia.

About Parasitic Wasps

• Parasitic wasps, also known as Parasitoids, are a distinct group that doesn’t typically live in colonies or build hives like honeybees. 
• Adult parasitoids typically feed on pollen and nectar.
• They are solitary and lay their eggs inside other insects or spiders, using them as hosts for their larvae. 
• The wasp larvae may manipulate the host’s physiology and behavior to ensure its own survival and development. This can include causing paralysis, developmental arrest, or immune suppression.  
• The parasitoid larva eventually consumes and kills the host, completing its development.

Heeng Cultivation in India

Context: Recently, CSIR-IHBT reported the first successful flowering of heeng in Palampur, proving that heeng can grow and thrive in Indian conditions.

About Heeng

• Scientific name: Ferula assa-foetida. 
• Raw asafoetida is extracted from the fleshy roots of Ferula assa-foetida as an oleo-gum resin.
• Benefits: Digestion, relieving abdominal pain, and enhancing taste.
• Natural Habitat & Growth Conditions
• • Heeng thrives in cold, dry climates, mainly in Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.
  • It prefers sandy, well-drained soil with low moisture.
  • Ideal rainfall: 200 mm or less; tolerates up to 300 mm in cultivated regions.
  • Temperature range: 10-20°C, withstands extremes from -4°C to 40°C.

Heeng in India

• Heeng is a widely used spice in Indian cooking
• In India, we do not have Ferula assa-foetida, but other species Ferula jaeschkeana is reported from the western Himalaya (Chamba, HP), and Ferula narthex from Kashmir and Ladakh.
• Since, heeng plant prefers cold and dry conditions for its growth, cold desert areas of the Indian Himalayan region are suitable for cultivation of asafoetida. 
• Himachal Pradesh is the primary state producing heeng in India
• Import statistics: India imports about 1200 tonnes of raw asafoetida annually from Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan and spends approximately 100 million USD per year.
• Hathras Hing received the GI tag in 2023.

Reforms in the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Rules

Context: The Department of Commerce has notified reforms in the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) rules to address the specialized needs of semiconductor and electronics component manufacturing sectors

About the Amended Rules

• Rule 5 of SEZ Rules, 2006: An SEZ set up exclusively for the sector will require a minimum contiguous land area of 10 hectares, reduced from 50 hectares.
• Rule 7 of SEZ Rules, 2006: The Board of Approval for SEZs are allowed to relax the condition requiring SEZ land to be encumbrance-free in cases where it is mortgaged or leased to the Central or State Government or their authorized agencies.
• Rule 53: It will allow the value of goods received and supplied on a free-of-cost basis to be included in Net Foreign Exchange (NFE) calculations and assessed using applicable customs valuation rules.
• Rule 18 of the SEZ Rules: It allow SEZ units in both sectors to supply domestically into the Domestic Tariff area as well after payment of applicable duties.

Significance of The Amendments

• It will boost high-tech manufacturing in the country and spur the growth of semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem
• The amendment will also result in the creation of high skilled jobs in the country.

About Special Economic Zones

• SEZs are designated areas within a country that have different business and trade regulations compared to the rest of the country
• Act: The Special Economic Zones Act of 2005, supported by the SEZ Rules of 2006, came into effect in 2006, providing for single-window clearance and simplified procedures.
• Aim: SEZs aim to promote economic growth, increase exports, attract foreign investment, and create employment opportunities. 
• Operational SEZs: India currently has 276 operational SEZs with 6275 units operating, employing approximately 3.19 million people.

Indravati National Park

Context: Recently, Security forces have recovered the bodies of five more Maoist cadres during the ongoing anti-Naxal operations in the Indravati National Park area of Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh.

About Indravati National Park

• Location: Situated in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, Designated as a national park in 1981 and a tiger reserve in 1983 under Project Tiger initiative. 
  • Named after the Indravati River, which runs along its northern border, separating it from Maharashtra.
• Topography: Hilly terrain, with elevations varying from 177 to 599 meters above sea level. 
  • It serves as an important ecological corridor, linking it to other tiger reserves like Kawal (Telangana), Tadoba (Maharashtra), and Kanha (Madhya Pradesh).
• Vegetation: Mainly of the tropical moist and dry deciduous type.
• Flora: Common plant species include teak, achar, karra, kullu, shisham, semal, haldu, arjun, bel, and jamun.
• Fauna: The reserve home to one of the last populations of rare wild buffalo. 
  • Other wildlife includes tigers, leopards, gaurs, sambar deer, chital, sloth bears, nilgai, and blackbucks.

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