News in Shorts: 21 April 2025

Paste Fill Technology for Mining

Context: South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) will become the first coal PSU in India to adopt paste fill technology for coal mining.

About Project Details

• Location: Large-scale coal production will be undertaken using paste fill technology in the Singhali underground coal mine located in SECL’s Korba area. 
• Production Capacity: The project is expected to produce approximately 8.4 million tonnes (84.5 lakh tonnes) of coal  over a period of 25 years.

About Paste Fill Technology

• Paste filling is a modern underground mining method where the empty spaces left after coal extraction are filled with a paste.
• Paste: This paste is made from a mix of fly ash, crushed waste material from open-pit mines, cement, water, and other binding agents.
• Goal: To prevent land subsidence and ensure the structural stability of the mine.
• Significance: 
  • Green Mining: This initiative is part of a broader shift toward “green mining” practices that aim to reduce the environmental footprint of coal extraction.
  • The technology allows for the reuse of industrial waste materials, making the process environmentally sustainable and promoting waste recycling.
  • The technology also minimise the need to acquire surface land thus minimising environmental damage and land displacement.

Village-Level Survey of Antiquities

Context: Karnataka has started a unique village-level survey to document antiquities like inscriptions, sculptures, and monuments that are reckoned to be the first-of-its-kind in the country.

About Karnataka’s Village-Level Survey of Antiquities

• Purpose
  • The survey will create a comprehensive and geo-tagged inventory of antiquities.
  • Karnataka will be the first state to have such a detailed and digital database.
  • State-Protected Heritage Sites: Current status
    • There are over 800 State-protected monuments in Karnataka For example- Hampi, Badami Cave Temples, Mysore Palace, etc. 
    • Additionally, there are more than 600 monuments protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary

Context: Recently, two cheetahs, Prabhas and Pawak, were released into the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary.

• They were brought to the Kuno National Park from South Africa in February 2023.

About Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary

• Location: The sanctuary is located in the districts of Mandsaur and Neemuch in western Madhya Pradesh, bordering Rajasthan. It is atop a flat rocky Malwa plateau.
• Establishment: Notified as sanctuary in 1974.
• River: Chambal flows through, dividing it into two parts.
• Ecosystem: The sanctuary’s savanna ecosystem comprises open grasslands interspersed with dry deciduous trees and shrubs due to the rocky terrain and shallow topsoil.
  • Riverine valleys are evergreen.
• Ideal Habitat for Cheetahs: The landscape of Gandhi Sagar is similar to Maasai Mara, a national reserve in Kenya known for its savanna wilderness. 
  • The sanctuary has been identified as the second-best habitat for cheetahs in India after Kuno.
• Challenges: 
  • The biggest challenge is the augmentation of the prey base, i.e., increasing the number of animals that the cheetahs can prey upon. 
  • Other challenges include the leopard population in Gandhi Sagar, which will pose a threat to cheetahs, and the presence of several other co-predators. 
  • Highways and human habitation pass right outside the boundary of the protected area in Gandhi Sagar.
  • The Chambal river acts as a “barrier to casual movement of wildlife” between the two halves of the sanctuary.

Kerala to Revise IPR Policy After 17 Years

Context: Kerala’s Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy, last formulated in 2008, is set for a major revision. 

Key Highlights

• The revision aims to modernize Kerala’s IPR framework, focusing on innovation, education, and protection of traditional knowledge . 
• The Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) has appointed a six-member drafting committee. 

Why the Revision?

• Align with National IPR Policy (2016).
• Follows Department of Science and Technology’s directive (Aug 2024) for State-level policies. 

About the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

• Intellectual Property Rights refer to the legal protections granted to creators and inventors for their original works and inventions. 
• These rights allow them to control the use of their creations and benefit from them economically. 
• Examples: Copyright, Patent, trademark, Geographical Indication Tag etc.

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in India

• Legal Framework: India has specific laws for different IPRs, like the Copyright Act, Patent Act, Trademark Act, and Designs Act.
• International Compliance: India is a member of the WTO and follows the TRIPS Agreement (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights).

Mineral Siderite found on Mars

Context: A mineral called siderite was found by NASA’s Curiosity Rover in abundance, providing fresh evidence of the planet’s warmer and wetter ancient past.

About The Discovery

• Location: The mineral was found in a rock sample drilled inside Gale crater.
• Published In: The study was published in the journal Science.
• Hypothesis: Mars, when evolved from a carbon dioxide rich atmosphere to being starved of the gas, has undergone geochemical processes where carbon became entombed in rocks in its crust as a carbonate mineral.
• Finding : The discovery provides evidence that Mars once had a dense atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide.
• Significance: 
• • The rover’s findings offer insight into the carbon cycle on ancient Mars.
  • The presence of the mineral also  supports the theory of Mars being water rich in the past.

About the Siderite Mineral

• Siderite, also known as chalybite, is a form of iron carbonate (FeCO3) mineral.
• It is a valuable iron ore and is often found in sedimentary rocks or in hydrothermal veins.
• It’s a significant source of iron, with 48% iron content and no sulfur or phosphorus.
• Application: Siderite is used as an ore for iron smelting and can also be used in pigments, water purification, and battery technologies.