PIB Summary- 30th July, 2022 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Deep Sea Mining

Why in News?
Recently, the Minister of State of Science & Technology presented a national science award to Indian scientists who conducted the world’s first locomotive trials of a deep-sea mining system in the central Indian ocean.

About Deep Sea Mining

• The deep sea is the region of the ocean below a depth of 200 metres, and the practise of mining for minerals there is referred to as deep-sea mining.
• The international seabed is defined as the area that lies outside of national jurisdiction and accounts for about 50% of the total area of the world’s oceans, according to the International Seabed Authority, a body established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) for monitoring all activities related to mineral resources in the deep sea.

Issues

• It may significantly affect marine ecosystems and biodiversity.
• Deep-sea habitats may change or be destroyed by machine-aided excavation and gauging of the ocean floor.
• As a result, there will be a loss of species—many of which are unique to the area—as well as a fragmentation or loss of the structure and functionality of the ecosystem.
• It will agitate the seafloor’s fine sediments and release suspended particle plumes.
• Mining ships’ surface wastewater discharges make this situation worse.
• Noise, vibration, and light pollution brought on by mining machinery and surface vessels, as well as potential fuel leaks and spills, could have an impact on species like whales, tuna, and sharks.

About Deep Ocean Mission

• Deep Ocean Mission is a mission mode project to support the Blue Economy Initiatives of the Government of India.
• Government of India has also launched a ‘Deep Ocean Mission’ for exploration of polymetallic nodules in Central Indian Ocean Basin.
  • Polymetallic nodules contain multiple metals like copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese, iron, lead, zinc, aluminium, silver, gold, and platinum etc. in variable constitutions and are precipitate of hot fluids from upwelling hot magma from the deep interior of the oceanic crust.
• It is a Central Sector Scheme and no separate allocation for States is envisaged.
• It is proposed to collaborate with non-governmental organizations for research collaboration for various components of Deep Ocean Mission.

The major objectives proposed under Deep Ocean Mission are as follows

• Development of technologies for deep sea mining, underwater vehicles and underwater robotics;
• Development of ocean climate change advisory services;
• Technological innovations for exploration and conservation of deep sea biodiversity;
• Deep ocean survey and exploration;
• Proof of concept studies on energy and freshwater from the ocean; and
• Establishing advanced marine station for ocean biology.

Index of Eight Core Industries

Why in News?
The combined Index of Eight Core Industries increased by 12.7 per cent (provisional) as compared to the Index of June 2021. The production of Coal, Cement, Electricity, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, and Natural Gas industries increased in June 2022 over the corresponding period of last year.

About Index of Eight Core Industries

• The Eight Core Industries comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

Released by: The Office of the Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
Base year: 2011-12
Below image attached Eight Core Industries based on their weightage.

Index of Industrial Production (IIP)

• The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index that shows the growth rates in different industry groups of the economy in a fixed period of time.
• It is compiled and published monthly by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI).
• The Central Statistics Office (CSO) revised the base year of the all-India Index of Industrial Production (IIP) from 2004-05 to 2011-12 on 12 May 2017.
• IIP is a composite indicator that measures the growth rate of industry groups classified under broad sectors, namely, Mining, Manufacturing, and Electricity.
• Use-based sectors, namely Basic Goods, Capital Goods, and Intermediate Goods.

Significance of IIP

• IIP is the only measure on the physical volume of production.
• It is used by government agencies including the Ministry of Finance, the Reserve Bank of India, etc., for policy-making purposes.
• IIP remains extremely relevant for the calculation of the quarterly and advance GDP estimates.