Seven PM MITRA Park sites announced (GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Government announced the sites for setting up of 7 PM Mega Integrated Textile Regions and Apparel (PM MITRA) Parks for the Textile industry.
Vision:
- Inspired by the 5F vision of the Prime Minister (i.e. Farm to Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign), the PM MITRA Parks are a major step forward in realising the Government's vision of making India a global hub for textile manufacturing and exports.
- It is expected that these parks will enhance the competitiveness of the textiles industry by helping it achieve economies of scale as well as attract global players to manufacture in India.
Eligible States:
- The Parks will come up in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
- Eligible States and sites were evaluated using a transparent Challenge Method based on objective criteria taking into account a variety of factors such as connectivity, existing ecosystem, textile/industry policy, infrastructure, utility services etc. PM Gati Shakti- National Master Plan for Multi-modal Connectivity was also used for validation.
Implementation:
Way Forward:
- The parks will offer an excellent infrastructure, plug and play facilities as well as training and research facilities for the industry.
- PM MITRA Parks represent a unique model where the Centre and State Governments will work together to increase investment, promote innovation, create job opportunities and ultimately make India a global hub for textile manufacturing and exports.
- Nearly Rs. 70,000 crores investment and 20 lakhs employment generation is envisaged through these parks.
Activity deep in Earth affects the global magnetic field: Research
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Why in news?
- Researchers have recently found reasons that cause anomalies in the Earth’s magnetic field.
How Earth’s magnetic field is created?
- Some of the issues brought on by anomalies in the Earth’s magnetic field include compass readings that do not indicate true north and interference with satellite operations.
- The activities that take place deep inside the Earth’s core, when temperatures reach 5,000 degrees Celsius, are what creates the magnetic field, which radiates out into space and around the globe.
- According to a recent geophysical study, the Earth’s magnetic field depends on how this super-hot core is cooled.
- In the extremely hot temperatures found deep in the Earth, the core is a mass of swirling, molten iron which acts as a dynamo. As the molten iron moves, it generates the Earth’s global magnetic field.
- Convective currents keep the dynamo turning as heat flows out of the core and into the mantle, a rock layer that extends 2900 kilometres up to the Earth’s crust.
- Research has found that this cooling process does not happen in a uniform way across the Earth’ and these variations cause anomalies in the Earth’s magnetic field.
Hot zones:
- Seismic analysis has identified that there are regions of the mantle, under Africa and the Pacific for instance, that are particularly hot.
- Computer simulations by the researchers have revealed that these hot zones reduce the cooling effect on the core and this causes regional or localised changes to the properties of the magnetic field.
- For example, where the mantle is hotter, the magnetic field at the top of the core is likely to be weaker.
- And this results in a weaker magnetic field which is projected into space above the South Atlantic, which causes problems for orbiting satellites.
- One of the things that the magnetic field in space does is deflect charged particles emitted from the sun. When the magnetic field is weaker, this protective shield is not so effective. So, when satellites pass over that area, these charged particles can disrupt and interfere with their operations.
Observations:
- Scientists have known about the anomaly over the South Atlantic since they started monitoring and observing the magnetic field, but it is not known if it is a long-lived feature or something that has happened more recently in the history of the Earth.
- The anomalies are likely to be caused by differences in the rate at which heat is flowing from the Earth’s core into the mantle. Whereabouts in the Earth’s inner structure these heat flow differences happen is likely to dictate how long they could last.
