{"id":35316,"date":"2023-05-11T02:39:21","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T21:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=35316"},"modified":"2025-04-20T23:43:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T18:13:15","slug":"national-technology-day-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/national-technology-day-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"National Technology Day 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is National Technology Day?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>News Summary: National Technology Day &#8211; PM to virtually lay LIGO foundation stone today<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Key scientific projects to be unveiled<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>LIGO \u2013 India<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Rare Earth Permanent magnet Plant in Visakhapatnam<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The Molybdenum-99 production facility<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The National Hadron Beam Therapy Facility<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Today, on National Technology Day, PM Modi will lay the foundation stone of Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory \u2013 India (LIGO-India).<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0The LIGO-India facility is being constructed in Hingoli district in Maharashtra.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>\n<strong>What is National Technology Day?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>National Technology Day is observed annually on May 11 in India.<\/li>\n<li>This day is observed to commemorate the significant achievements and contributions made by Indian scientists, engineers, and technologists towards nation building.<\/li>\n<li>It is celebrated with a new and different theme every year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>History<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The celebration of this day was started in 1999 to honour Indian scientists, engineers and technologists, who ensured the successful conduct of Pokhran tests in May 1998.<\/li>\n<li>On May 11, 1998, India successfully conducted its first nuclear tests under Pokhran-II, codenamed <strong>Operation Shakti<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>The series of nuclear tests marked a major milestone in India&#8217;s technological prowess and showcased its capability to develop and deploy nuclear weapons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Objective<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The primary objective of National Technology Day is to promote scientific temper and inspire the younger generation to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>It serves as an occasion to raise awareness about the importance of technology in addressing societal challenges and fostering economic growth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Theme for 2023<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>This year&#8217;s theme is \u2018<i><strong>School to Startups- Igniting Young Minds to Innovate\u2019<\/strong><\/i>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>News Summary: National Technology Day &#8211; PM to virtually lay LIGO foundation stone today<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>PM Modi will inaugurate the programme marking National Technology Day 2023.<\/li>\n<li>Also, to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1998 nuclear tests, the Prime Minister would launch several projects of the atomic energy department.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Key scientific projects to be unveiled<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The projects whose foundation stone would be laid include:\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory \u2013 India (LIGO-India), Hingoli;\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Jatni, Odisha; and\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Platinum Jubilee Block of Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The projects that will be dedicated to Nation include:\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>Fission Molybdenum-99 Production Facility, Mumbai;\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Rare Earth Permanent Magnet Plant, Visakhapatnam;\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>National Hadron Beam Therapy Facility, Navi Mumbai;\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Radiological Research Unit, Navi Mumbai;\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Visakhapatnam; and\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Women &amp; Children Cancer Hospital Building, Navi Mumbai.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>LIGO \u2013 India<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>LIGO-India will be an advanced gravitational-wave observatory to be located in India as part of a worldwide network.\n<ul>\n<li>Two existing LIGO observatories in the United States detected gravitational waves for the first time in 2015.<\/li>\n<li>Since then, two more similar detectors have come onboard, one in Italy and the other in Japan.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>LIGO India would be the fifth node of this network, and possibly the last.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The LIGO facility involves the construction of two <u>4-km long vacuum chambers in L-shape along with other structures<\/u>. The facility is set to become operational by 2030.\n<ul>\n<li>It is set to become the largest scientific facility in India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>This facility will be capable of <u>sensing gravitational waves generated during the merger of massive astrophysical objects such as black holes, and neutron stars<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Rare Earth Permanent magnet Plant in Visakhapatnam<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The new magnet plant would produce rare earth magnets like Samarium-Cobalt and Neodymium-Iron-Boron.\n<ul>\n<li>This plant has been built inside an existing facility of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Visakhapatnam.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>These magnets are critical components for a variety of high technology products in telecommunications, electric vehicles, microelectronics, wind turbines, airplanes and also in weapons.<\/li>\n<li>As of now, the supply chains of these magnets are <u>highly dependent on China<\/u>. India plans to use locally sourced rare earth elements to produce these magnets.<\/li>\n<li>With this plant, <strong>India will join a select group of nations with capacity to produce such magnets<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Molybdenum-99 production facility<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>This Facility located in Trombay Campus of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.<\/li>\n<li><u>This facility is expected to enable about 9 to 10 lakh patient scans per year<\/u>.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Molybdenum-99<\/strong> (Mo-99) decays to create <strong>technetium-99m<\/strong> (Tc-99m), a radioisotope used by hospitals and medical centres.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Tc-99m is used worldwide in nuclear medicine procedures to diagnose heart disease and other diseases.\n<ul>\n<li>Roughly 85% of medical imaging in nuclear medicine uses this isotope (Tc-99m).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The National Hadron Beam Therapy Facility<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The National Hadron Beam Therapy Facility of Tata Memorial Centre, Navi Mumbai works to undertake <u>highly precise delivery of radiation to the tumour with minimal dose to the surrounding normal structures<\/u>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The precise delivery of dose to target tissue reduces the early and delayed side effects of radiation therapy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1)\u00a0What is Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is India&#8217;s premier nuclear research facility headquartered in Trombay, Mumbai. It was established in 1954 by Homi Jehangir Bhabha, a renowned Indian nuclear physicist, to conduct research and development in the field of atomic energy. BARC&#8217;s primary mandate is to develop nuclear technology for peaceful applications, including power generation, medicine, agriculture, and industry.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2)<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>What is Operation Shakti?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Operation Shakti was a series of five nuclear bomb tests conducted by India in May 1998 at the Pokhran test range in Rajasthan. The tests were conducted under the leadership of then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and represented India&#8217;s first nuclear weapons test since its &#8220;peaceful nuclear explosion&#8221; in 1974.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/national-technology-day-pm-to-virtually-lay-ligo-foundation-stone-8602849\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>National Technology Day: PM to virtually lay LIGO foundation stone today<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pib.gov.in\/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1923088\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>PIB<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ligo-india.in\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>LIGO-INDIA<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ndtv.com\/india-news\/technology-day-pm-narendra-modi-to-lay-foundation-of-gravity-observatory-ligo-india-tomorrow-4022083\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>NDTV<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National Technology Day is observed annually on May 11 in India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":35317,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-35316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}