India's First Aluminum Freight Rake - 61 BOBRNALHSM1 - inaugurated

The indigenously developed Aluminum Freight Rake has several advantages over traditional ones like lower maintenance cost, low carbon footprint, good resale value and much more.

It has been indigenously developed through joint efforts of Railways, Besco Ltd Wagon Division and Hindalco

Features and Benefits of India's first Aluminium Rake: 61 BOBRNALHSM1

• Extra payload capacity: 180 ton extra carrying capacity resulting in higher throughput per wagon.
• Higher payload to tare ratio at 2.85.
• It has fully lock-bolted construction with no welding on the superstructure unlike traditional freight rakes
• The tare is 3.25 tons lower than normal steel rakes. This reduced tare can reduce carbon footprint as it will consume less fuel in empty directions and carry more freight in the loaded condition.
• A single rake can save over 14,500 tonnes of CO2 over its lifetime.
• Once out of commission, these rakes can fetch 80% of their cost in resale.
• Lower maintenance cost due to higher corrosion and abrasion resistance.
• The iron industry consumes a lot of Nickel and Cadmium which comes from imports. So, the proliferation of Aluminum wagons will result in less import.
• At the same time, this is good for the local aluminium industry.

Disadvantages of Aluminium Freight Rakes

• The cost is 35% higher as the superstructure is all aluminium.

Also Read: 16 October 2022 Daily Current Affairs: State Highways Takeover, Women Asia Cup, India-Africa Defence Dialogue

Scroll down to know about: India Semiconductor Mission, BCCI New President, MBBS Course in Hindi launched etc.

National Affairs

Ayush Ministry lays the foundation stone for Government Ayurveda College and Hospital at Surendranagar, Gujarat

It will include a 100 bedded hospital, hostel blocks for students, and staff quarters. For supporting research and innovation in Ayush sector, an animal house and herbal garden will also be established in the campus. It's the 6th Government Ayurvedic College in Gujarat. The college and the hospital will become fully operational by 2024.

Massive growth in the number of top colleges in India in the last 8 years

India has 596 Medical Colleges today as compared to 387 in 2014. The total number of MMBS seats has increased from 51,000 to 79,000. IITs have gone up to 23 from 16, and IIMs have grown to 20 from 13. As for IIITs, they have increased from 9 to 25. The total number of universities in 2022 is 1043 as compared to 723 in 2014.

The first MBBS course in Hindi launched in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

The move is part of the greater objective of the central government to impart all education - including the technical ones - in the mother tongue.

Gwalior Airport to get new terminal: Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Terminal

Along with this, a cargo terminal has also been built, which will be useful for sending MSME products of the Gwalior-Chambal Division to the world over. Gwalior Airport's capacity has increased from 1.6 lakh passengers per year to 11 lakh passengers per year. Powered by green energy with 2.5 GW of solar power, the airport can now handle more than 1,400 passengers simultaneously.

First SemiconIndia FutureDesign Roadshow to flag off from Gandhinagar today, October 17

The Roadshow under the Design Linked Incentive scheme of 'India Semiconductor Mission' aims to propel startups in the field of Semiconductor Design and Innovation through incentives to the tune of Rs 100 crore per device at the Design stage. India Semiconductor Mission was launched in December 2021 by the union government with incentive outlay of Rs 76,000 crore to attract investments in the semiconductor sector. Vedanta and Foxconn have announced setting up of a Greenfield Semiconductor Fabrication unit at Dholera in Gujarat with a massive 20 billion dollar investment. The Electronics sector in India has witnessed a 5-fold jump as the sector has grown from around Rs 1,10,000 crore (in 2014) to around Rs 6,00,000 crore this year. The nation exports nearly Rs.45,000 crore worth of mobile phones to the world, a humongous jump from nearly nothing in 2015-16. India now has over 200 Mobile manufacturing units as compared to just 2 in 2014. Central Government wants to establish India as the Global hub for Semiconductor Design & Innovation with Dholera as a Semicon City.

Sports

BCCI gets a new President

Former Cricketer Roger Binny takes over as the new President of BCCI replacing Sourav Ganguly. He is also the outgoing president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association.