ETHANOL 100

Why in news?

• The Ministry of Petroleum has launched ‘ETHANOL 100’, a groundbreaking automotive fuel, at the IndianOil Retail Outlet.

About:

• Ethanol 100 offers a cleaner, greener fuel option with its blend of 92-94% ethanol, 4-5% motor spirit, and 1.5% Co-solvent higher saturated alcohol. It reduces greenhouse gas emissions by around 63% and is ideal for high-performance engines due to its high-octane rating.

Significance:

• With the launch of ETHANOL 100 at 183 IndianOil outlets, India is nearing its target of achieving 20% ethanol blending by 2025-26.
• India’s Ethanol Blending Program will enhance farmer incomes and rural employment also contribute to environmental sustainability, with significant reductions in CO2 emissions and foreign exchange savings.

Pandavula Gutta

Why in news?

• Pandavula Gutta, has been recognised as the sole Geo-heritage site in Telangana.

About:

• Pandavula Guttalu is a rock art site which is older than the Himalayan hills, and has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times.
• There are natural paintings on these rocks, depicting the lifestyle and hunting methods of earlier people.
• The paintings on the hills are of peacocks, lizards, tigers, frogs, fishes, deer etc. There are also geometrical designs and impressions in green, red, yellow and white pigment colors.
• Rock paintings, inscriptions of Rastrakutan times and fresco paintings of the late medieval period were also discovered in these hillocks.

What is rock art?

• Rock art is a form of landscape art that includes designs that have been placed on boulder and cliff faces, cave walls and ceilings, and on the ground surface.
• Rock art includes pictographs (drawings or paintings), petroglyphs (carvings or inscriptions), engravings (incised motifs), petroforms (rocks laid out in patterns), and geoglyphs (ground drawings).