1. MONSOON

Skymet Weather, a private weather forecast company, said that the monsoon in India was likely to be 103% of the long period average (LPA) this year.

About:

• The LPA refers to the average all-India monsoon rainfall of 88 cm, which is a 50-year mean.
• The agency classified the forecast as “healthy normal”.
• The monsoon in 2019 and 2020 was only the third time in a century of back-to-back years of above normal rainfall (rainfall that is 5% above normal, or 105%) during the season in India. This year’s forecast by Skymet falls a little short of the “above normal” mark.

View on El Nino

• The odds of an El Nino, characterised by a heating of the equatorial central Pacific over half a degree, are low this year.
• An El Nino is historically associated, in many years, with a weakening of the monsoon over India.
• The monsoon is also expected to be fairly well-distributed, with even September (the month in which the season starts to recede) expected to post 10% more rainfall than normal.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD), which provides the official forecasts, is expected to announce its forecast later this month.
• Along with the El Nino, another ocean variable, the Indian Ocean Dipole, characterised by a temperature gradient in the western and eastern Indian Ocean, is expected to be slightly on the negative. A positive dipole usually aids the monsoon.

Source : The Hindu

2. REGISTER OF INDIGENOUS INHABITANTS OF NAGALAND (RIIN)

An apex body of Naga tribes has asked the Nagaland government not to be hasty with the exercise to prepare the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN), seen as a variant of Assam’s National Register of Citizens.

About:

• The Nagaland government has reportedly been trying to revive the RIIN exercise that was launched in July 2019 with the stated objective of preventing outsiders from obtaining fake indigenous certificates for seeking jobs and benefits of government schemes.
• The State government had formed a three-member panel headed by retired bureaucrat Banuo Z. Jamir for “examining and advising” on the implementation of RIIN.
• The State government had tasked the RIIN committee with determining the eligibility criteria to be an indigenous inhabitant, authority to authenticate claims of being indigenous, place of registration as indigenous inhabitant, the basis of claims of being indigenous, and the nature of documents that will be acceptable as proof.

Objections

• But the exercise was suspended following protests from community-based and extremist organisations.
• If the RIIN is implemented with December 1, 1963 – the day Nagaland attained statehood – as the cut-off date, then this date is likely to exclude Nagas who have come from beyond the boundaries of Nagaland.
• According to the Naga Hoho, Naga tribes living in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh in India and in Myanmar have a legitimate claim to their ancestral homeland.

Source : The Hindu

3. INDIAN RHINO VISION 2020 (IRV 2020)

The ambitious Indian Rhino Vision 2020 (IRV 2020) came to a close with the release of two rhinos — an adult male and a female — in Assam’s Manas National Park transported from Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary about 185 km east.

About:

• Designed in 2005, the IRV2020 is believed to have achieved its target of attaining a population of 3,000 rhinos in Assam.
• But the plan to spread the Rhinoceros unicornis across four protected areas beyond Kaziranga National Park, Orang National Park and Pobitora could not materialise.

Background

• Assam had at least five rhino-bearing areas till the 1980s. Better conservation efforts helped maintain the population of the one-horned herbivore in Kaziranga, Orang and Pobitora, but encroachment and poaching wiped the animal out of Manas and Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary.
• The lesser-known Laokhowa slipped under the radar of international watchdogs.
• Manas, in focus for the near-extinction of the pygmy hog, lost the World Heritage Site tag it received in 1985 along with Kaziranga from the UNESCO.
• The translocated rhinos helped Manas National Park get back its World Heritage Site status in 2011.

Source : Deccan Herald

4. NARROW-LINE SEYFERT 1 (NLS1) GALAXY

Astronomers have discovered a new active galaxy identified as the farthest gamma-ray emitting galaxy that has so far been stumbled upon.

About:

• This active galaxy called the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxy, which is about 31 billion light-years away, opens up avenues to explore more such gamma-ray emitting galaxies that wait to meet us.
• Scientists from ARIES, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST) studied around 25,000 luminous Active galactic nuclei (AGN) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), a major optical imaging and spectroscopic survey of astronomical objects in-operation for the last 20 years.
• They found a unique object that emits high-energy gamma rays located at a high redshift. They identified it as a gamma-ray emitting NLS1 galaxy, which is a rare entity in space.
• The new gamma-ray emitting NLS1 was formed when the Universe was only about 4.7 billion years old as compared to its current age of about 13.8 billion years.

Source : PIB

5. NETWORK SURVEY VEHICLE (NSV)

NHAI has decided to Make Network Survey Vehicle (NSV) Use Mandatory for Road Condition Survey to enhance quality of the National Highways.

About:

• Carrying out road condition survey using NSV on the National Highways has been made mandatory at the time of certifying completion of the project and every six months thereafter.
• The provision has also been included as a part of the standard bidding document of consultancy services.
• The deployment will help in enhancing the overall quality of the highways as NSV uses the latest survey techniques such as high-resolution digital camera for 3600 imagery, Record images/videos at regular intervals, Laser Road Profilometer and other related technology for measurement of distresses in road surface.
• Data collected through NSV survey shall be uploaded on NHAI’s ‘AI’ based portal Data Lake, where it will be analysed by Road Asset Management Cell (RAMS Cell) to assess the condition/roughness of road to prioritise for the maintenance.

Source : PIB

6. INFANT TODDLER AND CAREGIVER-FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOODS (ITCN) TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAMME

The ‘Infant Toddler and Caregiver-friendly Neighbourhoods (ITCN) Training and Capacity Building Programme’ was launched virtually today by National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) in partnership with Bernard van Leer Foundation (BvLF).

About:

• The Programme is designed to help build capacities of city officials and young professionals for developing young children and family-friendly neighbourhoods within cities in India.
• Under the programme, city officials and young professionals are proposed to be skilled through certified training and capacity building modules.
• The training is proposed to be delivered through well-structured training modules, provided online through National Urban Learning Platform (NULP), the platform developed for knowledge dissemination by MoHUA and NIUA.

NOTE

• The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), is a premier Institute of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India for research and capacity building for the urban sector in India. It was established in 1976.
• The National Urban Learning Platform (NULP) is envisioned as a means of digitally consolidating key skills and knowledge required by urban stakeholders and making these available to all actors on a channel of their choice.

Source : PIB

7. e-SANTA

Union Commerce and Industry Minister inaugurated e-SANTA, an electronic marketplace providing a platform to connect aqua farmers and the buyers.

About:

• It will enable the farmers to get a better price and the exporters to directly purchase quality products from the farmers enhancing traceability, a key factor in international trade.
• The term e-SANTA was coined for the web portal, meaning Electronic Solution for Augmenting NaCSA farmers' Trade in Aquaculture.
• National Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture (NaCSA) is an extension arm of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Govt. of India, Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

e-SANTA will ‘RAISE’ the lives & income of farmers by:

• Reducing Risk
• Awareness of Products & Markets
• Increase in Income
• Shielding Against Wrong Practice
• Ease of Processes

Source : PIB

8. GANGAVARAM PORT

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approves acquisition of 89.6% of equity shareholding of Gangavaram Port Limited (“GPL”) by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Limited (“APSEZ”) under the Competition Act, 2002.

About:

• APSEZ is an integrated port infrastructure services provider currently present across 11 domestic ports in six maritime states of Gujarat, Goa, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha.
• GPL is engaged to own, develop and operate the deep-water port at Gangavaram, Andhra Pradesh, pursuant to a concession agreement on Build-Own-Operate-Transfer basis with Government of Andhra Pradesh for a concession period of thirty years from the date of commercial operations and entitled for a further period of 20 years.

Source : Business Standard

9. PLI SCHEME FOR PROMOTION OF DOMESTIC MANUFACTURING OF CRITICAL KSMS/ DRUG INTERMEDIATES AND APIs

Approvals have been accorded to 16 applicants under Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Promotion of Domestic Manufacturing of critical Key Starting Materials (KSMs)/ Drug Intermediates and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) in the country.

About:

• The setting up of these 16 plants will lead to total committed investment of Rs.348.70 crore and employment generation of about 3,042 by the companies.
• The commercial production of these plants is projected to commence from 1st April, 2023 onward.
• The scheme has been launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals for promotion of domestic manufacturing of KSMs/APIs.
• This will be achieved by setting up greenfield plants with minimum domestic value addition in four different Target Segments (In Two Fermentation based - at least 90% and in the Two Chemical Synthesis based – at least 70% ) for 41 products with a total outlay of Rs. 6,940 cr. for the period 2020-21 to 2029-30.

Background

• The Indian pharmaceutical industry is the 3rd largest in the world by volume.
• However, the country is significantly dependent on the import of basic raw materials, viz., Bulk Drugs that are used to produce medicines. In some specific bulk drugs, the import dependence is 80 to 100%.

Source : PIB

10. POSHAN GYAN

NITI Aayog, in partnership with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Centre for Social and Behaviour Change, Ashoka University, launched Poshan Gyan, a national digital repository on health and nutrition.

About:

• The Poshan Gyan repository is conceptualized as a resource, enabling search of communication materials on 14 thematic areas of health and nutrition across diverse languages, media types, target audiences and sources.
• Content for the repository was sourced from the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare and Women and Child Development and developmental organizations.
• The repository introduces a unique crowdsourcing feature that allows anyone to submit communication material for inclusion on the website, followed by a review by a designated committee.

Source : PIB