March Week 4

National Vector Borne Disease Control Program (NVBDCP)

As per Global Burden of Disease Study, 2013 Visceral Leishmaniasis (Kala Azar) was the second largest

Neglected Tropical Diseases causing mortality.

NVBDCP, which is a part of the National Health Mission, plays a crucial role in the Kala azar elimination.

Kala-azar elimination project is being implemented in four endemic States namely Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar

Pradesh and West Bengal.

Directorate of National Vector Borne Disease Control Program (NVBDCP) is the central nodal agency for the

prevention and control of following vector borne diseases

1. Malaria

2. Dengue

3. Filariasis

4. Kala Azar

5. Chikungunya

6. Japanese encephalitis

It is one of the Technical Departments of Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family

welfare.

Indian Navy’s indigenously built warship INS Ganga (F22) was decommissioned in Mumbai, Maharashtra after over

three decades of service.

The warship was commissioned in December 1985 and had represented big step forward in India’s indigenous

warship building capability.

The decommissioning ceremony was attended by several officers and men, many now retired, who had served

on board ship.

INS Ganga (F22) was a Godavari-class guided-missile frigate of the Indian Navy.

It was built by Mazagon Dock Limited, Mumbai and was commissioned into Indian Navy on 30 December 1985.

The Godavari class was first indigenous warship design and development initiative of Indian Navy.

The warship along with Shakti and INS Godavari were deployed to Somalian capital Mogadishu in December

1994 to support withdrawal of Indian Army’s 66 Brigade, including the 2nd Battalion, Jammu & Kashmir Light

Infantry (2 JAKLI).

The launch of Chandrayaan-2, India’s second mission to the moon will be in October this year.

Chandrayaan-2 includes soft-landing on Moon and moving a rover on its surface. It is an advanced version of the

previous Chandrayaan-1 mission. It consists of an orbiter, lander and rover configuration.

The Orbiter spacecraft when launched from Sriharikota will travel to the Moon and release the Lander, which

will in turn deploy a tiny Rover to roam the lunar surface — all three sending data and pictures to Earth.

It is planned to be launched as a composite stack into the earth parking orbit (EPO) of 170 X 18,500 km by

GSLV-Mk II.

The six wheeled rover will move on lunar surface and collect soil or rock samples for on-site chemical analysis

to gather scientific information on lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, lunar exosphere and

signatures of hydroxyl and water-ice. The data will be relayed to Earth through orbiter. The rover will move

around landing site in semi-autonomous mode as decided by the ground commands.

The soft-landing on the lunar surface of the moon will be most complex part of Chandrayaan 2 mission. Only

the US, Russia and China have been able to soft-land spacecraft on lunar surface.

Earth Hour is being observed on March 24 from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. Earth Hour is also a part and parcel of the “Green

Good Deeds” movement, in which every individual ought to take small, voluntary green actions to protect and

conserve the environment and the earth.

Give Up to Give Back: On the occasion of Earth Hour, the World Wide Fund India has made a strong pitch for

“Give Up to Give Back”.

The “Give Up to Give Back” initiative to inspire organisations, institutions and individuals to make the choice

to curb some habits, practices and lifestyles that burden our lives and the environment. It includes taking steps

like giving up single-use plastics, giving up fossil fuels, giving up lonely car rides for your employees, give up e-

waste.

Earth Hour: Dating back to 2007, Earth Hour is an annual event organized by the World Wildlife Fund that

promotes conservation and sustainable energy. During this time, civilians are encouraged to switch off their

lights for one hour to help reduce the effect of global warming and raise awareness for climate change and

wildlife conservation.

It was famously started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia in 2007. Since then it has grown to engage

more than 7000 cities and towns worldwide. Today, Earth Hour engages a massive mainstream community on

a broad range of environmental issues. The one-hour event continues to remain the key driver of the now

larger movement.

Difference between Earth Hour and Earth Day: Whereas Earth Hour stands as a climate change initiative

where people reduce their electricity usage, Earth Day (April 22) celebrates our natural environment by

inspiring people to plant trees, recycle regularly and keep the planet tidy.

With Earth Hour, the WWF aims to engage people across the globe to adopt more sustainable lifestyle. Turning

off lights for an hour is just an annual reminder that if the world does not mend its ways, it will be heading to

a dark age, literally.

NAIPUNYA RATHAM or World on Wheels is a multi-utility vehicle which aims to bring technology to the remote

corners.

It was launched recently in Andhra Pradesh.

As part of the Smart village Smart Ward Programme, the Naipunya Rathaams will facilitate and look to improve

digital literacy, digital skills and create an awareness on various government schemes that are underway in

the new state of Andhra Pradesh.

The first-ever National Conference on Drug Law Enforcement was held in

New Delhi.

The 2-day conference was organized by Narcotics Control Bureau

(NCB), Ministry of Home Affairs.

The working sessions of conference focused on various topics such

as ‘Wider context of drug trafficking in India’, ‘Financial

Investigations’ and ‘Foreign & Cyber Investigations’.

Mandate

Fight drug trafficking on all-India level.

Provide resources and training to personnel of India’s law

enforcement agencies in fighting drug trafficking

Monitor India’s frontiers to track down points where smuggling

activities take place with foreign traffickers.

Work in close cooperation with Customs and Central Excise, State

Police Department, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Central

Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) and other Indian intelligence

and law enforcement agencies both at the national and states level.

Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)

NCB is nodal drug law enforcement

and intelligence agency of India. It is

responsible for fighting drug

trafficking and the abuse of illegal

substances. It functions under

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and is

headquartered in New Delhi.

It was established in March 1986 to

enable full implementation of Narcotic

Drugs and Psychotropic Substances

Act, 1985 and fight its violation

through Prevention of Illicit Trafficking

in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic

Substances Act, 1988.

World Tuberculosis Day 2018

Observed on March 24 every year, World Tuberculosis Day is

designed to build public awareness about the global epidemic

of TB and efforts to eliminate the disease.

World TB Day commemorates the date in 1882 when Dr. Robert

Koch announced his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis,

the bacteria that causes TB.

According to WHO, World TB Day provides a platform for

affected persons and communities, civil society organizations,

health-care providers, policy makers, development partners

and others to advocate, discuss and plan further collaboration

to fulfil the promise of reaching all people with quality TB

prevention and care services, as well as enabling TB prevention

through multisectoral development efforts.

The theme of World TB Day 2018 – “Wanted: Leaders for a TB-

free world”.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has entered into Technology Transfer Agreement (TTA) with Bharat

Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) to transfer technology for manufacturing space grade Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) cells

The ISRO uses Li-Ion batteries as power sources for satellite and launch vehicle applications due to their high

energy density, reliability and long cycle life.

Lithium-ion battery or Li-ion battery is type of rechargeable battery that contains several cells. Each cell

consists of cathode, anode and electrolyte, a separator between electrodes and current collectors. In it,

lithium ions move from negative electrode to positive electrode during discharge and back when charging. Li-

ion battery use intercalated lithium compound as one electrode material.

Benefits of Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery

The lithium-ion battery is light weighted and is one-third the weight of lead acid batteries.

It is nearly 100% efficient in both charging and discharging as compared to lead battery which has 70%

efficiency.

It completely discharges i.e. 100% as compared to 80% for lead acid.

The rechargeable lithium-ion battery has life cycle of 5000 times or more compared to just 400-500 cycles in

lead acid.

It also maintains constant voltage throughout the entire discharge cycle whereas voltage in lead acid battery

drops consistently throughout its discharge cycle.

It is much cleaner technology and is safer for environment as it does not have environmental impact as lead

acid battery.

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by bacteria

(Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that most

often affect the lungs. Tuberculosis is

curable and preventable.

TB is spread from person to person

through the air. When people with lung

TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the

TB germs into the air. A person needs to

inhale only a few of these germs to

become infected.

Ending the TB epidemic by 2030 is among

the health targets of the Sustainable

Development Goals.

SARAS Aajeevika Mela 2018

An endeavour of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) to provide

to the rural women producers a national platform and an opportunity to showcase their products, and seek

buyers, either individuals or bulk buyers for sale nationally / internationally.

The first International Exhibition of Graphic

Prints ‘Print Biennale India 2018’

inaugurated in New Delhi

Organised by Lalit Kala Akademi.

An exhibition Eminent Printmakers of

India showcasing master Indian

printmakers was also held on side-

lines of it.

Lalit Kala Akademi

It is also called as National Academy of Art. It is India’s national

academy of fine arts. It is autonomous organisation It was

established in 1954 to promote and propagate understanding of

Indian art, in and outside the country. It provides scholarships and

fellow program and sponsors and organises exhibitions in India and

overseas. It publishes bilingual journal. It is funded by Ministry of

Culture. Its headquartered are at Ravindra Bhawan, New Delhi.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is one of the flagship

programmes of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India to alleviate rural poverty.

The programme aims to organize the rural poor women into their own institutions like Self Help Groups and their

federations, Producers’ Collectives etc

A major component under DAY-NRLM relates to skilling of rural poor youth for self-employment and wage

employment.

Ministry of Rural Development is implementing the DeenDayal Upadhyay –Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-

GKY) under DAY-NRLM. DDU-GKY is a placement Linked Skill Development scheme which seeks to build the

Skills of the poor rural youth and place them in relatively higher wage employment sectors of the economy.

DAY-NRLM also provides support for establishing Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) in each

district of the country in collaboration with the Banks and the State Governments to provide training to the rural

youth from the poor households to take-up economic activities.

The Ministry is also implementing Mahila Kisan Sahshaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP), as a sub scheme under DAY-

NRLM with an aim of promoting agriculture based livelihoods of rural women by strengthening community

institutions of poor women farmers to promote sustainable agriculture. MKSP focuses on agriculture, non-timber

forest produce and livestock interventions. It provides three kind of services to the farmers, namely:

o Extension services

o Training capacity building and handholding services

o Facilitation for convergence with other line department to access the benefit from other schemes/

programmes.

Another sub-scheme under DAY-NRLM is the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP).SVEP aims

to support entrepreneurs in rural areas to set up local enterprises.

In August 2017 the Ministry launched the Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana as another sub-scheme of DAY-

NRLM with the (AGEY) aim to provide safe, affordable and community monitored rural transport services to

connect remote rural villages.

In order to empower the rural women artisans and to bring them above the poverty line, through access to

better market and marketing systems, the Ministry of Rural Development has been supporting the organisation

of exhibitions under the brand name of SARAS where Self Help Groups from different states participate and

sell their products.

The Ministry has been organizing SARAS fairs at Delhi as a part of India International Trade Fair (IITF) and also

as ShishirMela in DilliHaat. Taking this forward, this Ministry had organized the Aajeevika Mela in May, 2017

at India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO).

The Brazzaville declaration was singed to promote better management and conservation world’s largest tropical

peatlands-Cuvette Centrale region in Congo Basin from unregulated land use and prevent its drainage and

degradation.

It was signed jointly by Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Republic of Congo and Indonesia on the side-lines

of Third Partners Meeting of Global Peatlands Initiative held in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

Peatlands are wetlands that contain mixture of decomposed organic material, partially submerged in layer of

water, lacking oxygen.

The complex biodiversity of peatlands means they are home to variety of species.

Their high carbon content makes them uniquely vulnerable to incineration if they are drained.

They are globally important carbon store. The unregulated exploitation of peatlands can potentially be

detrimental to environment and to climate, as it could release carbon emissions that have been locked in for

millennia.

The Cuvette Centrale region in Congo Basin is world’s largest natural tropical peatlands, which are about size

of England. It stores three years equivalent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Ministry of Culture is organizing the Madhavpur Mela in Madhavpur Ghed, District Porbandar in Gujarat in a

grand way.

The purpose of this integration is to bring various parts of the country especially the North-East, close to each

other under the banner of Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat announced by the Prime Minister.

The Madhavpur Mela of Gujarat shares it’s connect to the Mishmi Tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. The Mishmi

Tribe traces its ancestry to the legendary King Bhishmak and through him to his daughter Rukmini and Lord

Krishna.

Brazzaville declaration

It aims to implement coordination and cooperation

between different government sectors to protect

the benefits provided by peatland ecosystems. It also

recognizes the importance of the scientific

breakthrough of mapping the world’s largest tropical

peatland area.

Global Peatlands Initiative

GPI is multi-partner United Nations Environment

Programme (UNEP) initiative launched at the Global

Landscapes Forum in Marrakesh in 2016. It is effort by

leading experts and institutions to save peatlands as

the world’s largest terrestrial organic carbon stock and

to prevent it being emitted into the atmosphere.

Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat:

It was announced on 31st October, 2015 on the occasion of the 140th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai

Patel. Subsequently, the Finance Minister announced the initiative in his Budget Speech for 2016-17.

Through this innovative measure, the knowledge of the culture, traditions and practices of different States &

UTs will lead to an enhanced understanding and bonding between the States, thereby strengthening the unity

and integrity of India.

All States and UTs will be covered under the programme. There will be pairing of States/UTs at national level

and these pairings will be in effect for one year, or till the next round of pairings. The State/UT level pairings

would be utilized for state level activities. District level pairings would be independent of the State level

pairings.

The activity will be very useful to link various States and Districts in annual programmes that will connect

people through exchanges in areas of culture, tourism, language, education trade etc. and citizens will be able

to experience the cultural diversity of a much larger number of States/UTs while realising that India is one.

The Government of India has decided to nominate Professor J S Rajput, former Director NCERT, as India’s

representative to the Executive Board (EXB) of UNESCO. Professor J S Rajput is an eminent educationist with rich

experience in various fields including UNESCO.

The Executive Board has a four-year term of office and 58 seats.

The executive board is one of the constitutional organs of UNESCO and is elected by the General Conference.

The executive board examines the work for the organization and the corresponding budget estimates.

In practice, the executive board is the main organ responsible for all policies and programmes of UNESCO.

Being a member of the board enables India in principle to play a role in shaping and reviewing UNESCO’s policies

and programmes corresponding to its five major programs on education, the natural science, the social and human

Sciences, Culture and Communication and Information.

The general conference consists of the representatives of the states members of the organisation.

It meets every two years, and is attended by member states and associate members, together with observers

for non-member states, intergovernmental organisations and non- governmental organisations (NGOs).

Each country has one vote, irrespective of its size or the extent of its contribution to the budget.

The general conference determines the policies and the main lines of work of the organisation. Its duty is to

set the programmes and the budget of the UNESCO. It also elects the members of the executive board and

appoints, every four years.

“Surrender-cum-rehabilitation” scheme:

Surrender-cum-rehabilitation scheme for Northeast States was meant to “wean away the misguided youth and

hard-core militants who have strayed into the fold of militancy and find themselves trapped in that net.”

The scheme also seeks to ensure that the militants who have surrendered do not find it attractive to join

militancy again.

The MHA reimburses the amount paid to the surrendered militants by the State governments under the

Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme

A National Conference on Drug Law Enforcement was recently organized by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

The Narcotics Control Bureau is the apex coordinating agency. The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances

Act, 1985 which came into effect from the 14th November, 1985 made an express provision for constituting a

Central Authority for the purpose of exercising the powers and functions of the Central Government under the Act.

The Bureau, subject to the supervision and control of the Central Government, is to exercise the powers and

functions of the Central Government for taking measures with respect to:

Co-ordination of actions by various offices, State Governments and other authorities under the N.D.P.S. Act,

Customs Act, Drugs and Cosmetics Act and any other law for the time being in force in connection with the

enforcement provisions of the NDPS Act, 1985.

Implementation of the obligation in respect of counter measures against illicit traffic under the various

international conventions and protocols that are in force at present or which may be ratified or acceded to by

India in future.

Assistance to concerned authorities in foreign countries and concerned international organisations to facilitate

coordination and universal action for prevention and suppression of illicit traffic in these drugs and substances.

Coordination of actions taken by the other concerned Ministries, Departments and Organizations in respect of

matters relating to drug abuse.

The government has launched “E- Tribes”, TRIFED’s websites. It includes www.tribesindia.com, www.trifed.in and

Retail Inventory Software and M-commerce app.

TRIFED is an apex organisation at National Level and functioning under the administrative control of Ministry

of Tribal Affairs.

TRIFED is serving the interests of Tribals, who are engaged in collection of NTFP and making of Tribal Art &

Handicraft Products for their livelihood so as to ensure better remunerative price for their products as well as

for the socio-economic betterment through Self Help Groups, Empanelled NGOs, State level Tribal

Development Corporations, Forest Development Corporations for undertaking marketing development of the

tribal products.

It also organizes exhibitions like National Tribal Craft Expo called “Aadi Mahotsav” etc. in which it promotes

and markets tribal products.

TRIFED also organizes exhibitions like National Tribal Craft Expo called “Aadi Mahotsav”.

TRIFED is a PSU under Ministry of Tribal Affairs with a objective is to promote tribal art and craft for the benefit

of tribal artisans of the country.

The government has initiated the process of sale of more than 9,400 enemy properties by issuing guidelines and

directing the office of the custodian to submit the list of all such movable and immovable assets within three

months.

The move comes after the amendment of the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Act 2017 and the

Enemy Property (Amendment) Rules, 2018, which ensured that the heirs of those who migrated to Pakistan and

China during partition and afterwards will have no claim over the properties left behind in India.

Enemy properties Act:

After the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965, the

Enemy Property Act was enacted in

1968, which regulates such properties

and lists the custodian’s powers.

The government amended the Act in the

wake of a claim laid by the heirs of Raja

Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan,

known as Raja of Mahmudabad, on his

properties spread across Uttar Pradesh

and Uttarakhand.

The government has vested these

properties in the Custodian of Enemy

Property for India, an office instituted

under the Central government.

Bt Cotton

Cotton farmers all over the world were losing much of their cotton to tobacco budworms, cotton bollworms,

and pink bollworms

Bt cotton is an insect-resistant transgenic crop designed to combat the bollworm.

It was created by genetically altering the cotton genome to express a microbial protein from the bacterium

Bacillus thuringiensis.

Traditionally, the cotton bollworm has been combated by the use of pesticides.

Bt cotton was developed with the intention of reducing the amount of pesticides needed for cotton

monoculture, thereby reducing the cost of growing cotton and reducing the environmental impact of heavy

pesticide use.

Enemy properties

When wars broke out between India and China in 1962, and India

and Pakistan in 1965 and 1971, the central government took

over properties of citizens of China and Pakistan in India under

the Defence of India Acts. These Acts defined an ‘enemy’ as a

country that committed an act of aggression against India, and

its citizens.

The properties of enemies in India were classified as enemy

property. The properties included land, buildings, shares held in

companies, gold and jewellery of the citizens of enemy

countries. The responsibility of the administration of enemy

properties was handed over to the Custodian of Enemy Property,

an office under the central government.

Bt cotton contains the following three genes inserted via genetic engineering techniques:

1. Cry1Ac gene

2. nptII gene

3. aad gene

NPTII and AAD proteins are used as a selectable marker and have no pesticidal activity and are not known to

be toxic to any species

In 2005, Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of India approved only one variety of Bt cotton

hybrid out of the 13 listed for commercial cultivation.

Indian Railways Finance Corporation (IRFC)

Ministry of Finance has approved Government guarantee for Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) bonds

to be subscribed by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).

IRFC was set up 1986 as the dedicated financing arm of the Indian Railways for mobilizing funds from domestic

as well as overseas Capital Markets.

RFC is a Public Sector Enterprise under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways, Govt. of India.

It is also registered as Systemically Important Non–Deposit taking Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC –

ND-SI) and Infrastructure Finance Company (NBFC- IFC) with Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The primary objective of IRFC is to meet the predominant portion of ‘Extra Budgetary Resources’ (EBR)

requirement of the Indian Railways through market borrowings at the most competitive rates and terms.

IRFC has also been lending to various entities in Railway sector like Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), Railtel,

Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL), Pipavav Railway Corporation Limited (PRCL) etc.

The National Conference on Down syndrome was held in New Delhi. It was organised by the National Trust under

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Down syndrome is a chromosomal condition associated with intellectual and learning disabilities.

It leads to delayed development and behavioural problems in children suffering with it.

The objective of conference was to provide excellent opportunities to parents to obtain information about

latest development in education and skilling and inclusive living of persons with Down syndrome.

The conference brought intellectuals from all walks of life on one platform to spur ideas and channelized

knowledge on Down syndrome which was very beneficial to enable a positive change in people with Down

syndrome.

National Trust

It is statutory body under Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of

Social Justice & Empowerment. It is headquartered in New Delhi. Its mandate is to discharge two basic duties –

legal and welfare for persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities.

It fundamental purpose is to create enabling environment, i.e. provide opportunities for Persons with Disabilities

(PwDs) through comprehensive support systems which will lead towards development of inclusive society.

It has been running various schemes and programmes for welfare of PwDs. Its major activity is to create awareness

amongst general public by organizing various workshops, seminars and conferences on these disabilities and the

capabilities of such persons.

Objectives

Enable and empower PwD to live as independently and fully as possible within and close to their community

as possible.

Facilitate realisation of equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation of persons with

disability.

Extend support to its registered organisations to provide need based services.

Evolve procedures for appointments of guardians and trustees for persons with disabilities.

Surat district in Gujarat become first in country to have 100% solar powered Primary Health Centers (PHCs). All 52

PHCs in the district are now powered by solar system. With this, Surat sets an example for country by developing

villages that use sustainable forms of energy at a time when global warming is mounting with each passing day.

The SWIFT (Society for World Interbank Financial Telecommunication System) platform has expanded its GPI

(Global Payment Innovation) Tracker system to help banks track their global transactions at all times and keep full

vigil on payments activity.

From November 2018, GPI Tracker system i.e. unique end-to-end transaction reference will be included in all

payment instructions carried between all 11,000 customers on SWIFT at all times, across more than 200

countries and territories.

SWFIT GPI was launched in May 2017 to help banks to track their global transactions at all times, keeping full

vigil on payments activity. It covers all payment instructions sent across network, enabling GPI banks to track

all their SWIFT payment instructions at all times, and giving them full visibility over all their payments activity.

It improves customer experience by increasing speed, transparency and automatically provides status updates

to all GPI banks involved in any GPI payment chain. It allows banks to confirm when payment has been

completed.

It facilitates more accurate reconciliation of payments and invoices, optimises liquidity with improved cash

forecasts and reduces exposure to Foreign exchange risk, with same-day processing of funds in beneficiaries’

time zones.

NASA and SpaceX joining hands for their all-new combined mission known as Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

(TESS) mission. The mission will be launched in April this year.

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is an upcoming NASA mission that will look for planets orbiting

the brightest stars in Earth’s sky. Its launch vehicle will be a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX.

Mission: The mission will monitor at least 200,000 stars for signs of exoplanets, ranging from Earth-sized rocky

worlds to huge gas giant planets. TESS, however, will focus on stars that are 30 to 100 times brighter than those

Kepler examined. This will help astronomers better understand the structure of solar systems outside of our Earth,

and provide insights into how our own solar system formed.

Orbit: TESS will occupy a never-before-used orbit high above Earth. The elliptical orbit, called P/2, is exactly half of

the moon’s orbital period; this means that TESS will orbit Earth every 13.7 days. Its closest point to Earth (67,000

miles or 108,000 kilometers) is about triple the distance of geosynchronous orbit, where most communications

satellites operate.

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) under the aegis of Ministry of Human Resource Development

(MHRD) is organizing Smart India Hackathon 2018.

Smart India Hackathon 2018 is a non-stop digital product development competition, where problems are

posed to technology students for innovative solutions. It will harnesses creativity & expertise of students and

sparks institute-level hackathons.

It builds funnel for ‘Startup India’ campaign and crowdsources solutions for improving governance and quality

of life. It also provides opportunity to citizens to provide innovative solutions to India’s daunting problems

Smart India Hackathon 2018 would be the second massive scale hackathon initiative in India following Smart

India Hackathon 2017.

Winners stand to get cash prizes and a chance to be part of the NASSCOM’s 10,000 Startups program.

Department of Posts under Ministry of Communications has launched Cool EMS Service between India and Japan.

It is one-way service from Japan to India which allows customers in India to import Japanese food items for

personal use which is allowed under Indian regulations.

The Cool EMS Service came into force from March 2018. Initially, it will be available in Delhi only.

Food items will be carried by Japan Post in special cool boxes containing refrigerant to preserve quality of food

items.

The recipient addressee will collect them from Foreign Post office, Kotla Road, New Delhi in-person or through

a messenger in prescribed time frame.

Cool EMS service also has all other features like track and trace, etc of Express Mail Service (EMS).

India’s first insect museum with state-of-the-art amenities was unveiled at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University

campus in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

It is fully dedicated to insects.

It will display insects preserved as specimens as also live ones depicting their different developmental stages.

It will provide information about insects through images, videos and models of their unique behaviour, habits

and habitats.

The lobby of the museum depicts theme “BUGS ARE KINGS”.

Its exhibiting area comprises seven radial walls (bay) on right side and an undivided wall on the left side.

It also has section on social insect exhibiting termite mounds (whole and sectioned) and bee hives of different

kinds and forms.

It also has souvenir shop and mini auditorium to screen insect movies and documentary films are available.

Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS)

IM-PDS is central sector scheme that has been approved for implementation during 2018-19 and 2019-20.

The key objectives of the scheme are

1. To integrate PDS system/portals of States/UTs with Central System/portals,

2. Introduction of National Portability

3. De-duplication of ration cards/beneficiary

It will bring more transparency and efficiency in distribution of food grains.

Kaziranga National Park

The rhino census at the Kazaringa National Park has begun.

The Park lies partly in Golaghat District and partly in Nagaon

District of Assam.

It is the oldest park in Assam along the river Brahmaputra on the

North and the Karbi Anglong hills on the South.

It is UENSCO World Heritage Site, which is home to two-thirds

of the world's population of the species.

The landscape of Kaziranga is of sheer forest, tall elephant grass,

rugged reeds, marshes & shallow pools.

Along with the iconic Greater one-horned rhinoceros, the park

is the breeding ground of elephants, wild water buffalo, and

swamp deer.

The park is also a Tiger reserve.

NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has signed Statement of Intent (SOI) with German tech company SAP

to promote culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across 100 Atal Tinkering Labs across India.

As part of SOI, SAP will adopt 100 Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATL) in 2018 for five years to nurture science,

technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning among secondary school children across India.

SAP will select secondary schools from Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and

Telangana.

The collaboration will allow SAP to further ignite innovation in India’s large student population by providing

right guidance, knowledge and infrastructure.

SAP employee volunteers will coach and mentor students in advanced technology topics. Design lab of SAP

Labs India, will provide trainings and allow students to gain hands-on experience with technology gadgets.

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)

AIM is flagship initiative to promote culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in country. Its mandated is to

create umbrella structure to oversee innovation ecosystem of country and revolutionize innovation eco-system.

Objectives

Develop new programmes and policies for fostering innovation in different sectors of economy.

Provide platform and collaboration opportunities for different stakeholders, create awareness.

Create umbrella structure to oversee innovation ecosystem of the country.

Its sub-schemes include establishing Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) and Atal Incubation Centers (AICs), for providing

scaling up support to Established Incubation Centres. It also includes finding ultra-low cost solution to India’s most

intractable problems through Atal Grand Challenges and Atal Vikas Challenges.

Till date, AIM has selected 2441 schools across India to establish ATLs, covering 93% of total districts in India and

98% of upcoming smart cities representing all states and 5 out of 7 UTs.

According to National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) 2017-18, over 93% households in villages who have

access to toilets are using them and about 77% homes in rural areas have got toilets.

The survey was conducted by Independent Verification Agency (IVA) under World Bank support project to

Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G).

The survey was conducted between mid-November 2017 and mid-March 2018. It covered 92040 households

in 6136 villages across States/UTs of India.

It also covered schools, Anganwadi and public/community toilets in these villages. It used the PPS (Probability

Proportion to Size) sampling methodology and its data was collected using Computer Assisted Personal

Interviewing (CAPI) platform.

Key findings of NARSS 2017-18

77% of households were found to have access to toilets.

4% of people who had access to toilets used them.

6% of villages which were previously declared and verified as ODF were confirmed to be ODF. The remaining

4.4% villages also had sanitation coverage of over 95%.

70% of villages surveyed found to have minimal litter and minimal stagnant water.

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)

SBM was launched in October 2014 to achieve universal sanitation coverage and to put focus on sanitation. The

mission aims to achieve Swachh Bharat or make India clean by 2019, as a fitting tribute to 150th Birth Anniversary

of Mahatma Gandhi. It world’s largest sanitation program that aimed bring behavioural change of people with

respect to toilet access and usage

The SBM consists of two sub-missions Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin), implemented in rural areas, and Swachh

Bharat Mission (Urban), implemented in urban areas. SBM-G seeks to eliminate open defecation in rural areas by

improving access to sanitation by ensuring use of toilets, besides their construction. It also seeks to generate

awareness to motivate communities to adopt sustainable sanitation practices, and encourage the use of

appropriate technologies for sanitation.

Over 6.5 crore toilets were built across rural India under SBM. Over 3.38 lakh villages and 338 districts were

declared ODF, along with 9 ODF States/3 Union Territories, namely Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Haryana,

Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and

Daman & Diu. Over, 300 million people have stopped defecating in open since launch of SBM.

The Ministry of Power has partnered with Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship to train the manpower

in six states for speedy implementation of its Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojna (Saubhagya Scheme). These

six states are Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.

Under this partnership, around 47,000 Distribution Lineman-Multi Skills and 8,500 Technical Helpers will be

trained to meet the requirement of power sector projects under Saubhagya scheme.

The training infrastructures will be available with ITI’s at district level as well as infrastructures available with

State Power Distribution Utilities will be utilized for skill training of candidates ensuring successful

implementation of scheme.

Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojna (Saubhagya Scheme)

Objective: To achieve universal household electrification in all parts of the country. The scheme primarily

benefits rural areas, which have vast majority of households without power connections.

Funding: Total outlay of scheme is Rs. 16,320 crore of which Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) is Rs. 12,320 crore.

It is being funded to extent of 60% by central grants, 30% by bank loans and 10% by states. Of total outlay of

Rs 16,320 crore, rural areas will get Rs 14,025 crore. For urban households outlay is Rs. 2,295 crore. States will

be provided with incentive of 50% of their loan being converted to grants, if electrification targets under the

scheme are met by 31 December 2018.

Identification of beneficiaries: The government will use Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data

to identify beneficiaries for free electricity connections. Un-electrified households not covered under SECC

data will also be provided electricity connections on payment of Rs. 500 which will be recovered by DISCOMs

in 10 installments through electricity bill.

Implementing agencies: The Rural Electrification Corporation Limited under Ministry of Power is nodal agency

for the operationalization of the scheme throughout the country. To ensure on-the-spot registration, mobile

applications will be used. Gram Panchayat and public institutions in rural areas will be authorised to carry out

billing and collection tasks.

Benefits: Free connections will be provided to below poverty line (BPL) households and even those not

covered under this category can avail electricity connection by paying Rs. 500 in 10 instalments with their

monthly bill. There will be no subsidy component for monthly electricity consumption.

Remote areas: For those household where national electricity grid cannot reach, households will be provided

with solar power packs along with battery banks. Remote hamlets will be powered with solar panels along

with 5 LED lamps, DC fan and plug point along with repair and maintenance for five years.

The Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) has approved ‘Study in India’ programme to attract foreign

students to pursue higher education in India. Government has approved expenditure of Rs. 150 crores for

programme for two years 2018-19 and 2019-20 which will be primarily for brand promotion activities.

Study in India programme

Objectives

Encourage more foreign students to choose India as destination for higher education.

Double India’s market share of global education exports from less than 1% to 2%.

Improve global ranking of Indian educational institutes.

The Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has inked line of credit (LoC) agreement with Bank for Investment and

Development (EBID) to provide US $500 million credit facility to fund various development projects in 15-member

countries of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region in western-south Africa.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

The ECOWAS is regional group of 15 West African countries. It was founded in May 1975, with the signing of

the Treaty of Lagos. Its mandate is to promote economic integration in all fields of activity of the constituting

countries. Its 15 member countries are Benin, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea

Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.