Bihar’s ‘Project Jal Sanchay’ Chosen for National Award

‘Project Jal Sanchay’, a water conservation model which is successfully adopted in Nalanda district of south-central Bihar, has been chosen for the national award for excellence in the Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee programme (MGNREGP) by the Ministry of Rural Development. The award will be conferred on June 19 at a function held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

Nalanda being an agriculture-oriented district remained affected by drought-like conditions that hampered the farming activities in the district. Though the district receives flash floods during the monsoon, the water runoff in the district was very high so much so that the entire water got washed away in a span of 15 days. Under these circumstances, ‘project jal sanchay’ was launched under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP) to offset the water crisis in the district. Under the project, check dams and traditional Aahar-Pyne irrigation systems were created. In addition, traditional water bodies were desilted and renovated. Campaigns about the usefulness of rainwater harvesting were also carried out. The project was a mix of modern day techniques and technologies with traditional knowledge and got evolved into a holistic program to conserve water. As a result of the implementation of the project, availability of water got improved drastically which positively impacted the farm production in the district.

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WHO revises Protocol for Antibiotics

With an aim to curb antibiotic resistance, the World Health Organization (WHO) has revised the protocol for antibiotics. This revision is the biggest such revision of the antibiotics section in the 40-year history of the essential medicines list (EML).

WHO has divided the drugs into three categories — access, watch and reserve. It has also specified which category of drugs are to be used  for treating common ailments and which are to be used to treat complicated diseases. As per the classification, commonly used antibiotics will be placed under the ‘access’ category. WHO has recommended that the antibiotics in this category be made available at all times as a treatment for a wide range of common infections. The drugs that fall under this category includes drugs such as amoxicillin which is widely-used for treating infections such as pneumonia. Second line of antibiotics which are slightly potent will be placed under ‘watch‘ category. WHO recommends that the drugs coming under this category be prescribed less to avoid further development of resistance. Example of drug that falls under this category is Ciprofloxacin, which is used to treat cystitis and upper respiratory tract infections like bacterial sinusitis and bacterial bronchitis. The highly potent drugs which should be used only as a last resort will be placed under the ‘reserve’ category. WHO recommends that these drugs be used only when all other alternatives failed such as life-threatening infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, it succeeded the Health Organization, which was an agency of the League of Nations. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group and its headquarters is located at Geneva. WHO flag features the Rod of Asclepius as a symbol for healing.

BMI Research: India One of Top 5 Consumer Markets in Asia

According to BMI Research, a Fitch group company, India is among the top five consumer markets in Asia offering retailers the strongest consumer spending growth of an average of 6.1% over the next five years. The other four countries are China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Indonesia. BMI Research was founded in 1984 Business Monitor International and later in 2014 was acquired by Fitch Group. The firm performs industry and financial market analysis in 24 industries and 200 global markets.

As per the report, the real consumer spending growth in 2017 will be 6.2%. The factors responsible for increase in consumer spending in India include increase in access to consumer credit, lower inflation and favourable regulatory environment for foreign owned retailers. These factors will continue to boost India’s consumer sectors in the coming years. India’s thriving e-commerce segment is expected to grow at double-digit rates in the forecast period up to 2021. The report has observed that due to the limitations of activities for overseas retailers, e-commerce has been dominated by local firms like Flipkart and Snapdeal. In India, Bricks-and-mortar retailers have also began to foray into the e-commerce segment supported by the high mobile penetration in the country.

Habibganj Railway Station to become India’s First Private Railway Station

Habibganj railway station in the suburbs of Bhopal will become country’s first railway station to be redeveloped in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode. On June 9, station redevelopment work in the railway station will be launched by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. The idea is to develop Habibganj railway station as a as a world-class transit hub equipped with all amenities. The operation and maintenance of the railway station has been given to Bhopal-based Bansal Group for a period of eight years. The group has managed to win the bid in 2016. Bansal Group plans to completely overhaul the station and develop four commercial land parcels to make Habibganj a commercial hub with shops, offices and hotels, all in a span of three years. The environment-friendly railway station will be powered by solar energy. The station will have facilities for disabled, in addition, to lifts, escalators and travelators, underpasses. In case of emergency, the station will be redesigned in such a way that the the premises can be evacuated in four minutes and passengers can reach designated points of safety in six minutes. Bansal Group will be responsible for all the facilities at the station like food stalls, retiring rooms, power, platform maintenance, parking etc. However, the company will not be responsible for core operations such as train and parcel movement, signalling and ticketing. IRSDC will oversee the Habibganj project. IRSDC is formed by railway unit Ircon International Ltd (IRCON) and Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) to undertake station redevelopment projects. Background The idea to set up world-class railway stations was mooted by former railways minister Mamata Banerjee in 2009-10. It was only in 2015, the project was revived by the railway minister Suresh prabhu. The Habibganj project is a part of the Indian Railways’ ambitious plan to re-develop 400 A1 and A category railway stations.  Indian Railways’ ambition to redevelop 400 stations into world-class facilities is completely based upon its idea of land monetization. It aims to modernize and upgrade passenger amenities at stations by raising money through commercial development of railway land. Avenues such as land monetization, catering and parking will be utilized to boost overall revenue.

Indian Origin Leo Varadkar to be the Next PM of Ireland

Ireland’s Fine Gael party has elected a 38 year old Leo Varadkar as prime minister of Ireland. He will succeed Enda Kenny. Varadkar will be confirmed as prime minister when Irish parliament next sits on June 13. Leo Varadkar has earned the distinction of becoming Ireland’s first gay prime minister. His election is a striking sign of the Ireland’s rapid social change which was once a staunchly Catholic country. He will also be the youngest person ever and the first from an ethnic minority background to become the Prime Minister of Ireland. Mr Varadkar defaeted his rival Simon Coveney by garnering 60% of the votes to lead Fine Gael. Ireland decriminalised homosexuality in 1993. It also became the first country to adopt gay marriage in 2015. Leo Varadkar’s father is a Mumbai-born doctor. In 1970s, he met Miriam an Irish nurse in England whom he later married and moved to Ireland.

Fact Box: ISRO’s GSLV-Mk III

ISRO’s GSLV-Mk III is all set to be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on June 5, 2017. GSLV-Mk III is the heaviest rocket ever made by ISRO which is capable of carrying heavy payloads. Salient Facts GSKV-Mk III can put four-tonne satellites in the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and is capable of placing up to eight tonnes in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This capacity is enough to carry a manned module and launch people into space. The rocket has three-stages with two solid motor strap-ons (S200), a liquid propellant core stage (L110) and a cryogenic stage (C-25). The solid booster S200 is the third largest solid booster in the world. It was successfully tested at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota on January 24, 2010. The indigenously developed cryogenic upper stage, C-25, which is the most difficult component was successfully tested on February 18, 2017. On June 5, GSLV-Mk III’s first developmental flight, D1, will place GSAT-19 satellite into space. GSAT-19 will help to improve telecommunication and broadcasting areas. This is India’s first fully functional rocket to be tested with a cryogenic engine. Cryogenic engine makes use of liquid propellants (liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen). ISRO took about 25 years, 11 flights and over 200 tests on different components to come up with this rocket. The rocket weighs 640-tonne which will be equivalent to the weight of 200 fully-grown Asian elephants.

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RBI to introduce New Re.1 Note

The Reserve Bank of India has announced that new one rupee note has been printed by the government and will be soon put into circulation. The one rupee note was discontinued in 1994 because it was more expensive to produce such notes when compared to the one-rupee coins. In the following year, Rs. 2 and Rs. 5 notes were also discontinued to free up printing facilities for higher denomination notes. However, these old notes continue to remain in circulation and continue to remain as legal tenders. The new Re.1 one will be predominantly pink-green on the obverse and reverse in combination with other colours. The new one rupee note will bear the rupee symbol. It will be 9.7 by 8.3 cm in dimension. The new note will feature ‘Bharat Sarkar’ on its masthead, and ‘Government of India’ printed below that. In contrast all the other currencies in India has ‘Bharatiya Reserve Bank’ and ‘Reserve Bank of India’ printed on them. This is because the one-rupee note has always been issued by the central government.  The watermarks of the Re 1 note will include the Ashoka Pillar, the hidden numeral “1” and the hidden word “Bharat” in Hindi). The note will also feature an image of the ‘Sagar Samrat’ oil exploration rig. In January 2015, the government began printing of Re 1 notes after getting reports of coin shortage along with instances of melting coins for profit. The printing of new one rupee note will cost 94 paise, when compared to the one rupee coin, which will cost 70 paise. The new one rupee note will be the third new currency that will be introduced by the government since the demonetization drive in November.

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Anti-Ragging Mobile App Launched to Fight Ragging

 Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar has launched an Anti-Ragging Mobile App of the University Grants Commission (UGC) to help students register complaints against the menace of ragging in the country. Previously, students were required to visit the website to register a complaint against ragging. The new app will work on android platform and will facilitate students to register a complaint against ragging instantaneously. Students can log in and register their complaints immediately.The complaint will be sent to the concerned authorities for timely action and the action will be initiated immediately. As the records indicate that timely action had resulted in the decrease of ragging instances in campuses. This app is aimed at giving a feel of security to students.

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NASA Scientists Reveal a New Mode of Ice Loss in Greenland

A new NASA study published in Geophysical Research Letters reveals that during Greenland’s hottest summers on record, 2010 and 2012, the ice in Rink Glacier on the island’s west coast didn’t just melt faster than usual, it slid through the glacier’s interior in a gigantic wave, like a warmed freezer pop sliding out of its plastic casing. The wave persisted for four months, with ice from upstream continuing to move down to replace the missing mass for at least four more months.

This long pulse of mass loss, called a solitary wave, is a new discovery that may increase the potential for sustained ice loss in Greenland as the climate continues to warm, with implications for the future rate of sea level rise.

The study by three scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, was the first to precisely track a glacier’s loss of mass from melting ice using the horizontal motion of a GPS sensor. They used data from a single sensor in the Greenland GPS Network (GNET), sited on bedrock next to Rink Glacier. A paper on the research is published online in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Rink is one of Greenland’s major outlets to the ocean, draining about 11 billion tons (gigatons) of ice per year in the early 2000s — roughly the weight of 30,000 Empire State Buildings. In the intensely hot summer of 2012, however, it lost an additional 6.7 gigatons of mass in the form of a solitary wave. Previously observed melting processes can’t explain that much mass loss.

The wave moved through the flowing glacier during the months of June through September at a speed of about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) a month for the first three months, increasing to 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) during September. The amount of mass in motion was 1.7 gigatons, plus or minus about half a gigaton, per month. Rink Glacier typically flows at a speed of a mile or two (a few kilometers) a year.

The wave could not have been detected by the usual methods of monitoring Greenland’s ice loss, such as measuring the thinning of glaciers with airborne radar. “You could literally be standing there and you would not see any indication of the wave,” said JPL scientist Eric Larour, a coauthor of the new paper. “You would not see cracks or other unique surface features.”

The researchers saw the same wave pattern in the GPS data for 2010, the second hottest summer on record in Greenland. Although they did not quantify the exact size and speed of the 2010 wave, the patterns of motion in the GPS data indicate that it must have been smaller than the 2012 wave but similar in speed.

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