Quote of the Day February 24, 2021

 

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
William Shakespeare

“नाम में क्या है? जिसे हम गुलाब कहते हैं उसे किसी और नाम से पुकारें तब भी वह उतनी ही अच्छी खुशबू देगा।”
विलियम शेक्सपियर

National Urban Digital Mission Launched

 The Central government has launched the ‘National Urban Digital Mission’ on February 23, 2021.

Highlights

• The National Urban Digital Mission was launched by the Union Housing & Urban Affairs Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri and Minister of Electronics & IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad.
• While launching the mission, the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry (MoHUA) stated that, this mission will institutionalise the citizen-centric and ecosystem-driven approach for the urban governance and service delivery in cities by the year 2022. It will also be providing these service deliveries in all cities and towns by 2024.
• Initiatives like Smart-Code, India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX), Smart Cities 2.0 website, and Geospatial Management Information System (GMIS) were also launched at this virtual event.
• ”India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX)” initiative has been developed by the Smart Cities Mission in partnership with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.

National Urban Digital Mission

• This mission was launched in order to create a digital infrastructure for all the cities in country.
• This mission will help in creating a shared digital infrastructure which in turn can be used to consolidate and cross-leverage the several digital initiatives of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• The mission will also enable the cities and towns to benefit from holistic and diverse forms of support with respect to the needs and local challenges of the towns and cities.

India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX)

It is an open-source software platform facilitating a secure and authenticated exchange of data across several data platforms, data producers, 3rd party applications and consumers. IUDX will provide full control to the data owners regarding the sharing of data. They could control as to what data needs to be exposed and to whom.

Smart Cities Mission

It is an urban renewal and retrofitting program that seeks to develop smart cities across India so as to make cities citizen friendly and sustainable. This mission is being implemented by Union Ministry of Urban Development in association with the respective state governments. It initially included 100 cities that will be completed in between 2019 and 2023.

Hyderabad- 2020 Tree City of the World

 The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Arbor Day Foundation have recently recognized Hyderabad as a 2020 Tree City of World. Hyderabad was selected for the recognition following its commitment to grow and maintain the urban forests.

Highlights

• This recognition was a testament for city’s sustained and institutional efforts of planting, nurturing and celebrating trees.
• It also marks the development of the urban and peri-urban forestry actions, projects besides the strategic planning & commitment of building healthy city.
• Other cities which were recognised by the organisation includes 120 cities from across 63 countries. Most of the cities were from United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.
• After this recognition, Hyderabad will join a network of like-minded cities who recognise the importance of trees.
• Hyderabad got the recognition in the second year of the program organised by the foundation.

UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

It is a specialized agency of United Nations. FAO leads the international efforts of defeating hunger and improving the nutrition security as well as the food security. The organisation was founded by UN in October 1945. It is headquartered in Rome, Italy. It has its regional and field offices around the 130 countries. FAO coordinate with the governments and development agencies to improve and develop the agriculture, fisheries, forestry, land resources and water resources.  It comprises of 197 member states. It organises a biennial conference representing each member country.

 Arbor Day Foundation

It is a not-for-profit conservation and education organization. The organisation was founded in the year 1972 by John Rosenow in Nebraska, United States. This organisation is the largest not-for-profit membership organization which is dedicated to tree planting. It works with the corporate mission of “inspiring people to plant, nurture, and celebrate the trees. Dan Lambe, is the current President of the foundation.

Current Affairs – February 24, 2021

 

INDIA

Congress government in Puducherry falls

The Congress government in Puducherry fell on February 22, 2021 after Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy resigned ahead of the confidence vote. On February 21, the ruling coalition of Congress (9) and DMK (2) had 11 MLAs while the opposition had 14: All-India NR Congress (7), AIADMK (4), BJP (3). The 33-seat Assembly has one independent MLA while there are seven vacancies.

India, World Bank sign $68 mn project for improving education in Nagaland

Indian government, Government of Nagaland and the World Bank on February 23, 2021 signed the $68 million “Nagaland: Enhancing Classroom Teaching and Resources Project” to enhance the governance of schools across Nagaland as well as to improve teaching practices and learning environments in select schools.

Court in Delhi grants bail to climate activist Disha Ravi

A court in New Delhi on February 23, 2021 granted bail to climate activist Disha Ravi, arrested in connection with allegedly being involved in sharing a “toolkit” on social media related to the farmers’protest, terming evidence produced by police as “scanty and sketchy”. The court said there is nothing on record to establish any direct link between Ravi and pro-Khalistan activists of ‘Poetic Justice Foundation’ (PJF) and also there is not even an iota of evidence brought connecting the perpetrators of the violence on January 26 with the PJF or her. She was arrested from Bengaluru on February 13.

Former TRAI Chairman Rahul Khullar dies at 69

Former chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Rahul Khullar passed away on February 23, 2021 in New Delhi at the age of 69. Khullar, a 1975-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was appointed as TRAI chief in May 2012. He served at TRAI for three years. Before being appointed as TRAI chief, he was a secretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Trade.

Economy & Corporate

DAC approves capital acquisition proposals worth Rs 13,700 crores

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on February 23, 2021 approved capital acquisition proposals of various weapons, platforms, equipment required by the three-armed forces and accorded three Acceptance of Necessities (AoNs) for an overall cost of Rs 13,700 crore. All these AoNs are in the highest priority category of defence acquisition.

India, Mauritius sign CECPA

India and Mauritius have signed Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA). This is the first trade Agreement signed by India with a country in Africa. The Agreement is a limited agreement, which will cover Trade in Goods, Rules of Origin, Trade in Services, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, Dispute Settlement, Movement of Natural Persons, Telecom, Financial Services, Customs Procedures and Cooperation in other areas.

AIIB to give loan for Assam Intra-State Transmission System Enhancement Project

Union Government and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on February 23, 2021 signed a loan agreement for $304 million Assam Intra-State Transmission System Enhancement Project to improve reliability, capacity and security of the power transmission network in the State of Assam. The programme would strengthen the existing intrastate transmission network of Assam by augmenting it with newer networks to achieve affordable, secure, efficient and reliable round the clock power. The total estimated cost of the project is USD 365 million of which USD 304 million will be financed by the AIIB.

World

Nepal’s Supreme Court reinstates dissolved House of Representatives

Nepal’s Supreme Court in a historic verdict on February 23, 2021 reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives, in a setback to embattled Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli who was preparing for snap polls. A five-member Constitutional bench annulled the government’s decision to dissolve the 275-member lower house of parliament. Nepal plunged into a political crisis in December 2020 after President Bidya Dev Bhandari dissolved the House of Representatives and announced fresh elections on the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli.

Canadian MPs vote to label China’s treatment of Uighur minority as ‘genocide’

Canadian MPs voted February 22, 2021 to label Beijing’s treatment of its Uighur minority as genocide in response to China claims its policy in Xinjiang is a “shining example” of human rights progress. Rights groups believe at least one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities have been incarcerated in. China is also accused of forcibly sterilizing women and imposing forced labour.

EAM inaugurates new chancery building of Indian High Commission in Mauritius

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on February 23, 2021 inaugurated a new and environment-friendly chancery building of the Indian High Commission in Mauritius. Indian-origin people constitute nearly 70 per cent of the population of Mauritius. Their ancestors were sent there as indentured labourers during British rule.

Luca Attanasio, Italy’s ambassador to Democratic Republic of Congo, killed

Luca Attanasio, Italy’s ambassador to Democratic Republic of Congo, his bodyguard and a driver from the World Food Programme were killed in an attack on their convoy on February 22, 2021. The ambush occurred as the convoy was travelling from Goma, Congo’s eastern regional capital, to visit a World Food Program school feeding project in Rutshuru.

Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Saudi oil minister from 1962 to 1986, dies at 90

Ahmed Zaki Yamani, a long-serving oil minister in Saudi Arabia who led the kingdom through the 1973 oil crisis and the nationalisation of its state energy company, died on February 23, 2021 in London. He was 90. Yamani became oil minister in 1962 and would lead the ministry until 1986.

Researchers accidentally discover extreme life beneath Antarctica’s ice shelves

 Dr Huw Griffiths, marine biologist and lead author of the study, said that the stationary animals are like sponges and potentially several previously unknown species.Researchers accidentally discovered extreme life far underneath the ice shelves of the Antarctic during an exploratory survey, a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science said. At a distance of 260km away from the open ocean, the researchers found out the existence of stationary animals attached to a boulder on the seafloor as they drilled through 900 metres of ice in the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf with their cameras lowered down.

Dr Huw Griffiths, marine biologist and lead author of the study, said that the stationary animals are like sponges and potentially several previously unknown species. In a video shared by the British Antarctic Survey, Griffiths said it was a surprising discovery because they never expected animals that “filter feed their food from the water column to be found this far from a source of food or daylight.”

“This discovery is one of those fortunate accidents that pushes ideas in a different direction and shows us that Antarctic marine life is incredibly special and amazingly adapted to a frozen world,” the biogeographer said in a separate statement.

The first-ever record of a hard substrate community deep beneath an ice shelf throws up more questions than it answers since the researchers don’t know how did they get there, what they have been eating or how long they have been there. The researchers are wondering whether these are the same species seen outside the ice shelf or are they new species. There are also few questions around the survival of these species in case the ice shelf collapses.

The discovery appears to go against all previous theories of what kind of life could survive in such an extreme condition. The dependence on drilling and cameras mean, according to Griffiths, the area underneath the giant floating ice shelves is probably one of the least known habitats on Earth. But getting up close with these animals and their environment remains a challenge for polar scientists.

“We have no idea what species these animals are. We don't know how they are coping with these extreme conditions. And the only way we are going to be able to answer those questions is to come up with a new way of investigating their world,” added Griffiths.

Source: Hindustan Times, 16/02/21

Quote of the Day February 23, 2021

 

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

“कोई आपको आपकी अनुमति के बिना नीचा नहीं महसूस करवा सकता है।”
इलेनौर रूजवेल्ट

Mass Migration of Blue Earthworms in Meghalaya

 

Key Facts

• The blue earthworms, measuring up to 1.6 feet in length, migrate up and down to 300 metres in the East Khasi Hills of the state.
• Uphill migration of the earthworms starts in April-May. With the onset of monsoon, they emerge from the rivers and streams.
• Downhill migration occurs during September-October when the vegetation starts to dry and temperature & humidity drop.
• The locals in the state beat them when they observe these earthworms because of they play a major role in enhancing the fertility of soil.
• Further, it helps in shifting the locals to ecologically sustainable organic farming.

Concerns

There are some areas in the state where the unsustainable land-use practices have drastically reduced the population of earthworms. The damage has been caused mostly by the stone quarry and heavy earth-cutting. The factors including the developmental activities, erratic weather patterns, predation, and climate change results into the mass migrations of earthworms.

Blue earthworm

The scientific name of the blue earthworm is Perionyx excavates. It is also called as composting worms, blues, or Indian blues. The species is known for its ability to create the fine worm castings so quick. The species have become popular in North America recently where it is used for composting purposes. Scientists believe that its origins are in the Himalayan mountains. It is also suited for vermicomposting in tropical and subtropical regions.