RAJASTHAN
- No expenditure on environmental awareness in last 3 years: Report
- The state environment department has not spent a single rupee on environmental awareness and improvement in the last three years. According to the state environment department’s annual progress report (2017-18), the last expenditure on environmental awareness and improvement was done in 2013-14 when the government spent Rs 61.80 lakh for this.
- According to a World Health Organisation report, four of the world’s 100 most polluted cities are in Rajasthan. These are Jodhpur, Jaipur, Udaipur and Kota.
- The WHO has measured particle matter 10 (Particles smaller than 10 microns) in different cities of the world.
- According to the report, Jodhpur recorded level of PM 10 and PM 2.5 measured at 189 and 101 micrograms per cubic metre air respectively, followed by Jaipur where the level of PM10 and PM2.5 measured at 187 and 100. The cities stand at 45 and 48 in the most polluted cities’ list.
- The international standards of air pollution say that index value of 0-50 (micrograms per cubic meter air) is excellent, 51-100 is good, 101-150 is lightly polluted and above that is highly polluted.
- Rajasthan also accounts for almost 30% of environmental crimes in the country.
- According to data from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in 2014, 2015 and 2016, a total of 6,385 cases of environmental offences were recorded in the state. Of these, 5,168 cases were registered under the Indian Forest Act for violations such as illegal cutting of trees in forest areas and transiting forest produce without permission.
INTERNATIONAL
· World’s first digital art museum opened in Japan
- The world’s first all-digital art museumhas opened at the MORI Building Digital Art Museum in Japan’s Tokyo.
- It features around 50 kaleidoscopic installations triggered by motion sensors, which are projected across every surface of the 100,000-square-foot exhibit space with the help of lights.
- The museum appears to be a set of halls with black walls without the lights.
· Koala bear genome decoded for first time
- The koalasof Australia remained an unsolved mystery among the scientists for their strange eating habits as they enjoy the leaves of eucalyptus that would be toxic or even fatal to most mammals.
- Now an international team of 54 scientists has successfully sequenced the marsupial’s whole genome. The whole genome was found to consist of over 26,000 genes.
NATIONAL
· Air India removes ‘Taiwan’ from its website due to China’s pressure
- Air India has changed its reference to Taiwan on its website to ‘Chinese Taipei‘ after pressure from China, which does not recognize Taiwan as a separate country.
- Global airlines including British Airways, Lufthansa and Qantas now refer to Taiwan as a part of China on their websites.
- Air India was given an extension till July 25 to make the necessary changes.
- Taiwan, officially the Republic of China(ROC), is a state in East Asia.
- Its neighbors include the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to the west, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south.
- Taiwan was returned to Nationalist Chinese control in 1945 following Japan’s defeat in World War II.
· Central Government approves hike in Support Price of Kharif Crops
- The government hiked the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy by a record Rs 200per quintal (per 100 kg) that will cost the exchequer over Rs 15,000 crore.
- This hike will give farmers 50 percent more rate than their cost of production.
- This decision was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs(CCEA) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
· Cabinet approves funds to boost educational infra
- The Union Cabinet approved a proposal for expanding the scope of Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) by expanding its capital base to ₹10,000 crore. HEFA has also been tasked to mobilise ₹1,00,000 crore for Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Higher Education (RISE) by 2022.
- HEFA was set up on May 31, 2017, by the Centre as a Nonprofit, Non-banking Financing Company (NBFC) to mobilise extra-budgetary resources for building crucial infrastructure in the higher educational institutions under the government. So far, institutions were getting grant-in aid and under this system funds will be allocated on project basis.
- For the first time, the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (NV) and Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) will also be funded by HEFA, in addition to IITS, NITS, IISERS, and other central universities and medical colleges already under its purview.
- The approval of the cabinet is to enhance the authorised share capital of HEFA to ₹10,000 crore and provision of additional government equity of ₹5,000 crore in addition to the existing approved government equity.
· Sports Authority of India to be renamed ‘Sports India’
- Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathoreconfirmed that name of “Sports Authority of India” (SAI) will be changed as ‘Sports India’.
- Daily expenses on food and nutrition of the athletes will be increased.
- The Sports Authority of India (SAI) (Hindi: भारतीय खेल प्राधिकरण) is an apex National Sports body, established in 1984.
· Tejas fighter aircraft begins operations from Sulur station, Kerala
- Indian- Made Indigenous fighter aircraft Tejas of No 45 Squadron ‘The Flying Daggers’ formally commenced operations from the Air Force Station at Sulur near Coimbatore under Group Captain S Dhankhar.
- Tejas is the first advanced Fly-by-wire fighter aircraft designed, developed and manufactured in India by Bengaluru headquartered HAL (Hindutan Aeronautics Limited).
- It is equipped with a satellite-aided Inertial Navigation System.
- It can fire Air to Air Missiles, carry bombs and Precision Guided ammunition.
· Govt forms panel to upgrade norms for GDP, Economic data collection
- The government has set up a 13-member committee to upgrade the norms for computation of economic data at states and districts level in the backdrop of plans to revise the base year for National Accounts or GDP (Gross Domestic Product) calculation.
- This Committee will be headed by Ravindra H Dholakia, a retired professor of IIM Ahmedabad.
- The panel will also review the concepts, definitions, classifications, data conventions, data sources and data requirements for preparation of State Domestic Product(SDP) and District Domestic Product(DDP).
- APPSC GROUP 1 Mains Tests and Notes Program
- APPSC GROUP 1 Prelims Exam - Test Series and Notes Program
- APPSC GROUP 1 Prelims and Mains Tests Series and Notes Program
- APPSC GROUP 1 Detailed Complete Prelims Notes