Consider the following statements.
- The first Five Year Plan was based on the ideas of Mahalanobis, which laid down the basic ideas regarding goals of Indian planning.
- The Second Five Year Plan tried to build the basis for a socialist pattern of society.
- In the first seven five-year plans, trade was characterised by import substitution strategy.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
- a) 1, 2
- b) 1, 3
- c) 2, 3
- d) 1, 2, 3
Consider the following statements regarding Five Year Plans in India.
- The duration of plan holiday was from 1966 to 1969.
- “Garibi Hatao” slogan was given during Fifth Five Year Plan.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
- a) 1 only
- b) 2 only
- c) Both 1 and 2
- d) Neither 1 nor 2
India’s growth’s story from the eve of Independence to the liberalization phase is largely termed as ‘Hindu rate of growth’. What it refers to?
- a) Non inclusive growth story of India before 1990’s liberalization.
- b) Religious belief of the successive government right from the independence.
- c) Irrational developmental agenda driven by majoritarian society.
- d) The phenomenon of sluggishness in growth rate of Indian economy before 1990’s.
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PM Modi launches Global initiative ‘Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) Movement
PM Launches ‘LiFE Movement’ for Adoption of Environment-Conscious Lifestyle
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the challenges of planet earth are well-known to all and the need of the hour is human-centric, collective efforts and robust action that further sustainable development.
Launching a global initiative Lifestyle for the Environment (LiFE) Movement, on the occasion of World Environment Day.
The idea of LiFE was introduced by the Prime Minister during the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow last year.
Recently at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Davos Agenda 2022, PM Modi introduced the “P3 (Pro-Planet People) movement” that underlines India’s climate change commitments.
“‘Throw away’ culture and consumerism have deepened the climate challenge. It is imperative to rapidly move from today’s ‘take-make-use-dispose’ economy to a circular economy”, he had stressed.
At COP 26 in Glasgow, PM Modi announced that India has set a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.
India also updated its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) that have to be met by 2030.
Its new pledge included increasing the country’s installed renewable capacity to 500 GW, meeting 50 per cent of its energy requirements from non-fossil fuel sources.
At the COP 21 in Paris, India made similar ambitious announcements and aimed to reduce the economy-wide emissions intensity by 33-35 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.
President Kovind inaugurates Sant Kabir Academy
President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated Sant Kabir Academy and Research Centre at Sant Kabir Nagar in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday.
Kabir : A Closer Look
Kabir, who probably lived in the fifteenth-sixteenth centuries, was one of the most influential saints.
He was brought up in a family of Muslim julahas or weavers settled in or near the city of Benares (Varanasi).
We get to know of his ideas from a vast collection of verses called sakhis and pads said to have been composed by him and sung by wandering bhajan singers. Some of these were later collected and preserved in the Guru Granth Sahib, Panch Vani and Bijak.
Kabir’s Teachings
- Kabir’s teachings were based on a complete, indeed vehement, rejection of the major religious traditions.
- His teachings openly ridiculed all forms of external worship of both Brahmanical Hinduism and Islam, the pre-eminence of the priestly classes and the caste system.
- The language of his poetry was a form of spoken Hindi widely understood by ordinary people.
- He also sometimes used cryptic language, which is difficult to follow.
- Kabir believed in a formless Supreme God and preached that the only path to salvation was through bhakti or devotion.
- Kabir drew his followers from among both Hindus and Muslims
3) China sends third manned mission to build its Tiangong Space Station
China launched its third manned mission to its under-construction space station on Sunday, sending another three astronauts to continue the final stages of the construction work at the Tiangong Space Station’s Tianhe core module for six months before returning to Earth in December.
China plans to have Tiangong Space Station fully crewed and operational by December 2022.
It was launched by a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, Inner Mongolia.
After Tiangong’s completion, China will be the only country to operate a space station of its own.
4) India has achieved the target of 10 percent ethanol blending, 5 months ahead of schedule
The ‘National Policy on Biofuels’ notified by the Government in 2018 envisaged an indicative target of 20% ethanol blending in petrol by year 2030.
However, considering the encouraging performance, due to various interventions made by the Government since 2014, the target of 20% ethanol blending was advanced from 2030 to 2025-26.
A “Roadmap for Ethanol Blending in India 2020-25” was also released by the Hon’ble Prime Minister in June, 2021 which lays out a detailed pathway for achieving 20% ethanol blending. This roadmap also mentioned an intermediate milestone of 10% blending to be achieved by November, 2022.
With all the initiatives taken by the Government, the EBP Programme is on track to achieve the target of 20% blending by 2025-26.
5)75% of river monitoring stations report heavy metal pollution: Centre for Science and Environment
Three out of every four river monitoring stations in India posted alarming levels of heavy toxic metals such as lead, iron, nickel, cadmium, arsenic, chromium and copper.
In about a fourth of the monitoring stations, which are spread across 117 rivers and tributaries, high levels of two or more toxic metals were reported.
Of the 33 monitoring stations in Ganga, 10 had high levels of contaminants. The river, which is the focus of the Centre’s Namami Gange mission, has high levels of lead, iron, nickel, cadmium and arsenic, according to the State of Environment Report 2022 from the environmental NGO, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). The report is an annual compendium of environment-development data and is derived from public sources.
Coastline Erosion :
Over a third of India’s coastline that is spread across 6,907 km saw some degree of erosion between 1990 and 2018. West Bengal is the worst hit with over 60% of its shoreline under erosion.
The reasons for coastal erosion include increase in frequency of cyclones and sea level rise and anthropogenic activities such as construction of harbours, beach mining and building of dams.
Forest Data:-
While the global average of the Ocean Health Index, a measure that looks at how sustainably humans. are exploiting ocean resources, has improved between 2012 and 2021, India’s score in the index has declined over the same period, the CSE report underlines.
India’s total forest cover has registered a little over a 0.5% increase between 2017 and 2021 though most of the increase has taken place in the open forest category, which includes commercial plantations. This has happened at the cost of moderately dense forest, which is normally the area closest to human habitations. At the same time, very dense forests, which absorb maximum carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, occupy just 3% of total forest cover.
6)The status of eVTOL: a soon to be reality?
Government of India is exploring the possibility of inviting manufacturers of Electric Vertical Take off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft to set up base in India.
What are eVTOLs?
As the acronym suggests, an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft is one that uses electric power to hover, take off, and land vertically.
eVTOL (pronounced eee-vee-toll) is short for electric vertical takeoff and landing, and it’s not an entirely new concept.
Some might call eVTOL aircraft “flying cars,” but they’re more accurately called electric helicopters. A regular helicopter is a VTOL (as in it takes off up-and-down vertically, rather than rolling down a runway like an airplane), and if you make it electric, then it’s an eVTOL.
Most eVTOLs also use what is called as distributed electric propulsion technology which means integrating a complex propulsion system with the airframe.
There are multiple motors for various functions; to increase efficiency; and to also ensure safety.
This is technology that has grown on account of successes in electric propulsion based on progress in motor, battery, fuel cell and electronic controller technologies and also fuelled by the need for new vehicle technology that ensures urban air mobility (UAM).
Thus, eVTOL is one of the newer technologies and developments in the aerospace industry.
Challenges of eVTOLS:-
As the technology so far is a mix of unpiloted and piloted aircraft, the areas in focus include “crash prevention systems”.
These use cameras, radar, GPS (global positioning system) and infrared scanners. There are also issues such as ensuring safety in case of power-plant or rotor failure. Aircraft protection from cyberattacks is another area of focus.
A third area is in navigation and flight safety and the use of technology when operating in difficult terrain, unsafe operating environments and also bad weather.
7)Miyawaki forest :- Miyawaki is a technique pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, that helps build dense, native forests. The approach is supposed to ensure that plant growth is 10 times faster and the resulting plantation is 30 times denser than usual.
8)NFC :- Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), one of the constituent units of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), was established at Hyderabad during early 1970s. NFC has mandate to develop and manufacture structural components and fuel assemblies required for all the operating Nuclear Power Reactors as well as future advanced reactors, in the country.
The Complex is engaged in the manufacture of various Zirconium alloy reactor core structures like Pressure Tubes, Calandria Tubes, Garter Springs, Reactivity Mechanism Assemblies for the Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) and Square Channels for the Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs)
9) World’s first fishing cat census done in Chilika
The Chilika Lake, Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon, has 176 fishing cats, according to a census conducted by Chilika Development Authority (CDA) in collaboration with The Fishing Cat Project (TFCP).
The fishing cat is listed as ‘Endangered’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List. The CDA that comes under the Odisha government designated the fishing cat as the ambassador of the Chilika during the celebration of ‘Wildlife Week’ in 2020.
Fishing cats are almost twice the size of the house cat. They are generally found in the marshy wetlands of northern and eastern India and on the mangroves of the east coast
They are under CITES : APPENDIX II
WPA : SCHEDULE 1
10) Rare lance lacewing found in Western Ghats
A research team of the Shadpada Entomology Research Lab (SERL) of Christ College Irinjalakuda, has found a rare species of Osmylidae or lance lacewing from Janakikadu in Kozhikode district.
Osmylidae are a small family of winged insects of the net-winged insect order Neuroptera. The osmylids, also called stream lacewings or giant lacewings, are found all over the world.
