CURRENT EVENTS March 31, 2016

4th  Nuclear Security Summit -2016 will begin in Washington DC, US from March 31, 2016.

 -A total of 53 countries and five international organizations including the UNO, International Atomic Energy Ageny -IAEA will take part in the two-day summit that was initiated by President Barack Obama in 2009.
- The last three summits were held in Washington, Seoul and The Hague in the Netherlands in 2010, 2012 and 2014 respectively.

United Nations urges all countries to accommodate half million Syrian refugees

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all countries to show solidarity and accept nearly half a million Syrian refugees for resettlement by 2018.

Htin Kyaw sworn in as President of Myanmar

Myanmar’s new President has been sworn in, the first elected civilian leader in more than 50 years. Htin Kyaw from the National League for Democracy, NLD, takes over from Thein Sein, who introduced wide-ranging reforms during his five years in power.

‘World Class’ Optical Telescope, and India’s Largest, launched Iin Devasthal Uttrakhand near Nainital.

‘World Class’ Optical Telescope, and India’s Largest, to Be Activated Iin Devasthal near Nainital.

-Built by  an Indo-Belgian collaborative effort, assisted by the Russian Academy of Sciences, that was kicked off in 2007. 

-It is going to be operated by the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), an autonomous research body under the Department of Science and Technology.

The Devasthal optical telescope will also be Asia’s largest ground-based optical telescope, succeeding the Vainu Bappu Observatory in Kavalur, Tamil Nadu.

The telescope – held by ARIES to be of “world class”

– will be able to log the physical and chemical properties of stars and star clusters, high-energy radiation emanating from sources like blackholes; and the formation and properties of exoplanets.

Telescope -

Devasthal, Uttrakhand

Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve (ABR) included in UNESCO Biosphere Reserve recently added 20 reserves meeting held in LIMA.

Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve (ABR) was Established in 2001 and includes 3,500.36 km²(1,351.50 sq mi) of which 1828 km² is in Kerala and 1672.36 km² is in Tamil Nadu.

Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve became part of World Network of Biosphere Reserves in 2016.

-ABR includes the Indian Ecoregions of South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, South Western Ghats montane rain forests and Shola.

- It is the habitat for 2,000 varieties of medicinal plants, of which at least 50 are rare and endangered species.

- Rare animals include the tiger, Asian Elephant, and Nilgiri Tahr.

- Agastyamalai is also home to the Kanikaran, one of the oldest surviving ancient tribes in the world.

- Ecotourism is popular in the area.

IR - Exiled Tibetans vote to elect political leader to succeed Dalai Lama.

Exiled Tibetans have started voting to elect a political leader for the next five years in a bid to help sustain their struggle to secure complete autonomy for Chinese-ruled Tibet.
-The second such election follows a decision by the Dalai Lama, the 80-year-old Nobel Peace Laureate, to relinquish his political authority and vest it in a democratic system that could outlast him..

-China does not recognise the government that represents more than 100,000 exiled Tibetans living mainly in India, Nepal and Bhutan.

-The "Sikyong", or elected leader, will be solely responsible for political and diplomatic decisions, as the charismatic monk steps back from the limelight amid uncertainty over how his successor will be chosen.

-Tibetan Buddhism holds that the soul of a senior lama is reincarnated in the body of a child after he dies. 

• -Tibetans-in-exile around the world voted for a new Parliament as well as for their choice of ‘Sikyong’ (term for the so-called Prime Minister-in-exile)
• -The Sikyong post itself isn’t recognised officially by any country, but is part of the Central Tibetan Administration(CTA) that looks after the welfare of lakhs of Tibetan refugees
• -The challenges the winner of the election for the post of Sikyong would face are daunting
• -For one, some exiles feel that it may be easier if the CTA encourages the next generation to pursue Indian citizenships instead of living as refugees so they have better opportunities to study and work
• -Also there is the challenge from radicals who want Tibet to completely break away from China

ISRO NAVIGATIONAL SATELLITE 6th IRNSS

• ISRO launched the 6th satellite of the IRNSS system on March 10, 2016
• This was the 34th flight of PSLV and 12th with the ‘XL’ configuration in PSLV
• ISRO’s Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan, Karnataka will control the satellite
• The satellite has a life of about 12 years
• All previous five satellites have been put in place and functioning properly
• IRNSS-1G will be launched in April 2016 which will complete the constellation of IRNSS

IRNSS-1F is the sixth of the seven satellites constituting the space segment of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. 

IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C, ID and IE, the first five satellites of the constellation, were successfully launched by PSLV on July 02, 2013, April 04, 2014, October 16, 2014, March 28, 2015 and January 20, 2016 respectively.

 IRNSS-1G, the remaining satellite of this constellation, is scheduled to be launched by PSLV in April 2016, thereby completing the IRNSS constellation.

India's First under water tunnel in Amaravati.

Proposed capital Amaravati will have India's first underwater tunnel.

-Amaravati is to be build with the help of Singapore.
-Singapore based designers have included a tunnel under the Krishna River in their master plan for Amaravati.
-Tunnel is to be set up near Ibrahimpatnam on the outskirts of Vijayawada.

-Tunnel will connect the administrative capital with Vijayawada, will be 3kms long.
-This is also the first time that a foreign country has designed a state capital in India.

Cabinet approves Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme for Textiles industry

Cabinet approved the introduction of "Amended  Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (ATUFS)" in place of the existing Revised  Restructured   Technology   Upgradation   Fund   Scheme   (RR-TUFS).

The new scheme specifically targets:

a.       Employment generation and export by encouraging apparel and garment industry, which will provide employment to women in particular and increase India’s share inglobal exports.

b.      Promotion of Technical Textiles, a sunrise sector, for export and employment

c.       Promoting conversion of existing looms to better technology looms for improvement in quality and productivity

d.      Encouraging better quality in processing industry and checking need for import of fabrics by the garment sector.

The amended scheme would give a boost to “Make in India” in the textiles sector; it is expected to attract investment to the tune of one lakh crore rupees, and create over 30 lakh jobs.

A budget provision of Rs.17,822 crore has been approved, of which Rs. 12,671 crore is for committed liabilities under the ongoing scheme, and Rs. 5,151 crore is for new cases under ATUFS.

Under the new scheme, there will be two broad categories:

i.                    Apparel, Garment and Technical Textiles, where 15 percent subsidy would be provided on capital investment, subject to a ceiling of 30 crore rupees for entrepreneurs over a period of five years.

ii.                  Remaining sub-sectors would be eligible for subsidy at a rate of 10 percent, subject to a ceiling of Rs.20 crore on similar lines.

National Biotechnology Development Strategy 2015-2020.

-The Strategy aims to establish India as a world-class bio-manufacturing hub.  

- It intends to launch a major mission, backed with significant investments, for the creation of new biotech products, create a strong infrastructure for R&D and commercialization, and empower India’s human resources scientifically and technologically.

The envisaged mission is:

•      Provide impetus to utilising the knowledge and tools to the advantage of Humanity

•      Launch a major well directed mission backed with significant investment for generation of new Biotech Products

•      Empower scientifically and technologically India’s incomparable Human Resource

•      Create a strong Infrastructure for R&D and Commercialisation

•      Establish India as a world class Bio-manufacturing Hub

The Key elements of the Strategy are:

•      Building a Skilled Workforce and  Leadership

•      Revitalizing the knowledge environment at par with the growing bio-economy

•      Enhance Research opportunities in basic, disciplinary and inter-disciplinary sciences

•      Encourage use-inspired discovery research

•      Focus on biotechnology tools for inclusive development

•      Nurturing innovation, translational capacity and entrepreneurship

•      Ensuring a transparent,  efficient and globally best Regulatory system and communication strategy

•      Biotechnology cooperation- Fostering global and national alliances

•      Strengthen Institutional Capacity with redesigned governance models

•      Create a matrix of measurement of processes as well as outcome

The key elements would be implemented in collaboration and partnership with Other Ministries, Departments, State Governments and international agencies towards achieving:

•      Making India ready to meet the challenge of  achieving US$100bn by 2025

•    Launching Four Major Missions – Healthcare, Food and Nutrition, Clean Energy and Education

•      Creating a Technology Development and Translation  network across the country with global partnership-5 new clusters, 40 Biotech incubators, 150 TTOs, 20 Bio-connect centres

•      Strategic and focussed investment in building the Human Capital by creating a Life Sciences and Biotechnology Education Council

Comprehensive Stats Punjab Census 2011

Comprehensive Stats Punjab Census 2011.

-Total Population 2,77,43,338 .
-The decadal change i.e. increase in population from 2001 to 2011 is 13.89%.
- The decadal growth rate is
lowest since 1961.
- 2001 Population Punjab  2,43,58,999.

2011 CENSUS
-Male population 1,46,34,819
-Female population is 1,30,69,417.
-male/female ratio  895 which is much lower than the national ratio of 940.

Literacy Rate of Punjab.

-literacy rate  75.84% which is better than the national average of 73.0%.
-The male literacy rate is
80.4% and female literacy rate is 70.7%.
-The male literacy rate is slightly less than national average of 80.9%.
- But the female literacy rate in Punjab is better than that of India.
-The female literacy rate in India is 64.6%.

Population Density Punjab.

-Punjab is one of the most densely populated states of India.
- The population density is 551, which is higher as compared to
all India average of 382.
-Amongst all the districts of Punjab:-
-Ludhiana has the highest population density of 978, followed by Amritsar with population density of 928.

Rural Vs Urban Population

-In Punjab, majority of people live in rural areas.
- Urban population  37.5%
- Rural population is 62.5%
- Total rural population 1.73 crore
- Total urban population 1.04 crore.
-The decadal change from 2001 figures for urban population is 25.9% whereas the rural population has increased only 7.8%.

Sex ratio in Punjab.

-The low sex ratio (number of females per 1000 males) in Punjab has always been a matter of concern.
- The total number of females per 1000 males is 895 in 2011.
-It is 907 is rural population and 875 in urban population.
- The corresponding figures in 2001 were - 876 (Total), 890 (Rural), 849 (Urban).
-Sex ratio in Punjab in the age group of 0 to 6 years is just
846, which will create a serious social problem in the coming times.
-The value is 844 is the rural people and 852 in the urban people.

Patiala

Patiala.

-Famous Princely state of erstwhile Punjab.
-neighborhood districts Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib and SAS Nagar.
-5 Tehsils Patiala, Samana, Nabha and Rajpura.
-Famous for Punjabi University, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology and Chitkara University.
-Famous for Rajpura Thermal Power plant.
-Famous for Qila Mubarak, Moti Bagh.
-National Institute of Sports.
-Abhinav Bindra (Shooter)
-Rakesh Sharma (1st Indian in space)
-Literacy 76.3 percent.
-Ghagghar River flows through it.
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