JHARKHAND
Jharia most polluted place in India in 2018, Greenpeace report
Jharia, known worldwide for its underground coal fires, continued to be the most polluted city in the country in 2018, according to Airpocalypse-IV, an annual report released by Greenpeace India.
The report, based on analysis of particulate matter data across 287 cities, said Delhi was 10th most polluted city in 2018, an improvement by two ranks as compared to 2017.
Lunglei in Mizoram was the least polluted city in India, followed by Meghalaya’s Dowki, according to the report.
Six of the top-10 polluted cities are in Uttar Pradesh: Noida, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Allahabad, Moradabad and Firozabad.
INTERNATIONAL
India continues to be top sourcing market for Sri Lankan tourism
India continued to be the top sourcing market for Sri Lankan tourism with Indian tourists constituting maximum 19 percent of total tourist arrivals to the island nation in 2019.
The latest data released by Sri Lankan tourism revealed that 355,002 Indian tourists visited Sri Lanka last year against total arrival of around 1.91 million.
Sri Lankan tourism suffered a setback following Easter Sunday attacks last April and the annual tourist arrival dropped by 18 percent since 2018 figures.
India, the United Kingdom, China, Germany and Australia were Sri Lanka’s top five international tourist generating markets last year.
NATIONAL
Worlds highest railway bridge to be built by 2021 December
The government has set a fresh deadline for the completion of the world’s highest railway bridge that connects Kashmir to the rest of India by December 2021. It is the most challenging project in the post-independent history of the Indian Railways.
The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project is important in order to provide an alternative and reliable transportation system to Jammu and Kashmir. It will connect Kashmir Valley to the Indian Railways. network. This project will provide seamless and hassle-free connectivity in Jammu and Kashmir.
Government to set up 1023 Fast Track Special Courts
The Central Government has started a Scheme to set
up 1023 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) across the
country. FTSCs will be formed based on the pendency of subject cases obtained
from various High Courts, which is 1,66,882 numbers as on 31 March 2018, for
time-bound trial and disposal of pending cases related to rape and
POCSO Act.
Earlier, the Supreme Court of India said out of
1023 FTSCs, 389 Courts have been proposed to be set up exclusively for POCSO
Act related cases in Districts where pendency of such cases is more than 100.
So far, 24 states/UTs have joined the government’s
scheme to set up 792 numbers of FTSCs, including 354
exclusive POCSO courts. Govt. is making efforts to obtain consent and
willingness of remaining States/UTs.
Scientists developed a viable scientific method to cultivate Indian Pompano fish in ponds
For the first time in India, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has developed a viable scientific method to cultivate Indian Pompano fish in ponds. Pompanos are marine fishes. The Indian government began the scientific study on Pompano in 2014.
The method will be of an alternative
to shrimp. The funding was provided by the National
Fisheries Development Board (NFDB). With this, it will now be
officially cultivated in ponds of Vishakhapatnam.
The experiment recorded 750 grams of
meat per fish in open ponds and 1 kg in cages. The new scientific
invention by CMFRI recorded 95% of the survival of the fishes. The
method provided 3 tonnes per acre yield and a profit of 25% to
30% of input cost per acre.
The scientists also said that growing Pompano along
with shrimp will increase the survival rate of the shrimp as the Pompanos breaks
the life cycle of viruses that attack shrimps.
? The government is currently planning to
implement inter-cropping of Shrimp and
Pompanos.
Cabinet apprised of information about amendments to the 2019 Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill
The Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi apprised of information about the amendments moved to the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019 as passed by the Rajya Sabha.
The amendments made to the Bill will ensure concurrence of the State Governments while formulating National Transport Policy and making schemes for national, multimodal and inter-state transportation of goods and passengers by the Central Government.
Fifteenth Finance Commission bats for higher financial grant for municipal bodies
Municipal bodies are likely to recieve at least
Rs 29,000 crore grant during 2020-21, which is nearly 40% more than the
assistance they received under the current fiscal. This is likely to bring some
relief to the municipal bodies which are reeling under huge fund crunch and are
failing to deliver.
The Fifteenth Finance Commission in its recommendations for 2020-21 has suggested this. The report was submitted on Saturday. A recent study carried out for the commission had flagged how the increasing dependence of civic bodies on grant from state governments and Centre was proving to be unsustainable.