Himachal Pradesh
- Himachal promoting organic farming in a big way
- A Rs 321 crore project is under implementation in Himachal for diversification of agricultural activities under which the farmers are being motivated to adopt organic farming and grow cash crops, an official said.
- The project, being implemented in five districts of the State, has yielded good results and a large number of farmers have come forward to switch over to organic farming and go for off season cash crops cultivation as the state emerges as a front runner in organic farming, an official spokesman here said.
- Nearly 22,000 hectare has been brought under organic farming and 40,000 farmers have got themselves registered under the scheme.
- A target of bringing 2,000 hectare of additional land under organic farming has been set while 200 bio villages have already been set up in the state.
- The state government has announced first, second and third prizes of Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs one lakh respectively for the progressive farmers adopting organic farming.
- As Sericulture’ is an important component in promoting organic farming, the state government is giving special impetus to vermi-compost production in large scale and the farmers are being provided 50 per cent subsidy for installing vermi-compost unit and 1.50 lakh such units have been established in the state so far.
- A target of setting up 20,000 more such units had been fixed to ensure adequate availability of vermi-compost to the farmers.
INTERNATIONAL
- NASA’s Hubble detects Exoplanet with glowing water atmosphere.
- NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope discovered the strongest evidence to date for the stratosphere on a planet outside our solar system, WASP-121b.
- The stratosphere is a layer of atmosphere in which temperature increases with higher altitudes.
- The discovery was made by an International team of researchers led by the University of Exeter by observing glowing water molecules in WASP-121b’s atmosphere.
- The WASP-121b exoplanet is gas giant commonly referred to as a ‘hot Jupiter’. It has 1.2 times greater mass and 1.9 times greater radius than Jupiter.
NATIONAL
- Around 750 projects awaiting environmental clearance: Government.
- Around 750 projects in various states are awaiting environmental clearance, with a maximum of 194 from
- A total of 741 proposals are awaiting environmental clearance of which 194 are from Maharashtra.
- 95 proposals from Gujarat and 86 from Uttar Pradesh were awaiting environmental clearance.
- The Environment ministry has taken various steps to speed up the process of disposing the applications for environmental clearance.
- They include dedicated online portal for effective monitoring, standardisation of terms of reference for preparation of EIA reports and the Environment Management Plan, exemption from public consultations to certain projects, streamlining the procedure among others.
- Gk bit – The proposals for forest clearances under the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, for diversion of forest lands, for non-forestry use are considered in the Ministry and is accorded in two stages.
- Environment ministry is on stage I or in principle approval, which mandates conditions to be complied with for the issue of the subsequent stage II or final approval, which is the prior approval of the central government.
- Vijender won the WBO Oriental Super Middleweight title.
- Indian Professional boxer Vijender Singh won the World Boxing Organization(WBO) Oriental Super Middleweight title.
- He defeated Zulpikar Maimaitiali of China.
- It was his ninth successive win in his Professional career.
- National Handloom Day is observed on 7th August.
- The National Handloom Dayis being observed on 7 August every year to honor the handloom weavers in the country.
- It is the third edition of the National Handloom Day after it was instituted in 2015.
- Handloom sector contributes to nearly 15% of the cloth production in the country and also contributes to the country’s export earnings to 95 %.
- Aparna appointed as Executive Director of World Bank.
- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) appointed senior IAS officer from Gujarat S. Aparna as Executive Director of the World Bank.
- She replaces Subhash Garg who was recently appointed as Economic Affairs Secretary, Union Ministry of Finance.
- At the World Bank, she will represent the constituency of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka for three years.
Gk bit– World Bank
- World Bank is one of five institutions created at the Breton Woods Conference in 1944. It is part of the United Nations system, but its governance structure is different. Its headquarter is situated at Washington DC. World Bank provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.
- WorldBank provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes. World Bank comprises only two institutions viz.
- The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA).
- In contrast, World Bank Group comprises three more viz.
- Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
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