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Posted 22 Jun 2024

8 min read

National Testing Agency (NTA)

Government announced the formation of a high-level committee to provide recommendations for improving the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA). 

About NTA

  • Established by Ministry of Education (MoE) as a premier, specialist, autonomous and self-sustained testing organization
  • Purpose:  To conduct entrance examinations for admission/fellowship in higher educational institutions.
  • Registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
  • Chaired by an eminent educationist appointed by MoE. 
  • Tags :
  • National Testing Agency
  • Ministry of Education (MoE)

e-SAKSHI Portal

Government held a training workshop on e-SAKSHI Portal for revised fund flow procedure under MPLADS (Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme).

  • e-SAKSHI portal is an end-to-end solution for efficient and transparent implementation of the MPLAD scheme.

About MPLADS 

  • Type: Central Sector Scheme.
  • Ministry: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
  • An amount of Rs. 5 crore is allotted to each MP for recommending developmental works for creating durable community assets based on locally felt needs.  
    • Funds are non-lapsable and are carried forward to next year.
  • Atleast 15% of MPLADS entitlement is allocated for areas inhabited by Scheduled Caste population and 7.5% for areas inhabited by Scheduled Tribe population.
  • Tags :
  • MPLADS
  • e-SAKSHI
  • Member of Parliament

Nord Stream

New Study reveals thousands of tonnes of methane may have dissolved in the Baltic Sea.

  • In 2022, the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines suddenly began leaking at four locations.

About Nord Stream

  • Comprises a network of offshore pipelines (Nord Stream 1 and 2) supplying natural gas from Russia to northern Germany. 
  • Pipelines pass through the territorial waters and/or Exclusive Economic Zones of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.
  • Impacts of Nord Stream’s Leakage: The high concentration of methane in water may have promoted the growth of methanotrophic bacteria.
    • This bacteria uses methane as their sole source of carbon and energy.
  • Tags :
  • Nord Stream
  • Gas Pipeline

Cyber mercenaries

UN chief has warned about the rise of malicious and illegal cyber activities through “Cyber Mercenaries”.

About Cyber Mercenaries

  • Cyber mercenaries are described as a person, group of persons, or private actors that are hired to carry out cyber offensive or defensive operations to take action on particular cyber networks and infrastructure.
    • These enable spying on networks, computers, phones, or devices connected by the internet. 
  • Examples of cyber mercenaries include Lazarus, Ocean Lotus group, NSO group etc. 
  • Use of cyber mercenaries is considered as a ‘grey-zone’ activity due to absence of agreed international conventions regulating the domain.
  • Tags :
  • Grey-zone Warfare
  • Cyber Mercenary

Output from agriculture and allied sectors

NSO releases ‘Statistical report on value of output from agriculture and allied sectors (2011-12 to 2022-23)”.

Key highlights

  • Agriculture and allied sector accounted for 18.2% of the Gross Value Added (GVA) at current prices in 2022-23. 
  • Share of various sub-sectors are Crop (54.3%), Livestock (30.9%), Forestry (7.9%), and Fishing and aquaculture (6.9%).
  • Output trend of sub-sectors (2011-12 to 2022-23):
    • Crop: Declined from 62.4% to 54.3%.
    • Livestock: Increased steadily from ₹487.8 thousand crore to ₹878.5 thousand crore.
    • Forestry: Increased from ₹149 thousand crore to ₹223 thousand crore.
    • Fishing: Increased steadily from ₹80 thousand crore to ₹195 thousand crore.

 

  • Tags :
  • Agriculture
  • Livestock Sector
  • GVA Agriculture
  • Allied Sector
  • Fishing

Gas Flaring

Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report has been released by the World Bank.

  • Report is compiled with the help of World Bank's Global Flaring and Methane Reduction (GFMR) Partnership.

Key Findings

  • Global gas flaring in 2023 has increased by 7% from 2022 leading to a rise of 23 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.
  • Major Contributor: Russia, Iran, Iraq, USA, etc. 

About Gas Flaring

  • Refers to burning of the natural gas associated with oil extraction.
  • Reasons:
  • Safety Concern (de-pressurise the equipment) 
  • Economical (logistical issues in transporting gases from oil fields are located in remote and inaccessible places). 
  • Key Measures taken: Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 (ZRF) initiative (World Bank)
  • Tags :
  • Gas Flaring

UP-PRAGATI Accelerator Programs (UPPAP)

KisanKraft Limited has joined the Low Methane Rice Project (LMRP) under UPPAP to promote the Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) in Uttar Pradesh.

  • LMRP is an initiative of World Bank’s 2030 Water Resource Group (WRG). 
  • The WRG is a multi-donor trust fund hosted by the World Bank Group.

About UPPAP

  • Aims to bring about significant agricultural advancements and boost incomes across the state by promoting water-use efficiency and low-carbon practices through technological and institutional innovations.
  • Launched by Uttar Pradesh Multi-Stakeholder Platform, and is supported by 2030 WRG.
  • Its implementation is being supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

 

  • Tags :
  • UP-Pragati
  • Water Resource Group
  • Low Methane Rice Project (LMRP)

Mirage 2000

Qatar offered to sell 12 Mirage 2000 fighter aircrafts to India. 

About Mirage 2000

  • Manufacturer: Dassault Aviation, France. 
  • It is a single engine delta-wing multirole aircraft.
  • It is supersonic combat aircraft with maximum speed of Mach 2.2.
  • Mirage 2000 can carry laser guided bombs, air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles and has a Thomson-CSF RDY (Radar Doppler Multi-target) radar on board.
  • First commissioned in Indian Air Force in 1985 which gave it the name ‘Vajra’.
  • It played a decisive role in 1999 Kargil war and operation Bandar of 2019. 
  • Tags :
  • Mirage 2000
  • Supersonic Aircraft
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