Current Affairs-GK January 22, 2016

Cabinet approves policy on Promotion of City Compost

>> The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for a Policy on Promotion of City Compost.

Features of the Policy:

>> A provision has been made for Market development assistance of Rs. 1500 per tonne of city compost for scaling up production and consumption of the product.

>> Market development assistance would lower MRP of city compost for farmers.

>> Compost from city garbage would not only provide carbon and primary/secondary nutrients to soil but also help in keeping the city clean.

>> Composting can reduce the volume of waste to landfill/dumpsite by converting the waste into useful by-products. This also prevents production of harmful greenhouse gases (especially methane) and toxic material that pollutes groundwater apart from polluting the environment. City Waste composting would also generate employment in urban areas.

>> A joint mechanism will be set up by Department of Fertilizers, Ministry of Urban Development and Department of Agriculture to monitor and facilitate availability of adequate quantity of City Compost at terms mutually agreeable between compost manufacturers and Fertilizer Marketing companies.

ISRO-KISR joined hands cooperation in the area of outer space

Memorandum of Understanding has been inked between the Department of Space / Indian Space Research Organization (DOS/ISRO) and Kuwait Institute of Scientific Research (KISR) to cooperate & use of outer space for peaceful purposes.

Key facts:

>> It will help in terms of building and launching of remote sensing and communication satellites on commercial terms.

>> It will enable to use the data from Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites by KISR for initiating research and application project.

>> Formation of Joint Working Group will also be set-up, consisting of members from ISRO and KISR to work on the plan of action related to space technology for the sake & benefit of humanity.

>> Core areas of the MoU:

1. Exploration of remote sensing of the earth,

2. Satellite communication

3. Satellite navigation and space science.

CCEA approves 5000 MW of Grid-connected Solar PV Power Projects

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its nod for setting up over 5,000 MW of Grid-Connected Solar PV Power Projects on build, own and operate basis.

>> Under Batch-lV of Phase-ll of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), the projects will be executed by solar Power Developers (SPDs) with Viability Gap Funding (VGF).

>> Expected cost of the project: Rs 30,000 crore

>> The project will be set up in 4 trenches of 1,250 MW capacity of each viz. 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.

>> The project will facilitate employment to 30,000 people in rural and urban areas and thereafter will generate 8,300 Million units per year benefiting about 2.5 Million households.

Himalayan Forest Thrush: New bird species found in India

A new species of birds has been discovered in the snow-capped mountains of the Himalayas.

Key Points:

>> The new bird has been named as the Himalayan Forest Thrush.

>> The scientific name of the bird is Zoothera salimalii. The name 'salimalii' is commemorative of the great Indian ornithologist Salim Ali.

>> It is mostly found in the northeastern India and parts of Tibet, Nepal and China.

>> The Himalayan Forest Thrush is a variant of the Plain Backed Thrush and the European Alpine Thrush.

>> Professor Per Johan Alstrom, a former member of the Uppsala University in Sweden, first noticed the distinctive call of the Himalayan Forest Thrush back in 1999, during a trip to Arunachal Pradesh.

>> Alstrom, along with his Indian colleague Shashank Dalvi, noticed the two distinctive variants of the Plain Backed Thrush that occurred at different elevations of the mountains.

>> One set of the bird sang a harsh tune sitting above tree line of the forest, while the other set of the bird churned out a tuneful call sitting below the tree line.

>> Unable to find any physical distinction between the two sets of birds, Alstrom spent several years defining the difference.

>> He collected samples of birds of India and China from the 15 museums around the world and studied them for several years.

>> The study of birds also included DNA tests that confirmed the difference between the two species. The two species evolved differently to adapt with the different conditions of the peaks and the mountain forests.

>> During their trips to India and China, Alstrom has also found a Chinese sub-species of the Himalayan Forest Thrush and named it as the Sichuan Forest Thrush.