PUNJAB
- Govt revises guidelines for groundwater extraction
- The Union Government has revised guidelines of groundwater extraction to strengthen regulatory mechanisms.
- The revised guidelines have been issued after NGT directions and will come into effect from June 1 next year.
- The salient features of the new guidelines include introduction of water conservation fee. The fee varies with the category of area, types of industry and quantum of water extracted.
- The government’s stand is that the fee structure is designed to progressively increase from safe to overexploited areas and from low to high water-consuming industries as well as with increasing quantum of groundwater extraction.
- Groundwater extraction in the country is primarily for irrigation, accounting for nearly 228 billion cubic metres, which amounts to 90 per cent of the annual groundwater extraction.
INTERNATIONAL
- Merriam-Webster selects ‘Justice’ as its 2018 Word of the Year
- Merriam-Webster has declared ‘Justice’ as the 2018 Word of the Year. As per Merriam-Webster says, the word ‘Justice’ is used in many phrases like racial justice, social justice and obstruction of justice.
- Every year Merriam-Webster, the American dictionary-publishing company, publishes the list of Words of the Year. The ‘List of Words of the Year’ contains the ten English language words of the year. The company started publishing the list in 2003 and have been publishing at the end of every year since then.
NATIONAL
- Various Scholarship Schemes of HRD Ministry for Students
- National Means-Cum Merit Scholarship Scheme: Under the scheme, scholarship is awarded to the eligible meritorious students, having parental income up to Rs.1.5 lakh per annum, with the objective to arrest their dropping out in class VIII and encourage them to continue education at secondary and higher secondary stage up to class XII. 1, 00,000 fresh scholarships are provided per annum. The rate of scholarship is Rs.12, 000/- per annum.
- Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students: Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided to those eligible meritorious students who are above 80th percentile of successful candidates in the relevant stream from a particular Board of Examination, in class XII and having family income of less than Rs. 8 Lakhs per annum. 82000 fresh scholarships are provided per year (41000 for boys and 41000 for girls) and have been divided amongst the State Education Boards based on the State’s population in the age group of 18-25 years. The rate of scholarship is Rs. 10,000/- per annum for the first three years and Rs. 20,000/- per annum for the fourth and fifth year.
- Special Scholarship Scheme for Jammu and Kashmir: The scheme aims to encourage the youth from Jammu & Kashmir to take advantage of the educational institutions outside the state, which would provide them an opportunity, to interact with their counterpart from the rest of the country, thereby be part of the mainstream. 5000 fresh scholarships are provided per annum. Scholarship is provided towards Tuition fee and Maintenance allowance. The rate of scholarship towards tuition fee for General Degree course is Rs.30,000 per annum, for Engineering course is Rs.1.25 Lakhs per annum and for Medical studies is Rs.3.0 Lakhs per annum.
- India’s first military flight using Blended Bio-Jet Fuel Flown by IAF
- IAF tested military aircraft using blended bio jet fuel
- An An-32 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) flew with blended bio-jet fuel produced from Jatropha oil, unlocking the possibility of gradually expanding it to the entire service at some point. This has the dual benefit of reducing the carbon footprint as well as usage of fossil fuels. It was flown by highly qualified test pilots from the Aircraft and System Testing Establishment (ASTE).
- The IAF intended to fly the An-32 with 10% bio-jet fuelat the Republic Day flypast on January 26, 2019.
- This bio-jet fuel technology was developed by theIndian Institute of Petroleum (IIP) under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 2009 and tested between 2011 and 2013.
· Telecom ministry announced that 5G services likely to be rolled out by August 2019
- Department of Telecommunication (DoT) said it expects to complete processes for 5G spectrum auctionby August 2019 and the services will be rolled out by 2020.
- The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended auction of about 8,644 MHzof telecom frequencies at an estimated total base price of Rs 4.9 lakh crore, which includes radio waves for 5G services.
- The roll out of 5G services in India will have an impact of USD 1 trillionon the economy.
- United Arab Emriates President declares 2019 as Year of Tolerance.
United Arab Emirates (UAE) President H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has declared 2019 to be the “Year of Tolerance.” to highlight UAE as the Global Capital of Tolerance, instilling the values of co-existence and peace in local, regional and international communities
The Year of Tolerance will focus on “Five Pillars”.
First one aims to deepen the values of tolerance and co-existence among cultures and peoples by concentrating on teaching the youth on the values of tolerance.
The second pillar will focus on solidifying the UAE as the global capital for tolerance, via a series of projects with dialogue between various cultures and civilizations
The third will enact multiple cultural programmes and contributions to build tolerant communities.
The fourth pillar will see legislative and policy-oriented objectives that contribute mandating cultural and religious tolerance.
The fifth pillar will promote tolerance and co-existence through media initiatives.
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