send mail to support@abhimanu.com mentioning your email id and mobileno registered with us! if details not recieved
Resend Opt after 60 Sec.
By Loging in you agree to Terms of Services and Privacy Policy
Claim your free MCQ
Please specify
Sorry for the inconvenience but we’re performing some maintenance at the moment. Website can be slow during this phase..
Please verify your mobile number
Login not allowed, Please logout from existing browser
Please update your name
Subscribe to Notifications
Stay updated with the latest Current affairs and other important updates regarding video Lectures, Test Schedules, live sessions etc..
Your Free user account at abhipedia has been created.
Remember, success is a journey, not a destination. Stay motivated and keep moving forward!
Refer & Earn
Enquire Now
My Abhipedia Earning
Kindly Login to view your earning
Support
Feedback Request
Your opinion matters
Have some ideas how to improve our product? Give us your feedback.
Your rating
What could we improve?
Government of Andhra Pradesh had started the “Clean Andhra Pradesh (CLAP)- Jagananna Swachha Sankalpam Programme, on October 2, 2021.
Key Points
Garbage Collecting Vehicles
Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, had flagged off 4,097 garbage collecting vehicles to start the campaign. By November 2021, garbage collection from rural households was at 22 per cent. By January 2022, it had reached to 61.50 per cent. Several Gram Panchayat officials are already sharing photos of garbage-free village streets and roads. Gram Panchayat will achieve all the targets under CLAP programme, including 100 per cent rural household garbage collection.
Objectives of CLAP
CLAP campaign was launched with the aim of segregating liquid and solid waste, encouraging home composting and onsite waste treatment, apart from door-to-door collection of garbage. It also seeks to make the rural areas free of open defecation.
Open Defecation Free (ODF) campaign
More than 13,000 sarpanches have been instructed strictly to lead Open Defecation Free (ODF) campaign from the front as well as ensure that their villages are ODF. It seeks to achieve ODF Plus status by the end of 2022. Andhra Pradesh government wants the state to become litter-free and garbage-free, by the end of 2022.
ODF plus village
A village which sustains its ODF status and ensures solid & liquid waste management and is visually clean are called as “ODF plus village”.
Who will run the sanitation drive?
Ahead of the launch of CLAP campaign, about 13,000 sarpanches and 1,200 district and mandal officials took part in an online training programme on sanitation drive conducted by UNICEF WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene). Government has deployed gram panchayat workers & officials, members of village & ward secretariats, health workers, and members of Zilla and Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies to run the campaign.
In her Budget Speech 2022, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shed light on tax liabilities for virtual assets like cryptocurrencies.
Key Facts
Legal status of digital assets
Recognition of digital assets under income tax is not similar to granting legal status.
About the bill
Bill provides for definition of virtual digital asset. It is wide enough to cover emerging digital assets such as assets in meta verse, NFT, tokens, digital currencies, etc. Bill also specifies a rider that no deduction will be allowed in respect of expenditure incurred on virtual digital assets except on cost of acquisition. In order to monitor Crypto transactions, a TDS of 1% will be levied on discharge of consideration whenever virtual digital asset will be transferred. It also provides for taxation on gift of virtual digital assets. In this case, recipient will be taxed. This will bring in additional challenges in operation of crypto exchanges worldwide and privacy concerns for individuals.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in her budget speech that, government is set to work on improving connectivity across northern border under the Vibrant Villages Programme.
What is Vibrant Villages Programme?
Significance of the programme
The announcement to launch Vibrant Villages Programme is significant in light of increasing China’s presence along the Himalayan frontier with India. China is actively constructing dual-use infrastructure. It has sparked concerns among government, strategic circles and security forces, and strategic circles. China has undertaken large-scale construction since 2017, along the border. It is building border villages in Tibet in a bid to strengthen their presence along the frontier.
Objectives of the programme
The vibrant villages programme will be launched with the objective of upgrading the housing facilities. This objective will be met by strengthening infrastructure across villages located near the Line of Actual Control (LAC). It seeks to prevent migration.
China’s model villages
China has developed model villages across border areas of Bhutan and Nepal along with India in recent years. India’s Vibrant Villages Programme is being considered as a response to China’s model villages.
Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) has started India’s first-of-it’s-kind project to mix hydrogen into natural gas system at Indore, Madhya Prades.
Injection of Grey Hydrogen started by GAIL at City Gate Station (CGS), Indore. The grey hydrogen will subsequently be replaced by green hydrogen. GAIL has obtained necessary regulatory permissions for starting the project. It has also engaged domain experts for carrying the impact assessment of blending of hydrogen in natural gas. GAIL has also committed for the growth of gas-based economy in India, as well as for the growth of India’s vision of greener and cleaner environment.
Significance of the project
This project is significant, because India is moving forward with goal of achieving a carbon-neutral and self-reliant future. This project will also help in creating robust standard and regulatory framework in India for covering the aspects of injecting hydrogen into natural gas.
Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) has started India’s first-of-it’s-kind project to mix hydrogen into natural gas system at Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
Injection of Grey Hydrogen
GAIL (India) Limited
It was earlier known as Gas Authority of India Ltd. It is a government owned natural gas corporation, working under Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It is responsible for natural gas processing and distribution across India. It is headquartered in GAIL Bhawan New Delhi.
Grey hydrogen
Grey hydrogen is produced from natural gas, wherein associated emissions are released in to air.
In Union Budget 2022-23, a new “PM-DevINE scheme” was proposed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
What is PM-DevINE scheme?
Bamboo Link Roads
Bamboo Link Roads will be constructed in Mizoram, under the PM-DevINE scheme. These roads will help in transporting bamboo from forests. It will also help in management of paediatric and adult hematolymphoid (head and neck) cancers in north-east region.
How Mizoram will gain?
Mizoram will gain the maximum with the launch of two projects:
Who will implement the PM-DevINE scheme?
The PM-DevINE scheme will be implemented through North Eastern Council (NEC). However, this scheme is not a substitute for existing central or state schemes.
Kerala Government has signed an MoU with the Social Alpha, through its “Clean Energy International Incubation Centre (CEIIC)”.
Key facts
Role of Tata Power
Tata Power is one of the key stakeholders. It will lend support to the joint incubator in a bid to create affordable and scalable solutions, through a strong network of more than hundred national and international technology and institution partners, cadre of experts and lab facilities.
Clean Energy International Incubation Centre (CEIIC)
CEIIC is an Energy lab of Social Alpha, set up in 2018. It is a joint initiative of Tata Trusts and Government of India. It is supported by Department of Biotechnology, BIRAC, and Tata Power. CEIIC was set up to promote innovations in energy space. It has become India’s first International Incubator, under Mission Innovation. It is designed for offering complete “lab to market” incubation support to clean energy enterprises.
The marine version of the Rafale fighter jet was recently tested on INS Vikrant. The test conducted from the aircraft carrier was successful.
About the test
The test was conducted to check on the take-off of Rafale jet from aircraft carrier. It was successful. The INS Vikrant aircraft carrier uses a catapult launch. And the jets performed good in the launch.
What is catapult launch?
The catapult is a device that allows the aircraft to take off in a small space. It is a kind of assisted take off. It gives extra inertia to the flight. The normal runway flights obtain this energy through a speedy constant long run. This long run is not possible in an aircraft carrier and thus a catapult launch.
Working of a Catapult launch?
The catapult accelerates the aircraft from 0 to 165 knots in just 2 to 3 seconds. In this system, high pressure steam is collected in the accumulators. This steam is obtained from the nuclear reactors. After reaching desired steam pressure, the valves of the accumulators are cut off and the catapult is ready to fire. The catapult launch system has a shuttle. The aircraft is attached to the carrier through this shuttle. There are two pistons in the catapult. These pistons hold the aircraft. When it is time, the steam in the accumulator is released. This pushes the piston and releases the catapult. The flight is given a push. It gains inertia.
STOBAR – the other launch
Apart from catapult launch, the STOBAR is a famous launching system. It is predominantly used in Russia and China. As India was highly reliant on Russia for its defence systems earlier, STOBARs are common in India as well. However, India is now widening its defence trade, especially with US and Israel. Because of this, few of the recent aircraft carriers have catapult launches
What is assisted take off?
It is a system that helps the aircraft to enter into the air and start flying. It is used when the weight of the aircraft is greater than the maximum take – off weight, insufficient runway length, insufficient power.
The researchers from Austria, Netherlands and Switzerland have found that trillions of plastic particles fall along with snow in Switzerland. These particles travel 2000 kilometres through air.
What did the study find?
About 43 trillion plastic particle land in Alps of Switzerland. They fall along with the snow. They are carried by wind. It has been found that around 3,000 tonnes of Nano plastics get deposited in Swiss soil every year. The spread of the Nano plastics is still unexplored.
Most accurate study
This study is believed to be the most accurate study of plastics. This is mainly because of the methodology adopted by the scientists. The scientists gathered the top layer of snow every morning in the Hoher Sonnenblick mountain of Alps. The collected snow was stored with greatest care. The snow was analysed for the presence of plastic nano particles. The source of the Nano particles was traced.
Key observations of the study
30% of the plastic Nano particles found in the mountain top originated from 200 km. Some plastics from ocean also get in to the air and reach the Alps. 10% of the plastic Nano plastics were from Atlantic ocean.
Nano plastics in human blood
The world has so far produced 8300 million tonnes of plastics. Of this 60% are now waste. The waste is eroded by mechanical abrasion, weathering effects. Nano plastics are released from clothing and every day plastics used in packaging. The size of Nano plastics is too tiny. They move like gases in air. They enter into human blood stream through respiration. On the other hand, the micro plastics only get deposited in stomach. They do not enter the blood stream. Thus Nano plastics are more dangerous.
What are Nano plastics?
Nano plastics are plastic particles whose size is less than or equal to 100 Nano meter in length. Micro plastics are those plastic particles whose size is less than 5 milli meter. These particles have invaded the entire terrestrial and marine environment.
Every year, the World Wetland Day is celebrated on February 2. The day is marked to increase awareness about the importance of wetlands in the world. It is celebrated on February 2 because the Convention on Wetlands was adopted on February 2, 1971 in Ramsar, Iran. It is also popularly called the Ramsar Wetland Convention.
Theme
In 2022, the World Wetlands Day is celebrated under the following theme
“Wetland’s action for people and nature”
Wetlands in India
There are 47 wetlands in India. Their total surface area is 1 million hectares. India has lost 30% of its wetlands in the last thirty years.
Loss of wetlands and impacts
The loss of wetlands has harmful consequences on water and food security, climate change mitigation, disaster management.
Significance of wetlands
The wetlands have a major role in water security. They provide barrier against natural disasters such as flooding. They nurture complex ecosystems. They prevent soil erosion and help fight against climate change. The wetlands act as carbon stores. They act as one of the best sinks for greenhouse gases, especially carbon monoxide.
What are wetlands?
Different countries define wetlands differently. India follows Ramsar convention definition of wetlands. Ramsar convention defines wetlands as the natural and manmade sites. This includes reservoirs, tidal flats, marshes, salt pans, swamps, lakes and mangroves. Swamp is land that is permanently saturated with water. It may or may not be covered with water. The swamps are dominated by the type of trees that grow there. On the other hand, marshes are wetlands that are saturated with water and also covered with water permanently. Salt pan is formed when sea water evaporates rapidly. It is then replenished by rain water. Tidal flats are coastal wetlands. They are formed in inter tidal areas. Here the sediments are deposited by the rivers or tides.
On February 2, 2022, the Export Import Bank (EXIM) of India and Government of Sri Lanka signed a USD 500- million Line of Credit agreement.
Line of Credit
The Line of Credit spans over a year, at a nominal interest rate of under 2%.
Situation in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s ability to import fuel has been severely affected because of dollar crisis in Sri Lanka. It has further led to frequent reports of shortages and power failures.
The palaeontologists recently discovered two fossil flowers in Myanmar. The flowers lived by the end of Cretaceous period. They are some 100 million years old. The two flowers were Phylica piloburmensis and Eophylica priscastellata.
What does the discovery say?
The discovery of the two new fossil flowers implies that these flowers have sustained different evolutionary periods of the earth. Their counter parts are still living in South Africa. They are still in unmodified state. There are no significant changes between their modern counter parts. This means the flowers are sustaining the constantly changing ecosystem.
What is so special about the discovery?
Usually flowers turn into fruit or seed and vanish. And also, as compared to flowers, leaves are more resilient. The leaves actually hold greater ability and stamina for preservation. This makes the discovery of flowers in fossil records very rare. Thus, the new fossil flowers recently found in Myanmar are highly valuable because they are rare.
What astonished the scientists?
The flowering plants reproduce quickly. They have more detailed breeding mechanism. This promotes their evolution. Meaning they tend to change as days pass by. But there were no such changes in the new fossil flowers. By changes the scientists mean that, probably their leaves become greener, reduced in size to adapt to increasing temperature, flowers becoming larger or other changes. They have been the same for 100 million years! Even humans have changed and evolved in this duration. Hominids, the ancestors of humans lived 2 million years ago. There are evidential changes in humans as compared to hominids.
Between January 31 — February 1, 2022, heavy rainfall in Ecuador resulted into multiple landslides, mudflows and floods.
Highlights
Situation in Ecuador
Ecuador is facing heavy rains in several areas. Heavy rainfall has caused rivers to overflow and has affected hundreds of homes and roads. The mayor’s office has started clearing streets in the city and has set up shelters for affected families.
About Ecuador
Ecuador is a country in north-western South America. It is bordered by Colombia, Peru and Pacific Ocean. The country also includes the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific, which is around 1,000 kilometres to the west of mainland. Quito is capital of Ecuador. It is a founding member of United Nations, Mercosur, PROSUR, Organization of American States, and Non-Aligned Movement.
About Quito
Quito is the capital of Ecuador. It is the closest capital city to the equator. It is located at an elevation of 2,850 m above sea level. It is the second-highest official capital city worldwide. It is located in Guayllabamba river basin, on eastern slopes of Pichincha, which is an active stratovolcano in the Andes. This city was designated as headquarters of Union of South American Nations in 2008.
Climate of Ecuador
Climate of Ecuador is tropical. It varies with altitude and region because of differences in elevation and proximity to the equator. Coastal lowlands in western part of Ecuador are usually warm with temperatures in the region of 25 °C. Coastal ar
The Chinese and French oil giants have signed an agreement to build a huge oil pipeline in Uganda. The companies are to exploit the oil resources of the country. This has fumed the environmentalists.
What is the deal all about?
The National Offshore Oil Corporation of China and the Total Energies of France are to pump out the crude oil in Lake Albert of Uganda. The companies are investing 10 billion USD in this mega project. he oil reserves are located along the Uganda – Congo border. Uganda is land locked country.
About the pipeline
The companies will also construct a 1443 km long pipeline. After completion, the pipeline will become the longest pipeline in the world. The pipeline will pass through Tanzania.
What is worrying the environmentalist?
The drilling is to be done near the Murchison water falls. It is the largest national park in the country. The pipeline project will displace thousands of people. Also, the project is to endanger the water resources in the region. The Tanzanians and Ugandans are to face devastating impacts.
What was the issue around the pipelines?
The crude oil in Uganda is medium – light. It is low in sulphur and is very waxy. The pour point of Ugandan oil is 40 degrees Celsius. This makes the oil solid at surface temperature. This is why the entire stretch of 1443 km pipeline should be heated electrically. This consumes more energy. Heating such long stretch of pipeline is challenging. This is why the project did not kick start for a long time even oil resources were discovered in 2006.
During the budget presentation, the finance minister Smt Nirmala Sitaraman announced that the safety of the Indian trains is to be increased through the KAVACH technology. The railways were allocated Rs 1,37,000 crores. Along with Kavach technology, government is to launch 400 Vande Bharat trains. These trains are to run 2000 km. Government will also launch “One Station One product” scheme to help the local businesses.
What is KAVACH technology?
It is an anti – collision technology. It was indigenously developed. It is SIL4 certified. The technology will help India achieve its goal of zero accidents. The technology will stop the train as soon as it detects another train in the same track within a specific distance. Also, the technology will stop the train if it identifies manual error.
Previous budget
As compared to the previous budget, the Railways has received Rs 20,000 crores more.
Working of KAVACH
The technology uses micro processors, global positioning system and radio communication. The anti – collision devices are mounted on the trains. The devices receive inputs from the satellite. They communicate with each other through modems. They apply automatic brakes when detect another train in the same track.
Benefits
The technology increases speed of the trains. The drivers slow down the trains near crossing stations. This is usually done to prevent collision with other trains in the station. This leads to delay in journey time of the passengers. The train is forcibly slowed down even if it has no stops in the station. Such delays can be avoided with KAVACH technology.
Other Railway budget allocations
One Station One Product was launched along with KAVACH technology. This is to benefit the transport of local products largely. Rs 15,710 crores have been allocated for Dedicated Freight Corridor. Rs 13, 335 crores was allocated for track renewal and Rs 25,243 crores for new lines.
During the budget presentation, the finance minister Smt Nirmala Sitaraman introduced the One Nation One Registration scheme. This will increase the easing of doing business and also will improve the ease of living.
About the scheme
The scheme will bring upon uniform registration process throughout the country. No matter where the registration is being made, be it land registration or vehicle registration or any other registration, the same process will be followed throughout the country. Registration shall be made anywhere in the country. There will be no state barriers. It will adopt a 3C formula. The formula focuses on Central of Records, Convenience of Records and Collection of Records. 14 – digit unique number is to be allocate to the land. The number is to be called the “Aadhaar number of the land”. In order to implement the scheme, the Government is to link the National Generic Document Registration system with One Nation One Registration scheme.
DILRMP
DILRMP is Digital India Land Record Modernisation Programme. Under the programme, the Government of India has so far digitised 90% of land records in the country. This has been achieved in 24 states. It was launched in 2008 as National Land Records Modernization Programme. It was recently renamed by the Modi government as DILRMP. Two scheme namely Strengthening of Revenue Administration and updating of land records and Computerization of Land records were merged under the scheme. The DILRMP has information about land use, parcel ownership, location boundaries, taxation, land value, encumbrances, etc. 75,000 compliances were eliminated so far. And 1,486 laws were revoked to increase ease of living.
The One Nation One registration system will reduce the delay in payment. Also, it will help in achieving complete paperless end to end ebill system. This will reduce issues around buying and selling of lands. It provides real – time ownership of the lands. It will save the valuable time of the citizens. It will reduce the interface between government functionaries and citizens. Thus the system will reduce harassment.
The Government of India recently added two new Ramsar sites. The sites were added on the World Wetlands Day. The World Wetlands Day is celebrated on February 2 all over the world. The day spreads the importance of wetlands. It is celebrated on February 2 because the Ramsar Convention was held on February 2, 1971 at Ramsar, Iran.
What are the two sites?
Bakhira Wild life sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh and Khijadia Bird Sanctuary in Gujarat. These are the 48th and 49th Ramsar sites of India. Earlier, the 47th Ramsar site was Haiderpur Wetland in Uttar Pradesh.
Bakhira Wildlife sanctuary
It is the largest natural flood plain wetland in India. The floodplain wetland is that part of the river valley that gets flooded with water periodically. The resident time of water here is greater than flood plains. The sanctuary is located to the west of Gorakhpur. It is breeding ground for resident birds and a staging ground for number of migratory birds. The Siberian birds visit the wetland during winter. Also, birds from China, Europe, Tibet and Siberia come to the lake during winters. There are more than 30 fish species. The dominant ones are Chana and Labeo rohita. The wetland is the breeding ground for the grey – headed swamphen. It is also called purple swamp hen or Indian purple moorhen. It is locally called Kaima. The wetland is connected to the Bakhira canal. The canal runs 15 kms supplying water for irrigation to the nearby villages.
Khijadia Bird Sanctuary
It is located in Jamnagar, Gujarat. More than 300 migratory birds visit the sanctuary. It has freshwater marshlands, freshwater lakes and salt water marshlands. It is fed by river Ruparel. It also has creeks that support mangroves. It is located in the Gulf of Kutch region. The sanctuary is known for different types of nests such as floating nests, on ground nests and the ones built on trees. The black – necked storks are found in abundant in the sanctuary. It is not found anywhere else in India.
India
India has 52 tiger reserves. With the two new Ramsar sites, India now has 49 Ramsar sites. Also, there are two blue tag beaches in India.
Public Works Department (PWD) has decided to dedicate around one-kilometre-long stretch in North Delhi, to honour the Olympic champions.
Sports-themed stretch
The Sports-themed stretch is first of its kind. It will be redeveloped and redesigned as part of ambitious streetscaping project by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Estimated length of the stretch is 900 metres. It will be redeveloped on Road Number 51, stretching from Mukundpur Chowk to MCD colony near Model Town.
The Olympics Vithi or Olympics Boulevard
Why will Olympics Boulevard be created?
The Olympics Boulevard will be created to celebrate and honour the champions. It also seeks to inspire the youth of India to take up sports as a habit or as a vocation to stay fit.
Streetscaping Project
Under the streetscaping project, all the bottlenecks viz., poor road engineering and geometry, footpaths, kerbs, will be redeveloped, to provide a safe and secure pathway for pedestrians
Access to prime resources