The Assam government has announced an initiative involving planting 1 crore saplings in a single day in the upcoming month of September to increase the forest cover in the state. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma launched an app and a web portal related to this large-scale initiative. The initiative has been named 'Amrit Brikshya Andolan'.

• The minister said that collective initiatives such as 'Amrit Brikshya Andolan' would be Assam's contribution towards the fight against climate change.
• Saplings would be available at distribution centres that would be set up for the purpose, he said, adding that those who register themselves with the Amrit Brikshya Andolan app or portal and upload geo-tagged photographs of them planting the saplings would be credited with an amount of Rs 100 in their bank account.
• The state government would target planting of 3 crore commercially-viable saplings, while in 2025, the aim would be to plant 5 crore saplings, Sarma added.

World Wide Web Day is celebrated on August 1 every year. It is a day dedicated to commemorating the birth of the World Wide Web (www) and recognising its impact on the world. World Wide Web Day is celebrated on this day because it was on this day in 1991 that Tim Berners-Lee posted a proposal for the World Wide Web on the alt.hypertext newsgroup.

• World Wide Web Day is significant because it is a time to reflect on the impact of the web on our lives and to celebrate the ingenuity of Tim Berners-Lee and the many others who have contributed to its development.
• The day is a reminder of the power of the internet to connect people and share information. It is also a day to celebrate the creativity and innovation that has made the web what it is today.

History of the day

The World Wide Web, commonly known as the Web, was created by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 while he was working at CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research). In March 1989, Berners-Lee submitted a proposal for a "distributed information system" to facilitate sharing and updating information among researchers at CERN. The first web server, "httpd," and the first web browser, "WorldWideWeb" (later renamed Nexus), were created by Berners-Lee and his colleague Robert Cailliau in 1990. On August 6, 1991, the world's first website went live. It was a simple page that explained the World Wide Web project and provided information about how to access and use it. This website was hosted on Berners-Lee's NeXT computer, which also served as the world's first web server.

The UP government has approved the Uttar Pradesh Water Tourism and Adventure Sports Policy 2023 in the Council of Ministers meeting held at Lok Bhavan.

• This policy will be applicable to all inland land-based, air-based and water routes, dams, reservoirs, lakes, rivers, ponds and all adventure activities to be carried out on various water bodies and land parcels within the jurisdiction of the state in Uttar Pradesh.
• Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh gave information about the proposals related to tourism approved by the Council of Ministers.
• He said that the hills in Vindhya and Bundelkhand regions of Uttar Pradesh, about 16,620 sq km in the foothills of the Himalayas as well as many beautiful landscapes, forest areas, flowing rivers and breathtakingly beautiful waterfalls, dams, reservoirs and lakes have a lot of potential for water-based tourism, adventure sports and water sports. 

Aadi Perukku, also known as Pathinettam Perukku, is an auspicious festival celebrated by Tamil community people to honour the monsoon season and the life-sustaining properties of water.  It falls on the 18th day of the Tamil Calendar, marking the onset of the monsoon season in Tamil Nadu. Celebrants of the festival express their gratitude to the God of monsoon, mother nature, and river Kaveri.

• This year the festival is being celebrated on 3 August 2023.
• The month of Aadi marks the beginning of the monsoon season in Tamil Nadu.
• During this season water level rises in rivers and plenty of rain water available of for agriculture.

The Department of Telecommunication under the Communications Ministry is celebrating Bharat Internet Utsav from the 7th of this month.

• The aim of this Utsav is to share various empowering real-life stories about the transformation brought by the internet into the lives of people.
• In this regard, the Department has invited people to share video stories showcasing how the internet has transformed the lives of people.
• The Department said that for the competition, the contestants are required to upload their video stories on their social media platforms using the hashtag Bharat Internet Utsav and also on the MYGOV platform.
• The Department said that the competition will conclude on the 21st of this month and the winner of the competition will receive a cash prize of 15 thousand rupees. The Department further said that interested people may submit their videos .

The Ministry of Railways and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) signed a memorandum of understanding ((MoU) to establish the India 5G testbed at the Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications (IRISET) in Secunderabad.

• The facility would be dedicated to the testing and development of 5G use cases for Indian Railways.
• The MoU between IRISET and IIT-Madras aims to accelerate the indigenisation efforts of Indian Railways in the field of communications and create a testing facility for Indian Railways. 
• The Indian Railways aims to leverage the potential of 5G technology to enhance its operational efficiency, passenger experience and overall safety. 

Typhoon Khanun pounded Japan's southwestern Okinawa and Kagoshima prefectures with heavy rain and gusty winds for a second straight day on Thursday( 03 August 2023), leaving two dead and moving so slowly its damaging impact could be prolonged.

• Khanun, which means "jackfruit" in Thai, was heading slowly northwest in the East China Sea as of early afternoon, with sustained winds of 162 kph (100 mph) and gusts of up to 234 kph (145 mph), the Japan Meteorological Agency said, adding that they no longer forecast it to directly hit China.
• At least 62 people in Okinawa and Kagoshima prefectures were injured, NHK added.
• With power lines down, roughly 166,000 households in Okinawa, a tropical island chain some 1,600 km (1,000 miles) southwest of Japan's capital Tokyo, had lost electricity as of Thursday morning.

Oracle announced that India’s Ministry of Education has chosen Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) to modernize the country’s national education technology platform ‘Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing’ (DIKSHA). DIKSHA was  launched by Vice President of India M. Venkaiah Naidu on 5 September 2017. 

• This migration will help make DIKSHA more accessible and lower its IT costs.
• The platform supports 1.48 million schools across all of India’s 35 states and union territories and is available in 36 Indian languages.
• Under the multi-year collaboration agreement, OCI will help the Ministry of Education use DIKSHA to provide educational resources to millions of additional students, teachers and collaborators across India.
• As one of India’s largest and most successful Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) initiatives, DIKSHA was developed for school education and foundational learning programs.
• Using the open-source platform Sunbird, developed by the EkStep Foundation, DIKSHA helps teachers support inclusive learning for communities of underserved and disabled learners across the country. More than 200 million students and 7 million teachers from government and private schools access content from more than 11,000 contributors.

 A new book, titled How Prime Ministers Decide, by veteran journalist Neerja Chowdhury recalls the drama that led to Sonia’s announcement, prompted by Rahul’s “fear for his mother’s life”.

• According to a new book, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had good relationships with several RSS officials while keeping a healthy distance between the organisation and herself. 
• The author analyses the operating styles of the country’s prime ministers through the prism of six decisions of historic significance.
• These are as follows: the strategy that Indira Gandhi devised to return to power in 1980, after her humiliating defeat post the Emergency in 1977; the errors of judgment that led Rajiv Gandhi to undo the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Shah Bano case; V. P. Singh’s implementation of the Mandal Commission Report to save his government which forever changed the face of contemporary politics.

A new book “How Prime Ministers Decide”, by veteran journalist Neerja Chowdhury released: A new book, titled How Prime Ministers Decide, by veteran journalist Neerja Chowdhury recalls the drama that led to Sonia’s announcement, prompted by Rahul’s “fear for his mother’s life”.

• According to a new book, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had good relationships with several RSS officials while keeping a healthy distance between the organisation and herself. 
• The author analyses the operating styles of the country’s prime ministers through the prism of six decisions of historic significance.
• These are as follows: the strategy that Indira Gandhi devised to return to power in 1980, after her humiliating defeat post the Emergency in 1977; the errors of judgment that led Rajiv Gandhi to undo the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Shah Bano case; V. P. Singh’s implementation of the Mandal Commission Report to save his government which forever changed the face of contemporary politics.

President Draupadi Murmu on Thursday inaugurated a three-day international festival, ‘Unmesh and Utkarsh’ being organised for the first time in the country to express India’s folk and tribes’ culture in Bhopal of Madhya Pradesh.

• On her arrival at the capital city of the state, MP Governor Mangubhai Patel, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Ministers Dr Narottam Mishra and Bhupendra Singh welcomed the President at the airport.
• Addressing the inaugural session of the event, President Murmu said that the tribal heritage of MP is extremely rich and most of the tribes reside here.
• “We should make efforts collectively to become a partner in the advanced development of the tribal community protecting our culture, ethos, customs and natural environment”, the President said.

UNESCO has recommended adding Venice to its heritage danger list calling on the Italian government to “ensure the utmost dedication”. 

• UNESCO wants the Italian government to address “long-standing problems” in the city, which has been affecting tourism in the region.As of now, Venice is already a UNESCO World Heritage Site, having an “outstanding universal value”.
• The city’s rich cultural and natural heritages have been attracting travellers from across the globe.
• The recommendation was made by UNESCO and its advisory body experts ahead of the 45th session of the agency’s World Heritage Committee.
• The session will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in September 2023.

Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed the Mediation Bill, 2021, which halves the maximum time for completing mediation proceedings to 180 days. Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said, "Under this we are making the Mediation Council of India. This is a neutral third party. This bill makes the process a time-bound mechanism which saves time and money of parties."

Highlights of the Bill

• The mediation process must be completed within 180 days, which may be extended by another 180 days by the parties.
• The Bill provides for the setting up of The Mediation Council of India.  Its functions will include registering mediators, and recognising mediation service providers and mediation institutes.
• Replying to the discussion on the bill, Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said, the bill will reduce the pendency of cases in courts. He informed that five crore cases are pending in courts.
• He said, the bill has been brought with an aim to provide legal framework to mediation. Mr Meghwal said, the Narendra Modi government has worked with a whole of government approach in this regard.