Indian government and the World Bank have signed MoU for a $40 million project for improving the quality of health services in Meghalaya.

Key Points

• This MoU will strengthen the capacity of state to handle future health emergencies like covid-19 pandemic.
• Project is dubbed as “Meghalaya Health Systems Strengthening Project”.

Significance of the project

• Project will enhance management & governance capabilities of the state as well as its health facilities.
• It will expand the design and coverage of health insurance program in state.
• It will improve the quality of health services by means of certification and better human resource systems.
• It will finally enable efficient access to medicines and diagnostics.

Who are the beneficiaries?

This project will benefit all the 11 districts of state. It will further benefit the health sector staff at primary and secondary levels by building their clinical skills and strengthening planning & management capabilities. At the community level, it will enable women to better utilize healthcare services. Through this project, coverage of health services will be made accessible and affordable to the poor and vulnerable.

Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi announced Haj 2022 on November 1, 2021 at Hajj House in south Mumbai.

Highlights

• Online application process has started and last date to apply is January 31, 2022.
• People will be able to apply through Hajj mobile app.

The Hajj

The Hajj is an Islamic pilgrimage, performed annually to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. From India, two lakh Hajj pilgrims visit Saudi Arabia every year. New arrangement will help in saving crores of rupees of Indian Hajj pilgrims.

Significant reforms

• Union Minister for Minority Affairs also announced significant reforms and enhanced facilities this year.
• Indian Hajj pilgrims will be promoting ‘vocal for local’, onwards. They will go to Hajj with indigenous products bought in India and avoid buying bed sheets, pillows, towels etc using foreign currency. These goods will be available at about 50 per cent of their prices in Saudi Arabia and will be provided to pilgrims at the embarkation points in India.
• For Hajj 2022, embarkation points have been reduced from 21 to 10.
• The ten embarkation points are Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bengaluru, Cochin, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow and Srinagar.

Selection Process

The selection process of Haj pilgrims will be in accordance with the Covid-19 protocol. Norms will be decided by the Indian and Saudi Arabian governments.

In the COP26 climate summit’s first major deal, on November 2, 2021, 100 world leaders are set to make promise to end and reverse deforestation by 2030.

Highlights

• Brazil will be among the signatories. In Brazil stretches of the Amazon rainforest have been cut down.
• The pledge includes around $19.2bn of public and private funds.
• This move has been welcomed by experts. However, they have warned that a previous deal in 2014 had “failed to slow deforestation at all”.
• Deforestation contributes to climate change as it depletes forests that absorb significant amounts of global warming gas CO2.

About COP26

COP26 is being hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in Glasgow.  On November 2, 2021, he will sign a landmark agreement for protecting and restoring earth’s forests because forests are lungs of the earth.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has launched “International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO)” at the G20 Summit.

Key Points

• Methane observatory was launched to drive action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
• It was launched with support from the European Union.

International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO)

• It was launched because Methane is one among the most dangerous gases for climate.
• IMEO will monitor the methane emission through satellite.
• Observatory will produce a global public dataset of empirically verified methane emissions.
• It will initially focus on the fossil fuel sector, as it is responsible for one-third of anthropogenic emissions. This sector has the highest potential for reductions.

How will IMEO help?

• The IMEO will integrate data from four streams namely,

1. Direct measurement data from scientific studies
2. Remote sensing data
3. National inventories and
4. Reporting from the Oil & Gas

• It will monitor the commitments of around 30 countries that have joined Global Methane Pledge initiative by United States and European Union. This initiative was launched with the aim of cutting methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
• It will also help in improving the accuracy and public transparency of human-caused methane emissions.

On the first day of the global climate meet (COP26) in Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proposed a five-fold strategy for India to play its role in helping the world to get closer to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Key Facts

• Prime minister Modi termed his scheme as ‘Panchamrita’, which means ‘five ambrosia’.
• Traditionally, ‘Panchamrita’ is a method of mixing five natural foods namely, milk, curd, ghee, honey and jaggery.
• Panchmrita is used as a technique in Ayurveda. It is also used in Hindu and Jain worship rituals.

Modi’s Panchamrita

Prime Minister proposed following ‘Panchamrita’:

• India will increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030.
• India will meet 50 per cent of its energy requirements, with renewable energy, till 2030.
• India will reduce carbon emission by one billion tonnes by 2030.
• India will reduce its carbon intensity by 45 per cent by 2030.
• India will achieve net zero emissions by 2070.

On the first day of Ganga Utsav (The River Festival 2021), National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) got registered in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Key facts

• It was registered in the Guinness Book because record number of photos of handwritten notes were uploaded on Facebook in an hour.
• The Ganga Utsav event was organised to raise awareness on Ganga rejuvenation as well as to provide impetus to the reach of the event.

Ganga Utsav 2021

5th edition of Ganga Utsav virtually started with fun and festivities. The festival will celebrate the glory of river Ganga as well as other rivers of India.

About Ganga Utsav

Ganga Utsav, event to celebrate the glory of river Ganga, is celebrated by the National Mission for Clean Ganga, which is implemented by the National Ganga Council (NGC). It is a three-day festival, promoting engagement of the stakeholders. It also encourages public participation. The event is celebrated through storytelling, folklores, dialogues with eminent personalities, quizzes, music & dance performances and displaying traditional art forms, exhibitions & photo galleries.

What is the purpose of Ganga Utsav?

Ganga Utsav is celebrated with the objective of connecting different people to rejuvenate the river. It seeks to solve the sensitive ecological issues through conversations.

Elon Musk-owned SpaceX has incorporated its wholly-owned subsidiary in India on November 1, 2021 to start local broadband operations.

Key Facts

• The satellite broadband arm of SpaceX, Starlink, aims to start broadband services in India from December 2022. It has 2 lakh active terminals subject to permission from the Indian government.
• The subsidiary has been named as SSCPL, that stands for ‘Starlink Satellite Communications Private Limited’. The company was incorporated on November 1, 2021.
• Starlink has already received more than 5,000 pre-orders from India.

Data charges

Starlink is charging a deposit of USD 99 (Rs 7,350) from each customer. It claims to deliver data speeds in the range of 50 to 150 megabit per second in beta stage. Its services will compete with the services provided by Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea in broadband. It will also be a  direct competitor of Bharti Group-backed OneWeb.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX)

SpaceX is an American aerospace manufacturer, communications corporation and space transportation services. It is headquartered in Hawthorne, California. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the aim of reducing space transportation costs to provide for colonization of Mars. It manufactures the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, Dragon cargo, crew spacecraft, several rocket engines and Starlink communications satellites.

About Starlink

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX. It provides satellite Internet access to most part of the Earth. As of now, it comprises of more than 1600 satellites.

Telangana, in a rare recognition, has been invited to participate in a conference which will be held virtually by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Highlights

• International Seed Conference is a two-day conference. It will be held on November 4 & November 5, 2021 in Rome.
• The conference is being organised to discuss development of seed industry.
• In the conference, Managing Director of Seed Corporation Dr. Keshavulu will address on ‘Quality Seed Production System: A success story of India: Telangana as a seed hub’.

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

FAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It makes effort to defeat hunger and improve nutrition & food security. It was founded in October 1945. FAO comprises of 197 member states. Its headquarter is in Rome, Italy. The organisation also maintains regional & field offices across the world. It is operating in 130 countries.

Union Minister of Power, New & Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh inaugurated the Diversion of Marusudar River of Pakal Dul Hydro Electric Project on November 1, 2021.

Key Points

• This project is located in Kishtwar district of Jammu & Kashmir.
• Accelerated development of hydropower projects is significant for grid balancing and generating peak power.
• Pakal Dul H.E. Project will help in fulfilling the target of 450 GW Renewable energy by 2030.
• Through this project, investment of Rs 8212 crores is being made in this region. Investment will in turn provide direct & indirect employment opportunities. It will help in overall development of local inhabitants.

Pakal Dul HE Project is a 1000 MW project. It is being constructed by Chenab Valley Power Projects [P] Ltd. It is a joint venture company of JKSPDC (Govt of J&K) and NHPC Ltd (Govt of India Enterprise). CVPPPL has been charged with 3094 MW Hydro Power Projects for construction in J&K. The dam will divert water to the south using a 10 km long headrace tunnel. This project was awarded to a consortium of domestic & foreign countries comprising Bharat Heavy Electricals, AFCONS and Jay Prakash Associate, in February 2014.