Notes:
The Supreme Court of India recently permitted the Centre to introduce the ‘African Cheetahs’ to the appropriate habitats in India. As the Asiatic cheetah, commonly called as the Indian Cheetah, has become almost extinct, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) filed a petition, which sought permission for introducing African Cheetahs to India.
The bench headed by the Chief Justice S A Bobde also set up a committee with three members from Wildlife Institute of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, which will guide the NTCA in this regard.

Notes:
The Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar recently announced that 10 more Indian wetlands have been declared as sites of international importance by Ramsar. The number of wetlands with Ramsar site tag has now increased to a total of 37. The total surface area covered by the 37 Ramsar sites is also increased more than 1 million hectares.
In the new declaration, Maharashtra gets the first Ramsar site tag for Nandur Madhameshwar. Punjab added 3 more sites and now has a total of 6 sites while Uttar Pradesh added 6 new sites and now has 7 Ramsar sites. The Ramsar Convention was signed by the member countries to preserve the ecological significance of their wetlands.

Notes:
The tableau of Assam with the theme ”Land of Unique Craftsmanship and Culture” was adjudged as the winner of ‘Best Tableaux awards for Republic Day Parade, 2020’.
The tableaux of Odisha and Uttar Pradesh were jointly selected for the second place. While Odisha displayed the famous Rukuna Ratha Yatra of Lord Lingaraja, Uttar Pradesh showcased the cultural and religious tourism of the state with the theme ‘Sarva Dharma Sama Bhav’. The tableaux of National Disaster Relief Force and Jal Shakti Mission which portrayed ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ were chosen as the best among the Ministries and Departments and Central Public Works Department got the Special Prize.

Notes:
Veteran diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu has been recently appointed as the next Indian Ambassador to the United States. He replaces Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who was the previous Indian envoy to the US.
Taranjit Singh Sandhu is an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of 1988-batch and is currently posted as High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka. Sandhu has earlier worked as the Deputy Chief of Mission at Embassy of India in Washington D.C. for four years from 2013 to 2017. He has also served as the Joint Secretary (United Nations) at the Ministry of External Affairs between 2009 and 2011.

Notes:
Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh recently launched the version 3.0 of Bhuvan Panchayat web Portal, which will function with the help of satellite technology developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The project is aimed at providing geo-spatial services to assist the process of developing Gram Panchayats, undertaken by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. The integrated high-resolution satellite data will provide better visualisation and enable decentralised planning and monitoring of schemes at panchayat levels.