Current Affairs

Notes:
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal recently launched two schemes named ‘Pragyan Bharati’ and ‘Bhasha Gourab’.
Under Pragyan Bharati scheme, funds are provided to college students for purchasing text books while under the Bhasha Gourab scheme, the state government provides financial assistance to 21 Sahitya Sabhas (literary bodies).

Notes:
Power and New and renewable energy Minister Raj Kumar Singh recently launched the Gram Ujala scheme in Varanasi. The scheme provides the world’s cheapest LED bulbs in rural areas at ₹10.
Earlier this week, the Minister launched the Gram Ujala scheme in Bihar. It ptovides LED bulbs at Rs 10, in exchange for working condition old incandescent lamps. Each household will get up to 5 LEDs.

Notes:
The market regulator – Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has framed a new regulation that top 1,000 listed firms will have to formulate a dividend distribution policy.
This has been issued as a part of strengthening corporate governance practices and disclosure requirements among companies. SEBI has also given a detailed regulation about the constitution of Risk Management Committee (RMC) in listed companies.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet of the Government of India has approved and ratified a MoU between India and Maldives on cooperation in sustainable urban development.
The MoU would strengthen the bilateral ties and generate employment in urban planning, waste management, housing, green mobility, efficient power systems etc. The MoU was signed in the month of Feb 2021, and would be in force for an infinite time period. The Cabinet also approved an MoU with Japan in the same field.

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UK’s first net zero emissions power plant, also called as the Whitetail Clean Energy project, is set to be established at Teesside.
The project will use a process which combusts natural gas with oxygen instead of air, and uses carbon dioxide in a fluid state, instead of steam, to drive turbines. The process is said to eliminate all air emissions, including traditional pollutants and carbon dioxide, which will be captured and stored under the North Sea.

Notes:
Wang Yaping became the first Chinese woman to walk in space, as her team completed a six-hour stint outside the Tiangong space station.
Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace”, is the latest achievement of China, after landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon. Its core module entered orbit earlier this year, with the space station expected to be operational by 2022.

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As part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, States/UTs have conducted week-long Clean Green Village activity under MGNREG scheme from 29th October to 4th November 2021.
During the Clean Green Village Week, the focus was on the identification and construction of Soak pits, Vermicompost/NADEP pit and initiatives such as vermin-composting, reuse of waste materials, recycling of non-biodegradable waste.

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After a Tamilnadu-based RTI activist filed an RTI query over the deaths of wild elephants before the Ministry of Environment and Forests’ ‘Project elephant’ division, it was revealed that as many as 1160 wild elephants have been killed in the last 10 years.
The elephants were killed due to various reasons such as being hit by trains, electrocution and poaching, across the country in the last decade till December 2020.

Notes:
The President of India Ram Nath Kovind, presented the third National Water Awards and launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain campaign 2022 in New Delhi.
The Government of India in 2019 launched the ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan’ and in the same year ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ was also launched. On 22nd March in 2021, on ‘World Water Day’, the ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’ campaign was launched, to urge citizens to conserve water.