Current Affairs 17th & 18th September 2019
Important Current Affairs
Current Affairs 17th & 18th September 2019
India to generate 175 GW of clean energy by 2022
Union Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan the country was on course to generate 175 GW of clean energy by 2022.
The energy 175 GW of clean energy production in the country, out of which 100 GW would be through solar and rest through other sources.
The country has set a target of reducing the emission of greenhouse gases between 33 percent and 35 percent to combat climate change and global warming.
The Ayushman Bharat holds the Health portfolio around 50 lakh people have availed themselves of benefits under it over the past year, and the government has spent Rs 7,500 crore.
This synergy would help achieve the Prime Minister's vision of making the country among top scientific nations by 2030
Clean Energy
Power generation is a leading cause of air pollution and a major source of US global warming emissions. Coal is the worst offender produces less than half our electricity but nearly 80 percent of all power plant carbon emissions.
The good news is that coal is on the decline. Many old and inefficient coal plants are closing down and essentially no new coal plants are being built in the USA. We are moving toward a natural gas-dominated electricity system, but an over-reliance on natural gas has significant risks and is not a long-term solution to our energy needs. Like coal, it is a fossil fuel that generates substantial global warming emissions and has other health environmental, and economic risks.
Anjali Singh becomes India's first female military diplomat
Anjali Singh became India's first female military diplomat to be posted in any of the Indian missions abroad.
Singh joined the Indian Embassy in Russia as the Deputy Air Attache. Singh is trained on MiG-29 fighter aircraft, joined her new assignment on September 10.
She is the first female Indian Armed Forces Officer to be posted as a military diplomat in any of the Indian missions abroad.
Singh is an AE(L) officer with 17 years of service. She is trained on MiG-29 aircraft,
Air Force officer who is part of a diplomatic mission; this post is normally filled by a high-ranking officer. The air attache typically represents the chief of his home air force in the foreign country.
He typically represents the chief of his home air force.
Ozone hole could be smallest in three decades
The ozone hole over Antarctica one of the smallest seen in three decades. The gas's depletion high in the atmosphere demonstrates that it hasn't opened up in 2019.
The EU's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) currently well under half the area usually seen in mid-September. The UK is projecting stable levels of ozone or a modest increase in the coming days.
China confirmed as source of rise in CFCs Ozone: The Earth's protective shield is repairing .
Ozone
Ozone is a molecule that is composed of three oxygen atoms. It is responsible for filtering out harmful ultraviolet radiation from the Sun.
The gas is constantly being made and destroyed in the stratosphere, about 20-30km above the Earth.
The cycle of production and decomposition is in equilibrium. But chlorine and bromine-containing chemicals released by human activity have unbalanced the process, resulting in a loss of ozone that is at its greatest in the Antarctic spring in September/October.
Montreal Protocol
The Montreal Protocol signed by governments in 1987 sought to recover the situation by banning the production and use of the most damaging chemicals.
This past week has seen the area of deep thinning cover just over five million square km. This time last year it was beyond 20 million square km, although in 2017, it was just above 10 million sq km. In other words.
The conditions for thinning occur annually just as the Antarctic emerges from Winter. The reactions that work to destroy ozone in the cold stratosphere are initiated by the return of sunshine at high latitudes.
Scientists say that while losses started earlier than normal this year, they were truncated by a sudden warming event that lifted temperatures in the stratosphere by 20-30 degrees.
Richard Engelen is the deputy head at CAMS.The World Meteorological Organization-sponsored 2018 Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion a recovery of the ozone layer to pre-1970 levels could be expected around 2060.
Himachal Pradesh CM launches helpline for speedy redressal of public grievances
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur launched the Mukhya Mantri Seva Sankalp Helpline 1100 for speedy and time-bound redressal of public grievances.
Main Aim:
The main focus of the present state government from the day it assumed office was to ensure that the issues, problems and grievances of the general public were redressed at the earliest and in a time-bound manner.
The helpline will function six days a week (Monday-Saturday) from 7 am to 10 pm.
The regularly monitor progress of the helpline. The handling the helpline should be very courteous and polite to the complainants so that they could comfortably and easily register their complaints.
The helpline 1100 should be popularised in a way that it becomes a familiar number with each and every household of the state so that people can get maximum benefit from the redressal system.
Mukhya Mantri Seva Sankalp Helpline
The main focus of state government is to ensure that issues, problems and grievances of general public.The main focus of state government is to ensure that issues, problems and grievances of general public were redressed at the earliest.The state government has issued a toll-free number 1100 of this helpline. It is started in the new premises of Municipal Corporation.
Around 56 departments and 6500 officers working under government.
New York Becomes Second US State To Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes
New York became the second US state to ban flavored e-cigarettes. following several vaping-linked deaths that have raised fears about a product long promoted as less harmful than smoking.
The health council passed emergency legislation proposed by Governor Andrew Cuomo outlawing flavored vaping products amid an outbreak of severe pulmonary disease that has killed seven people and sickened hundreds.
The ban comes into force with immediate effect. Michigan became the first state to declare a ban earlier this month, but that law has yet to be implemented.
President Donald Trump's administration announced last week that it would soon ban flavored e-cigarette products to stem a rising tide of youth users.
The move could later be extended to an outright prohibition of vaping if adolescents migrate to tobacco flavors, seen as more legitimate products that help smokers quit their habit, said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
New York have two weeks to remove vaping products from their shelves. The ban does not prohibit menthol or tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes.E-cigarettes have been available in the US since 2006 used as an aid to quit smoking traditional tobacco products like cigarettes.Their use among adolescents skyrocketed in recent years: some 3.6 million middle and high school students used vaping products in 2018.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently that there were now more than 450 possible cases of pulmonary illness associated with vaping in the US.The CDC cautioned against vaping as officials investigate the precise cause of the deaths. No single substance has been found to be present in all the laboratory samples being examined.
New York's health department found very high levels of vitamin E oil in cannabis cartridges used by dozens of people in the state who had fallen ill after using e-cigarettes.
Vitamin E is a commonly used nutritional supplement but is dangerous when inhaled.San Francisco, the home of market leader Juul Labs, became the first American city to ban e-cigarettes in June last year.
Fifth International Ramayan Festival is organised in New Delhi
Union Minister for Home Affairs, Amit Shah presided as Chief Guest for 5th International Ramayana Festival.
It is organized by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in New Delhi
ICCR established with the vision of propagating Indian culture and its values to the whole world. There is no other better way to realize this vision than organizing the Ramayana festival
International Ramayana Festival
International Ramayana Festival is organized for 5th year in a row during which 17 countries have participated with their artists and rendered their versions of Ramayan. Ramayan is one such scripture that has transcended Personal, Societal, Religious, Cultural and National boundaries and reached a global audience.
The Indian culture and Ramayan is the treasure of centuries-old Indian culture and has solutions to all problems in the world. The Maharishi Valmiki on the life and values of an ideal human being. It beautifully depicts the highs and lows of human life and answers questions on morality and ethics arising out of difficult situations in life.
Amit Shah congratulated ICCR for its ravishing effort to take Indian culture and its ambassador Ramayan to the whole world. He also encouraged people to imbibe values from Ramayan in their lives and strive to become an ideal human being.
Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR)
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) founded in 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Independent India’s first Education Minister.
Objectives
Its objectives are to actively participate in the formulation and implementation of policies and programs pertaining to India’s external cultural relations
To foster and strengthen cultural relations and mutual understanding between India and other countries to promote cultural exchanges with other countries and people, and to develop relations with nations.
Documentary On Farmer From Remote Himalayan Village Nominated for Oscars
Moti Bagh, a documentary based on a Uttarakhand farmer’s life nominated for the Oscars. The documentary film, directed by Nirmal Chander is based on the life of a farmer called Vidyadutt.
The information was shared by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat The Chief Minister appealed to young farmers to play a leading role in preventing migration from villages and take advantage of the schemes launched by the state government.
Moti Bagh: About the documentary
Moti Bagh is a documentary film that is based on the life of Vidya Dutt, a farmer from a remote village in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand
The film explains about the issue of migration of people from villages, especially from the remote villages in the Garhwal and Kumaon regions of Uttarakhand. It highlights how Uttarakhand has witnessed migration in disturbing proportions, with villages after villages lying empty and no one to till the land.
The film covers Nepali farmers who settled in the region to plug in the gap and faced discrimination at the same time with locals calling them names like Nepali and Bahadur.