12.01.21 Daily APSC Current Affairs

ASSAM

 

Project plan ready to address flood problem, says Rattan Lal Kataria

 

Union minister of state (MoS) for jal shakti Rattan Lal Kataria has told Barpeta MP Abdul

Khaleque in a letter that the state water resources department has prepared a project for long-term solution of the flood and erosion problems of the Brahmaputra. The “Assam-integrated flood and river bank erosion risk management project for Chenimari, Bahari, Bhogerpar and its adjoining area” would cost Rs 398.43 crore, the Union minister said.

 

The minister said according to the views of experts, floods are a natural phenomena except in situations involving failure of flood control structures or faulty regulation of reservoirs.

 

The state government, to control the erosion and flood problems of Beki and Aie rivers, has prepared two projects — “Integrated flood and erosion management of Manas and Beki in the district of Baksa and Barpeta in Brahmaputra valley within Assam (Review),” for Rs 203.25 crore and “Integrated Aie river Basin management in Assam” for Rs 8.40 crore to study the entire Aie river basis.

 

 

NORTH-EASTERN STATES

Arunachal Pradesh likely to become India’s prime producer of vanadium

 

Arunachal Pradesh is likely to become India’s prime producer of vanadium.

Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal.

The elemental metal is rarely found in nature. It is recovered as a by-product from the slag collected from the processing of vanadiferous magnetite ores (iron ore).

Vanadium is a high-value metal used in strengthening steel and titanium.

The largest deposits of vanadium in the world are in China, followed by Russia and South Africa.

 

INTERNATIONAL

India to get UN tag of international disaster response force for NDRF

India could soon be a part of the United Nations (UN) mandated international disaster rescue operations as its country’s federal contingency force, NDRF, is expected to obtain a globally recognised standardisation later this year.

The authorisation will be done by the Switzerland-headquartered INSARAG (or the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group) which is a network of more than 90 countries and organisations under the UN umbrella to deal with urban search and rescue related issues.

An INSARAG committee, comprising Australian and Singaporean experts, has conducted preliminary review of NDRF teams in September, 2019, but the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic put the process on a back burner for a while.

The National Disaster Response Force was raised in 2006 to undertake specific tasks of relief and rescue during natural and manmade disasters or life threatening situations.

 

NATIONAL

National Youth Festival to be organized from January 12

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is organizing a week long National Youth Festival in the country commencing from the 12th of this month.

Every year, the festival is being held to commemorate the birth anniversary of youth icon Swami Vivekananda.

This year the festival has been organised in virtual mode and talent from every state has been included.

The objective of National Youth Parliament Festival is to hear the voice of youth between 18 and less than 25 years of age, who will join various careers in coming years, including public services.

Suriname’s Indian-origin President to be Chief Guest at Republic Day 2021

Chandrikapersad Santokhi, Indian-origin President of Suriname, will be the chief guest at India’s Republic Day Parade on January 26, 2021.

The news comes after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled his visit to India.

The Suriname President was earlier the Chief Guest at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention.

Chandrikapersad Santokhi was sworn in as the 9th President of the Republic of Suriname in July 2020 after his party- Progressive Reform Party won the 2020 General Elections by claiming 20 out of the total 51 seats.

 

Brazil seeks two million doses of Covishield vaccine from India on priority basis

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has requested India for 2 million doses of Covishield vaccine produced indigenously by the Serum Institute of India, Pune.

Mr Bolsonaro has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expedite the shipment of Covishield vaccine to Brazil without affecting India’s vaccination program.

Brazilian National Immunization Program has finalized the Covishield and Covaxin for emergency use in the country.

Earlier, the federally funded Fiocruz biomedical center had requested an emergency use authorization for Covishield vaccine coming from India.

 

India to rollout world’s largest vaccination drive on Jan 16

 

The vaccination drive for COVID 19 will kick off on 16th January in the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chaired a high-level meeting to review the status of COVID-19 in the country along with the preparedness for COVID vaccination.

Emergency Use Authorisation or Accelerated Approval has been granted by the National Regulator for two vaccines – Covishield and Covaxin – which have established safety and immunogenicity.

The vaccination exercise is underpinned by the principles of people’s participation, utilizing experience of elections and Universal Immunization Program.

LiDAR (Aerial Ground) survey starts on Delhi – Varanasi bullet train project

 

The proposed Delhi Varanasi High-Speed Rail (DVHSR) corridor with a length of about 800 km gained momentum.

The LiDAR survey for Delhi-Varanasi High Speed Rail Corridor started from Greater Noida where a Helicopter fitted with state of art Aerial LiDAR and Imagery sensors took the first flight and captured the data related to ground survey.

National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited is adopting Light Detection and Ranging Survey (LiDAR) technology which provides all the ground details and data in 3-4 months wherein this process normally takes 10-12 months.

The ground survey is a crucial activity for any linear infrastructure project as the survey provides accurate details of areas around the alignment.

Government to soon come out with model tenancy law

 

Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said the government will soon come out with the model tenancy law, giving a major boost to real estate sector especially rental homes.
The ministry had in July 2019 floated the draft model tenancy law.

 

Mishra pointed out that 1.1 crore homes were vacant as per 2011 census as people fear to give their homes on rent.

The model tenancy law will eliminate anomalies and give a boost to real estate sector, he said.

The Centre will send the Model Tenancy Law, after approval from the Union Cabinet, to States for its adoption. The draft model tenancy law proposes that landowners will have to give a notice in writing three months before revising rent. It advocated appointing a district collector as rent authority and heavy penalty on tenants for overstaying.

 

 

 

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