Khelo India Talent Identification Development scheme
- Khelo India is a National Programme for Development of Sports, which aims to enable a pathway from schools to Olympics.
- Each athlete selected under the scheme will get a scholarship of Rs. 5 lakh per annum for eight years.
- The government also aims to set up 20 universities across the country as hubs of sporting excellence.
- Following the successful conduct of the Khelo India School Games, Sports Authority of India cleared the proposal of Khelo India Talent Identification Development scheme.
- It is a scholarship programme designed to take care of their expenses including training, development, boarding and lodging and tournament exposure apart from offering them out of pocket expense allowance.
National Moth Week
- National Moth Week was initiated in 2012 by scientist in America.
- Its main aim is to increase awareness on Moths and encourage people to observe and document moths in backyards and neighbourhoods.
- It is observed in the last week of July in more than 40 countries worldwide.
- India is among 40 countries in which enthusiasts and citizen scientists are devoting the week from July 21 to 29 to document the insects
Digital Knowledge on Bird Species
- Wildlife scientists tried to use online data to study if bird occurrence has altered across India over time.
- However, with little data before 1980 was found digitally, it is difficult to make comparisons.
- Scientists at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the University of Kansas have recently accessed more than 2 million bird occurrence data points from across India.
- The study was carried out with an intent to evaluate the “digital accessible knowledge” of bird species occurrences.
- They explored two sources - Global Biodiversity Information Facility and eBird.
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is a network funded by the world’s governments focused on making scientific data on biodiversity available online.
- eBird is the world’s largest biodiversity-related citizen science project where users contribute information on bird sightings.
Salicornia
- Salicornia is a plant that grows in salty marshes in the mangrove wetlands.
- The plant can be used as a substitute to salt with low sodium content.
- The patients suffering from hypertension, diabetes and gastric related ailments prefer the Salicornia salad and salt.
- The production of the salt substitute has come down drastically in Gujarat with the scarcity of the Salicornia. Thus India is forced to import it from Israel and Scandinavian countries.
- Recently, Andhra Pradesh government has intensified the efforts to tap commercial benefits from the plant through cultivation as well as extraction.
- The government has documented the presence of the Salicornia along the coastline of Krishna district, exploring the possibilities to extract the salt substitute through various methods.
K9 Vajra-T Guns
- K9 Vajra-T is an artillery gun produced by South Korea.
- India is going to procure this artillery guns and it will be the first induction of heavy artillery since the Swedish Bofors guns imported in the 1980s.
- It is a 155-mm, 52-calibre self-propelled artillery gun with a maximum range of 40 km, customised from the original K9 Thunder gun.
- The fire control system has been customised for desert conditions to the requirements of the Indian Army.
- India is also planning to procure M777 ultra-light howitzers from the U.S.
- The M777 is a 155-mm, 39-calibre towed artillery gun and weighs just four tonnes, making it transportable under slung from helicopters.
Solar Park
- Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have topped the list of states with maximum solar power generation capacity approved under solar parks in India.
- A solar park is a concentrated zone of development of solar power generation projects.
- It provides developers an area with proper infrastructure and access to amenities and where the risk of the projects can be minimized.
- The solar park scheme also provides for reduced number of statutory approvals to facilitate faster and easier development.
Source: The Hindu, PIB
