Under the Foreigners (Restricted) Areas Order, 1963, entire Andaman & Nicobar Islands and part of the Sikkim State have been declared as ‘Restricted’ Areas.
A foreign national (except Bhutan) is not normally allowed to visit the restricted areas.
They require a special permit from the competent authority delegated with powers to issue such a special permit or from Ministry of Home affairs.
Some areas are notified by the Union Government from time to time that allows foreigners to visit restricted areas with a view to promote tourism.
Union Home Ministry has recently excluded Andaman& Nicobar Islands from the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) till December 31, 2022.
It was notified subject to condition such as,
Citizens of Afghanistan, China and Pakistan would continue to require RAP to visit the UT,
Citizens of Myanmar will continue to require RAP, which shall be issued only with the prior approval of the Home ministry,
Separate approvals of the competent authority would be required for visiting reserved forests, wildlife sanctuaries and tribal reserves.
UPI 2.0
Unified Payment Interface is a platform created by the National Payments Corporation (NPCI) to facilitate faster and smoother digital payments.
It allows a customer to pay directly from a bank account to another bank account & different merchants, both online and offline, without the hassle of typing credit card details, IFSC code, or net banking/wallet passwords.
UPI 2.0 is an upgraded version with several new features added to UPI.
It allows scheduling payment transfers at a later date with pre-authorisation.
It allows customers to link their overdraft (OD) account with UPI. In the Earlier version, only current and savings account can linked.
It will also let users verify UPI credentials using a QR code.
Customers can now receive invoices from merchants directly in the inbox to verify the authenticity of credentials.
International Nitrogen Initiative
International Nitrogen Initiative was established in 2003 under sponsorship of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) and International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP).
The key aims of the INI are,
To optimize nitrogen’s beneficial role in sustainable food production,
To minimize nitrogen’s negative effects on human health and the environment resulting from food and energy production.
The INI holds a conference every three years to discuss ideas and exchange knowledge on nitrogen issues.
The last INI conference was held in Melbourne, in December 2016, adopting Melbourne declaration.
The next INI conference will be held in Berlin, Germany, in 2020.
The 5th International Nitrogen Conference in 2010 (N2010) was organized by INI and its South Asia regional centre inNew Delhi.
N2010 enabled INI to bring together its contributions to the Global Nitrogen Assessment.
Under this, Indian Nitrogen Group has released “The Indian Nitrogen Assessment”, India’s first-ever such attempt to studynitrogen pollution.
INI is coordinated by a Steering Committee, led by a chair and six regional centre directors representing, Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, South Asia and East Asia.
Recently, Indian scientist-academician, N Raghuram, has been elected Chair of the Steering Committee of INI.
Hubble Space Telescope
NASA’s Hubble have recently captured one of the largest panoramic views of star birth in the distant universe, featuring about 15,000 galaxies.
It is the world's first large, space-based optical telescope, named in honor of astronomer Edwin Hubble.
The Hubble is a joint project between NASA and the European Space Agency.
Sun is the energy source of this space based telescope.
It captured the image of the star birth in the Ultraviolet, Infrared and visible light range.
Fall Armyworm
It is an invasive agricultural pest discovered in the Maize field in the State of Telangana.
It was first reported in Karnataka by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research.
It is a major maize pest in North America and it arrived in Africa in 2016.
It has spread to Central and Western Africa in 2016 and has proved very hard to control.
It prefers Maize, but can feed on 80 species of plants, including rice, sorghum, millet, sugarcane and cotton.
It can be controlled with insecticides, through natural enemies or by inter-cropping.
