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.
