Prelims Bits 13-02-2018

INS Chakra

• Russian authorities have demanded over $20 million for rectifying the damage suffered by nuclear submarine INS Chakra.
• INS Chakra is a Russia-made, nuclear-propelled, hunter-killer akula class submarine.
• INS Chakra is one of the quietest nuclear submarines around, with noise levels next to zero.
• INS Chakra has been taken on lease from Russia for 10 years and would provide the Navy the opportunity to train personnel and operate such nuclear-powered vessels.
• The INS Chakra joined the Eastern Naval Command at Visakhapatnam in 2012.

Pradhan Mantri LPG Panchayat

• The LPG Panchayat, which was launched in Gandhinagar last year, is aimed at driving rural households to adopt Liquefied Petroleum Gas.
• Now, the President is planning to conduct one in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
• As a part of it, over 100 beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), from 20 states will share their experiences of how the clean cooking fuel has changed their lives, in the presence of the President.
• After the launch of the PMUY, LPG consumption witnessed an increase of 10 per cent to 21.5 million tons during 2016-17, compared to the previous year.

Wakhan Corridor

• Wakhan corridor is a narrow strip of inhospitable and barely accessible land in Afghanistan bordered by the mountains of Tajikistan and Pakistan, and extending all the way to China.

• The corridor is also known by its persian name Bam-e-Dunya, or “roof of the world”
• The area is populated by the Wakhins who are the members of a nomadic tribe in the region.
• Created in the 19th century as a Great Game buffer zone between tsarist Russia and British India, the corridor has since remained untouched by any kind of government
• It can be reached from surrounding countries through the “Pamir Knot”, where three of the highest mountain ranges in the world converge.

National Productivity Day

• The National Productivity Council is observed 12^th February as National Productivity Day, and till 18th February National Productivity Week.
• "Industry 4.0 Leapfrog Opportunity for India” is the theme of the National Productivity Week -2018.
• Industry 4.0 is characterized by the increasing digitization and interconnection of products, value chains and business models.

National Productivity Council (NPC)

• NPC is a mission oriented apex, autonomous and not for profit organization.
• It is established by the Ministry of Industry, Govt. of India in 1958. 
• The council is celebrating its 60^th anniversary this year.
• Its objective is to promote the cause of productivity in all sectors of the Indian economy.
• NPC is a constituent of the Tokyo-based Asian Productivity Organization (APO), an Inter Governmental Body, of which the Government of India is a founder member.

State of Forest Report (SFR 2017)

• SFR is a biennial report published by Forest Survey of India (FSI), which is under the Ministry of Environment.
• The latest report states that, India posted a marginal 0.21% rise in the area under forest between 2015 and 2017.
• The document says that India has about 7, 08,273 square km of forest, which is 21.53% of the geographic area of the country.
• The top five States where maximum forest cover has increased are Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha and Telangana.
• India’s northeast showed a decrease in the forest cover.
• The five States where forest cover has decreased most are Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Meghalaya.
• The main reasons for the decrease are shifting cultivation, other biotic pressures, rotational felling, diversion of forest lands for developmental activities, submergence of forest cover, agriculture expansion and natural disasters
• Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country in terms of area, followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
• In terms of percentage of forest cover with respect to the total geographical area, Lakshadweep has the highest forest cover, followed by Mizoram and Andaman and Nicobar Island.
• The survey, which has for the first time assessed water bodies, said that during last decade, the area under water bodies is increased by 2647 sq.km.

Source: PIB, The Hindu, Business Standard