KERALA

Kerala gets Rs 81 crore CAMPA fund to increase forest cover
The state forest department has received Rs 81.59 crore from the Centre for increasing green cover through compensatory afforestation.

The allocation for Kerala, however, turned out to be very low when compared to that of various other states, including Odisha (Rs 5,933.98 cr), Chhattisgarh (Rs 5,791.70 cr), Madhya Pradesh (Rs 5,196.69 cr), Jharkhand (Rs 4,158.02 cr), Maharashtra (Rs 3,844.24 cr) and Telangana (Rs 3,110.38 cr).

Of the 27 states which received the allocations worth Rs 47,436.18 crore from the corpus of around Rs 55,000 crore accumulated through compensation payments by user agencies for diverting forest land for non-forest purposes, Kerala remained at the bottom after Tamil Nadu which received Rs 113.42 crore.

Sixteen states received funds above Rs 1,000 crore each.

The Centre has directed the states to use the fund for plantations, assisted natural regeneration of forests, forest fire prevention, pest and disease control in forest, soil and moisture conservation works, catchment area treatment and improvement of wildlife habitat, which are in the list of 24 permissible activities.

In Kerala, the major option is to make existing reserve forests much more compact after relocating tribal settlements from inside the reserves to forest fringes, the official said. The state could also look at increasing the green/tree cover by notifying excess or non-utilized lands which are now part of various estates and leased lands

INTERNATIONAL

· PM Modi inaugurated Shreenathji Temple in Bahrain

Prime Minister Narendra Modilaunched the $4.2 million improvement project on Shreenathji Temple and offered prayers.

It is a 200-year-old Lord Sri Krishna avatar templein Manama, Bahrain. It is the oldest temple with a land measure of 16,500 sq. feet and a new four-floor structure covering 45,000 sq. feet with an overall height of 30m civilized with the qualities of peace, faith. The temple has 80% more capacity to host devotees.

The temple mainly has facilities forancient Hindu wedding ceremonies and different rituals, promoting Bahrain as a marriage destination and boosting touristry. The temple corridors are adorned with paintings by varied Indian and Bahraini artists and folks of all faiths area unit welcome. Around 3,50,000 Indian nationals live in Bahrain. The Indian community comprises a 3rd of Bahrain’s total population of 1.2 million.

· Henley Passport Index India slips 5 spots

Henley Passport Index for the year 2019 released. The report ranks India at 86th positionof 189 countries in 2019. It secured a score of 58. It slipped 79th place in its previous index. The report stated that Japan and Singapore as the “world’s most powerful passport” in 2019.Japan topped the list for the second consecutive time in a row 189 countries.
Around 8 nations added to India’s list of visa-free access between 2010 and 2019 It is ranked lowest among BRICS nations.

Henley Passport index is a global ranking of countries to travel freedom for their citizens.

It started in 2005 as Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index (HVRI). Later it was modified and renamed in January 2018.

NATIONAL

· Microsoft and Indian School of Business (ISB) signs MoU to set up AI Digital Lab

IT(Information Technology) company, Microsoft and Indian School of Business (ISB)have signed an MoU(memorandum of understanding) to set up an AI Digital Lab powered by PlatiFi technologies(a Microsoft partner) to study issues that are relevant for business and public policy. The duo will also offer an executive 3-day nontechnical program titled “Leading Business Transformation in the Age of AI”, which will kick start in October 2019, would equip business leaders with tools and strategies to transform their respective organizations to AI(Artificial Intelligence)-driven organizations.

HRD Ministry launches National Digital Library of India

Human Resource Development Ministry under its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology, NMEICT has launched the National Digital Library of India project.

It will develop a framework of virtual repository of learning resources with a single-window search facility.

As of now, there are more than 3 crore digital resources available through the National Digital Library.

More than 50 lakh students have registered themselves in the National Digital Library with about 20 lakh active users.

National Digital Library has been integrated with UMANG App and users can register through www.ndl.gov.in or through the mobile app.

· Open Acreage Licensing Programme Bid Round-IV to be launched

The union Government implemented reforms in the past five years in the E&P sector. Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP)replaced the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) . This is approved in the year 2016. The Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP) along with the National Data Repository (NDR) launched in June 2017 . The key drivers to accelerate the Exploration and Production (E&P) activities in India. The union government under three (3) OALP Rounds awarded Eighty-Seven (87) Blocks covering an area of 1,18,280 Sq. Km with leading E&P companies.

The salient features of Policy Reforms cover Category Specific Bid evaluation criteria with more weight to exploratory work program, Category-II, and III type blocks are based on exploratory work program shorter exploration period, concessional royalty rates to expedite oil and gas production and introduction of alternative dispute resolution mechanism.

· ISRO to launch Cartosat 3 in October or November

India plans to launch Cartosat-3, its advanced satellite in the month of October-November. ISRO plans to launch the Cartosat-3using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket.

ISRO has launched 8 Cartosats so far.

Cartosat-3 is the third series of earth observationalor remote sensing satellite. It is an advanced version with better spatial with a range of view, and resolution of up to 0.25m or 25cm as compared to the Cartosat-2 series satellites. It is capable of producing images with one of the most high-resolution in the world, and certainly the highest of any satellites under ISRO’s umbrella. Cartosat-3 has been developed to produce high-resolution pictures for strategic applications. It is fitted with advanced remote sensing tools that will be helpful with defence. CartoSAT-3 has been designed in a way that it will be one of the most advanced imaging satellites ever built by ISRO.

In this earth observation mission, it will have powerful capabilities in multiple different spectral characteristicsincluding:
♦ panchromatic which captures all visible colors of light
♦ multispectral which is capable of capturing light within specific ranges in the electromagnetic spectrum
♦ hyperspectral that can capture light from across the electromagnetic spectrum.

· Indian team won 2 Gold medal in World Archery Youth Championship 2019

Indian junior (U-21) compound mixed team of Markoo Ragineeand Sukhbeer Singh picked up the first gold for India.
They defeated Switzerland rivals Andrea Vallario and Janine Hunsperger with 152-147 scores at the World Archery Youth Championships 2019.

Final Destination for Kerala PSC Notes and Tests, Exclusive coverage of KPSC Prelims and Mains Syllabus, Dedicated Staff and guidence for KPSC Kerala PSC Notes brings Prelims and Mains programs for Kerala PSC Prelims and Kerala PSC Mains Exam preparation. Various Programs initiated by Kerala PSC Notes are as follows:-

For any doubt, Just leave us a Chat or Fill us a querry––