Kerala Affairs
Tamil Nadu, Kerala want toll exemption for govt buses
NaduandKeralaplan to jointly request the Union Government to exempt their government buses from paying user fee at toll plazas. Every month, the two southern states pay at least Rs 16 crore. Transport ministers of both states met in Chennai to discuss various such issues they face and how to resolve them.
TN transport sources said problems relating to procurement of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) and electric government buses are likely to be taken up during the SITCO meet as their cost was thrice that of a conventional diesel bus. So, the states might seek more financial assistance from the Centre.
National and International Affairs
PM To Launch Delhi Dehradun Corridor
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to inaugurate Delhi Dehradun corridor.
Highlights
The PM will also launch several other projects along with the corridor, which will reduce the distance between the two cities from 248 km to 180 km.
The primary purpose of the corridor is to decongest North East Delhi.
The corridor will improve the Mandola Vihar Yojana of the Government of Uttar Pradesh and also the Growth potential of Tronica city.
PM Modi will set the foundation stone for the Delhi Dehradun corridor, which will be built at Rs 8,300 crores.
The project is to be executed in Engineering, Procurement and Construction mode, where the government pays the private developer for constructing roads. And the toll revenue accrues to the government.
The highway is divided into four sections, and Section 1 is to be developed as 6 lanes.
Also, it is divided into two packages where package 1 falls in the Delhi portion, and Package 2 falls in the Uttar Pradesh portion.
The Exercise Ekuverin is a joint military exercise held between India and Maldives. It is held between the armies of India and Maldives.
Ekuverin means Friends in Dhivehi language. It is an Indo Aryan language. It is spoken in India, Lakshadweep and Maldives.
The Exercise is being conducted between India and Maldives since 2008.
In 2019, the exercise was held in Pune, Maharashtra and in 2018, it was held in Maldives.
The exercise focused on enhancing inter operability between the armed forces of India and Maldives.
It also included counter insurgency and counter terrorism operations.
The joint exercise in 2021, also conducted Sports and cultural activities to enhance the bilateral and DEFENCE relations.
The Climatic Zones of India AGRO
Agro Climatic Zone is suitable land for growing a particular crop type.
Highlights:
It is essential to delineate the land in the country into agro-climatic zones for sustainable agricultural production.
The Agro Climatic Zone has two significant modifications – Climate and growing periods.
The Agro-Ecological Zone has four vital variables – climate, types, Landforms and length of the growing period.
An Agro-Ecological Zone is created from the Agro Climatic Zone. The land unit acts as a conditioner to climate and length of the growing period. There are 20 agro-ecological zones in India.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research began the National Agricultural Research Project to set up zonal research centres in each agro-climatic zone.
These centres will analyse agro-ecological requirements and Cropping patterns in the regions.
There are 15 agro-climatic zones in India. They are,
Western Himalayas
Eastern Himalayas
Lower Gangetic plains
Middle Gangetic plains
Upper Gangetic plains
Trans Gangetic plains
Eastern plateau and hills
Central plateau and hills
Western plateau and hills
Southern plateau and hills
East coast plains and hills
West coast plains and hills
Gujarat Plains and Hills
Western dry region and islands.
INSACOG For Booster Shots
The COVID 19 Vaccine Booster Shots are recommended by the INSACOG (Indian SARS CoV 2 Genomics Consortium) for people above 40.
Highlights:
The advice arises to counterbalance the Omicron risks in the country. The Omicron is a COVID-19 variant that was later identified in South Africa.
The World Health Organisation declared it a “Variant of Concern”. According to INSACOG, it isn’t easy to identify the presence of the variant in the more initial stages of its entry into the country.
Booster shots
The booster shots are the supplementary use of the vaccine, given after the protection afforded by the original shots begin to decline.
The booster shots help keep the immunity levels in people, and all Vaccines have booster shots.
The booster shots are given after a person has completed his vaccine series to increase the protection against the virus.
This is because the protection against the virus decreases over some time.
Davis Cup 2021
The Davis Cup 2021 was won by the Russian Tennis Federation.
Highlights:
The Davis Cup finals happened between Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev of Russia.
And Daniit Medvedev won the match, taking victory to the Russian Tennis Federation.
The Davis Cup is also named the World Cup of Tennis as it is an international team competition in men’s tennis.
The Billie Jean King Cup is the Women‘s equivalent of the Davis Cup. The International Tennis Federation conducts it on hard courts.
It first happened in 1900 as a trial between the US and Britain, and by 2016, 135 countries were participating in the tournament.
The most victorious countries of the Davis cup are the USA, Australia, New Zealand, where the USA has won the Davis Title 32 times, Australia has won 28 times.
It is a single-elimination tournament, as each match’s loser is immediately eliminated from the tournament.