CURRENT AFFAIRS-11TH DECEMBER

*China Starts World's Biggest Floating Solar Project

     A unit of China Three Gorges Corp. is building a 1 billion yuan ($151 million) floating solar power plant, the world’s biggest, in the nation’s eastern province of Anhui. China Three Gorges New Energy Co. started building the 150-megawatt project in July and part of the plant was connected to the grid.      

     The project features panels fixed to floats on the surface of a lake that formed after a coal mine collapsed, according to the unit. The entire facility is expected to come online by May 2018.

*NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

              The Geneva-based International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), is a global civil society coalition working to promote adherence to and full implementation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. ICAN was launched in 2007 and counts 468 partner organizations in 101 countries as of 2017.

*ASEAN-India Connectivity Summit, New Delhi (December 11-12, 2017)

      Theme: Powering Digital and Physical Linkages for Asia in the 21st Century

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was formed in 1967 to promote political and economic cooperation and regional stability. ..
Members-10 observors-2

*Yeraringan Award to Prof. M.S. Swaminathan.

CURRENT AFFAIRS-12TH APRIL-2016

TIGER POPULATION INCREASED BY 22%

The number of wild tigers has gone up to 3,890, from the earlier 2010 estimate of 3200, according to the World Wildlife Fund and the Global Tiger Forum.

India leads tiger population countries with an estimated population of 2226, according to a 2014 national survey. India’s own tiger population has gone up significantly from 1706, as per its own national estimates, reported by the IUCN in 2010.othe countries which are in increase are Russia, Nepal and Bhutan

According to the WWF, hundred years ago there were 100,000 wild tigers. By 2010, there were as few as 3,200. Therefore, in 2010, tiger range governments agreed to act to double wild tigers by the next Chinese Year of the Tiger in 2022. This goal is known as Tx2. It comes under Endangered species

India efforts for increase in tiger population-are PROJECT TIGER-under which government allotted Rs.380.00 crore in the current fiscal year

Strict enforcement on illegal activites

Global Tiger Forum

established-1993

>first meeting of the tiger range countries was held in March 1994 at New Delhi attended by 11 tiger range states and others.Union Minister for Environment & Forest, Govt. of India as the first Chairman of this forum.

All Tiger Range countries-
Bangladesh - Joined on 24 February 1999 

Bhutan - Joined on 12 July 1995 
Cambodia - Joined on 20 October 2004 
India -Joined on 27 February 1995 
Myanmar - Joined on 12 August 1994 
Nepal - Joined on 22 July 2002 
Vietnam - Joined on 19 November 1996

The 3rd Asia Ministerial Conference (3AMC)-in newdelhi

CURRENT AFFAIRS--(S&T)

Swine flu under Epidemic Disease Act
Punjab Government has notified swine flu (H1N1) under the Epidemic Disease Act to prevent the spread of disease in the state. 
Swine flu (swine influenza): It is a respiratory disease caused by viruses (influenza viruses) that infect the respiratory tract of pigs. H1N1 (Hemagglutinin Type 1 and Neuraminidase Type 1) is the subtype of influenza A virus that was the most common cause of human influenza (flu). 
Its common symptoms are nasal secretions, a barking cough, decreased appetite and listless behaviour
Haryana New Secretariat Building gets first Earthquake Warning System in country
Haryana’s New Secretariat Building in Chandigarh has become first building in the country to have an early Earthquake Warning and Security system (onsite). 
The system was installed by New Delhi based Terra Techcom Private Limited and Secretary Electronics GmbH, Germany. 
The system can provide crucial seconds for evacuation in event of an earthquake and is already being used in 26 countries around the world. It works on the principle of detection of primary and secondary seismic waves of an earthquake.
The primary waves are fastest kind of seismic wave and are the initial vertical movements beneath the earth that do not cause any damage. 
They are soon followed by secondary waves that travel beneath the earth horizontally and have the potential to cause damage. They are generally known to us as an earthquake. 
The system detects intensity of the primary waves and gives out warning alarm only when the intensity of the secondary waves is high enough to potentially cause damage

SCHEMES OF NDA(MODI)GOVERNMENT-2015

Education:
 Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (PMMMNMTT): 
 Launched in March 2015.
 Concerned Ministry: Ministry of Human Resource Development
About Scheme: 
 Under the scheme Government will set up 50 Centres of Excellence for Curriculum and Pedagogy with necessary emphasis on Maths and Science.
 It is mandated to ensure a coordinated approach so as to holistically address the various shortcomings relating to teachers and teaching across the educational spectrum ranging from school education to higher education including technical education; using the best international practices for excellence.
 It will also empower teachers and faculty through training, re-training, refresher and orientation programmes in generic skills, pedagogic skills, discipline specific content upgradation, ICT and technology enabled training and other appropriate interventions.
 The various components of PMMMNMTT:
 1. setting up 30 Schools of Education,
 2. 50 Centres of Excellence for Curriculum and Pedagogy,
 3. Two Inter University Centres,
 4. National Resource Centre,
 5. Five Centres of Academic Leadership and Educational Management,
 6. Subject Based Networks and Workshops and Seminars,
 This will strengthen teachers, and in turn will improve the understanding of the students to grasp basic concepts and help them learn better.
Unnat Bharat Abhiyan: 
 Launched in December 2014
 Concerned Ministry: Ministry of Human Resource Development About Scheme:
 The program was launched with an aim to connect institutions of higher education, including Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs) etc. with local communities to address the development challenges through appropriate technologies so as to ensure sustainability.
 The objectives of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan are broadly two-fold: 
1. Building institutional capacity in Institutes of higher education in research & training relevant to the needs of rural India.
2. Provide rural India with professional resource support from institutes of higher education ,especially those which have acquired academic excellence in the field of Science, Engineering & Technology and Management.
 Under this programme,132 villages have been identified for intervention by the following 16 institutes of higher education so far.
 Based on area/village identification, the Unnat Bharat Cells in the Institutes will develop strategies for problem and resource mapping and developing a holistic development plan with clear inputs and measurable outcomes and time lines.
Various issues that can be undertaken are listed as follows:
  Natural resource management (water and watersheds, soil, bio-diversity),
 Economic Productivity through appropriate technologies for sustainable agriculture and agro-processing,
 Entrepreneurship and Skill development through multipurpose service-cum-training centers in rural areas,
 Technological and managerial interventions on developing Physical Infrastructure (rural housing, drinking water, improved sanitation, low-cost toilets, renewable energy, rural and regional plans.)
 Rural electronics and IT to provide access to technology in the areas of health, sanitation, sustainable agriculture, education watershed management, etc.
 Social and institutional infrastructure development such as Health, Education, Public Transport, PDS. etc.
NOTE-ARTICLE WILL BE UPDATED SHORTLY