Important Points @ Glance: Part 3
v Scientists have confirmed
the presence of Himalayan wolf — the most ancient wolf lineage known — in
Nepal’s largest protected area- the Annapurna Conservation Area. It has been
listed as Critically Endangered in the National Red List.
v Colombia’s top court has
legalised same-sex marriage, making the country the fourth in Latin America to
do so. Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay have previously legalised same-sex
marriage.
v Reliance Defence has signed
an agreement with three Ukrainian state-owned firms — Ukroboronprom,
Spetstechno Exports and Antonov — to collaborate on a range of military
products including transport aircraft, armoured vehicles, maritime gas turbines
and unmanned aerial vehicles.
v India has resumed publishing
its income tax data, which was suspended in 2000 owing to staffing and
technical issues. India had first started publishing its income tax statistics
in 1961.
v Sri Lanka, in the midst of a
crisis over deterioration of the balance of payments (BOP) position, has got
the much-needed reprieve with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreeing to
provide $ 1.5 billion through a three-year-long Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
The EFF was established to provide assistance to countries: (i) experiencing
serious payments imbalances because of structural impediments; or (ii)
characterized by slow growth and an inherently weak balance of payments
position. The EFF provides assistance in support of comprehensive programs that
include policies of the scope and character required to correct structural
imbalances over an extended period.
v Rahuri Municipal Council of
Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra has become the first Municipal Council to
attain the status of integrated with digital locker for the issuance of all
essential Documents. This service was recently launched as part of Digital
India Programme.
v Based on a proposal from the
National Monuments Authority (NMA), the Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) has developed an app named “Smarac Citizen”. The app is aimed at
granting construction permits within few minutes to architects and real estate
developers who plan to construct buildings close to national monuments. The app
contains the maps of 3,686 Centrally-protected monuments across the country.
Apart from easing the process of obtaining construction permits, the app will
help the NMA keep a tab on encroachments around monuments. The app will also
give the elevation details— the height of the site with respect to mean sea
level. It will help architects not only for the NMA approval, but also for the
approval of the Airports Authority of India.
v Japan has decided to abandon
a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar satellite it sent to study black holes. The
ultra-high-tech “Hitomi” – or eye – was launched in February to find X-rays
emanating from black holes and galaxy clusters. But shortly after it reached
orbit, researchers admitted they had lost control of it and said it was no
longer communicating. The satellite, developed in collaboration with NASA and
other groups, was intended to help unlock the mystery of black holes, phenomena
that have never been directly observed.
v Laser walls have been made
operational along the India-Pakistan international border in Punjab to plug the
porous riverine and treacherous terrain and keep an effective vigil against
intruders and terrorists exploiting the frontier areas to cross over.
v Nasa’s Cassini spacecraft,
orbiting Saturn and its moons since 2004, has confirmed that a huge sea on
Saturn’s moon Titan is composed mostly of pure liquid methane. The sea, called
Ligeia Mare, has a surface area of about 126,000 sq. kms. Cassini also found
that the seabed may be covered in a sludge of carbon- and nitrogen-rich
material, and its shores may be surrounded by wetlands. Methane, a compound
made of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms, exists as a gas on Earth. It
becomes liquid only at -161.5 degrees Celsius. Saturn’s great distance from the
Sun ensures that gases like methane exist as liquids there.
Important Points @ Glance: Part 1
Important Points @ Glance: Part 2
No comments:
Post a Comment