ODISHA

Odisha, nabard sign mou for massive groundwater recharge

The Odisha Government on Friday signed an MoU with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) for implementation of the country’s first project on climate change for massive groundwater recharge.

The 166.30 million USD (approximately `1,115 crore)-project would be implemented in the State’s 15 districts, Bargarh, Balangir, Boudh, Gajapati, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Nuapada, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Sambalpur and Subarnapur, in five years.

Out of the total project estimate, the South Korean-based Green Climate Fund would provide 34.36 million USD (`240 crore) to the State Government as financial assistance through the Nabard.

“The project envisages a massive groundwater recharge at a cost of about `1,100 crore. The Green Climate Fund is giving an assistance of about `240 crore. The State Government will arrange the remaining amount through convergence funding.

Apart from renovation and improvement of 10,000 ponds, the project envisages shafts to recharge at least 1,65,000 acre feet of water to the aquifers, development of 1,000 deep bore-wells with solar pumping based micro irrigation and capacity building of farmers.

INTERNATIONAL

Japan overtakes China as World’s 2nd biggest stock market

As a result of China’s trade war with the US and its campaign to cut debt, the value of China’s stock market fell to $6.09 trillion, losing its position as the World’s second biggest stock market to Japan ($6.17 trillion).

The U.S. has the world’s largest stock market at just over $31 trillion.

China’s stock market overtook Japan’s in 2014 and soared to an all-time high of over $10 trillion in 2015.

NATIONAL

· World’s 1st Hindi-Speaking Robot Rashmi

Ranchi-based software developer Ranjit Srivastavais developing the world’s first Hindi-speaking humanoid robot called Rashmi.
The robot will speak Bhojpuri, Marathi, and English, and is equipped with facial expressions and recognition systems.

Paryatan Parv’ to be organized nationwide from 16th to 27th September, 2018

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India in collaboration with other Central Ministries, State Governments and Stakeholders is organizing a “Paryatan Parv” across the country from the 16th to 27th September 2018.

The Parv is being organized with the objective of drawing focus on the benefits of tourism, showcasing the cultural diversity of the country and reinforcing the principle of “Tourism for All”.

The Paryatan Parv will start with the India Tourism Mart 2018 (16th – 18th September 2018), which will further ensure wide participation from outside the country. The Paryatan Parv shall conclude with the World Tourism Day celebrations on 27th September 2018.

· Lok Sabha passed the National Sports University Bill, 2018

The Lok Sabhapassed the National Sports University Bill, 2018. The Bill is to establish a National Sports University in Manipur. It aimed at enhancing the country’s standing in sports. The National Sports University Bill, 2018, will replace an Ordinance promulgated by the President Ram Nath Kovind on May 31 2018. The legislation was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August 2017 by Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.
The set up of the University would cost 524 crore. It would promote sports coaching and research. It would also function as the national training centre for selective sports disciplines by adopting best international practices and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

· ISRO to launch its heaviest satellite GSAT 11 on November 30

Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) heaviest satellite so far – the GSAT-11(weighing over 5.7 tonnes i.e., 5,700-kg)- which the space agency had cleared for launch in June, will take off a spaceport in French Guiana on 30 November.
GSAT-11 carries 40 transpondersin the Ku-band and the Ka-band frequencies, and is capable of providing high bandwidth connectivity with up to 14 GB per second data transfer speed.

Assam NRC Final Draft List released

In a bid to identify theillegal Bangladeshi migrants, the government released the final draft of National Register of Citizens (NRC) list with names of 28,983,677 citizens in Assam.
However, around 40 lakh people have been left out of the list.
NRC

♦ National Register of Citizens is a record of all legal citizens of a state. The first list of NRC was created way back in 1951.

♦ The NRC was prepared under the purview of the Foreigners Act of 1946.

♦ Assam is the only state in India that has an NRC.

· Govt launched e Aksharayan Software in 7 Indian languages

E-Aksharayan is free, desktop software for converting scanned printed Indian Language documents into a fully editable text format in Unicode encoding.
The software supports editing in seven Indian languages – Hindi, Bangla, Malayalam, Gurmukhi, Tamil, Kannada & Assamese.

· Red Fort at MMC is to be remodeled into Museum

Red Fort, which is at the east of Madras Medical College(MMC) Chennai, is planned to be remodelled into a museum. The building was constructed in 1897, the red brick structure has been classified as a Grade I heritage building by the Justice E. Padmanabhan Committee on heritage structures. The building is of Indo-Saracenic
The State government has sanctioned 1.97 crorefor the restoration process of the building. On completion, the building is planned to be remodelled into a museum.

OPSC Notes brings Prelims and Mains programs for OPSC Prelims and OPSC Mains Exam preparation. Various Programs initiated by OPSC Notes are as follows:-

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

04.08.18 OPSC (Orrisa) Current Affairs