ODISHA

Ama Gaon Ama Bikash now in all 314 blocks

The Ama Gaon Ama Bikash progamme, which was launched on March 5, 2018 to connect people directly with the State Government in the development process, has reached all villages in all 314 blocks of the State.

Under the programme, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik approves projects in rural areas after holding discussions with village people directly. As many as 62,857 projects worth Rs 1,554.41 crore have been sanctioned in 6,798 ghram panchayats in 314 blocks.

INTERNATIONAL

Total lunar eclipse and supermoon

At the same time, Earth will also witness a supermoon as the satellite will be closer to the planet. The moon will appear slightly bigger and brighter than usual.

The eclipse begins with the partial phase around 0904 hours IST on Monday. Totality, when Earth’s shadow completely blankets the moon, will last 62 minutes, beginning at 10:11 a.m.

During totality, the moon will look red, also known as a blood moon, because of sunlight scattering off Earth’s atmosphere. This total lunar eclipse is the 18th total lunar eclipse since 2001.

If the skies are clear, the entire eclipse will be visible in North and South America, as well as Greenland, Iceland, United Kingdom, and in most parts of Europe.

NATIONAL

· Many countries express interest to import Railway’s Ambitious Project – Train 18

Train 18which has run at a maximum speed of 180 kmph during its trial run will have its debut journey from Varanasi to Delhi.
Many countries have expressed interest in the train set and we are happy and proud that an indigenously made product is attracting so much interest.
NTA scores are normalized scores across multi-session papers and are based on the relative performance of all those who appeared for the examination in one session. The marks obtained are converted into a scale ranging from 100 to 0 for each session of examinees.

· ISROs top priority is Gaganyaan

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)announced that working on the human space flight programmeGaganyaan and launching a major student outreach apart from the scheduled missions is its top priority.
A separate Human Space Flight Centrehas been formed in ISRO. The Gaganyaan project will come under it and that’s how we will target the first unmanned mission in December 2020.
Sivan, Chairman of ISRO, announced a Young Scientist Programme (YSP)and termed it their most important project to reach out to students. He also said that ISRO is planning to spread its wings in new areas. This year ISRO has planned 32 missions, including 14 launch vehicles, 17 spacecraft and one demo.

· UP Cabinet approved the renaming of Mughalsarai tehsil

TheUttar Pradesh Cabinet approved the proposal to rename the Mughalsarai tehsil after Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, co-founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. The proposal for renaming the Mughalsarai railway station to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay junction was initiated in August 2018.
Many places in Uttar Pradesh have got new names under the government of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. In 2018, the state cabinet decided to rename Allahabad city Prayagraj, and Faizabad district was renamed Ayodhya district. The Indian Air Force airport in Gorakhpur was renamed after Maha Yogi Gorakhnath.

· Airports Authority of India to test remote ATC tower system

TheAirports Authority of India (AAI) is to run a pilot project that will in all likelihood see Gujarat’s Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar as the first to do away with manned towers for providing Air Traffic Control (ATC) services at their airports.
Earlier,AAI and SAAB signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that the airports would run a pilot deployment of a Remote ATC Tower system where air traffic controllers and the control tower would be replaced by a bank of 16 high-definition, remotely operated, infrared cameras.
SAAB India, which is intodefence and aviation, will lead the pilot project that is expected to take a year before it becomes operational. The system is projected as a measure that can help AAI save costs. AAI, which manages more than 120 airports, is expected to operationalize more airfields in the coming months, especially with new routes being added under the regional connectivity scheme.

· Vinesh Phogat became first Indian athlete to be nominated in Laureus World Comeback of Year Award

Indian female wrestler Vinesh Phogat,who hails from Haryana, became the first Indian athlete to receive a nomination in the prestigious Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award.
She was nominated due to her comeback after battling a long injury lay-off to win a gold medal at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and Jakarta Asian Games.
Besides her, US Tour Championship winner Tiger Woods, Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris, American alpine ski racer Lindsey Vonn, Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Manyu, and Dutch para-snowboarding star Bibian Mentel-Spee have also been nominated for the same.

· Nashik in Maharashtra to be the site of the countrys second defence innovation hub after Coimbatore.

Union Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre announced that Nashik in Maharashtra will be the site of the country’s second defence innovation hub after Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.
It was announced at a defence industry stakeholders meeting in Ojhar, Nashik.
This is in line with the Defence Ministry’s target of making the country among the top five arms exporters by 2025.

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20-21.01.19 Odisha (OPSC) Current Affairs