Focus Merit

Category: National Current Affairs

Malavath Poorna scales the highest mountain in Antarctica

January 3, 2020

Malavath Poorna, 18-year-old girl from Telangana has conquered Mt Vinson Massif, the Antarctica continent’s highest mountain peak (4,987 mts). She has become the first and youngest tribal woman in the world to set foot on the six tallest mountain peaks across six continents.

So far, Poorna scaled Mt Everest (Asia, year 2014), Mt. Kilimanjaro (Africa, 2016), Mt. Elbrus (Europe, 2017), Mt. Aconcagua (South America, 2019) Mt. Cartsnez (Oceania region, 2019) and Mt. Vinson Massif (Antarctica, 2019).

Govt approves release of Grant-in-Aid of Rs 2.6 cr to J&K Pollution Control Board

January 3, 2020

Environment and Forests Ministry has approved the release of Grant-in-Aid of 6 crore rupees to J&K Pollution Control Board. Under this scheme, the JK PCB shall provide financial assistance to 3742 number of Eco Clubs of registered schools in both the regions of J&K along with 96 Eco-Clubs for registered Colleges.

The environment education, awareness and Training scheme of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Govt. of India for National Green Corps (Eco-Clubs) which was closed for over a decade has been revived for J&K.

A new campus of NFSC in Nagpur inaugurated by Home Minister

January 3, 2020

Union Home Minister Amit Shah dedicated the new campus of National Fire Service College (NFSC) under the Ministry of Home affairs. NFSC campus spread across 42 acres is fully equipped with the international standards. The four-year Bachelor level course in Fire Engineering approved by the All India Council for Technical Education along with the short and long-term courses in Emergency Management, Medical Life Support Management, and Disaster Management will be taught in this college.

In the same function, the Minister also laid the foundation stone for the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Academy which will be established near Suradevi village of Nagpur. 15 President’s Fire Service medals for gallantry were also awarded by the Minister to the awardees including Fire Service Officers and Firemen from different parts of the country.

Integrated helpline number 139 launched by Indian Railways for passengers

January 3, 2020

The Indian Railways has integrated its helpline numbers into a single number — 139 taking over all the existing helpline numbers, for quick grievance redressal and enquiries by passengers during their train journeys.

The Helpline 139 will be available in twelve languages. It will be based on Interactive Voice Response System and will provide easy access to all mobile users.

28th World Book Fair to focus on Gandhi as writer

January 3, 2020

The annual New Delhi World Book Fair, in its 28th edition, will focus on how Mahatma Gandhi influenced generations of writers through his writings. The fair, organised by the National Book Trust (NBT) in association with ITPO, will be inaugurated by Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. The theme for World Book Fair 2020 is ‘Gandhi: The Writers’ Writer.

Commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi, the theme pavilion, inspired by Sabarmati Ashram, uses hand-spun materials as wall-cladding. Besides an exclusive exhibition of 500 books on and by Gandhi in different languages, it will also host 30-panel discussions, book launches and performances related to the theme.

RPF renamed as Indian Railway Protection Force Service

January 3, 2020

The Indian Railways has renamed its security force RPF (Railway Protection Force) as Indian Railway Protection Force Service. The ministry has accorded organised Group A status to RPF and renamed it.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) is a security force, enacted by the Indian Parliament for “the better protection and security of railway property”. The force is under the authority of the Indian Ministry of Railways.

Bengaluru will host the 107th edition of the Indian Science Congress

January 1, 2020

Bengaluru will host the 107th edition of the Indian Science Congress. It will be the ninth time the city will host the annual convention. University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bengaluru will host the event.

The congress has chosen ‘science and technology: rural development’ as its theme for the 107th edition. A Farmer’s Science Congress will take part in it for the first time, hence providing a platform for innovative farmers.

There will also be a ‘Women’s Science Congress’, ‘Children’s Science Congress’, ‘Science Communicator’s Meet’, and ‘Science Exhibition: Pride of India’. The convention will see the participation of over 15,000 delegates, including 8,000 students from across the country and 74 scientists from abroad.

Indore tops national cleanliness rankings for first two quarters

January 1, 2020

The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has announced the results of the 1st and 2nd quarters of the Swachh Survekshan 2020. The rankings were based on collection, transportation, processing and disposal of waste.

Indore has topped the cleanliness charts for two consecutive quarters among cities with over 10 lakh population while kolkata was the worst performer. Jamshedpur has topped the cleanliness charts for two consecutive quarters among cities with 1 lakh to 10 lakh population.

India’s second spaceport to be in TN’s Thoothukdi: ISRO

January 1, 2020

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has earmarked 2,300 acres of land in Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu, to set up its second launch centre after the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota. The country’s premier space agency is in the process of acquiring the land for a yet-to-be-named new launch centre. ISRO chairman K Sivan stated that the new centre was part of ISRO’s capacity-building exercise.

The new launch centre will be initially for missions involving launching small satellites and small satellite launch vehicles (SSLVs). To carry forward the industry production of space systems, ISRO incorporated New Space India Limited (NSIL) under the Department of Space and efforts in realising PSLVs from industry have already been initiated.

Sanjay Gupta of ‘Jagran’ to be honoured with Lokmanya Tilak journalism award

January 1, 2020

Sanjay Gupta, the editor-in-chief of ”Jagran”, will be honoured with the ”Lokmanya Tilak National Journalism Award” for his contribution to the field of journalism. The award, instituted by the Kesari Maratha Trust, will be conferred on in Pune, coinciding with the 139th Foundation Day of ”Kesari” — the newspaper started by Lokmanya Tilak.

The award consists of Rs 1 lakh and a memento. Earlier, this award has been conferred upon well-known journalists and editors such as Vir Sanghvi, N. Ram, H. K. Dua, Vinod Metha and Siddharth Varadarajan.