Uttar Pradesh
- Govt wages war against depleting groundwater
ð Forming ‘paani-panchayat’ and ‘bhujal-sena’ comprising villagers is state government’s attempt to check alarming groundwaterdepletion. Sensitization of locals and community-led awareness programmes would be taken up to tell people how to use groundwater judiciously while remaining alert to prevent its pollution.
ð At least 30% of the development blocks in UP have extracted groundwater without recharging the resource ever. To check its depletion, state government has implemented State Groundwater Conservation Mission in ‘stressed’ blocks.
ð Schemes it will integrate are geographical mapping and parameter test of groundwater resources, GIS-mapping, groundwater recharge and rainwater harvesting in over-exploited and critical development blocks.
- UP govt to review expensive power purchase agreements
ð The BJP government in UP may soon be reviewing the expensive power purchase agreements (PPAs) made during previous SP government. The fixed cost of power could prove to be a burden on state government,
INTERNATIONAL
- India launches solar project in Egypt
- India has launched a solar project with state-of-the-art technology to electrify a remote village in Egypt.
- The Solar Electrification Project, an off-grid system that is ideal for remote locations, has been launched at Agaween village in the Western Desert in Matrouh Governorate, close to the Libyan border.
- India provided all the solar panels and sub-systems, machinery, equipment and technical support, as well as training for technicians, while the Egyptian government provided the location for implementation of the project.
- Facebook declines Pak’s request over cell phone number link-up
- Facebook has declined Pakistan government’s request to link all accounts with the users’ mobile phone numbers.
- Pakistan had suggested that Facebook accounts be linked with users’ mobile phone numbers. However, the management of Facebook believed it was more feasible to sync accounts with email addresses.
- The purpose of the request – was to help the government deal with fake accounts, which were often used to spread hate material in cyberspace.
- This was the first time that a senior member of Facebook’s management dealing with global public policy had visited Pakistan to discuss measures for addressing the issue of misuse of social media platforms especially Facebook which has over 33 million users in the country at the moment.
NATIONAL
- Made-in-India warship to be largest in Lankan navy’s fleet
- The Sri Lankan Navy is on the verge of commissioning its largest warship, which has been built in India under a ₹1,000-crore contract inked four years ago for two such vessels.
- INS Saryu, an offshore patrol vessel inducted into the Indian Navy in Jan 2013. Goa Shipyard Ltd is constructing similar vessels for the Sri Lankan Navy.
- The 105-metre long warship, with a displacement of around 2,400 tonnes, is expected to be commissioned into the Sri Lankan Navy on August 2.
- panel to study cow derivatives
- Headed by Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan, the committee will select projects that can help scientifically validate the benefits of panchgavya — the concoction of cow dung, cow urine, milk, curd and ghee — in various spheres such as nutrition, health and agriculture.
- The government has given the project the acronym SVAROP, which stands for Scientific Validation and Research on Panchagavya, and says it is a “national programme” that’s being conducted by the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology, and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of the Ministry of Science and Technology in collaboration with IIT-Delhi.
- Matunga becomes India’s first railway station run by women
- The Central Railway has taken a step towards Women Empowerment by appointing an all-female work staff at the suburban Matunga
- It is first such ladies special station in India.
- A total of 30 women staffers, including 11 booking clerks, five RPF personnel, seven ticket checkers are working under the supervision of station manager.
- Matunga is a locality in the heart of Mumbai City towards downtown Mumbai
- Roger Federer lifts a record 8th Wimbledon Title
- Roger Federer won a record eighth Wimbledon title and became the tournament’s oldest champion.
- He defeated Marin Cilic to win the title.
- It is his 11th Wimbledon final and 29th title.