Dhole (Asiatic wild dog)

◆Endangered –IUCN.
◆CITES – Appendix II.
◆Shedule II of wildlife act 1972
◆In India, the first conservation breeding centre for dhole was built at the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP) in 2014.

#Prelim2020 #evironment #Aug2020

The Great Green Wall of Aravalli

It is a 1,600 km long and 5 km wide green ecological corridor along Aravalli range from Gujarat to Delhi.

It will be connected to Shivalik hill range.

To be implemented on a concept similar to the Great Green Wallof Sahara in Africa, it will act as a buffer against pollution

#Prelim2020 #Aug2020

◆The Building and Construction Workers Welfare Fund is raised by levying a cess of 1 per cent of the construction cost.

◆It is part of the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Act, 1996, which regulates employment and working conditions of construction workers and also provides for their safety and welfare measures.

#Prelim2020 #Aug2020

Leopard

◆Scientific Name- Panthera pardus.
◆Listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
◆Included in Appendix I of CITES.
◆Listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
◆Nine subspecies of the leopard have been recognized, and they are distributed across Africa and Asia.

#Prelim2020 #evironment #Aug2020

Rakhis tied to trees in Aravalis

Aravali Range:

◆They are aligned in north-east to south-west direction. They run between Delhi and Palanpur in Gujarat.

◆highest peak is  Guru Shikharat 1,722 metres (5,650 ft).
one of the oldest fold mountains of the world and the oldest in India.

◆Pipli Ghat, Dewair and Desuri passes allow movement by roads and railways.

◆Three major rivers and their tributaries flow from the Aravalli, namely  Banas and Sahibi rivers which are tributaries of Yamuna, as well as Luni River which flows into the Rann of Kutch.

#Prelim2020 #Aug2020

Places in News- Galapagos archipelago

◆The Galapagos Islands, spread over almost 60,000 sq km, are a part of Ecuador, and are located in the Pacific Ocean around 1,000 km away from the South American continent.

◆The giant tortoises found here – ‘Galápagos’ in old Spanish– give the islands its name.

◆Ecuador made a part of the Galapagos a wildlife sanctuary in 1935, and the sanctuary became the Galapagos National Park in 1959. In 1978, the islands became UNESCO’s first World Heritage Site.

◆Charles Darwin described the islands as a “world in itself”.

#Prelim2020 #Aug2020

Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN)

◆This is being implemented under National Health Mission (NHM) by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. eVIN aims to provide real-time information on vaccine stocks and flows, and storage temperatures across all cold chain points in the country

#Prelim2020 #Aug2020

Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA)

◆Joint venture of Ministry of HRD, GOI and Canara Bank
◆HEFA is registered under the Companies Act 2013 as a Union Govt company and as Non–deposit taking NBFC with RBI.
◆Main aim To enable India’s premier educational institutions to excel and reach the top in global rankings by financing building world class infrastructure including R&D Infra.

Function
◆mobilize resources from the market by way of equity from individuals / corporates
◆It provides financial assistance for creation of educational infrastructures
◆Encourages scientific and technological developments by supporting R&D facilities
◆Channelise CSR contributions

#Prelim2020 #Aug2020

RISE 2022

“Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE) by 2022”, is a major initiative launched by GOI in the FY 2018-19 budget.

◆HEFA’s scope under RISE has been greatly expanded from initial objective of financing infrastructural needs of select Higher Educational Institutions in India to the extent of Rs. 20,000 crores.

◆It is proposed to accelerate the investment in these institutions to Rs.1,00,000 crores over the next 4 years as under

#Prelim2020 #Aug2020

Three capitals for Andhra Pradesh

1.Amaravati– legislative capital.
2.Visakhapatnam– executive capital.
3.Kurnool– judicial capital



◆Maharashtra has two capitals– Mumbai and Nagpur (which holds the winter session of the state assembly).
◆Himachal Pradesh has capitals at Shimla and Dharamshala (winter).
◆The former state of Jammu & Kashmir had Srinagar and Jammu (winter) as capitals

#Prelim2020 #Aug2020

Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP)

◆Launched by Haryana government.

◆PPP will provide a unique identity to complete family and it would have name of the head of the family on top. 

◆PPP will enable the citizens to get the benefits of various central and state government schemes at their door-step in a fair and transparent manner

#Prelim2020 #Aug2020

Participatory Notes

1 financial instruments issued by a registered foreign institutional investor (FII) to an overseas investor who wishes to invest in Indian stock
without registering themselves with the market regulator.
2.They are Offshore Derivative Investments (ODIs) 
3.Provide liquidity to the investors
4.They need not disclose the identity of the actual investors. 
5.They are used on Indian shares, but at a location outside of India
6.The P-note holder is entitled to all the dividends, capital gains and other payouts on the underlying securities

#Prelim2020 #Aug2020

Places in News- Beirut

◆capital and largest city of Lebanon.
◆an important regional seaport

◆News -huge explosion devastated the port area of the capital Beirut

#Prelim2020 #Aug2020

Thumbimahotsavam 2020

◆It is the first-ever State Dragonfly Festival in Kerala.

◆This is part of a national dragonfly festival being organised by the WWF India, Bombay Natural History Society & Indian Dragonfly Society in association with the National Biodiversity Board, United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Development Programme and IUCN – Centre for Environment Conservation.

◆The Dragonfly Festival started in 2018

#Prelim2020 #Aug2020 #evironment

World Wide Fund for Nature
international non-governmental organization.

Founded in 1961
Headquarter — Gland (Switzerland)

1.Living Planet Report— published every two years by WWF

2.Earth hour – a worldwide movement organized by WWF annually, encouraging individuals, communities, and businesses to turn off non-essential electric lights, for one hour, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on a specific day towards the end of March, as a symbol of commitment to the planet.

3.Debt-for-nature swaps–financial transactions in which a portion of a developing nation’s foreign debt is forgiven in exchange for local investments in environmental conservation measures.

4.Tx2 programme
Launched by World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) at the 2010 St Petersburg Tiger Summit held in Russia.

5.TRAFFIC:
TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, is a leading non-governmental organisation working globally on trade in wild animals and plants.
It is a strategic alliance of IUCN and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

#Prelim2020 #Aug2020

1.Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme of Telangana ,on
the Godavari River.

2.Mekedatu dam project:
by the Karnataka govt ,
on Cauveri river

3.Polavaram project on Godavari river by Andhra Pradesh govt

#Prelim2020 #Aug2020

Dugong (Dugong dugon) also called ‘Sea Cow

◆only existing species of
◆herbivorous mammal that lives exclusively in the sea including in India.herbivorous mammal
◆IUCN vulnerable
◆WPA 1972 Schedule I
◆Included in CMS Bonn convention
◆Dugongs graze on seagrass
◆Found at- Gulf of Mannar in Tamil Nadu, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat.

#Prelim2020 #Aug2020

Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations

1.aimed at lowering fuel consumption (or improving fuel efficiency) of vehicles by lowering carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

2.It has twin purposes of reducing dependence on oil for fuel and controlling pollution.

3.applicable for petrol, diesel, LPG and CNG passenger vehicles. so not applied to Heavy Vehicles

4.Started from April 1, 2017.

5.Emission must be less than 130 gm per km till 2022

#Prelims2020 #Aug2020

Golden Langur

◆It is an Old World monkey
◆Habitat is restricted to the region surrounded by four geographical landmarks: the foothills of Bhutan (North), Manas river (East), Sankosh river (West), and Brahmaputra river (South).

●IUCN -Endengered
●Schedule 1 WPA 1972
●CITES appendix 1

◆Chakrashila WLS in Assam is India’s first wildlife sanctuary with golden langur as the primary species.

#Prelims2020 #Aug2020

National Transit Pass System (NTPS)

◆It is an online transit pass generation system for timber, bamboo and other forest produce
◆launched recently by the Union Environment Ministry
◆pilot project will be functional in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana for now.

#Prelim2020 #evironment #Aug2020