The IAF today successfully fired the BrahMos air version missile from its frontline Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft. The launch from the aircraft was smooth and the missile followed the desired trajectory and achieved a direct hit on the sea target, off Odisha Coast line.

The air launched BrahMos missile, designed and developed by BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited (BAPL), is a 2.5 ton supersonic air to surface cruise missile with ranges close to 300 km. The IAF became the first Air Force in the world to have successfully fired an air launched Trisonic class surface attack missile of this category on a sea target on 22 Nov 17.

This was followed by a second live launch over a land target on 22 May 19. Today’s was the third such live launch of the weapon and with this launch, the integration of the missile on Su-30MKI aircraft, is complete. The software development and integration of weapon of the aircraft was undertaken by the IAF engineers while HAL carried out complex mechanical and electrical modifications on aircraft. The dedicated and synergetic efforts of the IAF, DRDO, BAPL, HAL have made the nation proud.

The firing was successfully undertaken with dedicated support from Indian Navy. The BrahMos missile provides Indian Air Force a much desired capability to strike form large stand-off ranges on any target at sea or on land with pinpoint accuracy by day or night and in all weather conditions. The capability of the missile coupled with the high performance of the Su-30MKI aircraft gives the IAF a strategic reach and allows it to dominate the battle fields over land and sea.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India on 16th December 2019 signed a $250 million loan to Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) to expand energy efficiency investments in India that will benefit agricultural, residential and institutional consumers. In addition, $46 million financing will be provided from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), to be administered by ADB.

ADB previously approved a $200 million loan to EESL, a public sector energy service company, in 2016 for Demand Side Energy Efficiency Sector Project that focused on efficient lighting and appliances.

The signatories to the loan agreement were Shri Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary (Fund Bank and ADB), Department of Economic Affairs in India’s Ministry of Finance, and Mr Kenichi Yokoyama, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission, signed the agreement for EESL.

Shri Khare said after the loan signing that the project is expected to contribute to the mission of Government of India to promote energy efficiency and meet Government’s commitments to reduce energy intensity of the economy. Further elaborating on the issue, he said, introduction of energy-efficient technologies in eligible states including smart meters, distributed solar photovoltaic systems and electric vehicles will help reduce electricity network losses and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Talking about the deal, Mr Yokoyama said that this is one of the few ADB projects specially focused on demand-side energy efficiency targeting upstream efficiency opportunities and business models that can be scaled up in India and other ADB developing member countries. The project’s smart metering component will help address billing and collection inefficiencies.

EESL will also explore business models to generate greater public demand for e-vehicles to support India’s current push for electric vehicles.

Promoting awareness of the benefits of using energy efficient technologies is another feature of the project. Awareness campaigns will engage local organisations in knowledge-sharing and training, with a focus on women electricity consumers. Capacity building for electricity distribution, regulatory agencies, and other government bodies will also be carried out.

Accompanying the loan will be a technical assistance (TA) of $2 million to support EESL in implementing the project, including a gender action plan, mobilising private sector participation in energy efficiency services, identifying new business opportunities, and transferring knowledge about successful models.

The TA will also support the identification and development of new subprojects and pilot test some technologies. The grant comes from the Clean Technology Fund, to be administered by ADB.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.

Shri Amit Shah, Union Home Minister today laid the foundation stone of Bharat Vandana Park at Sector 20, Dwarka in the presence of Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs (I/C), Shri Anil Baijal, LG of Delhi, Shri Manoj Tiwari, MP, Shri Pravesh Sahib Singh, MP& Shri Tarun Kapoor, Vice Chairman, DDA. He expressed confidence that the 40 lakh residents of Delhi will be able to get the ownership rights for their properties very soon as the online portal has already been made operational and thousands of people have already registered online.

Shri Hardeep S.Puri, MOS(I/C), MoHUA during his address said that the Bharat VandanaPark, built over 200 acres and costing INR 524 crore, is anchored in PrimeMinister Modi’s promise of providing each urban citizen of this country ‘Ease of Living’ and to accord them all the necessities that are part of an urban life. “Weare determined to build this facility for Dwarka’s residents by March 2022, theyear we will celebrate 75 years of independence and usher in a New India”, he added.

Shri Puri further said that the Bharat Vandana Park is yet another step taken by Prime Minister Modi’s government to making Delhi a world-class metropolis. From increased connectivity through the Metro, to providing agency over their homes by regulating unauthorized colonies; by building modern apartments in Kathputli colony to ensuring the city is clean and conforms to the objectives of the Swachh Bharat Mission – Prime Minister Modi’s government is changing the face of the city. The day is not too far when Delhi competes with some of the most advanced cities for the tag of the best city in the world, he added.

Benefits of the Project: The following potential benefits of urban parks are included: Human health and wellbeing, i.e. positive impacts of parks and park use on human health (both mental and physical) and wellbeing, either through direct or indirect effects such as recreation and leisure activities.

Social cohesion / identity: the role of urban parks in strengthening social ties, relations and cohesion.

Tourism: leisure visits outside of the own living or working environment, typically longer term stays. Apart from potentially promoting the health and wellbeing of visitors, tourism is also of interest due to its contributions to the local economy.

Biodiversity: the role of parks in harboring and promoting biodiversity, and species diversity in particular. Biodiversity has a direct link to human wellbeing (e.g., through nature experience), while it also provides an important base for ecosystem functioning and thus a range of ecosystem services

Educational benefits: Parks are increasingly used as an outdoor classroom for school subjects such as environmental studies and provide valuable venues for research projects. As a result, they can help rekindle the relationship between urban residents and the natural world.

Environmental and Ecological Benefits: Urban green protects soils and moderates harsh urban climate for example by cooling the air, reducing wind speed and giving shade. Healthy environments lead to healthy economies and societies. Parks are pollution ameliorators and help counter the pollution. Acts as physical filters helping to reduce air pollutants such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. They also help in reducing the rate of ozone production and in capturing dusts and volatile organic compounds.

Parks and other green spaces make important contributions to groundwater recharge and have substantially lower surface water runoff rates

Master Plan Zoning The park has been conceptualized by dividing the site into different areas (zones) each having its own function and special elements as detailed below:

Congregational Area A large green space that can be used for various activities. Primarily this area consists of cultural ground, paved plaza, food court, toilet block, café restaurant.

Recreational zone Recreational zone can be used for various cultural activities like concerts, shows etc. This zone primarily consist of amphitheater, pavilion, food courts, viewing deck, Special elements of wall of India also stands adjacent to the amphitheaters.

Eco-Trail zone This zone consists of Tree walk which is a special feature of the park. These are walkways that are attached to the trunks of the trees .The walkways are supported at different levels to have a closer look at the nature.

Eco-trail consist of pedestrian eco-trail/Tree walk, Green zone, also wall of India lies adjacent to this zone Eco-forest This is a dense green zone. Primarily this zone consists of Herbal Vatika meant as display garden for medicinal plants.

Conservatory This zone consists of conservatory glass domes in which plants are kept in controlled environment.

Fun Park This area is specially designed for kids and their activities. This zone primarily consists of kids play area, boulder garden, VR gaming zone.

Adventure Park This zone pertains to activities like zip line that can be enjoyed by the visitors. Zip-line consists of a pulley suspended on a cable. It is designed to enable person propelled by gravity to travel from top to bottom of the inclined cable.

Lake View Restaurant This area consists of five numbers lake view restaurants. Other water features shall also be provided to have beautiful view while dining at these lake view restaurants

Mini India Mini-India is conceptualized to outline the heritage of India. Mini India will have reproductions of various famous monuments of different Indian states to be built at a miniature scale 1:25. Other features of this segment will be Landscape Park of some states, crafts bazaar, Mini India boating canal etc.

Central VandanaSarovar This central sarovar acts as focal points for the park. Viewing deck around the sarovar shall be provided.

All villages in the country will be covered by 2022 Broadband Mission to fulfill all aspirations of the people Enables fast track growth of digital communication infrastructure Bridges digital divide for digital empowerment and inclusion Posted On: 17 DEC 2019 5:17PM by PIB Delhi The Minister for Communications, Law & Justice and Electronics and Information Technology, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that the National Broadband Mission is to fulfill all aspirations of the people and enables fast track growth of digital communication infrastructure.

He was addressing the gathering after launching the National Broadband Mission (NBM) at an event, here today. The Minister of State for Communications, Human Resources Development and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre, the Secretary (Telecom), Shri Anshu Prakash and other senior officials were present on the occasion. A large number of representatives from the telecom industry, officers from various Ministries of the Government of India, various State Governments and senior officers of the Department of Telecommunications participated in the event.

Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad also launched the Logo of the NBM, a Booklet on this occasion. The vision of the NBM is to fast track growth of digital communications infrastructure, bridge the digital divide, facilitate digital empowerment and inclusion and provide affordable and universal access of broadband for all. Some of the objectives of the Mission which is structured with strong emphasis on the three principles of universality, affordability and quality are:

Broadband access to all villages by 2022 Facilitate universal and equitable access to broadband services for across the country and especially in rural and remote areas Laying of incremental 30 lakhs route km of Optical Fiber Cable and increase in tower density from 0.42 to 1.0 tower per thousand of population by 2024

Significantly improve quality of services for mobile and internet Develop innovative implementation models for Right of Way (RoW) and to work with States/UTs for having consistent policies pertaining to expansion of digital infrastructure including for RoW approvals required for laying of OFC Develop a Broadband Readiness Index (BRI) to measure the availability of digital communications infrastructure and conducive policy ecosystem within a State/UT.

Creation of a digital fiber map of the Digital Communications network and infrastructure, including Optical Fiber Cables and Towers, across the country

Investment from stakeholders of USD 100 billion (Rs 7 Lakh Crore) including Rs 70,000 crore from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) Address policy and regulatory changes required to accelerate the expansion and creation of digital infrastructure and services

Work with all stakeholders including the concerned Ministries / Departments/ Agencies, and Ministry of Finance, for enabling investments for the Mission

A national outreach Programme, GeM Samvaad, was launched by Anup Wadhawan, Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Go1vernment of India and Chairman, GeM in New Delhi today. The outreach programme will take place with stakeholders across the country and with local sellers in order to facilitate on-boarding of local sellers on the marketplace while catering to specific requirements and procurement needs of buyers.

The outreach programme will take place from 19 Dec 2019 to 17 Feb 2020 and will cover all the States and UTs of the country.

GeM has more than 15 lakh products and around 20,000 services, more than 3 lakh registered sellers and service providers and more than 40,000 Government buyer organizations. In its short journey of three years, GeM has processed more than 28 lakh orders worth Rs. 40,000 crores in Gross Merchandise Value out of which 50% has been transacted by MSMEs.

State Departments and Organizations and Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) have been using GeM for their buying needs. Sellers from the State are also benefitting through the access to national Public Procurement market using the portal. Through GeM Samvaad the marketplace is looking forward to receiving feedback from users which shall be used for making improvements and advancements in the system.

Government e Marketplace (GeM) is the national public procurement portal offering end to end solutions for all procurement needs of Central and State Government Departments, PSUs, autonomous institutions and local bodies. Since its commencement on 9th August 2016, GeM has transformed public procurement in the country by leveraging technology and making procurement contactless, paperless, and cashless.

For Prelims and Mains: About Global gender gap report: It is published annually by the world economic forum since 2006. Global gender gap index is a part of this which measures gender equality across four pillars– they are economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment and health and survival.

Significance: The Report aims to serve “as a compass to track progress on relative gaps between women and men on health, education, economy and politics”. Through this annual yardstick, the Report says, “stakeholders within each country are able to set priorities relevant in each specific economic, political and cultural context”.

Performance of India: India has been ranked 112th among 153 countries this year. In 2018, it ranked 108.

Performance of other countries: Iceland, Norway, and Finland occupy the top three spots. Key findings: Globally, the average (population-weighted) distance completed to gender parity is at 68.6%, which is an improvement since last edition.

The largest gender disparity is in political empowerment. Only 25% of the 35,127 seats in parliaments around the world are occupied by women, and only 21% of the 3,343 ministers are women. Projecting current trends into the future, the overall global gender gap will close in 99.5 years, on average, across the 107 countries covered continuously since the first edition of the Report.

Challenges and concerns for India: India has closed two-thirds of its overall gender gap (score of 66.8%). However, the condition of women in large fringes of India’s society is precarious.

It has lost four positions since the previous edition, despite a small score improvement, as some countries ranked lower than India have improved more. The economic gender gap runs particularly deep in India. Only one-third of the gap has been bridged. Since 2006, the gap has gotten significantly wider. Among the 153 countries studied, India is the only country where the economic gender gap is larger than the political gender gap.

For Prelims and Mains: About AMRUT mission: Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) is the new avatar of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). But, in a significant departure from the earlier mission, the Centre will not appraise individual projects.

The Mission will focus on the following Thrust Areas: Water Supply. Sewerage and septage management. Storm Water Drainage to reduce flooding Non-motorized Urban Transport. Green space/parks.

Five hundred cities have been selected under AMRUT. The category of cities that have been selected under AMRUT is given below: All Cities and Towns with a population of over one lakh with notified Municipalities as per Census 2011, including Cantonment Boards (Civilian areas).

All Capital Cities/Towns of States/ UTs, not covered in above. All Cities/ Towns classified as Heritage Cities by MoHUA under the HRIDAY Scheme. Thirteen Cities and Towns on the stem of the main rivers with a population above 75,000 and less than 1 lakh. Ten Cities from hill states, islands and tourist destinations (not more than one from each State).

Implementation: AMRUT adopts a project approach to ensure basic infrastructure services relating to water supply, sewerage, storm-water drains, transportation and development of green spaces and parks with special provision for meeting the needs of children.

Under this mission, 10% of the budget allocation will be given to states and union territories as incentive based on the achievement of reforms during the previous year. States will only submit state annual action Plans to the centre for broad concurrence based on which funds will be released.

Central assistance will be to the extent of 50% of project cost for cities and towns with a population of up to 10 lakhs and one-third of the project cost for those with a population of above 10 lakhs.

Under the mission, states will transfer funds to urban local bodies within 7 days of transfer by central government and no diversion of funds to be made failing which penal interest would be charged besides taking other adverse action by the centre.

Concerns raised: There is the issue of low consumption, diversions and considerable delays in supply of cylinders. Encouraging the sustained usage of LPG remains a big challenge as the annual average refill consumption of 1.93 crore PMUY consumers (who have completed more than one year as on 31 March 2018) was only 3.66 refills as worked out by audit.

Similar analysis for 3.18 crore PMUY beneficiaries as on 31 December 2018 revealed that refill consumption declined to 3.21 refills per annum. There are also deficiencies such as the issuance of connections to unintended beneficiaries, and problems with the software of the state-run oil marketing companies for identifying intended beneficiaries and inadequacies in the de-duplication process.

Recommendations made by CAG: Thee should be scrutiny of the entire LPG database to identify and restrict anomalies. Aadhaar numbers of all adult family members of existing as well as new beneficiaries should be entered to make de-duplication effective. Appropriate measures in distributors’ software should be put in place to restrict issuance to ineligible beneficiaries.

Key features of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana: Aim: To provide LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) connections to poor households. Key features: A deposit-free LPG connection is given to eligible with financial assistance of Rs 1,600 per connection by the Centre. The scheme gained traction with its ambit being expanded to include 80 million poor families from the earlier target of 50 million families with an additional allocation of Rs4,800 crore.

Eligibility criteria: Applicant must a woman above the age of 18 and a citizen of India. Applicant should belong to a BPL (Below Poverty Line) household. No one in the applicant’s household should own an LPG connection. The household income of the family, per month, must not exceed a certain limit as defined by the government of the Union Territories and State Government. The name of the applicant must be in the list of SECC-2011 data and should match with the information available in the BPL database that Oil Marketing Companies have. Applicant must not be a recipient of other similar schemes provided by the government.

Objectives of the scheme are: Empowering women and protecting their health. Reducing the serious health hazards associated with cooking based on fossil fuel. Reducing the number of deaths in India due to unclean cooking fuel. Preventing young children from significant number of acute respiratory illnesses caused due to indoor air pollution by burning the fossil fuel.

What makes LPG adoption necessary? To reduce household air pollution: A large section of Indians, especially women and girls, are exposed to severe household air pollution (HAP) from the use of solid fuels such as biomass, dung cakes and coal for cooking. A report from the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare places HAP as the second leading risk factor contributing to India’s disease burden.

A health threat: According to the World Health Organization, solid fuel use is responsible for about 13% of all mortality and morbidity in India (measured as Disability-Adjusted Life Years), and causes about 40% of all pulmonary disorders, nearly 30% of cataract incidences, and over 20% each of ischemic heart disease, lung cancer and lower respiratory infection.

How can the scheme be made more effective? The real test of the PMUY and its successor programmes will be in how they translate the provision of connections to sustained use of LPG or other clean fuels such as electricity or biogas.

Truly smokeless kitchens can be realized only if the government follows up with measures that go beyond connections to actual usage of LPG. This may require concerted efforts cutting across Ministries beyond petroleum and natural gas and including those of health, rural development and women and child welfare.

The study was conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). The study found that much of Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is used (or exhausted) by eating these foods. The results show that in almost all the food CSE tested, companies have underreported the amount of transfats in their products.

For Prelims: What is Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA)? It is used to understand how much of any nutrient (salt, sugar, fat) should be consumed from different meals. Most packaged foods fall in the ‘snack’ category and the RDA of this food is, therefore, a proportion of daily intake.

It is influenced by: Sex – In general requirement is more for men than women. Age– Adult men and women require nutrients for maintenance where as infants and children require it for growth and maintenance. Nutrient requirements during childhood are proportional to growth rate.

Body weight: Among adults requirements are related to body weight and size. Physiological states- During menstruation, pregnancy and lactation women require some nutrients more than the normal times. Requirements of sports persons and athletes who perform high levels of extreme activity are high some times 2-3 times the normal times.

Physical activity- Sedentary person needs much less nutrients than a moderate to severely active person. Environment- Extremes of climate or high altitude alters the need for certain nutrients.

Jointly hosted by United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) along with Government of Switzerland.

For Prelims: What is Global Refugee Forum? Guided by the Global Compact on Refugees, the Global Refugee Forum is an opportunity to translate the principle of international responsibility-sharing into concrete action. The Forum will showcase impactful pledges and contributions and the exchange of good practices.

Value addition for Mains: Refugees situations- concerns and challenges: Refugee situations continue to increase in scope, scale, and complexity. There are 25.4 million refugees around the world, and 85 per cent of them are hosted in low- and middle-income countries facing their own economic and development challenges.

Despite the tremendous generosity of host countries and donors, the gap between needs and the resources available to meet them continues to grow. There is an urgent need for a more equitable sharing of the burden and responsibility for hosting and supporting the world’s refugees. Refugees and host communities should not be left behind.

What is Global Compact on Refugees? It was affirmed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2018. It represents the determination of the international community to strengthen solidarity with refugees and the countries that host them. The Compact sets out arrangements to ensure that host countries receive predictable and sustainable support; that refugees can contribute to their host communities and secure their own futures; and that solutions are sought from the outset.

What is NBM? The mission will facilitate universal and equitable access to broadband services across the country, especially in rural and remote areas.

It also involves laying of incremental 30 lakh route km of optical fibre cable and increasing tower density from 0.42 to 1 tower per thousand population by 2024.

The mission also envisages increasing fiberisation of towers to 70% from 30% at present. The mission will envisage stakeholder investment of $100 billion (Rs 7 lakh crore) including Rs 70,000 crore from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) in the coming years.

The mission also involves the development of a Broadband Readiness Index to measure the availability of digital communication infrastructure and foster conducive policy ecosystem within a state/UT. It will also strive for the creation of a digital fibre map of the communications network and infrastructure, including optical fibre cables and towers across the country.

Significance: The broadband mission aims to fast-track growth of digital communications infrastructure, bridge the digital divide, facilitate digital empowerment and inclusion, and provide affordable and universal access of broadband to all.

It will lay emphasis on universality, affordability and quality of services. The Centre will work with the states and UTs for having consistent policies pertaining to expansion of digital infrastructure, including for Right of Way (RoW) approvals required for laying of optical fibre cable.