Current Affair 1:

Tea Board of India

 

Tea Board India was established on 1st April 1954 as per the provisions of Section 4 of the Tea Act, 1953. The Board is assigned with the overall development of the tea industry in India and functioning under the administrative control of the Central Government under Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

As per the latest report:

Tea Board is funded through Grant-in-Aid by Govt. of India.

 

Current Affair 2:

National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP)

 

News:

The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is a welfare programme being administered by the Ministry of Rural Development.

Read introduction:

 

These programmes were meant for providing social assistance benefit to the aged, the BPL households in the case of death of the primary breadwinner and for maternity. These programmes were aimed to ensure minimum national standards in addition to the benefits that the States were then providing or would provide in future.

Currently, the amount of benefit under NFBS was raised to Rs 10,000 in case of death due to natural causes as well as accidental causes. The assistance under the National Maternity Benefit Scheme which was at Rs 300/-, was increased to Rs 500/- per pregnancy.

How are the beneficiaries identified in rural areas?

As per the revised eligibility criteria new beneficiaries will be identified from BPL list prepared by the States/UTs as per guidelines issued by the Ministry of Rural Development (MORD) for the BPL Census 2002.

What is the funding pattern envisaged under NSAP?

Under NSAP 100 per cent Central Assistance is extended to the States/UTs to provide the benefits in accordance with the norms, guidelines and conditions laid down by the Central Government.

Current Affair 3:

Lions in India

 

Always we read about Tiger, today we will see about Lions.

Asiatic Lions are found in the Gir National Park and outside the protected areas in Gujarat. According to the latest survey, there are 674 lions in the state, 300 inside the protected area of about 1,200 square kilometres, while the rest are spread out over 30,000 sq. km.

The species was primarily centred around the semi-arid and arid regions of the Thar (Rajasthan, Sindh, Gujarat, Haryana), wooded hills and scrub jungles (Madhya Pradesh), the open plains of the rivers Indus (Punjab) and Ganga (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and perhaps Bengal), into the plateau of Jharkhand.

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had identified sites in 2020 for possible lion relocation, namely, Madhav National Park and Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh (MP), Sitamata Wildlife Sanctuary, Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve and Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan and Jessore-Balaram Ambaji WLS and adjoining landscape in Gujarat.

An order by the Supreme Court of India on April 15, 2013, to translocate lions to Kuno is still valid.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) status of the Asiatic Lion is Endangered. It is listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.

Few important facts about Lions for Prelims:

 

It is incorrect to state that lions are restricted to savannah grasslands. In fact, Gir is a dry deciduous forest with patches of scrub and grasslands.

 

Current Affair 4:

Recent GI Tags in India

 

India, as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), enacted the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection)Act, 1999 has come into force with effect from 15th September 2003.

Recent GI Tags:

The GI tags were secured by ‘Jalesar Dhatu Shilp’ (a metal craft), ‘Goa Mankurad Mango’, ‘Goan Bebinca’, ‘Udaipur Koftgari Metal Craft’, ‘Bikaner Kashidakari Craft’, ‘Jodhpur Bandhej Craft’, and ‘Bikaner Usta Kala Craft’.

In Kashmir:

Rajouri Chikri woodcraft, Mushqbudji rice secure GI Tags in Jammu-Kashmir.

 

CA5. NASA highlights loss of mangrove cover on Katchal island in the Nicobars

The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently highlighted the loss of mangrove cover on Katchal island, a part of India’s Nicobar archipelago.

<< Previous Next >>