The State Government of Tamil Nadu (TN) approved the implementation of India’s first The Nilgiri Tahr Project with an outlay of Rs 25.14 crore for a period of 5 years i.e. 2022 to 2027 to conserve Nilgiri Tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius), which is a state animal of TN. The project is dedicated to its conservation, expansion of its habitat and to spread awareness among the public. It will be handled by a team headed by a Project Director. It will be implemented with an initial allocation of Rs 10 crore.
• Under this, there will be restoration of its historic and fragmented habitat especially Shola grasslands in Upper Bhavani as pilot to reintroduce the Tahr population, and will ensure proper rehabilitation facilities.
• Notably, Nilgiri Tahr has become locally extinct in around 14% of its traditional habitat.
• The project was announced in the 2022-2023 TN Budget.
• It will have nine components, including bi-annual synchronized surveys across the Tahr range, including at the Nilgiri hills and the Asambu highlands, along with diagnosis and treatment for affected individuals.
• On December 28, 2022, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched ‘City Finance Rankings 2022’ and ‘City Beauty Competition’ during an event in New Delhi, Delhi.
• The initiatives and draft guidelines for the same were released by the Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, MoHUA.
• City Finance Rankings 2022 aims to evaluate, recognize and reward ULBs (Urban Local bodies) on the basis of 15 indicators across three key financial parameters viz. resource mobilization, expenditure performance and fiscal governance systems.
• City Beauty Competition aims to encourage and recognize the transformational efforts made by cities and wards in India to create beautiful, innovative and inclusive public spaces.
• On December 28, 2022, the Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) launched the Stay Safe Online campaign and the Digital Innovation Alliance (DIA) program, the first- ever programs to be launched worldwide as a G20 (Group of Twenty) initiative.
• The launch was made during an event in New Delhi, Delhi. G-20 DIA Program: Its objective is to identify, recognize and enable the adoption of innovative and impactful digital technologies developed by 174 start-ups, from G20 nations and the invited 9 nonmember nations.
• Stay Safe Online Campaign: It will create awareness among citizens of all age groups and backgrounds about cyber risks and ways to tackle them.
The Union Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare had approved the formation of an Advisory Group for streamlining the development of the Bamboo sector. The Advisory group is represented by various stakeholders including academicians, researchers, innovators, progressive entrepreneurs, designers, farmer leaders, marketing specialists and policy makers. The Union Agriculture Secretary will be the Chairperson and Mission Director of National Bamboo Mission will be the Convener of the Committee.
• The committee is mandated to advise on the bamboo plantation, technologies for value addition to bamboo, skill development in bamboo based processing and market linkages.
• The Advisory group consists of representation of various stakeholders including academicians, researchers, innovators, progressive entrepreneurs, designers, farmer leaders, marketing specialists and policy makers.
Department of Posts under the Ministry of Communication launched an ‘Online request Transfer Portal’ for Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS). The Portal was launched by Alok Sharma, Director of General Postal Services through Video Conference in the virtual presence of Chief Postmaster Generals of 23 Postal Circles and Senior Officers of the Department.
• The portal aims to bring transparency and accountability to the governance process by leveraging technology. The online process also saves time and resources.
• Department of Posts has the largest network of Post Offices across the globe. It consists of more than 1,56,000 Post Offices across India.
• More than 1,31,000 of these Branch Post Offices (BOs) are located in rural areas, where postal services are rendered through GDS.
ACC Limited (formerly The Associated Cement Companies Limited), the cement and building materials company of Adani Cement, has won the National Award for Safety Excellence (FY2021-22) at the 10th Global Safety Summit (GSS) in the Large Enterprise-Cement Manufacturing sector.
• ACC Limited is a part of Adani Cement and one of India’s leading producers of cement and ready-mix concrete.
• It has 17 cement manufacturing sites, over 83 concrete plants and a nationwide network of channel partners to serve its customers.
• ACC is regarded as one of India’s “Most Sustainable Companies” and is honoured for its best practices in environmental management and environmental management methods.
• ACC is the first Indian cement company to sign the Net Zero Pledge with Science-based targets, placing sustainability at the centre of its business strategy.
Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully conducted a trial run of the 4.1 km Emergency Landing Runway (ELR) constructed on the National Highway-16(NH-16) at Pichukalagudipadu village in
Korisapadu mandal in Bapatla district of Andhra Pradesh(AP).
• During the trial run, the aircraft flew at a height of 100 metres above the ground.
• The IAF fighter and transport aircraft carried out practice flying including circuit, approach and overshoot on the new facility.
The Indian Army has inaugurated the 1st 3D-printed dwelling unit for the soldiers at Ahmedabad Cantonment in Gujarat. The unit was constructed by the Military Engineering Services (MES) in collaboration with MiCoB Pvt Ltd incorporating the latest 3D rapid construction technology.
• This uses a concrete 3D printer which accepts a three dimensional (3D) design and fabricates a 3D structure in a layer-by-layer manner.
• This uses a specialised type of concrete specifically designed for this purpose.
• At present, the structure is being validated for over 1 year and can be seen being incorporated in all terrains.
Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL), a subsidiary of Tata Power has received the “Letter of Award” (LoA) from Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (Tata Power -DDL), a joint venture of Tata Power and the Govt. of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, for setting up a 255 megawatt (MW) hybrid (wind and solar) power project in Karnataka.
• The project will be commissioned within 24 months from the Project Process Agreement (PPA)execution date. The letter was awarded through an e-reverse auction.
• The power produced by the project would be given to Tata Power-DDL, which provides electricity to nearly 7 million people in North Delhi, Delhi.
• LoA indicates the current capacity split as 85MW solar and 170MW wind power with the green-shoe option of additional capacity of 85MW solar and 170MW wind.