Vayoshreshtha Samman
- It is a Scheme of awards instituted by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment and it upgraded to the status of National Awards.
- It is conferred on the eminent senior citizens and institutions in recognition of their services towards the cause of the elderly persons.
- It is given annually by the President of India to mark ‘International Day of Older Persons’, celebrated every year on 1st October since the year 2005.
- It is awarded in two categories – Institutions and Individuals from any part of the country.
- Nominations are invited from Governmental and Non-Governmental Agencies.
- The following 3 notable institutions are among those honoured this year,
- Madhya Pradesh Municipality – Runs a day care centre for senior citizens
- NGO in Kerala – Sensitised people to the need for taking care of elders
- State of Tamil Nadu – Established Maintenance tribunals in each sub-division.
Monsoon Model
- IMD deploys various dynamical model to predict monsoon rains in the country.
- Traditionally, IMD has relied on its statistical database of over 100 years to estimate the chances of a good monsoon or a drought.
- It is based on correlations between certain weather parameters such as temperatures in the Indian ocean, or the warm water volume in the Pacific.
- Over the years, IMD came with a new dynamical model which relies on capturing interactions between the land, ocean and atmosphere and tracking how the changes in each affect the other.
- The conditions are mathematically simulated on supercomputers and extrapolated into the monsoon months.
- The dynamical model is also called the Climate Forecast Model (CFS), implemented on the Prithvi High Performance Computers (HPC) at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.
- It was developed as part of “ National Monsoon Mission” by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, to develop both short and long-term forecasting.
- It failed to forecast August-September surge in monsoon rainfall.
- This year, India have recorded its highest monsoon rain in 25 years.
- India ended up with 10% more monsoon rain (or 110% of the long period average LPA of 887 mm) than usual.
- However, none of the agency’s models tuned to capture long term forecast trends warned of this.
- The statistical models said that All India Monsoon Rainfall (June-September) would be 96% of the LPA.
- The CFS model said the monsoon would be 94% of the normal and updated to 99% in August.
U.K. Verdict on Nizam’s Fund
- U.K. court has recently given verdict over 71 years old case involving India, Pakistan.
- The case dates to days during Operation Polo in 1948.
- During the operation, India deployed armed forces in Princely State of Hyderabad to concede it into India.
- Osmal Ali Khan, Nizam of Hyderabad sought weapons from Pakistan and transferred the money (now worth £35 million) to the account of High Commissioner of Pakistan in London.
- However, Hyderabad’s armed forces had already surrendered during the military operation.
- Within days of surrender, the Nizam, sent a message to the National Westminster Bank demanding that the money be transferred back to his account.
- Pakistan also claimed the money as a gift or as payment for a shipment of arms.
- In 1965, the Nizam assigned to the President of India, his claim to the fund, and joined forces with India to fight for his claim on the money.
- After many twists and turns, the U.K. court has rejected Pakistan’s claim and ruled in favour of India and the Nizam’s descendants based in Turkey and the U.K.
- It granted them access to a £35 million fund.
India Economic Summit
- World Economic Forum's 33rd edition of the India Economic Summit is going to be organised in New Delhi.
- It is jointly organised by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and industry body CII.
- The theme of the summit is 'Innovating for India: Strengthening South Asia, Impacting the World'.
- It will host world leaders to discuss issues like Inclusive growth, the environment and innovation.
Paryatan Parv 2019
- Ministry of Tourism is organising Paryatan Parv 2019 dedicated to 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
- Its objective is to encourage Indians to visit various tourist destinations of the country and also to spread the message of ‘Tourism for All’.
- The three components of Paryatan Parv, are:
- Dekho Apna Desh: To encourage Indians to visit their own country
- Tourism for All: Tourism Events at sites across all States in the country are being organised
- Tourism & Governance: Interactive Sessions & Workshops with Stakeholders on varied themes will be organised across the Country
Source: The Hindu, Business Line
