Ama Gaon, Ama Vikas program
- The Odisha government has launched Ama Gaon, Ama Vikas (Our Village, our development) to reach out to the people in rural areas and involve themselves in the developmental activities.
- Mobile video vans for ‘Ama Gaon Ama Vikas’ program will move across the State to highlight various welfare schemes at villages in the state.
- Through these Wi-Fi enabled latest technology video wall vans, people can directly send their grievances to the Chief Minister’s Office at the Secretariat in Bhubaneswar.
Black tip Sharks
- Black tip sharks that gather off the South Florida every year coast are shrinking in number.
- The Blacktip Shark is widespread in warm temperate, subtropical and tropical waters.
- The species are found over the following areas,
- In the western Atlantic it ranges from United States to southern Brazil
- In the eastern Atlantic it is known from the Mediterranean Sea southwards to central Africa
- In the Indian Ocean from South Africa to western Australia, including the Red Sea and Persian Gulf
- In the Pacific Ocean it is recorded from throughout the Indo-Australian Archipelago
- In the eastern Pacific from California, USA, to Peru
- Black tip Shark meat is primarily consumed locally and fins are dried and shipped to the Far East where they are used in preparing shark-fin soup.
- It is a near threatened species under the IUCN red list.
Effect of Smartphones on Environment
- Smartphones and data centres will be the most damaging information and communications technologies to the environment by 2040, a study has found.
- ICT may account for 14% of the global footprint by 2040, or about half of the transportation sector worldwide.
- Telecommunications networks and data centres consume a lot of energy to serve you and most data centres continue to be powered by electricity generated by fossil fuels.
- Smartphones consume little energy to operate, 85% of their emissions impact comes from production.
- Smartphones also have a short life which drives production of new models.
Kuthiyottam Ritual
- The Kerala State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights registered a suo motu case in connection with the Kuthiyottam ritual.
- The Kuthiyottam ritual is usually performed every year during the Pongala festival at the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
- The Attukal Pongala festival is the largest congregation of women for a festival in the world.
- Pongala, which means 'to boil over’, is a ritual in which women prepare a pudding made from rice, jaggery, coconut and plantains cooked together, and offer it to the goddess.
- Young boys undertake a seven-day penance before Pongala day by being within the temple, sleeping on the floor, observing strict diet restrictions and bathing three times a day.
- The ritual also reportedly involves piercing the child’s side with a small hook and knotting a thread through it to symbolize their bond with the Goddess.
Urban Air Pollution Source
- According to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration-led study, chemical products that contain compounds refined from petroleum rivals motor vehicle emissions as the top source of urban air pollution.
- Household cleaners, pesticides, paints and perfumes, lotions, paints and other products are some of examples of such chemical products.
- The scientists focused on volatile organic compounds or VOCs that can escape into the atmosphere and react to produce either ozone or particulate matter causing health impacts, including lung damage.
- The amount of VOCs emitted by consumer and industrial products is actually two or three times greater than estimated by current air pollution inventories.
- The NOAA study covered North America, particularly United States of America.
Swajal Yojana
- Union Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation launched the Swajal pilot project at Rajasthan recently.
- Swajal is a community owned drinking water programme for sustained drinking water supply.
- The project ensures the availability of clean drinking water to every household round the year and also generates employment.
- Under the scheme, 90% of the project cost will be taken care by the Government and the remaining 10% of the project cost will be contributed by the community.
- The Operations and management of the project will be taken care by the local villagers.
Map of the Day
North America - Physical Features
Note - No Landlocked country in North America
Source: PIB, The Hindu, Science daily
