National Clean Air Programme
- Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has formulated National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as a medium term national level strategy to tackle the increasing air pollution problem across the country.
- The overall objective is to ensure a comprehensive management plan for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution.
- The NCAP focuses on collaborative and participatory approach covering all sources of pollution and coordination between relevant Central Ministries, State Governments, local bodies and other stakeholders.
- A separate component on ‘Technology Assessment Cell’ has been envisaged under NCAP to evaluate the technologies for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution.
National Tobacco Control Policy
- Union government is planning to propose a policy for enforcing various provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products.
- As of now Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution Act, 2003 (COTPA 2003), lies with the States/Union Territories.
- At present there is a National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) with one objective of ensuring effective implementation of the provisions under COTPA, 2003.
- There are State and District Level Coordination Committees under NTCP to oversee its implementation.
Milk under price stabilisation fund
- To create additional domestic demand for milk the agriculture ministry has sought inclusion of the milk under the Price Stabilisation Fund scheme.
- If milk is included in the Price Stabilisation Fund, it would enable states to distribute milk through the public distribution system.
- The Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) was set upunder the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Famers Welfare (DAC&FW) and later transferred to Department of Consumer Affairs (DOCA).
- It aims to help regulate the price volatility of important agri-horticultural commodities like onion, potatoes and pulses were also added subsequently.
Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh
- In the Budget 2017-18, an exclusive fund called “Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh” (RRSK) has been made.
- The fund has a corpus of Rs.1 lakh crore over a period of 5 years.
- This fund will be used for giving a major boost to safety related works for improving safety of tracks, rolling stock and proliferation of other safety technologies and training of staff.
Bomb Cyclone
- It’s a weather term that applies to a massive winter storm that struck off the U.S. Southeast, the storm has dumped freak snow in this region.
- This storm will usually stay out to sea and blow with high winds gusts exceeding 100 kmph.
- Bomb cyclones draw air from Polar Regions after they leave it means extra cold Arctic air this is based on polar vortex.
- Storm intensity is measured by central pressure the lower the pressure, the stronger.
- A storm is considered a “bomb” when the pressure drops rapidly at least 24 millibars in 24 hours,Millibar is the unit of atmospheric air pressure.
Polar Vortex
- The polar vortex is a large area of low pressure and cold air surrounding both of the Earth’s poles.
- It always exists near the poles, but weakens in summer and strengthens in winter.
- The term "vortex" refers to the counter-clockwise flow of air that helps keep the colder air near the Poles.
- Many times during winter in the northern hemisphere, the polar vortex will expand, sending cold air southward with the jet stream.
- This occurs fairly regularly during wintertime and is often associated with large outbreaks of Arctic air in the United States.
- Polar vortex is not a feature that exists at the Earth’s surface and it is not confined to the U.S.
- Portions of Europe and Asia also experience cold surges connected to the polar vortex.
Source: PIB, The Hindu, Business Standard
