The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Punjab National Bank (PNB) signed a $100 million loan — that will finance large solar rooftop systems on industrial and commercial buildings throughout India.
This is the first tranche loan of the $500 million multi tranche finance facility Solar Rooftop Investment Program (SRIP) approved by ADB in 2016.
The entire Solar Rooftop Investment Program will cost $1 billion, inclusive of ADB $500 million funding, and the projects financed under the program will install solar rooftop system of around 1 GW capacity.
This will contribute to the climate change goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by about 11 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent over the typical 25-year lifetime of rooftop solar systems.
India’s solar rooftop market is expanding fast with an estimated total capacity potential of 124GW.
DAY-NULM
National Urban Livelihood Mission is now renamed as ‘Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana-NULM’ and in Hindi as ‘Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana-Rashtriya Shahri Aajeevika Mission’.
This mission seeks to enhance the employment opportunities and incomes of the urban poor through skill development and training, setting up of individual and group micro-enterprises, formation of Self-Help Groups, building shelters for homeless, supporting street vendors in creating infrastructure, innovative support to rag pickers, differently abled etc.
NULM introduced in 2013 is being presently implemented in only 791 cities across the country covering all district headquarters and cities and towns with a population of above one lakh each.
Now all the States and Union Territories have been empowered to implement DAY-NULM in all the remaining 3,250 statutory urban local bodies even if they have a population of less than one lakh each.
Under skill training, it was decided to enhance financial provisions for differently-abled.
why flamingo stands on one leg?
New research suggests that a flamingo is more stable and requires less muscle effort when standing on one leg than when standing on two — whether awake, asleep, or even dead.
The paper mentions two hypotheses about why flamingos stand on one leg. One is that it is to reduce muscle fatigue (which would necessitate alternating from one foot to the other).
The other hypothesis is that standing on leg reduces heat loss.
International Comparison Programme
The ICP is a worldwide statistical initiative led by the World Bank that supports inter-country comparisons of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its components, using Purchasing Power Parity.
Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MOSPI) will take up the price collection work in rural and urban areas shortly all over the country.
