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Prelim Bits 23-07-2018 

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July 23, 2018

Khelo India Talent Identification Development scheme 

  • Khelo India is a National Programme for Development of Sports, which aims to enable a pathway from schools to Olympics. 
  • Each athlete selected under the scheme will get a scholarship of Rs. 5 lakh per annum for eight years. 
  • The government also aims to set up 20 universities across the country as hubs of sporting excellence. 
  • Following the successful conduct of the Khelo India School Games, Sports Authority of India cleared the proposal of Khelo India Talent Identification Development scheme. 
  • It is a scholarship programme designed to take care of their expenses including training, development, boarding and lodging and tournament exposure apart from offering them out of pocket expense allowance. 

National Moth Week 

  • National Moth Week was initiated in 2012 by scientist in America. 
  • Its main aim is to increase awareness on Moths and encourage people to observe and document moths in backyards and neighbourhoods. 
  • It is observed in the last week of July in more than 40 countries worldwide. 
  • India is among 40 countries in which enthusiasts and citizen scientists are devoting the week from July 21 to 29 to document the insects 

Digital Knowledge on Bird Species 

  • Wildlife scientists tried to use online data to study if bird occurrence has altered across India over time. 
  • However, with little data before 1980 was found digitally, it is difficult to make comparisons. 
  • Scientists at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the University of Kansas have recently accessed more than 2 million bird occurrence data points from across India. 
  • The study was carried out with an intent to evaluate the “digital accessible knowledge” of bird species occurrences.  
  • They explored two sources - Global Biodiversity Information Facility and eBird. 
  • Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is a network funded by the world’s governments focused on making scientific data on biodiversity available online. 
  • eBird is the world’s largest biodiversity-related citizen science project where users contribute information on bird sightings. 

Salicornia 

  • Salicornia is a plant that grows in salty marshes in the mangrove wetlands. 
  • The plant can be used as a substitute to salt with low sodium content. 
  • The patients suffering from hypertension, diabetes and gastric related ailments prefer the Salicornia salad and salt. 
  • The production of the salt substitute has come down drastically in Gujarat with the scarcity of the Salicornia. Thus India is forced to import it from Israel and Scandinavian countries. 
  • Recently, Andhra Pradesh government has intensified the efforts to tap commercial benefits from the plant through cultivation as well as extraction. 
  • The government has documented the presence of the Salicornia along the coastline of Krishna district, exploring the possibilities to extract the salt substitute through various methods. 

K9 Vajra-T Guns 

  • K9 Vajra-T is an artillery gun produced by South Korea. 
  • India is going to procure this artillery guns and it will be the first induction of heavy artillery since the Swedish Bofors guns imported in the 1980s. 
  • It is a 155-mm, 52-calibre self-propelled artillery gun with a maximum range of 40 km, customised from the original K9 Thunder gun.  
  • The fire control system has been customised for desert conditions to the requirements of the Indian Army. 
  • India is also planning to procure M777 ultra-light howitzers from the U.S. 
  • The M777 is a 155-mm, 39-calibre towed artillery gun and weighs just four tonnes, making it transportable under slung from helicopters. 

Solar Park 

  • Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have topped the list of states with maximum solar power generation capacity approved under solar parks in India. 
  • A solar park is a concentrated zone of development of solar power generation projects. 
  • It provides developers an area with proper infrastructure and access to amenities and where the risk of the projects can be minimized.  
  • The solar park scheme also provides for reduced number of statutory approvals to facilitate faster and easier development. 

 

Source: The Hindu, PIB 

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