Prelim Bits 24-05-2018

AfrAsia Bank Global Wealth Migration Review

• According to AfrAsia Bank Global Wealth Migration Review, India currently has 119 billionaires, and this number is expected to swell to 357 by 2027.
• India has the third largest number of billionaires in the world.
• In the next decade, as many as 238 additional ultra high net worth individuals will join this elite club.
• The US is the wealthiest country in the world with a total wealth of $62,584 billion, followed by China ($24,803 billion) and Japan ($19,522 billion).
• In terms of "total wealth" -- the private wealth held by all the individuals living in each country -- India is the sixth wealthiest country in the world with a total wealth of $8,230 billion.
• Billionaires refer to individuals with net assets of USD 1 billion or more.

Queqiao

• China successfully launched a relay satellite to set up a communication link between the Earth and a planned Chinese lunar exploration mission to explore the Moon’s mysterious far side.
• It is named as Queqiao (Magpie Bridge) which is a 400-kg satellite with a designed life of three years.
• It was carried by a Long March-4C rocket.
• Queqiao is expected to enter a halo orbit around the second Lagrangian (L2) point of the Earth-Moon system, about 455,000 kms from the Earth.
• It will be the world’s first communication satellite operating in that orbit.
• The Queqiao satellite will form a communication bridge between controllers on the Earth and the far side of the Moon where the Chang’e-4 lunar probe is expected to touch down.
• Tidal forces of the Earth have slowed the Moon’s rotation to the point where the same side always faces the Earth, a phenomenon called tidal locking.
• The other face, most of which is never visible from the Earth, is the far side or dark side of the Moon, not because it’s dark, but because most of it remains unknown.

International Day for Biodiversity

• The International Day for Biodiversity (IBD) 2018 was celebrated all over the country on May 22.
• The celebration of the IDB under the theme - “Celebrating 25 years of action on biodiversity” provides an opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of and threats to biodiversity.
• The celebrations have been organized to mark the 25 years of coming into force of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
• The IBD 2018 celebrations have been organized by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in coordination with National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and Telangana State Biodiversity Board.

Model Agriculture Produce and Livestock Contract Farming and Services (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2018

• Union Agriculture Minister releases Model Agriculture Produce and Livestock Contract Farming and Services (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2018 recently.
• The Act will provide adequate confidence to farmers and incentives to the sponsors to enter into a contract.
• Union Finance Minister in the budget for 2017-18 announced preparation of a “Model Contract Farming Act” and circulation of the same to the States for its adoption.
• Farmer’s producer organizations (FPO’s) have a major role in promoting Contract Farming and Services Contract.
• In addition to contract farming, services contracts all along the value chain including pre-production, production and post-production have been included.
• Contract framing to be outside the ambit of APMC Act.
• Contracted produce is to be covered under crop / livestock insurance in operation.

Ganga Praharis

• A database of ‘Ganga Praharis’, a self-motivated cadre, being created by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) was  launched recently.
• The Ganga Praharis’, a self-motivated volunteer cadre from local communities have been trained and taken on board by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to make Clean Ganga Mission a mass movement.
• This cadre has been created to ensure the sustainability of efforts in conservation of the biodiversity in river Ganga.
• So far, 427 Ganga Praharis across five main stem Ganga basin states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal have been involved in this project.

Status of Conservation of Select Aquatic Species

• Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation released the report on “Status of Conservation of Select Aquatic Species” in river Ganga in New Delhi recently.
• It is a first-of-its-kind report which presents the status of select species of river Ganga and synthesize the information from available literature as well as from the data generated through the rapid biodiversity assessment of the river.
• This would make valuable contribution for making a baseline for these species. 
• Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun prepared these reports as part of the “Biodiversity Conservation and Ganga Rejuvenation” project being sponsored by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) under the aegis of the Namami Gange program.
• The Biodiversity Conservation and Ganga Rejuvenation project aims to develop a science-based aquatic species restoration plan for Ganga by involving multiple stakeholders.

Source: PIB, The Hindu, Bussiness Line