Indian scientists have recently discovered a fully preserved fossil sea-dwelling reptile known as the ‘fish lizard’ from Gujarat’s Kutch district.
The fossil is believed to be from Jurassic period, which lasted from about 250 million to 200 million years.
The discovery adds to the knowledge of ichthyosaur (fish – lizard) from the southern continents.
It is the first Jurassic ichthyosaur found in India. It has been found in Americas, Australia and Europe.
Other Ichthyosaur fossils from the Crustacean period which lasted 145 million to 66 million years ago found in India usually in the form of teeth or fragments of vertebrae.
It’s the second significant fossil discovery in India this year.
The oldest plant fossil in India, red algae from the Chitrakoot region in Madhya Pradesh, believed to be 1.6 billion years old was discovered earlier.
Mekedatu Project
The central water commission has recently sent back a pre-feasibility report on the Mekedatu project to the Karnataka government.
It is a balancing reservoir cum drinking water project on the Cauvery River proposed by Karnataka.
It is proposed to be located about 110 km from Bengaluru, with storage capacity of 66.50 tmc ft.
Tamil Nadu objected the project saying that it would affect the flow of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.
Central Water Commission
It is a premier technical organization in the field of Water Resources.
It is presently functioning as an attached office of the Ministry of Water Resources.
It will carry out techno-economic appraisal of medium and major irrigation and multi-purpose projects on inter-state rivers.
Integrity Index
Central Vigilance Commission has set to develop integrity index for public sector undertakings, public sector banks and financial institutions, Ministries and its departments.
CVC will calculate scores by linking the essential drivers of vigilance with long term efficiency, profitability and sustainability of public organizations.
It will help in creating an internal and external ecosystem that promotes working with Integrity in public organizations.
Initially 25 organizations have been selected for development of the index.
Central Vigilance Commission
Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is an autonomous statutory body created to address governmental corruption.
It is free of control from any executive authority, charged with monitoring all vigilance activity under the Central Government of India.
The Commission shall consist of
A Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) - Chairperson;
Not more than two Vigilance Commissioners (VC) - Members;
They are appointed by the President on the recommendation of three member committee.
The committee consists of PM as its head, the union minister of Home affairs and the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha.
They hold office for a term of 4 years or until they attain the age of 65 years whichever is earlier.
They are not eligible for further employment after their tenure.
The salary, allowance and other conditions of CVC is similar to chairman of UPSC and VC is similar to members of UPSC.
Dawn Mission
Dawn mission was launched by NASA deploying spacecrafts to orbit extra terrestrial objects.
It is the only mission ever to orbit two extraterrestrial targets.
It orbited giant asteroid Vesta for 14 months from 2011 to 2012, then continued on to Ceres, where it has been in orbit since March 2015.
Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
NASA has recently authorized a second extension of the Dawn mission at Ceres.
During this extension, the spacecraft will descend to lower altitudes than ever before at the dwarf planet, which it has been orbiting since 2015.
Passport Index
The index ranks passports worldwide based on the cross-border access a holder has.
It was developed by Canada based global consultancy Arton Capital.
In its new ranking, Singapore has the world’s most powerful passport which allows travel to 159 countries either without a visa or visa on arrival.
It is the first time that an Asian country has occupied the first place in the index.
Germany listed in second place with its citizens able to visit 158 countries.
India has improved its ranking to 75th position from 78th last year.
