Vriksharopan Abhiyan

• Union Home Minister has recently launched the campaign “Vriksharopan Abhiyan”.
• It is being organized by the Ministry of Coal which involves all coal and lignite PSUs.
• It is a part of going green Initiative of Ministry of Coal.
• Under this initiative, large scale plantation will be carried out in colonies, offices, and mines and in other suitable areas of coal and Ignite PSUs.
• Seedlings will also be distributed under the campaign in the nearby areas for promoting plantation by society.
• Under this initiative six eco-parks were inaugurated by Home Ministry, it will provide avenues for the adventure, water sport, recreation, bird watching, etc.
• Going Green initiative involves maximization of green cover through ecological reclamation of the mined-out areas and overburden dumps, avenue plantation at suitable places, and plantation in and around the mines.

• The Ministry of Human Resource Development has recently conducted the first ever Indian Scholastic Assessment (Ind-SAT) Test 2020 under its 'Study in India’ programme.
• EdCIL (India) Limited, a PSU under MHRD and the implementing agency of SII handled the registrations and other aspects of the examinations.

Indian Scholastic Assessment Test (Ind-SAT)

• Ind-SAT is an eligibility test for granting scholarships and admissions to foreign students to study in selected Indian universities under the Study in India programme.
• Ind-SAT is designed to measure the scholastic capabilities of students seeking admission in educational institutes in India.
• The scores obtained in Ind-SAT will serve as a criterion to shortlist the students for the allocation of scholarships in the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
• Ind-SAT 2020 was held in remote-proctored mode and was administered by the National Testing Agency, or NTA.
• Around five thousand students from Nepal, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Sri-Lanka, Kenya, Zambia, Indonesia and Mauritius took Ind-SAT 2020.
• As per a statement the eligibility test of Ind-SAT was held in 12 countries on a pilot basis this year. There are plans to extend this to other countries in the future.

Study in India Programme

• It is a flagship project under the Ministry of HRD, the Govt. of India, was launched in April 2018.
• This program has been put together to facilitate and encourage the global student community to study in India, which offers a plethora of courses with its top-ranked institutes.
• EdCIL India Limited, a PSU under MHRD, is the implementing agency of the programme.

EdCIL (India) Limited

• It is a Mini Ratna Category-1 CPSE continously profit making and fast growing CPSE under Ministry of Human Resource Development offering management and consultancy services in all areas of education and human resource development, both within India and overseas. 

• The Union Ministry of Coal has recently removed the Bander coal mine in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra from the list of mines that are up for the auction under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015.
• Bander was a part of the Tadoba–Andhari Tiger Reserve, the ministry said in a withdrawal notice issued on July 21, 2020.
• This was according to the notification declaring the area as an ecologically sensitive zone issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

• China successfully launched its first Mars probe Tianwen 1 or Quest for Heavenly Truth 1 using Long March-5 rocket – China’s largest and most powerful launch vehicle.
• It carries the spacecraft with a mass of about five tonnes and soared into the sky from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of southern China’s island province of Hainan.
• The probe consists of three parts — the orbiter, the lander and the rover — and they will separate in Mars orbit.
• The orbiter will remain in the orbit for scientific operations and to relay signals while the lander-rover combination makes an autonomous descent and landing.
• The rover has six wheels and four solar panels and carries six scientific instruments.
• It weighs over 200 kilogrammes and will work for about three months on the planet.
• China aims to catch up with India, the US, Russia and the European Union to reach the red planet.

Mission Ohjective

• The Mission will fulfil three scientific objectives:

1. Orbiting the red planet for comprehensive observation
2. Landing on Martian soil
3. Sending a rover to roam the landing site

• It will conduct scientific investigations into the planet’s soil, geological structure, environment, atmosphere and water.
• It should arrive in orbit around the red planet in February.

• The country celebrated the 114th birth anniversary of a revolutionary leader Chandrashekhar Azad.
• Azad was one of those few leaders who gave nightmares to British administration during the struggle for Independence.
• His journey as a revolutionary leader began in 1920 when he participated in Mahatma Gandhi-led Non-Cooperation Movement.
• This happened a year after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Azad got arrested at the age of 15 for taking part in the movement.
• Azad decided to take the revolutionary route after suspension of the Non-Cooperation Movement.
• He rose to the position of chief strategist in the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.
• Under the leadership of Chandra Shekhar Azad, the name of HRA was changed to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA).
• He was involved in incidents like the Kakori conspiracy, bombing of assembly, killing of assistant superintendent of police, Saunders, among others.
• Azad was involved in a bid to blow up Viceroy Irwin’s train near Delhi in December 1929.
• He died in a park in Allahabad in February 1931 during an encounter with the British.

• National Broadcasting Day is being observed 23rd July.
• All India Radio (AIR) is the National Public Service Broadcaster.
• AlR is under Prasar Bharati board which is an autonomous body under Ministry oi l&B, Govt. of India.
• According to All India Radio Code, broadcast on AIR by individuals will not permit direct publicity for or on behalf of an individual or organization which is likely to benefit only that individual or organization.

• India has successfully conducted flight tests of its indigenously developed anti-tank guided missile ''Dhruvastra''.
• The anti-tank guided Nag Missile (HELINA), which has been named now as Dhruvastra. 
• Developed by the DRDO, the helicopter-launched anti-tank guided missile is one of the most advanced anti-tank weapons in the world.
• It operates in, lock-on before launch mode which can be launched from land and air based platform.
• The ground-based Nag missile was also successfully tested earlier.   

• Recently, Turkmenistan gets observer status in World Trade Organization (WTO).  
• WTO is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations.
• Any state or customs territory having full autonomy in the conduct of its trade policies may join the WTO.
• The WTO has 164 members and 23 observer countries. The US is the member of WTO.
• Only 16 countries are not WTO members. They are Aruba, Curacao, Eritrea, Kiribati, Kosovo, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Monaco, Nauru, North Korea, Palau, the Palestinian Territories, San Marino, Sint Maarten, and Tuvalu. 

• ANASIS-2 is South Korea’s first military communications satellite.
• It was recently launched successfully by SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
• The ANASIS-2 telecommunications satellite will operate in geostationary Earth orbit.
• The Chinese Mars Mission, named Tianwen-1 was also  launched successfully recently.  

• The latest Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) has brought out by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN. 
• India has ranked 3rd among the top 10 countries that have gained in forest areas in the last decade, 2010-2020.
• This report assesses the state of forests, their conditions and management for all member countries.
• The Asian continent reported the highest net gain in forest area in 2010-2020, according to the report. 
• The top 10 countries that have recorded the maximum average annual net gains in forest area are China, Australia, India, Chile, Vietnam, Turkey, the United States, France, Italy and Romania.
• The forest area managed by local, tribal and indigenous communities in India increased from zero in 1990 to about 25 million ha in 2015.
• However, the naturally regenerating forest rate is disappointing, according to the assessment.