Villanueva solar plant

• The Villanueva Solar plant in Mexico is the largest solar park in Latin America.
• With 2.3 million solar panels in the arid northern state of Coahuila the Villanueva power plant is part of Mexico’s push to generate 43% of its electricity from clean sources by 2024.
• Mexico became the first emerging country to announce its emissions reduction targets for the United Nations climate accord.
• The country ambitiously vowed to halve the emission by 2050.
• It  is also  the largest solar project in the world outside China and India

Inter Country Parental Child Removal Disputes Resolution Authority

• The Committee headed by Justice Rajesh Bindal has submitted its report on legal issues related to inter country removal & retention of children and recommends on addressing the problems of parents and children involved in such issues.
• The Committee has recommended that the Government may establish an ‘Inter Country Parental Child Removal Disputes Resolution Authority’.
• The authority has been envisaged to provide a one window solution in cases of inter country removal and retention of Children.
• The Authority may be chaired by a retired High Court Judge, with Members from Legal and Social sector background along with representatives from key Ministries.
• The Authority will examine the inter country cases of removal and retention of children vis-a-vis the cultural context, merit of the case, and the best interest of the Child.

Union of South American Nations

• It is an international organization made up of all twelve countries in the South American region- Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.
• The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty was signed in 2008, at the Third Summit of Heads of State, held in Brasília, Brazil. (Cusco Declaration).
• According to the Constitutive Treaty, the Union’s headquarters will be located in Quito, Ecuador.
• The headquarters of its bank, the Bank of the South are located in Caracas, Venezuela.

South Asian Climate Outlook Forum 

• SASCOF was established in 2010 as a platform where meteorologists from South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries along with Myanmar, could discuss some of the common weather and climate related matters.
• All these South Asian countries — except for Afghanistan, which is located in extreme northwest — experience common weather and climatological characteristics, like Southwest monsoon.
• Such a platform was needed to plan risk management and adaptation for minimising the impacts of climate variability.
• India has hosted six editions so far.
• Since 2015, the forum issues Climate Outlook even for the Northeast monsoon.

Ophioglossum malviae

• Ophioglossum malviae is a tongue fern whose size is just one centimeter.
• Indian researchers have discovered this world’s smallest land fern in the Ahwa forests of the Western Ghats in Gujarat’s Dang district.

• The fingernail-sized fern belongs to a group known as the adder’s-tongue ferns, named after their resemblance to a snake’s tongue.
• The plant’s minuscule seeds (called spores) under a powerful electron microscope revealed it had a unique thick outer layer.

Eukaryotes

• Eukaryotes include all organisms except bacteria and archaea.
• It includes plants, animals, fungi and other organisms whose cells have a nucleus that houses their chromosomal DNA.
• There are an estimated 10-15 million eukaryotic species on Earth.

Adilabad Dokra:

• It is an ancient metal craft that is popular in the state’s tribal regions.
• The uniqueness of this art form is that no two sculptures are the same, as they are not made out of a pre-designed cast.
• The craftsmen of this art form belong to the Woj community, commonly referred to as Wojaris or Ohjas in the rural areas of Telangana.
• They use brass as their main material and an ancient casting technique called ‘cire perdue’. As part of this technique, the craftsmen use clay and design a model of the sculpture that they want to create. They wrap the clay with wax threads before baking the mould, so that the wax melts away and the molten metal is poured into the mould.
• The common items made by the craftsmen include small idols and statues of tribal deities, jewellery, bells, small-scale animal sculptures and others.

Warangal durries:

• In this style of durries, weavers create beautiful patterns and dye them using vegetable colours, which are washed in flowing water after the printing process.
• Warangal district became a renowned hub for weaving these rugs due to the availability of cotton, which is grown by farmers in the area.

Khongjom battle day

• Manipur observed ‘Khongjom Day’ in commemoration of the Anglo-Manipur War of 1891 recently.
• The 1891 armed conflict was the last battle fought between the Kingdom of Manipur and the British Empire.
• Manipur lost the war and this marked the beginning of British rule in the then princely state.
• The Manipur government has been observing April 23 as ‘Khongjom Day’ every year.
• The battle was fought in Kheba Hill of Khongjom in Thoubal district.

Diu Smart City

• Diu Smart City has become the first city in India that runs on 100% renewable energy during daytime.
• It had been importing 73% of its power from Gujarat until last year.

It has achieved this by two pronged approach

1. Developing a 9 MW solar park
2. Installing solar panels on the roof tops on government buildings thereby generating 1.3 MW annually

Protected area permit

• Under the Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order, 1958, all areas falling between the Inner line and the International Border of some states have been declared as protected areas.
• The protected areas currently include whole of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim, besides parts of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir.
• Some parts of Sikkim fall under the protected area regime while others under the restricted area.

Disturbed Area

• A disturbed area is one which is declared by notification under Section 3 of the AFSPA.
• An area can be disturbed due to differences or disputes between members of different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities.
• The Central Government, or the Governor of the State or administrator of the Union Territory can declare the whole or part of the State or Union Territory as a disturbed area.
• A suitable notification would have to be made in the Official Gazette.
• As per Section 3, it can be invoked in places where “the use of armed forces in aid of the civil power is necessary”.

Indian Culinary Institute (ICI)

• ICI is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Tourism.
• The main objective of setting up of the ICI was to institutionalize a mechanism to support efforts intended to preserve, document, promote and disseminate Indian Cuisine, meet the sectoral requirement of specialists specific to Indian Cuisine, as also of promoting Cuisine as a Niche Tourism product.
• Indira Gandhi National Tribal University is located in Amarkantak, Anuppur district, Madhya Pradesh.
• It was established through an Act of Parliament, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University Act, 2007.

Innovate in India for Inclusiveness Project

• India has signed a loan agreement with World Bank for US$ 125 million for “Innovate in India for Inclusiveness Project”.
• The project seeks to nurture indigenous innovation, foster local product development and accelerate commercialization process by bridging critical skill and infrastructure gaps to promote affordable and innovative healthcare products generation for inclusive development and increasing competitiveness in India.
• The project would support consortia of public, private, and the academic institutions to overcome the key market failures currently holding back the development of an innovative biopharmaceutical and medical devices industry in India.

SAFAR

• The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India, has introduced the System of Air Quality Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).
• It has been introduced for greater metropolitan cities of India to provide location-specific information on air quality in near real time and its forecast 1-3 days in advance for the first time in India.
• It has been introduced for greater metropolitan cities of India to provide location-specific information on air quality in near real time and its forecast 1-3 days in advance for the first time in India.
• The World Meteorological Organization has recognised SAFAR as a prototype activity on the basis of the high quality control and standards maintained in its implementation.
• The ultimate objective of the project is to increase awareness among general public regarding the air quality in their city well in advance so that appropriate mitigation measures and systematic action can be taken up for betterment of air quality and related health issues.