DEEN DAYAL SPARSH YOJANA

• SRARSH: Scholarship for Promotion of Aptitude & Research in Stamps as a Hobby

About Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana:

• To award children in the class category of Standard VI to IX.
• It is proposed to award annual scholarships to those students who have good academic record and also pursue Philately as a hobby.
• It is launched by Department of Posts

Objective:

• The objective of the scholarship is to “Promote Philately among children at a young age in a sustainable manner that can reinforce and supplement the academic curriculum in addition to providing a hobby that can help them relax and de-stress”.

Philately:

• Philately is the collection and study of Postage stamps.
• It also entails the collection, appreciation and research activities on stamps and other related philatelic products.

WORLD BRAIN DAY 2019

• World Brain Day is observed on July 22
• World Brain Day 2019 Theme: Migraine: The Painful Truth.
• Aim: The theme aims at raising awareness about migraine, which is known to be one impactful neurological disease in the world.

What is Migraine:

• Migraine affects one in seven people and, together with other headache disorders, and is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. Despite its pervasive impact, migraine continues to be vastly under-recognized, underdiagnosed and under-treated.

IndSpaceEx

 

• Context: India to hold it’s first-ever simulated space warfare exercise in the last week of July, 2019 – IndSpaceEx.
• This exercise will basically be a ‘table-top war-game’, with all stakeholders from the military and scientific community taking part in it.

About IndspaceEx

• India took the first step towards developing a credible counter-space capability under ‘Mission Shakti’ when it launched a 19-tonne
• interceptor missile to destroy the 740-kg Microsat-R satellite, at an altitude of 283 km in a ‘hit-to-kill mode’ on 27th March, 2019.

Objective:

• To understand the possible challenges in space warfare and to counter China’s growing influence in this domain, which poses a major threat to India’s national security interest.

MISSION SHAKTI

• Mission Shakti is a Joint Programme of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
• As part of the mission, an anti-satellite (A-SAT) weapon was launched and targeted an Indian satellite which had been decommissioned. Mission Shakti was carried out from DRDO’s testing range in Odisha’s Balasore.
• The entire operation of Mission Shakti took just three minutes.
• The US, Russia, and China already have the A-SAT technology.
• India becomes fourth country with this technology.

RASHTRIYA AAJEEVIKA MISSION

• The Ministry of Rural Development is implementing Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). Aim: The Mission aims at creating efficient and effective institutional platforms of the rural poor, enabling them to increase household income through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to financial services.

Objective:

• “To reduce poverty by enabling the poor households to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities, resulting in appreciable improvement in their livelihoods on a sustainable basis, through building strong grassroots institutions of the poor.”

Sub-schemes under DAY-NRLM:

• Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs): It enables a trainee to take bank credit and start his/her own Micro-enterprise.
• Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP): It is for facilitating the rural poor for setting up of micro Enterprises.
• Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana (AGEY): To facilitate transport facilities in the rural areas which also provides self-employment
  opportunities to the rural poor.

TIANGONG-2

• Context: Tiangong-2 was a manned Chinese space station that was destroyed upon its controlled re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean on July 19.
• Tiangong-2 was retired from service after it had completed its experiments in space.

About Tiangong-2:

• Tiangong means “Heavenly Palace”.
• Tiangong-2 was 10.4 metres long and 3.35 metres wide at its widest point, and weighed 8.6 metric tonnes. It was launched on September 15, 2016 and, in late 2016, hosted two Chinese astronauts for 30 days in what was China’s longest manned space mission so far.
• The space lab, which China had never intended to be a permanent post in space, was visited by an uncrewed mission in April 2017.
• Most of Tiangong-2 burnt up in the atmosphere, and the remaining debris fell near Point Nemo, the most remote location on Earth.
• The recently decommissioned space lab followed the Tiangong-1, China’s first space station, which crashed into the southern Pacific Ocean in April 2018.

AAYKAR DIWAS

• Context: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is celebrating the 159th Income Tax Day on July 24, 2019.

About AAYKAR DIWAS:

• It was on 24th July, 1860 that Income Tax was introduced for the first time in India by Sir James Wilson to compensate for the losses incurred by the British regime during the first war of independence against British Rule.
• This is why 24th July is observed as the Income Tax Day.
• The event to mark the occasion, will include release of departmental publications, e-journal, publicity kit for outreach programmes among other things.

SONALI

• Context: Scientists in Bangladesh have developed a method to convert Jute fibre into low-cost bio-degradable cellulose sheets named ‘Sonali’ which can be used as wrapping material and carrying bag.

About SONALI:

• It has been developed by the state-run Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC).
• The physical qualities of the invented jute fibre and plastic are quite similar.
• The Eco-friendly jute poly bags made up of Sonali can be used in garments and food packaging work and they are not harmful for human health.
• The commercial production of these bags is likely to start by the year-end.
• The main challenge in the large-scale adoption of Sonali sheet is the relatively high cost of production which is almost double that of polythene.
• However, production on a large scale is expected to bring down the cost.