KARNATAKA
Karnataka: Revive farm pond scheme to deal with monsoon vagaries, say experts
With farmers being distressed by fluctuating monsoon rainfall for successive years, experts feel having farm ponds (krishi honda) in fields will minimise their woes.
They have urged the government to revive the Krishi Bhagya scheme to ensure a pond in each farmland.
The suggestion comes in the wake of a prolonged spell of weak monsoon in August following excessive rain in June and July.
About 86 taluks were hit by floods when there was copious rainfall, but crops are now drying in these and other areas due to lack of water.
The water scarcity is despite most reservoirs being almost full. For instance, the dams in Krishna basin are 99% full (overall) — they have 411.9 tmc ft of water as against their cumulative storage capacity of 417.5 tmc ft. About 106 tmc ft is stored in the dams of Cauvery basin against their maximum capacity of 114.6 tmc ft.
According to data from Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), only 42% of the total 3,639 minor irrigation tanks in the state have storage more than 50% of their capacity at present.
INTERNATIONAL
World Water Week – 23rd to 27th August
The World Water Week is regarded as an annual event organized via Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) because 1991 to tackle the international water troubles and associated concerns of global development. The World Water Week 2021 has been organised from 23-27 August, in entirely digital format. The theme: Building Resilience Faster.
NATIONAL
Launch of DISC 5.0 – Defence Ministry
Rajnath Singh (Defence Minister) launched Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC) 5.0 beneath (iDEX-DIO) – Innovations for Defence Excellence – Defence Innovation Organisation initiative, on 19th August 2021, in New Delhi.
Highlights:
The Defence Ministry has earmarked Rs 1,000 crore for home procurement via the iDEX initiative for the monetary year 2021-2022. The Defence Production Department, Ministry of Defence has accepted budgetary support of Rs. 498.80 crore for iDEX for the subsequent five years from 2021-22 till 2025-26.
Defence India Startup Challenge is a platform wherein the Government, Services, think tanks, industry, startups and innovators can work collectively to help the defence & aerospace sectors attain full workability with the aid of developing a strong, cutting-edge & well-equipped military and equally capable & self-reliant defence industry.
National Monetisation Pipeline by Finance Ministry
Minister for Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman has launched the asset monetisation pipeline of Central ministries and public zone entities: ‘National Monetisation Pipeline’. Asset Monetisation, potentially a constrained period license/ lease of an asset, owned by the government or public authority, to a private region entity for upfront or periodic consideration.
Highlights:
The National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) lists out belongings and asset classes, under various infrastructure ministries, which will be monetised over a length of time. Which capacity belongings will be monetised.
This pipeline has been developed by NITI Aayog, in session with infrastructure line ministries, based totally on the mandate for ‘Asset Monetisation’ underneath Union Budget 2021-22.
NMP estimates combination monetisation possible of Rs 6.0 lakh crores thru core assets of the Union Government, over a four-year period, from FY 2022 to FY 2025.
Lord Shiva to the Shankaracharya Temple
As per the age-old culture related to the annual Amarnath pilgrimage, the holy mace (Chhari Mubarak) of Lord Shiva used to be introduced to the ancient Shankaracharya Temple.
Highlights:
It is additionally recognised as the Jyoteshwar temple or Pas-Pahar via Buddhists. Persians and Jews name it Bagh-i-sulaiman or the Garden of King Solomon. Persian inscriptions are also determined inside the temple.
It is on the pinnacle of the Shankaracharya Hill (also referred to as Hill of Solomon) on the Zabarwan Mountain in Srinagar, Kashmir.
The temple is regarded as the oldest temple of the valley of Kashmir.
It is dedicated to Lord Shiva The temple is at a peak of 1,000 feet above the undead and overlooks the town of Srinagar.
The temple dates to 200 BC, though the present structure probably dates to the ninth century AD.
It was once visited through Adi Shankara and has been due to the fact that it has been associated with him; this is how the temple got the title Shankaracharya.
474 elephants electrocuted in last 6 yrs: Govt
An RTI reply from the ministry of environment and forests to activist K Govindan Namboothiry stated that 474 elephants were electrocuted in the country from 2014 to 2020.
Maximum deaths were reported in 2018 at 81, while the average was 70 every year until then. As many as 65 elephants died till December 2020 -13 in Assam and 10 in West Bengal. The maximum number of deaths in these six years was reported in Assam (90), followed by Odisha (73), Tamil Nadu (68) and Karnataka (65). Kerala reported 24 elephant deaths during this period.
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