WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Kamlesh Kumar Pant, a 1993-batch IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as the new chairman of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) by the Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet.
• The pharmaceutical pricing agency was currently headed by IAS officer Shubhra Singh, who was appointed to the post in 2018. Singh has been repatriated to her cadre state Rajasthan, according to an order of the personnel ministry.
• Pant, formerly the Principal Secretary (Revenue) in the government of Himachal Pradesh and also the Financial Commissioner (Appeals) at Himachal Pradesh and the head of the Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board, has taken charge of NPPA with immediate effect.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Chhattisgarh became the first state to recognise Community Forest Resource Rights in an urban area, with the state government recognising the rights of residents of Dhamtari district over 4,127 hectares of forests.
• Community resource rights over 5,544 hectares of forest within the core area of the tiger reserve area were also recognised.
• Under Forest Rights Act, 2006, Community Forest Resource Right gives gram sabhas the right to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage any forest resources used by the entire community, or village.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

11th Annual meeting of the Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) for the year 2021 was inaugurated by Chief Election Commissioner of India & Chairman of FEMBoSA, Sushil Chandra

About:

• He was accompanied by Election Commissioners Rajeev Kumar and A.C. Pandey.
• This virtual meeting was hosted by the Election Commission of Bhutan.
• The meeting was participated by delegations from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka along with India.
• During the meeting, Sushil Chandra noted that FEMBoSA represents a very large part of the democratic world. it is an active regional cooperation association of Election Management Bodies.
• He shared India’s experience of conducting Assembly elections in Bihar Assam, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry amid the COVID 19 pandemic.
• He also highlighted the importance of technological advancements and their impact on election management. Technology is extensively used to make elections more participative, accessible and transparent.
• According to him, ECI looks forward to strengthening its interaction with FEMBoSA member EMBs in order to promote activities of the Forum in accordance with its objectives.

Logo of FEMBoSA

The logo of the FEMBoSA with golden pearls stands for eternal values of democracy, transparency, impartiality and cooperation.

The theme of the meeting

FEMBoSA meeting was held under the theme of ‘Use of Technology in Elections’

WHY IN THE NEWS?

World’s third oldest and Asia’s oldest football tournament called Durand Cup, is all set to be held in Kolkata from September 5 to October 21, 2021.

About:

• Durand Cup will be held after a year due to Covid-19 pandemic.
• Tournament will be organised with the support of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), IFA (West Bengal) and Government of West Bengal.
• Year 2021 will mark the 130th Edition of Durand Cup.

About Durand Cup

The Durand Cup is a prestigious football tournament. It was first held in 1888, at Dagshai in Himachal Pradesh. This tournament has been named after Mortimer Durand. He was the then Foreign Secretary in charge of India.

Background of the tournament

This tournament was a conscious way to maintain health and fitness amongst the British troops. However, it was later opened to civilians. Presently, it is one of the leading sports events globally.

Successful teams

Mohun Bagan and East Bengal are the most successful teams of the Durand Cup. Both the teams have won for sixteen times each.

About the Trophy

Winning team is provided with three trophies

1. President’s Cup which was first presented by Dr Rajendra Prasad
2. Durand Cup- it is the original challenge prize and a rolling trophy and
3. Shimla Trophy which was first presented by citizens of Shimla in 1903. Since 1965, it has become a rolling trophy.

Where it will be held?

The football Tournament was shifted from Delhi to Kolkata in 2019. 2019 Gokulam Kerala won the 2019 tournament by beating Mohun Bagan with 2-1 in the finals. Thus, Kolkata will again host this four-week long tournament. Sixteen participating teams from India, including four teams from the Services, will bring out the competitive and sportsman spirit to fight for the trophies.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

The Skytrax World Airport Award ranking 2021 was recently published in which Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi has emerged among world’s top-50 best airports in the 2021.

About:

• Delhi Airport emerged as best airport in India for the third consecutive year.
• Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru have also found a rank among world’s 100 best airports.

Airport ranking list

• According to Skytrax 2021 world airport’s awards list, Delhi has been ranked at 45th position. Ranking has improved by five places as compared to number 50 in 2020. Delhi airport is first Indian airport to achieve this mark.
• Hyderabad has been ranked at 64th Its raking has been improved by seven places against 71st in 2020.
• Mumbai is at 65th number, 13 places down from 52nd position in 2020.

Bengaluru is at 71st number, 3 places down from 68th rank in 2020.

Ranking of airports globally

• World’s top-5 airports include:

1. Doha Hamad International Airport
2. Tokyo Haneda airport
3. Changi airport Singapore
4. Seoul Incheon International Airport and
5. Tokyo Narita

How airports are ranked?

United Kingdom based Skytrax provides the best airports awards on the basis of customer reviews. Ranking is considered as the quality benchmark for world airport industry. It assesses customer service and facilities across 550 airports.

About Skytrax

Skytrax is a United Kingdom-based consultancy, running an airline and airport review & ranking site.

Indira Gandhi International Airport

This international aviation hub of New Delhi is spread over an area of 5,106 acres. It is situated in Palam and has been named after former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi. It is the busiest airport of India in terms of passenger traffic since 2009. Globally, it is the 17th busiest airport and 6th busiest airport in Asia by passenger traffic. It handles about 70 million passengers. It was operated by the Indian Air Force and transferred to the Airports Authority of India, later. In 2006, management of IGI was transferred to Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), led by the GMR Group.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Wildfires in Algeria have killed 42 people including 25 soldiers.

About:

• President of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, expressed condolences for 25 soldiers. They lost their life while rescuing people at the epicentre of the blazes.
• Areas of Bejaiea and Tizi Ouzou are epicentre of the blazes. Dozens of fires started in Kabyle region also.
• The Kabyle region is located 100 kilometres east of capital city Algiers. Area comprises of difficult-to-access villages and limited water.
• Algeria joins the string of countries like Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and western United States that were hit by major blazes recently.

Wildlife Fires

Forest fires are also called as bush or vegetation fire or forest fire. It can be defined as uncontrolled and non-prescribed combustion or burning of plants in natural setting like forest, brush land or tundra, grassland. It consumes natural fuels and spreads in accordance with environmental conditions such as wind or topography. Such fires can be incited by human actions like land clearing or extreme drought or by lightning.

Forest Fires in India in 2021

• In January 2021, Uttarakhand, Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh and Dzukou Valley at Nagaland-Manipur border witnessed prolonged wildlife fires.
• In February-March 2021, Simlipal National Park in Odisha saw a major fire.
• Bandhavgarh Forest Reserve in Madhya Pradesh and sanctuaries for Asiatic lion & great Indian bustard in Gujarat also reported wildfires in 2021.

Impact of Forest Fire

Forest fires have several adverse effects on forest cover, tree growth, soil, vegetation, flora and fauna. Fires turns hectares of forest useless and leave behind ash, which in turn make the forest unfit for any vegetation growth. Heat generated during fires damages animal habitats. It also decreases soil quality, soil moisture and fertility.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

President of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-26) and climate chief of United Kingdom government, Alok Sharma is to visit India in August to meet the leaders of country that has become the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases following US and China.

About:

• This visit will happen in the aftermath of India putting pressure of declaring a net zero emission goal.
• Instead, India called out countries on their carbon neutral intent announcements and termed it meaningless.
• UK is committed to work closely with partners in India to ensure successful outcome at COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021.
• Earlier in 2021, COP26 President Designate, Alok Sharma, also visited India and met PM Modi.

About COP-26

COP-26 is extended as “The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference”. It is the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, which is scheduled to be held in city of Glasgow, Scotland. It will be held from 31 October to 12 November 2021. United Kingdom holds presidency of the conference. Conference will also incorporate the 26th Conference of Parties to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), third meeting of parties to Paris Agreement (CMA3) and 16th meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP16). During this conference, Parties are expected to commit to enhanced ambition for first time since COP21.

Venue of COP 26

Venue for the conference is SEC Centre in Glasgow. Originally it was to be held at same place in November 2020. But the event was postponed for twelve months because of COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland

WHY IN THE NEWS?

India’s cleanest city, Indore, has now been declared as India’s first water plus city under the Swachh Survekshan 2021.

About:

• Indore has become example for whole nation for its determination and dedication towards cleanliness.
• Indore City received this certification from central government on August 11, 2021.
• This certification is provided for maintaining cleanliness in rivers and drains.

How this certification is provided?

To get the certification, following criteria has been set:

1. Dirty water should not go into any river or drain.
2. Further, 30 percent of the city’s sewer water needs to be recycled and reused.
3. Public toilets must be connected to sewer lines and it must be cleaned.

About Swachh Survekshan

It is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation across cities and towns in India. It was launched under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. This abhiyan was started with the aim of making India clean and free of open defecation by October 2, 2019. The first survey was done in 2016 and covered 73 cities. By 2020, survey grown to cover 4242 cities. It was tagged as the largest cleanliness survey across the world.

Sixth edition of survey

To scale up the coverage of ranking exercise and encourage towns and cities to actively implement mission initiatives, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) conducted sixth edition of the survey to rank all cities under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban in association with the Quality Council of India.

Objective of the survey

This survey is conducted with the objective of encouraging large scale citizen participation and ensure sustainability of initiatives towards garbage free and open defecation free cities. Survey also seeks to instil the spirit of healthy competition amongst towns and cities in order to improve their service delivery to citizens.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Javelin Thrower Neeraj Chopra has finished at number 2 rank in the World Athletics ranking after securing Gold Medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

About:

• Neeraj Chopra has been ranked second with a score of 1315.
• He is only behind German athlete Johannes Vetter who is having a score of 1396.

Chopra at Tokyo Olympics

• Neeraj Chopra created history on August 7, 2021, by winning Gold Medal.
• He has become India’s first athlete to win gold in track and field at Olympics.
• He threw the javelin to a distance of 87.58m.
• World Athletics has listed his throw at the Olympics has now been listed as one among 10 magical moments of athletics (track and field) in the Tokyo Olympics.
• Following his win, Neeraj has also become the most followed track & field athlete in the world with a number of followers on Instagram at 3.2 million.

Neeraj Chopra

He is an Indian track and field athlete, competing in the javelin throw. He is the Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in the Indian Army. He has become the first track and field athlete to win a gold medal at the Olympics. He is also the first track and field athlete who won IAAF World U20 Championships. In 2016, he achieved under-20 world record of 86.48 m. He is one among two Indians to have won an individual Olympic gold medal as of 2021. Other gold medalist being Abhinav Bindra. He has also become the youngest-ever Indian gold medalist in the individual event and the first to won gold in his Olympic debut.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Nagaland has been conferred with seven national awards on the first Van Dhan Annual Awards 2020-21, during the celebration of the 34th foundation day of the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED).
• The awards were presented by Union tribal minister, Arjun Munda through a Zoom webinar.
• Meanwhile, the state has received seven national awards, such, as 1st positions in – ‘Best Survey State’, ‘Best Training’, and ‘Most number of VDVKC’s established’.
• It has attained 3rd position for ‘Best Sales Generated’, and ‘Best Innovation & Creativity.
• The state has also received Awards for Innovative & Creative Product Ideas for commodities like – Gooseberry Wine (Supplier: Toka Multipurpose Society Ltd.); Mushroom Cultivation (Supplier: NBHM).