WHY IN NEWS?

• The LG Manoj Sinha formally put an end to a 149-year-old biannual tradition of shifting offices between summer capital Srinagar and winter capital Jammu. The administration served notice to employees to vacate the ‘Darbar Move’ related accommodations in three weeks in Jammu and Srinagar.
• Administration cancelled the residential accommodation of “darbar move” employees in Jammu and Srinagar, implying the employees will remain stationed in either Jammu or Kashmir.
• Dogra monarch Maharaja Gulab Singh is believed to have started the tradition of shifting the capital in 1872. The tradition was continued after 1947 by J&K’s political class, as it acted as a major bridge and a space for interaction between two diverse linguistic and cultural groups of Kashmir and Jammu regions.

WHY IN NEWS?

• Karsten Warholm, a 25-year-old athlete from Norway, broke the long-standing world record in the 400m hurdles during the Bislett Games. Earlier the record was held by American hurdler Kevin Young for 29 years.
• His mark of 46.78 seconds was set at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, which was finally broken with an official time of 46.70 seconds by Warholm.

WHY IN NEWS?

• India-origin woman Sirisha Bandla will travel to the edge of the space aboard ‘VSS Unity’ of Virgin Galactic, which is scheduled to fly off on July 11 from New Mexico. This is significant as she will be the third woman of Indian origin to go to space after Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams.
• Bandla, the vice-president of government affairs at Virgin Galactic in Washington DC, will travel alongside his boss and the group’s founder, billionaire Richard Branson and four others in the company’s spaceflight.

Why in news ?

• Invest Indiahas been awarded the world’s most innovative Investment Promotion Agency 2021 by OCO Global. OCO Global is a leading authority on foreign investment and offers a range of economic development services, products, and unique company assessment tools.
• Invest India, set up in 2009,is a non-profit venture under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.

Why in news ?

The ‘Last Ice Area’ (LIA), located in the Arctic’s Ice north of Greenland, has started melting earlier than what the scientists had expected.

About Last Ice Area:

• This region is located north of Greenland and Ellesmere Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.
• This area was believed to be strong enough to withstand global warming.
  • The total disappearance of summer ice in the Arctic was estimated by the year 2040, however the ‘Last Ice Area’ was the exception.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Canada was believed to be the first to call this area the ‘Last Ice Area’.

Why in news ?

Recently, the Union Education Minister released the Report on United Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2019-20 for School Education in India.

About:

Total Students:

• In 2019-20, total students in school education from pre-primary to higher secondary have crossed 26.45 crore. This is higher by 42.3 lakh compared to 2018-19.

Gross Enrolment Ratio:

• Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at all levels of school education has improved in 2019-20 compared to 2018-19.
  • Upper Primary Level increased to 89.7% from 87.7%.
  • Elementary Level increased to 97.8% from 96.1%.
  • Secondary Level increased to 77.9% from 76.9%.
  • Higher Secondary Level increased to 51.4% from 50.1%.
• GER is the number of students enrolled in a given level of education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the official school-age population corresponding to the same level of education.

Why in news ?

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed an anti-methanogenic feed supplement ‘Harit Dhara’ (HD), which can cut down cattle methane emissions by 17-20% and can also result in higher milk production.

About:

• HD decreases the population of protozoa microbes in the rumen, responsible for hydrogen production and making it available to the archaea (structure similar to bacteria) for reduction of CO2 to methane.
• It has been made from tannin-rich plant-based sources. Tropical plants containing tannins, bitter and astringent chemical compounds, are known to suppress or remove protozoa from the rumen.
• Fermentation after using HD will help produce more propionic acid, which provides more energy for lactose (milk sugar) production and body weight gain.
  • This leads to economic benefits for farmers.

Why in news ?

Recently, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) launched a project named Bamboo Oasis on Lands in Drought (BOLD) from the village NichlaMandwa in Udaipur, Rajasthan

About:

• Under the project 5000 saplings of special bamboo species –BambusaTulda and BambusaPolymorpha from Assam – have been planted over 16 acres of vacant arid Gram Panchayat land of village NichlaMandwa.
  • KVIC has thus created a world record of planting the highest number of bamboo saplings on a single day at one location.
• It is the first of its kind exercise in India. It seeks to create bamboo-based green patches in arid and semi-arid land zones.
• It has been launched as part of KVIC’s “Khadi Bamboo Festival” to celebrate 75 years of independence “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav”.

Why in news ?

Boxer M.C. Mary Kom and men’s hockey team skipper Manpreet Singh have been named for flag bearers at Tokyo Olympics from India.

About:

• Both of them will be flag bearers for India at opening ceremony of Tokyo Olympics which is scheduled to get underway on July 23, 2021.
• Wrestler Bajrang Punia will be flag bearer at closing ceremony on August 8, 2021.
• This decision was communicated by Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to Organising Committee of Olympics Games.
• In 2016 games in Rio De Janeiro, India’s lone individual Olympic gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra was the flag bearer at the opening ceremony
• Gender parity

In order to bring equality and parity among gender, International Olympic Committee had made provisions for flag bearers, at the executive board meeting, from both genders at the opening ceremony. IOC Executive Board also decided that, there should be at least one female and one male athlete in each of 206 teams and IOC Refugee Olympic Team which are participating at Games of the Olympiad

Why in news?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government announced for creation of a new “Ministry of Cooperation” on July 6, 2021 ahead of cabinet reshuffle.

About:

• Ministry will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework to strengthen cooperative movement in India.
• Ministry has been created to realise the vision of ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’ (Prosperity through cooperatives).
• Ministry will work to streamline processes for ease of doing business for cooperatives and enable development of multi-state cooperatives.
• With the creation of this ministry, there will now be a total of 41 central government ministries.