• In Jammu and Kashmir, the 9.8 km railway tunnel connecting two stations on the 111 km under construction Banihal-Katra railway link of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line (USBRL) project has been completed.
• The Dugga railway station located on its Jammu end has been connected with Basindadar (Sawalkote) railway station towards Srinagar end by the completion of this tunnel.
• This is the third tunnel following the 12.6 km tunnel T-49B, the longest tunnel of Indian Railways, which was completed in January this year.
• On August 14, the world’s highest rail bridge over the Chenab River in Kouri area of Reasi district achieved a milestone when the overarch deck of the bridge was completed with a golden joint.

• NDMA and C-DOT are conducting a workshop on the CAP-based Integrated Public Alert System for Disaster Management and Preparedness in New Delhi.
• CAP stands for Common Alerting Protocol.
• The one-day workshop aims to provide a platform to the concerned departments and various disaster management agencies across India to discuss their underlying issues and challenges and evolve technology-based solutions to address these.
• Various eminent dignitaries and speakers from various Government departments including NDMA, Indian Railways, Indian Metrological Department, Central Water Commission, and Disaster Management Authorities of 36 States and Union Territories are attending the workshop.
• They will deliberate on various contemporary themes related to Disaster Management and Preparedness.

About C-DOT

• The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) is the Telecom Technology development centre of the Government of India.
• It was established in August 1984 as an autonomous body.
• It was vested with full authority and total flexibility to develop state-of-the-art telecommunication technology to meet the needs of the Indian telecommunication network.

About NDMA

• The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), headed by the Prime Minister of India, is the apex body for Disaster Management in India.
• Setting up of NDMA and the creation of an enabling environment for institutional mechanisms at the State and District levels is mandated by the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
• NDMA is mandated to lay down the policies, plans and guidelines for Disaster Management.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Science Conclave at Science City in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on the 10th September 2022.
• Science and Technology Ministers of all the States, Administrators of Union Territories, senior officials of various Ministries, Departments and CEO of over 100 Start-ups are expected to take part in the two-day conclave.
• Science and Technology Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said, this time the conclave will be held in a different format with focus on new technologies and their optimum application for ease of living.
• The conclave will strengthen the science, technology and innovation ecosystem through greater synergy across the country.
• The conclave will foster proactive engagements between the Centre and States in the area of science and technology.
• It will also create a mechanism to facilitate the flow of information, data sharing, and capacity building of scientists, technologists and professionals.
• He said, the Centre and States will work together to promote private sector participation in research and development. Dr. Singh informed that all States and UTs will be asked to bring individual Science, Technology and Innovation policies along the lines of national policy.
• The Minister said, the Centre will assist States in formulating their policies as a true spirit of cooperative federalism.
• The Centre will also work with States to address their specific science, technology, and innovation needs and challenges.
• He stressed that States must be able to explore solutions to their local problems through Science and Technology interventions.

• \Ministry of Labour and Employment has extended the public utility service status of three industries:
• Industries engaged in the manufacture or production of mineral oil (crude oil), motor and aviation spirit, diesel oil, kerosene oil, fuel oil, diverse hydrocarbon oils and their blends including synthetic fuels, lubricating oils;
• Industries engaged in food stuffs;
• And the iron and steel industry.
• These industries are covered under the first schedule of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (14 of 1947).

About public utility service

• Public Utility are those organizations, company or corporations which provide the essential services to the public.
• The undertakings which supply the basic necessary services such as electricity, water, gas, power, transport etc. comes under the purview of the public utility services.
• These public utility services are maintained and regulated by the government vis local, state and national government according to their respective level of authority.

• Deputy Commissioner Raghav Sharma inaugurated a solar power plant which will operate the solid waste management plant in Ajouli panchayat of Una subdivision.
• With this, Ajouli has become the first panchayat in the district to have a solar power-operated waste management plant.
• About six years ago, Ajouli became the first panchayat in Una district to have an electricity-operated solid waste management plant, having three separate machines to cater to plastic, bio degradable and bio medical waste.
• The DC said the plant was working on electricity and the monthly bill was Rs 12,000-13,000, leading to financial constraints.

• In the backdrop of climatic changes affecting many parts of the Himalayas, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) is resuming studies of the mass balance of the Hampta Glacier in Himachal Pradesh from this year to assess and analyse the loss of snow cover.
• The mass balance of a glacier describes the amount of snow and ice received, retained or lost and the volumetric changes it undergoes over a period of time. It is one of the most important aspects of glacier studies which help to understand the prevailing climatic conditions and their impact.
• As per the guidelines of Temporary Technical Secretariat (TTS), some of the selected glaciers should be monitored for mass balance studies for a few decades. Therefore, another five years study will make Hamptah glacier mass balance data complete for full two decades; which is an essential requirement.
• The glacier is located in the Chenab catchment and is 6 km long and about half a km wide. It is also a popular destination for adventure tourists for trekking.
• Mass balance studies on Hamptah Glacier began in 1999-2000 and continued till 2016-17. Since then, the glacier has consistently shown a negative mass balance, implying that it is reducing in volume.
• According to GSI data, between 2000 and 2016, the glacier has receded by 169 meters, with the average rate of recession being 10.5 metre per year.
• It shows that Hamtah Glacier has a consistent retreating trend, which could be caused by gradual increase in the temperature, related to global warming phenomenon and also possible changes in climatic condition.
• This would also help in understanding the trend of the loss of the glacier mass in terms of volume and fluctuation of the snout in space and time.

• The Indian Air Force (IAF) is to raise its first unit of indigenously made Light Combat Helicopters (LCHs) in October. The LCH is made by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
• The move comes weeks after Army Aviation Corps inducted the LCH in July this year. The unit is being prepared for deployment in the Northeast.
• The IAF will be inducting 10 LCHs in the first batch.
• The IAF operates the three-decade-old Russian Mi-25 and Mi-35 attack helicopters. One of the squadrons of the Russian-made copters is to be phased out while another one is going for a midlife upgrade. The process of induction of 22 Boeing AH-64E Apache attack helicopters has been completed.
• Meanwhile, the Army that started the LCJ induction process plans to acquire 95 LCHs, each having 10 helicopters. These will be deployed in the mountains.
• In March, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approved procurement of 15 Limited Series Production (LSP) variants of the LCH at the cost of Rs 3,887 crore along with infrastructure sanctions worth Rs 377 crore. Of the 15 helicopters, 10 are for the IAF and five for the Army.

• Crimes against women rose 15 per cent in India in 2021 and Delhi is the most unsafe metropolitan city.
• Rajasthan reported the highest number of rape cases and Maharashtra topped the list when it comes to most suicides.
• These are just some of the takeaways of the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report which covers crimes against women, kidnappings, suicides, and traffic accidents in India and sheds some key insights:
• The year 2021 also witnessed a spike in the rate of crimes against women (number of incidents per one lakh population) from 56.5 per cent in 2020 to 64.5 per cent
• Amongst the majority of the crimes against women, 31.8 per cent were cases registered under ‘cruelty by husband or his relatives’, 20.8 per cent cases were ‘assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty’, kidnapping and abduction accounted for 17.6 per cent cases and 7.4 per cent were rapes.
• With 56,083 cases, Uttar Pradesh topped the list of crimes against women, followed by Rajasthan (40,738) and Maharashtra (39,526).
• According to the NCRB data, Nagaland reported the lowest number of crimes against women with 5.5 per cent rate in 2021. The north eastern state also had the lowest number of actual cases (54) last year.
• As many as 31,677 rape cases were registered in 2021 as compared to 28,046 cases in 2020 in the country.

Rajasthan logged the most rape cases among the states in 2020 and 2021.

• The official figure stood at 5,310 in 2020 which increased to 6,337 the next year. The state also had the highest number of rapes of minor girls in 2021 with 1,453 cases.

Delhi is the most unsafe metro city for women.

• Delhi accounted for the highest rate of crimes against women in 2021 among the Union territories, showed NCRB data. The number of cases surged over the past three years from 13,395 in 2019 to 14,277 in 2021.
• Crimes against women in the National Capital accounted for 32.20 per cent of total crimes in the 19 metropolitan cities, followed by Mumbai (12.76 per cent) and Bengaluru (7.2 per cent

Two minor girls were raped every day last year in Delhi.

• The National Capital logged 13,892 cases of crimes against women in 2021, a 40 per cent jump from 2020 when the official figure was 9,782.
• Of a total of 8,664 instances in various categories of crimes against women in 19 cities across the country with a population exceeding two million, Delhi recorded 4674 cases of cruelty by husbands, abduction and kidnapping of women stood at 3,948 cases.

Suicide rates up, Maharashtra tops list.

• As per the latest NCRB report, India reported 1,64,033 suicide cases in 2021, with Maharashtra (22,207) topping the list. The states that followed Maharashtra on the list are Tamil Nadu (18,925), Madhya Pradesh (14,965) and West Bengal (13,500).

17.3 lakh killed in traffic accidents.

• Uttar Pradesh saw the highest number of deaths (24,711) in traffic accidents. Around 4,22,659 traffic accidents were reported in the country which killed 1.73 lakh people.

Jammu and Kashmir recorded highest UAPA cases.

• Jammu and Kashmir registered the most Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) cases under the ‘special and local laws’ in 2021, as per NCRB data.
• Of the total 814 cases under the UAPA in India, J&K lodged 289 cases last year, followed by Manipur (157), Assam (95), Jharkhand (86) and Uttar Pradesh (83).

Jharkhand reports most communal riots.

• Jharkhand and Maharashtra filed the highest cases of communal riots last year with 100 and 77 cases respectively, as per NCRB’s 2021 report.
• Most caste conflict violence was reported in Bihar with 201 cases last year.

• The Union Social Justice Ministry received 402 applications online from across the country for benefits under the Scheme for Economic Empowerment of Denotified, Nomadic, Semi-nomadic (SEED) Tribes.
• The Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment launched the Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs (SEED) in 2022 at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi for the welfare of De-notified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Communities.
• More than 10 crore Indians from 1,400 communities belong to these groups, show the latest estimates available with the government.
• The scheme aims to provide free competitive exam coaching to students, health insurance and financial assistance for housing and uplift clusters of these communities through livelihood initiatives.
• The Ministry has been allocated ₹200 crore for this scheme to be spent over five financial years from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
• At the time of the launch, the Ministry announced that the scheme would be implemented through an online portal that would issue a unique ID to each applicant to apply and track the status of the application online.

The De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes

• These are communities that are the most vulnerable and deprived.
• DNTs are communities that were ‘notified’ as being ‘born criminals’ during the British regime under a series of laws starting with the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871.

• • These Acts were repealed by the Independent Indian Government in l952, and these communities were “De-Notified”.

• A few of these communities which were listed as de-notified were also nomadic.

• • Nomadic and semi-nomadic communities are defined as those who move from one place to another rather than living in one place all the time.

• Historically, Nomadic Tribes and De-notified Tribes never had access to private land or home ownership.
• While most DNTs are spread across the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST)and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories, some DNTs are not covered in any of the SC, ST or OBC categories.

• International Whale Shark Day is observed on August 30.
• It is celebrated to spread awareness about the importance of whale sharks and their conservation. Started in 2008, at the International Whale Shark Conference in Isla Holbox, International Whale Shark Day has grown popular over the years.
• On the International Whale Shark Day, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) is launching ‘save the whale shark campaign’ in Karnataka, Kerala, and Lakshadweep.
• The campaign aims to bring together marine fisher folks, village communities and students for conservation awareness on the whale shark. Additionally, a mobile app has also been developed to further the conservation efforts.
• Whale sharks are the largest shark species of fish on the planet. They usually prefer to swim in shallow depths and are known for their slow and gentle behavior. This makes them an easy prey to humans.
• The whale shark market has led to an approximate 50% decline in the fish’s population, leading them to be placed in the endangered species list. ‘Save the whale shark’ campaign aims to reinstate the beautiful creature to its former glory.