Why in news?

• The Central Government of India has decided to continue the scheme of “Rashtriya Yuva Sashaktikaran Karyakram (RYSK)” for another 5 years from 2021 -22 to 2025-26 with an outlay of  2,710.65 crore.

Rashtriya Yuva Sashaktikaran Karyakram (RYSK)

• The Scheme Rashtriya Yuva Sashaktikaran Karyakram (RYSK) is an ongoing Central Sector Scheme.
• It aims to develop the personality and leadership qualities of the youth and to engage them in nation-building activities.
• Beneficiaries of this scheme are the youth in the age group of 15 to 29 years (according to the definition of ‘youth’ in the National Youth Policy, 2014).
• The budget allocation of the scheme RYSK for the year 2020-21 is Rs.486.48 Crores.
• It is an umbrella scheme with 7 sub-schemes under scheme RYSK are:
  1. Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan.
  2. National Youth Corps.
  3. National Programme for Youth and Adolescent Development.
  4. International Cooperation.
  5. Youth Hostels.
  6. Assistance to Scouting and Guiding Organisations.
  7. National Young Leaders Programme.

Why in news?

• Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari has been appointed Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.
• Justice Bhandari had taken over as the Acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court after the transfer of Justice Sanjib Banerjee to the Meghalaya High Court in November last year.
• The Law Ministry also notified the appointment of a total of 13 advocates and three judicial officers as judges of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh High Courts.

Why in news?

• Atal Tunnel has officially been certified by the World Book of Records, as the ‘World’s Longest Highway Tunnel above 10,000 Feet’.
• Atal Tunnel was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2020. The 9.02 km long, strategically significant, Atal Tunnel, that runs under the ‘Rohtang Pass’ was constructed on the Manali – Leh Highway under the challenging conditions of freezing temperatures in extremely difficult terrain.
• It was built by Border Roads Organization.
• Construction of this tunnel has reduced the distance on Manali – Sarchu road by 46 km and travel time by four to five hours, providing all-weather connectivity on the Manali – Leh
• Prior to the construction of the tunnel, the highway remained closed during the winter season for six months, isolating Lahaul and Spiti from the mainland.
• World Book of Records UK, is an organisation that catalogues and verifies extraordinary records across the world with authentic certification.

Why In News

• Vandana Thakur, an assistant professor at St Bede’s College, has won Mrs India Globe title.
• She won the award in Chandigarh, beating contestants from across the country.
• She said she had now set her sight on Mrs Globe pageant.

About Mrs India Globe title

• INDIA GLOBE it is a cultural and educational event that seeks to celebrate the talent and intellectual abilities of married women of India.
• The Objective of this cultural & educational event is to reach out to the community and provide a positive space to celebrate our dynamic and rich cultural heritage.

Why in news?

• Jammu and Kashmir government has signed a pact with New Zealand for transforming sheep farming sector.
• The objective of the agreement will be to improve farmers’ remuneration, transfer of technology in research and development and marketing and value addition of J&K sheep products.
• The agreement was signed between the two sides virtually in the presence of LG Manoj Sinha and Navin Choudhary, principal secretary of agriculture production and farmers welfare department animal.

Why in news?

• International Day of Women and Girls in Science is observed globally on 11 February. 
• The 7th International Day of Women and Girls in Science Assembly, taking place on 11 February 2022, aims to recognize the role of women and girls in science, not only as beneficiaries but also as agents of change, including in view of accelerating progress towards the achievement of SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation).
• The Day is implemented by UNESCO and UN-Women in collaboration with institutions and civil society partners that aim to promote women and girls in science.
• The 2022 theme of the Day is “Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Water Unites Us”.
• In December 2015, the United Nations adopted a resolution to celebrate February 11 as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. It was celebrated in 2016 for the first time.
• The idea behind this day is to ensure equal participation and involvement of women and girls in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Why in news?

• National Deworming Day is observed on February 10, to make people aware of the importance of deworming, particularly for children from 1 to 19 years of age, who are the most vulnerable.
• The National Deworming Day campaign is held in schools and in villages through Anganwadi centres, which are tasked with providing basic healthcare facilities in rural areas.
• Albendazole is a deworming medicine that is provided in tablet and syrup form as per the age and body weight of the child.
• About 241 million children in India between 1 and 14 years of age are at risk of infections from Soil-Transmitted Helminths (STH) and resulting anaemia and other health issues.

Why in news?

• Senior bureaucrat  Kishore has been appointed as Chairman, Staff Selection Commission (SSC).
• According to an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Kishore to the post in the rank and pay of Secretary to Government of India by temporarily upgrading the post and keeping the Recruitment Rules of the post in abeyance.
• Presently, he is serving as Special Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Why in news?

• Starlink has lost dozens of satellites that were caught in a geomagnetic storm a day after they were launched.

Space internet working

• Broadband from space (BFS) is a high-speed wireless communication to bring internet traffic to a consumer’s home/office via a satellite network in space.
• Satellite broadband data speeds can go beyond 300 Mbps, but initial peak speeds likely 100 Mbps.
• Working-A satellite network involves geostationary or low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites.
• The heart of a satellite network operation is an earth station gateway located in a particular region that links satellite network to the Net.

About Starlink project

• Starlink is the name of a satellite network developed by the private spaceflight company SpaceX to provide low latency, low-cost internet to remote locations.
• SpaceX eventually hopes to have as many as 42,000 satellites in this so-called megaconstellation.
• The first 60 Starlink satellites launched in 2019 and were placed in Low Earth Orbit at an altitude of 340 miles (550 kilometers), so that it is easy to get pulled down to Earth by atmospheric drag by avoiding space junk.
• The current version of each Starlink satellite weighs 573 lbs (260 kilograms).
• As of early January 2022, SpaceX had launched more than 1,900 Starlink satellites overall.
• SpaceX plans to refresh the Starlink megaconstellation every five years with newer technology.

Geomagnetic storm

• A geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance in Earth’s magnetosphere that occurs when there is a very efficient exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space environment surrounding the planet.
• The disturbance that drives the magnetic storm may be a solar coronal mass ejection (CME) or a co-rotating interaction region (CIR), a high-speed stream of solar wind originating from a coronal hole.
• The frequency of geomagnetic storms increases and decreases with the sunspot cycle.
• In the current event, the passing of the latter part of the storm, with its high density core, possessed speeds higher than what was recorded during the storm’s arrival.
• This has caused the loss of 40 satellites in a single solar event that has been described as “unheard of” and “huge”.
• There are models capable of predicting a storm’s time of arrival and its speed but the storm’s structure or orientation cannot be predicted still.

Why in news?

• NITI Aayog has announced the five most improved aspirational districts in the Agriculture and Water Resources sector for December 2021. Malkangiri in Odisha tops the list.
• It is followed by Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh and Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir. Ramgarh in Jharkhand and Begusarai in Bihar also feature in the list. This is as per NITI Aayog’s Delta Rankings.

About Aspirational District Programme

• 115 districts from across 28 states have been chosen. They constitute about 20% of the population of India and cover about 8,600-gram Panchayats.
• The progress under the programme is tracked through the data collected on a real-time basis. A dashboard has been created by the NITI Ayog to track the real-time progress. This, in turn, enhances accountability and transparency.
• Statistics have been collected on 49 indicators on 5 core dimensions (education, financial inclusion, agriculture and water resources, skill development and basic infrastructure) in order to provide an initial benchmark for the programme.
• The focus, under the programme, is on the socio-economic outputs.
• The programme is a positive shift towards cooperative federalism, as the districts and the states have a greater voice in their development.
• The broad strategy of the programme follows 3Cs: Convergence, Collaboration, Competition