Why in news?

• Rajnath Singh unveiled a GIS-based ‘Automatic Water Supply System’ for residents of Cantonment Boards on Defense Estates Day 2021.

About GIS-based Automatic Water Supply System for Cantonment Boards

• The module of GIS based Water Supply system for Cantonment Boards has been developed by Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo informatics (BISAG) under the guidance of Defense Secretary and Director General of Defense Estates, Delhi.
• It is easy and fast application to provide water connection to the citizens of Cantonment. It is completely automated which:
• Provides facility to its citizen to identify the location of water supply connection.
• It automatically determines nearest water pipeline.
• Also, capacity of all water supply lines have been defined.
• It calculates distance based on the location and;
• Amount payable by the Applicant including connection charges can be paid online.
• The module further facilitates sanction for water connection online. Once the system issues sanction, the concerned Department in Cantt Board will ensure actual water connection within given time-lines. The system is highly user friendly, efficient and transparent.
• This GIS System is first of its kind in the country. It is based on “minimum government and supports the concept of “maximum governance” as there is no manual intervention for clearance/sanction of the water connection.
• In conventional Water Supply System, citizens apply to the local bodies and the application is processed which takes time. The charges are required to be deposited offline and no time period is defined for grant of water connection. BISAG has successfully implemented the GIS module and its integration with the e-Chhawani portal is done by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).

Why in news?

• The Indian Army has inducted the first batch of domestically developed Armoured Engineer Reconnaissance Vehicles.

About Armoured Engineer Reconnaissance Vehicles (AERV)

• According to a Ministry of Defence statement, the first set of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)- designed vehicles were assigned to the Corps of Engineers of Indian Army.
• The armoured engineer reconnaissance vehicles (AERVs) were manufactured by Ordnance Factory Medak & Bharat Electronics in
• The vehicle is designed to perform navigation, reconnaissance of water obstacles and boggy patches to support engineering engineer tasks. It can also be used to conduct reconnaissance and provide real time update to force commanders.
• Additionally, the AERV can check soil strength to determine if they are motorable for military vehicles.
• It is equipped with a central computer to support automatic storage and print recce data.

Why in news?

• An uptick in the number of offenders has taken India into the top-three of the world’s biggest doping violators in a WADA report detailing the transgressions for the year 2019 with bodybuilding, weightlifting and athletics contributing majorly to the country’s embarrassing record.

About the latest WADA Report

• In the latest report published by the World Anti-Doping Agency, 152 (17 per cent of the world total) Anti-doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) were reported in India in 2019, leaving it third in the list with the maximum dope offenders coming from bodybuilding (57).
• Among Olympic sports, weightlifting leads the way with 25 ADRVs, followed by athletics (20) and wrestling (10). Boxing and judo reported four ADRVs each. Four cricketers were also found to have committed ADRVs in 2019.
• A lightweight in global sport, India is only behind Russia (167) and Italy (157), while Brazil (78) is at fourth and Iran (70) fifth.

About WADA

• The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was established in 1999 as an international independent agency composed and funded equally by the sport movement and governments of the world.
• Its key activities include scientific research, education, development of anti-doping capacities, and monitoring of the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) – the document harmonizing anti-doping policies in all sports and all countries.
• It is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

Why in news?

• Malta has become the first European Union country to legalise cannabis at home and for personal use.
• MPs approved a legal reform recently, allowing citizens to grow and possess limited amounts of marijuana.

About Malta becoming first EU country to legalise cannabis for personal use

• Under the new law, citizens aged 18 and over will be allowed to possess up to seven grams of cannabis, and cultivate up to four cannabis plants at home.
• Malta’s parliament was widely expected to pass the bill, which has been supported by Prime Minister Robert Abela.
• But the opposition Nationalist party has criticised the reform, saying it will “normalise and increase drug use” in the country.
• The bill was approved by a majority vote in parliament and will be signed into effect later this week by Malta’s President George Vella.

Why in news?

• Avani this year became the first-ever female Paralympic gold medallist from India.

About Avani Lekhara

• The 19-year-old broke the Paralympic record and equalled the World record in the women’s 10m SH1 air rifle standing final.
• The first woman to win a gold medal in Olympic or Paralympic Games, Avani Lekhara added more glitter to her gold as she won the Best Female Debut award in the 2021 Paralympic Sports Awards announced in a virtual ceremony.
• Avani this year became the first-ever female Paralympic gold medallist from India. The 19-year-old broke the Paralympic record and equalled the World record in the women’s 10m SH1 air rifle standing final. She also won bronze in the women’s 50m SH1 air rifle standing event to become the first Indian female to win two medals in the Paralympics. It was also India’s first Paralympic medal in shooting.

Why in news?

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched Rashtriya Ekta Geet composed by the National Cadet Corps (NCC) in 22 languages during the grand finale of Vijay Shrankhla aur Sanskrityon ka Mahasangam campaign.
• Highlighting the glorious history of NCC, Rajnath Singh said, leaders like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and many others are NCC alumni who have contributed towards Nation building.

About Rashtriya Ekta Geet

• Rashtriya Ekta Geet is based on the theme of national integration.
• The National Cadet Corps (NCC) is the youth wing of the Indian Armed Forces with its headquarters in New Delhi, India.

Why in news?

• NASA has released noises captured by its spacecraft near Jupiter’s moon Ganymede. The sounds released by NASA are spooky and frightening to hear at first.

About Ganymede

• Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system. It is so large that it size dwarfs Mercury, a full-fledged planet. Ganymede also has its own magnetic field, something that other moons in solar system can’t boast of.
• NASA’s Juno spacecraft is in Jupiter’s neighbourhood and making its observations. Earlier this year, Juno captured Ganymede’s electromagnetic waves.
• NASA has converted these waves into sound and has released what can be perhaps scientifically considered as sound of Ganymede.

Why in news?

• The World Economic Forum has decided to postpone its Annual Meeting in Davos due to the outbreak and spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. The meeting was scheduled to happen in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, between January 17 and 21, 2022. It is now planned for early summer.

About World Economic Forum

• The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland.
• It was founded on 24 January 1971 by Klaus Schwab.
• The foundation, which is mostly funded by its 1,000 member companies – typically global enterprises with more than five billion US dollars in turnover – as well as public subsidies, views its own mission as improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.
• The WEF is mostly known for its annual meeting at the end of January in Davos, a mountain resort in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland.
• The meeting brings together some 3,000 paying members and selected participants – among which are investors, business leaders, political leaders, economists, celebrities and journalists – for up to five days to discuss global issues across 500 sessions.

Why in news?

• Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik recently, inaugurated T-Setu, the State’s longest bridge over Mahanadi in Cuttack district of Odisha.

About ‘T-Setu’ over Mahanadi

• The 3.4 km long bridge, connecting Gopinathpur in Badamba, Baideswar in Banki to Singhanath Pitha located in the middle of the river, has been built in the shape of English alphabet ‘T’ at a cost of Rs 111 crore.
• The bridge, which has a footpath of 1.5 metre width on its both sides, will benefit people of Cuttack and Khurda and reduce the distance between Badamba and Baideswar in Banki by 45 km.
• The 7.5-metre-wide bridge will facilitate communication for around five lakh people of the nearby localities besides improving agriculture, business and tourism activities in and around the area.
• It will also benefit devotees visiting Baba Singhanath’s Bali Makar Jatra in Badamba block.

Why in news?

• Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has awarded a contract for setting up a 100 MW (AC) solar with 40 MW/120 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project to be set up at Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh. The project, with one of the largest grid-connected BESS projects in the country, will demonstrate how, by using a large battery storage system like BESS, solar power can be used to provide clean solar energy during evening peak hours.

About Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd. (SECI)

• Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd. (SECI) is a company of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, established to facilitate the implementation of the National Solar Mission (NSM).
• It is the only Central Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) dedicated to the solar energy sector. The company’s mandate has been broadened to cover the entire renewable energy domain and the company will be renamed to Renewable Energy Corporation of India (RECI).
• The company is responsible for implementation of a number of government schemes, major ones being the VGF schemes for large-scale grid-connected projects under NSM, solar park scheme and grid-connected solar rooftop scheme, along with a host of other specialised schemes such as defence scheme, canal-top scheme, and Indo-Pak border scheme.