• The Union Cabinet gave its nod for the construction of the 4.1-km Shinku La tunnel on the Nimu-Padam-Darcha road link to provide all-weather connectivity to the border areas of Ladakh.
• The tunnel will be completed by December 2025 at a cost of ₹ 1,681 crore.
• The length of the tunnel will be 4.1 km. An approach will also be built by December 2025.
• The tunnel will help to boost the Zanskar valley economy. It will reduce the travel time between HP and Ladakh.
• The Shink La Tunnel is to make the Zanskar valley accessible 365 days.

About Shinku La

• The Shinku La or Shingo La is a mountain pass located on the border between HP and Ladakh. It is at an altitude of 5,091 metres.
• Border Road Organization built a road to the pass in 2016 . However, the road couldn’t be accessed during winter and large-wheeled vehicles couldn’t pass through.
• With the Atal Tunnel and the completion of the Shinku La Tunnel in 2025, the Nimmu – Padum – Darcha road shall be accessed all through the year.

Project Yojak

• The Shinku La tunnel is a part of Project Yojak. This project is implemented by Border Roads Organisation (under Ministry of Defence).
• The main objective of the project is to make sure Manali – Leh route is accessible all through the year.

• Recent studies show that the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica, nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier, is on the edge as warm water from the ocean has seeped into its weak spots.
  • Thwaites glacier is the widest glacier on earth and part of West Antarctica Ice Sheet.
• The glacier, which could lead to a significant rise in sea levels if it breaks off or melts, is facing one of the worse conditions due to melting caused by rising temperatures.
• Researchers have conducted first-of-its-kind observations beneath the floating ice shelf to reveal widespread cracks and crevasses where melting occurs more rapidly.
• Remotely operated Icefin underwater robot was used through a nearly 2,000-foot-deep borehole drilled in the ice and which captured the first close-up views of the critical point.
• The research paper published found that warmer water was making its way into crevasses and other openings known as terraces
• Glacier Terraces- It is a long segment of a glacier. It is formed due to the stripping of soft strata from hard strata. In India, the glacial terraces are addressed as Karewas. They are found in Kashmir valley.
• Glacial Crevasses- These are deep cracks in glaciers. Their sizes may range from a few inches to more than 40 feet. They are formed due to shear stress.

Impact

• Thwaites glaciers could cause more than half a meter of global sea level rise, and could further destabilize the neighboring glaciers that have the potential to cause a further three-meter rise.
• The region in Antarctica is one of the continent’s fastest changing and most unstable glaciers.

• The decision was passed by Union Cabinet to ensure services and development reaches the border regions under the centrally-sponsored scheme.
  • The program would have components of central sector schemes with 100 per cent direct funding and focus on factors such as economic growth, livelihood generation, road connectivity, development of cooperative sectors for 24×7 electricity and water, along with the promotion of tourism of culture.
• An amount of ₹4,800 crores have been allocated to the development of the villages along the northern border under the ‘Vibrant Villages Programme’ (VVP).
  • Out of total Rs. 4800 Crore, 2500 crore rupees will be used for roads.
• The approved funds would aim to develop essential infrastructure and generate livelihood opportunities in 19 districts and 46 border blocks in four states – Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, and the Union Territory Ladakh.
  • As a part of the project’s first phase, 663 villages in the north will be taken up.
• The growth development model will be centred on the ‘hub and spoke model’ and look into promoting and empowering entrepreneurs, youth, and women.
• It would also tailor the projects according to the region and look into the economic drivers based on the locally-available natural, human, and other resources.
• Traditional knowledge, heritage, and potential for sustainable eco-agri-businesses to be emphasized in planning and executing projects.
• The core idea associated with taking VVP to the remote border villages is to ensure all government schemes reach even the remotest villages for development and also from national security perspective.

Scheme implementation

• Each village panchayat will create Vibrant Village Action Plan with the help of the District administration.
• Focus should be on drinking water, 24/7 electricity, all-weather roads, solar energy projects, wind energy projects, internet connections, tourist centres, health and wellness centres, multi-purpose centres, etc.

• The colonies established by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) around Kol Dam in Bilaspur district to settle displaced persons will soon get all basic facilities.
• This was stated by Deputy Commissioner while addressing people after visiting the colonies established in Jamthal, Chamyon, Harnoda and Kasol villages.
  • These colonies were established to rehabilitate villagers who had to vacate their houses for the construction of Kol Dam and its reservoir.
• The Kol dam Hydroelectric Power Plant, owned and operated by India’s biggest power utility National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), is located on the Satluj River in the Bilaspur District of Himachal Pradesh, India.

• The Baba Balak Nath Trust in Hamirpur is poised to provide best facilities to pilgrims visiting the Deotsidh temple during the fair, which is held in ‘Chaitra Mas’ and scheduled to start from March 12.
• A review meeting of the trust regarding preparations and arrangements for the fair was held recently.

• Centre govt is planning to include 21 more airports under krishi udan scheme.

About Krishi UDAN scheme

• Krishi UDAN Scheme was launched in August 2020, on international and national routes to assist farmers in transporting agricultural products so that it improves their value realisation.
• The scheme aims to ensure seamless, cost-effective, time-bound air transportation and associated logistics for all agri-produce.
• Krishi Udan Scheme is a convergence scheme where eight Ministries/Departments namely Ministry of Civil Aviation, Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region would leverage their existing schemes to strengthen the logistics for transportation of Agri-produce.
• After the Krishi UDAN success, Krishi Udan 2.0 was launched in 2021 to further boost the vision of the program.
• Under Krishi UDAN 2.0, perishable food items from tribal communities, Northeastern states, and hilly regions would be transported.

Main objectives of Krishi Udan 2.0

• Facilitating and incentivizing movement of agri-produce by air transportation
• Strengthening cargo related infrastructure at airports and off airports
• Concessions sought from other bodies
• Resources-Pooling through establishing Convergence mechanism
• Technological convergence: Development of E-KUSHAL (Krishi UDAN for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics). Platform to be developed facilitate in information dissemination to all the stakeholders.

• Eminent Indian painter and late filmmaker Guru Dutt’s sister Lalitha Lajmi passed away at the age of 90.
• She was a self-taught artist with a keen interest in classical dance.
• Over the decades, Lajmi has held several exhibitions at international art galleries in Paris, London and Holland. She also featured in Aamir Khan’s film Taare Zameen Par, which was released in 2007.

• International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD) is observed on February 15 every year. The day was observed by the Childhood Cancer International, an umbrella organisation of various child cancer support groups created by parents.
• The day is dedicated to raising awareness and showing support for children and adolescents suffering from cancer. Despite all the advancements in science, childhood cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease among children.
  • An estimated 400 000 children and adolescents develop cancer each year.
• The three-year campaign for International Childhood Cancer Day began in 2021 and will conclude in 2023. The theme for the three-year campaign is ‘Better Survival’.

• The Reserve Bank announced its second global hackathon – ‘HARBINGER 2023 – Innovation for Transformation’ with the theme ‘Inclusive Digital Services’.
• It has received 363 proposals submitted by teams from within India and from 22 other countries including the US, UK, Sweden, Singapore, Philippines, and Israel.

The RBI has invited innovative ideas in four segments:

• ‘Innovative, easy-to-use, digital banking services for differently-abled (Divyaang);
• RegTech solutions to facilitate more efficient compliance by Regulated Entities (REs)’;
• Exploring use cases/solutions for CBDC-Retail transactions, including transactions in offline mode’;
• ‘Increasing Transactions Per Second (TPS)/ throughput and scalability of blockchains’.

• The Government of India has launched a mobile app “KhananPrahari” and a web app Coal Mine Surveillance and Management System (CMSMS) for reporting unauthorized coal mining activities so that monitoring and taking suitable action on it can be done by the concerned Law & Order enforcing authority.
• The CMSMS has been developed to curb illegal mining and take transparent action as an e-Governance initiative of GoI on the use of Space Technology
• The objective of the development and launching of the CMSMS application was to detect citizens’ participation against illegal mining by receipt of citizen complaints through a mobile app – Khanan Prahari.
• The app will help to monitor and take action on any kind of illegal coal mining activity being carried out within the leasehold boundaries of any Coal Mining Project in the Coalfield Areas.