National
State Energy and Climate Index Round- 1
⇒ NITI Aayog has launched the State Energy & Climate Index-Round I on 11th April 2022.
Key features of the index:
The State Energy & Climate Index (SECI) Round I ranks the states’ performance on 6 parameters, namely-
- DISCOM’s Performance
- Access, Affordability and Reliability of Energy
- Clean Energy Initiatives
- Energy Efficiency
- Environmental Sustainability
- New Initiatives
- The parameters are further divided into 27 indicators.
» Based on the composite SECI Round I score, the states and UTs are categorized into three groups: Front Runners, Achievers, and Aspirants.
» The states have been categorized based on size and geographical differences as larger states, smaller states, and UTs.
Top Three Performers:
- Gujarat, Kerala, and Punjab have been ranked as the top three performers in the category of larger states.
- Goa, emerged as the top-performing state in the smaller states category, followed by Tripura, and Manipur.
- Among UTs, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Daman & Diu/Dadra & Nagar Haveli are the top performers.
- Bihar has been ranked 15th in the category of larger states.
Significance:
The index can be used by the states and UTs to benchmark their performance against their peers, analyze the potential challenges to develop better policy mechanisms, and efficiently manage their energy resources.
80th SKOCH Summit 2022 and SKOCH Awards
⇒ The largest iron ore producer of India, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), under Ministry of Steel awarded one gold and one silver award in the 80th SKOCH Summit and SKOCH Awards conducted by SKOCH, New Delhi.
- NMDC won the Gold Award in the category social responsibility for the project ‘Promotion of Technical Education & Skill Development in Dantewada District through NMDC ITI Bhansi’.
- NMDC won the Silver Award in the category digital inclusion for the ‘Project Kalpataru’ for ERP implementation.
In addition to above, NMDC also received the 3 SKOCH:
- Order of Merit Awards for its exemplary efforts in ensuring seamless digitalization in Project Kalpataru
- For its expansive CSR efforts in promoting technical education and skill development in the remote districts of Dantewada
- “Project Safety First” in the category Response to COVID
Theme:
The theme for the SKOCH Summit 2022 was ‘State of BFSI & PSUs’.
The SKOCH Awards were given to the winners based on:
- The application submitted on their website
- Presentation to jury followed by three rounds of popular online voting
- Second round of jury evaluation
» The SKOCH Awards were instituted in 2003.
Jigyasa, a quiz competition
⇒ Jigyasa, the quest for knowledge, a quiz competition to celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav was launched by the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Housing and Urban Affairs Shri Hardeep Singh Puri on 12 April 2022.
About Jigyasa:
- Jigyasa is hosted on state-of-the-art technology, supported by artificial intelligence and machine learning.
- Jigyasa is available in 17 languages.
- Anyone from any part of the world can participate in Jigyasa: Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Quiz.
- Those who are in the age group of 13-18 and not a part of the formal education system are also eligible to participate in Jigyasa.
- Jigyasa promises to kickstart a conversation on the idea and ideals of Bharatiyat across 742 districts of India, that is Bharat.
- Winners of Jigyasa will be eligible for a scholarship of Rs.10 lakh each.
First Flying Training Organization (FTO) for North Eastern Region
⇒ The Minister of Civil Aviation Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia and the Chief Minister of Assam Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurated the first Flying Training Organization (FTO) for North Eastern Region in Lilabari, Assam on 12 April 2022.
- M/s Redbird Aviation has won the right to establish the FTO at Lilabari.
» Lilabari is amongst nine FTOs to be established in five airports in India by June 2022 includes Belagavi and Kalaburagi in Karnataka, Jalgaon in Maharashtra and Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh.
Addressing the event, Shri Scindia said, we have decided to open up 9 new FTOs by this year and in the next stage, 15 new FTOs will be established, taking the current number of FTOs in India from 34 to 58.
- The minister further stated, in Assam, we will establish two new heliports in Geleki and Nagaon in next 2 years. On Guwahati River front, we will establish Umrangso water aerodrome in the coming years.
» Today, Northeast Region has 15 operational airports as compared to 9 before 2014. About 18 airstrips, heliports/ helipads, water aerodromes are also awarded under UDAN scheme and are being developed in NER.
Anti-Tank Guided Missile ‘HELINA’
⇒ As part of the ongoing user validation trials, indigenously-developed Anti-Tank Guided Missile ‘HELINA’ was again successfully flight-tested from Advanced Light Helicopter on April 12, 2022.
This was the second successful flight-test in successive days. Earlier on 11 April 2022, the Anti-Tank Guided Missile ‘HELINA’ was successfully flight tested.
About:
- ‘Helina’ is the third generation, fire and forget Anti-Tank Guided Missile that can engage targets both in direct hit mode as well as top attack mode.
- The system has all-weather day and night capability and can defeat battle tanks with conventional armour as well as with explosive reactive armour.
International
Loan Agreement between GOI and ADB
⇒ The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank signed a $2 million Project Readiness Financing (PRF) Loan for designing climate resilient urban infrastructure, strengthening institutional capacity and improving municipal resource mobilization in 16 district headquarter towns (DHTs) in Nagaland on 12 April 2022.
The Nagaland Urban Infrastructure Development Project aimed at improving urban infrastructure and services in Nagaland to help the state realize its economic potential.
