General Awareness

ENVIRONMENT - August 2019

Aug 2019

Oct 03, 2019

Mega Drive Against Single Use Plastic

The government launched massive campaigns against single-use, or disposable, plastic products, as part of the year-long celebrations to mark 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Many organizations also played their part in the initiative, deciding to go plastic-free.
Flagging off the Bharatiya Janata Party's Sankalp Yatra to celebrate Gandhi's birth anniversary, Union home minister Amit Shah highlighted the perils of single-use plastic.
At a separate event, defence minister Rajnath Singh urged people to extend the cleanliness programme to cover environment protection and to vow not to use disposable plastic bags, as these are extremely harmful to nature.
Instead, he advocated the usage of cloth bags, which are environment-friendly.
Hardeep Singh Puri, the minister of state for housing and urban affairs, and civil aviation, also launched the Swachhata Hi Seva India Plog Run at Rajpath Lawn near India Gate in New Delhi to pay homage to the father of the nation.
Plogging involves picking up litter while jogging.
The event was organized to spread awareness on the harmful effects of plastic waste and to get the support of citizens to eliminate single-use plastic.
The GVK Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), which manages the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) at Mumbai, also announced that it will adopt 100% single-use plastic-free policy from 2 October, 2019.
While the government said that the single-use plastic ban will be imposed in phases, while exploring alternatives, plans are also underway to loop in the corporate sector.
The government may soon roll out stringent norms and impose heavy fines on corporates, including the hospitality industry, mobile manufacturers and packaging industry, for failing to stop the use of plastic.
Under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme, which the government plans to implement more effectively, manufacturers, brand owners, and product importers will have to bear the responsibility for the environmental impact of the products through their life-cycle.
EPR, which is considered as a solution to the growing hazard of plastic waste, was introduced in the Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rules, 2011, and was largely redefined in PWM 2016, wherein producers, importers and brand owners were asked to take primary responsibility for collection of used multi-layered plastic sachets or pouches or packaging.

Delhi-NCR Students Create Two Guinness Records

Students from Delhi-NCR region created two Guinness Book world records for environment protection on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary.
The first record was in the category of 'environmental sustainability lessons to the largest number of students at one place' wherein close to 5,000 children participated.
The second record is of 'the largest number of assembly and lighting of solar lamps' in which more than 5,000 students took part.
Officials from Guinness Book of World Records were present at the event.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar congratulated the students and called for creating own oxygen bank by planting at least seven trees during one's lifetime.

Oct 02, 2019

Nitin Gadkari Launches Cow Dung Soaps, Bamboo Bottles

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari launched soaps made of cow dung and bamboo water bottles manufactured by Khadi and Village Industries Commission.
The minister said he is a proponent of organic farming and its benefits.
MSME minister Gadkari also asked well performing export units to get listed on the National Stock Exchange, and said the ministry has proposed a scheme which entails 10 per cent equity participation by the Central government in such listed micro, small and medium enterprises.
20 MSMEs were registered on the National Stock Exchange and are entering the capital market. A scheme has been formulated and sent to the Finance Ministry whereby 10 per cent equity will be contributed by government.

Mobile App To Generate Digital Database Of Wetlands

A mobile app has been developed to collect complete datasets on smaller wetlands across the coastal region of the country.
The app was developed by the Space Applications Centre of Indian Space Research Organisation on a request from the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) in line with a memorandum of understanding between them.
The mobile app is aimed to generate a centralised digital database of the smaller wetlands (2.2 ha or below) across the country.
Such smaller wetlands cover an area of more than five lakh hectares across the country, while Kerala has 2,592 smaller wetlands.
The app will be used to collect field level data of the wetlands that include geospatial profile, size, water and soil quality, farmed species, pollution status, illegal construction and biodiversity specialities.

Oct 01, 2019

India Records Highest Rainfall since 1994 This Monsoon

India recorded highest rainfall this monsoon since 1994, the IMD said classifying it 'above normal' as the season officially ended.
However, monsoon still remains active over several parts of the country with the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) saying it could be the longest recorded delayed withdrawal of the rain-bearing winds.

Sep 29, 2019

National Mission for Clean Ganga

The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) would seek the help of foreign experts to develop a kind of environmental flow regime for river Ganga and its tributaries.
Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, the Director-General of NMCG who recently returned after participating in the World Water Week 2019 in the Swedish capital Stockholm, said that he had interactions with many experts who have shown interest in visiting India and contributing for the conservation of holy Ganga and its tributaries.
NMCG set up a pavilion in the World Water Week 2019 between August 25 and August 30, and successfully projected the massive size and diverse achievements and potential areas of collaboration and investment of the `Namami Gange' mission. The pavilion displayed NMCG's vision and works on the Ganga River Basin Management Plan for the visiting delegates, experts, researchers, academicians, policymakers, technology providers and water industry leaders.

Sep 26, 2019

UEFA To Plant 50,000 Trees In Republic Of Ireland

The governing body of European football says it's going to plant 50,000 trees in the Republic of Ireland to offset emissions from people travelling to Euro 2020 matches.
The move is part of an UEFA climate action project.
The body will plant 600,000 trees across the 12 host countries of the tournament.
Euro 2020 will be spread across a dozen venues in Europe, including the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Other venues include Hampden Park in Glasgow and the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

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