Current Affairs - Current News

On 24th August 2022, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India published the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 to ensure environmentally sound management of waste batteries.

• New rules will replace Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001.

A tripartite agreement for swift development of modern Multi Modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) under Bharatmala Pariyojna across the country was signed by the National Highways Logistics Management Limited (NHLML), Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL).

Scientists working ex situ breeding of Great Indian Bustard (GIB) - a Critically Endangered birds species has discovered new trend of laying two eggs in Desert National Park (DNP) of Jaisalmer district.

• The GIBs showed this habit after consuming extra protein rich diet during the monsoon season.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJ&E) is preparing to undertake a nationwide survey to enumerate all people engaged in hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.

• The enumeration exercise is part of the Union government’s National Action Plan for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE).

On 16th August 2022, the Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar virtually launched the Early Childhood Development Conclave, Paalan 1000 National Campaign, and Parenting App in Mumbai.

Paalan 1000 National Campaign

• ‘Paalan 1000 - Journey of the First 1000 Days’, focuses on the cognitive developments of children in the first 2 years of its life.

On 16th August 2022, Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh handed over indigenously-developed equipment and systems to the Indian Army.

• Features & Utilities if the New Systems
• Future Infantry Soldier as a System (F-INSAS)
• Future Infantry Soldier is being equipped with three primary sub systems:

India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Government of Japan, and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have announced a new initiative to accelerate climate action in 10 states and Union Territories across the country.

Background

• At the COP26 summit in Glasgow in November 2021, India pledged to cut the country's total projected carbon emission by 1 billion tonnes by 2030, install 500 GW of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030, reduce the carbon intensity of the nation's economy by less than 45% by the end of the decade and net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.

India added 11 more wetlands to the list of Ramsar sites to make total 75 Ramsar sites in the country in the 75th year of Independence.

• The 11 new sites include: Four (4) sites in Tamil Nadu, Three (3) in Odisha, Two (2) in Jammu & Kashmir and One (1) each in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022 was introduced in the Parliament on 8th August, 2022.

• However, the Bill was later sent to the standing committee for further deliberation.

On 3rd August 2022, the Union Environment Ministry announced the inclusion of 10 more wetlands, taking the total Ramsar sites to 64.

• The new sites include six wetlands from Tamil Nadu and one each from Goa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.