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Daily Current Affairs

Capsule 28th December 2018

1. World Bank AID for Rehabilitation of DAMS

Central Water Commission (CWC) maintains National Register of Large Dams (NRLD) as per information

provided by State Govts/ Dam owners. As per NRLD, 209 dams are 100 years or more old.

Government of India has started implementation of Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP)

with financial assistance from World Bank to rehabilitate 198 dam projects in 7 States viz. Kerala (28 dam

Projects), Madhya Pradesh (25 dam Projects), Odisha (26 dam Projects), Karnataka (22 dam Projects),

Uttarakhand (Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited) (5 dam Projects), Jharkhand (Damodar Valley

Corporation) (3 dam Projects) and Tamil Nadu (89 dam Projects).

The original budget outlay was Rs.2100 Crore and was a six year Scheme with scheduled closure in June

2018. The Project has been extended for two more years with revised closure in June 2020. Also, the

Government of India has approved Revised Cost of the Project for Rs. 3466 Crore in October 2018.

Points to Remember

The World Bank Group consists of five organizations:

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

The International Development Association

The International Finance Corporation

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes

2. Operational National Waterways in the Country

Out of the 111 National Waterways (NWs) declared under the National Waterways Act, 2016, 13 NWs are

operational for shipping and navigation and cargo/passenger vessels are moving on them. The details of

operational NWs are as follows:

Points to Remember

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) came into existence on 27th October 1986 for

development and regulation of inland waterways for shipping and navigation.

The head office of the Authority is at Noida. The Authority also has its regional offices at Patna, Kolkata,

Guwahati and Kochi and sub-offices at Allahabad, Varanasi, Bhaglapur, Farakka, Hemnagar, Dibrugarh

(Assam), Kollam, Bhubaneswar (Odisa) and Vijayawada(A.P.).

India has about 14,500 km of navigable waterways which comprise of rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks,

etc.

3. NITI Aayog Releases Second Delta Ranking of the Aspirational Districts

Aspirational Districts were ranked on improved performance over the months of June – October 2018. Ranking

includes, for the first time, validated data from Household Surveys.

The NITI Aayog released the Second Delta ranking for the Aspirational Districts which measures the

incremental progress made by them between June 1, 2018 and October 31, 2018, across six developmental

areas of Health and Nutrition, Education, Agriculture and Water Resources, Financial Inclusion, Skill

Development, and Basic Infrastructure.

The most improved districts are; 1. Virudhunagar (Tamil Nadu) 2. Nuapada(Odisha) 3. Siddharthnagar

(Uttar Pradesh) 4. Aurangabad (Bihar) 5. Koraput (Odisha)

The most improved districts are; 1. Kiphire (Nagaland) 2. Giridih (Jharkhand) 3. Chatra (Jharkhand) 4.

Hailakandi (Assam) 5. PakurJharkhand

Points to Remember

Launched by the Prime Minister in January this year, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’

programme aims to quickly and effectively transform some of the most underdeveloped districts of the

country.

The Government is committed to raising the living standards of its citizens and ensuring inclusive growth

for all – SabkaSaath, SabkaVikas.

4. Lok Sabha passes Triple Talaq bill

The Lok Sabha has passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill by negating the

amendments moved by some opposition members. Two hundred forty-five members voted in favour of the bill

while 11 voted against it yesterday.

The Bill makes all declarations of instant triple talaq void and illegal. It seeks to make the practice a

punishable offence with imprisonment of up to three years.

The Bill will replace the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Ordinance-2018. Replying

to a debate on the Bill, Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad said, it has not been brought to

target any religion but to give justice to women.

The National Commission for Women has welcomed the passage of the Bill.

Points to remember

Declaration of Triple Talaq would be a cognizable offence, attracting up to three years’ imprisonment

with a fine. The bill states that the offence will be cognizable only if information relating to the offence is

given by the married woman (against whom talaq has been declared), or any person related to her by blood

or marriage.

5. Foundation stone of 11 projects for Yamuna rejuvenation laid

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone for nine projects for rejuvenating river Yamuna in the

national capital on 27 December.

A total of 11 projects have been taken up by National Mission for Clean Ganga to conserve River Yamuna

in Delhi. Most of the projects are for sewerage infrastructure.

The current sewage generation for Delhi city is about 327 crore liters per day against the existing treatment

capacity of 276 crore liters per day.

Since 1993 action plan has been made to clean Yamuna but not much improvement has been seen since

then.

The central government has taken up 11 projects under Namami Gange Programme by National Mission

for Clean Ganga to conserve river Yamuna in Delhi so that ecosystem is preserved in the Yamuna.

6. Bahuda Rookery: Another Olive Ridley Nesting Site in Odisha

Gahirmatha marine sanctuary and Rushikulya rookery coast in Ganjam district are main Olive Ridley Nesting

sites in Odisha. Of these sites, Gahirmatha marine sanctuary is largest rookery (mass nesting site) of Olive Ridley

turtles.

Odisha is home to 50% of the total world’s population of Olive Ridley and about 90% of Indian population

of sea turtles. Recently, Odisha forest department added another olive ridley mass nesting site Bahuda

Rookery at beach on Bahuda river mouth in Ganjam district.

It is located around 20 km to south of Rushikulya rookery coast.

Points to Remember

Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) is smallest and most abundant of all sea turtle found in world.

It is found in warm waters of Pacific and Indian oceans. They are found along both-eastern and western

coasts of India.

It is included in vulnerable category by the IUCN Red list. In India, it is protected under Schedule I of

Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

7. Islands of Andaman to be renamed after Netaji Bose

The Union Government has decided to rename Ross, Neil and Havelock islands of Andaman. The Ross, Neil and

Havelock Islands are to be named as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island, Shaheed Dweep, and Swaraj Dweep,

respectively.

The announcement about renaming is expected to be made by PM Narendra Modi on 30 December during

his visit to the Islands. 30th December marks the 75th anniversary of the Netaji’s visit to the Andaman

Islands.

Points to remember

Netaji, accompanied by Sarvashri Anand Mohan Sahay, Captain Rawat-ADC and Colonel DS Raju, the

personal physician of Netaji, landed at the Port Blair aerodrome in Andaman on 29th December 1943.

Netaji was accorded a warm welcome. Netaji had appointed Indian National Army General AD

Loganathan as the governor of the islands.

After the Japanese captured the Andaman Island during the time of the Second World War, Netaji had

hoisted the flag at Port Blair on December 30, 1943. This was because he believed that Port Blair was the

first territory to be freed from British rule. Netaji had even suggested way back that the Andaman and

Nicobar Islands be renamed as Shahid and Swaraj Dweep.

8. Former Australia captain Ponting inducted into ICC Hall of Fame

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting was formally inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame on 26

December.

Ponting was named in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame along with former India captain Rahul Dravid and

England woman wicketkeeper-batter Claire Taylor during the ICC Annual Conference in Dublin in July.

Ponting could not attend the ICC conference.

Ponting is a three-time ICC Cricket World Cup winner including two times as captain. He is the 25th

Australia cricketer to be formally inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

The 44-year-old Ponting retired from international cricket in 2012 after scoring 13,378 runs in 168 Tests.

He scored 41 centuries, 13,704 runs in 375 ODIs with 30 centuries and 401 runs in 17 T20s with two half-

centuries.

Ponting was named the ICC Player of the Year in 2006 and 2007 while also being named the ICC Test

Player of the Year in 2006.

Points to remember

The ICC Cricket Hall of Fame was launched on 2 January 2009 in association with the Federation of

International Cricketers Associations (FICA), as part of the ICC's centenary year celebrations. The ICC

Cricket Hall of Fame recognizes the achievements of the legends of the game from cricket's long and

illustrious history.