1) Agnipath scheme: Under the new scheme, around 45,000 to 50,000 soldiers will be recruited annually, and most will leave the service in just four years.
- Of the total annual recruits, only 25 per cent will be allowed to continue for another 15 years under permanent commission.
- The move will make the permanent force levels much leaner for the over 13-lakh strong armed forces in the country.
- The new system is only for personnel below officer ranks (those who do not join the forces as commissioned officers)
2) The Gloucester shipwreck: It was over 300 years ago that a royal ship carrying the future king of England, Ireland and Scotland sank killing hundreds onboard. It also nearly killed the Duke of York, who later reigned as King James II.
- The discovery of the royal shipwreck was revealed recently on June 10, and has since been hailed as one of the most significant discoveries of maritime history.
- It has been suggested by historians that that the Duke delayed abandoning ship till the last minute. As protocol prevented other passengers from leaving before royalty, the delay in the Duke’s departure led to countless deaths.
3) Lake Sawa: located in Muthanna governorate in southern Iraq, has completely dried up.
- The amazing thing about Lake Sawa is that it “does not connect to any surface water source, and it is completely closed. The only source feeding it is groundwater from deep caves with unknown depths.”
- Iraqis call the salty lake the Pearl of the South, and its water contains minerals used for medicinal purposes.
- The lake has been drying up since 2014 and he causes have been climate change and rising temperatures. Over 1000 wells illegally dug for agriculture in the region.
4) E-Vidhan System: The National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) is a system for digitising the legislative bodies of all Indian states and the Parliament through a single platform.
- It is a Mission Mode Project (MMP) under the Digital India Programme.
- The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MoPA) is the ‘Nodal Ministry’ for its implementation in all the 31 States/UTs with Legislatures.
- The funding for e-Vidhan is provided by the MoPA and technical support by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MietY).
- The funding of NeVA is through Central Sponsored Schemee. 60:40; and 90:10 for North East & hilly States and 100% for UTs.
- The house proceedings, starred/unstarred questions and answers, committee reports etc. will be available on the portal
5) Ross ice shelf: Researchers have found microplastics in the snow samples from the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
- Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica roughly the size of France.
- Ninety percent of the floating ice, however, is below the water surface.
- Most of Ross Ice Shelf is in the Ross Dependency claimed by New Zealand.
- It floats in, and covers, a large southern portion of the Ross Sea and the entire Roosevelt Island located in the east of the Ross Sea.
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