1) National Flag: National Flag Adoption Day is celebrated on July 22, to commemorate the Constituent Assembly’s adoption of Tricolour in 1947.
- Flag Code of India (FCI) 2002 allows citizens to hoist the Indian flag over their homes, offices and factories on any day.
- Tricolour can be of nine standard dimensions including 6300 x 4200, 900 x 600, etc. (all sizes in mm).
- It should be rectangular in shape and the length-to-width ratio should always be 3:2.
- The use of polyester, apart from cotton, wool, silk and khadi is allowed for making hand-spun, hand-woven and machine-made flags.
2) Logistics Data Bank (LDB) Project: Department for Promotion of Industries and Internal Trade (DPIIT) reviewed measures taken by Port Authorities to improve LDB.
- LDB project aims to make India’s logistics sector more efficient through the use of Information Technology.
- It is a joint effort of India and Japan conceived during the planning of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project.
- It is implemented by NICDC Logistics Data Services (NLDS), a joint venture between India and Japanese IT major NEC Corporation.
- LDB handles 100% of India’s EXIM container volume.
- It was also leveraged to develop a Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP).
3) Amrit Bharat Station Scheme: 1309 Railway Stations have been identified under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme for their development.
- The scheme was launched by the Ministry of Railways to modernize railway stations.
- It envisages the development of stations on a continuous basis with a long-term approach.
- It involves the preparation of Master Plans and their implementation in phases to improve the amenities at the stations.
- It aims to create Roof Plazas and city centres at the station.
- It aims to club different grades/types of waiting halls and provide good cafeteria/retail facilities.
4) Electronic Cigarettes (e-cigarettes): Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched an online portal for reporting violations under the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (Production, Manufacture, Import, Export, Transport, Sale, Distribution, Storage and Advertisement) Act (PECA).
- All forms of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems including e-cigarettes are prohibited under PECA.
- E-cigarettes are battery-operated systems that heat a substance (liquid or solid), which contains nicotine and often flavours, to create an aerosol for inhalation.
- E-cigarette aerosols have harmful substances such as nicotine, cancer-causing chemicals, heavy metals such as nickel, tin and lead, and chemicals causing lung diseases such as diacetyl.
5) Degree Days (DD): Degree days are measures of how cold or warm a location is and is used to assess the energy needed to keep people comfortable.
- A DD compares the mean outdoor temperatures recorded for a location to a standard temperature.
- The more extreme the outside temperature, the higher the number of DD and the higher the requirement of energy for space heating or cooling.
- A Cooling DD quantifies the energy requirement for cooling while a Heating DD quantifies the energy requirement for heating.
