UTTARAKHAND
- Uttrakhand History : Separate Hill State
- After independence the issue of separate hill state could not get sufficient support as the power elite at the higher level did not favour it. In 1946, Badri Dutt Pandey demanded separate hill state, which was turned down by the then Premier of United Provinces G.B. Pant, as U.P.’s dominance over national politics owing to largest number of M.P.’s from this state would have suffered after division of U.P. This policy of domination over national politics remained a central cord of the Congress party right from Pant to Tewari. General Secretary of CPI P.C. Joshi, time again demanded autonomy for the hill region. Manvendra Shah ex-ruler of Tehfi state in his capacity as M.P., also raised the issue of separate hill state.
Counter elite from the region over the years after independence made efforts’ in this direction – submitted memorandum to the P.M., organised conferences, rallies and protested on various occasions to draw the attention of power elite. Dharna and demonstrations at Boat Club by separate hill state protagonists were frequently organised from time to time, yet no central organisation conclusively setup for the purpose, with full strength did emerge. However stray events in this direction not only kept the issue alive, they educated the masses to a large extent . and helped in forming collective psyche of the hill people to strive for separation from U.P
INTERNATIONAL
- IMF scales down India’s growth projection for current fiscal to 7.3%
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has moderately scaled down India’s economic growth projection to 7.3 per cent for the current financial year from its earlier forecast of 7.4 per cent.
- Despite this, the country will remain the fastest-growing large economy as the nearest competitor China’s growth is pegged at 6.6 per cent, 6.3 per cent and 6.1 per cent for 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively.
- Google launched its 1st drone delivery service in Australia
- Wing, one of the many companies belonging to Alphabet (Google parent) made its first delivery in Canberra, Australia after getting approval from the Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).
- The drones will deliver food and drinks as well as medication directly to clients’ homes.
- Wing was testing drone delivery in Australia since 2014 and delivered medicines, chocolate to 3,000 homes in the last 18 months.
- Wing is now preparing to launch a trial service in Helsinki, Finland.
- April 10: World Homoeopathy Day
- The World Homoeopathy Day2019 is observed across the world on April 10, 2019 to commemorate the birth anniversary of the founder of Homoeopathy, Dr. Christian FriedrichSamuel Hahnemann.
- The week following the birth date of Hahnemann, that is, 10 April – 16 Aprilis observed as the World Homeopathic Awareness Week.
- This year it is 263rd birth anniversary of founder of Homoeopathy.
NATIONAL
- ‘Desi Bofors’ Dhanush inducted in Army in bid to modernise artillery
- In an important step towards upgrading the combat power of the artillery, the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) handed over the first six Dhanush 155 millimetre (mm) artillery guns to the army.
- This is part of an order for 114 guns being delivered by the OFB’s Gun Carriage Factory, Jabalpur.
- The Dhanush is also called the “Desi Bofors”, having been developed from blueprints supplied by Bofors in the 1980s, when India bought 400 Swedish FH-77B howitzers.
- Dream11 became Indias first billion-dollar gaming Startup
- Mumbai-basedDream11 has become India’s first gaming unicorn or billion-dollar startup with an investment from Steadview Capital.
- Apart from Steadview Capital, Kalaari Capital, Think Investments, Multiples Equity and Tencent investments collectively put Dream11’s total evaluation beyond $1 billion.
- The investment by Hong Kong and London-based Steadview Capital comes about eight months after Dream 11 sealed a $100 million equity financing round led by Tencent, which is world’s fifth-largest internet company.
- Decolourisation of River Periyar
- The River Periyar in Kerala is again witnessing the decolourisation. The decolourisation of River Periyar which provides drinking water to Kochi city.
- The pollution control Board (PCB) has attributed the change in colour to the poor quality of water as a result of eutrophication.
- River Periyar is an artificial reservoir created by Mullaperiyar Dam across the river
- Periyar is the longest river and the river with the largest discharge potential in the Indian state of Kerala. The Periyar is of utmost significance to the economy of Kerala
- It generates a significant proportion of Kerala’s electrical power via the Idukki Dam and flows along a region of industrial and commercial activity. The river also provides water for irrigation and domestic use throughout its course besides supporting a rich fishery. The river has been named as the “Lifeline of Kerala”. 25% of Kerala’s industries are along the banks of river Periyar
Gk bit : Eutrophication
- Eutrophication is when a body of water becomes overly enriched with minerals and nutrients which induce excessive growth of plants and algae
- This process may result in oxygen depletion of the water body. One example is an “algal bloom” or a great increase of phytoplankton in a water body as a response to increased levels of nutrients.
- Eutrophication is often induced by the discharge of nitrate or phosphate-containing detergents, fertilizers, or sewage into an aquatic system