Uttarakhand
- Uttarakhand posts Rs 22 crore loss from power thefts in financial year 2016-17
- Once a power surplus state, Uttarakhand has suffered a line loss of more than 18% costing over Rs 22 Crore in financial year 2016-17.
- Line loss amounts to waste or theft of power against amount of electricity produced and transmitted to consumers across the state.
- Maximum line loss took place in Uttarkashi district with 36.68% followed by Roorkee (Urban) with 36.42%. The lowest line loss was reported in Haridwar with 4.40%.
- The main reason behind the loss is stealing of power from low tension lines and other vulnerable spots. People sometimes provide connections from their home illegally in exchange of money.
- Installation of insulated areal bunch conductors could help stop power thefts and squads can also be deployed in various areas to check illegal connections on a regular basis.
INTERNATIONAL
- World’s biggest and powerful X-ray laser gun unveiled.
- The world’s largest and powerful X-ray laser- EuropeanX-ray Free Electron Laser(XFEL) unveiled in Hamburg, Germany.
- The XEFL is series of 3.4-kilometer tunnels up to 38 meters underground near the city of Hamburg.
- It took 8 years to build 1.5-billion-euro ($1.7 billion) facility.
- It has the capacity to generate extremely intense laser flashes, at a rate of 27,000 per second generated by Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission(SASE).
- World’s highest sandcastle built in German city
- The world’s highest sandcastle is now standing 68 meterstall in the German cityof Duisburg.
- A German travel operator organized the construction of the mammoth sandcastle, bringing in 3,500 tons of sand over the past three and a half weeks to the site at a former steelworks in the inland city.
- The new sandcastle is decorated with sand models of tourist attractions such as Athens’ Acropolis, Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
NATIONAL
- Railways to rename trains after famous literary works
- The Railways Ministry is looking at a proposal to rename trains after famous literary works, referencing not just their authors, but the region they come from.
- So, passengers travelling to West Bengal could soon board a train named after a novel by Mahashweta Devi and a train ride to Bihar could reference a work by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar
- The Indian Railways also launched the Deen Dayalu coaches to commemorate Upadhyaya.
- The railways is a secular integrating factor in the country and the names of the trains can be used to showcase varied cultural identities.
- Union Minister launches scheme for senior citizens belonging to BPL category
- Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Thaawarchand Gehlot has launched a scheme that provides for physical aids and assisted-living devices for senior citizens belonging to the BPL category in Gujarat.
- This ambitious scheme, is expected to benefit 5, 20,000 senior citizens over a period of three years.
- The centrally-sponsored scheme, `Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana’, was unveiled on April 1 this year and since then it has already been launched in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
- Under the scheme, devices will be distributed to senior citizens free of cost.
- Rajiv Gauba is new Home Secretary
- Senior IAS officer Rajiv Gauba took charge as the Union Home Secretary after incumbent Rajiv Mehrishi superannuated
- A 1982 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre, Mr. Gauba will have a fixed two-year tenure.
- Gauba served as Officer on Special Duty in the Home Ministry since June 27 after his name was announced as the new Home Secretary.