What is the News ?

The United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) will organise a Country-Led Initiative (CLI) event hosted by the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change from October 26–28, 2023, at the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

Facts About:

• It encourages the sustainable development, preservation, and management of all kinds of forests.
• The UNEconomic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) was founded it in 2000.
• Every year, the Forum gathers at the UN Headquarters in New York to discuss high-level policy issues in even years and technical issues in odd years, bringing together representatives of all member states and agencies with an interest in forests.
• All United Nations members as well as specialized agencies make up the forum, which has universal membership.
• India is one of UNFF's founding members.

What is the News ?

The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana-Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (PMKSY-AIBP) now includes the Jamrani Dam Multipurpose Project, as approved by the Government of India recently.

Facts About:

The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana-Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (PMKSY-AIBP) now includes the Jamrani Dam Multipurpose Project, as approved by the Government of India recently.

About the Jamrani Dam Multipurpose Project:

• According to the project, a dam will be built in the Uttarakhand district of Nainital, close to Jamrani village, across the Gola River, a tributary of the Ram Ganga.
• The neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh would receive a sizable portion of the project's irrigation benefits.
• This is the seventh project to be added to the PMKSY-AIBP list.

Facts about the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana:

It was introduced in 2015–16.

Aim: To improve physical access to water on farms, increase cultivable land under assured irrigation, increase on-farm water use efficiency, and implement sustainable water conservation practices.

Through the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP), ongoing major and medium irrigation projects, including national projects, will be completed more quickly.

Har Khet Ko Pani: It is divided into four smaller components:

• Ground Water (GW) Development component,
• Surface Minor Irrigation (SMI),
• Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies, and
• Command Area Development & Water Management (CAD&WM).

The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, is the nodal ministry.

What is the News ?

NASA is preparing to use its Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to take humanity's deepest-ever look into the heart of our Milky Way Galaxy.

Facts About:

• The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will offer one of the deepest views into the heart of the Milky Way galaxy.

Its mission includes monitoring hundreds of millions of stars to detect various celestial objects like planets, distant stars, icy objects in our solar system, black holes, and more.

• It will likely discover the farthest-known exoplanet, opening up new possibilities in the search for other worlds.
• Time-domain astronomy is a significant focus, studying how the universe changes over time, and Roman contributes to this field.
• The Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey will concentrate on the Milky Way, using infrared vision to see through dust clouds in the galaxy's central region.

The survey will involve taking images every 15 minutes around the clock for about two months, repeated six times over Roman's five-year primary mission.

• Astronomers anticipate finding over a thousand planets, including some within their host stars' habitable zones.
• It can detect "rogue" worlds that don't orbit stars, providing insights into planetary system formation.
• The mission will also identify brown dwarfs and help explore the boundary between planet and star formation.
• It is expected to spot neutron stars, stellar-mass black holes, Kuiper belt objects, and conduct stellar seismology studies on a million giant stars.

The telescope's broad view of space allows for a new view of an ever-changing universe.

• The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center with participation from several other institutions and partners.

What is the News ?

A new study finds that beneath East Antarctica's undulating ice sheet lies an ancient, river-carved landscape that provides a perfect snapshot of the region before glaciers covered the continent.

Facts About:

• In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have unveiled an ancient, hidden world beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, offering a correction to the traditional perception of a frozen wasteland.

This revelation reshapes our understanding of Antarctica's history and environmental conditions.

• This newly discovered landscape, believed to have been shaped by rivers over 14 million years ago, predates the initial formation of the East Antarctic ice around 34 million years ago.
• This ancient terrain comprises valleys and ridges that are strikingly reminiscent of the glacially-altered landscape in North Wales, UK, signifying the long-term temperature stability of the ice sheet in the studied region.
• The recent discovery builds upon the team's prior work, which revealed concealed mountain ranges, canyons, and lakes beneath the Antarctic ice.

The researchers suggest that additional undiscovered ancient landscapes may remain hidden under the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.

• This discovery underscores the significance of ongoing exploration and research in this largely uncharted territory, emphasizing that there is much more to uncover beneath the ice.
• This revelation prompts a re-evaluation of the conventional perception of Antarctica, demonstrating that it has a rich geological history dating back millions of years.

What is the News ?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the meeting of the 43rd edition of PRAGATI involving Centre and State governments recently.

Facts About:

• PRAGATI, which stands for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation, is a multi-purpose and multi-modal platform.
• Its primary purpose is to address public grievances and concurrently oversee significant government programs and projects at both the national and state levels.
• It was officially launched on March 25, 2015.
• Developed in-house by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) team in collaboration with the National Informatics Center (NIC), it is a robust system.
• This platform promotes e-transparency and e-accountability by facilitating real-time communication among key stakeholders.
• It integrates three cutting-edge technologies, video conferencing, digital data management, and geo-spatial technology.
• It fosters cooperative federalism by uniting Chief Secretaries of states and Government of India Secretaries on a common platform.
• The Prime Minister can engage in ground-level discussions with this platform, enabling communication with state and central officials while having access to up-to-date visuals on the screen.
• The three objectives of PRAGATI are:

                   Grievance Redressal

                   Programme Implementation

                   Project Monitoring