November 15,2018

Current Affairs for Engineering Service Exam

Video Lectures and Test Series for ESE 2019

 Topics list:

1. National and International Issues on
   1. Economic Development
   2. Social Development
   3. Industrial Development
2. Energy and Environment
   1. Energy
   2. Environment
3. Information and Communication Technology
   1. Technology
   2. Application
4. The Key Initiatives of Government
5. General Knowledge

Topic 1:Industrial development

Yuva Sahakar-Cooperative Enterprise Support and Innovation Scheme

To cater to the needs and aspirations of the youth, the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) has come up with a youth-friendly scheme ‘Yuva Sahakar-Cooperative Enterprise Support and Innovation Scheme” for attracting them to cooperative business ventures.

The scheme:

• The scheme will be linked to ‘Cooperative Start-up and Innovation Fund (CSIF)’ created by the NCDC.
• The funding for the project will be up to 80% of the project cost for these special categories as against 70% for others.
• All types of cooperatives in operation for at least one year are eligible.

About NCDC:

• The National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) was established by an Act of Parliament in 1963 as a statutory Corporation under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.
• Functions:

1. Planning, promoting and financing programmes for production, processing, marketing, storage, export and import of agricultural produce, food stuffs, certain other notified commodities.
2. The area of operation of the Corporation to assist different types of cooperatives and to expand its financial base.
3. To finance projects in the rural industrial cooperative sectors and for certain notified services in rural areas like water conservation, irrigation and micro irrigation, agri-insurance, agro-credit, rural sanitation, animal health, etc.

Read more at:PIB

Topic 2 : Environment

Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary

Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary in Vedaranyam Range has been closed for a week in view of water-logging caused by a heavy spell of rainfall.

Highlights:

• It is located in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu.
• It is a protected area and a Ramsar site.
• It harbors the single-largest stretch of the unique dry-evergreen forest in the country besides open grasslands and tidal mudflats is of interest to tourists.
• Around 100 species of birds including the Greater Flamingo, Painted Stork, Little Sting, Sea Gull and Brown-headed gull have been making their presence felt since September.
• Blackbuck (Antilope Cervicapra) is the flagship species of the sanctuary.
• The important animals are the spotted deer, black-napped hare, wild boar, Indian jackal, feral horses, palm civet, short-nosed fruit bat, jungle cat and monitor lizard.

Read more at: The Hindu

Topic 3 : ICT

India GSLV Mk III-D2 successfully launches GSAT-29

India’s GSAT-29 communication satellite was successfully launched by the second developmental flight of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle MarkIII (GSLV MkIII-D2)  from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.

Highlights:

• ISRO’s Master Control Facility at Hassan has assumed the control of the satellite.
• The three orbit raising manoeuvers will be executed to position the satellite in the Geostationary Orbit at its designated location.
• GSAT-29 is a multiband, multi-beam communication satellite, intended to serve as test bed for several new and critical technologies.
• Its Ku-band and Ka-band payloads are configured to cater to the communication requirements of users including those from remote areas especially from Jammu & Kashmir and North-Eastern regions of India.
• In addition, the Q/V-Band communication payload onboard is intended to demonstrate the future high throughput satellite system technologies.
• Optical Communication Payload will demonstrate data transmission at a very high rate through optical communication link.

About GSLV MkIII:

• GSLV Mk III is a three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle developed by ISRO. The vehicle has two solid strap-ons, a core liquid booster and a cryogenic upper stage.
• GSLV Mk III is designed to carry 4 ton class of satellites into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) or about 10 tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is about twice the capability of GSLV Mk II.
• The first developmental flight of GSLV Mk III, the GSLV-Mk III-D1 successfully placed GSAT-19 satellite to a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO)

Read more at: PIB

Bhoomi Rashi Portal

Digitalisation in India is reaching new heights and the Bhoomi Rashi portal has changed the land acquisition system in the country.

Highlights:

• The portal allows for totally digital and paper-less processing of land acquisition cases, and has resulted in transparent, quick, corruption-free and error-free handling of land acquisition cases.
• It has also made the possible real-time tracking of activities and generation of reports relating to land acquisition.
• With Bhoomi Rashi portal this amount directly transferred into the account of the person concerned, through Public Financial Management System which is an integral part of the portal.
• The process is also environment friendly since there is no physical movement of files – all work is done digitally.
• It is under the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.

Read more at: PIB

ExoMars

ExoMars is a joint space venture between European Space Agency and Russian space agency Roscosmos to Mars.

Key Facts:

• The ExoMars programme comprises 2 missions.

1. The first mission was launched in 2016 and consists of the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Schiaparelli, an entry, descent and landing demonstrator module.
2. The second mission is planned to be launched in 2020 and comprises a rover and surface science platform.

• The rover that will carry a drill and a suite of instruments dedicated to search for possible existence of life beyond earth and geochemistry research.
• It is likely to land on Mars’ equator called Oxia Planum, which had housed a massive pool of water in the prehistoric era.

Read more at: IndianExpress