1. Atapaka bird sanctuary
- Atapaka Bird Sanctuary at Kolleru Lake has become a safe breeding ground for two migratory species namely, Grey Pelicans and Painted Storks.
- The present water level in Kolleru Lake, including Atapaka Sanctuary, is posing a slight challenge for the birds to hunt their prey in the deep waters.
- Grey Pelican and Painted Stork both are near threatened species under IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Kolleru Lake
- Kolleru lake is located between the deltas of the Krishna and Godavari rivers in Andhra Pradesh.
The lake serves as a natural flood-balancing reservoir for the two rivers. - It is an important habitat for an estimated 20 million residents and migratory birds like Grey or Spot-billed pelicans.
- It was notified as a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1999 under India’s Wild Life Protection Act,1972.
- It was declared a wetland of international importance in 2002 under Ramsar convention.
2. Saksahar Bharat
- It was formulated in 2009 with the objective of achieving 80% literacy level at the national level, by focusing on adult women literacy.
- It seeks to create awareness of social disparities and a person’s deprivation on the means for its amelioration and general well being.
- It has four broader objectives-
- Imparting functional literacy and numeracy to non-literates.
- Acquiring equivalency to the formal educational system.
- Imparting relevant skill development programme.
- Promote a learning society by providing opportunities for continuing education.
- The principal target of the programme is to impart functional literacy to 70 million non-literate adults in the age group of 15 years and beyond.
- It is a centrally-sponsored scheme
3. Mita sakthi
- The 7th edition of India-Sri Lanka joint military training exercise Mitra Shakti– 2019 is scheduled to be conducted in Pune from 01 – 14 December 2019.
- The exercise aims to build and promote positive relations between armies of India and Sri Lanka for counter-insurgency & counter-terrorism operations in the urban and rural environment under United Nations mandate.
- The joint exercise also aims for incorporating the current dynamics of United Nations peacekeeping operations through practical & comprehensive discussions and tactical exercises.
4. Emisson Gap report
- The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released ‘Emissions Gap Report’, according to which India is the fourth-largest emitter of Green House Gases (GHGs).
- The world will fail to meet the 1.5°C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement unless global greenhouse gas emissions fall by 7.6 per cent each year.
- The top four emitters (China, USA, EU and India) contributed to over 55% of the total emissions over the last decade, excluding emissions from land-use change such as deforestation.
- The rankings would change if land-use change emissions were included, with Brazil likely to be the largest emitter.
- Sectors that are the largest emitters- Energy>Industry>Forestry>Transport>Agriculture>Building.
- India is among a small group of countries that are on their way to achieve their self-declared climate targets under the Paris Agreement. However, the emissions largely depend on the growth of the economy of the country.