30-Jul-2020: The Government of India invites nominations for the “Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar” for excellence in the field of Disaster Management
The Government of India invites nominations for the “Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar” for excellence in the field of Disaster Management. The online process of application for the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar is presently open. Nominations of Individuals and Institutions can be uploaded at “www.dmawards.ndma.gov.in” up to 31stAug 2020. These awards are announced on the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on 23rd January every year.
The Government of India has instituted Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar to recognise the excellent work done by the individuals and institutions in the field of disaster management. In addition to a certificate, these awards carry a cash award of Rs 51 lakhs for an Institution and Rs 5 lakhs for an Individual.
An individual can apply for the award as well as nominate other person or institution. The nominated individual or institution should have worked in any area of disaster management like Prevention, Mitigation, Preparedness, Rescue, Response, Relief, Rehabilitation, Research, Innovation or early warning in India.
Disasters affect lives, livelihoods and property across the entire spectrum of our society. Disasters also evoke a sense of compassion and selfless service across the nation. In the aftermath of a disaster, different sections of our society come together and work towards alleviating the suffering of those affected by the disasters. The Government’s efforts to save lives through mitigation, risk reduction, effective response, and build back better are often augmented by the hard work of community based organisations, selfless volunteers, dedicated Non-Government Organisations, conscientious corporate, academic and research institutions and individuals. Many organisations and individuals are working silently but persistently on mitigation and preparedness so that the impact of future disasters can be minimized. There is a need to recognise the efforts of individuals and organisations who have been working assiduously to alleviate human suffering caused by disasters.
11-Jul-2020: India’s Tiger Census sets a New Guinness Record for being the world’s largest camera trap wildlife survey.
The fourth cycle of the All India Tiger Estimation 2018, results of which were declared to the nation on Global Tiger Day last year by Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has entered the Guinness World Record for being the world’s largest camera trap wildlife survey.
Terming this achievement a great moment, Union Environment Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar in a tweet message said that this is a shining example of Aatmanirbhar Bharat which in the Prime Minister’s own words, was attained through Sankalp se siddhi.
Further, the Environment Minister said that under the leadership of Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, India has fulfilled its resolve to double the tiger numbers four years before the target. The country now has an estimated 2967 tigers as per the latest census. With this number, India is home to nearly 75% of the global tiger population and has already fulfilled its resolve of doubling tiger numbers, made at St. Petersburg in 2010, much before the target year of 2022.
The citation at the Guinness World Record website reads- “The fourth iteration of the survey – conducted in 2018-19 - was the most comprehensive to date, in terms of both resource and data amassed. Camera traps (outdoor photographic devices fitted with motion sensors that start recording when an animal passes by) were placed in 26,838 locations across 141 different sites and surveyed an effective area of 121,337 square kilometres (46,848 square miles). In total, the camera traps captured 34,858,623 photographs of wildlife (76,651 of which were tigers and 51,777 were leopards; the remainder were other native fauna). From these photographs, 2,461 individual tigers (excluding cubs) were identified using stripe-pattern-recognition software.
As well as unprecedented camera trap usage, the 2018 “Status of Tigers in India” assessment also conducted extensive foot surveys that covered 522,996 km (324,975 mi) of trails and sampled 317,958 habitat plots for vegetation and prey dung. It’s estimated that the total area of forest studied was 381,200 km2 (147,181 sq mi) and cumulatively the collection and review of data equated to some 620,795 labour-days.”
The All India Tiger Estimation done quadrennially is steered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority with technical backstopping from the Wildlife Institute of India and implemented by State Forest Departments and partners. The latest results of 2018 had shown that India now has an estimated 2967 tigers out of which 2461 individual tigers have been photo captured, a whopping 83 % of the tiger population, highlighting the comprehensive nature of the survey.
There is hardly any parallel of such a focused species oriented program like Project Tiger across the world, which started with 9 Tiger Reserves, with 50 tiger reserves currently. India has now firmly established a leadership role in tiger conservation, with its bench marking practices being looked at as a gold standard across the world.
19-May-2020: Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs announces results of Star rating of garbage free cities.
For the assessment year 2019-2020, a total of six cities have been certified as 5-Star, 65 cities as 3-Star and 70 cities as 1-Star. The Star Rating Protocol was launched by the Ministry in January 2018 to institutionalize a mechanism for cities to achieve Garbage Free status, and to motivate cities to achieve higher degrees of cleanliness.
The protocol has been devised in a holistic manner including components such as cleanliness of drains & water bodies, plastic waste management, managing construction & demolition waste, etc. which are critical drivers for achieving garbage free cities.
While the key thrust of this protocol is on Solid Waste Management, it also takes care of ensuring certain minimum standards of sanitation through a set of prerequisites defined in the framework.
In the recent phase of Star Rating Assessment, 1435 cities had applied.
Cities which achieved the 5-Star status:
- Ambikapur – Chhattisgarh
- Rajkot – Gujarat
- Surat – Gujarat
- Mysore – Karnataka
- Indore – Madhya Pradesh
- Navi Mumbai – Maharashtra