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The Cabinet has approved a Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely "Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Affected Areas" to improve the rural road connectivity in the worst LWE affected districts from a security angle.
The project will be implemented as a vertical under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) to provide connectivity with necessary culverts and cross-drainage structures in 44 worst affected LWE districts and adjoining districts, critical from security and communication point of view.  Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) was launched on 25th December 2000 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with the objective to provide all-weather road connectivity to all eligible unconnected habitations in rural areas of the country.
Ministry of Rural Development will be the sponsoring Ministry as well as the implementing Ministry of this project. The "Road Connectivity Project for LWE Affected Areas" is envisaged in LWE States, including the 35 worst affected LWE districts which account for 90% of total LWE violence in the country and 9 adjoining districts critical from security angle as per the inputs and lists of roads/districts provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

A “Leap Second” is added every now and then to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in order to synchronise clocks worldwide with the Earth's ever slowing rotation. UTC consists of a time scale that combines the output of more than 300 highly precise Atomic clocks worldwide, including the one at CSIR-NPL (India).
Atomic clocks are very accurate and are stable within 1 second over a period of millions of years. On the other hand, the Astronomical Time is known as Universal Time (UT1) refers to the Earth's rotation around its own axis and determines the length of a day.
However, the Earth's rotation around its own axis is not regular, as sometimes it speeds up and sometimes it slows down, due to various factors, including the moon’s gravitational Earth-braking forces that often results in ocean tides.
As a result, Astronomical Time (UT1) gradually falls out of synch with Atomic time (UTC), and as and when the difference between UTC and UT1 approaches 0.9 seconds, a “Leap Second” is added to UTC through Atomic clocks worldwide.

Since 1972, 36 “Leap Seconds” have been added at intervals varying from six months to seven years. 37th “Leap Second” will be added to UTC at the midnight of December 31, 2016, in the countries within this time zone. However, countries in other time zones will have “Leap Second” inserted according to their longitude.
In India the “Leap Second” will be inserted at IST 05:29:59 on January 1, 2017 (IST being five hours and thirty minutes ahead of UTC). In order to follow IST, the clocks need to be adjusted after the insertion of “Leap Second”. 
Those utilising CSIR-NPL time dissemination services (NTP, Teleclock etc.) need not worry as they will receive the corrected time post the insertion of “Leap Second”.
The “Leap Second” adjustment is not so relevant for normal everyday life; however, this shift is critical for applications requiring of time accuracies in the nanosecond e.g. astronomy, satellite navigation, communication networks etc.

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), housed in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, is an inter-ministerial body, responsible for the processing of FDI proposals and making recommendations for Government approval.
The extant FDI Policy, Press Notes and other related notified guidelines formulated by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry are the bases of the FIPB decisions. In the process of making recommendations, the FIPB provides significant inputs for FDI policy-making.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) offers a single window clearance for applications on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India that are under the approval route. The sectors under automatic route do not require any prior approval from FIPB and are subject to only sectoral laws.

The Cabinet has approved the investment proposal for generation component of Arun-3 Hydro Electric Project in Nepal by SJVN Limited, a Central Public Sector Enterprises of Government of India.
The project is located on Arun River in Sankhuwasabha District of Eastern Nepal. The Run-of-River scheme envisages about 70 mt. high concrete gravity dam and Head Race Tunnel (HRT) of 11.74 Km with underground Power House containing four generating units of 225 MW each on Left Bank.
The project will provide surplus power to India strengthening power availability in the country and will also strengthen economic linkages with Nepal. The power from the project shall be exported from Dhalkebar in Nepal to Muzaffarpur in India.
SJVN limited bagged the project through International Competitive Bidding. A MoU was signed between Government of Nepal and SJVN Limited for the project in March 2008 for execution on Build Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) basis for a period of 30 years including five years of construction period

In a major breakthrough in eco-conservation, forest officials in Munnar have spotted two critically endangered impatiens plant species on the peripheries of the Eravikulam National Park.
Impatiens, also called jewelweeds, is seen in pristine forests where moisture content and relative humidity are high. The Eravikulam National Park and the Mankulam forest division are surrounded by sholas.
Two new species of balsams (impatiens) have been discovered by the officials from the shola forests on the periphery of the park and Mankulam with the help of scientists. The Munnar-Mankulam landscape is famous for impatiens varieties, one of which was Impatiens travancorica that were spotted some time ago.

India and Ukraine have agreed to strengthen the bilateral cooperation between the two countries through the medium of Cinema. The cooperation would be worked out through a policy and institutional framework to showcase films through the medium of Film Festivals and utilising the Film Facilitation Office platform established in India.
After the agreement, India would extend all possible support to promote exchange programs between public broadcasters of the two countries, content creation, screening and distribution of films.
The possibility of translating programs and content and providing subtitles in the respective languages of both the countries was also discussed with respect to the Public Broadcasters of both the countries.

According to a report, India continues to bear the ignominy of being the source of the illegal trade and export of tortoises and freshwater turtles (TFT). The detection of a staggering 58,442 smuggled amphibians over five years, demonstrates the persistence of the illegal trade despite increasing enforcement.
Within India, the Gangetic Plains accounted for 46% of all seizures, with Lucknow and Kanpur being major hubs. Researchers said this was linked to tightening of the enforcement (including an active Special Task Force) in Uttar Pradesh and the Gangetic belt. There is a tradition of turtle poaching in this area given the diversity of the TFT population along the river.
Turtles form an important part of the reference system, acting as scavengers in cleaning up water bodies and generally being indicators of river health. Ironically, the National Mission for Clean Ganga envisages breeding and release of turtles to clean wetlands, even as poaching and trade continue across the Gangetic belt.
Apart from the Ganga and its tributaries, TFTs have been poached in rivers of the Western Ghats and, in smaller numbers, in the Eastern Ghats. The cities of Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata have seen large-scale seizures, suggesting accumulation before export, the researchers said.

The first heliport in India is built by state-owned Pawan Hans Ltd in the northern part of the country’s capital, is set to become functional next week, a year after successfully undergoing trial runs. The heliport, set up in the Rohini area of North Delhi, consists of a terminal building having the capacity of 150 passengers, 4 hangars with the parking capacity of 16 helicopters and 9 parking bays. Besides, it has maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility also for the upkeep of the Pawan Hans fleet as well as for third-party maintenance work.
The Rohini heliport facility is India’s first integrated facility for rotor wing aircraft, including their landing and takeoff. It has a terminal building that can cater to 150 passengers per day besides separate air traffic control (ATC), fire and fuelling services.  Pawan Hans had successfully carried out trial sorties from the heliport in February last year and had planned to go for full-scale chopper operations from May.

According to a report, India continues to bear the ignominy of being the source of the illegal trade and export of tortoises and freshwater turtles (TFT). The detection of a staggering 58,442 smuggled amphibians over five years, demonstrates the persistence of the illegal trade despite increasing enforcement.
Within India, the Gangetic Plains accounted for 46% of all seizures, with Lucknow and Kanpur being major hubs. Researchers said this was linked to tightening of the enforcement (including an active Special Task Force) in Uttar Pradesh and the Gangetic belt. There is a tradition of turtle poaching in this area given the diversity of the TFT population along the river.
Turtles form an important part of the reference system, acting as scavengers in cleaning up water bodies and generally being indicators of river health. Ironically, the National Mission for Clean Ganga envisages breeding and release of turtles to clean wetlands, even as poaching and trade continue across the Gangetic belt.
Apart from the Ganga and its tributaries, TFTs have been poached in rivers of the Western Ghats and, in smaller numbers, in the Eastern Ghats. The cities of Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata have seen large-scale seizures, suggesting accumulation before export, the researchers said.

The first heliport in India is built by state-owned Pawan Hans Ltd in the northern part of the country’s capital, is set to become functional next week, a year after successfully undergoing trial runs. The heliport, set up in the Rohini area of North Delhi, consists of a terminal building having the capacity of 150 passengers, 4 hangars with the parking capacity of 16 helicopters and 9 parking bays. Besides, it has maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility also for the upkeep of the Pawan Hans fleet as well as for third-party maintenance work.
The Rohini heliport facility is India’s first integrated facility for rotor wing aircraft, including their landing and takeoff. It has a terminal building that can cater to 150 passengers per day besides separate air traffic control (ATC), fire and fuelling services.  Pawan Hans had successfully carried out trial sorties from the heliport in February last year and had planned to go for full-scale chopper operations from May.

Ministry of Minority Affairs has been mandated to look after all issues related with minorities except Law and Order as per Allocation of Business. Therefore going with the priority of the Government, Ministry of Minority Affairs intends to launch a new scheme “Hamari Dharohar” to preserve rich culture and heritage of minority communities of India.

Objectives:
• To curate rich heritage of minorities under overall concept of
• Indian Culture.
• Curating iconic exhibitions.
• Preservation of literature/ documents etc.
• Support and promotion of calligraphy etc.
• Research and Development.
Activities to be covered under the scheme- Selective intervention for preservation of heritage and may cover following kinds of projects:
• Curating exhibitions including iconic exhibitions.
• Support and promotion of calligraphy etc.
• Preservation of literature, documents, manuscripts etc.
• Documentation of oral traditions and art forms.
• Support to ethnic museums (not supported under schemes of Ministry of Culture or its bodies) for showcasing and preserving heritage of minority communities.
• Support for organizing heritage related seminars/ workshops.
• Fellowship for research in preservation of heritage and development.
• Any other support to individual/ organization in furtherance of cause of protection and promotion of rich heritage of minority communities.

The Union Ministry of Urban Development under the Central scheme HRIDAY has approved the development of 6-kilometer-long Bet Dwarka Darshan Circuit in Gujarat. The circuit will be developed at an expense of Rs 16.27 crore under the Central Scheme ‘Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY)’.
The Bet Dwarka Darshan Circuit that connects the famous Dwarkadish Haveli and Hanuman Dandi was approved by the HRIDAY National Empowered Committee chaired by Rajiv Gauba, Secretary (UD). Hanuman Dandi is the only temple housing Hanumanji and his son Makardhwaj, in Dwarka district of Gujarat. HRIDAY, the ‘National Heritage Development and Augmentation Yojana’ was launched on 21 January 2015, seek to preserve and rejuvenate the rich cultural heritage of the country.

The Government of India and the State of Sikkim signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under the Scheme Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) today, for operational improvement of the State’s Power Distribution Department. With the signing of MoU, the total number of States covered under UDAY has reached twenty-two. Sikkim would derive an Overall Net Benefit of approximately Rs. 207 crores through UDAY by way of cheaper funds, reduction in AT&C and transmission losses, interventions in energy efficiency, etc. during the period of turnaround.
Demand Side interventions in UDAY such as usage of energy-efficient LED bulbs, agricultural pumps, fans & air-conditioners and efficient industrial equipment through PAT (Perform, Achieve, and Trade) would help in reducing peak load, flatten load curve and thus help in reducing energy consumption in the State of Sikkim. The gain is expected to be around Rs.25 crores.

Recently, India and Germany have ratified the Social Security Agreement (SSA), which will commence from May 1 this year, to help promote more investment flows between the two countries. The ratified SSA will also integrate the provisions of the 2008 social insurance pact that exempts detached workers of the two countries from making social security contributions in either country so long as they were making such contributions in their respective countries and the 2008 pact will then cease to be in force.
As per the External Affairs Ministry of India, "the new agreement establishes the rights and obligations of nationals of both countries and provides for equal treatment of the nationals of both countries ...the requirements to be entitled to a pension can be met by aggregating the periods of insurance completed in India and Germany, whereby each country pays only the pension for the insurance periods covered by its laws. The period of posting will be up to 48 calendar months”.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister has approved the enhancement of capacity from 20,000 MW to 40,000 MW of the Scheme for Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects. The enhanced capacity would ensure setting up of at least 50 solar parks each with a capacity of 500 MW and above in various parts of the country. Smaller parks in Himalayan and other hilly States where contiguous land may be difficult to acquire in view of the difficult terrain, will also be considered under the scheme. The capacity of the solar park scheme has been enhanced after considering the demand for additional solar parks from the States.
The Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects will be set up by 2019-20 with Central Government financial support of Rs.8100 crore. The total capacity when operational will generate 64 billion units of electricity per year which will lead to abatement of around 55 million tonnes of CO2 per year over its life cycle.

Indian Scientists have discovered seven new frog species belonging to the genus Nyctibatrachus, commonly known as Night Frogs.  They are as small as a five-year-old child’s thumbnail; and leap out of their daytime hideouts after sundown to croak to life the Western Ghat jungles with their signature cricket-like chirps. They are among seven new species of frogs, some of the tiniest in the world that were discovered by Indian scientists. These nocturnal amphibians measure between 12.2mm and 15.4mm.
The discovery makes the rich but eco-sensitive Ghats the second-largest global amphibian hotspot after Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, a research paper reported on Tuesday. The discovered species named after the place of discovery such as Sabarimala and Athirappilly in Kerala as they were found inside “damp tree leaf litter or marsh vegetation” -- unlike night frogs that predominantly reside along streams. That was a probable reason why these elusive frogs were out of sight until the 21st century. The miniature species are locally abundant and fairly common, but they have probably been overlooked because of their extremely small size, secretive habits and insect-like calls.

Nearly a third of Indian cities have breached annual pollution limits mandated by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) between 2011 and 2015, according to figures from the Union Environment Ministry-affiliated organisation.
The numbers — the latest available and updated in blocks of 4 years — sourced from 680 pollution-monitoring stations spread over 300 cities across the country, measure levels of particulate matter (PM 10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and sulphur dioxide (SO2).
While cities such as Delhi are usually the worst performers with regard to pollution spikes in winter, the CPCB data show that 94 cities spanning States from Andhra Pradesh to Jammu and Kashmir and Assam to Gujarat were guilty of breaching the annual, particulate matter limit of 60 micro-grams per cubic metre.

The Defence Ministry has signed a contract with Nova Integrated Systems Ltd (NISL), a subsidiary of Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL), to execute the Navy’s Surface Surveillance Radar (SSR) project.
This is the first procurement by the Ministry under the ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’ category of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP). The project involves the delivery, installation and commissioning of radar systems on Navy vessels as well as delivery of simulators, establishing depot level facilities and integrated logistics support with deliveries spread over 10 years.
The proposed radar is based on the latest solid state technology and also suited for coastal surveillance applications. Procurement of SSR is part of Indian Navy’s plan for modernisation of its fleets. It would also be installed on the ships under construction. Facilities at TASL’s Combat Management Systems development centre will be utilised for the project, which involves integration of the radar with a variety of weapon and sensor systems on different class of vessels of the Navy’s Battle Assets.

It has been 58 days since the launch of NITI Aayog’s two incentive schemes – Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi Dhan Vyapar Yojana to promote digital payments and the public response has been quite encouraging. The initiative to make Digital Payments a mass movement in India through the two schemes has made headway across the country with more and more people adopting digital transactions.
According to the latest figures released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which has been executing the schemes, nearly 10 lakh consumers and merchants have been disbursed over Rs.153.5 crore as reward money till 20th February, 2017.

India ranked a dismal 143rd in 2017 Index of Economic Freedom, which has been released recently. The index was released by a top US based Think Tank, The Heritage Foundation. The Think Tank in its Index of Economic Freedom report stated that despite India sustaining an average annual growth of about 7% over the last five years, growth is not deeply rooted in policies that preserve economic freedom.
In its 23rd edition, the Index analyzed economic policy developments in 186 countries. Countries are graded and ranked on 12 measures of economic freedom that evaluate the rule of law, government size, regulatory efficiency, and the openness of markets.
Corruption, poor management of public finance and underdeveloped infrastructure continue to undermine overall development of the country. However, the economy has sustained an average annual growth rate of about 7% over the past five years.

WHO has completed the assessment of the status of the Indian vaccine regulatory system against WHO NRA Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT) for benchmarking and measured the maturity of the system. The assessment has been done in respect of nine different functionalities and Indian NRA has been declared ‘functional’ with a maturity level of 4 i.e. the highest level as per currently evolved definitions in respect of 5 functions, and maturity level 3 in respect of 4 functions.
The vaccine manufacturers can only apply for WHO vaccine prequalification if the NRA meets the standards of the WHO NRA published indicators i.e. WHO Global benchmarking Tool on functional regulatory system for vaccines.
The nine functions included in the tool are National Regulatory System; Registration and Marketing Authorization; Vigilance; Laboratory Access and Testing; Regulatory Inspection; Clinical Trial Oversight; NRA Lot Release; Licensing Premises; and Market Surveillance and Control.

The Indian Navy’s second ocean going sailboat Tarini has been inducted recently. The sail boat Tarini is being inducted into the Navy and is slated to be the platform for First Indian All Women Circumnavigation of the Globe expedition of the Indian Navy.
Extensive trials of the newly built INSV Tarini were successfully completed on 30 January 17. Indian Navy will is operating four sailing vessels capable of open ocean deployments, that is, Tarangini, Sudarshini, Mhadei and Tarini, all four of which have been built in shipyards at Goa. Indian Navy is attempting to revitalise open ocean sailing and will also be inducting four 40 feet, state of the art open ocean racing sail boats.

Indian Coast Guard Ship ICGS AYUSH was commissioned on 18 February 2017 in Kochi, Kerala. The ship was commissioned by Vice Admiral AR Karwe, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command.
Features of ICGS AYUSH:
• The fast patrol vessel (FPV) of ICGS AYUSH is fitted with state-of- the-art navigational and communication equipment including Integrated Bridge System (IBS) and Machinery Control System (MCS).
• The ICGS AYUSH is capable of undertaking multifarious tasks such as surveillance, interdiction, search and rescue and medical evacuation.
• Post commissioning, the ship will be based at Krishnapattnam in Andhra Pradesh.
• The vessel will be under the administrative and operational control of Commander, Coast Guard Region.

Zealandia is also known as the New Zealand continent, or Tasmantis, is a nearly submerged continental fragment that sank after breaking away from Australia having separated from Antarctica between 85 and 130 Ma ago. It may have been completely submerged about 23 Ma ago and most of it (93%) remains submerged beneath the Pacific Ocean.
Zealandia supports substantial inshore fisheries and contains New Zealand's largest gas field, near Taranaki. Permits for oil exploration in the Great South Basin were issued in 2007. Offshore mineral resources include iron sands, volcanic massive sulfides and ferromanganese nodule deposits.
It is the world's largest current microcontinent, more than twice the size of the next-largest microcontinent and more than half the size of the Australian continent. As such, and due to other geological considerations (such as crustal thickness and density), it is arguably a continent in its own right.

India's only live volcano in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has started spewing smoke and lava again. After lying dormant for 150 years, Barren Island volcano erupted in 1991 and has been showing sporadic activity Barren Island is an island located in the Andaman Sea.
It is the only confirmed active volcano in South Asia. Along with the rest of the Andaman Islands, it is a part of the Indian Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and lies about 138 km (86 mi) northeast of the territory's capital, Port Blair.
This volcanic island stands in the midst of a volcanic belt on the edge of the Indian and Burmese tectonic plates. Narcondam Island is a dormant volcano in the area, apart from volcanic seamounts like Alcock and Sewell. All the historical and recent eruptions are confined within and around an active polygenetic cinder cone in a 2 km wide caldera that was formed by the Pleistocene collapse of a primitive cone of a stratovolcano.