- Meghalaya is the first state to pass a social audit legislation, the Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Services Social Audit Act. This act mandates social audit over 21 schemes and 11 departments. Social audits are mandatory as per the 73rd CAA, 1993, through with the Village communities are empowered to conduct social audit of all development work in their respective villages and the concerned authorities are duty bound to facilitate them. The instructions require that special Gram Sabhas be arranged to conduct Social Audits in every ward and that Social Audits of all ongoing development works be included as an item of discussion in every Gram Sabha meeting.
- The Blue Line is a border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel published by the United Nations on 7 June 2000 for the purposes of determining whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon. The Green Line, or (pre-) 1967 border or 1949 Armistice border, is the demarcation line set out in the 1949 Armistice Agreements between the armies of Israel and those of its neighbors (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The purple line was the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria after the 1967 Six-Day War and serves as the de facto border between the two countries.
- Convention on International Civil Aviation defines three emergency phases which are referred to as the Uncertainty Phase, the Alert Phase and the Distress Phase. Uncertainty phase (INCERFA): a situation wherein uncertainty exists as to the safety of an aircraft and its occupants. Alert phase (ALERFA): a situation wherein apprehension exists as to the safety of an aircraft and its occupants. Distress phase (DETRESFA): a situation wherein there is a reasonable certainty that an aircraft and its occupants are threatened by grave and imminent danger and require immediate assistance. Recently in news when The Meghdoot Embraer 135 aircraft carrying Ms. Sushma Swaraj was traced after INCERFA was activated, the code for a situation in which uncertainty exists over the safety of an aircraft and its occupants.
- UN Environment launched The Clean Seas Programme in February 2017, with the aim of engaging governments, the general public, civil society and the private sector in the fight against marine plastic litter.
The Programme will address the root-cause of marine litter by targeting the production and consumption of non-recoverable and single-use plastic. - COMCASA is meant to provide a legal framework for the transfer of communication security equipment from the US to India that would facilitate “interoperability” between their forces — and potentially with other militaries that use US-origin systems for secured data links. The general agreement signed by the US is called the Communication and Information on Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) but the name was changed to COMCASA to reflect its India-specific nature.
- India legislated its Repatriation of Prisoners Act in 2003, which came into force on January 1, 2004. The first part deals with the transfer of sentenced foreign national prisoners from India, while the second deals with the transfer of sentenced Indian nationals into India. It explains the eligibility for transfer, the transfer process and obligations upon the transferring and receiving states with regard to consent, communication and custody of a prisoner.
- Article 80(1)(a) read with Article 80(3) of the Constitution of India provides that the President can nominate to Rajya Sabha, 12 persons having special knowledge, or practical experience in respect of literature, science, art and social service. In exercise of the powers conferred by Article 80 of the Constitution of India, and on the advice of the Prime Minister, the President of India has recently made four nominations to the Rajya Sabha.
- After analysing grains of the mineral zircon extracted from a Martian meteorite known as Black Beauty, scientists have found that Mars’ crust formation — which is the end product of planet formation — took place at least 100 million years earlier than on the earth.
- Stretched along the Bay of Bengal, the third longest beach in the world is found in the sands along the coast at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. What makes this beach stand out is the fact that it is the world’s longest ‘natural sand’ beaches. Cox’s Bazar has recently been in the news for being the world’s largest refugee camp which accommodates over 706, 364 Rohingya Refugees.
- The Indian Government has proposed to buy the Guardian Avenger Armed Drones from United States of America.
- World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from 1 to 7 August to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world. It commemorates the Innocenti Declaration signed in August 1990 by government policymakers, WHO, UNICEF and other organizations to protect, promote and support breastfeeding. Source: World Health Organisation and The Hindu.
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