The battle over mining in Chhattisgarh''s Hasdeo forest

• The state government had in March given a go-head for coal mining in an area of 1,136 hectares under the second phase of Parsa East-Kete Basan (PEKB) coal block.
• A sprawling forest in the northern part of Chhattisgarh, Hasdeo Arand is known for its biodiversity and also its coal deposits.
• The forest falls under Korba, Sujapur and Sarguja districts with sizeable tribal population.
• The Hasdeo river, a tributary of Mahanadi, flows through it.
• Released in 2021, a report on the region by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) termed Hasdeo Arand the “largest un-fragmented forests in Central India consisting of pristine Sal (Shorea robusta) and teak forests.”

US Replaces China as India''s Biggest Trading Partner in 2021

• The bilateral trade between the U.S. and India stood at $119.42 billion in 2021-22 as against $80.51 billion in 2020-21.
• Exports to the U.S. increased to $76.11 billion in 2021-22 from $51.62 billion in the previous fiscal year, while imports rose to $43.31 billion from about $29 billion.
• Experts believe that the trend of increasing bilateral trade with the U.S. will continue in the coming years also as New Delhi and Washington are engaged in strengthening economic ties.
• India has joined a U.S.-led initiative to set up an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and this move would help boost economic ties further.

India-China trade

• During 2021-22, India’s two-way commerce with China aggregated at $115.42 billion as compared to $86.4 billion in 2020-21.
• Exports to China marginally increased to $21.25 billion last fiscal year from $21.18 billion in 2020-21, while imports jumped to $94.16 billion from about $65.21 billion in 2020-21.
• Trade gap rose to $72.91 billion in 2021-22 from $44 billion in the previous fiscal year.

International Day of UN Peacekeepers 2022

• For the past two decades on this day, UN Peacekeepers, also known as the Blue Helmets, are remembered by the world for their role in promoting security, peace and stability.
• More than one million UN peacekeepers have taken part in 72 such operations since 1948.
• India has played a key role in UN Peacekeeping operations. It sent doctors and nurses to Congo in 1960 and then an all women team to Liberia in 2008.

Kerala on alert after 47-year-old dies of West Nile fever

• The West Nile Virus is a mosquito-borne, single-stranded RNA virus.
• It is “a member of the flavivirus genus and belongs to the Japanese Encephalitis antigenic complex of the family Flaviviridae”.
• Culex species of mosquitoes act as the principal vectors for transmission.
• It is transmitted by infected mosquitoes between and among humans and animals, including birds, which are the reservoir host of the virus.
• WNV can also spread through blood transfusion, from an infected mother to her child, or through exposure to the virus in laboratories.
• It is not known to spread by contact with infected humans or animals. To date, no human-to-human transmission of WNV through casual contact has been documented.
• The disease is asymptomatic in 80% of the infected people. In rest of the 20% cases, the symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, body aches, nausea, rash, and swollen glands.
• This vector-borne disease can be prevented by protecting one-self from mosquito bites.
• Other steps are wearing clothing that acts as a barrier to exposure to bites, reducing breeding sites, covering water storage containers and eliminating puddles and drainage of places where water accumulates.

India, Bangladesh are rebooting their rail link

• The Bandhan Express between Kolkata and Khulna was also resumed with the flagging off of the train at Kolkata. It reached Benapole railway station around 9.45 a.m. local time.
• The newly introduced train Mitali Express between New Jalpaiguri and Dhaka will be flagged off jointly by the Railway Ministers of India and Bangladesh on June 1. The train will not have any commercial stoppage between Dhaka and New Jalpaiguri.
• Passenger train services between the two countries had remained suspended for over two year after the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
• The resumption of the train services was eagerly awaited in Bangladesh as it provides a convenient and cheap mode of connectivity for the people travelling from Bangladesh to India and back.

Narendra Modi recounted how he received an interesting gift by a Self-Help Group from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu.

• The gift was a special Thanjavur Doll, which is scripting a new saga of women empowerment as Women''s Self-Help Groups'' stores and kiosks are opening up in Thanjavur.
• With the help of such kiosks and stores, women are now able to sell their products directly to the customers. The initiative has been named ''Tharagaigal Kaivinai Porutkal Virpanai Angadi''.
• The Thanjavur doll is a type of traditional Indian bobblehead or roly-poly toy made of terracotta material.
• The centre of gravity and total weight of the doll is concentrated at its bottom-most point, generating a dance-like continuous movement with slow oscillations.
• These toys are traditionally handmade, finished with detailed, painted exteriors.
• They have been recognized as a Geographical Indication by the Government of India as of 2008-09.

NCTE launches online portal to streamline recognition process of teacher education programmes

• This will streamline the entire process right from the time of inviting application for courses till the stage of issue of recognition orders including the inspection of institutions.
• The applications for the recently launched four years Integrated Teacher Education Programmes will be processed on this portal.
• This portal will bring a paradigm shift in the functioning of NCTE. It aims to provide an automated robust framework thereby enhancing accountability, transparency and ease of doing business.

Projects worth ₹1,34,200 crore will boost rail, road, air network in northeast, says Nirmala Sitharaman

• Addressing the “Natural Allies in Development and Interdependence (NADI)” conclave here, she said the Union government had been pumping in huge money to develop a number of infrastructure projects throughout the region.
• The Centre is carrying out 20 railway projects worth ₹74,000 crore for 2,011 km, which are spread across the northeast.
• The Centre is also developing 4,000 km of roads in the region at a total cost of ₹58,000 crore.
• There are 15 ongoing air connectivity projects in the northeast, costing around ₹2,200 crore.
• India and Bangladesh had 50 riverine systems which could be leveraged for all types of transportation as the cost of travel through water was the least when compared to air, road and rail networks.
• The government is further developing the National Waterways (NW)-1 on the Ganga, NW-2 on the Brahmaputra and NW-16 on the Barak. The entire area between Sadiya and Dhubri in Assam along the Brahmaputra was being developed for better connectivity.
• The Eastern Waterways Connectivity Transport Grid, once completed, will offer seamless connectivity not only between the northeast and the rest of India but also on the subcontinent.

MeitY issues draft National Data Governance Framework

• It proposes the launch of a non-personal data based India datasets programme and addresses the methods and rules to ensure that non-personal and anonymised data from both government and private entities are safely accessible by the research and innovation ecosystem.
• The Framework will be of interest to artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups, AI research entities, and government departments.
• it would also accelerate digital government and digitisation of government with common standards, rules and guidelines for data storage and management across all departments.