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1.Urban areas of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh free of open defecation:
Govt
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At least 405 of 4,041 cities and towns
in the country have so far claimed to have become open defecation free
·
On the second anniversary of the
Swachh Bharat Mission, the government on Sunday named Gujarat and Andhra
Pradesh as the first states to have become open defecation free (ODF) in urban
areas.
·
In rural areas, approximately 100,000
villages have also been declared ODF since the launch of the mission in 2014.
·
In all, 180 and 110 cities and towns,
respectively, in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh were declared open defecation free
by their chief ministers.
·
The Swachh Bharat Mission, a pet
project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was launched on 2 October 2014 to make
India clean and open defecation free by 2019, Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth
anniversary.
open defecation :
•
Open defecation is the practice of
people defecating outside and not into a designated toilet.
•
Open defecation causes public health
problems in areas where people defecate in fields, urban parks, rivers, and
open trenches in close proximity to the living space of others.
•
High levels of open defecation in a
country are usually correlated with a high child mortality, as well as high
levels of undernutrition, high levels of poverty, and large disparities between
rich and poor.
•
About one billion people around the
globe practice open defecation.
•
India has the highest number of people
practicing open defecation (around 190 million people).
•
The other countries with the highest
number of people openly defecating are Indonesia (54 million), followed by
Pakistan (41 million), Nigeria (39 million), Ethiopia (34 million), and Sudan
(17 million).
2. India ratifies historic Paris climate change pact :
·
India, the world’s third biggest
carbon emitter, ratified the Paris agreement on climate change on Sunday on the
birthday of the country’s famously ascetic independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.
·
India, with a population of 1.3
billion people, is the latest big polluter to formally sign onto the historic
accord which now takes a major step towards becoming reality.
·
The accord, sealed last December in
Paris, needs ratification from 55 countries that account for at least 55 per
cent of the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change.
·
With India’s move, a total of 62
countries accounting for almost 52 per cent of emissions have now ratified the
agreement to commit to take action to stem the planet’s rising temperatures.
3. Paris Agreement
•
It was adopted by more than 190
countries at the 21st Conference of Parties of UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change) held in Paris in December 2015.
•
It seeks to encourage global action to
reduce greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. This would help in preventing
catastrophic effects of climate change.
4. Tamil Nadu- Home to most species of endemic flowering plants :
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Botanical Survey of India in the last
week of Sept 2016 announced almost 1 in 4 flowering plant species in India are
endemic to the country.
•
Tamil Nadu has the highest number of
species with 410.
•
Tamil Nadu is followed by Kerala with
357 and Maharashtra at 278.
•
According to scientific data in the
currently released book, “Endemic Vascular Plants of India” of the 18259
flowering plants reported in the nation, 4003 are found only in India.
•
Regarding the geographical
distribution of endemic plants, the Western Ghats tops the list with close to
2116 species followed by Eastern Himalayas with 466 species.
•
Close to 37 species of the black plum
Syzygium or jamun are found along with 10 varieties of Musa or banana and 274
species of orchids found only in India.
•
Four different varieties of roses, 2
herbs and 2 climbers as well as 12 species of jasmine are found endemic to
India.
•
When it comes to species, 45 species
of the common black pepper family, 19 species of ginger and 13 species of
cardamom were endemic to India.
•
40 species of bamboo were also endemic
to India.
•
Some endemic species were restricted
only to certain parts of the country like the Nepenthes khasiana found in Khasi
hills of Meghalaya.
•
Close to 58 genera of flowering plants
were found endemic to India.
•
Publication also reveals that of 19365
vascular plants found in India, 4381 are endemic including 4303 angiosperms or
flowering plants, 12 gymnosperms and 66 ferns and allied plants under the
category of Pteridophytes.
•
Red sandal wood is found only in
Southern parts of Eastern Ghats and is among the most widely exploited endemic
plants in India.
•
This plant is identified as critically
endangered under IUCN category.
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