Addapedia Odisha | Daily Current Affairs | 31 October 2023

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Addapedia Odisha – Daily Current Affairs – 31 October 2023

National and International News
Bangladesh is building memorial to honour Indian heroes of 1971 war	Context A memorial to honour the Indian soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971 at Ashuganj in Bangladesh is in the advanced stages of completion. It will have the names of around 1,600 Indian soldiers inscribed on it. Key points This will be the first memorial in Bangladesh to exclusively honour Indian soldiers from the 1971 war. The foundation stone for the memorial at Ashuganj, Brahmanbaria was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in March 2021.
IITM Pune demonstrates cloud seeding can produce rainfall	Context A cloud seeding experiment carried out in Solapur city, was able to achieve 18% relative enhancement in rainfall, which is approximately 8.67mm more rainfall than usual. Key points Solapur city falls on the leeward side of the Western Ghats and hence gets low rainfall It had 384 mm and 422 mm of total rainfall during the period June to September 2018 and 2019, respectively The relative enhancement of accumulated rainfall was seen over two hours after seeding the clouds. This was done with the help of Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment (CAIPEEX phase-4) Calcium chloride flare was used for seeding the clouds.
Salt Consumption in India	Context A recent report, a part of the national non-communicable disease monitoring survey, states that Indian men consume 8.9 grams, and Indian women take in 7.1 grams of salt on a daily basis Key points The World Health Organization recommends 5 grams of salt in your diet every day. The world average is 10.8 grams. High salt intake causes disease in the kidney, brain, vasculature, and immune system. High levels of sodium in the diet are also associated with conditions ranging from kidney stones to osteoporosis. It is estimated that excessive salt contribution contributes to around five million deaths worldwide every year. Did you know? The Yanomami people of the Amazon rainforest live a foraging lifestyle and eat a diet consisting of the root vegetable Cassava, plantains, fruit, fish and an occasional tapir. They use peppers for flavour, and no salt. They consume less than one gram of salt a day yet stay supremely fit.
Inflation to remain high in 2024	Context High inflation will dog the world economy next year, with three-quarters of more than 200 economists polled by Reuters. Key points Interest rates will also remain higher for longer. The latest poll resulted in 2024 growth downgrades and inflation upgrades for a majority of the 48 economies surveyed.
PM discusses security situation in West Asia with Egypt President	Context The Prime Minister spoke to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to discuss the security and humanitarian situation in West Asia amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. Key points The discussion indicates the importance that India attaches to the role of Egypt in ensuring humanitarian assistance to Gaza Strip On October 22 India sent humanitarian relief meant for Gaza to Egypt’s El Arish airbase. However, much of the relief material that various countries have been sending for Gaza remained stuck inside Egypt because of intense military activity by Israel as well as due to the shortage of fuel for the trucks inside Gaza. India abstained at the UN General Assembly during a resolution calling for ceasefire in the fighting.
Vision India 2047 document	Context The government is in the midst of finalizing a national vision plan to make India a developed nation by 2047 It is to ensure that the country does not slip into a middle-income trap that several countries have fallen into at similar stages of development. About Document The vision document will outline the structural changes and reforms needed to reach the objective of becoming a 30-trillion dollars developed economy by 2047. It will include government process re-engineering, reforms and cut down on duplication of work by different ministries and departments. It is also expected to have details about the country’s global engagement on trade, investment, technology, capital, research and development entities. The document is also expected to outline which Indian companies would be global leaders and also the strategy for creating an ecosystem needed to achieve the goal. It will also have details about creating human capital to achieve the vision, how to leverage the country’s market size and how to address regional disparities. The vision document will also detail the roadmap where India will be in 2030 and in 2047.
Developed countries to overshoot carbon emissions goal, says study	Context The Delhi-based think tank Council for Energy Environment and Water (CEEW) published a study indicating that Developed countries — responsible for three-fourths of existing carbon emissions — will end up emitting 38% more carbon in 2030 than they have committed Key findings The NDCs of developed countries already fall short of the global average reduction of emissions to 43% below 2019 levels that is needed to keep temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius. Instead, developed countries’ collective NDCs only amount to a 36% cut. Except for two countries — Belarus and Norway — none of the developed countries seem to be on the path to meet their 2030 targets, though Japan and Kazakhastan are close, and are expected to miss their targets by only a single percentage point.
Studies provide insight into the internal structure of Mars	Context Mars’s liquid iron core is likely to be surrounded by a fully molten silicate layer, according to a pair of studies published in Nature. These results offer a new interpretation of the interior of Mars, suggesting its core is smaller and denser than previously proposed. Key points InSight Mars Lander used SEIS(Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure) to record Mars’s seismic waves. SEIS data in 2021 suggested a large, low-density core on Mars. The core has more lighter elements than expected. Mars’s core is surrounded by a 150 km-thick layer of molten rock. The core’s smaller radius implies higher density than earlier thought. SEIS data challenged previous core density estimates.

Odisha Regional Specific News
Similipal National Park	Context The tiger census through camera traps inside Similipal National Park in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district will start soon. About Similipal Tiger Reserve STR is located within the Mayurbhanj District, in the Northernmost part of Odisha. It is surrounded by high plateaus and hills, the highest peak being the twin peaks of Khairiburu and Meghashini (1515m above mean sea level). Vegetation: It is a mix of different forest types and habitats, with Northern tropical moist deciduous dominating some semi-evergreen patches. It was declared a ‘Tiger Reserve’ in the year 1956 and included under the national conservation programme ‘Project Tiger’ in 1973. The STR, along with a ‘transitional area’ of 2250 sq. km, has been included as a part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves by UNESCO in the year 2009. It is the only landscape in the world that is home to melanistic tigers. The region around STR is home to a variety of tribes, including Kolha, Santhala, Bhumija, Bhatudi, Gondas, Khadia, Mankadia and Sahara. Flora:An astounding 1078 species of plants, including 94 species of orchids, are found here. Sal is the dominant tree species here Fauna: Leopard, Gaur, Elephant, Langur, Barking and Spotted Deer, Sloth Bear Mongoose, Flying Squirrel, Porcupine, Turtle, Monitor Lizard, Python, Sambar, Pangolin etc.
Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary	Context A Royal Bengal Tiger (RBT) was sighted again at Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Sambalpur district of Odisha recently. About Sanctuary Located near the Hirakud dam at Sambalpur, spread over an area of 347 sq km Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the famous tourist destinations of western Odisha. It will become the third tiger reserve in Odisha after Similipal and Satkosia. It was declared as a wildlife sanctuary in 1985 and situated in the Bargarh district of Odisha near Hirakud dam (Mahanadi River). Fauna: A wide varieties of animals including leopard, wild boar, bison, sambar, chital and Four-horned antelope are sighted in the sanctuary.
Watco project at Sikharchandi	Context The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has given a green signal to the Water Corporation of Odisha’s (Watco) ongoing elevated water tank project at Sikharchandi hill on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. Key point Sikharchandi Hill is a part of the Eastern Ghat mountains, which is extremely rich in bio-diversity with varied flora and fauna, with an abundance of rare species of wild and medicinal plants. About WATCO WATCO is a wholly-owned, not-for-profit Company of the Government of Odisha, registered under the Companies Act, 2013. It was incorporated on the 24 th November 2015 and is limited by guarantee. Its registered office is at Bhubaneswar The primary objective of WATCO is to provide water supply and sewerage services in the cities of Bhubaneswar, Jatni and Khordha on behalf of the respective municipal bodies.
Junagarh block awarded for disaster management	Context Junagarh block in Kalahandi district has bagged the first position in disaster management and planning on the occasion of Odisha Disaster Preparedness Day, 2023 organised by Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) About OSDMA Odisha State Disaster Management Authority is an agency of the Department of Revenue & Disaster Management whose primary purpose is to carry out responses to natural or man-made disasters and for capacity-building in disaster resiliency and crisis response. It was established as the Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority by a resolution of the Department of Finance of the Government of Odisha on 28 December 1999, as a response to the death toll and damage caused by a 1999 supercyclone. The chief secretary of Government of Odisha is the ex-officio chairperson of the governing body of the authority.
Kumar Purnima	Kumar Purnima is the full-moon day in the month of October-November. It is observed as the birthday of goddess Laxmi, the deity of wealth. The day is known as Kumar Purnima as young girls in Odisha perform traditional rituals with the belief of getting ideal life partners. ‘Puchi khela’ is the signature Kumar Purnima game ‘Chanda chakata’ is also distributed among neighbours.

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