The Daily Brief – 12th November 2019

World Pneumonia Day is observed every year on 12^th November to raise awareness about pneumonia, the world’s leading infectious killer of children under the age of 5. The day was established in 2009 by the Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia. The theme for this year is ‘Healthy Lungs for all’. India accounted for 70% of the global pneumonia burden in the year 2016 with the total 1,58,176 deaths among the under-five population.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has set up a 10-member committee to declare Srinagar’s Dal Lake and areas surrounding it as an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) with concerns over its shrinking size. As per an assessment done by the Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) in 2017, the Dal Lake has shrunk from its original area of 22 square kilometres to 10 square kilometres due to pollution and encroachments.

The Gujarat Government has given its approval to the world’s first CNG port terminal at Bhavnagar, to be built at an investment of Rs. 1900 crores by UK-headquartered Foresight Group and Mumbai-based Padmanabh Mafatlal Group jointly. The Gujarat Maritime Board and London-based Foresight Group had signed an MoU for this project during the 2019 Vibrant Gujarat summit. It will have an annual capacity of 6 million metric ton, which will increase the total handling capacity of the port to 9 million metric tons.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) showcased its first all-electric experimental aircraft, named as X-57 “Maxwell”aeronautics lab in the California desert. Adapted from an Italian-made Tecnam P2006T twin-engine propeller plane, the X-57 has been under development since 2015.

National Education Day is observed every year in India on 11^th November to commemorate the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first education minister of independent India, who served from 15^th August, 1947 to 2^nd February, 1958. The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development announced on 11^th September, 2008 that the day will be observed every year on 11^th November from 2008.

Shivsena MP Arvind Sawant has resigned as the Union Minister of Heavy Industries in the BJP-led NDA Government. He is the Lok Sabha MP from South Mumbai. The resignation comes as the BJP declined to form government in Maharashtra. While Shiv Sena has been making efforts to reach out to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, the NCP had set the condition that Shiv Sena will have to first walk out of the NDA if it wants their support. In the 288 member Assembly, BJP is the single largest party with 105 seats, followed by Shiv Sena with 56 MLAs. The NCP has 54 lawmakers while Congress tally stands at 44.

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has given the Environment Clearance to the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) to set up a new 2G Ethanol plant at Panipat. The estimated investment in setting up the plant is Rs 766 crores. Ethanol produced here will be used for blending in transportation fuel. Founded in 1959, the IOCL is an Indian state government owned oil and gas company headquartered in New Delhi.

Wildlife biologist K. Ullas Karanth, Director of Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bengaluru, was awarded the George Schaller Lifetime Award in Wildlife Conservation Science for his contribution to the field of conservation. He is the first recipient of the award instituted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), New York. The award is named after WCS’s Dr. George Schaller, a world leader in wildlife conservation.