Goa Affairs
1 lakh desi footfalls in 4 talukas as state’s hinterland story sells
In a major boost to hinterland tourism in the state, Goa has witnessed over 50% rise in domestic tourists and 1,000 times increase in international tourists in the four Western Ghats bordering talukas – Sattari, Canacona, Dharbandora and Sanguem.
Government data shows that in 2021, over 65,000 domestic and over 1,300 international tourists explored Goa’s hinterland, while in 2022, over 1.1 lakh domestic and over 14,000 foreigners visited the areas
The has invited agencies to conceptualise tours and trails in Goa like nature trails, architecture tours, heritage trails, village walks, spiritual trails and bird watching trips to further boost hinterland tourism, the officer said. The government is also keen to conceptualise camping, bike tours, food and culinary tours, brewery tours and so on to bring out the unexplored tourism aspects and various points of interest in Goa. It wants to market and promote the experiential tours through various channels for popularising these tours among tourists, agents and channel partners in both domestic and international markets. Goa has over 70 big and small waterfalls.
National and International Affairs
Sonowal launches ‘Sagar Samriddhi’ to bring transparency, efficiency
Union Minister ofPorts, Shipping andWaterways(MoPSW) and Ayush,Sarbananda Sonowallaunched the ‘Sagar Samriddhi‘ the online dredging monitoring system in order to amp up ‘Waste to Wealth’ initiative of theMinistryin Delhi.
As per the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, “This system has been developed by National Technology Centre for Ports, Waterways and Coasts (NTCPWC) the technological arm of MoPSW. The new technology brings marked improvement against the old system of the Draft and Loading Monitor (DLM) system.
“The system will bring in synergy among multiple input reports like daily dredging reports, and the pre and post-dredging survey data before processing and producing real-time dredging reports,” they added.
Over 11% Indians diabetic, 36% have hypertension: Lancet survey shows
The prevalence of diabetes in India is 11.4 per cent, while 35.5 per cent and 15.3 per cent of people suffer from hypertension and prediabetes respectively, according to the findings of a nationwide survey published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal.
The largest epidemiological study on diabetes and non-communicable diseases (NCD) estimates that in 2021, there were 101 million people with diabetes in India, 136 million with prediabetes, and 315 million had high blood pressure.
The study, conducted by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (Icmr) and funded by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, also found that the prevalence of generalised obesity and abdominal obesity in India stood at 28.6 and 39.5 per cent, respectively.
The estimate shows that 254 million people in India had generalised obesity, and 351 million had abdominal obesity in 2021.
In 2017, the team found that the prevalence of diabetes in India was around 7.5 per cent, meaning there has been an increase of over 50 per cent in the burden since then.
Among the states, Goa (26.4 per cent) had the highest prevalence of diabetes andUttar Pradesh(4.8 per cent) had the lowest, while (31.3 per cent) and Mizoram (6.8 per cent) had the highest and lowest burden of prediabetes.
Punjab (51.8 per cent) had the highest prevalence of hypertension while Meghalaya (24.3 per cent) had the highest burden, the researchers said.
US, UK forge ‘Atlantic Declaration’ to boost economic ties
The United States and Britain announced a new strategic pact as their leaders rededicated the “special relationship” to counter Russia, China and economic instability.
An “Atlantic Declaration” adopted by the leaders aims to boost ties on defense and RENEWABLE ENERGY, in the face of growing competition from China.
On Ukraine, the US and UK governments are moving closer to offering advanced fighter jets to help Kyiv counter the Russian invasion.
Cyclone Biparjoy, expected to cross theGujaratcoast on June 15, is on course to become the cyclone with the longest lifespan in theArabian Sea, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) data.
It will also be the third cyclone to hit the western state in June since 1965,”Based on data from 1965 to 2022 for the month of June, 13 Cyclones developed over the Arabian Sea.
Of these, two crossed the Gujarat coast, one Maharashtra, one Pakistan coast, three Oman-Yemen coasts and six weakened over the sea.
The life period ofCyclone Biparjoy, which developed over the southeast Arabian Sea at 5.30 am on June 6, is about seven days and 12 hours so far.
The extremely severeCyclone Kyarrof 2019 over the Arabian Sea had a life of 9 days and 15 hours. It developed over the east-central Arabian Sea, had multiple recurvatures and weakened over the southwest Arabian Sea.