Goa Affairs
Year after year, citizens have raised concerns over road engineering in the state, which especially becomes a topic of discussion after heavy rainfall leavesroadspothole ridden or submerged in water, as in Guirim at present. Data from the Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) shows that the citizens apprehensions are not misplaced.The nature of roads is the cause of nearly a third of theaccidentsthat occur in Goa, the MoRTH report said.
s many as 1,244 accidents took place on national highways. According to MoRTHs records, these national highways are being looked after by the state public works department (PWD) and are not under the jurisdiction of the National Highways Authority of India.
A third or 107 of the 297 road accident deaths reported in 2019 in Goa occurred on national highways, even though the has begun work of expansion and apparent improvement of highways across the length and breadth of Goa in 2016.
According to the MoRTH report, during 2019, 3,440 road accidents were reported in Goa 283 of them were fatal accidents, where 297 persons lost their lives.
Though in 2019, the total number of accidents in Goa were down by over 250 since 2018, the number of persons who lost their lives in fatal accidents were up in 2019 by 13.4%.
Besides, the 283 fatal accidents, grievous injuries were reported in 196 cases.
The MoRTH report shows that in very few of the accident cases in Goa, weather was responsible for the ill-event.
]This indicates that road conditions or road users not following safety measures were the top causes for road accidents in Goa.
Most of the accidents in Goa or 3,131 occurred in clear weather, causing 276 deaths. In comparison, 21 road accident deaths took place during rainy weather. Foggy vision was not reported as cause of any accident or fatality.
Majority of the accidents reported in Goa involved two-wheeler riders and those riding pillion leading to 1,757 accidents and death of 186 persons.
National and International Affairs
Award for Sea Turtle Conservation
Indian biologist Shailendra Singh won the Behler Sea Turtle Conservation Award for bringing back three critically endangered protected species of sea turtles from the brink of extinction.
The award has been bestowed with the help of various international bodies concerned in turtle conservation such as /SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, Turtle Survival Alliance,Turtle Conservancy, and the Turtle Conservation Fund.
As per report, more than half of the world Population are not getting any form of social protection. This trend of no social protection is there even after expansion of social protections amidst the global outbreak of COVID-19.
Only 47 per cent of the global population had effective access to one social protection benefit, in 2020 while 53 per cent (4.1 billion people) had no protection at all.
People in Europe and Central Asia are among the best covered population. 84 per cent of populations in Europe and Central Asia are having access to at least one benefit.
During the session, Prime Minister noted that, India-Russia energy PARTNERSHIP can bring stability in the global energy market. At the same time,International North-South Transport Corridorwill bring both the countries closer.
The plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) was held in Vladivostok.
EEF is an international meet, held annually in Vladivostok in order to encourage foreign investments in the resource-rich but underdeveloped Far East region of Russia. Russia has actively engaged India to invest in this region, following which India had announced a $1-billion line of credit for the Far East during EEF 2019.
Energy is one of the major pillars of India-Russia strategic partnership. Energy partnership between both the countries can help in bringing stability in the global energy market.
Both the countries have also been making a Chennai-Vladivostok maritime corridor. This connectivity project and International North-South (Transport) Corridor will bring both the countries physically closer.
Indias state-run Mazagon Docks Limited (Indias largest shipyards) will partner with Russian ship-building facility at Zvezda in order to build important commercial ships in the world.
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have developed device to conduct microbial experiments in outer space.
This modular, self-contained device can be used to cultivate Microorganisms which in turn, enable scientists to carry out biological experiments even in outer space.
This study was published in Acta Astronautica. Researchers showed how this device can be used to activate and track the Growth of a bacterium called Sporosarcina pasteurii for several days with minimal involvement of human.
This understanding of how these microbes behave in extreme environments will provide valuable insights for human space missions like Gaganyaan that is set to be launched in 2022.
Social protection comprises of access to healthcare and income security in cases of Unemployment, old age, inability to work, and for families with children.