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1.Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG)

• A Navratna PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has unveiled the Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG).
• It can be used to provide drinking water in community centres and public places.

Atmospheric Water Generator

1. The AWG is being manufactured by BEL in collaboration with CSIR-IICT and MAITHRI, a start-up company based in Hyderabad.
2. It employs a novel technology to extract water from the humidity present in the atmosphere and purify it.
3. It uses heat exchange for condensing the atmospheric moisture to produce pure, safe and clean potable water.
4. It comes with a Mineralization Unit, which is used to add minerals which are required to make the water potable.
5. The AWG is configurable in static and mobile (vehicular) versions and is available in 30 litres/day, 100 litres/day, 500 litres/day and 1,000 litres/day capacities.

2.Quantum Computing

Advent of quantum computing

1. Classical internet is constrained by a binary thought process
2. With quantum computing, information is held in “qubits” that can exist in two states at the same time
3. A qubit can store a “0” and “1” simultaneously
4. If you build two qubits, they can hold four values at once—11, 10, 01, and 00
5. Adding on more qubits can greatly increase the computing capability of such a machine

Towards quantum internet

1. The logical extension of quantum computing is a quantum internet, where computers don’t just compute in isolation, they also communicate with one another
2. Scientists are now working on how a quantum internet might work
3. To accomplish this, they are beginning by providing a vision of fundamentally new technology protocols to enable network communications between any two quantum computing machines on Earth
4. They say that such a quantum internet will—in synergy with the “classical” internet that we have today—connect quantum computers in order to achieve unparalleled capabilities that are impossible today
5. Several major applications for the quantum internet have already been identified, including secure communication, secure identification, achieving efficient agreement on distributed data, as well as secure access to remote quantum computers in the cloud

Advantages of the quantum internet

1. The ability of a quantum internet to transmit “qubits” that are fundamentally different than classical “1” and “0” bits is what is paramount
2. Qubits also cannot be copied, and any attempt to do so can be detected
3. This makes qubits well suited for security applications.

3.World’s standard definition of kilogram now redefined

Redefining Kilogram

1. CGPM is the highest international body of the world for accurate and precise measurements and comprises of 60 countries including India and 42 Associate Members.
2. The 26th meeting of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) was held during November 13-16 2018 at Palais des Congréss, Versailles, France.
3. In the meeting, the members have voted for the redefinition of 130 years old “Le grand K – the SI unit of kg” in terms of the fundamental Planck’s constant (h).
4. The new definitions will come into force on 20 May 2019.

How will this take place?

1. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), the main executive body of CGPM has the responsibility of defining the International System of Units (SI).
2. This revision of the SI is the culmination of many years of intensive scientific cooperation between the National Metrology Institutes (The national Physical Laboratory for India) and the BIPM.
3. The dissemination of SI units for the welfare of society and industries in the country is the responsibility of Legal Metrology, Department of Consumer Affairs, GoI.

International prototype of kilogram (IPK)

1. The International prototype of kilogram (IPK) is kept at the BIPM, Paris and serves as the international standard of kilogram.
2. It is made of 90% platinum and 10% iridium and is a cylinder of 39 mm diameter and 39 mm height.
3. Replicas of the IPK are made of the same material and used at BIPM as reference or working standards and national prototype of kilogram (NPK), kept at different National Metrology Institutes (NMIs).
4. NPK-57, kept at CSIR- National Physical Laboratory, is sent periodically to BIPM for calibration.
5. NPK further is being utilized through transfer standards of mass to provide unbroken chain of traceability for dissemination of mass through Legal Metrology to the user industries, calibration laboratories etc.
6. The precise and accurate measurements help country in the production of international quality products and help commerce through elimination of the technical barrier to trade.

Using a Kibble Balance

1. Kibble balance is a self-calibrating electromechanical balance and provides the measurements of mass, traceable in terms of electrical parameters and provides linkage of macroscopic mass to the Planck constant (h).
2. NPL-UK, NIST-USA,NRC- Canada, PTB-Germany etc. have successfully developed Kibble balance for 1 kg with an uncertainty of measurement in order of 10^-8.
3. The advantages of Kibble balance would be that the NPK need not to be sent to BIPM for calibrations and the accuracy and stability of Kibble balance is very high.
4. This is very important where low weights with high accuracies are essential, for example in pharmaceuticals and biotechnologies.

4.World’s fastest man-made spinning object developed

Fastest rotor

1. Scientists have developed the fastest man-made rotor in the world, which they believe will help them study quantum mechanics
2. At more than 60 billion revolutions per minute, this machine is more than 100,000 times faster than a high-speed dental drill

Working of the rotor

1. The team synthesised a tiny dumbbell from silica and levitated it in a high vacuum using a laser
2. The laser can work in a straight line or in a circle – when it is linear, the dumbbell vibrates, and when it is circular, the dumbbell spins
3. A spinning dumbbell functions as a rotor, and a vibrating dumbbell functions like an instrument for measuring tiny forces and torques, known as a torsion balance.

5.Pigment in Goa mushroom may help fight cancer

World’s first sulphur-rich edible melanin

1. The mycological laboratory of the Department of Botany, Goa University has reported the discovery of a new pigment from local wild mushrooms
2. The new sulphur-rich melanin biopigment is obtained from local Roen alamis (wild variety of Goan mushrooms that grows on termite hills) or Termitomyces species

About the research

1. This discovery shows the chemical nature of the brown or black colour that is seen in these wild edible mushrooms
2. The problem had eluded the scientific community from 40 countries for the past 100 years
3. The scientist claim it to be the world’s first sulphur-rich edible melanin. Its structure is similar to black pigment found in human hair.

6.Central task force on AI recommends setting up of N-AIM

National Artificial Intelligence Mission (N-AIM)

1. A central task force on Artificial Intelligence (AI) has suggested creating a National Artificial Intelligence Mission (N-AIM)
2. It will serve as a nodal agency for coordinating AI related activities in the country

Defining AI

1. Artificial Intelligence is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programmes

About the mission

1. The mission shall involve itself in core activities, coordination of AI-related projects of national importance and establish Centers of Excellence
2. The core activities include funding establishment of a network among Academia, services industry, product industry, startups and Government ministries, besides helping studies to identify concrete projects in each domain of focus

1.SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAAN

Salient Features –

• Universalizing elementary education across the countryRashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan, Vidhyanjali, PBBB.
• Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in partnership with State Governments for universalizing elementary education across the country. Its overall goals include universal access and retention, bridging of gender and social category gaps in education and enhancement of learning levels of children.
• SSA provides for a variety of interventions, including inter alia, opening of new schools, construction of schools and additional classrooms, toilets and drinking water, provisioning for teachers, periodic teacher training and academic resource support, textbooks and support for learning achievement. These provisions are made in accordance with norms and standards and free entitlements as mandated by the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.

Nodal Ministry –

Ministry of Human resources Development

2. Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat

Salient Features –

• The programme looks to improve the reading and writing skills of children in classes I and II, along with their mathematics skills.
• It is being implemented under the aegis of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

Nodal Ministry –

Ministry of Human resources Development

3.The Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)

Salient Features –

• To raise the minimum level of education to class X and universalize access to secondary education;
• To ensure good-quality secondary education with focus on Science, Mathematics and English; and
• To reduce the gender, social and regional gaps in enrolments, dropouts and improving retention
• To make sure that the secondary schools conform to prescribed norms, removing gender, socio-economic and disability barriers, etc.Important physical facilities are provided which include, (i) additional class rooms, (ii) laboratories, (iii) libraries, (iv) art and crafts room, (v) toilet blocks, (vi) drinking water provisions, (vii) electricity / telephone/internet connectivity and (viii) disabled friendly provisions. Improvement in quality through, (i) appointment of additional teachers to improve PTR (ii) in-service training of teachers, (iii) ICT enabled education, (iv) curriculum reforms and (v) teaching learning reforms. Equity aspects addressed through (i) special focus in micro planning, (ii) preference to areas with concentration of SC/ST/minority for opening of schools, (iii) special enrolment drive for the weaker section, (iv) more female teachers in schools and (v) separate toilet blocks for girls.

Nodal Ministry –

Ministry of Human resources Development

4.Atal Tinkering Laboratories

• Part of Atal Innovation Mission.
• NITI Aayog

5.RASHTRIYA UCHCHATAR SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (RUSA)

Salient Features –

Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS), launched in 2013. It aims at providing strategic funding to eligible state higher educational institutions based on their progress.

• The key objectives of RUSA are to improve access, equity and quality in higher education through planned development of higher education at the state level.

• The central funding (in the ratio of 60:40 for general category States, 90:10 for special category states and 100% for union territories) would be norm based and outcome dependent.

• The funding flows from the central ministry through the state governments/union territories to the State Higher Education Councils before reaching the identified institutions.

Nodal Ministry –

Ministry of human resources

6.Ucchatar Avishkar Yojana

Salient Features –

The objectives of UAY scheme are to promote innovation in IITs addressing issues of manufacturing industries; to spur innovative mindset; to co-ordinate action between academia & industry and to strengthen labs & research facilities.

Nodal Ministry –

Ministry of HRD

7.Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan

Salient Features –

Building institutional capacity in Institutes of higher education in research & training relevant to the needs of rural India. ii.Provide rural India with professional resource support from institutes of higher education ,especially those which have acquired academic excellence in the field of Science, Engineering & Technology and Management.

Nodal Ministry –

Ministry of HRD

8.Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) –

Salient Features –

• Aimed at tapping the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs, internationally to encourage their engagement with the institutes of Higher Education in India.
• To augment the country’s existing academic resources, accelerate the pace of quality reform, and elevate India’s scientific and technological capacity to global excellence.
• It enables interaction of students and faculty with the best academic and industry experts from all over the world and also share their experiences and expertise to motivate people to work on Indian problems.
• It is a system of Guest Lectures by internationally and nationally renowned experts targeted towards a comprehensive Faculty Development Programme not only for new IITs, IIMs, IISERs but also other institutions in the country.

Nodal Ministry –

Ministry of Human Resource Development

9.Vishwajeet Scheme

Salient Features –

The scheme entailed the provision of Rs. 1,250 crore to each of the top seven IITs over a period of five years to upgrade infrastructure, hire foreign faculty, and collaborate with foreign institutions to break into the top league in global rankings.

Nodal Ministry –

Ministry of HRD

10.Higher Education Finance Agency

Salient Features –

• The HEFA will be jointly promoted by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and identified Promoter.
• HEFA will have an authorised capital of 2,000 crore rupees and the government equity would be 1,000 crore rupees
• It will be formed as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) within a PSU Bank or the Government-owned-NBFC (Promoter)
• It would leverage the equity to raise up to Rs. 20,000 crore for funding infrastructure and development projects of world class Labs in IIMs/IITs/NITs and such other institutions.
• The HEFA will also mobilise CSR funds from Corporates/PSUs which will in turn be released for promoting research and innovation in these institutions on grant basis
• The principal portion of the loan will be repaid through the ‘internal accruals’ of the institutions earned through the fee receipts, research earnings etc
• All the Centrally Funded Higher Educational Institutions will be eligible to join as members of the HEFA
• For joining as members, the educational institution must agree to escrow a specific amount from their internal accruals for a period of 10 years to the HEFA.
• This escrow will secure the future flows that would be securitised by the HEFA for mobilising the funds from the market.
• Each member institution would be eligible for a credit limit based on the amount agreed to be escrowed from the internal accruals as decided by HEFA.

Nodal Ministry –

Ministry of HRD and identified promoter

11.UDAAN (Giving Wings to Girl Students)

Salient Features –

• Aims at addressing the lower enrolment of girls in engineering colleges/IITs and technological institutions. -Udaan is a platform that empowers the girl students, facilitate their aspiration of joining the prestigious engineering institutions and take important role in development/ progress of the country in future.
• -Under this program, students are provided free offline / online resources through virtual weekend contact classes and study material on pre-loaded tablet while studying in Class XI and Class XII for preparation of admission test to various premier engineering colleges in the country

.Nodal Ministry –

Ministry of Human Resource Development

12.SWAYAM

Salient Features –

• Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds
• To provide the best quality education to more than three crore students across the country – It is the Indian electronic e-education platform which proposes to offer courses from the high school stage to Post-Graduate stage in an interactive electronic platform.
• US government is cooperating in this project.

Nodal Ministry –

Ministry of Human Resource Development

13. Swayam Prabha

32 Direct-to-Home channels for transmitting high-quality educational content.

14.National Digital Library

The National Digital library of India (NDLI) is a project under Ministry of Human Resource Development, India. The objective is to integrate several national and international digital libraries in one single web-portal. The NDLI provides free access to many books in English and the Indian languages.

Nodal Ministry –

Ministry of Human resource Development

14.National Academic Depository

Authenticating all certificates issued by institutions

15.ShaGun

Salient Features –

• It has two components i.e. one is a Repository of best practices, photographs, videos, studies, newspaper articles etc on elementary education, State /UT wise. These would be in the public domain with the purpose to provide a platform for all stakeholders to learn from success stories of each other. This would also instill a positive competitive spirit among all the States and UTs.
• The second part is regarding the online monitoring of the SSA implemented by States and UTs and will be accessed by Government Officers at all levels using their specific passwords.

Nodal Ministry –

Ministry for Human Resource Development (MHRD)

16. Shala Asmita Yojana (SAY)

Salient Features –

• To track the educational journey of school students from Class I to Class XII across the 15 lakhs private and government schools in the country.
• ASMITA will be an online database which will carry information of student attendance and enrolment, learning outcomes, mid-day meal service and infrastructural facilities among others. Students will be tracked through their Aadhaar numbers and incase those not having unique number will be provided.

Nodal Ministry –

Ministry of Human Resource Development.

17.Saransh

Salient Features –

Tool which allows the schools to identify areas of improvement in students, teachers and curriculum to facilitate and implement change.

18.Shala Siddhi

Salient Features –

Comprehensive instrument for school evaluation which enables the schools to evaluate their performance in more focused and strategic manner to facilitate them to make professional judgement for continuous improvement

19.Shaala Darpan

Salient Features –

Shaala Darpan is an ICT programme of Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India that to provide mobile access to parents of students of Government and Government aided schools.

Using Shaala Darpan parents can view updates on their child’s progress. They can view records of attendance, assignments and achievements of their child. The ministry aims to launch the service by 2015 academic session.

20. Ishan Vikas

Salient Features –

Academic Exposure for North Eastern Students ; to bring selected college and school students from the north eastern states into close contact with IITs, NITs and IISERs

21. Saransh

Salient Features –

• Saransh is a web portal launched by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) of India, with the primary aim of promoting information and communication technologies in schools-It serves as an interface for enhancing communication between schools as well as parents.
• It offers a data-driven decision support system to aid parents in evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of children, which, in turn would assist in taking informed decisions for children’s future.

CBSE

22. Ishan Uday

Salient Features –

For Students of North East Region . The UGC has launched a special scholarship scheme for students of north east region, Ishan Uday .

23. Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF)

Salient Features –

Scholarship for higher education

23. Revitalization Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE)

Salient Features –

• It is a new initiative to step up investments in centrally funded institutions like IITs, Central Universities and others such institutes
• Funding will be provided through Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA)

Nodal Ministry –

.Ministry of Human Resource Development.

24.TECHNICAL EDUCATION QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME

Salient Features –

• (TEQIP)aims to overhaul the quality of technical education in the Low Income States and Special Category States (SCS).-The project commenced with the World Bank assistance to Government of India to launch a TEQIP as a long term programme of 10-12 years and in 2 or 3 phases. The present 3rd Phase of the schemes has central, eastern and north-eastern region and hill states as its focus states
• The measures under TEQIP include:
• Institution based: accreditation of the courses through NBA, governance reforms, improving the processes, digital initiatives, securing autonomy for the colleges.
• Student based: improving the quality of teaching, teacher training, equipping the class rooms, revision of syllabus, industry interaction, compulsory internships for students, training the students in industry relevant skills, preparing them for the GATE exam etc.

Nodal Ministry –

Ministry of Human Resource Development

25.SAMEEP

Salient Features –

• Student and MEA Engagement Program (SAMEEP) is an outreach program to familiarise the students in India about the functioning of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and also take India’s global engagement and its foreign policy to the grass root levels.
• It is voluntary in nature under which MEA officers, under-secretary and above will visit their home towns and cities and their Alma Maters to bring foreign policy to the masses and raise their interest in diplomacy as career option.

Nodal Ministry –

Ministry of external affairs

26.Vidyanjali

Salient Features –

• Creating an ecosystem,wherein education will be attached with imbibing knowledge and improving learning output-To involve volunteers from different walks of life to strengthen the co-scholastic activities in government schools.,
• Performing arts and life skills also to be included.
• Intended beneficiaries are School going children of Government school, Government Aided school etc.,

27. Prashikshak

Salient Features –

• Teacher education portal for District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs). – A unique IT initiative, a first of its kind in the country, which will contain a comprehensive database of all DIETs in the country with all relevant performance indicators
• Gives the opportunity to Central and State Governments to do real time monitoring of the institutions.
• Helps benchmark DIETs to enable aspiring teachers to make informed choices about their future.

Nodal Ministry –

Joint collaboration between Ministry of Human Resource Development(MHRD) and Central Square Foundation.

28.Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas

Salient Features –

Opened in Educationally Backward Blocks where the female rural literacy is below the national average to provide for residential upper primary schools for girls.

29.Saakshar Bharat

Salient Features –

Initiatives have been taken under financial literacy to include certified adult literates under Jan Dhan Yojna and mobilize them to open bank accounts

Agency for Non-conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT)

Established When and by Whom: It is an autonomous organisation established during 1986 under Societies Act by the Government of Kerala, now functioning under power dept.

Headquarter: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

Objective: To gather and disseminate useful knowledge in various fields of Non-Conventional Energy, Energy Conservation, and Rural Technology.

Key Functions:

To conduct studies, demonstrate, implement and support implementations of schemes and project in these fields and thereby deal with the problems arising out of the rapid depletion of conventional energy sources

To update the technologies used in rural areas as well as introduce appropriate new technologies with an aim to reduce drudgery, increase production and improve quality of life.

 

Wildlife Trust of India

Established When and by Whom: It was formed in November 1998 in response to the rapidly deteriorating condition of wildlife in India. WTI is a registered charity in India (under Section 12A of the Income Tax Act, 1961). It is a non-profit organisation.

Headquarter: NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh

Objective: To conserve wildlife and its habitat and to work for the welfare of individual wild animals.

Key Functions:

WTI currently focuses its resources on six priority landscapes – northeast India, western Himalayas, terai, southern Ghats system, central India and marine.

Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) currently runs 44 projects across India.

Its Depth Projects holistically address multiple conservation hurdles specific to an area through a multi-pronged approach

Its Breadth Projects address specific conservation issues that may not be limited in time and space in the country, such as the training of frontline forest staff and preventing wild animal deaths due to train hits.

Wildlife Institute of India

Established When and by Whom: It is an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate change, Government of India. It was founded in 1982.

Headquarter: The institute is based in Dehradun, India.

Objective: To nurture the development of wildlife science and promote its application in conservation, in consonants with our cultural and socio-economic milieu.

Key Functions:

WII carries out wildlife research in areas of study like Biodiversity, Endangered Species, Wildlife Policy, Wildlife Management, Wildlife Forensics, Spatial Modeling, Ecodevelopment, Habitat Ecology and Climate Change.

WII has a research facility which includes Forensics, Remote Sensing and GIS, Laboratory, Herbarium, and an Electronic Library.

World Sustainable Development Summit

Organised When and by Whom: The Energy and Resources Institute’s (TERI) annual event, the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS), has evolved to the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS).
Date: 5 October 2016–8 October 2016

Location: New Delhi

Objective: To provide long-term solutions for the benefit of the global community by assembling the various stakeholders on a single platform(in the area of environment conservation).

Key Takeaways:

The WSDS brings together Nobel laureates, political leaders, decision-makers from bilateral and multilateral institutions, business leaders, high-level functionaries from the diplomatic corps, scientists and researchers, media personnel, and members of civil society; to deliberate on issues related to sustainable development.

India specific trivia:

WSDS 2016 was held in New Delhi from October 5-8, 2016 under the broad rubric of ‘Beyond 2015: People, Planet & Progress’, and it broadly focused on actions, on accelerated implementation of SDGs and NDCs.

The 4 days of discussions among different stakeholders clearly established that sustainability should not be a peripheral activity but should become a mainstream movement and that now is the time to translate all the promises to action.

 

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)

Established When: 1980.

Headquarter: New Delhi

Objective:  To develop into an excellent resource centre with information — printed and visual — on sustainable development issues, which is possibly the best in India.

Key Functions:

It is a not-for-profit public interest research and advocacy organisation.

It works as a think tank on environment-development issues in India, poor planning, climate shifts devastating India’s Sundarbans and advocates for policy changes and better implementation of the already existing policies.

CSE uses knowledge-based activism to create awareness about problems and propose sustainable solutions.

 

Conserve

Established When and by Whom: In 1998, when the Delhi government launched the Bhagidari campaign, asking its citizens to participate in civic initiatives, the conservationist, Anita Ahuja and her IIT-alumna husband Shalabh rose to the challenge and launched Conserve. It is an NGO.

Objective: To counter the issue of plastic bags.(Recycling)

Key Functions:

Anita and Shalabh Ahuja founded Conserve India as an NGO to recycle the waste in their neighborhood that wasn’t being managed by local authorities.

They quickly realized that plastic bags pose the biggest problem, not only because there are so many of them but also because they could not be recycled locally.

After much experimentation, the team at Conserve India realised that the solution lay in upcycling the bags into sheets of plastic that could be reinvented as fashion accessories. They named this material Handmade Recycled Plastic.

Shalabh and Anita combined his expertise in engineering and her creative talents to get the most out of their solution to this huge problem.

As well as cleaning Delhi’s streets, they have worked to provide hundreds of jobs for some of the poorest people living in their city. The income they generate by selling products made from Handmade Recycled Plastic, is then spent on social welfare projects.

Today they continue to realise their vision. Conserve India bags are being sold around the world. The proceeds of this work are put to good use.

Firstly, better wages for Conserve employees – a ragpicker collecting bags for Conserve earns on average three times more selling to us than they would earn elsewhere.

Secondly, training opportunities for all staff at Conserve India so that they can get more skilled jobs either within the organisation or elsewhere.

Thirdly, a school in the slum where many of the ragpickers we work with live. Finally, loans for Conserve workers to develop their own start-up businesses, and most recently a health clinic for the entire workforce.

 

Environmentalist Foundation of India

Established When and by Whom: Started in 2007 and registered in 2011

Headquarter:  Chennai, Hyderabad, Puducherry and Coimbatore

Objective: Wildlife conservation and habitat restoration

Key Functions:

• The organisation is known for its work in cleaning and scientific restoration of lakes in India for biodiversity.
• The organisation and its efforts grew from that one pond in Chennai to include over 39 lakes and 48 ponds in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Pondicherry and Gujarat in the last 10 years (2007 to 2017)
• EFI is also involved in the setting up of herbal biodiversity gardens at schools and special interest zones. The idea behind the herbal gardens are to increase people’s interest in green cover and live healthy with native Indian herbs.
• EFI’s “Clean for Olive Green” is a beach clean up project that is organised every year in the months of December to May to keep Chennai’s beaches clean for the nesting Sea Turtle Mothers.

National Green Corps

Established by Whom: It is a programme of the Ministry of Environment and Forests of Government of India.

Objective of the body:

NGC Programme aims at building cadres of young children working towards environmental conservation and sustainable development.

Key Functions:

The functions of this programme are:

• to impart knowledge to school children, through hands on experience, about their immediate environment, interactions within it and the problems therein
• to inculcate proper attitudes towards the environment and its conservation through community interactions
• to sensitize children to issues related to environment and development through field visits and demonstrations
• to motivate and stimulate young minds by involving them in action projects related to environmental conservation.

Bombay Natural History Society

Established When: It was founded on 15 September 1883. It is an NGO.

Headquarter: Mumbai

Objective of the body: Environment Conservation and biodiversity research

Key Functions:

• It supports many research efforts through grants and publishes the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.
• BNHS is the partner of BirdLife International in India.
• It has been designated as a ‘Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’ by the Department of Science and Technology.
• It sponsors studies in Indian wildlife and conservation, and publishes a four-monthly journal, Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (JBNHS), as well as a quarterly magazine, Hornbill.

 

The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI)

Established When and by Whom:  Established in 1974, it was formerly known as Tata Energy and Resource Institute. As the scope of its activities widened, it was renamed The Energy and Resources Institute in 2003.

Headquarter: New Delhi, India

Objective: To work towards global sustainable development, creating innovative solutions for environment conservation.

Key Functions:

1. The scope of the organisation’s activities includes climate change, energy efficiency, renewable energy, biotechnology, and social transformation.

World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) – An annual summit which facilitates the exchange of knowledge on diverse aspects of global sustainable development.

LaBL (Lighting a Billion Lives) – An initiative to provide clean lighting access to bottom of the pyramid communities.

Green Olympiad – Conducted in association with MoEF, it is an international environment examination that is annually organized for middle and high-school students.

2. TERI Press, TERI’s publishing arm releases a plethora of publications out of which some noteworthy publications are :

TerraGreen – Monthly magazine of TERI on issues of environment, biodiversity, livelihood rights, wildlife, energy, and sustainable development.

TERI Energy Data Directory and Yearbook (TEDDY) : Launched in 1986, it is a compilation of energy and environment data. It is a comprehensive reference document and a source of information on energy supply sectors (coal and lignite, oil and gas, power, and renewable energy sources) as well as energy-consuming sectors (agriculture, industry, transport, residential, and commercial sectors).

3. GRIHA

Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) was conceived by TERI and developed with Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, is a national rating system for green buildings in India

 

Vindhyan Ecology and Natural History Foundation

Established When: It is a registered non-profit organisation, founded in 2012.

Headquarter: Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh

Objective:

To protect and conserve the nature, natural resources and rights of the nature dependent communities in the ecologically fragile landscape of Vindhya Range in India. It tries to achieve its objective through Research, Advocacy, Education, Community mobilization, Litigation.

Key Functions:

Vindhya Bachao Abhiyan: It is the flagship program of VENHF which works towards environmental equity and bringing ecological justice through research-based environmental litigation, strengthening grass-root environmental movements, supporting institution of local governance and protecting the rights of nature dependent indigenous communities.

*VENHF is partner of EKOenergy and Global Call for Climate Action

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)

Established by: Kamaljit S. Bawa is its founder.

Headquarter: Banglore

Objective:

Its mission is to generate rigorous interdisciplinary knowledge for achieving environmental conservation and sustainable development in a socially just manner, to enable the use of this knowledge by policy makers and society, and to train the next generation of scholars and leaders.

Key Functions:

It is a research institution in the areas of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. It focuses on applied science through research, education and action that influence policy and practice on conservation of nature, management of natural resources, and sustainable development.

It envisions a society committed to environmental conservation and sustainable and socially just development, in which ATREE plays the role of a model knowledge-generating organization for catalyzing the transition to such a society.

 

Save Aravali Trust

Headquarter: Faridabad, Haryana

Objective:

Major objectives are:

1. Afforestation and wildlife care
2. Water Conservation
3. Environmental Literacy
4. Waste Management

Key Functions: It is working for the betterment of Aravali– the oldest mountain range of India. The motive is to make it green, home to wildlife and entity of prosperity for the humans.

 

Narmada Bachao Aandolan

Established When and by Whom:  The people’s state the Narmada Bachao Andolan, every people practice hard for save to the Narmada River. This Movement is mobilised itself against the development in the mid and late 1980’s.

Objective: The people started the Narmada Bacho Andolan with the goal of saving and protest the River Narmada.

Why was it started?

• It is a social movement consisting of adivasis, farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against the number of large dams being built across the Narmada River, which flows through the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, all over India.
• Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat is one of the biggest dams on the river and was one of the first focal points of the movement. It is one of the many dams under the Narmada Dam Project. The main aim of the project is to provide irrigation and electricity to people in these states.
• Their mode of the campaign includes court actions, hunger strikes, rallies, and garnering support from notable film and art personalities. Narmada Bachao Andolan, with its leading spokespersons Medha Patkar and Baba Amte, who have received the Right Livelihood Award in 1991.