January To February Environment News

Central Government Initiative

Schemes	Ministry	Description
Atal Bhujal Yojana	Ministry of Water Resources	To control the crisis of depleting groundwater. The objective of this scheme is to create sufficient water storage and to refill the groundwater The scheme will launch in 7 states of India, which are as follow: Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan This scheme will cover 78 districts, 193 blocks and more than 8,300-gram panchayat. The budget of this project is about 6000 crore rupees. In which 3000 crore rupees will contribute by the central government and rest amount will be contributed by the World Bank. The approval of this project is awaited. This programme will be approved by cabinet till 31 st March 2018.
Ash Track App	Ministry of Power	It is a web-based monitoring system. It is launched by RK Singh who is Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy. It enables to manage the fly ash which is produced by the thermal power plant and another user- cement plant, road contractor. With the reference to given location, this app will help in finding out the thermal power plant within a radius of 100 t0 300 km The app will provide plant wise, utility wise and state wise fly ash utilization status in the country. This app will allow to monitor and review of the increasing fly ash utilization. According to the data, 63% fly ash can be utilized.
Green good deed campaign	Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change	This campaign was for creating awareness for climate change and global warming. This campaign was joined by 700 principal of government school from New Delhi Municipal Corporation.

Joint initiative of central and state government

Schemes	Ministry	Description
Join hands against air pollution	Delhi government and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change	They launched a two week long joint campaign for clean air in the national capital Delhi. This campaign consists 70 officials from the ministry of environment, Forest and Climate. This campaign was started from 10 to 24 February. This campaign was joined by the expert of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) along with civic bodies.

Important days

Schemes	Ministry	Description
22nd September as Rhino day (Rhino project)	Assam government	Internationally, 22nd of September is celebrated as a Rhino Day. This day was first announced by the WWF- South Africa in 2010. To create awareness among public for one horned Rhino, Assam government took this step. Important national park related to Rhino Assam Kaziranga National Park (cover two-thirds of worlds) Manas National Park Orang National Park West Bengal Jaldapara National Park Gorumara National Park Uttar Pradesh Dudhwa National Park
5th June (World Environment Day)	India	India will host global World Environment Day on 5th June. The theme for this year: Plastic Pollution.
2nd February (Worlds Wetland Day)		Theme: Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future This day was celebrated in 1973.

Festival

Schemes	Ministry	Description
Pelican bird festival	Andhra Pradesh	This festival was jointly organised by Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority (APTA) and Krishna district administration. This festival was celebrated in Kolleru Lake.  Kolleru Lake is a freshwater lake. This lake was located between Krishna and Godavari. Some birds migrate in winter seasons such as the Siberian crane, ibis, and painted storks.
Flamingo festival	Andhra Pradesh	This festival was celebrated in Pulicat Lake in Andhra Pradesh. Pulicat Lake is the second largest brackish water lake in India.

Environment index

Schemes	Ministry	Description
Environment performance index	177 out of 180	Top-ranked:  1) Switzerland 2) Denmark 3) France 4) Malta Below: 180) Burundi 179) Bangladesh 178) Congo 177) India Some other:  Pakistan (169) China (120) 9 major environmental issues categories Air Quality (household solid fuels and PM2.5 exposure) Water & Sanitation Heavy Metals (lead exposure) Biodiversity Forests (tree cover loss) Fisheries Climate & Energy (CO2, Methane and Black Carbon Emissions) Air Pollution Water