NEWS 02-04-2023. News For 3rd-Apr (Monday) 1. The Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in New Delhi has imposed a penalty of ?10 crore on the Kerala government for its failure to check the indiscriminate pollution of the Vembanad and Ashtamudi lakes (listed as Ramsar sites). 2.For the upcoming 2023-24 season, the Indian government has increased the minimum support price (MSP) for raw jute by Rs 300 to Rs 5,050 per quintal. 3.The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has extended the subsidy of 200 rupees per LPG cylinder for a period of one year, under the PM Ujjwala Yojana. It will be provided to the Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries for up to 12 refills per year. The total expenditure on it in 2022-23 will be 6,100 crore rupees and in 2023-24 will be 7,680 crore rupees. 4.India is aiming to become a leader in the global shipbuilding industry by launching the Green Tug Transition Programme (GTTP) and setting a goal of becoming a ‘Global Hub for Green Ship’ building by 2030. The GTTP will start with the production of Green Hybrid Tugs, which will run on Green Hybrid Propulsion systems, and eventually switch to alternative fuel sources like Methanol, Ammonia, and Hydrogen. 5.Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched India's Launch Vehicle Mark (LVM) 3 -M3 satellite with 36 satellites of the One Web India-2 mission from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre Sriharikota. With this launch, OneWeb will have 616 of its satellites in orbit. 6.The Centre has notified a hike in wage rates up to 10% under the rural job guarantee program, MGNREGS for 2023-24 with Haryana having the highest daily wage at ?357 per day and Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh the lowest at ?221. 7.Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav launched the Aravalli Green Wall Project, a major initiative to green the 5 km buffer area around the Aravalli Hill Range in four states (Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Delhi). 8.The Union government has sanctioned 800 crore rupees under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) Scheme Phase -2 for setting up 7432 public fast charging stations across the country. At present, there are about 6,586 charging stations across the country. 9.Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) Researchers have developed a three-dimensional (3D) paper-based portable device. This device can detect adulteration in milk within 30 seconds. 10.The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank has approved a $100 million loan to Odisha. Reason: To robust its early forecasting systems for improved response to disasters and enhance its social protection coverage for poor and vulnerable households through digital platforms 11.India’s first quantum computing-based telecom network link has been made operational between Sanchar Bhawan and National Informatics Centre office in New Delhi. Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced prize money of Rs 10 lakh for ethical hackers who can break the encryption of the system. < < Back