Current Affairs Question - 20 August 2019

Explanation :

• On 17^th august, 2019, the Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana High Court launched the first Virtual Court at Faridabad through video conferencing.
• This Virtual Court will deal with traffic challan cases of the entire State of Haryana. It is aimed at eliminating presence of litigant in the Court and adjudication of the case online.
• The project has been launched under the guidance of e-Committee of Supreme Court of India and the software has been developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC).
• Under this project, the cases received in the Virtual Court can be viewed by the Judge along with automatic computation of fines on the screen.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• On 17^th August, 2019, the Aadi Mahotsav, a nine day tribal festival(17^th August- 25^th August-2019) and the Centre’s first official function in Ladakh after the government decided to make it a Union Territory, kicked off at the Polo Grounds in Leh, Ladakh region.
• It is significant as this is the first time that the Aadi Mahotsav is being held in Ladakh as in earlier times, the Tribal Ministry never got a response from the J&K administration.
• Aadi Mahotsav is a National Tribal Festival and a joint initiative of Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India & Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED), with a theme of A celebration of the spirit of Tribal Craft, Culture and Commerce.
• Aadi Mahotsav is an effort to scale up the livelihood and income generating opportunity for tribals by giving them the opportunity to interact and sell their goods directly to the customers.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• On 19^th August, 2019, Iceland unveiled a plaque to its Okjokull ice sheet, the first of the country’s hundreds of glaciers to melt away due to climate change. It is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier
• A ceremony to unveil the plaque was attended by scientists and locals at the glacier in west-central Iceland, which in 2014 no longer fulfilled the criteria to be classified as a glacier after melting throughout the 20^th century. 
• To have the status of a glacier, the mass of ice and snow must be thick enough to move by its own weight. For that to happen, the mass must be approximately 40 to 50metres (130 to 165 feet) thick.
• Iceland’s Vatnajokull National Park, which was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in July, 2019, is home to, and named after, the largest ice cap in Europe.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• On 18^th August, 2019, the Odisha Government approved Integrated Management Plan of Chilika and Ansupa Lake which are under threat due to rising pollution and climate change.
• It will be executed for a period of five years starting from 2019.
• It aims at conserving the bio-diversity and provides livelihood support to two lakh fishermen of 151 villages around both the lake. It will also tackle the issue of weed management, soil and moisture conservation in both the wetlands.

Chilika Lake

• Chilika Lake, India’s largest largest salt-water lagoon,is spread over Khurda, Ganjam and Puri districts of Odisha.
• It is designated as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.
• It is home to a diverse range of aquatic life, including 225 species of fish and the Irrawaddy dolphin (OrcaellaBrevirostris). The rare limbless lizard Barkudiainsularis is endemic to one of the lake's islands.

Ansupa Lake

• It is the largest fresh water lake of Odisha,situated in Banki, Cuttack. It was formed by Mahanadi River and got a shape like the hoof of a horse.
• It is surrounded by Saranda hills on the western side and Bishnupur hills on its northern side, both being a part of the Eastern Ghats.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online