Important Facts for Prelims (10th October 2018)

• 10 Oct 2018

Sir Chotu Ram

• Prime Minister unveiled a 64-foot-tall statue of Sir Chhotu Ram in his native village Sampla in Haryana.

Introduction

• Sir Chhotu Ram (Born: Ram Richpal) was born in Rohtak, Punjab (Currently: Haryana) in 1881.
• Sir Chhotu Ram was knighted in 1937.
• He was the Alumni of St. Stephens College, Delhi.
• He was the founder of National Unionist Party. Sir Chhotu Ram rose to become Revenue Minister of undivided Punjab. was instrumental in empowering farmers in pre-Independence era and getting pro-farmers law enacted. Modern concepts like debt settlement boards, caps on interest, the basic fairness to the tiller were included in these 1930s laws.
• He is called as The father of Bhakra. He conceived of the Bhakra Dam way back in 1923.
• He was also the originator of the concept of compensating the farmer for the expenses incurred by him on farming, the concept has now evolved into ‘Minimum Support Price’.
• Sir Chhotu Ram emerged as country’s first big agrarian reformer who stood up and fought for the rights of agriculturists.

MedWatch App

• On the occasion of 86th anniversary, the Indian Air Force has launched an innovative mobile health App named ‘MedWatch’ in keeping with the vision of ‘Digital India, Ayushman Bharat and Mission Indradhanush’.
• The app is conceived by the doctors of IAF and developed in house by Directorate of Information Technology (DIT).
• ‘MedWatch’ will provide correct, Scientific and authentic health information to all citizens of India.
• The app comprises of host of features like information on basic First Aid, Health topics and Nutritional Facts; reminders for timely Medical Review, Vaccination and utility tools like Health Record Card, BMI calculator, helpline numbers and web links.
• The MedWatch mobile health app is an Indian Air Force initiative and a small contribution to our citizen.

National Environment Survey

• India’s first ever National Environment Survey (NES) will be done in 55 districts across 24 states and three Union Territories in January, 2019 by Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change.(MoEFCC).
• National Environment Survey is proposed under the Environmental Information System (ENVIS) Scheme of the ministry.
• The survey will be done through a grid-based approach, using grids measuring 9x9 km.
• Comprehensive data on various environmental parameters such as air, water, soil quality; emission inventory; solid, hazardous and ewaste; forest & wildlife; flora & fauna; wetlands, lakes, rivers and other water bodies will be collected.
• It will also assess carbon sequestration potential of all the districts across the country.
• The NES will rank all the districts on their environmental performance and document their best green practices.

World Post Day

• World Post Day is celebrated each year on 9 October.
• It marks the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union in 1874 in the Swiss Capital, Bern.
• It was declared World Post Day by the UPU Congress held in Tokyo, Japan in 1969.
• The purpose of World Post Day is to bring awareness to the Post's role in the everyday lives of people and businesses, as well as its contribution to global social and economic development.
• In 2015 countries all over the world committed themselves to working together towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, the Post today has a more relevant role than ever by providing infrastructure for development.