Daily Current Affairs: January 14, 2016
Project linking Ken and Betwa Rivers gets environmental clearance
- Ken-Betwa river linking project has been given the required environment, forest and tribal clearances.
- The project aims at addressing water needs of Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Uttar Pradesh (UP).
- The river linking project is India’s first of its kind river interlinking project that will connect Ken river in Madhya Pradesh with the Betwa in Uttar Pradesh.
- The project was envisaged first in 1980 to transfer surplus river water to dry and arid areas of Bundelkhand region.
- Districts which will benefit from the project- Tikamgarh, Chattarpur and Panna in Madhya Pradesh and Jhansi, Mahoba and Banda in Uttar Pradesh.
- In addition to irrigating 6.35 lakh hectares annually in Bundelkhand region, it will also generate 78 mega watt (MW) of power.
National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered inspection of bio medical waste plants in Delhi
- The waste plants will be inspected by joint inspection team of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).
- NGT had earlier asked hospitals and clinics to ensure proper collection, segregation and disposal of bio-medical waste.
- Bio-medical waste is any solid or liquid waste including its container and any intermediate product generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or animals or research activities.
- Biomedical waste is hazardous for two reasons – toxicity and infectivity. Bio Medical waste consists of human anatomical waste like organs, tissues and body parts, hypodermic needles, syringes, scalpels and broken glass, discarded medicines and cytotoxic drugs, liquid waste from any of infected areas etc.
- In 2016, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had issued new Bio-medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 for proper discarding of the bio-medical waste.