Environment
Two new Zoos one each in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh granted recognition by Central government

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the two new zoos - features and location + about CZA) + Mains ( GS III Environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• At the 37^th General Body meeting of Central Zoo Authority chaired by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, two new zoos the Rajgir Zoo Safari in Nalanda, Bihar and Shaheed Ashfaque Ullah Khan Prani Udyaan in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh were granted recognition.

Rajgir Zoo Safari, Nalanda, Bihar

• Rajgir Zoo Safari, in the eastern state of Bihar was granted recognition during the General Body meeting of the Central Zoo Authority on December 07, 2020.
• The zoo is established exclusively comprising on only safari enclosures which, on contrary to conventional enclosure, offer larger space for captive animals.
• There are five safari enclosures and a walk-in proposed in the zoo. The zoo proposes to house Lion, Bear, Tiger, Leopard and a mixed safari of common herbivore species such as Spotted Deer, Sambar among others.
• The zoo is located close to the historically important Nalanda and is expected to have a high footfall.

Shaheed Ashfaque Ullah Khan Prani Udyaan, Gorakhpur, U.P.

• Shaheed Ashfaque Ullah Khan Prani Udyaan, Gorakhpur, U.P was granted recognition during the General Body meeting of the Central Zoo Authority on December 07, 2020.
• With this, the state of Uttar Pradesh has a total of 9 zoos. The establishment of the zoo is personally monitoring by the Chief Minister of the state.
• The zoo is situated in the spiritual land of Gorakhpur and has a high visitation. The zoo features enclosures for a range of birds, herbivores and carnivores.
• The zoo aims to create awareness through naturalistic enclosures and create long-lasting visitor experience through state-of-the-art visitor facilities like 4D Theatre, battery-operated train and accessibility to Divyangjan.

Know! about Central Zoo Authority

• The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) is the body of the government of India responsible for oversight of zoos.
• The CZA is a statutory body chaired by the Environment Minister and tasked with regulating zoos across the country.
• It is an affiliate member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).
• The CZA was formed to bring Indian zoos up to international standards.
• The Central Zoo Authority has been constituted under the section 38A of Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972.
• The Authority consists of a Chairman, ten members and a Member Secretary.
• The main objective of the authority is to complement the national effort in conservation of wild life. Standards and norms for housing, upkeep, health care and overall management of animals in zoos has been laid down under the Recognition of Zoo Rules, 1992.
• Every zoo in the country is required to obtain recognition from the Authority for its operation.
• The Authority evaluates the zoos with reference to the parameters prescribed under the Rules and grants recognition accordingly.
• Zoos which have no potential to come up to the prescribed standards and norms may be refused recognition and asked to close down.
• The Authority's role is more of a facilitator than a regulator. It, therefore, provides technical and financial assistance to such zoos which have the potential to attain the desired standard in animal management.

Miscellaneous
United Nations Declares Invest India The Winner of the Investment Promotion Award 2020

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about UNCTAD + IP awards of UNCTAD + about Invest India) + Mains ( GS III infrastructure development + GS II government policies and interventions)
What's the NEWS

• The United Nations (UNCTAD) has declared Invest India- the National Investment Promotion Agency of India- as a winner of the 2020 United Nations Investment Promotion Award.
• The award ceremony took place on 7th December 2020 at UNCTAD Headquarters in Geneva.

Know! more about United Nations Investment Promotion Award

• The award recognizes and celebrates the outstanding achievements and best practices of Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) across the globe.
• The evaluation was based on UNCTAD's assessment of work undertaken by 180 Investment Promotion Agencies.
• In March 2020, UNCTAD constituted a team to monitor the response of IPAs to the pandemic.
• UNCTAD reported best practices from Investment Promotion Agencies in the IPA Observer publications in April and July 2020.
• The response of IPAs to the pandemic became the basis for the evaluation of the 2020 United Nations Investment Promotion Award.
• UNCTAD highlighted good practices followed by Invest India,such as the Business Immunity Platform, Exclusive Investment Forum webinar series
• Invest India has also shared long-term strategies and practices being followed for investment promotion, facilitation and retention at UNCTAD's high-level brainstorming sessions.
• This United Nations Investment Promotion Award is the most coveted award for Investment Promotion Agencies.
• UNCTAD is a central agency that monitors performance of IPAs and identifies global best practices. Germany, South Korea and Singapore have been some of the past winners of the award.

Know! about UNCTAD

• The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was established in 1964 as a permanent intergovernmental body.
• UNCTAD is the part of the United Nations Secretariat dealing with trade, investment, and development issues.
• The organization's goals are to: "maximize the trade, investment and development opportunities of developing countries and assist them in their efforts to integrate into the world economy on an equitable basis".
• UNCTAD was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1964 and it reports to the UN General Assembly and United Nations Economic and Social Council.
• The primary objective of UNCTAD is to formulate policies relating to all aspects of development including trade, aid, transport, finance and technology.
• The conference ordinarily meets once in four years; the permanent secretariat is in Geneva.
• One of the principal achievements of UNCTAD (1964) has been to conceive and implement the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP).
• The developed countries formulated the GSP scheme under which manufacturers' exports and import of some agricultural goods from the developing countries enter duty-free or at reduced rates in the developed countries.
• The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development was established to provide a forum where the developing countries could discuss the problems relating to their economic development.
• Currently, UNCTAD has 195 member states and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

Know! about Invest India

• Invest India, set up in 2009, is a non-profit venture under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.
• As the national investment promotion and facilitation agency, Invest India focuses on sector-specific investor targeting and development of new partnerships to enable sustainable investments in India.
• In addition to a core team that focuses on sustainable investments, Invest India also partners with substantial investment promotion agencies and multilateral organizations.
• Invest India also actively works with several Indian states to build capacity as well as bring in global best practices in investment targeting, promotion and facilitation areas.

Infrastructure Development
NHSRCL adopts aerial LiDAR Survey technique to conduct the ground survey for Delhi-Varanasi High Speed Rail Corridor

Relevance IN - Prelims (about NHSRCL + about LiDAR technology + about DV HSRC + Mains ( GS III infrastructure development)
What's the NEWS

• National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited will be adopting Light Detection and Ranging Survey (LiDAR) technique using Laser enabled equipment mounted on a Helicopter for conducting ground survey for the preparation of Detailed Project Report for the proposed Delhi-Varanasi HSR corridor.
• The alignment or ground survey is a crucial activity for any linear infrastructure project as the survey provides accurate details of areas around the alignment.
• This technique uses a combination of Laser data, GPS data, flight parameters and actual photographs to give accurate survey data.

Aerial LiDAR survey technique

• The aerial LiDAR survey technique, for the first time for any railway project in India, was adopted for the Mumbai- Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor primarily because of its high accuracy.

• The ground survey using aerial LiDAR for MAHSR alignment was done only in 12 weeks against the 10-12 months if had been done through traditional survey methods.

Know! about LIDAR (sometimes also written as "LiDAR", "Lidar", or "LADAR")

• Lidar is a method for measuring distances by illuminating the target with laser light and measuring the reflection with a sensor.
• Differences in laser return times and wavelengths can then be used to make digital 3-D representations of the target. It has terrestrial, airborne, and mobile applications.
• LiDAR works in a similar way to Radar and Sonar yet uses light waves from a laser, instead of radio or sound waves.
• A LiDAR system calculates how long it takes for the light to hit an object or surface and reflect back to the scanner. The distance is then calculated using the velocity of light*
• It is used in a wide range of land management and planning efforts, including hazard assessment (including lava flows, landslides, tsunamis, and floods), forestry, agriculture, geologic mapping, and watershed and river surveys.

Delhi-Varanasi HSR

• The proposed Delhi-Varanasi HSR alignment covers mixed terrains including densely populated urban and rural areas, Highways, Roads, Ghats, Rivers, Green fields etc, which makes this activity more challenging.
• NHSRCL has been entrusted with the work for preparing Detailed Project Report for the Delhi-Varanasi HSR Corridor by the Ministry of Railways.
• The tentative length of the corridor is about 800 km, the alignment and stations will be decided in consultation with the government.

National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL)

• NHSRCL was incorporated on 12th February 2016 under the Companies Act, 2013 with an object to finance, construct, maintain and manage the High Speed Rail Corridor in India.
• The Company has been modelled as ‘Special Purpose Vehicle' in the joint sector with equity participation by Central Government through Ministry of Railways and two State Governments viz. Government of Gujarat and Government of Maharashtra.
• The High-Speed Rail (HSR) project apart from being a technological marvel, would afford many quantifiable benefits like saving in travel time, vehicle operation cost, reduction in pollution, job creation, reduction in accidents/ enhanced safety, imported fuel substitution, and reduction in pollutants.
• The project would also boost the infrastructure and add to the growth of economy.
• HSR would be an integrated system having overall optimization of various components, viz. Hardware, Software, Human-ware, and their interface, etc.
• The Company would be ushering India into the category of few countries of the world (about 15) using High Speed Railway System.

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