Prelims Facts 19 October 2020 – IAS Current Affairs
Prelims Facts 19 October 2020 is an extra read for UPSC IAS Prelims exam. Major events are :
- Ghar Tak Fibre
- Skinks of India
- SLINEX 2020
Ghar Tak Fibre
Why in News ?
The government’s ambitious ‘Ghar Tak Fibre’ scheme which slow start in poll-bound Bihar, the first state that aims to connect all its 45,945 villages by March 31.
Ghar Tak Fibre
- Aims to connect all the villages with high-speed internet.
- Bihar has to provide at least five fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections per village, while there should also be at least one WiFi hotspot per village.
- All villages in the country would be connected to the internet over the next 1,000 days,
- The project is now likely to be completed only by 2024.
Source : Indian Express
Skinks of India
Why in News ?
A recent publication by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) reveals that India is home to 62 species of skinks and says about 57% of all the skinks found in India (33 species) are endemic.
Key Facts
- Skinks are highly alert, agile and fast moving and actively forage for a variety of insects and small invertebrates.
- The reduced limbs of certain skink species or the complete lack of them make their slithering movements resemble those of snakes.
- Publication is a result of four years of work and study of over 4,000 specimens in all 16 regional centres of ZSI and also at the Bombay Natural History Society, Indian Institute of Science, Wildlife Institute of India, and the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History.
- It also makes an attempt to ‘redescribe’ all the 62 species with their taxonomic identification keys, distributional maps, habits, habitat and breeding biology.
- The Western Ghats are home to 24 species of which 18 are endemic to the region. The Deccan Peninsular region is home to 19 species of which 13 are endemic.
- There are records of 14 skink species from the northeast of which two species are endemic.
- With 1,602 species of skinks across the world, making it the largest family of lizards, their occurrence in India is less than 4 % of the global diversity.
Source : The Hindu
SLINEX 2020
Why in News ?
The Eighth Edition of annual Indian Navy (IN) – Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) bilateral maritime exercise SLINEX-20 is scheduled off Trincomalee, Sri Lanka from 19 to 21 October 2020.
About SLINEX 2020
- Indian Navy (IN) – Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) bilateral maritime exercise.
- Aims to enhance inter-operability, improve mutual understanding and exchange best practices and procedures for multi-faceted maritime operations between both navies.
- In addition, the exercise will also showcase capabilities of our indigenously constructed naval ships and aircraft.
- Surface and anti-air exercises including weapon firing, seamanship evolutions, manoeuvres and cross deck flying operations are planned during the exercise, which will further enhance the high degree of inter-operability already established between the two friendly navies.
- SLINEX series of exercise exemplifies the deep engagement between India and Sri Lanka which has strengthened mutual cooperation in the maritime domain.
Prelims Facts 19 October 2020 includes the factual data helps in clear understanding and eliminate within the options.
Current Affairs Compilation : 19 October 2020