December 5th, 2020

Topic: – Bilaspur-Manali-Leh Rail line (Transport Infra)

What is the news?

• A High elevation all-weather broad gauge railway track is under survey to connect Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh to Leh in Ladakh UT of India.

What is the length?

• The extension of 62 km long railway line from Bhanupali to Bilaspur is under construction. The Bilaspur-Leh line has a length of 458 km. Bhanupali is on the Ambala-Sirhind-Una track.

What will be the benefit?

• This would increase tourism in Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh and facilitate the quicker movement of troops and equipment.

1. Economic Benefit to Local economy.

Why important for the exam?

• It would become the highest railway track in the world, overtaking the current record of the Qinghai–Tibet Railway.

Taglang La railway station:

• Taglang La railway station at Taglang La, Ladakh UT could become the highest railway station in the world at 5,359 m above the sea level leaving behind the current record of the railway station in Qinghai, China at 5,086 m.

(Source: Open Source)

Topic:- Road Infra

What is the news?

• Remote Lahaul village gets a road.

What is the name of the village?

• Yoche, the last village of Darcha panchayat in the Lahaul valley in Lahaul and Spiti district, was connected with a road.

Important:

• Yoche bridge constructed to connect Yoche and Baltojing villages with a road.

Earlier challenges:

• People of these villages had to ferry their agricultural produce till the road on mules by paying hefty carriage amounts.

Benefits:-

• With the road connectivity, they will be able to manage the transport of their produce to distant markets in a better way.

(Source: Tribune(Himachal)

Topic: Polity and Sports

Important for Mains as an example.

What is the news?

• Consider relaxation for outstanding sportsmen in jobs: High Court

Context:

• The HP High Court has directed the state government to consider the case for granting appropriate relaxation to outstanding sportspersons, who are entitled to appointment under 3 per cent reservation, and take a decision in this regard on or before January 31, 2021.

Purpose:-

• Justice Vivek Singh Thakur observed, “In order to achieve the goal and fulfil the objectives of the programmes such as Khelo India and Fit India, it is imperative for the government to provide relaxation in the minimum qualifying marks to the category of outstanding sportspersons also in the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET).
• Sports also teach people to take on-the-spot decisions under pressure and work out success strategies in dynamically-changing situations.
• Young people need to get used to this, because only winners perform their best under pressure”.

Who filed the petition?

• The court passed this judgment on a petition filed by Pooja Sharma, a sportsperson, who alleged therein that though she had participated in three National Handball Championships, the competent authority did not consider her case for appointment as a Junior Basic Teacher (JBT).

About Khelo India:-

• Khelo India Programme is a national scheme for the development of sports in India. It was launched in the year 2018 by the then Sports Minister Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in Delhi to improve the sports culture in India.
• The Khelo India programme has been introduced to revive the sports culture in India at the grass-root level by building a strong framework for all sports played in our country and establish India as a great sporting nation.

  (Source:- The Tribune)

Important Day:

World Soil Day: 5th Dec

Why in news?

What is the theme for 2020?

The theme of World Soil day 2020, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) campaign, is “Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity”. By encouraging people around the world to engage in proactively improving soil health, the campaign aims to fight soil biodiversity loss.