{"id":167852,"date":"2025-05-31T19:48:04","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T14:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/?post_type=current-affairs&p=167852"},"modified":"2025-05-31T19:48:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T14:18:04","slug":"news-in-shorts-31-may-2025","status":"publish","type":"current-affairs","link":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/news-in-shorts-31-may-2025","title":{"rendered":"News in Shorts: 31 May 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>City Gas Distribution (CGD) Project<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><b>Context:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Recently, the Prime Minister laid the foundation of the <\/span><b>City Gas Distribution project in Alipurduar, West Bengal.<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Alipurduar<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> shares its <\/span><b>border with Bhutan<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and\u00a0 it is also <\/span><b>connected to Assam<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It is surrounded by Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 16pt;\"><b>About City Gas Distribution (CGD) Project<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Total investment:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Over <\/span><b>\u20b91,010 crore.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Objective: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Develop <\/span><b>City Gas Distribution infrastructure<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for<\/span><b> households, commercial units, industries, and vehicles.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Authority: Petroleum &#038; Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the authority to grant authorization to the entities for the development of City Gas Distribution (CGD) network in Geographical Areas (GAs) as per<\/span><b> PNGRB Act, 2006.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Key Components<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Piped Natural Gas (PNG):<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To be provided to <\/span><b>over 2.5 lakh households, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">more than <\/span><b>100 commercial establishments and industrial units.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Compressed Natural Gas (CNG):<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Establishment of around<\/span><b> 19 CNG stations<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aimed at <\/span><b>catering to vehicular fuel requirements.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Alignment with Government Norms: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fulfills the <\/span><b>Minimum Work Program (MWP)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> targets stipulated by the Government of India.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MWP targets are yearly commitments set for City Gas Distribution (CGD) entities, requiring them to <\/span><b>lay a specific length of pipelines, set up a fixed number of CNG stations, and provide a defined number of domestic gas connections<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in a given Geographical Area (GA).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Growth of CGD Project:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> In <\/span><b>2014<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, CGD services were in <\/span><b>66 districts<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; now <\/span><b>expanded<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to over <\/span><b>550 districts.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Benefits: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It will provide <\/span><b>convenient, reliable, environment-friendly and cost-effective fuel <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">supply and create employment opportunities in the region.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>BRICS Parliamentary Forum<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><b>Context:\u00a0<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will be leading an Indian parliamentary delegation to the<\/span><b> 11th BRICS Parliamentary Forum in Brazil.<\/b><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 16pt;\"><b>About BRICS Parliamentary Forum<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The BRICS Parliamentary Forum is a <\/span><b>platform for legislative cooperation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> among the member countries of BRICS.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It aims to <\/span><b>strengthen dialogue,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> share best practices, and enhance parliamentary diplomacy among the member states.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>first formal BRICS Parliamentary Forum<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> meeting was held in<\/span><b> Moscow, Russia, in 2015, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">under Russia\u2019s BRICS Chairship.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Theme<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><b>\u2018The Role of BRICS Parliaments in Building a More Inclusive and Sustainable, Global Governance\u2019. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Sub-themes of the Forum:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Towards Stronger and More Durable BRICS Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BRICS Parliaments United for the Reform of the multilateral peace and security architecture.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation for responsible and Inclusive Artificial Intelligence.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BRICS Parliamentary Action in Search of New Paths for Economic Development.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BRICS Inter-Parliamentary Alliance for Global Health.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BRICS Inter-Parliamentary Dialogue on Climate and Sustainability.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Tejas LCA<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><b>Context: <\/b><b>Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has established a fourth production line\u00a0 of the indigenous fighter aircraft<\/span><b> Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk1A\u00a0 in Hyderabad.<\/b><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 16pt;\"><b>About the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Developed by: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Role:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Single-engine, multirole, lightweight fighter jet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Type: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a 4.5-generation combat aircraft.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>First Flight:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 2001.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Operational Induction:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 2016 (IAF).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Variants\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Tejas Mk1:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Initial operational version, inducted in Indian Air Force.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Tejas Mk1A:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Upgraded with AESA radar, improved avionics, and better maintenance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Tejas Mk2 (Under Development):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Larger, more powerful, with longer range and payload.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Tejas Naval Version:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Designed for aircraft carriers (under testing).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Features :\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Engine:<\/b> <b>General Electric F404 (Mk1\/Mk1A)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, planned indigenous Kaveri engine (future).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Radar:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Equipped with advanced AESA Radars,<\/span><b> Israeli EL\/M-2052 or India\u2019s indigenous Uttam AESA Radar.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Enhanced Flight Control:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Upgraded Digital Fly-by-Wire Flight Control System.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Electronic Warfare (EW):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Features Unified Electronic Warfare Suite (UEWS) and Advanced Self Protection Jammer pod.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Increased Weapon Capacity:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Has capacity to carry Beyond Visual Range missiles, Air-to-Air\/Ground missiles, and ASRAAM.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Goa Achieves Full Functional Literacy<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the 39th Statehood Day, Goa <\/span><b>becomes fully<\/b><b><i> functionally literate<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> under the <\/span><b>ULLAS \u2013 Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This makes Goa the <\/span><b>second state in India (after Mizoram)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to surpass the <\/span><b>95% literacy benchmark<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> set by the central government.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Official Literacy Rate (PLFS 2023-24):<\/b> <b>93.60%<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is aligned with\u00a0 the <\/span><b>National Education Policy (NEP) 2020<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and India\u2019s vision of achieving <\/span><b>100% literacy by 2030<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> under the <\/span><b>Viksit Bharat<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> initiative<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 16pt;\"><b>About ULLAS \u2013 Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Launched:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 2022; operational till 2027<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Type:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Centrally Sponsored Scheme<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Target Group:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Adults aged 15 years and above who could not attend formal schooling<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Vision:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jan-Jan Sakshar<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d \u2013 <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every Citizen Literate<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Guiding Principles:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Volunteerism and Kartavya Bodh (sense of duty)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Five Key Components of the ULLAS Scheme:<\/b>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Foundational Literacy and Numeracy<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Critical Life Skills<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (e.g. health, financial literacy, digital literacy)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Basic Education<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (equivalent to Grades 3 to 8)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Vocational Skills Development<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Continuing Education<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>National Florence Nightingale Awards 2025<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><b>Context: T<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">he <\/span><b>President of India, recently<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> conferred the <\/span><b>National Florence Nightingale Awards<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to <\/span><b>15 distinguished nursing professionals<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at a ceremonial event held at <\/span><b>Rashtrapati Bhavan<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 16pt;\"><b>About Award<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Instituted by:<\/b> <b>Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Government of India in <\/span><b>1973<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Objective:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> To recognize <\/span><b>meritorious services rendered<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by nursing professionals in public health and patient care<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Eligible Categories:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Registered Nurses<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Midwives<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lady Health Visitors (LHVs)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Award Includes:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Certificate of Merit<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u20b91,00,000 cash prize and Medal<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"vc_table_green\"><\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 99.6375%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 111.19%; text-align: center;\" colspan=\"2\"><span 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Alipurduar shares its border with Bhutan and\u00a0 it is also connected to Assam. It is surrounded by Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar. About City Gas Distribution (CGD) Project Total investment: Over \u20b91,010 crore.&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/news-in-shorts-31-may-2025\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">News in Shorts: 31 May 2025<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":167651,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"paper-wise":[],"subject":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/167852"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/current-affairs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/167852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167875,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/167852\/revisions\/167875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167852"},{"taxonomy":"paper-wise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper-wise?post=167852"},{"taxonomy":"subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subject?post=167852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}