Daily Current Affairs – 2020

Topic: For Prelims and Mains

Blue Flag Tag

Why in News?

Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Prakash Javadekar has recently hoisted the international blue flags in 8 beaches across the country.

• India secured the International Blue Flag Certification for these beaches on 6th October 2020 at Copenhagen, Denmark.
• India became the first country in Asia to get 8 ‘BLUE FLAG’ in 2 years, included in the list of top 50 countries .

Advantage:

This would include equipping the coast with plastic-free, dirt-free, solid waste management, ensuring availability of clean water for tourists, developing tourist facilities as per international standards and studying environmental impacts around the coastline.

Facts for Prelims:

New species of sun rose:

Botanists have discovered a new species of wild sun rose from the Eastern Ghats in India.

• The new species, named Portulaca laljii, discovered from Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh has unique features such as a tuberous root, no hair in its leaf axils, a reddish pink flower, prolate­shaped fruits, and copper brown seeds without lustre.
• These morphological features distinguish the species from other species of genus Portulaca.