News Summary · 2 minutes read
Stay ahead in your UPSC CSE preparation with our daily News Summary. Designed to save time, it highlights key national and international events from leading newspapers and government websites.
Centre approves Urban Challenge Fund (UCF)
- UCF is a new centrally sponsored scheme of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs with ₹1 lakh crore central assistance.
- Operational from FY 2025-26 to FY 2030-31, extendable up to 2033-34.
- Aims to build productive, inclusive, and climate-responsive cities → will leverage market finance, private participation, and citizen-centric reforms for the delivery of high-quality urban infrastructure.
- Central assistance will cover 25% of the project costs, subject to raising a minimum of 50% of the project cost from the market, e.g., municipal bonds, bank loans, and PPPs → Expected to attract an investment of ₹4 lakh crore in the urban sector over the next 5 years.
- Projects will be selected through a transparent and competitive challenge mode.
- All urban local bodies in hilly States and northeastern States, and smaller urban local bodies with a population below 1 lakh, will be eligible for support under the Credit Repayment Guarantee Scheme (CRGS).
Indus flow increases, Ganga declines
Between 1980 and 2021, the Indus basin (mainly Jhelum and Chenab) annual streamflow has increased by about 8%, while the Ganga Basin’s flow declined by 17%.
Reasons
- Indus basin: rising precipitation, e.g., due to western disturbances.
- Ganga basin: declining rainfall, rising temperatures and atmospheric water demand, and groundwater pumping for irrigation.
Role of groundwater
- Groundwater feeds rivers (sometimes 50% to 70% of annual flow) through underground discharge.
- When farmers pump heavily for irrigation, less groundwater reaches rivers.
- In some parts of the Ganga basin, rivers are losing water to depleted groundwater systems.
[IIT Gandhinagar study]
Quick Picks for Pre and Mains (QPPM)
- National Data Centre for North Eastern Region (NDC-NER): recently inaugurated by PM Modi at Amingaon, Kamrup, Assam.
- Kumar Bhaskar Varma Setu: 1st extradosed Prestressed Concrete bridge in Northeast India → built across Brahmaputra in Guwahati, Assam → recently inaugurated by PM Modi.
- Chincha Valley: Peru