Mobikwik and Samagra Launched ‘M-Gullak’ for Urban Poor
• Digital payments platform MobiKwik and Samagra, an NGO serving urban poor, launched ‘M-Gullak’ to promote the habit of savings among them on September 1, 2016.
• M-Gullak will provide ICT-enabled mobile wallet platform that enables users save in very small amounts at various Hi locations, recharge phones, buy digital u goods and transfer to their bank accounts.
• M-Gullak will help urban poor become a part of India’s digital revolution. 1 M-Gullak currently enables and motivates Samagra’s toilet users to save as little as Rs 2 on a daily basis using a small ‘Kiosk’ in the community toilets as the
ECOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT
Indonesia’s Mount Barujari Volcano Erupted
• Mount Barujari on Lombok island spewed a massive column of ash into the atmosphere on September 29, 2016.
• The volcano, also known as the ‘Child of Rinjani’ because it sits within the Mount Rinjani caldera, erupted without warning.
• Rinjani is among about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia. The archipelago is’prone to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes because of its location on the Pacific ‘ring of fire’.
Typhoon ‘Megi’ Hit into Taiwan and South-East China
• Two landslides have ploughed into villages in China’s eastern Zhejiang province, swallowing-up dozens of houses and leaving more than 30 people missing on September 29, 2016.
• Megi, which has killed four people and injured more than 523 in Taiwan since’roaring in from the Pacific.
• A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops in the western part of the North Pacific Ocean between 180° and 100°E.
India Signed Pact with ISA for Exploration of Polymetallic Sulphides
• The government of India signed a 15-year contract with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for exploration of PolyMetallic Sulphides (PMS) in Indian Ocean on September 27, 2016.
• The ISA is an institution set-up under the Convention on Law of the Sea to which India is a party.
• Polymetallic sulphides containing iron, copper, zinc, silver, gold and platinum in variable constitutions are precipitates of hot fluids from upwelling hot magma from deep interior of the oceanic crust, discharged through mineralised chimneys.
New Lizard Species Discovered in Mumbai
• A new species of a ground-dwelling lizard has been discovered in Mumbai and named after a Bengaluru-based scientist Varad Giri on September 26, 2016.
• The species, of the genus Cyrtodactylus known in South-East Asia, India and Sri Lanka, is a member of the subgenus Geckoella, which are small ground-dwelling geckos.
• This uncommon species is mostly seen moving among the leaf litter on the forest floor. They are active during night and take refuge under rocks and logs during the day. It grows The length of around 6 cm.
Typhoon Meranti Hit Chinese Coast
• Typhoon Meranti, stated-to be “the world’s strongest typhoon so far this year, made landfall in East China’s Fujian Province early on September 15, 2016 causing widespread destruction.
• A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclorte that develops in the western part of the North Pacific Ocean between 180° and^l00°E.
• There are six main requirements for typhoon formation and development: sufficiently warm sea surface temperatures, atmospheric instability, high humidity in the lower to middle levels of the troposphere, enough Coriolis force to develop a low pressure centre, a pre-existing low level focus or disturbance, and low vertical wind shear.
