Early summer sparks farm fires and the wheat yield hit

• Vaid's ICS, Lucknow
• 14, Apr 2022

Topics: GS

1. A combination of extremely high temperatures and hot, dry winds across the north Indian plains has caused scores of unusual farm fires in the breadbasket states over the past two weeks, destroying swathes of the wheat crop ready for harvest.
2. Authorities have cautioned farmers, asking them to take precautions, as meteorologists said heatwaves, the main reason for the fires, is unlikely to abate soon.
3. Unchecked, these fires can sweep through human habitations as well, they said.
4. Ripening wheat crops have caught fire in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana over the past two weeks.

The winter staple is a major source of farm income in a country where half the population depends on agriculture-based livelihoods.

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SEEMA DARSHAN PROJECT

Union Home and Cooperative Minister Amit Shah has inaugurated ‘Seema Darshan Project’ at Nadabet located on the Indo-Pak border in Banaskantha District of Gujarat.

•  This multipurpose tourism project was completed under the direct guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• ‘Seema darshan Project’ was initiated with the aim to provide an opportunity to the people so that they can visualize the life and work of the BSF personnel on our border.
• BSF is constantly protecting our borders in very adverse weather conditions.
• Under the ‘Seema Darshan Project’, all kinds of tourist facilities and other special attractions have been developed at a cost of 1 crore 25 lakhs.

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A SpaceX capsule carrying three paying customers and a former NASA astronaut arrived at the International Space Station, finishing the first leg of this first-of-its-kind mission that will last about 10 days.

About:

The Ax-1 mission, which was organized by Houston company Axiom Space, is flying on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour.

Axiom Mission 1 (or Ax-1) is a private crew mission to the International Space Station (ISS), operated by Axiom Space out of Axiom Space’s Mission Control Center (or MCC-A) in Houston, TX. The flight launched on 8 April 2022, from Kennedy Space Center.

Axiom Space was founded in 2016 with the goal of creating the world’s first commercial space station.