Current Affairs : International , January 1, 2010

On June 19, 2009 Bangladesh’s daylight saving time (DST) started at 11pm (23:00) local time when the clocks were adjusted one hour forward at this time to midnight (00:00) between June 19 and June 20. This was done to save power and alleviate the nation’s energy shortfall. On this date clocks were moved forward from being six hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (or UTC+6 hours) to UTC+7 hours.

Bangladesh’s time zone during the non-daylight saving period is known as Bangladesh Time (BDT), which has a time offset of UTC+6 hours.
This time zone applies to the whole country and shifted to UTC+7 hours when DST occurred at midnight between June 19 and 20, 2009.
The government has decided to restore Bangladesh standard time (BST) at midnight of December 31, 2009. The clocks were adjusted back one hour from 11:59 p.m. to 10:59 p.m. on Dec. 31, in an attempt to dispel widespread confusion over the introduction of Daylight Saving Time (DST). Since June The government has saved 200 MW of electricity, this is what the govt. of Bangladesh says.

World Tamil Conference in June:
The World Classical Tamil Conference will be held in Coimbatore June 23-27, 2010. They are series of occasional conferences held by the government of Tamil Nadu, which aim to unite Tamil people around the world. First World Tamil Conference was held in 1967 in Kuala lumpur.

Tobacco could be bio fuel of vehicles of future
As per a report published in Plant Biotechnology Journal, some researchers have identified a way of increasing oil content in tobacco leaves to be used as a bio fuel. According to this report, Tobacco can generate bio fuel more efficiently than other agricultural crops. The scientists have found ways to genetically engineer the plants so that their leaves express more oil. In some instances, the modified plants produced 20-fold more oil in the leaves. In their view, Tobacco represents an attractive and promising ‘energy plant’ platform, and could also serve as a model for the utilisation of other high-biomass plants for bio fuel production.

India Japan Agreement on Green Buildings
India and Japan have signed agreements to build Eco-friendly cities along the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor which is being developed with the help of Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO). Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) and Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corp (DMICDC)have signed this MOU.
The 1,483-km Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor will cover and traverse through 6 states Delhi and the national capital region, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana. The project will be finished by 2017.

World’s Fastest Train is in China:
China Railway High-Speed (CRH) is World’s fastest train which runs at an average speed train of 350 km per hour. The super-high-speed train connects the cities of Guangzhou, which is a business hub in southern China near Hong Kong, and Wuhan (a metropolis in central China). It is a distance of 1,069 km that takes only three hours to complete in the new high-speed train.

India Sri Lanka Power Link
By 2013 India and Sri Lanka will be having a 285-kilometre power link which will include submarine cables over a stretch of 50 km. This link will enable the two countries to trade their surplus power apart from offering a cheaper option to bridge their power generation deficit and also manage their peak demand. This is a Rs. 2300 crore project and Powergrid Corporation of India Ltd, the country’s largest electricity transmission company is the implementing agency from the Indian side. Sri lankan side implementation will be done by Ceylon Electricity Board. They will lay down cables under the Gulf of Mannar between Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu and Talaimannar in Mannar islands in Sri Lanka.

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