Questions

1. The National Green Tribunal banned the use of ‘Chinese’ kite strings, made of nylon or any synthetic material on the grounds that it poses threat to life and environment.

2. The Tribunal directed all state governments to prohibit the “manufacture, sale, storage, purchase and use” of synthetic manja or nylon threads and all other synthetic strings used for flying kites with immediate effect.

3. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar ordered the authorities to ban import of any synthetic manja.

The famous hill-station Kodaikanal lies in Palani hills.

A Carpet is the pet which always stays on the floor.

i. The 'Swachh Survekshan 2017' survey results were recently announced by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu. The total 434 cities of India were surveyed. Indore in Madhya Pradesh is India’s cleanest city while Gonda in Uttar Pradesh is the dirtiest.

ii. Gujarat has the maximum of 12 cities among the top 50 clean cities, closely followed by Madhya Pradesh with 11 and Andhra Pradesh with eight. Uttar Pradesh accounted for half of the bottom 50 cities in the cleanliness ranking.

Top 10 clean cities of India in 2017 are:

Indore (MP)
Bhopal (MP)
Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh)
Surat (Gujarat)
Mysuru (Karnataka)
Tiruchirapally (Tamil Nadu)
New Delhi Municipal Council (New Delhi)
Navi Mumbai (Mumbai)
Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh)
Vadodara (Gujarat).

Top 5 Dirtiest cities of India (with Rank) in 2017 are:

Gonda (UP)- 434,
Bhusawal (Maharashtra)- 433,
Bagaha (Bihar)- 432,
Hardoi (Uttarakhand)- 431,
Katihar (Bihar)- 430.

Labor unions are associations of workers who pursue common objectives. Workers use this platform to bargain collectively on behalf of the majority of workers.