B.1.1.7 LINEAGE
India suspended all flights from and to the UK until December 31, amid concerns about a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 that is “spreading & growing rapidly” there.
About:
- Last week, the new SARS-CoV-2 variant was revealed to be the reason behind the rapid surge in Covid-19 cases in South and East England.
- It is being referred to as VUI (Variant Under Investigation) 202012/01, or the B.1.1.7 lineage.
- The variant is the result of multiple mutations in the spike protein of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, as well as mutations in other genomic regions of the RNA virus.
- Preliminary analysis suggests that it is more transmissible than previously circulating variants.
STATUS OF LEOPARDS REPORT
Union Minister for Environment Prakash Javadekar released the Status of Leopards report.
About:
- The leopard population has been estimated using camera trapping method.
- There are 12,852 leopards in India as of 2018 as compared to the previous estimate of 7910 conducted 2014, an increase of 60% in 4 years.
- The highest concentration of the leopard in India is estimated to be in Madhya Pradesh (3,421) followed by Karnataka (1,783) and Maharashtra (1,690).
- Recent meta-analyses of leopard status and distribution suggest 48–67% range loss for the species in Africa and 83–87% in Asia.
- In India, leopards have experienced a possibly human-induced 75-90% population decline in the last ~120-200 years.
- In Indian subcontinent poaching, habitat loss, depletion of natural prey and conflict are major threats to leopard populations. All these have resulted in changing the species status from ‘Near Threatened’ to ‘Vulnerable’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
- As for region-wise distribution, the highest number of 8,071 leopards were found in central India and eastern ghats. In the northeast hills, there are just 141 leopards.
INDIA-VIETNAM LEADERS’ VIRTUAL SUMMIT
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a Virtual Summit with H.E. Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of Vietnam.
About:
- A ‘Joint Vision for Peace, Prosperity and People’ document was adopted during the Summit, to guide the future development of the India-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
- Both leaders also welcomed the signing of a Plan of Action for period 2021-2023 for further implementation of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to implement the Joint Vision.
Announcements made:
- Implementation of the High Speed Guard Boat (HSGB) Manufacturing Project for Vietnam Border Guard Command under the US$ 100 million Defence Line of Credit extended by Government of India to Vietnam;
- Completion and handing over of seven Development Projects with Indian ‘Grant-in-Aid’ Assistance of US$ 1.5 million for the benefit of local community in Vietnam’s Ninh Thuan province.
- Enhancing the number of annual Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) from currently five to ten commencing FY 2021-2022.
- Three new Development Partnership projects in heritage conservation in Vietnam (F-block of Temple at My Son; Dong Duong Buddhist Monastery in Quang Nam province; and Nhan Cham Tower in Phu Yen province).
- Launch of bilateral project for preparing an Encyclopaedia on India - Vietnam Civilizational and Cultural Relations.
SOUTHWEST MONSOON 2020
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) released the ‘End of the Season—Southwest Monsoon 2020’.
The report highlights the following Significant Features:
- The seasonal (June-September) rainfall over the country as a whole was 109% of its Long Period Average (LPA) in 2020. It was the third highest after 112% of LPA in 1994 and 110 % of LPA in 2019.
- Southwest monsoon current reached south Andaman Sea and Nicobar Islands on 17th May 2020 (5 days ahead of its normal date), but further advance was sluggish. It set in over Kerala on 1st June coinciding with its normal date for onset over Kerala; Monsoon covered the entire country on 26th June 2020; 12 days before its normal date (8th July).
- Monsoon started withdrawing from western parts of northwest India on 28th September 2020 against the normal date of 17th September 2020 with a delay of around 11 days. The Southwest Monsoon withdrew from the entire country on 28th October 2020.
- During the season, one Severe Cyclonic Storm “NISARGA” formed during 1st to 4th June. This year also witnessed absence of monsoon depression during the season.
HIGH LEVEL COMMITTEE TO COMMEMORATE THE 125TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE
The Government has decided to constitute a High Level Committee to commemorate the 125th Birth Anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
About:
- This High Level Committee will decide on the activities for a one year long commemoration starting 23rd January, 2021.
- The High Level Committee will be headed by the Union Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah. The members will include experts, historians, authors, family members of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, as well as eminent persons associated with Azad Hind Fauj/INA.
WINTER SOLSTICE
December 21 was Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, conversely, December 21 was Summer Solstice, the year’s longest day.
About:
- The Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees away from the perpendicular. This tilt — combined with factors such as Earth’s spin and orbit — leads to variations in the duration of Sunlight that any location on the planet receives on different days of the year.
- The winter solstice, hiemal solstice or hibernal solstice occurs when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt away from the Sun.
- It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern).
- For that hemisphere, the winter solstice is the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year, when the Sun is at its lowest daily maximum elevation in the sky. Its opposite is the summer solstice.
- The winter solstice occurs during the hemisphere's winter.
- In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the December solstice (usually December 21 or 22) and in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the June solstice (usually June 20 or 21).
SHIGELLOSIS
Health officials in Kozhikode district of Kerala kicked in preventive measures last week after six cases of shigella infection and nearly two dozen suspected cases were detected.
About:
- Shigellosis, or shigella infection, is a contagious intestinal infection caused by a genus of bacteria known as shigella.
- The bacteria is one of the prime pathogens responsible for causing diarrhoea, fluctuating between moderate and severe symptoms, especially in children in African and South Asian regions.
- The bacteria, after entering the body through ingestion, attacks the epithelial lining of the colon resulting in inflammation of the cells and subsequently the destruction of the cells in severe cases.
- The common symptoms are diarrhoea (often bloody and painful), stomach pain, fever, nausea and vomiting.
- The infection is known to spread person-to-person when the bacteria is swallowed accidentally. Spread through contaminated food and water is the most common form of transmission across the world.
- Prevention: It’s important to wash hands with soap especially after dealing with a child’s diaper and before preparing/eating food.
'LEGION OF MERIT' AWARD
US President Donald Trump presented the prestigious Legion of Merit award to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
About:
- Mr Modi was presented with the highest degree Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit which is given only to the Head of State or Government.
- Mr Modi was given the award in recognition of his steadfast leadership and vision that has accelerated India’s emergence as a global power and elevated the strategic partnership between the United States and India to address global challenges.
- The US President also presented the Legion of Merit to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The awards were received by their respective ambassadors in Washington DC.
MOTILAL VORA
Veteran Congress leader Motilal Vora passed away at the age of 93. The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister had tested positive for Covid-19 in October.
About:
- Motilal Vora (1928 – 2020) was an Indian politician belonging to the Indian National Congress (INC).
- He served as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh (1985–1988; 1989).
- In 1988, Vora became a member of the Rajya Sabha, and assumed the office of Union Minister of Health and Civil Aviation. He was a cabinet minister in Government of India.
- He served as Governor of Uttar Pradesh (1993-1996).
JSA II: CATCH THE RAIN AWARENESS GENERATION CAMPAIGN
National Water Mission (NWM), Ministry of Jal Shakti in collaboration with Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports launched the “JSA II: Catch the Rain” Awareness Generation Campaign.
About:
- Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangthan will undertake the campaign covering 623 districts across the nation from December 2020 to March 2021.
- NWM has launched a campaign Catch the rain” with tag line “catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls” in order to nudge all stake-holders to create Rain Water Harvesting Structures (RWHS) to store rain water as rains falling in the four/five months of monsoon are the only source of water for most parts of the country.
ASOKENAGAR-1 WELL
Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas dedicated the Bengal Basin, the 8th producing basin of India, to the nation.
About:
- ONGC took a major step by commencing oil production from the well Asokenagar-1, Bengal Basin in 24 Paragana district.
- The well Asoknagar-1 was completed as an oil producer under Early-Monetization Plan issued by Government of India.
- This makes ONGC having discovered and put to production seven out of the eight producing basins of India covering 83 percent of established oil & gas reserves.
- ONGC is India’s largest oil and gas producer contributing 72 percent of the country’s hydrocarbon production.
- The well Asokenagar-1 has heralded the end of painstaking search for hydrocarbons in the region by ONGC by sending its first hydrocarbon consignment produced during well testing to IOCL’s Haldia Oil Refinery done earlier on 5 November 2020
REHABILITATION CENTRE FOR MONKEYS
The first rescue and rehabilitation centre for monkeys in Telangana was inaugurated at Gandi Ramanna Haritavanam near Chincholi village in Nirmal district.
About:
- Monkeys that venture into human habitations would be caught in a phased manner, brought to the centre where they would be operated on for birth control and would be released into the forests again after the rehabilitation period.
- To make the rehabilitation centre a sustainable habitat for the primates, several fruit and flowering plants, a variety of trees that provide shade, and medicinal plants would be grown.
COASTAL RADAR CHAIN NETWORK
As part of India’s efforts to further expand the coastal radar chain network meant to enable real-time monitoring of the high seas for threats, efforts are in advanced stages to set up coastal radar stations in the Indian Ocean littoral states of Maldives, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
About:
- Mauritius, Seychelles and Sri Lanka have already been integrated into the country’s coastal radar chain network. Similar plans are in the pipeline with Maldives and Myanmar and discussions are ongoing with Bangladesh and Thailand.
- Under Phase-I of the coastal radar chain network, 46 coastal radar stations have been set up across the country’s coastline.
- Under Phase-II of the project, which is currently under way, 38 static radar stations and four mobile radar stations are being set up by the Coast Guard and is in advanced stage of completion.
Chang’e 5
China’s Chang’e 5 lunar mission returned to Earth carrying around 2 kilograms of the first fresh rock samples from the moon in 44 years. The spacecraft landed in Siziwang Banner, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
About:
- The probe, named after the ancient Chinese goddess of the moon, first took off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan on November 24th.
- Two of the Chang’e 5’s four modules landed on the moon on 1st December and collected about 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of samples by scooping them from the surface and drilling 2 meters into the moon’s crust.
- The samples were deposited in a sealed container that was carried back to the return module by an ascent vehicle.
- The retrieved re-entry capsule of Chang'e-5 will be airlifted to Beijing, where the capsule will be opened and the samples will be ready for analysis.
Oceanus Procellarum:
- The samples were retrieved from a previously unvisited area of the moon.
- The latest samples come from a part of the moon known as the Oceanus Procellarum, or Ocean of Storms, near a site called the Mons Rumker that was believed to have been volcanic in ancient times.
- Mons Rumker, never sampled before, is geologically younger than the sampling areas of the U.S. and the Soviet missions.
KHUDIRAM BOSE
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday visited the native village of Bengali revolutionary Khudiram Bose in Midnapore, West Bengal.
About:
- Bose was born in 1889 at a small village in Midnapore district. One of the youngest leaders of the Independence movement, Bose is highly regarded in Bengal for his fearless spirit.
- In 1905, when Bengal was partitioned, he actively participated in protests against the British. At the age of 15, Bose joined the Anushilan Samiti, an early 20th century organisation that propounded revolutionary activities in Bengal.
- He is most remembered for his attempt to assassinate the British judge, Magistrate Douglas Kingsford, which ultimately led him to be sentenced to death at the young age of 18.
INDIGENOUS GAMES
The Sports Ministry has approved the inclusion of four Indigenous Games to be a part of Khelo India Youth Games 2021, scheduled to take place in Haryana. The games include: Gatka, Kalaripayattu, Thang-Ta and Mallakhamba.
About:
- Kalaripayattu has its origin from Kerala and has practitioners all over the world; Bollywood actor Vidyut Jammwal being one.
- Mallakhamba, meanwhile, has been well-known across India and Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra have been the hotspots of this sport.
- Gatka originates from the State of Punjab and this traditional fighting style of the Nihang Sikh Warriors is used both as self-defense as well as a sport.
- Thang-Ta, a Manipur marital art has passed into oblivion in the recent decades, but the sport will get national recognition again with the help of the Khelo India Youth Games 2021.
VISVA BHARATI
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that to mark the Visva Bharati's 100 years, it should be an effort to renew Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore's ideas from this institution.
About:
- Visva-Bharati is a public research central university and an Institution of National Importance.
- It is located in Santiniketan, West Bengal.
- It was founded in 1921 by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India.
- Until independence it was a college. Soon after independence, the institution was given the status of a central university in 1951 by an act of the Parliament.
ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY (AMU)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the centenary celebrations of Aligarh Muslim University on 22 December, 2020.
About:
- AMU became a University in 1920, through an Act of Indian Legislative Council by elevating the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental (MAO) College to the status of a Central University.
- MAO College was set up in 1877 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.
- The University campus is located in the city of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. It also has three off-campus centres in Malappuram (Kerala), Murshidabad-Jangipur (West Bengal) and Kishanganj (Bihar).
GURUDWARA RAKAB GANJ SAHIB
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited historic Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Sahib in New Delhi where the pious Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Ji's mortal remains were cremated.
About:
- The Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib is a historic gurdwara near Parliament House in New Delhi.
- It was built in 1783, after Sikh military leader Baghel Singh Dhaliwal (1730–1802) captured Delhi, on 11 March 1783.
- This one marks the site of cremation of the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, after his martyrdom in November 1675 for saving Hindu Kashmiri Pandits, under orders of Aurangzeb.
- The Gurdwara Rakabganj sahib is also home to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee.
GASTRODIA AGNICELLUS
Gastrodia agnicellus, a newly discovered orchid has been named “the ugliest orchid in the world.”
About:
- Found in a forest in Madagascar, it feeds on fungi. and has no leaves.
- Although assessed as a threatened species, the plants have some protection because they are located in a national park.
Comments
Post a Comment