Species in News for UPSC Prelims 2020
Living Root Bridge in Meghalaya What are the Jing Kieng Jri or Living Root Bridges? The living root bridges are aerial bridges built by weaving and manipulating the roots of the Indian Rubber Tree. They are handmade by the Khasi and Jaintia tribes. They serve as a bridge for crossing streams and rivers for generations […]
MANI
Why in News? India’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has launched a mobile app named ‘MANI’ on Wednesday, 1st January 2019. MANI will help in identifying the denomination of currency notes for the visually challenged persons. MANI stands for Mobile Aided Note Identifier is available for download from Google Play Store and Apple app […]
JALSATHI
Why in News? Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik launched the ‘Jalsathi’ programme which will ensure supply of safe drinking water to all households in the state. During the programme launch, he distributed water quality testing kits and POS (point of sale) machines to women volunteers being called as- ‘Jalasathis’. The inclusion of woman volunteers […]
HOW HUMANS AFFECT THE GENETIC CONNECTIVITY OF FOUR MAMMALS
Why in News? A new study of four wide ranging mammals – Jungle cats, Leopards, Sloth Bears and Tigers in central India – from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, has shown that anthropogenic activities can impact genetic connectivity or the movement among habitat patches usually resulting in mating and genetic exchange. Details […]
WHO PREQUALIFIES PNEUMOCOCCAL VACCINE
Why in News? Pneumococcal vaccine developed by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India has been pre-qualified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the third week of December 2019. This Vaccine costs only 2$ per dose, 30% lesser than Gavi. Serum Institute had optimised an efficient conjugate vaccine manufacturing processes for its meningitis A vaccine […]
DOUBLE BURDEN OF MALNUTRITION: NEED FOR URGENT POLICY ACTION
2019 was remarkable for nutrition in India as – After years of slow and somewhat tentative action to acknowledge, understand and act on the challenge of undernutrition, India’s National Nutrition Mission brought focus and ambition and a range of actions followed. Changes seen: National and State Governments mobilised District Administrators engaged Private sector mobilised in […]
V1C6: TARGETING EASE OF DOING BUSINESS IN INDIA
Ease of doing business is key to entrepreneurship, innovation and wealth creation. India has risen significantly in the World Bank’s Doing Business rankings in recent years, but there are categories where it lags behind – Starting a Business, Registering Property, Paying Taxes and Enforcing Contracts. For example, registering property in Delhi and Mumbai takes 49 […]
V1C5: CREATING JOBS AND GROWTH BY SPECIALIZING TO EXPORTS IN NETWORK PRODUCTS
Survey says India has unprecedented opportunity to chart a China-like, labour-intensive, export trajectory. By integrating “Assemble in India for the world” into Make in India, India can: Raise its export market share to about 3.5% by 2025 and 6% by 2030. Create 4 crore well-paid jobs by 2025 and 8 crores by 2030. The survey […]
C.N.R. RAO
Why in News? C.N.R. Rao, the chief guest at the Indian Science Congress told that Neither the Quality nor the quantity of publications that come out of India are adequate. He said China had made major strides in science, and as of today, it nearly equalled the research publication output of the U.S. — the […]
NOBEL PRIZE WINNER CALLS FOR PATHOGEN SPECIFIC DRUGS
Ada. E. Yonath (Winner of Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009) delivered a talk in 107th Indian Science Congress She said – Concerns surrounding anti-biotic use, including environmental hazards and the appearance of multi-drug resistant bacteria can be minimised by designing antibiotics that are specific to each species of pathogen, instead of using the broad-range […]