16TH AUGUST
Contents
ASHRAF GHANI STEP DOWN AS TALIBAN TAKES POWER
WHO CREATED NEW ADVISORY GROUP ‘SAGO’
INDIA’S FIRST DRONE FORENSIC LAB RESEARCH CENTRE
1ST NATIONAL PARK TO BE EQUIPPED WITH SATELLITE PHONES
INDIA’S FIRST CATTLE GENOMIC CHIP ‘INDIGAU’
FOUR NEW WETLANDS ADDED AS RAMSAR SITES
MINISTRY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE LAUNCHED ‘TAPAS’
ASHRAF GHANI STEP DOWN AS TALIBAN TAKES POWER
- Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani will shortly tender his resignation, as the government has surrendered to the Taliban forces, which entered Kabul and sought the unconditional surrender of the central government.
- Following this, a new interim government has been announced, which is likely to be headed by Ali Ahamd Jalali, a US-based academic.
- President Ashraf Ghani fled the country as the Islamist terrorists entered the city, he wanted to avoid bloodshed, while hundreds of Afghans desperate to leave flooded Kabul airport.
- In Washington, opponents of President Joe Biden’s decision to end America’s longest war, launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
- American diplomats were flown by helicopter to the airport from their embassy in the fortified Wazir Akbar Khan district as Afghan forces, trained for years and equipped by the United States and others at a cost of billions of dollars, melted away.
(SOURCE: INDIAN EXPRESS, THE PRINT)
WHO CREATED NEW ADVISORY GROUP ‘SAGO’
- World Health Organization (WHO) has created a new advisory group named, The International Scientific Advisory Group for Origins of Novel Pathogens, or SAGO.
- The function of SAGO will be to systematically study the emergence of future emerging pathogens with pandemic potential, and advise the development in this regard to WHO.
- WHO has made an open call for nominations to SAGO from the member countries, thus providing a transparent foundation for the new scientific advisory group.
- The group will also work towards finding the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
- President of the World Health Organisation: Tedros Adhanom.
- Headquarters of WHO: Geneva, Switzerland.
(SOURCE: LIVE MINT)
INDIA’S FIRST DRONE FORENSIC LAB RESEARCH CENTRE
- India’s first Drone Forensic Lab and Research Center has come up in Kerala.
- The Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan was inaugurating the State police department’s ‘Drone Forensic Laboratory’ at the Kerala State Police CyberDome. Cyberdome is a technological research and development centre of the Kerala Police Department.
- The centre will help in keeping a watch over unauthorized drones and also for the production of drones for the use of the police force.
- This lab-cum-research centre will look into both utility and threat aspects of a drone.
- The police have forayed strongly into the relatively new field of drone forensics. It had recently analysed a drone brought down by the Border Security Force (BSF) near the international border in Kathua district in Jammu and Kashmir and helped the local enforcement zero in on its illegal operator.
(SOURCE: TIMES OF INDIA)
1ST NATIONAL PARK TO BE EQUIPPED WITH SATELLITE PHONES
- Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in Assam has become the first national park in India to be equipped with satellite phones.
- Assam Chief Secretary Jishnu Barua handed over 10 satellite phones to the forest personnel of the Kaziranga National Park.
- The satellite phones will boost the anti-poaching measures in the park. BSNL will be the service provider of these phones.
- Significance: The park which has been spread over a massive 430 sq km area and divided into six ranges in upper Assam, has certain areas with poor to no connectivity.
- The satellite phones, given to the officials of Kaziranga Parks, which draw signals from the satellites instead of mobile towers will ensure connectivity in most of the remote locations. The move will also boost anti-poaching measures undertaken by the park.
(SOURCE: JAGRAN JOSH)
INDIA’S FIRST CATTLE GENOMIC CHIP ‘INDIGAU’
- Dr Jitendra Singh has released India’s first cattle genomic chip ‘IndiGau’ for the conservation of pure varieties of indigenous cattle breeds like, Gir, Kankrej, Sahiwal, Ongole etc.
- The chip has been developed by scientists of National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NAIB), Hyderabad, an autonomous institution under the aegis of the Department of Biotechnology.
- The chip will help in achieving the goal of conservation of our own breeds with better characters and help towards doubling farmers’ income by 2022.
(SOURCE: HINDUSTAN TIMES)
FOUR NEW WETLANDS ADDED AS RAMSAR SITES
- Four more wetlands from India have been added to the list of Ramsar sites, giving it the status of ‘Wetland of International Importance’.
- With this, the total number of Ramsar sites in India have reached 46, covering a surface area of 1,083,322 hectares.
- The sites have been recognised as wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. Two of these sites are in Haryana, while the other two are in Gujarat.
- These sites are:
- Thol, Gujarat
- Wadhwana, Gujarat
- Sultanpur, Haryana
- Bhindawas, Haryana
- The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty adopted on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. It came into force for India on February 1, 1982.
- Those wetlands which are of international importance are declared as Ramsar sites. Last year, Ramsar declared 10 more wetland sites from India as sites of international importance.
(SOURCE: INDIAN EXPRESS)
MINISTRY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE LAUNCHED ‘TAPAS’
- Empowerment has launched an online portal named TAPAS (Training for Augmenting Productivity and Services) to provide filmed lectures/courses and e-study material in the field of social defence.
- TAPAS is the initiative of the National Institute of Social Defence (NISD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The course can be taken up by anyone and is free of cost.
Presently there are 5 courses under TAPAS:
- Drug (Substance) Abuse Prevention,
- Geriatric/Elderly Care,
- Care and Management of Dementia,
- Transgender Issues and
- A comprehensive course on Social Defence Issues.
- About TAPAS: TAPAS seeks to provide access to lectures by subject experts, study material and more, but in a manner that it supplements the physical classroom without compromising on the quality of teaching.
- The main objective of introducing the course modules, is to impart training and enhance the knowledge and skills for the capacity building of the participants.
- It can be taken up by anyone who wishes to enhance his or her knowledge on the topics and there is no fee for joining.
(SOURCE: THE TRIBUNE)