TKDL is an Indian initiative to prevent exploitation and to protect Indian traditional knowledge from wrongful patents, mainly at International Patent Offices.
TKDL contains Indian traditional medicine knowledge in a digitized format and is available in five international languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese).
Indian traditional medicine knowledge in TKDL pertains to traditional books related to Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha.
CSIR is the implementing agency for TKDL and under the scheme funds are provided only to CSIR and no funds have been allocated to any State.
Food Irradiation Centres
In Irradiation centres, food products are subjected to a low dosage of radiation to treat them for germs and insects, increasing their longevity and shelf life.
Food can be irradiated only in a food irradiation plant authorised by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and licensed by the competent Government Authority
The irradiation doses are recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Four irradiation projects have been approved in U.P, Haryana, Karnataka and Rajasthan recently.
It is approved under the integrated cold chain scheme, to tide over shortages, post-harvest losses, price rise and to preserve fruits and vegetables.
In India, post-harvest losses in food and food grains are around 40-50 per cent, primarily due to insect infestation, microbiological contamination, physiological changes due to sprouting and ripening, and poor shelf life.
Thus Irradiation centres help to overcome this post harvest losses.
Most Competitive State
According to recent study conducted by National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), Gujarat has topped in business investment potential and has become the most competitive state.
The Study ranks their competitiveness on six pillars, namely land, labour, infrastructure, economic climate, political stability and governance, and business perception.
Gujarat is followed by Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
West Bengal ranked last on the index, with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar being just above it.
While corruption continues to be a sore area for businesses, the report finds perceptions of corruption seem to be improving, indicating change.
The percentage of respondents citing corruption as a constraint for conducting business has fallen from 79% in 2016 to 57% in 2017.
Global Witness
Global Witness is a London and Washington, D.C. based advocacy group that works on the intersection of natural resource extraction and human rights.
In its recent “Global Witness Report”, it ascertains that 2016 has highest annual number of environmental activists were killed.
Brazil is the world’s deadliest country in terms of sheer numbers killed for the protection of Amazon’s natural wealth.
Honduras remains the most dangerous country per capita over the past decade.
India saw a threefold increase in killings but Latin America remained the deadliest region with 60% of the world’s deaths of environmental activists.
Haemoglobinopathies
Hemoglobinopathy is a kind of genetic defect that results in abnormal structure of one of the globin chains of the hemoglobin molecule.
Common hemoglobinopathies includes sickle-cell disease and Thalassemia and other variant anaemia.
Thalassemia usually results in underproduction of normal globin proteins, often through mutations in regulatory genes.
Although Public Health being a State subject, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has recently issued comprehensive guideline for Haemoglobinopathies.
The guidelines provide for screening of every pregnant woman during ANC, pre-marital counselling at the college level and onetime screening for variant anaemia for all children in class VIII.
Earnings power
It is defined as the ability of a business to generate earnings from its core operating activities, assuming all current operational conditions remain constant.
Earnings power is a useful concept for investors trying to value a business.
To arrive at the earnings power of a business, investors usually take a look at the historical earnings record of the business and then adjusted to get an idea of its probable future earnings.
Source : PIB, The Hindu, Business Standard and Business Line
