UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 04-07-2020

Hagia Sophia Mosque

• Hagia Sophia is the former Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal cathedral, later an Ottoman imperial mosque.
• It is now a museum located in Istanbul, Turkey.
• Built in AD 537 (Byzantine architecture), during the reign of Justinian - I, the Eastern Roman emperor, it is famous for its large dome.
• In 1453, when Constantinople (capital city of the Roman Empire) fell to Sultan Mehmet II’s Ottoman forces, the Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque. 
• In 1934, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, converted the mosque into a museum in an attempt to make the country more secular.
• The 1,500-year-old structure has been listed as a UNESCO'S World Heritage site as of special cultural or physical significance.
• Recently, the government of Turkey has decided to convert Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia Museum into a mosque.

Purchasing Managers’ Index

• PMI is an index of the prevailing direction of economic trends in the manufacturing and service sectors.
• It consists of a diffusion index that summarizes whether market conditions, as viewed by purchasing managers, are expanding, staying the same, or contracting.
• The purpose of the PMI is to provide information about current and future business conditions to company decision makers, analysts, and investors.
• It is different from the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), which also gauges the level of activity in the economy.
• PMI is more dynamic compared to a standard industrial production index.
• The IHS Markit India Services Business Activity Index has released recently.
• It has observed the contraction of services sector activity for the fourth consecutive month in June 2020.

Index of Industrial Production

• Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index for India which details out the growth of various sectors in an economy such as mineral mining, electricity and manufacturing.
• It is compiled and published monthly by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation six weeks after the reference month ends.
• Index of Industrial Production (IIP) represents the status of production in the industrial sector for a given period of time as compared to a reference period of time.
• The current base year is 2011-2012.
• The Eight Core Industries comprise nearly 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
• IIP covers the broader industrial sector compared to PMI.

Plasma Bank

• For the first time in India, Delhi Administration has inaugurated a plasma bank in the city and urged recovered Covid-19 patients to donate their plasma.
• Delhi’s Plasma Bank is opened at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS).
• The Plasma Bank is a first-of-its-kind initiative in the entire country and appealed to recovered patients to donate their plasma.
• The recovered Covid-19 patients can donate their plasma after 14 days of their COVID-19 negative report.
• A healthy person between the age group of 18-60 years and with no comorbidities can be a donor and the patient should have recovered at least three weeks before donating and tested negative for Covid-19 twice.

Time Stamped Card System

• Recently, the Karnataka Forest Department has decided to put in place a traffic monitoring mechanism along the roads adjacent to Nagarahole National Park.
• The forest department will introduce a time-stamped card system for vehicles passing through the roads, adjacent to Nagarahole National Park, which have high traffic density 24x7.
• The time stamped card will have complete details on the speed limit to be maintained and the exit time at the next check post.
• Such a system is already in place on the road cutting through Nagarahole Tiger Reserve.
• It will help ensure that motorists don’t stop midway and litter the area or cause disturbance to wildlife.
• It will also ensure better compliance of forest laws by motorists and will also minimize road kills.

Nagarhole National Park

• It is also known as ‘Rajiv Gandhi National Park.
• It was established as a wildlife sanctuary in 1955 and was upgraded into a national park in 1988. It was declared as the 37th Tiger reserve under Project Tiger in 1999.
• The Park lies in the Western Ghats and is a part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
• The Nagarahole River flows through the park, which joins the Kabini River which also is a boundary between Nagarahole and Bandipur Ntional Park.
• The vegetation consists mainly of moist deciduous forests with predominating trees of teak and rosewood.

Narcondam Hornbill

• Narcondam Hornbill is endemic to the Narcondam Island in Andamans.
• It is a fairly small hornbill species, with a black body and distinct short, white tail.
• The Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) of these hornbill species in India is the Narcondam Island Wildlife Sanctuary.
• The natural ecosystems of these species include tropical and subtropical moist lowland forests, open mixed forests and tropical and sub-tropical moist shrublands.
• It is listed as 'Endangered' under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
• The CITES status is ‘Evaluated’ for the Narcondam hornbill and is listed in Appendix II.

Kola Bears

• According to recent study Koalas in the Australian could become extinct by 2050 unless the government immediately intervenes to protect them and their habitat.
• Koala bear is a "marsupial" which is a mammal with a pouch for the development of offspring.
• They are found in the eucalyptus forests of eastern Australia.
• They have grey fur with a cream-coloured chest, and strong, clawed feet, perfect for living in the branches of trees.
• It is listed as 'Vulnerable' as per the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Source: The Hindu, Indian Express