Research Stations – Location

1. Himadri               – Arctic
2. IndARC                – Arctic
3. Bharati                 – Antarctica
4. Maitri                  – Antarctica

• IndARC is India's first underwater moored observatory in the Arctic region.
• It was deployed in 2014 at Kongsfjorden fjord, Svalbard, Norway which is midway between Norway and North Pole.
• Its research goal is to study the Arctic climate and its influence on the monsoon.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recenlty extended his wishes to the Kashmiri Pandit community on the occasion of Jyeshtha Ashtami.

Jyeshtha Ashtami Festival

• Jyestha Ashtami is celebrated at the shrine of Khir Bhawani in Tullamula in honour of their patron goddess Ragnya Devi in Jammu and Kashmir.
• ‘Kheer’ (rice boiled in milk) is prepared on this day as a food offering.
• The annual Mela Kheer Bhawani is the biggest Hindu festival in Jammu & Kashmir after the Amarnath Yatra.

• Kutch is a land of salt desert, grasslands and mangroves.
• Interestingly, the mangroves here are known for an amazing phenomenon of being world’s only Inland Mangrove.
• The Rann of Kutch alone produces three-fourth of total salt supply of India.
• The place is also the home to the Kharai breed of camel which has the special ability to survive on both dry land as well as in the saline water.
• They can even swim in sea water and feed on saline water and plants.
• They are well-adapted to the extreme climate of the desert and high salinity of water.
• Banni grassland reserve is also located in the Kutch district of Gujarat.
• Dumhal is a dance performed in Jammu and Kashmir by the Watal tribes.

Anupam Varma Committee

• It is an expert committee formed to frame a policy for monitoring of pesticide residue in Fruits and Vegetables.
• Based on its recommendation, Agriculture ministry has banned 18 pesticides in 2018.
• Union government recently has issued a draft order proposing a ban on import, manufacturing, sale, transport and distribution of 27 insecticides, a move that is likely to impact agro chemicals firms.

• The Kharai Camel, also known as the “Swimming Camel”, is a unique breed of camel found only in Kutch, which feeds on mangroves.
• These camels are unique, because they have the special ability to survive on both, dry land and in the sea.
• They swim in seawater and feed on saline plants and mangroves.
• The Kharai was recognised as a separate breed in 2015 by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

• The Government of India has approved Rs 445 crore for the implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in Chhatisgarh in 2020-21.
• The Chhattisgarh government has prepared a roadmap to achieve 100% Functional Tap Water Connection (FHTC) by year 2023-24 under which it will provide tap connections to 20 lakh households out of the total of 45 lakh households in the State. 
• The mission aims to ensure HarGharJal (piped water supply), Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to all rural household by 2024.
• Jal Shakti Ministry is the nodal ministry for this mission.
• Water is the State subject. Thus, the implementation has to be done through the States.
• The fund released by Central Government to the State Governments is to be deposited in one Single Nodal Account (SNA) that will be maintained by SWSM.
• Public Finance Management System (PFMS) should be used for tracking the funds.
• Extra budgetary resources are made available for JJM and it is allocated along with Gross Budgetary Support among States/ UTs as per the allocation criteria.

• The Haryana Government’s decision to enforce use of Hindi in all courts and tribunals across the state has been challenged in the Supreme Court, recently.
• According to The Haryana Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2020, “In all Civil Courts and Criminal Courts in Haryana subordinate to the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, all revenue Courts and Rent Tribunals or any other court or tribunal constituted by the State Government, work shall be done in Hindi language.” 
• Article 348 (1) of the Constitution provides that all proceedings in the Supreme Court and in every High court shall be in English Language until Parliament by law otherwise provides.
• Article 348 (2), states that the Governor of the State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorize the use of the Hindi language or any other language used for any official purpose of the State, in the proceedings of the High Court having its principal seat in that State provided that decrees, judgments or orders passed by such High Courts shall be in English.
• Section 7 of the Official Languages Act, 1963, provides that the use of Hindi or official language of a State in addition to the English language may be authorized, with the consent of the President of India, by the Governor of the State for purpose of judgments made by the High Court.

• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has sent an advisory to all states to expand the survey, to check the Covid-19 infection in the community using Elisa-based antibody testing,
• The Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISAs) based test is a laboratory technique used for the detection of antibodies that are produced by the body to fight against antigens or foreign substances.
• ELISA-based tests are blood-based tests, which have high sensitivity and specificity.
• The sensitivity of a test refers to the percentage of results that will correctly find out the presence of infection in a person.
• The specificity refers to the percentage of results that will correctly find out whether or not a person is infected.
• According to the Union Health Ministry, the ELISA-based antibody test developed by the National Institute of Virology, Pune, has a sensitivity of 92% and its specificity is 97%. 
• The ELISA-based test developed at National Institute of Virology, Pune, is called COVID Kavach ELISA. 
• It is an IgG Elisa-based test. This means that the test will be done to detect the Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody.
• The body produces Immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG antibodies to fight against a pathogen.
• If the IgG antibody is detected, it can be concluded that the person was exposed to SARS-CoV-2.
• It is a form of a rapid test are not used for confirming Covid-19 infection and are only used for surveillance purpose.
• Those who test positive using this tests are usually tested with RT-PCR tests.
• RT-PCR tests are considered as the gold standard for confirming the presence of SARS-CoV-2.
• RT-PCR is a time consuming, lab-based test and involves the collection of throat and nasal swabs and is not a blood-based test.

• Project Ahana is Plan India’s (an NGO) national programme working towards an AIDS free generation in partnership with the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM).
• In partnership with the national programme, the project works in 9 states: Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal covering 218 districts.

• Cyclone Nisarga which recently formed in Arabian Sea is headed towards the coastline of north Maharashtra and south Gujarat.
• Cyclones formed in the Bay of Bengal side of the north Indian Ocean are more frequent and stonger than those on the Arabian Sea side.
• Meteorologists suggest the relatively cold waters of the Arabian Sea discourage the kind of very strong cyclones that are formed on the Bay of Bengal side; Odisha and Andhra Pradesh face the brunt of these cyclones every year.