• In a major boost to tiger conservation ahead of Global Tiger Day, India’s National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), of  the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has recently announced the adoption of the Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards [CA|TS] across all of the country’s 50 Tiger Reserves.
• These 50 Tiger Reserves are spread across 18 states containing over 70% of the world’s tiger population.
• It means India is the first among the 13 tiger range countries to nationally adopt CA|TS.
• This brings India’s total number of registered sites to 94 (which includes sites outside the Tiger Reserves).
• The other six tiger range countries implementing CA|TS across 75 sites include Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Malaysia, Nepal and Russia.

Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS)

• CA|TS is a conservation tool that sets best practice and standards to manage target species, and encourages assessments to benchmark progress.
• Tigers are the first species selected for the initiative.
• CA|TS is being adopted for use beyond tigers, including potentially jaguars, lions and freshwater dolphins.
• Launched in 2013, the tool was developed in collaboration with field managers, tiger experts and government agencies engaged in tiger conservation.
• CA|TS is a management tool for the effective management of tiger conservation reserves.
• It also applies to other conservation reserves and protected areas which have tiger populations.
• CA|TS is a partnership of tiger range governments, inter-governmental agencies, institutions, NGOs and conservation organisations.
• WWF is helping tiger range countries to implement CA|TS, and is joined by other key global organization.

• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has recently released a detailed ‘Status of Tigers, Co-predators and Prey in India (2018) Report’ on the eve of the Global Tiger Day (29th July).
• The report compares information obtained from the earlier three tiger surveys (2006, 2010, and 2014) with data obtained from the 2018-19 survey to estimate tiger population trends at country level.
• India has 70% of the world's tiger population

Highlights of the report

• The national tiger status assessment of 2018-19 estimated the overall tiger population in India at 2,967 - 33% increase from 2014 (2,226).
• Tigers were observed to be increasing at a rate of 6% per annum in India from 2006 to 2018.
• Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of tigers at 526, closely followed by Karnataka (524) and Uttarakhand (442).
• The Northeast has suffered losses in population.
• Further, the tiger status in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha has steadily declined, which is a matter of concern.
• With 2,967 tigers, India is four years in advance, has achieved the target set in the 2010 St Petersburg Declaration of doubling tiger population by 2022.
• Uttarakhand’s Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) has reported the highest tiger density among India’s 50 reserves with 14 tigers per 100 sq km, followed by Kaziranga, Nagarhole and Orang tiger reserves.

• Union Minister for Environment has recently announced that his ministry is working on a programme in which efforts would be made to provide water and fodder to animals in the forest itself to deal with the challenge of human-animal conflict which is causing deaths of animals.
• For this LIDAR based survey technology will be used for the first time.

LIDAR Technology

• It is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure variable distances (Ranges) to the Earth.
• It is a method for measuring distances by illuminating the target with laser light and measuring the reflection with a sensor.
• These light pulses—combined with other data recorded by the airborne system — generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics.
• A lidar instrument principally consists of a laser, a scanner, and a specialized GPS receiver.
• Airplanes and helicopters are the most commonly used platforms for acquiring lidar data over broad areas.
• Two types of lidar are topographic and bathymetric.
• Topographic lidar typically uses a near-infrared laser to map the land, while bathymetric lidar uses water-penetrating green light to also measure seafloor and riverbed elevations.
• Lidar systems allow scientists and mapping professionals to examine both natural and manmade environments with accuracy, precision, and flexibility.

• The Centre for Augmenting WAR with COVID-19 Health Crisis (CAWACH), has recently selected Bangalore based startup Acculi Labs to develop a COVID risk assessment profile called Lyfas COVID score.
• Acculi Labs is armed with ‘Lyfas’ a clinical-grade, non-invasive, digital functional biomarker smartphone tool for screening, early detection, root cause analysis, acute event risk assessment, prognosis, and home monitoring of chronic diseases which they have repurposed to Lyfas COVID score.
• The new technology will detect the possible infection in an asymptomatic individual to prioritise the conventional testing queue as well as carry out a risk assessment of an asymptomatic individual to become symptomatic and risk assessment of an asymptomatic individual for recovery.

Centre for Augmenting WAR with COVID-19 Health Crisis (CAWACH)

• It is an initiative by National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.
• CAWACH supports market-ready innovations for the control of COVID-19 and startup ideas to address associated challenges.
• DST has nominated Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), IIT Bombay to implement CAWACH to source and support startups having solutions to fight pandemic COVID-19 by way of funding.
• SINE will be supported by Indian STEPs and Business Incubator Association (ISBA) in implementation of the program.
• CAWACH supports innovations in the areas of diagnostics, devices, informatics including bio-informatics & information management systems, any intervention for the control of COVID-19 and/or startup ideas to address/mitigate various challenges faced by country / society due to severe impact of COVID-19.

• Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd (SIIPL) has been supported under Department of Biotechnology’s National Biopharma Mission for conduct of a multisite randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled phase III clinical trial of a recombinant BCG vaccine candidate, VPM1002.
• The objective of this trial is to evaluate the ability of VPM1002 in reducing infection incidence and severe disease outcomes of COVID-19 among high-risk persons of advanced age or co-morbidities and high-exposure healthcare workers (HCWs).

Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) Vaccine

• BCG vaccine is administered routinely to all newborn babies as a part of the National childhood immunization programme to prevent tuberculosis (TB).
• TB is an infection caused by bacteria that mainly affects the lungs.
• It has beneficial heterologous effects and proven antiviral and immune modulatory properties that protect against infectious diseases through induction of trained innate immunity and heterologous adaptive immunity.
• About 6,000 health workers and high-risk individuals including those in close contact of COVID patients have been enrolled in a clinical trial to determine if the recombinant Bacillus Calmette-Guerian (rBCG) can boost immunity to fight against the virus.

• The Haryana Forest Department has started Aerial Seeding across the state on a pilot basis.
• This technique will allow plantation in sections of the Aravallis that are either difficult to access or inaccessible altogether.
• It is a technique where seed balls, seeds covered with a mixture of clay, compost, and other components are sprayed on the ground using aerial devices, including planes, helicopters or drones.
• It is a fire and forget way of plantation where no attention is needed after the dispersal of seeds.
• A surface that is loose and rough, with cracks or ample residue cover, works best.
• With a loose and rough surface the chances of a seed making soil contact and landing in areas with soil moisture is enhanced.   

• NASA is set to launch it’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover.
• Perseverance will carry a unique instrument, MOXIE or Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment.
• This is for the first time will manufacture molecular oxygen on Mars using carbon dioxide from carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere.
• Perseverance will carry Ingenuity, the first ever helicopter to fly on Mars.
• This is the first time NASA will fly a helicopter on another planet or satellite.
• The rover will seek signs of ancient life and collect rock and soil samples for possible return to Earth.
• It is with the goal of looking for biosignatures or signatures of present or past life.   

• The Centre, in collaboration with the World Bank, has decided to convert large area of ravines in Gwalior-Chambal belt of Madhya Pradesh into arable land.
• The Chambal is the chief tributary of the Yamuna River. 
• It rises in the Vindhya Range, south of Mhow, western Madhya Pradesh state.
• It flows along Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and joins the River Yamuna at Uttar Pradesh.   

• Tension is brewing between communities residing in the Okavango Delta and Botswana Defence Force (BDF) soldiers deployed on anti-poaching missions.
• Recently, there was a mass elephant deaths in Botswana's Okavango Delta region.  
• The landlocked southern African country has the world's largest elephant population.
• Okavango is a large low gradient alluvial fan or Inland Delta.
• It is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

• Finance Ministry extends Safeguard Duty on import of solar cells.
• It is a trade protection measure to protect domestic manufacturing by imposing in the form of a safeguard duty.
• Safeguard duties can be imposed on items, over and above existing customs duties, if it can be conclusively proved that a steep increase in imports over a period of time resulted in disruption for local businesses.