GI certified Mangoes exported to Bahrain

In News: In a major boost to mango exports potential from eastern region, sixteen varieties of mangoes including three GI certified Khirsapati & Lakshmanbhog (West Bengal), Zardalu (Bihar) are being exported to Bahrain.

Context:

  • APEDA has been initiating measures to boost mango exports from the non-traditional regions and states.
  • For the first time in this season, India has shipped a consignment of 2.5 Metric Tonne (MTs) of Geographical Indication (GI) certified Banganapalli & other variety Survarnarekha mangoes sourced from farmers in Krishna & Chittor districts of Andhra Pradesh.
  • Mango in India is also referred as ‘king of fruits’ and referred as Kalpavriksha (wish granting tree) in ancient scriptures.
  • While most of the states in India have mango plantations, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka have major share in total production of the fruit.
  • Alphonso, Kesar, Totapuri and Banganpalli are leading export varieties from India. Mango exports primarily take place in three forms: fresh mango, mango pulp, and mango slice.

Groundnuts – to boost exports of Eastern Region

In News: Opening a window of possibilities of boosting groundnut exports from eastern region, a consignment of 24 metric tonne (MT) of groundnuts was exported to Nepal from West Bengal.

Context:

  • Traditionally, Gujarat and Rajasthan have a major share in groundnut exports. The groundnut exports from West Bengal would boost exports potential of the crop from the eastern region.
  • The groundnuts are exported to Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Russia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and Nepal.
  • Gujarat is the largest producer of groundnuts in the country, which is followed by Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Rajasthan.
  • The crop is grown in both Kharif and Rabi seasons. The Kharif season has a share of more than 75% of the total production.

Dak Adalat in Mumbai

In News:

  • Chief Post Master General, Maharashtra Circle, will be holding the 115th Circle Level Dak Adalat in Mumbai.
  • Complaints/Grievances regarding Postal Services pertaining to the Maharashtra and Goa states, which have not been settled within 6 weeks will be entertained in the Dak Adalat.
  • In order to redress such grievances/complaints in an effective manner, the Department periodically organizes Adalats where the functionaries of the Department meet the aggrieved customers, gather details about their complaints and try to settle them at the earliest.

Defence Minister invites Swedish firms to invest in defence corridors

In News: A webinar on India-Sweden Defence Industry Cooperation, with the theme ‘Capitalizing Opportunities for Growth and Security’, was organised.

Context:

  • It was organised under the aegis of Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence through Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and Swedish Security and Defence Industry (SOFF).
  • Shri Rajnath Singh invited Swedish firms to invest in Defence Corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, saying that they can benefit from the unique incentives being offered by the state governments and the availability of a highly-skilled workforce in India.
  • Union Minister released the first edition of the ‘SIDM Members Directory 2020-21’ – A 360º Overview of the Indian Defence and Aerospace Sector’. The Directory captures the capabilities of 437 companies in the Defence and Aerospace sector, facilitates ease of access to information on the Indian Industry and serves as a one-stop reference for the global defence community. The Directory also contains the latest 108 item 2nd Positive Indigenisation List.

Guidelines for e-Content for Children with Disabilities

In News: Union Education Minister approved the release of the guidelines for the Development of e-Content for Children with Disabilities.

Context:

  • A comprehensive initiative, PM e-VIDYA was launched in 2020, with an aim to unify all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education. The programme inter alia envisages development of special e-content for the Divyang (Children with Disabilities-CwDs). 
  • In pursuance of this vision, the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education had constituted a Committee of experts, for recommending guidelines for developing e-content for these children.
  • The Committee submitted a report titled “Guidelines for the Development of e-Content for Children with Disabilities” comprising of eleven Sections and two Appendices.
  • The salient highlights of the e- content guidelines in the report are:
    1. E-Content for CwDs should be developed based on the four principles namely: perceivable, operable, understandable and robust.
    2. E-Content including text, tables, diagrams, visuals, audios, videos etc. should comply with accessibility standards: national standards (GIGW 2.0) and international standards (WCAG 2.1, E-Pub, DAISY etc).
    3. Distribution platforms on which content are uploaded (e.g. DIKSHA) and Reading platforms/devices on which content is accessed and interacted (e.g. e-pathshala) must comply with technical standards.
    4. Reasonable pedagogical accommodations have been recommended to meet specific needs of CwDs.
    5. The content of Accessible Digital Textbooks (ADTs) should be provided in multiple formats (text, audio, video, sign language etc) with turn-on and turn-off features.
    6. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines for content development and pedagogical accommodations are given.
  • These guidelines will initiate the creation of high quality content for digital education to Children with Special needs. They are dynamic by nature, to be improved based on experience and advent of better technology.

Environment Minister launches awareness campaign on Single Use plastics.

In News:

  • Union Environment Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar reiterated government’s commitment to phase out identified single use plastic items.
  • To spur innovation and entrepreneurship in area of tackling plastic waste pollution and elimination of single use plastic, Shri Javadekar announced the “India Plastic Challenge – Hackathon 2021”.
  • The “India Plastic Challenge – Hackathon 2021” is a unique competition calling upon start-ups /entrepreneurs and students of   Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to develop innovative solutions to mitigate plastic pollution and develop alternatives to single use plastics.

First CAR-T cell therapy conducted in Mumbai

In News: The first CAR-T cell therapy (a type of gene therapy) was done at the Bone Marrow Transplant unit at ACTREC, Tata Memorial Center in Mumbai. The CAR-T cells were designed and manufactured at Bioscience and Bioengineering (BSBE) department of IIT Bombay.

Context:

  • The Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy has emerged as a breakthrough in cancer treatment. Clinical trials conducted globally have shown promising results in end stage patients, especially in patients suffering from Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.
  • Though this technology has a remarkable therapeutic potential for cancer patients, at present this technology is not available in India.
  • Each patient’s CAR-T cell therapy costs 3-4 crore (INR). The challenge therefore is to develop this technology in cost-effective manner and make it available for the patients.
  • This is a “first in India” gene therapy in early phase pilot clinical trial.
  • The central government’s National Biopharma Mission-BIRAC has approved 19.15 Cr crore to the team for conducting a first-in-human phase-1/2 clinical trial of the CAR-T cells.
  • National Biopharma Mission is also supporting the development of Lentiviral vector manufacturing facility for packaging plasmids used to transfer the modified T cell inside the body.
  • The development of CAR-T cell technology is used to treat diseases including acute lymphocytic leukemia, multiple myeloma, glioblastoma, hepatocellular carcinoma and type-2 diabetes.

T Cells:

  • A T cell is a type of lymphocyte.
  • T cells are one of the important white blood cells of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response.

“Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum Abhiyaan” in 112 Aspirational Districts

In News:

  • NITI Aayog and Piramal Foundation launched Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum Abhiyaanin 112 Aspirational Districts to assist district administrations in providing home-care support to Covid-19 patients who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.
  • The Abhiyaan is being part of a special initiative, Aspirational Districts Collaborative, in which local leaders, civil societies and volunteers work with district administrations.
  • Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum Abhiyaan will be led by district magistrates in partnership with over 1000 local NGOs.

C.M. Udasi passes away

In News:

  • Six-time legislator and former Minister in Janata Dal and BJP governments Channabasappa Mahalingappa Udasi, 85, passed away in Bengaluru following age-related illness.
  • Earlier identified with the socialist movement, Mr. Udasi contested Assembly elections successively for nine times, winning six times and losing thrice.
  • During his six terms as legislator, he handled Public Works, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Minor Irrigation and Textile portfolios and other responsibilities.

Rengma Nagas demand Autonomous Council

In News: The Rengma Nagas in Assam have written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah demanding an autonomous district council amid a decision by the Central and the State governments to upgrade the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) into a territorial council.

Context:

  • The Rengma Naga Peoples’ Council (RNPC) said that, Rengmas were the first tribal people in Assam to have encountered the British in 1839, but the existing Rengma Hills was eliminated from the political map of the State and replaced with that of Mikir Hills (now Karbi Anglong) in 1951.
  • Narrating its history, the council said that during the Burmese invasions of Assam in 1816 and 1819, it was the Rengmas who gave shelter to the Ahom refugees.
  • The petition said that the Rengma Hills was partitioned in 1963 between Assam and Nagaland at the time of creation of Nagaland State and the Karbis, who were known as Mikirs till 1976, were the indigeneous tribal people of Mikir Hills.
  • Thus, the Rengma Hills and Mikir Hills were two separate entities till 1951. Karbis have no history in the Rengma Hills. People who are presently living in Rengma Hills are from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. They speak different dialects and do not know Karbi language of Karbi Anglong, the memorandum said.
  • More than 3,000 Rengma Nagas were forced to relocate to relief camps in 2013 after several people were killed in a series of attacks following a call given by a Karbi insurgent group.

Govt. caps prices of COVID-19 vaccines at private hospitals

In News:

  • The Centre has capped the prices at which vaccines will be sold at private hospitals.
  • With a ceiling of ₹150 that hospitals can charge per dose as ‘service charge’ and a GST of 5%, the maximum price chargeable for Covishield is ₹780, for Covaxin, ₹1,410 and for Sputnik V ₹1,145, the Union Health Ministry said.

Global Economic Prospects say India to grow by 8.3%

In News: India’s economy is expected to grow by 8.3% in the fiscal year that began in April 2021, the World Bank forecast in its June 2021 Global Economic Prospects released.

Context:

  • Raising its projection for global growth, the bank said the world economy would expand at 5.6% in 2021, the fastest post-recession growth rate in 80 years, underpinned by U.S. stimulus spending and faster growth in China.
  • Observing that global output would still end up 2% below pre-pandemic projections by the year end, the development lender said “highly unequal” access to COVID-19 vaccines was a factor in the uneven recovery.
  • Economic activity in India would likely follow a similar but less pronounced ‘collapse and recovery’ trend seen during the first wave, the bank said in its outlook.
  • For the world as a whole, losses to per capita income would not be reversed by 2022 for some two-thirds of emerging market and developing economies, the bank said.
  • Low income countries that had lagged in vaccinations had witnessed a reversal in poverty reduction, with the pandemic exacerbating insecurity and other long-standing challenges.