1. International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN)
The International Pathogen Surveillance Network recently announced the first round of grants towards understanding disease threats.
About International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN):
- It is a public health network to prevent and detect infectious disease threats before they become epidemics or pandemics.
- The IPSN, with a Secretariat hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, brings together experts worldwide at the cutting-edge of genomics and data analytics, from governments, philanthropic foundations, multilateral organizations, civil society, academia and the private sector.
- All share a common goal: to detect and respond to disease threats before they become epidemics and pandemics, and to optimize routine disease surveillance.
- IPSN will rely on insights generated from pathogen genomics, which helps analyze the genetic material of viruses, bacteria, and other disease-causing microorganisms to determine how they spread and how infectious or deadly they may be.
- Using these data, researchers can identify and track diseases to improve outbreak prevention, response, and treatments.
- Members will work together in dedicated groups focusing on specific challenges, supported by funding through the IPSN to scale up ideas and projects in pathogen genomics.
- By strengthening the pathogen genomic surveillance ecosystem, the IPSN enables faster detection of new pathogens and enhanced tracking of the spread and evolution of diseases.
2. Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991?
The recent riots in Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh once again question whether the Places of Worship Act, 1991, passed to prevent exactly such communal conflagrations, is as good as dead.
About Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991:
- It is described as “An Act to prohibit conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on the 15th day of August 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.”
- No person can convert any place of worship of any religious denomination or any section thereof into a place of worship of a different section of the same religious denomination or of a different religious denomination.
- It also prohibits court intervention in problems concerning the religious nature of such places.
Exemption:
- The disputed site at Ayodhya was exempted from the Act. Due to this exemption, the trial in the Ayodhya case proceeded even after the enforcement of this law.
- Besides the Ayodhya dispute, the Act also exempted:
- Any place of worship which is an ancient and historical monument, or an archaeological site covered by the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.
- A suit that has been finally settled or disposed of.
- Any dispute that has been settled by the parties or conversion of any place that took place by acquiescence before the Act commenced.
3. Raimona National Park
Personnel of the Assam Forest Department and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) recently arrested three poachers from the Raimona National Park in Kokrajhar.
About Raimona National Park:
- It is located along the Indo-Bhutan border in Kokrajhar district in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), Assam.
- It was declared a national park on June 5, 2021.
- It shares contiguous forest patches of Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary and Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park in Bhutan, creating a trans-boundary conservation landscape of more than 2,400 sq km.
- Rivers: The Sankosh River runs beside the west of the park and the Saralbhanga River on the eastern part.
- Vegetation: It includes as many as twelve different types and sub-types of forests ranging from very moist sal forests, sub-Himalayan high alluvial semi-evergreen forests, savannah forests, moist-mixed deciduous forests, riparian fringing forests, to khair-sissoo forests.
- Flora: This park flourishes with myriads of orchid species, other tropical rainforest species, and riverine grasslands.
- Fauna: The park is famous for its endemic species, golden langur, which has been named the mascot of the Bodoland region.
- It is also inhabited by various other species, such as elephants, Bengal tiger, wild bison, white-spotted deer, clouded leopard and wild buffalo.
4. Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI)
The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) released its Half-Yearly Complaints Report for 2024-25, revealing a high number of misleading and illegal ads, particularly in real estate and offshore betting.
About Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI):
- It is a voluntary self-regulatory organization of the advertising industry in India.
- Established in 1985, ASCI is registered as a non-profit company under Section 25 of the Company Act, 2013.
- ASCI is committed to the cause of self-regulation in advertising, ensuring the protection of the interests of consumers.
- ASCI seeks to ensure that advertisements conform to its Code for Self-Regulation, which requires advertisements to be legal, decent, honest and truthful and not hazardous or harmful while observing fairness in competition.
- ASCI looks into complaints across all media, such as Print, TV, Radio, hoardings, SMS, Emailers, Internet/web-site, product packaging, brochures, promotional material, and point of sale material, etc.
Structure:
- A Board of Governors includes 16 members drawn from prominent businesses, media agencies, and advertisers, among others.
- The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) is a body that investigates complaints and decides whether advertisements adhere to the Advertisement Standards Council of India Code.
- A Secretariat, headed by the Secretary General, oversees the day-to-day operations of the organisation.
- While ASCI is not a government body, its role has been widely acknowledged, and in 2006, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a mandate requiring all TV advertisements in India to follow ASCI’s codes.
- ASCI is a part of the Executive Committee of the International Council on Ad Self-Regulation (ICAS).
5. Pennaiyar River
The Supreme Court recently asked the Union government to place on record the report prepared by a committee negotiating a dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the sharing of the Pennaiyar river water.
About Pennaiyar River:
- It is a major river in southern India, flowing through Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
- It is also known as the South Pennar River, Dakshina Pinakini in Kannada, and Thenpennai, Ponnaiyar, in Tamil.
- Origin: It originates in the Nandi Hills in the Chikkaballapura district of Karnataka. It then flows southward for 80 km through Karnataka to northwestern Tamil Nadu, where it turns southeastward and flows 320 km to enter the Bay of Bengal at Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu.
- The basin is bounded on the northwest and south by various ranges of the Eastern Ghats, like the Velikonda Range, the Nagari Hills, the Javadhu Hills, the Shevaroy Hills, the Chitteri Hills and the Kalrayan Hills, and in the east by the Bay of Bengal.
- It is the second largest interstate east-flowing river basin among the 12 basins lying between the Pennar and Cauvery basins.
- It drains an area of 16,019 sq.km., out of which nearly 77 percent lies in Tamil Nadu.
- Major tributaries are the Chinnar, Markanda, Vaniar, and Pamban.
- The river is extensively dammed for irrigation, especially in Tamil Nadu.
Source : SC seeks report on dispute between Tamil Nadu, Karnataka oversharing of Pennaiyar river water
6. Dunlin
Dunlin was among the 192 avian species spotted during the recently held Kochi edition of the Kerala Bird Race.
About Dunlin:
- It is a small shorebird with a droopy bill and is a fully migratory circumpolar breeder.
- Appearance:
- Dunlins are medium-sized sandpipers with a slightly down-curved black bill.
- Unique feature: During the summer breeding season, they have a large black belly spot and orange feathers on their back and in winter and nonbreeding season, they are all white with a gray back and head.
- A group of Dunlin is known as a "flight," "fling," or "trip."
- Habitat: During the breeding season, they live in coastal tundra areas. In the winter, they live along mudflats, estuaries, marshes and coastlines.
- They spend the summer breeding season in the arctic and subarctic regions, and winter along both coasts of the United States and Mexico.
- Diet: Insects form the main part of the Dunlin's diet on the nesting grounds; they eat mollusks, worms, and crustaceans during the winter and on migration.
Conservation status
- IUCN: Near threatened
- Threats: It is threatened by habitat loss caused by wetland draining, global warming, and invasive plants, particularly at migration staging and wintering areas.
It is also vulnerable to avian influenza.
7. Black thrips
After a year’s gap, the dreaded black thrips infestation has surfaced in the chilli crop once again around Ballari in Karnataka.
About Black thrips:
- It is an invasive pest species.
- It was first reported in India in 2015 on Papaya.
- These insects lacerate the tender leaves and flowers before consuming the tissues. Lacerations, especially of the flower, impair fruit formation.
- It is polyphagous, i.e., it can feed on different plant species.
- It feeds on tender flowers, causes large scale shedding of flowers, stunting and malformation of fruits and fruit drop in chilli, leading to severe yield loss.
- In addition to chilli, it damages crops such as cotton, bell pepper, red and black grams, mango, watermelon and others.
- From 2015, the pest has been found feeding on both agriculture, horticulture and ornamental crops and widely distributed across Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha and Tamil Nadu.
- Reasons for its upsurge in India:
- Absence of natural enemies of this particular invasive pest in the area of invasion for natural control of the pest species and excessive use of chemical pesticides and staggered plantings are the possible reasons for their outbreak.
8. Design Law Treaty
After nearly two decades of negotiations, the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) adopted the landmark Design Law Treaty (DLT).
About Design Law Treaty:
- It seeks to harmonize the procedural frameworks for industrial design protection, improving the efficiency and accessibility of registration processes across multiple jurisdictions.
- The treaty requires 15 contracting parties to enter into force.
Key features
- It provides for a grace period of 12 months following a first disclosure of the design, during which such disclosure will not affect its validity for registration.
- It provides relief measures and offers some flexibility to applicants to prevent them from losing their rights if they miss a deadline.
- It simplifies the procedure for requesting the renewal of a design registration.
- It promotes the introduction of e-filing systems for designs and the electronic exchange of priority documents.
- It ensures the availability of technical assistance to developing and least developed countries for the implementation of the treaty.
Benefits
- Its goal is to ensure that the benefits of streamlined design protection are accessible to all stakeholders, with particular emphasis on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), startups and independent designers.
- By standardizing procedural requirements, the DLT reduces administrative burdens, thereby promoting global creativity in design.
- When combined with initiatives like the Startup India program and the Startups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP) scheme, these provisions will help empower startups and SMEs to secure design rights globally, boosting their competitiveness and supporting market growth.
- India recently signed the final act of this treaty.
9. What is Sjögren’s disease?
Experts say that Sjogren’s disease in India is a silent epidemic, underdiagnosed and poorly understood.
About Sjögren’s disease:
- It is a chronic disorder in which the immune system mistakenly targets the body’s moisture-producing glands.
- It is an under-recognised autoimmune condition that often remains undiagnosed for years.
- Prevalence: It is roughly 10 times more common in women than in men and usually manifests in the 30s and 40s, although it can appear at any age, even in children.
Symptoms
- The most common complaints are dry eyes and dry mouth, which can severely impact quality of life.
- Dry eyes may feel gritty, especially on awakening and during prolonged screen use, while dry mouth can lead to difficulty in swallowing and a significantly increased risk of dental problems.
- Sjögren’s can present with joint pain, fatigue, and swelling in the salivary glands, making it a complex, multisystem disease.
Treatment:
- It involves managing dryness with salivary stimulants and substitutes and lifestyle adjustments. For systemic symptoms, immunosuppressive medications are used.
- Patients need to avoid triggers like air conditioning and excessive screen time.
- Sunglasses with UV protection and frequent use of gel-based lubricating drops can make a significant difference.
10. Global Matchmaking Platform
Recently, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Climate Club launched the Global Matchmaking Platform (GMP).
About Global Matchmaking Platform:
- It is designed to fast-track the decarbonisation of heavy-emitting industries in emerging and developing economies.
- The idea of the Global Matchmaking Platform was born in December 2023 at the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference (COP28), with the launch of the Climate Club.
- It connects country-specific needs with global technical and financial assistance to reduce emissions in energy and emissions-intensive industrial sectors.
- It connects countries with a network of delivery partners, offering comprehensive technical and financial support for industrial decarbonization efforts.
- These partners assist nations in key areas such as policy development, the transfer of innovative technologies and facilitating investments to drive the transition to zero and low-emission industrial practices including assistance for enhancing the emissions goals.
- This mechanism allows countries to tailor their decarbonization pathways while streamlining access to guidance and resources provided by partner organizations to achieve deep emissions reductions.
- The GMP for industry decarbonisation is being built as a support mechanism of the Climate Club, with the secretariat hosted by the UNIDO.
- Its activities are also supported by the Climate Club interim Secretariat jointly hosted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Energy Agency (IEA).