Daily Currentaffairs: 03 Oct 2020

Tables of contents

1.Weeding out lantana in Rajasthan

2.Platylestes Kirani

3.Eczema 

4. Ambedkar Social Innovation & Incubation Mission

5.BrahMos missile with indigenous booster

1.Weeding out lantana in Rajasthan

Recently, a special drive to uproot the invasive lantana bushes in the famous Sajjangarh wildlife sanctuary in Rajasthan has helped in ecological restoration of grasslands and saved biodiversity.

About Mission Lantana

• The campaign included the removal of lantana camera accompanied by the plantation of native species on the cleared patches of land.

• The drive involved collective efforts and ‘shram daan’ (voluntary physical work) by the forest officials, police personnel, wildlife lovers, representatives of voluntary groups and local villagers.

About Lantana camera

• Lantana camera is a small perennial shrub, which forms extensive, dense and impenetrable thickets.

• It is a highly variable ornamental shrub, a native of the neotropics.

• It is native to Central and South America but its original distribution is unclear due to the introduction of a number of ornamental varieties.

• It is an invasive species which was introduced in tropical regions as an ornamental plant (introduced in India in 1807).

• It is generally deleterious to biodiversity and has been reported as an agricultural weed resulting in large economic losses.

Sajjangarh Wildlife Sanctuary

 

It is located in the southern Aravalli hills in Udaipur district of Rajasthan.

 

It is home to animals like chitals, panthers, hares, blue bulls (Nilgais), jackals, wild boars, hyenas, and sambhars.

 

An artificial lake named Jiyan Lake supports the sanctuary which is also referred to as Tiger Lake or Bari Lake.

 

It was built by Maharana Raj Singh of Mewar dynasty.

 

In 1987, the hunting grounds were converted into a Wildlife Sanctuary to preserve and protect wildlife species.

Source: The Hindu

2.Platylestes Kirani

Recently, the scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have identified Platylestes Kirani in the wetlands of Kannur district.

About Platylestes Kirani

• It is a new species of damselfly which is named after late C.G. Kiran, odonatologist and the author of the book Dragonflies of Kerala.

• It is a small dull colored damselfly with apple green eyes.

• The species is mainly found foraging inside the shoreline vegetation and occasionally resting on the stems or on the leaf blades of grasses and sedge.

• The species can be easily distinguished from all other species of Platylestes, by its unique coloration, distinct black marking on its synthorax and shape of anal appendages.

Platylestes Platystylus

 

It is a damselfly species in the family Lestidae.

 

The species is known from old records from West Bengal in India, Myanmar, Thailand and Laos.

 

It is listed as ‘Least Concern (LC)’ under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

 

Source: The Hindu

3.Eczema 

Recently, the researchers from the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG) have undertaken a study to identify the underlying causes of Eczema disease.

• In India, at least one in five children suffers from eczema.

About Eczema

• It is also known as atopic dermatitis which is a condition where patches of skin become inflamed, itchy, cracked and rough.

  • The term atopic refers to a collection of conditions that involve the immune system, including atopic dermatitis, asthma and hay fever.

  • The word dermatitis refers to inflammation of the skin.

• Atopic dermatitis is common in infants, with dry and scaly patches appearing on the skin.

• It is not a contagious disease.

Key Highlights of the Study

• Staphylococcus is a bacterium that is commonly found on the skin and the upper respiratory tract of every individual, some of which are harmless but some are harmful and cause disease.

• The study found out that there is a complete separation of Staphylococcus species between eczema patients and healthy individuals.

• The patients with eczema have only Staphylococcus aureus species, while healthy controls have only Staphylococcus hominis species.

Source: The Indian Express

4.Ambedkar Social Innovation & Incubation Mission

Recently, the Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment launched the Ambedkar Social Innovation and Incubation Mission (ASIIM).

About Ambedkar Social Innovation and Incubation Mission

• It is an initiative of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment under Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes (SCs).

  • The objective of Venture Capital Fund for SCs is to provide concessional finance to the entities of the SC entrepreneurs.

  • The Venture Capital Fund for SCs (VCF-SCs) was set up in 2016 with the Fund size of Rs. 500 Cr.

• It aims to support 1000 Start-ups of Scheduled Castes (SCs) Youth over next 4 Years.

• The objectives of the ASIIM are:

  • To promote entrepreneurship among the SC Youth with special preference to Divyangs;

  • To support (1,000) innovative ideas till 2024 through a synergetic work with the Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) set up by Department of Science and Technology;

  • To support, promote, hand-hold the start-up ideas till they reach commercial stage by providing liberal equity support; and

  • To incentivise students with innovative mind-set to take to entrepreneurship with confidence.

• It would give fillip to the ‘Stand-Up India’ initiative of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

• Under this mission, the VCF-SC shall target SC students/young entrepreneurs working in Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) in higher education and technology institution including Business/Management schools.

Source: PIB

5.BrahMos missile with indigenous booster

Recently, the Ministry of Defence has successfully test fired the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos having a range of around 400 km.

About Brahmos Missile

• It is a surface-to-surface supersonic cruise missile featuring indigenous Booster and Airframe Section.

• It is jointly developed by the DRDO and NPOM, a leading aerospace enterprise of Russia.

• It is a medium-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile capable of being launched from submarines, warships, fighter jets or land.

• It is a two-stage missile with a solid propellant booster engine as its first stage and the liquid ramjet as its second stage.

• It has a flight range of upto 290km with supersonic speed all through the flight.

• It operates on ‘Fire and Forget’ principle.

• The BrahMos Land-Attack Cruise Missile (LACM) was cruising at a top speed of Mach 2.8.

• India is also working on a hypersonic missile, BrahMos-II (K), capable of taking out hardened targets such as underground bunkers and weapon storage facilities at seven times the speed of sound.

Source: The Indian Express

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