CURRENT AFFAIRS 12-07-2020

All India Tiger Estimation 2018

What is in news?

The fourth cycle of the All India Tiger Estimation 2018, results of which were declared to the nation on Global Tiger Day last year has entered the Guinness World Record for being the world’s largest camera trap wildlife survey.

About:

• The citation at the Guinness World Record website reads- “The fourth iteration of the survey – conducted in 2018-19 - was the most comprehensive to date, in terms of both resource and data amassed.

• The All India Tiger Estimation done quadrennially is steered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority with technical backstopping from the Wildlife Institute of India and implemented by State Forest Departments and partners.

• The latest results of 2018 had shown that India now has an estimated 2967 tigers out of which 2461 individual tigers have been photo captured, a whopping 83 % of the tiger population, highlighting the comprehensive nature of the survey.

• With this number, India is home to nearly 75% of the global tiger population and has already fulfilled its resolve of doubling tiger numbers, made at St. Petersburg in 2010, much before the target year of 2022.

ATL app development module

What is in news?

NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has launched the ‘ATL App Development Module’ for school children all across the country.

About:

• The ATL App Development modules have been launched in collaboration with Indian homegrown start-up Plezmo.

• The objective of launching it is to hone the skills of school students and transforming them from App users to App makers in the times to come under AIM’s flagship Atal Tinkering Labs initiative.

• The ATL App Development module is an online course and is completely Free. Through 6 project-based learning modules and online mentoring sessions, young innovators can learn to build mobile Apps in various Indian languages and showcase their talent.

Itolizumab

What is in news?

Itolizumab (rDNA origin), a monoclonal antibody which was already approved for severe chronic plaque psoriasis, has now been granted Restricted Emergency Use authorisation to treat Covid-19 patients by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) based on clinical trials data.

About:

• M/s Biocon has been manufacturing and marketing this drug for the treatment of patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis since 2013 under brand name Alzumab.

• This indigenous drug has now been repurposed for COVID-19.

Hagia sophia

What is in news?

Turkey’s highest court allowed for the conversion of the nearly 1,500 year-old Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque.

About:

• The centuries-old structure, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, was originally a cathedral in the Byzantine empire before it was turned into a mosque in 1453, when Constantinople fell to Sultan Mehmet II’s Ottoman forces.

• In the 1930s, however, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, shut down the mosque and turned it into a museum in an attempt to make the country more secular.

• Turkey’s Council of State had declared in its ruling that the conversion of the Hagia Sophia from a mosque into the museum by the country’s founder was illegal.

• The decision was in line with the Turkish president's calls to turn the hugely symbolic world heritage site into a mosque despite widespread international criticism, including from UNESCO, the United States and Orthodox Christian leaders.

Neowise

What is in news?

The recently discovered comet called C/2020 F3, also known as NEOWISE after the NASA telescope that discovered it, will make its the closest approach to the Earth on July 22. On the day, the comet will be at a distance of 64 million miles while crossing Earth’s outside orbit.

About:

• Comets or “dirty snowballs” are mostly made of dust, rocks and ice, the remnants from time the solar system was formed over 4.6 billion years ago.

• Comets can range in their width from a few miles to tens of miles wide.

• As they orbit closer to the sun, like in the case of C/2020 F3, they heat up and release debris of dust and gases that forms into a “glowing head” that can often be larger than a planet.

• The debris forms a tail that can stretch out to millions of miles. Each time a comet passes the sun, it loses some of its material and it will eventually disappear completely as a result.

• While there are millions of comets orbiting the sun, there are more than 3,650 known comets as of now, according to NASA.

• Comets may be occasionally pushed into orbits closer to the sun and the Earth’s neighbourhood due to forces of gravity of other planets.

TIFAC

What is in news?

Union Science and Technology Minister released a white paper on “Focused Interventions for Make in India: Post COVID 19”. It has been prepared by Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC).

About:

• TIFAC is an autonomous organization set up in 1988 under the Department of Science & Technology.

• Its mandate is to look ahead in the technology domain, assess the technology trajectories, and support innovation by networked actions in select areas of national importance.

• Present Chairman of TIFAC Governing Council is Dr. V. K. Saraswat.

AH-64E Apache Attack Helicopters

What is in news?

Boeing handed over the last of the five AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to the Indian Air Force (IAF), completing the contract for 22 Apaches. The Apaches were deployed at the Leh air base as part of the forward movement of assets, amid the stand-off with China in Ladakh.

About:

• The IAF inducted the first batch of Apaches in September 2019 and based them at Air Force Station, Pathankot, Punjab.

• India contracted 22 Apache helicopters and 15 Chinook helicopters from Boeing through the Foreign Military Sales programme of the U.S. government in September 2015 under a $3 billion deal. During the India visit of President Donald Trump in February, India and the U.S. signed a deal for six additional Apaches for the Army.

• Boeing’s joint venture in Hyderabad, Tata Boeing Aerospace Limited, has been producing aero-structures for the AH-64 Apache helicopter for both the U.S. Army and international customers.