[CA] May 12, 2020 Headlines

MAY 12, 2020
panel recommends to ban use of tb drugs on crops The Registration Committee that was set up under the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee (CIBRC) has recommended that TB drugs such as Streptomycin and Tetracycline should be completely banned on crops. birth rate, death rate & imr data relEased The Registrar General of India released data on the national birth rate, death rate and infant mortality rate for the year 2018. The data complied on these statistics is called as the Sample Registration System. According to the data released, the national birth rate stood at 20, death rate at 6.2 and infant mortality rate at 32. Madhya Pradesh had the least IMR in the country and Nagaland had the best. Andaman and Nicobar Islands had the least birth rates, while Bihar had the highest. Delhi had the lowest death rates and Chhattisgarh had the highest. [Click for more details.....] ********************************* COVID – 19 in India Total infections so far: 70, 768 Recovered so far: 22, 549 Death so far: 2, 294 Active cases: 45, 921 Top States with maximum infections: Maharashtra, Gujarat & Tamil Nadu ********************************* lockdown 4.0? Lockdown 4.0 after the current one ends on May 17 appears to be looming with focus on containment zones, as also further opening of the economy with the Centre giving more flexibility to the states. Those were the takeaways from the marathon fifth video conference Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi had with all chief ministers. Caution appeared to be the watchword as consensus emerged on extending the lockdown in Covid-19 containment zones amid a clear sense of urgency to reboot the economy. Maharashtra, West Bengal, Punjab, and Telangana were most vocal for extension of the lockdown. anil bhansali Google Cloud said it has appointed former Microsoft executive Anil Bhansali as Vice President of Engineering in India. He will coordinate all software development support efforts for Google Cloud in the country. He is joining Google Cloud from Microsoft where he was Corporate Vice President of their Azure cloud division and site leader for their research and development team in India	COVID KAVACH ELISA The National Institute of Virology has indigenously developed antibody detection kit for COVID-19. The kit will play significant role in surveillance of COVID-19 infection. The kit is capable of testing 90 samples in a single run of 2.5 hours. The kit was jointly developed by ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) and NIV. The kit validated the indigenous IGG ELISA test called “COVID KAVACH ELISA”. new species of fish Scientists from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) based in Mumbai (Maharashtra), the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune (Maharashtra), have jointly discovered a three new fish species under the genus ‘Dawkinsia’ namely Dawkinsia apsara, Dawkinsia austellus, Dawkinsia crassa. The species’ common names are filament barb, an active, lively, and peaceful fishes found in the rivers of peninsular India and Sri Lanka. They are marketable among aquarium hobbyists and are wild-collected and captive-bred for trade. Dawkinsia apsara and Dawkinsia crassa was found in Karnataka while Dawkinsia austellus was found in Kerala. [Click for more details.....] sania mirza  Tennis ace Sania Mirza on became the first Indian to win the Fed Cup Heart Award for her successful return to the court post motherhood. Sania won the award for Asia/Oceania zone after securing a whopping 10,000 plus votes out of the total 16,985 cast for this year's three regional Group I nominees. The Fed Cup Heart Award winners were determined via online voting by fans which went on for a week starting from May 1. Sania made a comeback to Fed Cup after four years and helped India qualify for the play-offs for the first time in history. Sania said that, the prize amount will be given to Telangana Chief Minister's Relief Fund. ********************************* May 12: International Nurses Day; theme: "Nurses: A voice to lead - Nursing the World to Health"; May 12 is the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing
Prepared by K. M. Senthil Kumar