[CA] May 05, 2020 Headlines

MAY 05, 2020
AROGYA SETU MITR Under the public-private partnership, the initiative called Arogya Setu Mitr was launched. The feature is to be available in the Arogya Setu application. It is offer free covid-19 related consultation. In partnership with the Tech Mahindra, Tata Group and Swasth the Arogya Setu Mitr was launched. It will offer free online consultation to COVID-19 with the data provided by the three private sector firms and government entities. The Arogya Setu Mitr is to perform as an individual site. It cannot access data from the application Arogya Setu. AFRICAN SWINE FLU Assam Government confirmed that more than 2,500 pigs in 306 villages were killed due to African Swine Flu in Assam. There was no relevance brought with COVID - 19. The reason of death of the pigs were confirmed as African Swine Flu by the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) of Bhopal. Though the central government has passed order to cull the pigs, the state government is looking for alternative measures to save the pigs before culling them. When an animal is classified as “vermin” by the Central Government, the protection over the animal under the Wildlife Protection Act is removed. Vermin are wild animals that are believed to be harmful. NAM SUMMIT 2020 Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi will attend the NAM Summit representing India through a video conference. The Summit is to discuss COVID-19 challenges and solutions. This is the first NAM Summit being attended by the Mr Modi since he was sworn in as the Prime Minister in 2014. Mr Modi both the summits as PM in 2016 and 2019. The 2016 summit was held in Venezuela and 2019 in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is the president of the grouping from 2019-2022 and the meet is being organised under the leadership of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. The title of the summit is “We stand together against COVID-19”. In 2012, the former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh participated at the Tehran NAM summit. The NAM is Non-Aligned Movement forum of 120 developing countries. After the United Nations, NAM is the largest grouping of states. The summit was agreed to convene at the Bandung Conference in 1955. [About NAM] ARKTIKA – M Russia will launch its first remote-sensing and emergency communications satellite ‘Arktika-M’ by December 9, 2020 to monitor the Arctic climate and environment. It will be launched from Baikonur space center (Kazakhstan) using a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with a freegate booster.	BAMBOO CONCLAVE The Minister of State for North East Development held Bamboo Conclave through video conference to boost the economy of the country with the help of Bamboo resources. The Ministers of Agriculture and minister of development of North East participated in the conference. The making of Agarbatti and increasing its production was one of the key discussions of the conclave. North East region of India consists of 60% of bamboo reserves of the country. In the past six years, the GoI has given equal importance to the bamboo sector as that of the north east development. In order to boost bamboo production and help the tribal and farmers utilize bamboo to make a living, the Indian Forest Act was amended in 2017. National Bambo Mission was launched in 2019 - 20. The mission is being implemented in non-forest Government lands. It aims to provide supplement farm incomes to farmers. Apart from the North Eastern States, the mission was launched in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Odisha, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. ecovsens The scientists in National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB), Hyderabad have developed a biosensor called the eCovSens. The sensor is used to detect COVID-19 virus in saliva samples. The researchers from NIAB have developed non-invasive bio-sensor testing device called eCovSens to detect COVID-19. BHARAT MARKET A National E-Commerce Market place was launched by Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) called “Bharat Market”. The e-commerce market place will integrate the capabilities of technology companies in order to provide end to end services. The initiative is to be guided and supported by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. 2021 AQUATICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS Following the postponement of 2020 Tokyo Olympics to 2021 the governing body of swimming Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) has postponed the 2021 aquatics world championships, Fukuoka, Japan to May 12 – 29, 2022 due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
Prepared by K. M. Senthil Kumar