Friday, April 29, 2022
Current Affairs-April 29, 2022
INDIA
– PM Modi inaugurates cancer care centres in Assam
– Film and TV actor Salim Ghouse dies at 70; known for roles in Shyam Benegal’s TV Series ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’
– ‘The First Responders: Women Who Led India Through The Pandemic’, a book published by Reliance Foundation and Observer Research Foundation, celebrates women at forefront of Covid fight
ECONOMY & CORPORATE
– RBI modifies norms for banks on short term crop loan scheme
– Department of Posts starts providing National Pension Scheme (NPS) services through online mode
IP (intellectual property) protection: India among most challenging economies, says USTR (US Trade Representative)
– IndiGo becomes 1st airline to land aircraft using navigation system GAGAN (GPS-aided geo-augmented navigation)
– Govt. hikes Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) rates for phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilisers for the Kharif season (April-September, 2022)
– Govt. to sell 3.5% stake in LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India) in IPO; listing on May 17
– WhatsApp confirms giving cashback for making digital payments in India
– Chennai-based Veranda Learning Solutions signs agreement to acquire test-prep institute T.I.M.E. (Advanced Educational Activities Pvt. Ltd.) for ₹287 crore
WORLD
– International Girls in ICT Day celebrated on April 28; theme: “Access and Safety”
– World Day for Safety and Health at Work observed on April 28
– Indonesia bans export of all forms of palm oil, both crude and refined
Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav – North East Festival
The week-long Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav – North East Festival began on 28th April 2022 and it will be showcasing the potential of the Northeast region.
Overview:
- This week-long festival will be held across the 8 states of the northeast region in their own significant and special manner.
- The festival will culminate at a Valedictory event that will be held at Guwahati on 4th May 2022.
- This festival’s coordinating body is the Ministry of DoNER.
About the festival
This festival is being leveraged to discuss the various fundamental aspects of the development of India’s Northeast region. This festival will be celebrating aspiration, hope, and vision for a prosperous and developed North East Region. Starting from the 29th of April, every day will be celebrated under a different theme across the 8 different states. Cultural programs will also be held that will celebrate the uniqueness of this region and will also be highlighting its potential.
Themes of the festival
- Shillong: Investment Potential and future energy needs of North East (29th April)
- Itanagar: Welfare of Tribals and Border Management (30th April)
- Gangtok: The Smart City Revolution in the North East (30th April)
- Agartala: Role of women in the development of North East (1st May)
- Aizawl: Eco-Tourism in North East (2nd May)
- Dimapur: Agri Horti and organic products potential of North East (2nd May)
- Sports Potential of the North East region will be celebrated as a parallel to Sports week.
- Imphal: The culmination would be celebrated (3rd May)
The valedictory session of this festival would be celebrated on 4th May at Guwahati.
What would happen if all the mosquitoes in the world disappeared?
Most people in the world absolutely hate mosquitoes. Personally, I don’t mind them they don’t really bite me, so they do not bother me that much. That is not the case for most people, who cannot stand the itchy bites and annoying noise mosquitoes make.
Because of the work I do on malaria, I even spend my time taking care of them and keeping them alive so my colleagues and I can research them. This is serious, important work because mosquitoes are more than just annoying: they are the most dangerous animals in the world. No other animals are responsible for more people’s deaths mosquitoes spread a number of deadly diseases.
So, would it not be better for the world if all these terrible animals just disappeared?
What are mosquitoes?
To be able to start answering the question, we need to understand what mosquitoes are. Mosquitoes are actually a large group of insects. They are flies, which means the adults look completely different to baby mosquitoes, known as larvae.
The adults also have only two wings, unlike bees and wasps which have four. There are many different types of biting flies. All of them need to take blood from animals including humans to be able to lay eggs.
Even though there are many biting flies, such as horseflies and tsetse flies, mosquitoes are by far the most common and widespread. What we call mosquitoes are actually 3,500 different types of insects, and they all behave differently. Most are active at night, but some are active during the day.
People may not realise it, but only female mosquitoes bite us, because they need our blood so they can lay eggs. Male mosquitoes drink nectar a sugary juice made by plants to survive.
If a female mosquito takes blood from someone who is infected with certain types of virus or with a parasitic disease such as malaria, she can spread the disease to someone she bites later.
Of all these mosquito species, only the females of about 40 types are truly dangerous because they can pass on diseases that make people sick. So, of all the mosquitoes in the world, there are very few that are really dangerous. The problem is that these few types of mosquitoes spread many dangerous diseases like malaria.
More than 200 million people, most of them here in Africa where you and I live, get the disease every year. If only the mosquitoes that caused malaria disappeared, more than 500,000 lives would be saved per year, most of them children who are younger than five.
If just these malaria-spreading mosquitoes disappeared, the world would be much healthier. It may sound like it would be better for us all if mosquitoes disappeared. But that’s not the case, because mosquitoes serve an important purpose.
Food for animals
Different kinds of animals, including humans, form what we call ecosystems: we all need each other, in different ways, to survive. And even mosquitoes are needed in ecosystems.
There are billions of mosquitoes. That is a lot of insects that could be another animal’s supper. Now, we do not know of any animal that only eats mosquitoes, but there are lots of mosquitoes and they are easy to hunt, so many animals eat them.
Baby mosquitoes live in water and are the favourite food of the mosquito fish. Frogs, dragonflies, ants, spiders, geckos and bats, and some other animals, also eat mosquitoes.
If all mosquitoes disappeared, many animals would have a lot less food. Imagine if all the rice in the world disappeared. Nobody eats only rice, but if rice disappeared tomorrow, a lot of people would have a lot less food.
Most mosquitoes do not bite humans (they get blood from other animals) and some types of mosquitoes don’t bite at all. Male mosquitoes can also help plants breed by pollinating, giving the plants the chance to spread and grow in different places. They do not do it as well as bees, but they are definitely important for some plants such as the Blunt-leaf orchid.
Other people have asked the same question you have, Niko, and scientists think that removing every single mosquito from the world wouldn’t have a bad overall effect on the environment.
But none of us are sure what will happen to small ecosystems and whether these would be better off without mosquitoes. There’s also the worry that if we got rid of all mosquitoes they could be replaced by something worse, like another biting insect that might cause more disease or bite more painfully.
The good news is that clever scientists are working very hard all over the world to figure out how we can deal with the mosquitoes that are dangerous for humans. We may not get rid of all the mosquitoes, but we can help protect humans from the ones that spread disease and make us sick.
Source: Indian Express, 2/02/22
THE Impact Rankings 2022: India fourth best-represented nation, 8 varsities in top 300
THE Impact Rankings 2022: The Times Higher Education (THE), publisher of the globally recognised THE World University Rankings, released the 2022 edition of its Impact Rankings. In a record year, 1,524 universities from 110 countries/regions ranked on work towards the UN’s SDGs across 18 tables – an overall ranking and one for each of the 17 SDGs.
In South Asia, India breaks through into the world’s top 50, with Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham claiming 41st place in the overall table and eighth place for SDG 3 (good health and well-being) and SDG 5 (gender equality). Lovely Professional University makes the top 100 at joint 74th place in the overall table and is sixth for SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy). India is the joint fourth most-represented nation across the rankings, with 64 universities featuring in total (the same number as Turkey).
Calcutta University has been ranked first among all the central and state-aided public universities in the country by Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2022. The varsity has been ranked 14th globally in the ‘Decent Work and Economic Growth’ sub-category.
At least 64 universities from the country featured in the rankings making India the fourth best-represented country. As many as eight universities from India made it into the top 300 list globally. OP Jindal Global University (JGU) has also featured in the 600-800 band. The university has achieved a score of 60.3 out of 100.
Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences is second in the world for SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), and sixth for SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), while KIIT University is joint eighth for SDG 10 (reduced inequalities).
THE Impact Rankings claim to be the “world’s only rankings measuring universities’ contributions to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” and it assesses university commitment to sustainability across four broad areas: research, stewardship, outreach and teaching. Progress is measured for each of the individual 17 SDGs, as well as across the goals as a whole.
A record 1,524 institutions from 110 countries/regions have participated across the rankings this year, a 23 per cent increase since last year, reflecting the growing importance of the SDGs within higher education institutions globally.
Australia’s Western Sydney University claims the top spot in the overall ranking, which includes 1,406 institutions, after topping the table for SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) and coming second in SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production).
Phil Baty, Chief Knowledge Officer, THE, said, “It is inspiring to see such a large, diverse and rapidly-growing community of universities from all continents committed to subjecting themselves to scrutiny, to measure and demonstrate their impact and to showcasing the best practice in delivering the Sustainable Development Goals. Students, as well as governments, are increasingly demanding such commitments and these demands will strengthen.”
He added, “It is particularly exciting to see that universities outside the traditional Western elites are shining out as beacons in this fresh approach to university rankings, giving an exciting new perspective on a diverse sector and broadening student choice.”
Source: Indian Express, 29/04/22
Thursday, April 28, 2022
Quote of the Day April 28, 2022
“The self is not something ready-made but something in continuous formation through choice of action.”
John Dewey
“स्वत्व कोई बनी बनाई वस्तु नहीं होती है, कर्म के चयन के परिणाम स्वरूप इसका निरन्तर निर्माण करना पड़ता है।”
जॉन ड्यूई
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