Visakhapatnam railway station receives ‘Green Railway Station Certification’ with highest Platinum rating

• It is a rating system developed by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Indian Green Building Council with the support of the Environment Directorate of Indian Railway
• It is a voluntary and consensus-based programme.
• This is the first of its kind holistic rating in India to address environmental sustainability in Indian railway stations.

Key facts about Indian Green Building Council (IGBC)

• It is part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) formed in the year 2001.
• The council offers a wide array of services which include developing new green building rating programmes, certification services and green building training programmes.
• The council also organises Green Building Congress, its annual flagship event on green buildings.
• The council is committee-based, member-driven and consensus-focused. All the stakeholders, corporate, Government, academia and nodal agencies participate in the council activities through local chapters.
• The council also closely works with several State Governments, Central Government, World Green Building Council, and bilateral multi-lateral agencies in promoting green building concepts in the country.

The following steps were undertaken based on Survey and Recommendations of IGBC that conducted the Survey

1. Segregation of Waste by Constructing MRF Shed
2. Setting and Operationalization of 500KLD STP for Station & Colony Water
3. Setting up of Solar Panels to conserve Power
4. Well Developed Passenger Amenities
5. 100% fitment of LED Lightings.

What is immune imprinting and how does it work?

• Two papers, published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), pointed out those bivalent boosters — made to counter both the Omicron strains and the original Covid-19 strain — don’t generate significantly greater antibody responses than an additional dose of the original mRNA vaccines.

Immune imprinting

• The phenomenon was first observed in 1947 when scientists noted that in flu patients and termed it an ‘original antigenic sin’.
• Immune imprinting is a tendency of the body to repeat its immune responsebased on the first variant it encountered — through infection or vaccination — when it comes across a newer or slightly different variant of the same pathogen.
• Imprinting acts as a database for the immune system, helping it put up a better response to repeat infections.
• After the body is exposed to a virus for the first time, it produces memory B cells that circulate in the bloodstream and quickly produce antibodies whenever the same strain of the virus infects again.
• The problem occurs when a similar, not identical, variant of the virus is encountered by the body.
• In such cases, the immune system, rather than generating new B cells, activates memory B cells, which produce cross-reactive antibodiesthat bind to features found in both the old and new strains.
• These cross-reactive antibodies offer some protection but are not as effective as the ones produced by B cells when the body first encountered the original virus.

Govt to hand over 1,000 monuments to private sector under Monument Mitra Scheme

• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Culture in respect of the monuments under the Archaeological Survey of India.
• It applies to all centrally protected heritage properties.
• **Aim:**Ensuring quality & inclusive provision of amenities and facilities across heritage, natural, & tourist sites through the active participation of private and public sector organizations and individuals.
• Corporate entities will take over these monuments as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility.
• These organizations would be known as **“Monument Mitras”**for their collaboration initiative.
• The government has set the target to hand over 500 sites under the revamped Monument Mitra Scheme by the end of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav on 15 August 2023.

Padma award is an honour for the Etikoppaka toy craft, says C.V. Raju

• These are traditional toys made by artisans of Etikoppaka village located on the banks of Varaha River in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh.
• These toys are made out of wood and are coloured with natural dyes derived from seeds, lacquer, bark, roots and leaves.
• The artisans mainly use the wood from trees known as ''ankudu'' (Wrightia Tinctoria) that is soft in nature.
• These toys have no sharp edges. They are rounded on all sides.
• Etikoppaka toys received Geographical Indication (GI) tag IN 2017.
• Why are they called lacquer toys?
  • While making the Etikoppaka toys, lac, a colourless resinous secretion of numerous insects, is used.
  • The already prepared vegetable dyes are further mixed to the lac, during the process of oxidation.
  • After this process, the end product obtained is rich and colored lacquer.
  • The lac dye is used for decorating the Etikoppaka toys, which are exported all over the world.
  • Thus, the toys are also called lacquer toys because of the application of lacquer coating.

Geographical Indication (GI) tag

• A geographical indication (GI) is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
• In order to function as a GI, a sign must identify a product as originating in a given place.
• Geographical Indications are covered as a component of intellectual property rights (IPRs) under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
• At the International level, GI is governed by the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO’s) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
• In India, Geographical Indications registration is administered by the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.
• The first product in India to be accorded with GI tag was Darjeeling tea in the year 2004-05.