Indian Army participates in Ex Khaan Quest 2022

• President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh inaugurated the exercise.
• The Indian Army is represented by a contingent from the LADAKH SCOUTS.
• The 14-day exercise is aimed at enhancing interoperability, building military to military relationships, and developing peace support operations and military readiness among participating nations.

The debates around the Surrogacy Act

• As per the Surrogacy Act that kicked in from January this year, a married couple can opt for surrogacy only on medical grounds.
• The law defines a couple as a married Indian “man and woman” and also prescribes an age-criteria with the woman being in the age group of 23 to 50 years and the man between 26 to 55 years.
• Additionally, the couple should not have a child of their own.
• Though the law allows single women to resort to surrogacy, she should either be a widow or a divorcee, between the age of 35 to 45 years. Single men are however, not eligible.

Delhi, nearby areas to witness severe heatwave, IMD issues orange alert

• The IMD has issued an “orange" alert, warning of severe heatwave conditions, when the maximum temperature could jump to between 45°C and 47°C in parts of Delhi.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) declares a heatwave over the plains if the maximum temperature is 40°C or higher and 4.5 degrees above normal, with this criterion being satisfied over two consecutive days.

Week long Shital Sasthi festival comes to an end

• Sital Sasthi is a sacred Hindu festival is being celebrated in Odisha. This week-long special festival highlights the marriage of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. According to the Hindu calendar, Sital Sasthi is observed on the sixth day of the Jyestha month during the Shukla Paksha.
• People observing this festival believe that Lord Shiva represents the scorching heat of summer while Goddess Parvati signifies the first rain. So, this holy and lavish wedding is observed for a good monsoon.
• Sital Sasthi is a celebration wherein Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati are adopted by two families, and their wedding is solemnised with the involvement of rituals. After the marriage is performed, the God and Goddess are then carried around the city via a procession
• During the week-long festival, devotees in large numbers take part in the most famous Sitala Sasthi Yatra that is conducted at Sambalpur in Western Odisha.

Arignar Anna Zoological Park, Chennai has introduced a novel method to check the littering of plastic bottles inside its premises.

• Coinciding with the World Environment Day yesterday, the authorities of the state’s biggest zoo have begun collecting a deposit of ten rupees each for every bottle of water from the visitors.
• The money is refunded if they return the empty bottle. The officials say the initiative has begun yielding good results.
• Meanwhile, the state environment minister Siva. V. Meyyanathan and health minister Ma. Subramanian in Chennai distributed the traditional cloth bags called “Manchappai,” which means ‘yellow bags,’ to promote use of environmentally friendly carry bags instead of the harmful plastic bags.

Carbon Dioxide in Atmosphere Reaches Highest Levels in Millions of Years, NOAA Warns

• This has pushed the atmosphere further into territory not seen for millions of years.
• Prior to the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide levels were consistently around 280 ppm for almost 6,000 years of human civilisation.
• Since then, humans have generated an estimated 1.5 trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide pollution, much of which will continue to warm the atmosphere for thousands of years.
• Compared to the 280 ppm before the Industrial Revolution, the currently 420 ppm is 50% higher than those levels.

Mysuru''s ATI signs MoU with NIUA and WRI India to facilitate Leaders in Climate Change Management Program

• To facilitate this face-to-face learning program, the Administrative Training Institute (ATI), Mysuru, also singed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NIUA and WRI India, becoming the first delivery partner of the LCCM program.
• LCCM envisions capacitating 5,000 professionals, including mid to junior-level government officials and frontline workers, and preparing them to champion climate change adaptation and mitigation solutions towards a coordinated effort to achieve India’s climate commitments.
• At COP26 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed a five-fold strategy – Panch Amrit – to global leaders, extending India’s co-operation to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius targets.
• The LCCM program, designed and implemented in partnership with the United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) and Indian School of Business (ISB), aims to strengthen India’s workforce to achieve this goal.

Amit Shah inaugurates newly built National Tribal Research Institute in Delhi

• The NTRI will be a premier national level institute and become the nerve-center of tribal concerns, issues and matters in academic, executive and legislative fields.
• It will Monitor projects of Tribal Research Institutes(TRIs), Centres of Excellence (CoEs), research scholars of NFS and set up norms for improvement in the quality of research and training.

Two primary school students infected with Norovirus

• Norovirus is a highly contagious virus that is also sometimes referred to as the ‘stomach flu’ or the ‘ winter vomiting bug’.
• It can be transmitted through contaminated food, water, and surfaces. The primary route is oral-faecal. It is similar to diarrhoea-inducing rotavirus and infects people across age groups. One may get infected multiple times as the virus has different strains.
• Disease outbreaks typically occur aboard cruise ships, in nursing homes, dormitories, and other closed spaces. According to WHO, an estimated 685 million cases of norovirus are seen annually, including 200 million cases amongst children under 5
• The initial symptoms of norovirus are vomiting and/or diarrhoea, which show up one or two days after exposure to the virus.Patients also feel nauseous, and suffer from abdominal pain, fever, headaches and body aches. In extreme cases, loss of fluids could lead to dehydration.
• Norovirus infection is associated with intestinal inflammation, malnutrition and may cause long-term morbidity.
• Diagnosis is done by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.

Prevention & precautions

• No vaccines are available for the disease.
• The basic precaution is repeatedly washing hands with soap after using the lavatory or changing diapers. It is important to wash hands carefully before eating or preparing food.
• During outbreaks, surfaces must be disinfected with a solution of hypochlorite at 5,000 parts per million.
• Those infected should avoid contact with others and avoid preparing food for others while sick and for two days after symptoms stop.
• Norovirus is resistant to many disinfectants and can withstand heat up to 60°C. Therefore, merely steaming food or chlorinating water does not kill the virus. The virus can also survive many common hand sanitisers.

Treatment

• The disease is self-limiting. The infection normally lasts only two or three days, and most individuals who are not very young, very old, or malnourished can ride it out with sufficient rest and hydration.
• It is important to maintain hydration in the acute phase. In extreme cases, patients have to be administered rehydration fluids intravenously.

India successfully tests nuclear-capable Agni 4 ballistic missile

• The two-stage Agni-IV surface-to-surface missile was flight-tested for its “entire range” from the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island, earlier known as Wheeler Island, off the Odisha coast, at about 7.30pm.
• The tri-Service SFC already has the Prithvi-II (350-km), Agni-I (700-km), Agni-II (2,000-km), Agni-III (3,000-km) and Agni-IV missile units, while the induction of the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missile Agni-V (over 5,000-km) is currently in an advanced stage.
• The road-mobile Agni-IV and Agni-V are primarily meant for deterrence against China, which can target any Indian city with its formidable inventory of long-range missiles.
• The Agni-V brings the northernmost part of China within its strike envelope. The shorter range Agni missiles, in turn, are designed for Pakistan.