New toad species discovered in Dampa tiger reserve of Mizoram

New toad species

• It is the third of a genus bufoides found only in a very narrow area in northeast India.
• This species has interdigital webbing, colouration, skin tuberculation, and the presence of ovoid, tuberculated and depressed parotid glands.
• The two earlier known species from the genus ‘bufoides’ – Bufoides meghalayanus and Bufoides kempi – were found in Meghalaya.
• The new species has been named after S Bhupathy, a noted herpetologist.

Dampa tiger reserve

• It is located in the western flank (Lushai Hills) of Mizoram.
• It was declared as a tiger reserve under the Project Tiger initiative in 1994.
• On the West, the reserve is bound by the Chittagong hill tracts (Sazek hill range) of Bangladesh.
• The terrain is hilly with elevation ranging from 49 to 1095 m. above mean sea level.
• The highest point of the reserve is the Chhawrpialtlang with an altitude of 1095m. Other peaks are Dampatlang (869 M) and Pathlawilunglentlang (780 m).
• Vegetation: The vegetation of the reserve ranges from tropical evergreen to semi-evergreen forests.
• The habitat is drained by the River Khawthlangtuipui in the West and the Teirei River to the East. The tributaries of Teirei, viz. Keisalam, Seling and Aivapui also flow through the reserve.
• Fauna: The major fauna includes Hoolock Gibbon, Rhesus Macaque, Assamese Macaque, Pig-Tailed Macaque, Stump-Tailed Macaque and Phayre’s Leaf Monkey etc
• Flora: It is rich in n flora such as Dipterocarpus turbinatus, Dipterocarpus marcocarpus, Terminalia myriocarpa and Michelia champaca, etc.

ICRISAT Signs Agreement to Join One CGIAR Partnership

One CGIAR global initiative

• It aims to build a unified approach to transforming food, land, and water systems to address the challenges posed by climate crisis.
• This initiative involves the CGIAR System Organisation and 12 One CGIAR research centres.
• The CGIAR is a publicly-funded network of agrifood systems research centres, works for transforming food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis. It is working in over 80 countries.

ICRISAT

• It is a non-profit, non-political public international research organisation that conducts agricultural research for development in Asia & sub-Saharan Africa.
• It helps farmers by providing improved crop varieties and hybrids and also helps smallholder farmers in the drylands fight climate change.
• It conducts research on five highly nutritious drought-tolerant crops: chickpea, pigeonpea, pearl millet, sorghum, and groundnut.
• It has been awarded 2021 Africa Food Prize for the Tropical Legumes Project that has improved food security across 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
• It is headquartered in Hyderabad, Telangana State, in India, with two regional hubs (Nairobi, Kenya and Bamako, Mali).

CSIR-CCMB study to understand genetics behind diseases

Diverse Epigenetic Epidemiology Partnership (DEEP)

• It is a ground-breaking integrated genomics and epigenomics study to understand the genetics behind Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in diverse populations, including South Asians.
• The project is to uncover the effects of genomic and environmental diversity in disease risk observed in people across the world, including those in Asia, Africa and North and South America.
• It is a five-year international project.
• Researchers will be studying individuals representing diverse genetic and environmental contexts and learn which DNA methylation patterns contribute to their disease risk in each context
• The study will develop software and infrastructure and conduct advanced statistical analyses to build new resources.
• These new resources will sit alongside international health and genetics databases to look at trends in variation in DNA methylation.
• Significance of this initiative
  • This research will enable identification of disease-causing mechanisms that are common worldwide and those which are unique to particular groups or regions.
  • It will help with answering questions such as whether medicines developed in one part of the world will be effective for all.
  • Ultimately the DEEP study hopes to enable targeted interventions or treatments and reduce global health disparity and inequity.

DNA methylation

• It is a process where chemical groups attach to DNA in order to help to turn genes on and off.
• It is a type of epigenetic modification, helps the body to respond to environmental signals and ultimately contributes to whole system health and disease status.
• Understanding relationships between DNAm, genetics and environment is essential for understanding pathways of health, disease and consequences.

On its Manesar campus in the Aravalis, NSG takes the battle to ''vilayati kikar''

Prosopis juliflora

• It is a shrub or small tree in the family Fabaceae, a kind of mesquite.
• It is native to Mexico, South America and the Caribbean.
• It is one of the most invasive species in arid and semi-arid areas.
• It was brought to Delhi by the British in the 1920s, when the national capital was being built.
• In India it is known locally by many names such as Bellary jaali, seemai karuvelam, seemai jaali, gando baval, vilayati kikar.
• It has a very wide ecological adaptability which can grow on soils from sand dune to clay soil, and from saline to alkaline soil type.
• It can grow below 200 to above 1500 m above sea level, and with a mean annual rainfall ranging from 50 to 1500 mm
• It is considered as an Invasive plant.
• It is characterized by vigorous growth which helps them to outcompete indigenous plant species.

Impacts

• This tree absorbs more than four litres of water to obtain one kilogram of biomass.
• It cannot even shelter birds as it produces less oxygen and more carbon dioxide.
• It can also turn the groundwater poisonous.
• It causes land erosion due to the loss of the grasslands that are habitats for native plants and animals.

India ranks 111 out of 125 countries in Global Hunger Index

Global Hunger Index

• It is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels.
• It is prepared jointly by Irish aid agency Concern Worldwide and German organisation Welt Hunger Hilfe.
• GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators
  • Undernourishment: (the share of the population whose caloric intake is insufficient)
  • Child stunting: (the share of children under the age of five who have low height for their age)
  • Child wasting: ( the share of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height)
  • Child mortality: (the share of children who die before their fifth birthday)
• The GHI score is calculated on a 100-point scale reflecting the severity of hunger, where zero is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.

Key findings of GHI-2023

• India’s ranking is based on a Global Hunger Index score of 28.7 on a 100-point scale.
• This categorises India’s severity of hunger as “serious”.
• The 2023 GHI score for the world is 18.3, which is considered moderate.
• Latin American and the Caribbean is the only region in the world whose GHI scores have worsened between 2015 and 2023.
• South Asia and Africa South of the Sahara are the world regions with the highest hunger levels, with GHI scores of 27.0 each.

Record spike in aerosols in Hindu Kush region

Aerosols

• They are tiny solid or liquid particles suspended in air or as a gas.
• Aerosols can be natural, such as fog or gas from volcanic eruptions, or artificial, such as smoke from burning fossil fuels.
• Aerosol particles are either emitted directly to the atmosphere (primary aerosols) or produced in the atmosphere from precursor gases (secondary aerosols).
• Aerosol particles are tiny, but numerous, and often comprise of a number of inorganic and organic substances.
• True aerosol particles range in diameter from a few millimicrometres to about 1 micrometre (equal to 10-4 cm).
• Particles with a diameter of less than 0.1 micrometre are sometimes referred to as Aitken nuclei.
• Visible forms of atmospheric aerosol plumes include smoke, smog, haze and dust.
• How do aerosols affect climate?
  • Aerosol particles, such as dust, play an important role in the precipitation process, providing the nuclei upon which condensation and freezing take place.
  • They affect climate by reflecting or absorbing incoming solar radiation and enhancing the brightness, and thus reflectivity, of clouds.
  • Although absorption, like reflection, tends to reduce sunlight at the ground level, the enhanced atmospheric heating eventually warms up the surface, and counteracts the cooling caused by reflection.
  • They also participate in chemical processes and influence the electrical properties of the atmosphere.

Tamil Nadu CM Launches ''nilgiri Tahr'' Project

Nilgiri Tahr

• It is an endangered mountain ungulate endemic to the southern part of the Western Ghats.
• Scientific Name: Nilgiritragus hylocrius
• Locally, the animal is called ‘Varayaadu’.
• They are known for their gravity-defying skills in climbing steep cliffs, earning them the nickname Mountain Monarch.
• It is the state animal of Tamil Nadu.
• Distribution:
  • Their present distribution is limited to approximately 5% of the Western Ghats in southern India (Kerala and Tamil Nadu).
  • Eravikulam National Park in Kerala has the highest density and largest surviving population of Nilgiri tahr.
• Habitat: They inhabit the open montane grassland habitats at elevations from 1200 to 2600 m of the South Western Ghats.
• Features:
  • It has a stocky body with short, coarse fur and a bristly mane.
  • Males are larger than females and of a darker color when mature.
  • Both sexes have curved horns, which are larger in the males, reaching up to 40 cm in males and 30 cm in females.
  • Adult males develop a light grey area or ’saddle’ on their backs and are hence called ‘saddlebacks’.
  • It has a short grey-brown or dark coat.
• Conservation Status:
  • IUCN Red List: Endangered
  • Wildlife (Protection) Act of India, 1972: Schedule

Modi''s visit to Gunji irks Nepal opposition

Gunji Village

• Location:
  • It is located in Dharchula tehsil of Pithoragarh district in northern Uttarakhand.
  • It is situated near the borders of Tibet and Neal and the confluence of the Kuthi Yankti and Kalapani Rivers, on the east end of the Kuthi Valley.
• The geographical area of Gunji village is 188.9 hectares.
• Altitude: 3500 meters
• It overlooks Mount Api in Nepal.
• The people residing here are seasonal migrants. With winters coming, people migrate to lower places (mostly to Dharchula) in the same district.
• As per the 2011 census, the village of Gunji has a population of 335 people living in 194 households.
• Gunji village is administered by Sarpanch (Head of Village) who is elected representative of the village.
• The village is on the traditional Indian/Nepalese route to Kailas–Manasarovar.
• To visit Gunji, one has to obtain an Inner Line permit.

Inner line permit (ILP)

• ILP is an official travel document issued by the Government of India to allow inward travel of an Indian citizen into a protected area for a limited period.
• It is obligatory for Indian citizens from outside those states to obtain a permit for entering the protected state.
• The document is an effort by the government to regulate movement to certain areas located near the international border of India.
• This is an offshoot of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations, 1873, which protected the Crown’s interest in the tea, oil and elephant trade by prohibiting “British subjects” from entering into these “Protected Areas”.
• The word “British subjects” was replaced by Citizen of India in 1950.
• There are different kinds of ILPs, one for tourists and others for people who intend to stay for long-term periods, often for employment purposes.

US navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford in Eastern Mediterranean sea amid Israel-Hamas conflict

USS Gerald R Ford

• It is US Navy’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier.
• The ship was named in tribute to Ford, who was president from 1974 to 1977, giving a ‘lifetime of service’ to the United States.
• The ship was commissioned in 2017.
• Features:
  • It is the world’s largest ship, measuring approximately 1,092 feet (333 meters) in length, with a beam of 256 feet (78 meters) at its flight deck and a height of 250 feet (76 meters).
  • It is a first-in-class aircraft carrier. First-in-class technology includes a new nuclear plant, the ability to generate nearly three times the amount of electrical power, innovative advanced arresting gear, and the electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS).
  • It has a displacement of a whopping 112,000 tonnes.
  • It has the capacity to hold around 4,660 crew members.
  • It can reach a speed in excess of 30 knots.
  • It comes with a slew of surface-to-air missiles, including the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow, and the RIM-116, and M2 machine guns.
  • It can carry more than 75 aircrafts.

Council of Europe votes to recognize Holodomor as a genocide

Holodomor

• It is a man-made famine that occurred in the Soviet republic of Ukraine from 1932 to 1933, peaking in the late spring of 1933.
• It left an estimated 3.9 million people dead.
• The primary victims of the Holodomor (literally "death inflicted by starvation") were rural farmers and villagers, who made up roughly 80 percent of Ukraine''s population in the 1930s.
• It was part of a broader Soviet famine (1931–34) that also caused mass starvation in the grain-growing regions of Soviet Russia and Kazakhstan.
• In 2006, by the Law of Ukraine “On the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine”, the Holodomor was recognized as genocide of the Ukrainian nation.
• Causes:
  • The origins of the famine lay in the decision by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to collectivize agriculture in 1929.
  • Teams of Communist Party agitators forced peasants to relinquish their land, personal property, and sometimes housing to collective farms, and they deported so-called kulaks—wealthier peasants—as well as any peasants who resisted collectivization altogether.
  • Collectivization led to a drop in production, the disorganization of the rural economy**,** and food shortages.
  • It also sparked a series of peasant rebellions, including armed uprisings, in some parts of Ukraine.
  • In 1932, the Communist Party set impossibly high quotas for the amount of grain Ukrainian villages were required to contribute to the Soviet state.
  • When the villages were not able to meet the quotas, authorities intensified the requisition campaign, confiscating even the seed set aside for planting.
  • Farms, villages, and whole towns in Ukraine were placed on blacklists and prevented from receiving food.
  • Peasants were forbidden to leave the Ukrainian republic in search of food.
  • In some cases, soldiers were posted in watchtowers to prevent people from taking any of the harvest. Millions starved as the USSR sold crops from Ukraine abroad.