• It was jointly declared by the Centre and Tamil Nadu governments as 51st tiger reserve of India and 5th tiger reserve of Tamil Nadu.
• The Srivilliputhur Grizzled Giant Squirrel Sanctuary and Meghamalai Wildlife Sanctuary have been combined to create the tiger reserve.
• The Grizzled Giant Squirrel Sanctuary has one of the best preserved forests south of Palghat gap.
  • It forms an important landscape for elephant conservation in Periyar tiger reserve.
• The significant parts of the Meghamalai landscape encompassing Varushanad hills, Cumbam Valley and a portion of the northern slopes of the landscape together with the Madurai forest division were declared as the Meghamalai wildlife sanctuary.

• It is seminal to Tamil literature, culture, and civilization.
• It is now almost a dead river in Madurai.
• The river finds a mention in Sangam literature dated to 300 before Common Era.
• The once perennial river is now completely dry and animals in large numbers graze on its riverbed.
• The Vaigai river basin covers an area of about 7,009.13 square kilometres.
• It once had numerous tributaries in the Western Ghats region, and they augmented its flow during the British period.
  • Its main tributaries are Suruliyaru, Mullaiyaru, Varaganadhi, Manjalaru, Kottagudi, Kridhumaal and Upparu.
• The British had built a drinking water project named Vaigai Dam in 1898 and linked it with Mullaperiyar Dam of present Kerala to meet the drinking water and irrigation needs.

• The NTPC Ltd has already taken a series of measures across its plant locations onsound water management.
• The NTPC has joined a select group of business leaders who recognize the ever-growing importance of water stewardship and have been working to conserve this precious natural resource.
• It will further imbibe the 3R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle) for water conservation and management while carrying out its core business activity of power generation.

• It is a UN Global Compact initiative to demonstrate commitment and efforts of companies to better their water and sanitation agendas as part of Sustainable Development Goals.
• It was formed in 2007 to mobilize business leaders to advance water stewardship, sanitation, and the Sustainable Development Goals
• It is designed to assist companies in the development, implementation, and disclosure of comprehensive water strategies and policies.
• It also provides a platform for companies to partner with like-minded businesses, UN agencies, public authorities, civil society organizations, and other key stakeholders.
• It looks to support SDG6 and its touch point with other water-related SDGs by working with companies to implement good water stewardship practices.
• It develops tools and resources, convenes stakeholders, and facilitates meaningful partnerships and on-the-ground collective actions that improve conditions in at-risk river basins around the world.
• It offers a unique platform to share best and emerging practices and to forge multi-stakeholder partnerships to address challenges related to water scarcity, water quality, water governance, and access to water and sanitation.

• It is a strategic initiative that supports global companies that are committed to responsible business practices in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment, and corruption.
• It was officially launched at UN Headquarters in New York City in 2000.
• It promotes activities that contribute to sustainable development goals to create a better world.
• It is based on 10 principles that should define a company’s value system and approach to doing business:
  • Principle 1: Support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights.
  • Principle 2: Ensure that business practices are not complicit in human rights abuses.
  • Principle 3: Uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.
  • Principle 4: Eliminate all forms of forced and compulsory labor.
  • Principle 5: Abolish child labor.
  • Principle 6: Eliminate discrimination in employment and occupation.
  • Principle 7: Adopt a precautionary approach to environmental challenges.
  • Principle 8: Conduct environmentally responsible activities.
  • Principle 9: Encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.
  • Principle 10: Fight corruption in all its forms including extortion and bribery.
• It is a non-binding United Nations pact to encourage businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies.
• It is the world's largest corporate sustainability initiative with 13000 corporate participants and other stakeholders over 170 countries.
• It is a founding member of the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative, Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI), and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

• The INTERPOL applied cutting-edge scientific research and used the DNA of relatives to identify missing persons or unidentified human remains around the world.
• DNA kinship matching is used mostly in cases where a direct sample of the missing person is not available.
  • It is the first global database to automatically control for such differences without requiring knowledge of the missing person’s genetic ancestry.
  • It provides standardised guidelines on what constitutes a match.
• It is a pioneering new service that can perform complex DNA kinship calculations on profiles stored in the system.
• It is powered by Bonaparte, a forensic DNA matching software system developed by SMART Research.

• It will help the police solve cold cases in member countries.
• It can perform millions of calculations in a short space of time which is then interpreted by forensic DNA experts at the INTERPOL General Secretariat.
• It is the result of scientific research, state-of-the-art software development and extensive validation tests.
• The driving principle behind I-Familia is humanitarian which aim is to reunite loved ones or to bring closure to cases and allow families to rebuild their lives.

• It has three components:
  • A dedicated global database to host the DNA profiles provided by relatives, held separately from any criminal data;
  • DNA matching software called Bonaparte, developed by Dutch company Smart Research; and
  • Interpretation guidelines developed by Interpol.
• The Bonaparte technology uses advanced statistical algorithms to calculate the probability of a match compared against an interpretation table.

Types of DNA Identification

• DNA identification through direct matching
  • A direct DNA sample from the missing person can be compared to the DNA from an unidentified body or human remains to see if a match can be found.
• DNA identification through kinship matching
  • Biological relatives share a percentage of their DNA, depending on their relationship.
  • In the event that a DNA sample from the missing person cannot be obtained for direct matching, DNA from close family members (parents, children, siblings) can also be compared.

• The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime control.
• It is an inter-governmental organization with 194 member countries.
• In each member country, an INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) provides the central point of contact for the General Secretariat and other NCBs.
• The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is designated as the National Central Bureau of India.
• The headquarters in Lyon (France) coordinates much of the policing expertise and services we provide to member countries.

El Salvador’s decision to use Bitcoin as legal tender Recently, El Salvador’s populist millennial President Nayib Bukele has said that he would be making the Bitcoin cryptocurrency legal tender in the Central American country.

• El Salvador has not had its own monetary policy since 2001, when a right-wing government made the US dollar the official currency.
• Along with Ecuador and Panama, El Salvador is currently among three nations in Latin America to have a ‘dollarized economy.

• El Salvador, with a population of around 64 lakh and an area slightly bigger than Meghalaya, depends heavily on remittances sent by Salvadorians from abroad.
  • Around a quarter of the country’s citizens live in the US, and in 2020 they sent home more than $6 billion in remittances, making up more than 20% of the GDP.
• The amount received by more than a million low income families will increase in the equivalent of billions of dollars every year by using Bitcoin.
• Bitcoin will help increase financial inclusion in El Salvador, where 70% of the population does not have a bank account and relies on the informal economy.

• In the short term this will generate jobs and help provide financial inclusion to thousands outside the formal economy.
• In the medium and long term we hope that this small decision can help us push humanity at least a tiny bit into the right direction.
• It will provide a way to grow the country’s economy, providing access to credit, savings, investment and secure transaction.

• The proposal is expected to sustain Bukele’s popularity in El Salvador, where he is seen as an innovator, as well as improve the appeal for Bitcoin.
• There are some crypto experts who have criticised the move saying that El Salvador could have looked at crypto options that would work better as a currency than Bitcoin.
• The experts also complain about the lack of a central regulating authority, potential for fraud and money laundering, high energy costs and extreme volatility.

• In Cuba, the appeal of cryptocurrencies has proliferated ever since its Communist regime allowed mobile internet in 2018, as many have used them for circumventing US sanctions and a decades-long trade embargo.
• In Mexico, where also remittances from the US form a huge source of income, the crypto market has boomed.
  • Its Bitso crypto exchange grew by 342% between September 2019 and May 2020.
• In Venezuela, which is undergoing an economic and humanitarian crisis, many are adopting crypto money as spiralling hyperinflation has harmed the bolivar, the official currency.

Recently, there has been growing environmental concern in Turkey over the accumulation of ‘sea snot’.

• It is a slimy layer of grey or green sludge in the country’s seas, which can cause considerable damage to the marine ecosystem.
• Turkey’s Sea of Marmara, that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, has witnessed the largest outbreak of ‘sea snot’.
• The sludge has also been spotted in the adjoining Black and Aegean seas.
• The thick slimy layer of organic matter, which looks like a viscous, brown and foamy substance, has spread through the sea south of Istanbul and also blanketed harbours and shorelines.

• It is marine mucilage that is formed when algae are overloaded with nutrients as a result of water pollution combined with the effects of climate change.
• The nutrient overload occurs when algae feast on warm weather caused by global warming.
  • The phenomenon of water pollution adds to the problem.
• The overproduction of phytoplankton caused by climate change and the uncontrolled dumping of household and industrial waste into the seas has led to the Sea Snot.
  • The dumping of sewage in the sea along with rising temperatures is causing the crisis.
• A ‘sea snot’ outbreak was first recorded in the country in 2007 and it was also spotted in the Aegean Sea near Greece.

• The growth of the mucilage, which floats up on the surface of the sea like a brown phlegm, is posing a severe threat to the marine ecosystem of the country.
• The sea divers have said that it has caused mass deaths among the fish population, and also killed other aquatic organisms such as corals and sponges.
• The mucilage is now covering the surface of the sea and has also spread to 80-100 feet below the surface.
  • If unchecked, this can collapse to the bottom and cover the sea floor, causing major damage to the marine ecosystem.
• It could end up poisoning all aquatic life, including fishes, crabs, oysters, mussels and sea stars.
• It has also affected the livelihoods of fishermen because the sludge is getting collected in their nets, making them so heavy that they break or get lost.
• The mucilage coating the strings makes the nets visible to fish and keep them away.
• The experts have also warned that the ‘sea snot’ can cause an outbreak of water-borne diseases such as cholera in cities like Istanbul.

Sea of Marmara

• It is a small inland sea that is completely bordered by the transcontinental nation of Turkey.
• It has been named after the Turkish Island of Marmara, whose name was derived from the Greek word Mármaron which means “marble”.
• It separates Asian Turkey from European Turkey.
• In the northeast, it is connected to the Black Sea via the Bosphorus Strait, whereas in the southwest, it is linked with the Aegean Sea via the Dardanelles Strait.

For the People Act Recently, Senator Joe Manchin, the Democrat who represents the state of West Virginia has said that he will not vote for the bill which is in question i.e. ‘For the People Act’. For the People Act

• It was passed by the House of Representatives in March 2021.
• In March 2021, a Senate version of this bill was introduced and an earlier version was passed by the House in March 2019.
• It is a “historic legislation” that will fulfil the following objectives:
  • Easier to vote in federal elections;
  • End congressional gerrymandering;
  • Overhaul federal campaign finance laws;
  • Increase safeguards against foreign interference; and
  • Strengthen government ethics rules

• It aims to combat a series of bills introduced in Republican controlled states that aim to make it harder for people to cast their votes.
• It aims to limit how local officials can expand voting rights, set new rules for voting by mail and set new rules for removing people from voter rolls.
• The Democrats have pushed the legislation as the antidote to a wave of restrictive state voting laws sweeping the country.
• The legislation would restrict partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts,eliminate hurdles to voting and bring transparency to a campaign finance systemthat allows wealthy donors to anonymously bankroll political causes.

• The experts claim that it is a partisan legislation that wants to expand voting rights.
• It seeks to needlessly restrict voting rights of the people or depict politicians whoignore the need to secure the elections.

• Its foundation stone was laid at the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) Bhubaneswar.
• It will be set up inside the campus with an estimated cost of Rs 12 crore.
• It will be funded by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC)of the Centre’s department of biotechnology (DBT).

• The platform can be used for animal trial of drugs and vaccines.
• The platform will have biosafety levels-3 (BSL-3) facility for animal study and it will house animals for this purpose.
• It is aimed at undertaking evaluation studies of potential drug and vaccine candidates.

• The scientific and clinical communities are actively engaged to develop effective preventions and treatments because COVID-19 is causing a major global pandemic.
• A key strategy to protect humans from this corona virus pandemic is the development of effective vaccines and therapeutics.
• Animal models that closely resemble the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2−induced disease in humans are essential for research on disease mechanisms and for the evaluation of potential vaccines and antiviral drugs.

• Validity period of RECs; Floor & Forbearance Price
  • The REC validity period may be removed and the validity of REC would be perpetual i.e. till it is sold.
  • As RECs are perpetually valid then the floor and forbearance prices are not required to be specified as RECs holders would have the complete freedom to decide the timings to sell.
  • CERC will be required to have monitoring and the surveillance mechanism to ensure that there is no hording of the RECs and creation of artificial price rise in the REC market. 
• Period for which the RECs are to be issued to RE generators
  • The RE generator who are eligible for REC, will be eligible for issuance of RECs for 15 years from the date of commissioning of the projects. 
  • The existing RE project that are eligible for REC would continue to get RECs for 25 years.
• Promotion of new and high cost technologies in RE and the provision of multiplier for issuance of RECs
  • The concept of multiplier can be introduced, under which less mature RE technologies can be promoted over other matured renewable technologies.
  • The concept of negative list and sunset clause may also be considered for various technologies depending upon their maturity level.
  • Any RE technologies which need to be promoted may be identified say 2 years in advance.
  • A technology multiplier can be introduced for promotion of new and high priced RE technologies, which can be allocated in various baskets specific to technologies depending on maturity.
• No REC to be issued to the beneficiary of the concessional charges or waiver of any other charges.
• The role of trader can be enhanced in the REC trading which will bring in two key advantages i.e.
  • It will give long-term visibility to the buyers of the REC and
  • They can easily fulfil the RPO.
• The small buyers can bank on the traders for buying REC as an ease of purchase which will ensure even the small buyers who finds difficulty in trading in REC marketwill be able to fulfil his RPO.

• It is a market based instrument to promote renewable energy and facilitate compliance of renewable purchase obligations (RPO).
• It is a tradable, legal mechanism that represents the environmental benefits associated with one Megawatt-hour of electricity generated from a renewable energy resource.
• It is aimed at addressing the mismatch between availability of RE resources in state and the requirement of the obligated entities to meet the renewable purchase obligation (RPO).
• One Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) is treated as equivalent to 1 MWh.

• A generating company engaged in generation of electricity from renewable energy sources shall be eligible to apply for registration for issuance of and dealing in Certificates if it fulfills the following conditions:
  • It has obtained accreditation from the State Agency; and
  • It does not have any power purchase agreement for the capacity related to such generation to sell electricity, with the obligated entity for the purpose of meeting its renewable purchase obligation.
• A distribution licensee shall be eligible to apply for registration with the Central Agency for issuance conditions:
  • It has procured renewable energy, in the previous financial year, at a tariff determined under Section 62 or adopted under Section 63 of the Act; and
  • It has obtained a certification from the Appropriate Commission towards procurement of renewable energy.