Conservation drive pays off, Sarus crane count nearly doubles in Kheda wetland in 7 years

• It is the tallest flying bird in the world.
• Scientific name: Grus Antigone
• Distribution: They live in Southeast Asia, northern India and in northern Australia.
• Habitat: They live mainly in wetlands such as canals, marshes and ponds, sometimes near humans.
• Features:
  • It is 152-156 cm tall with a wingspan of 240cm.
  • It has a predominantly grey plumage with a naked red head and upper neck and pale red legs.
  • It weighs 8-7.8 Kgs.
  • They are regarded as the least social crane species, found mostly in pairs or small groups of three or four.
  • They are monogamous birds and pairs mate for life.
• Conservation Status:
• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
• Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972: Schedule IV

PM pays homage to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

• The founder of the Maratha Kingdom, Shivaji was born to be a natural leader and fighter on 19th February, 1630 in the prestigious Shivneri Fort.
• He was known as the Father of Indian Navy, Shivaji was the first to realise the importance of having a naval force, and therefore he strategically established a navy and forts at the coastline to defend the Konkan side of Maharashtra.
• The secular ruler was very accommodating of all religions. He had numerous Muslim soldiers in his army.
• Shivaji was a dependable supporter of women and their honour. Anyone under his rule caught violating woman''s rights was severely punished.
• He had a council of ministers (Asht Pradhan) to advise him on the matters of the state but he was not bound by it.
• He was called as the ''Mountain Rat'' and was widely known for his guerrilla warfare tactics. He was called so because of his awareness in geography of his land, and guerrilla tactics like raiding, ambushing and surprise attacks on his enemies

North India''s first nuclear plant to come in Haryana

• It is located at Gorakhpur village of Fatehabad district in Haryana, which is about 150 km north of the national capital.
• It will have two units of 700 MWe capacity each of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) indigenous design.

Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR)

• It is a nuclear power reactor, commonly using unenriched natural uranium as its fuel, that uses heavy water (deuterium oxide D2O) as its coolant and moderator.
• The heavy water coolant is kept under pressure, allowing it to be heated to higher temperatures without boiling, much as in a typical pressurized water reactor.
• While heavy water is significantly more expensive than ordinary light water, it yields greatly enhanced neutron economy, allowing the reactor to operate without fuel enrichment facilities (mitigating the additional capital cost of the heavy water) and generally enhancing the ability of the reactor to efficiently make use of alternate fuel cycles.

Reserve: Pm Lauds Forest Staff Who Saved Electrocuted Jumbo

Bandipur Tiger reserve:

• It was established in the 1930s as a wildlife sanctuary, which became a tiger reserve in 1973 under Project tiger.
• It is situated in two contiguous districts (Mysore and Chamarajanagar) of Karnataka and located at the tri-junction area of the States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
• Bandipur Tiger Reserve is surrounded by:
• Nagarahole Tiger Reserve (Tamil Nadu) in the North West (Kabini Reservoir separates the two).
• Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (Tamil Nadu) in the South.
• Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (Kerala) in the South West.
• This area has the River Kabini in its north and River Moyar in its south. Along with River Nugu, that flows across it.
• Flora: It comprises diverse vegetation of dry deciduous to tropical mixed deciduous It include rosewood, Indian kino tree, sandalwood, Indian laurel, clumping bamboo and giant clumping bamboo etc.
• Fauna: It is a shelter for the largest population of wild Asian elephants in South Asia. It comprises other mammals such as Bengal tiger, gaur, sloth bear, golden jackal, dhole and four-horned antelope etc.

Parshottam Rupala launches Sagar Parikrama Phase-III from Hazira Port in Gujarat

• It is an initiative of Government of India, aiming to resolve the issues of the fishers and other stakeholders and facilitate their economic upliftment through various fisheries schemes and programs being implemented by the Government of India such as PMMSY.
• Sagar Parikrama is an evolutionary journey envisaged in the sea across the coastal belt demonstrating solidarity with all fisherfolk, fish farmers and concerned stakeholder’s as a spirit of 75th Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying.
• The Parikrama shall be accompanied by the State Fisheries officials, Fishermen representatives, Fish-Farmers entrepreneurs, stakeholders, professionals, officials and Scientists from across the nation.
• Phase III program of ‘Sagar Parikrama’ will cover mainly the coastal areas of Maharashtra and Gujrat.
• The Phase –I and Phase- II programmes of ‘Sagar Parikrama’ has been organized in March 2022 and September 2022 respectively.

Rhododendrons carpet Darjeeling, Sikkim Himalayas

• What is it? They are a diverse genus of about 1,000 species of woody flowering plantsin the heath family (Ericaceae), notable for their attractive flowers and handsome foliage.
• Distribution: They are native to the temperate regions of Asia, North America, and Europe, as well as to the tropical regions of southeast Asia and northern Australia.
• Habitat: They occur in a variety of habitats, including alpine regions, coniferous and broadleaved woodlands, temperate rain forests, and even tropical jungle
• They also require a slightly acid soil to grow well.
• They exhibit an enormous diversity of size and shape, from prostrate ground covers growing no more than a few inches high to trees more than 100 feet tall.
• There are 132 taxa (80 species, 25 subspecies and 27 varieties) of rhododendrons found in India.
• Rhododendron, also known as "Lali Guras" in local language, is the national flower of Nepal and the state tree of the state of Uttarakhand in India.

NTCA approval to Debrigarh as tiger reserve

• Located near the Hirakud dam at Sambalpur, spread over an area of 347 sq km Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the famous tourist destinations of western Odisha.
• It will become the third tiger reserve in Odisha after Similipal and Satkosia.
• It was declared as a wildlife sanctuary in 1985 and situated in the Bargarh district of Odisha near Hirakud dam (Mahanadi River).
• It finds a special mention because of noted freedom fighter veer Surendra sai. During his rebellion against the British Veer SurendraSaimade his base at ‘Barapathara” located within the sanctuary.
• Fauna: A wide varieties of animals including leopard, wild boar, bison, sambar, chital and Four-horned antelope are sighted in the sanctuary.

NIH researchers develop innovative software tool to assemble complete genome sequences on-demand

• It is an innovative software for assembling complete, gapless diploid genomes.
• It is developed by researchers from National Institutes of Health (NIH), US.
• Verkko grew from assembling the first gapless human genome sequence, which was finished last year by the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) consortium, a collaborative project funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of NIH, USA.
• Verkko working
  • Different DNA sequencing technologies generate different types of genomic puzzle pieces. Some are small and highly detailed, while others are much bigger though the image is blurry.
  • Verkko compares and assembles both types of pieces to generate a complete and accurate picture.
  • Verkko starts by putting together the small, detailed pieces, creating many partially assembled but disconnected segments of sequence.
  • Then, Verkko compares the assembled regions with the larger, less precise pieces.
  • These larger pieces serve as a framework to order the more detailed regions.
  • The final product is an accurate and complete genome sequence.
• Uses:
  • This software makes the process of assembling complete genome sequences more affordable and accessible.
  • It will also accelerate efforts to generate gapless genome sequences of species commonly used in research.

GST Council gives green signal to establishment of appellate tribunal

• The Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act) in Section 109 mandates for the constitution of a GSTAT and its Benches.
• The GSTAT will be the specialized appellate authority for resolving disputes under the GST laws.
• Composition:
  • The GST Tribunal will have one principal bench in New Delhi and as many benches or boards in states as decided by each state, subject to approval of the council.
  • North-eastern states could opt for one bench for 2-3 states and an additional bench for very far-flung areas.
  • The principal bench and state boards would have two technical and two judicial members each, with equal representation from the Centre and states.
  • All four members would not sit for hearing each case. It depends on the threshold or value of dues involved.

Sanctions-hit Russia pitches manufacture of its civil jet in India

• It is a twin-engined regional aircraft with a capacity of maximum 98 passengers.
• It is developed by the Russian manufacturer Sukhoi JSC.
• It had its maiden flight in 2008 and its first commercial service three years later.
• It has maximum cruise speed of Mach 0.81 and maximum altitude of 12,500m.
• The SSJ100 is available in basic (95B) and long range (95LR) variants, serving short to medium range routes between 3,279-4,620 km.