Eurasian otter raises hope for J&K stream

Mudumalai Tiger Reserve:

• Location:
  • It is located in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu, spread over 321 sq. km. at the tri-junction of three states, viz, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.
  • It lies on the Northeastern and Northwestern slopes of Nilgiri hills which is a part of the Western Ghats.
  • It is part of the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, the first Biosphere Reserve in India.
  • It has a common boundary with Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (Kerala) on the West, Bandipur Tiger Reserve (Karnataka) on the North, the Nilgiris North Division on the South and East, and Gudalur Forest Division on the South West.
• Terrain: The terrain is undulating, with the elevation ranging from 960m to 1266m.
• Habitat: A variety of habitats ranging from tropical evergreen forest, moist deciduous forest, moist teak forest, dry teak forest, secondary grasslands, and swamps are found here.
• Flora:
  • It has tall grasses, commonly referred to as “Elephant Grass”, bamboo of the giant variety, and valuable timber species like Teak, Rosewood, etc.
  • It has wild relatives of cultivated plants, viz. wild rice, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, etc.
• Fauna: Includes Tiger, Elephant, Indian Gaur, Panther, Sambar, Spotted Deer, Barking Deer, Mouse Deer, Common Langur, Malabar Giant Squirrel, Mangoose, Hyena, among others.

Indian Army procures Integrated Mobile Camouflage Systems from a start up

• This is the first-ever procurement order of an Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) project by the Indian Army.

Integrated Mobile Camouflage Systems (IMCS):

• It comprises low emissivity and/or CAM-IIR coatings and mobile camouflage system materials that enable armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) to blend in with their terrain background.
• It achieves a reduction in the detection range of AFVs when viewed through a Hand Held Thermal Imager (HHTI)/Battle Field Surveillance Radar (BFSR) tank-based thermal camera under given environmental and weather conditions.
• It achieves signature management by controlling the Visual, Thermal, infrared, and Radar Signatures of the object.
• It will provide significant capability enhancement in stealth for AFVs.

Defence Excellence (iDEX) project:

• The iDEX initiative was launched by the Government in April 2018.
• Aim: To achieve self-reliance and foster innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging Industries including MSMEs, start-ups, individual innovators, R&D institutes, and academia.
• iDEX is funded and managed by Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) under the Ministry of Defence.

Govt appoints Deepak Mohanty as PFRDA chairman

• It is a statutory regulatory body set up under PFRDA Act enacted in 2014.
• Objective: To promote old age income security by establishing, developing, and regulating pension funds and to protect the interests of subscribers to schemes of pension funds and related matters.
• It comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance.
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Composition: It consists of a Chairperson and not more than six members, of whom at least three shall be Whole-Time Members, to be appointed by the Central Government.
• Functions:
  • Regulate National Pension System (NPS) and other pension schemes to which PFRDA Act applies;
  • Establish, develop and regulate pension funds;
  • Protect the interest of pension fund subscribers;
  • Register and regulate intermediaries;
  • Laying down norms for management of corpus of pension funds;
  • Establish grievance redressal mechanism for subscribers;
  • Settle disputes among intermediaries and also between intermediaries and subscribers;
  • Train intermediaries and educate subscribers and the general public with respect to pension, retirement savings, and related issues;
  • Call for information, conduct inquiries, investigations, and audit of intermediaries and other entities connected with pension funds;

National Pension System (NPS)

• It is a government-sponsored pension scheme launched in January 2004 for government employees.
• It was opened to all sections in 2009.
• NPS is mandatorily applicable to Central Government employees (except Armed Forces) recruited on or after 01.01.2004.
• Under NPS, a subscriber can contribute regularly to a pension account during her working life, withdraw a part of the corpus in a lumpsum and use the remaining corpus to buy an annuity to secure a regular income after retirement.

BRO opens strategic Zojila Pass in record 68 days

• Zojila Pass, also known as ‘The Mountain Pass of Blizzards’, is a strategic pass that connects Kashmir Valley to Ladakh.
• It is located on the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh highway (NH-1) at a height of 11,650 feet.
• The pass remains closed for almost half of the year due to heavy snowfall.
• History:
  • It was the site of the Indo-Pakistan War of 1947-48.
  • It was captured by militias aided by the Pakistan Army in 1848, with the ultimate aim of capturing Ladakh.
  • However, the pass itself was captured by the Indian Army on 1st November 1948 in an assault codenamed Operation Bison.

Zojila Tunnel

• Location: It is an under-construction tunnel situated at an altitude of 11,578 ft (around 3,500 metres) on the Srinagar-Leh Highway in Jammu and Kashmir.
• The tunnel would provide all-weather connectivity between Srinagar and Leh on NH-1.
• Total Length: 14.15 km.
• It will be India’s longest road tunnel, and Asia’s longest bi-directional tunnel.
• It would be 9.5-meter wide and 7**.57-meter high** in the shape of a horseshoe.

India approves capital acquisition of military hardware worth Rs 70,584 crore

Defence Acquisition Council (DAC):

• What is it? The DAC is the highest decision-making bodyof the defence Ministry on procurement.
• Objective: To ensure expeditious procurement of the approved requirements of the armed forces.
• Formation: It was formed after the Group of Minister''s recommendations on ''Reforming the National Security System'', in 2001, post-Kargil War (1999).
• Composition:
  • The defence minister is the chairman of DAC.
  • Its members include the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and chiefs of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
• Functions:
  • Give in-principle approval of a 15 years Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP) for defence forces.
  • Accord of acceptance of necessity to acquisition proposals.
  • Categorization of the acquisition proposalsrelating to ‘Buy’, ‘Buy & Make’, and ‘Make’.
  • Look into issuesrelating to single vendor clearance.
  • Take decisions regarding ‘offset’ provisionsin respect of acquisition proposals above Rs 300 crore.
  • Take decisions regarding the Transfer of Technologyunder the ‘Buy & Make’ category of acquisition proposals.
  • Field trial evaluation.

NIOT''s desalination plant in Lakshadweep gains momentum

Low-temperature thermal desalination Technology:

• The LTTD is a process under which the warm surface seawater is flash evaporated at low pressure and the vapour is condensed with cold deep seawater.
• The LTTD technology does not require any chemical pre and post-treatment of seawater and thus the pollution problems are minimal and suitable for island territories.
• This technique works on the principle that water in the ocean 1,000 or 2,000 feet below is about 4º C to 8º C colder than surface water. So, salty surface water is collected in a tank and subject to high pressure (via an external power source).
• The pressured water vapourises and is trapped in tubes or a chamber. Cold water plumbed from the ocean depths is passed over these tubes and the vapour condenses into fresh water and the resulting salt is diverted away.
• Currently, the desalination plants, each of which provides at least 100,000 litres of potable water every day, are powered by diesel generator sets — there being no other source of power in the islands.

51 projects sanctioned under Trade Infra for Export Scheme till January-end

Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES):

• This scheme replaced a centrally sponsored scheme - Assistance to States for creating Infrastructure for the Development and growth of Exports (ASIDE).
• Objective: To enhance export competitiveness by bridging gaps in export infrastructure, creating focused export infrastructure and first-mile and last-mile connectivity.
• Eligibility: The Central and State Agencies, including Export Promotion Councils, Commodities Boards, SEZ Authorities and Apex Trade Bodies recognised under the EXIM policy of the Government of India; are eligible for financial support under this scheme.
• Under the scheme, financial assistance in the form of grants-in-aid is provided to Central/State Government owned agencies (or their Joint Ventures with major stake-holding by them) for setting up or upgrading export infrastructure in States/UTs.
• The States can avail of the scheme through their implementing agencies for infrastructure projects with significant export linkages like Border Haats, Land customs stations, quality testing and certification labs, cold chains, trade promotion centres, export warehousing and packaging, SEZs and ports/airports cargo terminuses.
• Nodal Ministry: The Department of Commerce (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) is implementing the TIES w.e.f. FY 2017-18 to assist Central and State Government agencies in creating appropriate infrastructure for the growth of exports.

Snake venom may help prevent Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s

• Researchers have developed two novel custom peptides (commercially produced peptides for use in biomedical laboratories) ---TNP and HNP inspired by snake venom neurotrophin that regulate the development, maintenance, and function of vertebrate nervous systems.
• These peptides show selective binding to the human TrkA receptor of nerve cells and hence can improve the selectivity and specificity of drug molecules toward the receptor, thereby enhancing the therapeutic potency of those drug molecules.

Peptides

• Peptides are naturally occurring short chains of amino acid monomers connected by amide bonds.
• They include many antibiotics, hormones and other substances that involve in the biological functions of living beings.
• Peptides are separated from proteins based on size. Proteins are comprised of multiple polypeptides that are placed in a biologically functional way.

Types of Peptides:

• Milk Peptides: Formed when the digestive system breaks down a milk protein called Casein. They are also formed from proteinases arising from lactobacilli during the fermentation of milk.
• Peptones: These are produced during the proteolysis of animal milk or meat. Sometimes it also can be formed from vitamins, fats, metals and some salts.
• Ribosomal Peptides: These are produced by translation (a process in which cellular ribosomes create proteins) of mRNA. To achieve a mature form, they are often subjected to proteolysis.

Applications of Peptides:

• It is used in many anti-ageing creams. The most commonly used peptides are those that are obtained from ocean plants like sea jasmine, sea fennel and sea beet.
• It is used in treating the skin that is affected by injury, sun damage or acne lesions.
• Aspartame which is a synthesized peptide used as an artificial sweetener with zero calories found in many diet foods is produced in labs and is 200 times sweeter than sugar.

New gecko species from MM Hills named after scientist Ganeshaiah

• Researchers named the new species as ''Cnemaspis ganeshaiahi'' Or Ganeshaiah''s dwarf gecko.
• Previously, a grass species (Centotheca ganeshaiahiana) at the Saddle Peak National Park, North Andaman, a small cryptic ant species (Parasyscia ganeshaiahi) in decaying log or under rocks and a cycas species (Cycas uma-ganeshaiahi) were named after KN Ganeshaih.

Male Mahadeshwara Hills Wildlife Sanctuary

• The MM Hills wildlife sanctuary is located in the state of Karnataka.
• It was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in 2013.
• It is contiguous to BRT Tiger Reserve, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserveand the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.
• Flora: The forests of MM Hills wildlife sanctuary are principally of dry deciduous type degrading to scrub forest in the fringe areas, and are interspersed with patches of moist deciduous, semi-evergreen, evergreen and shola forests occurring at varying altitudes.
• Fauna: Animals including tiger, elephant, leopard, wild dog, bison, sambar, spotted deer, barking deer,

Coral breach: A silent, catastrophic invasion has happened in the Gulf of Mannar; here is how

Kappaphycus alvarezii:

• It is seaweed (alga) which is native to the Indo-Pacific region.
• The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists it as one of the world’s 100 most invasive species.
• It is one of the prime threats that killed the corals near Kurusadai which was deliberately introduced in Ramanathapuram for commercial cultivation some two decades ago.

Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park

• The Gulf of Mannar is one of the biologically richest coastal regions in all of the mainland of India. It is the first Marine Biosphere Reserve in South and South East Asia.
• In India, the Gulf of Mannar region in Tamil Naduis one of the four major coral reef areas and the others are the Gulf of Kutch in Gujarat, Lakhsadweep and Andaman and Nicobar islands.
• It is designated as a Biosphere Reserve.
• This Biosphere Reserve encompasses a chain of 21 islands (2 islands already submerged) and adjoining coral reefs off the coasts of the Ramanathapuram and the Tuticorin districts.