India''s upcoming AI-powered wargame centre

• The project, which has been given a prototype name ‘WARDEC’, will be a first-of-its-kind simulation-based training centre in India that will use artificial intelligence (AI) to design virtual reality wargames.
• The Wargame Research and Development Centre will be used by the Army to train its soldiers and test their strategies through “metaverse-enabled gameplay”. The wargame models will be designed to prepare for wars as well as counter-terror and counter-insurgency operations.
• The centre will come up in a military zone in New Delhi. The RRU will join hands with Tech Mahindra to develop the centre in the coming three to four months, officials added.
• The RRU, an institute under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), specialises in national security and policing. Located in Gandhinagar’s Lavad village, it is an “institute of national importance” – a status granted to it by an Act of Parliament.

Mozambique Reports First Case Of Wild Poliovirus In 30 Years

• Polio is a crippling and potentially deadly disease that affects the nervous system. Because the virus lives in the faeces (poop) of an infected person, people infected with the disease can spread it to others when they do not wash their hands well after defecating (pooping).
• People can also be infected if they drink water or eat food contaminated with infected feces.
• The virus multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and can cause paralysis. Once that happens, the patient is crippled for life because there is no treatment for the affliction. That is why polio is so dreaded.
• Polio infection, however, is easily preventable by a vaccine.
• There are three variants of the poliovirus, numbered 1 to 3. For a country to be declared polio-free, the wild transmission of all three kinds has to be stopped. For eradication, cases of both wild and vaccine-derived polio infection have to be reduced to zero.
• India launched the Pulse Polio immunisation programme in 1995, after a resolution for a global initiative of polio eradication was adopted by the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 1988. India was declared polio-free in January 2014.

HC quashed Delhi govt''s doorstep ration delivery scheme

• It was called the ‘Mukhya Mantri Ghar Ghar Ration Yojna’. The scheme was notified in February 2021.
• The foodgrain stock for the scheme was to be lifted by millers empanelled with the Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited and transported to milling units for processing and packaging.
• The packed items were then to be delivered at designated Fair Price Shops to be set up by Delhi Consumer’s Cooperative Wholesale Store Ltd.
• The last step involved delivering the packaged items at the doorstep of beneficiaries through government-empanelled direct-to-home delivery agencies.
• From the moment the proposal was given a go-ahead by the Arvind Kejriwal government in 2018, it faced stiff opposition from the Lieutenant Governor as well as the central government on technical grounds.
• The Lieutenant Governor, said it may not eliminate corruption – one of the scheme’s stated objectives – as it only sought to replace old service providers with new ones. The LG also advised the AAP government to place the matter before the Centre for approval.
• The Centre also said that it “will have no objection if a separate scheme is made by the state government without mixing elements of the NFSA (National Food Security Act) foodgrains”.

A love story that ties Saint-Tropez with Himachal Pradesh

• Here, Thakur, a Lok Sabha MP from Himachal Pradesh, paid floral tributes to Maharaja Ranjit Singh (the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire), Jean-Francois Allard (a general in Singh’s army) and Allard’s spouse Princess Bannu Pan Dei.
• Saint-Tropez was a military stronghold and fishing village until the beginning of the 20th century.
• It was the first town on its coast to be liberated during World War II as part of ‘Operation Dragoon’. After the war, it became an internationally known seaside resort because of the influx of artists of the French New Wave in cinema.

Saint-Tropez has a historical connection with the state of Himachal Pradesh.

• General Jean-François Allard was born in Saint-Tropez. He served in the Napoleon army and fought in the Battle of Waterloo.
• Forced into exile after Napoleon’s downfall, he served under Maharajah Ranjit Singh in Punjab, where he felt deeply in love with Princess Bannu Pan Deï, who was born in Chamba, Himachal Pradesh.
• They married and had seven children. On the family’s return to Saint-Tropez in 1835, the general had an oriental-inspired Pan Deï Palais built as a token of his love for his wife.

World Retinoblastoma Awareness Week was observed from May 15 to 21.

• Retinoblastoma is the most common eye cancer (malignant tumor) occurring in young children.
• It can occur in one or both eyes and may be hereditary or sporadic. It can be life-threatening as well as take away vision if not treated timely and is detected by seeing White Reflex (WR).
• Nearly 1,500-2,000 children are diagnosed with retinoblastoma every year in India.
• Symptoms
  • White Reflex in the eye: Pupil that looks white or yellow instead of red when light hits it.
  • Squinting: A crossed eye, looking either toward the nose or towards the ear.
  • Poor vision with or without WR. The eye may be red or painful also.
• Treatment**:** Chemotherapy can be delivered intravenously or intra-arterial and is given by the paediatric oncologist and is the most common modality of treatment. This has to be followed up with local therapy, which is managed by the ophthalmologist using various modalities.

single national portal for Biotech StartUps

• The Portal "BioRRAP" will cater to all those seeking regulatory approval for biological research & development activity in the country.
• Biological Research Regulatory Approval Portal (BioRRAP) will also allow stakeholders to see the approvals accorded against a particular application through a unique BioRRAP ID.
• India is among the top 12 destinations for biotechnology globally and 3rd largest biotechnology destination in the Asia Pacific region.
• By 2025, the contribution of the Indian biotechnology industry in the global biotechnology market is expected to grow to 19% from a mere 3% in 2017. The Bio Economy’s contribution to the national GDP has also grown steadily in the past years to 2.7% in 2020 from 1.7% in 2017.

The two-day-long National Workshop on Sowa-Rigpa for the Sowa-Rigpa practitioners from the North Eastern States

• An International Yoga & Naturopathy College will be set up in Sikkim which will boost the medical tourism sector in the Northeast India.
• A 30 bedded Sowa Rigpa Hospital is going to be set up in Sikkim.
• The Union Minister announced setting up of Yoga & Wellness centre at every Gram Panchayat level in the state along with an Ayurveda Medical College under Satellite Institute programme in Sikkim.
• The Union Ayush Minister also said that the Ministry is exploring the possibility to set up a Research Council for Sowa Rigpa.
• “Sowa-Rigpa” commonly known as Amchi system of medicine is one of the oldest living medical tradition of the world. It has been popularly practiced in Tibet, Magnolia, Bhutan, some parts of China, Nepal and Himalayan regions of India.

Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav: Ministry of Culture to commemorate 250th Birth Anniversary of Raja Ram Mohan Roy

• Ram Mohan Roy (1772 – 1833) was an Indian reformer. He is considered to be the "Father of the Bengal Renaissance" by many historians.
• He crusaded against Hindu customs such as sati, polygamy, child marriage and the caste system. He demanded property inheritance rights for women.
• In 1830, Ram Mohan Roy travelled to the United Kingdom as an ambassador of the Mughal Empire to ensure that Lord William Bentinck''s Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829 banning the practice of Sati was not overturned.
• He who was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a social-religious reform movement.
• In 1817, in collaboration with David Hare, he set up the Hindu College at Calcutta.
• His most popular journal was the Sambad Kaumudi. It covered topics like freedom of the press, induction of Indians into high ranks of service, and separation of the executive and judiciary.
• He was given the title of Raja by Akbar II, the Mughal emperor.

Google commemorated “The Great Gama” with a Doodle on his 144th birth anniversary.

• Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt (1878 – 1960), commonly known as Rustam-e-Hind (Rustam of India) and by the ring name The Great Gama, was an Indian pehlwani wrestler and strongman.
• He was Born in village Jabbowal, Amritsar District in the Punjab Province of colonial British India in 1878.
• In the early 20th century, he was an undefeated wrestling champion of the world, and was awarded a version of the World Heavyweight Championship on 15 October 1910.
• Undefeated in a career spanning more than 52 years, he is considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.
• During the partition of India, the Great Gama saved the lives of many Hindus and then spent the rest of his days until his death on May 23, 1960 in Lahore, Pakistan.