CA2K16-PRELIMS

Wild pigs declared vermin in

Uttarakhand for a year
The move will allow state authorities to carry out extermination of wild pigs without
attracting penal provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
the Union environment ministry has declared them as vermin for a year.
Such a move will allow state authorities to carry out an extermination of wild pigs on a
large scale without attracting penal provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 62 of the Wildlife
(Protection) Act, 1972, the central government hereby declares wild pigs to be vermin
and to be included in Schedule V of the Act for a period of one year from the date of
issue of this notification
Wild pigs are a protected species under Schedule III of the Wildlife (Protection) Act. But
if any wild animal poses a danger to human life or property (including standing crops on
any land), or is so disabled or diseased as to be beyond recovery, the law allows for it to
be hunted
Using these provisions, any animal listed in Schedule I-IV can be put in Schedule V for a
specific period, declaring it as vermin, allowing its killing. Schedule V include animals
like the common crow, fruit bats, mice and rats

Decline of bees, other pollinators, poses

crop risks
The possible cause of pollinators decline include habitat loss, pesticides, pollution,
invasive species, pathogens and climate change
Animal pollination is directly responsible for between 5 and 8% of global agricultural
production by volume. Photo: Reuters
Kuala Lumpur: Populations of bees, butterflies and other species important for
agricultural pollination are declining, posing potential risks to major world crops, a UN
body on biodiversity said Friday
Many wild bees and butterflies have been declining in abundance, occurrence and

diversity at local and regional scales in Northwest Europe and North America, said an
assessment by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
The report by the IPBES, which was established under UN auspices in 2012 to assess the
state of ecosystems and biodiversity, stopped short of declaring a full-scale threat to food
supplies but stressed the importance of protecting pollinators to ensure stable fruit and
vegetable output
More than three-quarters of the leading types of global food crops rely to some extent
on animal pollination for yield and quality, it added, giving no details.
Pollinator-dependent species encompass many fruit, vegetable, seed, nut and oil crops,
which supply major proportions of micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals in the human
diet, the IPBES said
Potassium chlorate, beautiful but dangerous
Puttingal Devi temple near Kollam on Sunday, hinted that rival teams possibly used
potassium chlorate, a banned explosive.
Potassium chlorate was discovered by French chemist Claude Louis Berthollet during the
end of the 18th Century.
Use in pyrotechnics
The principal reason for using it in pyrotechnics is for the production of beautiful colours.
Despite its inherent risk, the reason it is sometimes used in pyrotechnics is because it is
cheap and easily available.
How does it work?
According to the Royal Society of Chemistry, potassium chlorate has very powerful
oxidising ability. When heated, it decomposes to produce oxygen.
The oxygen so produced fuels the flame of the lit firework, thereby increasing the
temperature of the firework even further.
The extra heat generated excites the electrons in the colour-producing chemicals added in
the firework mixture and thus produces beautiful colours.
The oxidising property of potassium chlorate is also its biggest disadvantage when used
in fireworks. It has an inherent property to become very reactive, especially when mixed
with sulphur; the potassium chlorate-sulphur mixture becomes dangerously sensitive to
friction and may spontaneously ignite.

Hence, potassium chlorate is banned for use in fireworks.

Limited use
Despite the risks, potassium chlorate is relatively safe when used in tiny amounts. It is
used along with sand and red phosphorus in caps for use in toy guns. When the cap is
struck by a metal head of the gun, friction is generated that ignites the red phosphorus.
The heat generated by the burning red phosphorus triggers the decomposition of the
potassium chlorate. The oxygen released by potassium chlorate further assists the burning
of the red phosphorus. The end result is the sound.
The same principle is used in safety matches.Matchstick head contains tiny amount of
potassium chlorate, antimony sulphide and powdered glass. When matchsticks are struck,
the friction generated ignites the red phosphorus
cancer substance in bread
Commonly consumed bread manufactured by leading Indian companies were found to
contain potassium bromate and potassium iodate, both cancer-causing chemicals,
according to a study released by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
Galpagos National Park
pacific The park is home to such revered and threatened species as the giant Galpagos
tortoise, the flightless albatross and the blue-footed booby.
Galpagos and concerns about the harm they may do. The islands were designated a
UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979, and the U.N. agency declared in 2007 that they
were in danger, partly because of what it called unbridled tourism.
under ecudaor UNESCO took the islands off the endangered list in 2010

Down syndrome
Down syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence
of all, or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is typically associated with physical
growth delays, characteristic facial features, and mild to moderate intellectual disability.
The average IQ of a young adult with Down syndrome is 50, equivalent to the mental age
of an 8- or 9-year-old child, but this can vary widely.

Solar flares erupting from the sun. File photo: AP

Solar storms four billion years ago may have provided the crucial energy needed to warm
Earth and seed life despite the Suns faintness, new research has revealed.
Some four billion years ago, the sun shone with only about three-quarters the brightness
we see today, but its surface roiled with giant eruptions spewing enormous amounts of
solar material and radiation out into space. The eruptions also may have furnished the
energy needed to turn simple molecules into the complex molecules such as RNA and
DNA that were necessary for life, said NASA researchers.
Back then, Earth received only about 70 per cent of the energy from the Sun than it does
today, said Vladimir Airapetian, solar scientist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center
in Greenbelt, Maryland.
That means Earth should have been an icy ball. Instead, geological evidence says it was
a warm globe with liquid water. We call this the Faint Young Sun Paradox. Our new
research shows that solar storms could have been central to warming Earth, he added.
Such flares are often accompanied by huge clouds of solar material, called coronal mass
ejections or CMEs which erupt out into space
The Kepler data showed many examples of what are called superflares enormous
explosions so rare today that we only experience them once every 100 years or so. Yet
the Kepler data also show these youngsters producing as many as 10 superflares a day.
While our Sun still produces flares and CMEs, they are not so frequent or intense. Whats
more, Earth today has a strong magnetic field that helps keep the bulk of the energy from
such space weather from reaching Earth, the authors said.

carcinogens
Potassium bromate, the chemical additive widely prevalent in bread and refined flour and
associated with cancer, is in the same league as coffee, aloe vera, mobile phone radiation
and carbon black, a key ingredient in eye-liner.
It also is less toxic than processed and red meat, according to a perusal by The Hindu of
the list of agents deemed potentially cancerous by the International Agency For Research
on Cancer (IARC) a World Health Organisation body
IARC follows a five-step grading scheme, the highest of which is Grade 1, or substances
that are proven to cause cancer in humans, and the lowest at Grade 4 where there is
definite proof that there is no link to cancer.
There are grades 2A and 2B which include potassium bromate and coffee that

differentiates between agents probably and possibly associated with cancer. These
grades makes up the bulk 791 of the agents that have so far been tested by the
IARC.

There are 118 agents classed in Grade 1 and only one, caprolactam, listed as probably
not cancerous.
IARC doesnt do risk assessment, Veronique Terrasse, spokesperson IARC

isro

According to ISRO, the Dual Mode Ramjet (DMRJ), the ramjet-scramjet combination,
is currently under development, which will operate during the crucial Mach 3 to Mach 9
ascend flight of the launch vehicle.

budhyan theorem

Sulbasutras. The Sulbasutras, composed between 800 and 500 B.C., has often been cited
as proof that India was well-versed in the Pythagorean Theorem before the Greeks
These texts have prescriptions for building fire altars or Agni . However, contained in the
Sulbasutra are sections which constitute a geometry textbook detailing the geometry
necessary for designing and constructing the altars. As far as I have been able to
determine, these are the oldest geometry (or even mathematics) textbooks in existence. It
is apparently the oldest applied geometry text.
The UNEA report Actions on Air Quality, released on Tuesday, said the declining
air quality across the globe was threatening to add to the seven million air pollution
deaths across the world in what was described as a global public health emergency.
snapshot on the actions on air quality taken by countries across different regions saw
India figure high among those with stringent air quality laws and regulations but it was
also among those countries where burning of both agricultural and municipal wastes is
not regulated and commonly practiced
Maithripala Sirisena, who leaves for Japan on Wednesday, will be the first leader of his
country to take part in the G-7 summit, to be held in Ise-Shima on Thursday and Friday
andhra 4000 mw heighest solar power

centre to create 33 plants -20 gw in 5 years starting 2014-15

25 ummp
el nino ends

Typically, an El Nino marked by above-average temperatures in the Pacific that

begins to cool is followed by a neutral phase before transitioning into La Nina.
e waste
India, which has emerged as the worlds second largest mobile market, is also the fifth
largest producer of e-waste, discarding roughly 18.5 lakh tonnes of electronic waste
each year, a study says.
Telecom equipment alone accounts for 12 per cent of the e-waste, a joint study by
Assocham-KPMG said
With more than 100 crore mobile phones in circulation, nearly 25 per cent end up in
e-waste annually, it said
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has notified e-waste
management rules, 2016, in which producers are for the first time covered under
extended producers responsibility (EPR).

Waste collection target

The rules prescribe a waste collection target of 30 per cent waste generated under EPR
for the first two years, progressively going up to 70 per cent in the seventh year of the
rule.
The rules prescribe stringent financial penalties for non-compliance. However, the study
said the unorganised sector in India is estimated to handle around 95 per cent of the ewaste produced in the country.
Given the huge user base and vast reach of telecom in India, it is practically difficult and
expensive for the handset manufacturers to achieve the targets prescribed in the rules
from first year, the study said
Phased manner
It is suggested that electronic waste collection targets are implemented in a phased
manner with lower and practically achievable target limits. Also, detailed implementation

procedures for collection of electronic waste from the market need to be followed
new st list
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the introduction of two Bills in Parliament to
add some communities to the list of the Scheduled Tribes for Tamil Nadu, Puducherry,
Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Tripura.
Malayali Gounder, Narikoravan and Kurivikkaran in Tamil Nadu; Irular in Puducherry;
Boro, Boro Kachari, Bodo, Bodo Kachari and Karbi in Assam; Bhuinya, Bhuiyan,
Bhuyan, Kisan, Saunra, Saonra and Dhangad in Chhattisgarh; Bhogta, Deshwari, Ganjhu,
Dautalbandi (Dwalbandi), Patbandi, Raut, Maajhia, Khairi (Kheri) and Puran in
Jharkhand and Darlong in Tripura will be included in the Scheduled Tribes list after
Parliament passes these Bills

North-east may get resource centre

upgrading the North Eastern Council (NEC) as a state-of-the-art resource centre capable
of meeting the aspirations of the people.
The NEC was established in 1972 to act as a platform for development initiatives in the
region

The Minister says the sector is in deep trouble.

Stating that the Railways had been in deep trouble for more than two decades, Union
Minister Suresh Prabhu on Friday said efforts were on to take the public transporter out
of the ICU and stabilise it.
He said a regulatory framework was being set up to decide passenger and cargo fare
structure.
The Railways was in deep trouble not now but for the last 20-30 years. That is what the
report of the Rakesh Mohan committee dealing with financial aspects of the sector has
said
The Rakesh Mohan Committee in its report in 2001 said the Railways financial situation
was extremely difficult and suggested new strategy for revenue generation.
Cargo handling
Freight [traffic] falling is not in our hands, it depends on the growth of the core sector.

When core sector grows, freight will also grow. But we are ready to handle 1.2 billion
tonnes of cargo
mars ice age
The Red Planet is emerging from an Ice Age, according to radar images of Mars polar
regions that are shedding new light on our neighbour's climate cycle, researchers said.
On Earth, ice ages take hold when the polar regions and high latitudes become cooler
than average for thousands of years, causing glaciers to grow toward the mid-latitudes,
NASA said in a statement
In contrast, the Martian variety occurs when as a result of the planet's increased tilt
its poles become warmer than lower latitudes. The result is the retreat of Martian
polar caps and the build-up of water vapour toward the equator, forming ice on the
ground and glaciers at mid-latitudes. Now that the most recent Ice Age has ended, ice is
building up on the poles again.
metabolites

Metabolites are key small molecules. They are the chemicals in the body that let you do
all the things you do. It is all these things that give you energy, like glucose. They let you
move, think, and digest your food.
Using a mass spectrometer, researchers can analyse blood and urine for secreted
metabolites.
subramanian committe education reforms
A committee headed by the former Cabinet secretary T.S.R. Subramanian for the
evolution of the soon-to-be-announced national education policy submitted its report to
the Human Resource Development Ministry on Friday
fdi
Maximum inflows (equity) were from Singapore ($13.69 billion), followed by Mauritius
($8.35 billion), the US ($4.19 billion), the Netherlands ($2.64 billion) and Japan ($2.61
billion). The previous highest FDI inflow was in FY12 when the country received $46.55
billion, which was a 34 per cent increase over $34.8 billion it got in FY11.
Ghatak
Already its spinoff version has been identified as the engine for Ghatak, a tentatively
named future unmanned combat aircraft
Mukhota is GPS-enabled and coded in such a way that once it comes near the coastal

border, it sends out an alert.

Ka Bom
beating the traditional Khasi drum
Subramanian committee formed by the government to formulate a New Education
Policy (NEP)
no detention policy in schools should be applicable till Class V and exams be held from
Class VI onwards

Indian-American scientist wins Springer award

Indian-American scientist Arnab De has received the Springer Theses Award for research
on developing transgenic mice to study a critical tumour-suppressor
Mawphlang Sacred Forest. Location: East Khasi Hills District . One of the most
remarkable features of the Khasi Hills are the sacred forests
Megaliths marking the boundaries of the Mawphlang Sacred Forest, Meghalaya
superbugs
The resistance can spread because it arises from loose genetic material that bacteria
typically share with one another.
Colistin resistant
The bacteria are resistant to a drug called colistin, an old antibiotic that in the U.S. is held
in reserve to treat especially dangerous infections that are resistant to a class of drugs
called carbapenems. If carbapenem-resistant bacteria, called CRE, also pick up resistance
to colistin, they will be unstoppable.
The gene for resistance to colistin was first found in China, where the drug is used in pig
and poultry farming
Steps to check invasion of Giant African Snails

Tobacco Decoction Copper Sulphate (TDCS) mixture and its applications are
conducted
It can be used to construct additional Scorpenes or the new line of submarines under
Project-75I as and when it is selected

The 49-year-old was carrying E. coli bearing a new gene, mcr-1, which is resistant to
even colistin, the last available antibiotic that works against strains that have acquired
protection against all other medication
mcr-1 gene had emerged in animals before spreading to humans. Besides being
administered for veterinary purposes, colistin is used in agriculture.
The most stunning and close-up images of Plutos surface have been beamed back to
Earth by NASAs New Horizons space probe.

Patients undergoing breast cancer surgery need less painkilling medication post-surgery
if they have anaesthesia that is free of opioid drugs, researchers have found.
While opioid drugs provide an excellent painkilling effect throughout operations, they
also have side-effects, researchers said.
India climbs three notches in global competitiveness
Indias global competitiveness rank rose three notches to 41 from a year ago due to
significant improvement in exchange rate stability, fiscal deficit management and efforts
to tackle corruption and red tape, according to a survey by the Switzerland-based IMD
World Competitiveness Centre (WCC).
The eight core industries comprise nearly 38 per cent of the weight of items included in the
Index of Industrial Production (IIP)
Indias gross value added (GVA) for the year grew by 7.2 per cent in what economists termed a
consumption-led recovery.

Planet 9 may have been stolen by our Sun: study

The mysterious Planet 9 may have been stolen from its original star by our Sun some 4.5
billion years ago, possibly making it the first exoplanet to be discovered inside the solar
system, astronomers have claimed.
An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is by definition a planet located outside our solar
system. Now it appears that this definition is no longer viable.
An international team of astrophysicists has stumbled upon an unusual astronomical
object an Einstein ring which is a distorted image of a very distant galaxy termed as

10

the source.
The distortion is produced by the bending of the light rays from the source due to a
massive galaxy, termed the lens, lying between it and the observer
Genetically modified seeds are only permitted in cotton
Indias NIIT to train 50,000 China students on Big Data
On the sidelines of the OECD meeting, Ms. Sitharaman will also attend a meeting of
trade ministers of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) member countries on ways to
take forward the Nairobi Package adopted in December 2015.
Nairobi Package
The Nairobi Package was adopted at the WTO's Tenth Ministerial Conference, held in
Nairobi, Kenya, from 15 to 19 December 2015. It contains a series of six Ministerial
Decisions on agriculture, cotton and issues related to least-developed countries (LDCs).
Nairobi Package
Agriculture
Special Safeguard Mechanism for Developing Country Members (WT/MIN
(15)/43 WT/L/978): browse or download read briefing
note/english/thewto_e/minist_e/mc10
_e/briefing_notes_e/brief_antidumping_e.htm
Public Stockholding for Food Security Purposes (WT/MIN(15)/44

WT/L/979) browse or download read briefing note

Export Competition (WT/MIN(15)/45 WT/L/980): browse or download

read briefing note

Cotton
Cotton (WT/MIN(15)/46 WT/L/981): browse or download read briefing
note
LDC issues
Preferential Rules of Origin for Least Developed Countries (WT/MIN(15)/47

WT/L/917/Add.1): browse or download read briefing note

Implementation of Preferential Treatment in Favour of Services and Service
Suppliers of Least Developed Countries and Increasing LDC Participation in

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Services Trade

At 6.96 per cent of the total global emissions, India ranks fourth after China, the U.S. and the EU
on the list of polluters

Sabarimalas sacred grove is in the buffer zone of the sensitive Periyar Tiger Reserve and the
Ministry will have to take this into account while initiating any development.
Ken-Betwa river-interlinking project.

Since December 2015, the Rs 9,000-crore project which is expected to irrigate 7,00,00
hectares in the drought-ravaged Bundelkhand is being reviewed by a committee constituted
by National Board for Wildlife, a body of the Environment Ministry.
As the project will submerge a portion of the Panna Tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh, the
committees approval is necessary for wildlife clearance, which, along with the environment and
forest clearances, are required for the environmental projects progress.
the committee noted that there were threats to the nesting sites of vultures resident in the
region and queried if the height of the dam could be lowered to protect them.
The Ken-Betwa project is part of an ambitious initiative first mooted by the Vajpayee-led
National Democratic Alliance in 2004, to connect 30 rivers across India and transfer surplus
water from the rivers in the east to those in the west

Cotton is the only genetically-modified seed thats legally allowed in India. Gm food crops
such as brinjal and mustard, which are in advanced stages of regulatory clearances, are yet to
become available to farmers due to stringent opposition by anti-GM activist groups.
Three spacecraft

The LISA spacecraft will need to use the technology tested by LISA Pathfinder. LISA itself plans
to use a combination of three spacecraft, trailing the earth at a distance of about 50 million

12

kilometres, these will orbit the sun. The three spacecraft will lie at the corners of a giant huge
equilateral triangle, and will be about 5 million kilometres from each other. Using special laser
beams and telescopes, the trio will measure gravitational waves.

The three spacecraft are expected to act as an interferometer which can detect gravitational
waves, ripples in the fabric of space-time, caused by mergers of supermassive black holes.
Since there are three points from which the observation is carried out, this space antenna will
be able to pinpoint the location of the source of the detected gravitational waves to a high
accuracy.
This is an accuracy about five times better than expected. This extraordinary degree of
precision is needed by this experiment as the measured strain caused by gravitational waves
on their detectors is comparably minute.
Maltitol, a sweetening agent, is used to fill in the bone gap caused by fracture, instead of the
traditional rod
But for injuries to the bone, there are only two options: a cast for minor fractures, and
implants like metal rods for more serious injuries.

Now, a team of scientists from Bengalurus Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has developed an
alternative: a bone reconstruction method similar to sutures. What they are using is an
unlikely ingredient: maltitol, derived from maltose, a sweetening agent found in most sugarfree foods such as ice-creams.
Maltitol is combined with other components to make long chain-like structures that become
plastic. This is then used to fill in the bone gap caused by fracture, instead of the traditional
rod. But maltitol also reacts to water. And as the body is primarily made of water, the bonds
start breaking slowly, over a course of time. The molecules are soluble in water, and they
eventually come out, says Kaushik Chatterjee, Assistant Professor, Department of Materials
Engineering, IISc. In other words, once the bone grows back, the structure simply
disintegrates.
Advantages

13

Alternatives to maltitol were too soft to be used for bone reconstruction. The advantage of
using maltitol to make the scaffold is that drugs can then be injected into it to hasten healing.
The other benefit of using maltitol is fewer side-effects, Prof. Chatterjee said.
FinTech, which means using technology to offer financial services to end customers at a lower
cost, has been a buzzword across the world in recent years, with little or no regulation over
their functioning.
]The minister added that the previous 20,000 MW target of solar power by 2022 will be
achieved by 2017 now. The government has set a new target of 100 GW of solar power by
2022
he meteorological department has an elaborate set of criteria to be fulfilled before it declares
the onset of the monsoon over Kerala.

After May 10, at least eight of 14 stations across Kerala and Karnataka have to register at least
2.5 mm of rain, and monsoon-bearing winds have to be at least of 30-40 kmph velocity and
below 600 hPa (approximately upto 4.5km) over the south Arabian Sea.
An international team of astronomers has discovered a hot Jupiter exoplanet that is so
massive and close to its parent star that it influences the stars rotation with its gravity, media
reported.

The planet, called HATS-18b, is about 2,100 light years away, Popular Mechanics reported on
Tuesday.

Hot Jupiters are giant exoplanets that orbit close to their parent stars. Also known as roaster
planets, they orbit their stars in a short time and can be easily observed in transit.

The newly discovered exoplanet orbits its star in just 0.84 days, has a radius about 1.34 times
that of Jupiter, and has twice the mass of the Jovian gas giant in our solar system, the report
said.

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The high planet mass, combined with its short orbital period, implies strong tidal coupling
between the planetary orbit and the star, said the researchers.
A key parameter is the Outgoing Longwave Radiation an indicator of convection has to
be below 200 W/m2.
The Election Commission of India has instructed candidates contesting elections to both
Houses of Parliament and State Assemblies to furnish information about their social media
accounts. Failure to disclose the details, however, would not be a ground for rejection.
India has surpassed Japan to become the worlds third-largest oil consumer, with its oil
demand galloping 8.1 per cent in 2015, according to BP Statistical Review of World Energy
released on Wednesday. With demand of 4.1 million barrels a day, India is the third-largest
consumer behind the U.S. (19.39 million bpd) and China (11.96 million bpd). India accounted
for 4.5 per cent of world oil consumption in 2015.

Indias demand growth surpassed Chinas 6.3 per cent expansion. The U.S. oil consumption
grew 1.6 per cent, which accounts for 19.7 per cent of the total world pie of 95 million bpd in
2015.
Oil remained the worlds leading fuel, accounting for 32.9 per cent of global energy
consumption and is gaining market share for the first time since 1999. Coal came in as the
second-largest fuel by market share (29.2 per cent).

Natural gas market share of primary energy consumption stood at 23.8 per cent.

ANOTHER MILESTONE:Solar Impulse 2 flies over Manhattan in New York on Saturday before
landing at the John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The Solar Impulse 2s wings, which stretch wider than those of a Boeing 747, are equipped
with 17,000 solar cells that power propellers and charge batteries. The plane runs on stored
energy at night.

15

Ideal flight speed is about 45 kmph, although that can double during the day when the suns
rays are strongest.
Preparations are on to officially demonstrate the trial flight of the indigenous basic military
trainer aircraft HTT-40 here in the next few days to an elite gathering including the Defence
Minister and IAF officials.
HTT-40 (Hindustan Turbo Trainer), powered by a Honeywell engine, is being developed as the
first level trainer for fresher pilots of the Air Force at the Aircraft Research & Development
Centre of the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
First year college education free for the poor in Assam
]\Assam is the first State in the country to make this offer, the Minister added.
Emerging from the tree, Bada Deo asks the young man to fashion a bana , a musical
instrument, from the khirsari and surteli trees.
At a high-level meeting at the United Nations General Assembly, on the subject of ending
AIDS, Member States adopted a new declaration to follow time-bound targets to fast-track
the pace of progress towards ending HIV and AIDS as a public health threat in the next five
years and ending the epidemic by 2030.
The biggest fall was registered in the Non-Resident (External) Rupee Account (NR(E)RA)
category, which saw inflows decreasing to $203 million in April. It was $2,200 million in the
year-ago period.

Introduced in 1970, NR(E)RA is a rupee account and the NRIs can remit money to India from
their funds abroad.
Sixty per cent of the Indias remittances come from Gulf countries, which suffered the most
due to decline in crude oil prices. So funds from NRIs staying in Gulf must have also fallen
The scientists of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, have
showcased the ceramic-polymer hybrid (CASPOL), a spin-off product that could protect public
transport systems and poor men residing in thatched homes from fire accidents.

16

Caspol is an indigenously developed, easy-to-use flame-proof coating, from the VSSC stable.
The water-based ready-to-coat product was originally developed to protect the rockets from
high temperature and fire to which they are exposed during the initial moments of launch
Huge exhaust plumes of high temperature engulf a rocket when it lifts off from the launch
pad. The protective pads that cover the rockets are coated with Caspol to save them from fire
and high temperature to which they are exposed to
According to Dr. Sivan, Caspol can withstand up to 800 degree Celsius. Seats in automobiles,
public transport system and seat cushions of railway coaches can be made fireproof when
Caspol is applied. The ceramic-polymer hybrid will affect the cushioning characteristics
significantly of seats once it is applied, the scientists vouched
Besides its ability to protect against fire and high temperature, Caspol can also make surfaces
waterproof. When applied over the concrete surface of buildings, fill up the micro cracks and
holes on concrete to prevent water from seeping in. When applied over concrete surface of
buildings, the high emissivity of the product reduces the temperature inside the building by at
least 5 to 6 degree Celsius, the researchers stressed.
The centre has described the product as one which is eco-friendly as it is free of toxic
materials. It could be applied either by brushing or spraying on the desired surface. The
economic, water-based formulation with self-extinguishing properties could cure in room
temperature and has good adhesion and water repellent characteristics, according to
researchers.
The materials coated with Caspol will be self-extinguished within four seconds after removal
of flame. It can adhere well with the substrate surface both in dry condition and after
exposing the coated foams to water. Foam materials can be impregnated with Caspol by dip
coating
The Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), the worlds largest single-aperture optical telescope on
the island of La Palma in Spain, has captured an image of a galaxy which is 10 times deeper
than any other obtained from the ground.
GTC researchers managed the rare feat while observing a faint halo of stars around the galaxy
UGC0180, which is 500 million light years away from the Earth.

The galaxy UGC00180 was chosen because it is quite similar to our neighbour, the Andromeda

17

Galaxy, and to other galaxies to which the researchers have references.

Similarly, OVL, the international arm of state-owned energy major ONGC has bought 15 per
cent stake in Russias second largest oil field Vencor for $1.27 billion at one-third of the prices
of the OVL-Imperial deal a few years back.
Biligiri Ranga Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve in Chamarajanagar district.
The palace was originally built by Akbar II and was later chosen by Bahadur Shah Zafar II as his
'summer palace'. The imposing three-storey main gate of the monument made of red
sandstone, with marbled relief, was built by Bahadur Shah to allow elephants to enter the
palace. Known as 'Hathi Gate', the structure with its projected windows with curved Bengali
domes, leads to arcades on the South and East of the palace.

The 'Naubat Khana' (drum house) with its beautifully carved pillars is where the children play
cricket every evening. But Bahadur Singh, who guards the monument, claims that the Moti
Masjid or the royal mosque built within the palace is clear of thoroughfare.

The marble 'Sardgah' where Bahadur Shah desired to be buried and the tombs of Akbar Shah
II and Mirza Jahangir have also been vandalised.
The monument which was declared to be of national importance back in 1920, is literally
crumbling.
Isaac Kehimkar, popularly known as the Butterfly Man of India.
The auspicious Godavari Pushkaram which is observed once in 12 years, contributed its fair
share in upping the 2015s religious tourist footfall. At least a total of 10 lakh domestic and
international tourists had taken a dip in the Godavari during the Pushkaram. The same
number had visited pilgrim sites near most ghats. Other pilgrim sites which attracted tourists
included the Buddhist site, Nagarjuna Sagar, the glory of which is associated with Acharya
Nagarjuna, a Buddhist philosopher who spread teachings of Gautama Buddha in the southern
States, officials said.

18

Buddhist site

The three-foot idol, cut out of a single jade stone in Kolanupaka in Nalgonda district, too had
witnessed encouraging footfall of tourists
India is the largest foreign investor in Ghana today, with more than 700 projects. More than 222
of these projects are in the manufacturing sector.
Extensive searches for the Bramble Cay melomys, a small rat-like animal, have failed to find a
single specimen from its only known habitat on a sandy island in far northern Australia.

Researchers said the key factor behind the extinction was almost certainly ocean inundation
of the low-lying cay, likely on several occasions, over the last decade which resulted in dramatic
habitat loss.

Available data on sea-level rise and weather events in the Torres Strait region point to humaninduced climate change being the root cause of the loss of the Bramble Cay melomys, added
the Queensland State government and University of Queensland study.

The Melomys rubicola, considered the Great Barrier Reefs only endemic (found nowhere else)
mammal species, was first discovered on the cay in 1845 by Europeans who shot the "large rats"
for sport. But the last known sighting, by a professional fisherman, was in 2009. When a 2014
study found no sign of the species, researchers decided to conduct the most extensive survey
possible in the hope of conserving the species.
Birds have more densely packed neurons in their brains than other animals, contributing to
cognitive ability on par with that of primates, researchers said on Monday.

A macaws brain may be the size of a shelled walnut, far smaller than that of a macaque monkey
which has a brain the size of a lemon but the parrot has many more neurons, or brain
nerve cells, in its forebrain, a region crucial for intelligence, according to a study published in the

19

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Parrots and crows have cognitive abilities similar to those of primates, the study found. The
birds can make tools and use them to obtain food and solve other problems. They can also
recognise themselves in mirrors and plan for future needs, cognitive capabilities only primates
were previously thought to have enjoyed.

That is possible probably because the neurons in birds brains are smaller and more densely
packed than those in mammalian brains, the researchers said.

We found that birds, especially songbirds and parrots, have surprisingly large numbers of
neurons in their pallium, the part of the brain that corresponds to cerebral cortex, which
supports higher cognition functions such as planning for the future or finding patterns
The Navy sail boat INSV Mhadei steered by an all-woman, six-member crew that will
attempt to circumnavigate the world next year entered Port Louis, Mauritius, on Tuesday.
In a sign of changing times, migrant and local Kashmiri Pandits on Tuesday organised a maha
kumbh after 75 years in north Kashmirs Ganderbal district where three rivers meet.

Today early morning, I visited Shadipora where the maha kumbh is being performed after
75 years. Kashmiri Pandits have come in large numbers to take a holy dip and perform
rituals, said BJP MLC Surinder Ambardar.

Scores of Pandits performed puja and took a dip in the river at Shadipora, the confluence of
Vitasta (Jhelum), Krishen Ganga and Sindh (Indus) rivers.

The Dashar Maha Kumbh comes just days after Pandits from across the country converged for
the Kheer Bhawani festival in Ganderbal.

20

Buoyed by the particip-ation, Mr. Ambardar said he would take up the proposal of
constructing ghats on the banks.

Devotees say that such an event took place in 1941 during Maharaja Hari Singhs reign
Despite having many Banks in the Top 1000 Banks in the world, none of the Indian Banks is in
the Top 50 Banks of the world.
The model Goods and Services Tax (GST) law, made public by the Centre, has clarified that all
e-commerce transactions will attract GST and that the tax will be collected by the service
operator as soon as the supplier receives payment.
In a first, an instrument onboard an orbiting spacecraft has measured the methane emissions
from a specific leaking facility on Earths surface.

The observation by the Hyperion spectrometer on NASAs Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) is an

important breakthrough in our ability to eventually measure and monitor emissions of this
potent greenhouse gas from space.
Devised by the Pune-based Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy (CMHLP) at the Indian
Law Society, the Atmiyata (Compassion) project was rolled out in the Peth block of Nasik
district in December 2013 making mental healthcare accessible to many in this part for the
first time.
Cote DIvoire (also known as Ivory Coast), a francophone country, is the biggest producer and
exporter of cashew nuts to India which procures nearly 80 per cent of their total exports
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, has said that there will be no adverse effect on
the structures.

Three protected monuments Currency Building, an Italian structure, which housed one of
the first banks of the country, and two 19th century Jewish monuments, Maghen David
Synagogue and Beth-El Synagogue are dangerously close to the tunnels planned for the
project.

21

Each spring they come from around the globe to the Kaczawa river in southwest Polands gold
rush capital, vying for the biggest flash in the pan
A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court for quashing of three notifications of the Union
government declaring nilgai, monkey and wild boar vermin for one year in Bihar, Himachal
Pradesh and Uttarakhand
Breakthrough will help in improving treatments for people with defects and injuries

In a first, scientists have grown a living bone in the lab to repair large defects in the head and
face of patient, taking a step forward in improving treatments for people with craniofacial
defects.

A new technique developed by Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, professor at Columbia University,

uses autologous stem cells derived from a small sample of the recipients fat and precisely
replicates the original anatomical structure of the bone.
Some 200 intellectuals, scientists and artists from around the world urged the leaders of
Mexico, the United States and Canada on Wednesday to save North Americas endangered
migratory Monarch butterfly.
hey urge the leaders to protect parcels of land containing milkweed, which is threatened by
herbicides and feeds the butterflies on their 4,000-kilometre journey from Canada to Mexicos
wintering grounds.

The letter also called on Mexico to prohibit mining and end all logging in the pine tree reserve
where the butterflies live during the winter.
the orange and black butterflyThe butterflies usually arrive in Mexico between late October
and early November and head back north in March.
The neck device, called a Q-Collar, is designed to press gently on the jugular vein to slow blood
outflow increasing the brains blood volume.
The population of Koragas, a primitive tribal community of coastal Karnataka, stood at 11,656

22

in 1991 and dwindled to 4,858 as per the 2011 Census.

To study the reasons behind this alarming decline in numbers, the Directorate of Tribal
Welfare has asked Karnatak Universitys DNA Centre to do DNA analysis of the community.
There have been increasing instances of heart aliments, tuberculosis and cancer in the
community
MCX is predominantly a metals and energy exchange with only a handful of agri-commodities
cardamom, cotton, mentha oil, crude palm oil currently available for trading.
Two States, Maharashtra and Telangana, issued similar orders. The species nilgai antelope
in Bihar and Maharashtra, the rhesus macaque in Himachal Pradesh, and wild pig in all States
except Himachal Pradesh were listed for culling because the animals, whose populations
are allegedly increasing, damage crops.
Considered one of 100 most invasive species in the world, Giant African Snails ( Achatina
fulica ) feed on several plants. They destroy almost all crops and can live in a dormant state
for 2-3 years. The snails are an intermediate host of the rat lung worm that causes
oesinophilic meningitis in children below five years of age,
Asteroid 2016 HO3 is currently following a stable quasi-satellite orbit with respect to our
planet. This started almost a century ago and it will remain so for hundreds of years from now
ASA scientists have discovered a tiny asteroid in an orbit around the Sun that serves as a
constant companion to Earth. The quasi-satellite has been named 2016 HO3.

Asteroid 2016 HO3 was first spotted on April 27 by the Pan-STARRS 1 asteroid survey
telescope on Haleakala, Hawaii.
The vehicle a 3D-printed minibus called Olli capable of carrying 12 people was unveiled
by Arizona-based startup Local Motors outside the U.S. capital city Washington.
The two observations were made by two LIGO detectors located in the U.S. Livingston in
Louisiana and Hanford in Washington

23

The Virgo detector, a third interferometer located near Pisa, Italy, which has a design that is
close to LIGO
The precision of source location will further improve when the arrival time difference
increases to 39 milliseconds as LIGO-India, the fourth detector, begins operations by January
2023. Its a promising time ahead for science
Earlier, there have been issues related to the manner in which such entities would be taxed. In
the Union Budget 2015-16, the Income Tax Act, 1961 was amended by inserting Section 9A popularly known as Safe Harbour Norms.
India has the second-largest diaspora in the world, with around 29 million people living in over
200 countries and out of these 25 per cent live in the Gulf countries.
NASA is building a battery-powered, energy-efficient experimental airplane named X-57. 14
electric motors integrated in the wing turn the propellers.
If the weakened type-2 virus used in oral polio vaccine continues to multiply for long,
mutations may arise. If there are six or more nucleotide changes in the type-2 weakened virus
then it is called vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDVP)
Ring chromosomes are rare unbalanced chromosomal abnormalities that occur in about 1 in
50,000 foetuses, says the paper. Ring chromosomes occur when the tips of the chromosome are
broken at both ends followed by fusion of these ends or telomere-telomere fusion of the
chromosome without the loss of genetic material.
100 mHz. To do this, it is necessary for the interferometers to have an arm length of a million
kilometres and that is impossible to achieve with an earth based setup. Hence, it is necessary to
have this elaborate experiment in space
eLISA is a spectacular plan of setting into space three spacecraft, a mother and two daughter
spacecraft, which will fly in a triangular formation, trailing the earth in its orbit around the sun
at a distance of over 50 million km.
Each arm of the imaginary triangle, from the mother to each daughter spacecraft, will measure
about a million km. Inside these spacecraft will float freely falling test masses cubes with
sides measuring abut 46 mm. Laser interferometers will accurately measure changes in the
distance between these cubes. If they should be affected by a gravitational wave, the minute
changes in this distance are measure by the interferometer.

24

Big space projects like this are usually planned well in advance; this mission is slated for 2034.
With the success of LISA pathfinder and the detection of two sets of gravitational waves by
LIGO, this may get advanced a bit.
These sources are such that understanding them can throw light on many problems of interest
in cosmology and astrophysics and also make possible stringent tests of General Theory of
Relativity. Many events, for example, mergers of binary black holes happening at all distances,
black holes swallowing neutron stars, even relics from the Big Bang which took place about 13.7
billion years ago, would be studied by this space antenna and the data used to build up a more
complete picture f the universe and its secrets.
The ground based detectors receive signals in the range 10 hertz to a kilohertz. These will
probe events in a different band, said Bala Iyer, theoretical physicist who has made substantial
contributions to both eLISA and the LIGO projects.
From metering the precipitation in the Arctic region to drawing up a baseline data on microbial
biodiversity in Kongsfjorden sediments and carrying out a biochemical evaluation and biomarker
characterisation of Arctic fjord sediments, Indian researchers are into a series of scientific
investigations in the icy terrains of Arctic.
Working from Himadri, countrys Arctic research station at Spitsbergen, Norway,
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will ignite PSLV-C34/Cartosat-2 series satellite
mission from the second launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota High
Altitude Range (SHAR), at 9.26 a.m. on June 22.

The co-passenger satellites include Lapan-A3 from Indonesia, Biros from Germany, M3MSat and
GHGSat from Canada, SkySat Gen-2 and Dove Satellites from U.S
A new Chinese computer system that can make 93 quadrillions calculations per second has
claimed the top spot on the list of the worlds most powerful supercomputers.

The computer called Sunway TaihuLight developed by the National Research Centre of Parallel
Computer Engineering and Technology (NRCPC) is built entirely using processors designed and
made in China
The aim has been to establish the town, situated in Mehsana district, as an important centre

25

from the point of view of Buddhism, especially as it is mentioned in the written accounts of
Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang,
According to CSE, potassium bromate typically increases dough strength, leads to higher rising
and gives uniform finish to baked products. Potassium iodate is a flour treatment agent

The government on Monday banned the use of potassium bromate as a food additive following
a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) study that found its presence in bread caused
cancer.
Challenges aplenty

The bi-annual report on the economy and its prospects said that Indias sources of growth had
been few, with many segments of the economy facing challenges. External demand has been
tepid and GDP growth has relied exclusively on domestic demand, which itself has been running
on just a few engines. Private investment stagnated and likely contracted in the January-March
quarter.

Private consumption, which accelerated to 7.4 per cent in 2015-16 from 6.2 per cent in 2014-15,
is puzzling, given that over two-thirds of Indian households are in rural areas, which suffered a
second year of sub-par monsoons in 2015-16.

Growth in agriculture output remained muted at 1.2 per cent. Urban households appear to have
been the main drivers of growth in 2015-2016.

The manufacturing and services sectors, which expanded 7.4 and 8.9 per cent respectively, are
likely to have created urban jobs. Inflation abated, primarily because of lower food prices.

Lower inflation raised real incomes, allowing the RBI to cut interest rates.

26

India had mobilised $26 billion through foreign currency non-resident bank account (FCNR-B)
deposits by offering a special swap window for banks after the U.S. Federal Reserve taper
tantrums in the summer of 2013 sent the rupee to a lifetime low of Rs. 67.85
One option is to mobilise funds from non-resident Indians through a fresh dollar-denominated
instrument along the lines of the India Millennium Deposit, the State Bank of Indias foreign
currency denominated deposits (IMD) issued in 2010.
Last October, global ratings agency Standard & Poors affirmed its BBB- long-term and A-3
short-term sovereign credit ratings for India, with a stable outlook.
he second option, he said, is to issue swap instruments using the facilities that the RBI has in
place with central banks of other countries.
The first case of Zika virus infection through needlestick injury suggests that it is likely to be as
infectious as HIV. While the virus primarily spreads through infected Aedes mosquitoes, through
blood, and from mother to foetus (vertical transmission), several studies have confirmed a
sexual route. While the Zika virus has been detected in saliva, urine and breast milk, there is no
evidence yet of its transmission through these body fluids. But in the case of semen, the viral
load has been found to be 100,000 times more than in both blood and urine even two weeks
after the onset of symptoms. The virus has been found in semen even 62 days after symptom
onset. A June 2016 study in The Lancet has found evidence of late sexual transmission 44
days after symptoms show up. It is for these reasons that the WHO recommends that men and
women returning from countries with Zika transmission consider abstinence or adopt safe sex
practices for two months, with these strategies extended for at least six months for men who
exhibit symptoms. As the landscape of Zika transmission is evolving, there is a critical need to
exercise caution. More so as the Aedes aegypti is widely prevalent in India and the chances of
the virus becoming endemic are high.
Airlines with a majority foreign ownership will not be allowed to fly on international routes,
senior Civil Aviation Ministry officials said on Tuesday. On Monday the government liberalised
norms in the sector, allowing foreign investors to own up to 100 per cent stake in domestic
carriers.

The bilateral air traffic agreements that India has signed with most of the countries have
substantial ownership and effective control (SOEC) clause which may not permit the airlines
with majority foreign ownership to fly abroad from India, a senior Ministry official said

27

the 80-kilometer canal, which is sometimes called the eighth modern wonder of the world, is a
source of pride for Panama.
the Panama Canal through which five per cent of world maritime commercial traffic already
passes will be able to take ships carrying three times as much cargo as before, up to 14,000
containers.
However, he cautioned that that would depend of the level of growth in the countries using
the Panama Canal the main customers of which are the United States and China.
The DNA vaccine (GLS-5700) developed by the U.S-based Inovio Pharmaceuticals and GeneOne
Life Science, South Korea, has already been tested on animals and found to elicit robust
antibody and T cell responses.

The human trial will be carried out on 40 healthy adults to evaluate safety, tolerability and
immunogenicity and the interim results are expected before the end of the year. But it may take
a couple of years to know if the vaccine works against Zika
As of June 15, the Zika virus has

already spread

to 60 countries

and territories
Former Secretary of the Earth Sciences Ministry Shailesh Nayak chaired a six-member
committee in 2014 that prepared the Report of the Committee to Review the Issues relating to
the Coastal Regulation Zone, 2011 and submitted it to the Environment Ministry in January
2015.
Leptospirosis

28

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leptospirosis
Leptospirosis darkfield.jpg
Leptospira magnified 200-fold with dark-field microscope
Classification and external resources
Synonyms

field fever,[1] rat catcher's yellows,[2] pretibial fever[3]

Specialty

Infectious disease

ICD-10 A27
ICD-9-CM

100

OMIM 607948
DiseasesDB

7403

MedlinePlus

001376

eMedicine

article/220563 article/96569 article/788751

Patient UK

Leptospirosis

MeSH C01.252.400.511
[edit on Wikidata]
Leptospirosis is an infection caused by corkscrew-shaped bacteria called Leptospira. Signs and
symptoms can range from none to mild such as headaches, muscle pains, and fevers; to severe
with bleeding from the lungs or meningitis.[4][5] If the infection causes the person to turn
yellow, have kidney failure and bleeding, it is then known as Weil's disease.[5] If it causes lots of
bleeding from the lungs it is known as severe pulmonary haemorrhage syndrome.[5]

Up to 13 different genetic types of Leptospira may cause disease in humans.[6] It is transmitted

by both wild and domestic animals.[5] The most common animals that spread the disease are
rodents.[7] It is often transmitted by animal urine or by water or soil containing animal urine

29

coming into contact with breaks in the skin, eyes, mouth, or nose.[4][8] In the developing world
the disease most commonly occurs in farmers and poor people who live in cities.[5] In the
developed world it most commonly occurs in those involved in outdoor activities in warm and
wet areas of the world.[4] Diagnosis is typically by looking for antibodies against the bacteria or
finding its DNA in the blood.[9]
The correlated colour temperature (CCT) of first-generation LEDs, which are currently used, is
4,000K. Higher CCT values indicate greater blue light emission, and in the case of 4,000K LED
lighting, 29 per cent of the spectrum is emitted as blue light
However, at 3,000K, the blue light emitted is only 21 per cent and appears slightly warmer in
tone. While discomfort and disability glare is reduced, there is only a 3 per cent drop in energy
efficiency compared with 4,000K LED lighting.
ISRO 20 SAT LAUNCH
Besides the primary Cartosat-2 Series satellite, the PSLV C-34 rocket launched two satellites
from Indian universities and 17 foreign satellites, including one for a Google company.
ISRO also ignited the fourth stage of the PSLV rocket twice after the separation of satellites in an
experiment, scientists said.
Sathyabamasat, the satellite of Sathyabama University in Chennai, the Swayam satellite of the
College of Engineering in Pune, LAPAN-A3 (Indonesia), BIROS (Germany), M3MSat (Canada),
SkySat Gen2-1 (USA) of Terra Bela (Google company), GHGSat-D (Canada) and 12 Dove Satellites
(USA) were the other satellites that were launched.
The 725.5-kg Cartosat-2 series satellite would be for Earth observation and its imagery would be
useful for cartographic applications, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and
regulation, and utility management like road networking, ISRO said.
In 2014, Russian Dnepr rocket launched a record 37 satellites in a single mission.
SCO MEMBERSHIP
India seeks fairly flexible multilateralism in its extended neighbourhood.

At this upcoming summit, the process of Indias accession to the SCO will start with a signature
on the base document which is called the Memorandum of Obligations, said Sujata Mehta,

30

Secretary (West), highlighting that the issue of expansion of the SCO has been part of a longdrawn multilateral discussion. A diplomatic source has confirmed that India will attend the
summit as an Acceding Member but will speak from the category of Observers.
The Cabinet approved the setting up of a Rs.10,000 crore fund to support start-ups in becoming
full fledged business entities.

The fund is expected to generate employment for 18 lakh persons.

The approval will pave the way for setting up Fund of Funds for Startups at the Small
Industries Development Bank of India for contributions to various Alternative Investment Funds
registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, according to an official statement.
This is in line with the Start-up India Action Plan of the government unveiled this year .

The Rs.10,000 crore-corpus will be built up over the 14th and 15th Finance Commission cycles
subject to progress of the scheme and availability of funds, it said. Already Rs.500 crore has
been provided.
The Padma Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (PNHZP) in Darjeeling, one of the highest highaltitude zoos in the country, is eagerly awaiting a new resident a snow leopard from Dudley
Zoological Gardens in London
One of the most elusive mountain cats, the snow leopard ( Panthera uncial ) is categorised as an
endangered species in the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red list.
Dubbed S2, the star lies about 25,000 light years from our Solar System. It is the celestial body
known to make the closest approach to our galaxy's central black hole, named Sagittarius A, on
a 16-year elliptical orbit.
Gravity combines the light from Europe's four largest telescopes to create a combined 130metre (427-foot) diameter lense with much sharper imaging.
agittarius A is thought to be four million times more massive than our Sun.
Black holes were theorised in Einstein's gravity theory, which was published in 1915 and still

31

forms a bedrock of modern physics.

It has withstood every single experimental test to date, but the theory fails to explain some of
the forces in the Universe particularly those at the subatomic, quantum level.
In 2018, S2 will make its closest approach to the black hole on its egg-shaped orbit
The next time S2 will be this near will be in 16 years.
the effects of general relativity strongly increase when you approach the black hole,
The twenty-fifth G. D. Birla Award for Scientific Research for 2015 has been awarded to Prof.
Sanjay Mittal from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology,
Kanpur.

Prof. Mittals significant contributions have been in the area of Bluff Body Flows flows past
blunt bodies associated with large unsteady separation and leading to large fluid forces.
Mookerjee, a proponent of Ek Pradhan, Ek Vidhan and Ek Nishan (one ruler, one constitution,
one symbol) was murdered during Sheikh Muhammad Abdullahs rule.
INDIAN ACTIVIST ON UN HONOUR ROLL

Zubaida Bai, an Indian social entrepreneur working for womens welfare, is on the United
Nations latest list of 10 champions of sustainable development goals.
The European Parliament will, meanwhile, pass a motion at an emergency meeting on Tuesday
urging Mr. Cameron to trigger the exit process by invoking what is known as Article 50.
Under the Lisbon treaty, a member state wishing to leave the EU should first notify the
European Council its decision, triggering Article 50. This would set in motion a process by which
the member and the EU leadership will negotiate the terms of the departure and reach and
agreement in two years. This means even if the British government invokes the Article 50 now,
the earliest exit of Britain will take place after two years.
Some economists have already suggested that one of the options Britain could follow in the

32

wake of a Brexit vote is the Norway model.

Norway, along with Liechtenstein and Iceland are members of the European Economic Area
(EEC). They have access to the single market while staying out of the EU. They also make
contributions to the EU budget. There is separate secretariat in Brussels to manage the
relationship between the EU and EEA countries.

Indian economy could suffer a significant knock on effect in the short term with the United
Kingdom voting for exiting the European Union (EU), according to market analysts and rating
agencies.

In India, while Brexit is expected to cause a slowing of growth, economic prospects remain
relatively sanguine due to the impact of local factors like a strong monsoon, the impact of pay
hikes and higher public capex, according to a research note from Nomura.

The company predicts that Brexit will mean Indias GDP will now grow at 7.3 per cent this
year, down from the 7.6 per cent predicted earlier.

The vote to leave the EU will trigger a two-year withdrawal process which will determine
the future of U.K.s relationship with the European Union, said Akshay Chudasama,
Managing Partner - Mumbai Region, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.

If at the end of that process, the U.K. exits the single market, EU countries will start imposing
tariffs on British products, making it far less attractive for Indian businesses like Tata Motors
to have a manufacturing base in the U.K., said Mr. Chudasama.
The festive air which announces the onset of monsoon is missing here. For the second
consecutive year, farmers of Uddandarayunipalem, Lingayapalem and Thalayapalem have not
celebrated Eruvaka, the festival where farmers symbolically sow nine different seeds (

33

navadanya ), decorate their bulls and ploughs, and pray for a good harvest. The fields that
should have been dotted with banana and sugarcane plantations, vegetables and flowers are
lying fallow. All this, for a reason. The three villages will make up the core area of Andhra
Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidus audacious dream Amaravati, a spanking
new capital for the State.
Sampson Hu, who founded SAT in 2013, said that conventional antennas cannot be located
immediately next to each other because of signal interference which leads to reduced
performance.

Metal casing

Within the current laptop, the antennas for Wi-Fi or a mobile signal need to be separate so
there is no interference of frequencies. If the laptop has a metal casing then it is impossible to
embed an antenna on the top of laptop screen or motherboard and the antenna must sit in
the hinge cavity, Mr. Hu said in a university statement.

However, the hinge cavity is a very limited space in which laptop manufactures can only fit
two conventional antennas, one for Wi-Fi and one for 3G/4G LTE. If conventional antennas are
brought so close together interference degrades efficiency and increases battery usage, Mr.
Hu added. Mr. Hu also noted that if a laptop has metallic covers, there is no other space to
locate the second conventional Wi-Fi antenna and 3G/4G LTE antennas to support MultiInput-Multi-Output (MIMO) function to provide enhanced data download rates.
malaria
New evidence of resistance to artemisinin, a crucial drug in the anti-malaria fight, in parts of
Southeast Asia could affect gains made till now
This resistance becomes all the more dangerous as artemisinin has been the backbone of
combination therapy for more than 10 years and will continue to be used to treat malaria
caused by Plasmodium falciparum a protozoan parasite and one of the species of
Plasmodium that causes malaria in humans; it is transmitted by the female Anopheles mosquito.
The use of artemisinin came at a critical time when resistance to commonly used chloroquine

34

was making malaria treatment inefficient.

chromosome 13 (K-13) was found to confer resistance to artemisinin.

On the flip side, with K-13 mutations serving as a marker for artemisinin resistance, the spread
of artemisinin resistance across the world could be mapped. A June 23, 2016 study published in
The New England Journal of Medicine has done precisely this and the results are quite positive.
The K-13 mutations are still restricted to Southeast Asia and China with no immediate threat to
artemisinin efficacy in most countries where malaria is endemic. The prevalence of K-13
mutations in Southeast Asia and China is high: from 30-60 per cent to close to 100 per cent
While no sample was collected from India, those from Bangladesh did not show K-13 mutations.
It is particularly important that the highly malaria-endemic region of Africa is free of artemisininresistant malaria. Otherwise it would lead to a global health crisis. Even in Asia, a majority of the
K-13 mutations are distributed within two regions Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos as one region
and western Thailand, Myanmar and China as the other.
The effects of global warming is most perceptible and amplified in the Polar Regions the
Antarctic and Arctic and the Himalaya. The ice sheets and glaciers also act as natural
recorders of climate variability and change,
honey contains a number of minor constituents such as enzymes, amino and organic acids,
lipids, vitamins, volatile chemicals, proteins, phenolic acids, flavonoids, and carotenoid-like
substances and minerals.
have stated that clostiridium botulinum is one of the few bacterial risks from honey
consumption. In the United States, a survey showed that 10 percent of honeys contain botulism
spores supporting a link between honey consumption and infant botulism. Infant botulism is
very rare and can occur in babies under one year of age, most of whom make a full recovery.
Microbial spores may produce entero-toxins responsible for various diseases including stomach
disorders.
In Journal of Food Science (2010), Dr S Saxena and co-workers from the Bhabha Atomic
Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai have shown that a 15 kGy dose of gamma radiation was
sufficient for complete microbial decontamination of honey including spores, thus ensuring its
microbial safety without affecting the quality attributes (Gray -Gy-is a unit of radiation dose; the
radiation energy absorbed in a GY is equal to one Joule per kg )

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Researchers have developed a new technology that aims to make the Advanced Laser
Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) even more sensitive to gravitational
waves faint ripples in space-time.

The team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Australian National University
report on improvements to what is called a squeezed vacuum source.

Although not part of the original Advanced LIGO design, injecting the new squeezed vacuum
source into the LIGO detector could help double its sensitivity.
Once implemented, it will improve the sensitivity of the gravitational detectors, particularly at
the higher frequencies important for understanding the composition of neutron stars.
Big Bang captured by the European Space Agencys Planck satellite to draw up a map of the
early universe. Planck gives us an amazing picture of the early distribution of matter and how
that led to the structure of the modern universe, he said.

The images will be augmented by data from the Dark Energy Survey, which has a 13-feet
diameter telescope in Chile, to map hundreds of millions of galaxies and reveal the nature of the
dark energy that is accelerating the expansion of the universe. Mr. Shellard said the maps would
improve when the European Space Agencys Euclid probe is launched in 2020.
A nearly 1,000-year-old rare stone inscription on Kapalikas, worshippers of Bhairava, a
manifestation of Shiva, has been discovered in Raichur district by a professor of Kannada
University, Hampi.

This is the first time that we have an inscription that throws light on the presence of Kapalikas
in South India, and in Karnataka in particular,
Kapalikas were a mysterious cult who may have practised human sacrifice and immolation.

The inscription, found above a cave atop a hilly area, two kilometres from Maliyabad village in

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Raichur district, is undated.

However, based on the nature of the script, which is in ancient Kannada, it is presumed to be
from mid 1,000 AD. The inscription also refers to a Kankala Gorava who had mastered Soma
Siddantha or Kapalika Siddantha
It states that though Soma Siddanthis led a lavish life, they had a cordial relationship with the
rest of society. It also claims that taking a dip in the pond and having a darshan of the deity in
the cave would relieve one of sins
Kapalika cult in various places, their culture, traditions, practices, their status in society, how
they began to wane after the emergence of Veerashaivism
For the first time in the country, we are creating strategic reserves of fuel. It was never thought
of by previous governments. China has created facilities for storage of crude oil for 20 days and
the U.S. has 50 to 60 days of storage. India used to have five to six days of storage, mostly stocks
in transit. There was absolutely no strategy for a strategic reserve,
Africas charcoal production has doubled in the past two decades and now accounts for more
than 60 per cent of the worlds total, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization. Rapid urbanisation across the continent has increased demand for charcoal; it has
become the preferred way to cook in cities.

As Africas population is expected to swell and urbanise at an even faster rate over the next
decades, the continents demand for charcoal is likely to double or triple by 2050, according to
the U.N. Environment Program.

The charcoal business, along with the expanding use of land for farming, is expected to increase
deforestation and worsen the effects of climate change on a continent poorly equipped to
adapt to it.
The paternal mitochondria were found to partially self-destruct before the mitochondria were
surrounded by autophagosomes, which target components within a cell and facilitate their
degradation.

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Glioblastoma, a highly aggressive and common form of brain tumour that occurs in adults, is
known for being notoriously unresectable (not capable of being surgically removed) because to
its high-metastasing capacity (the ability to travel to different parts of the body), which may
involve important regions of the brain.

But what makes it so aggressively metastatic? The role of a gene called fibromodulin (FMOD),
which is among 350 genes unique to glioblastoma.
he group also concluded that fibromodulin may be used as target for therapeutic intervention
to improve survival in glioblastoma.
It was widely reported that NSE was not comfortable to list on its rival exchange BSE and
wanted the regulator to allow self-listing, i.e., list its shares on its own platform.

Current regulations do not allow self-listing of exchanges in India.

Incidentally, BSE has already filed its DRHP with SEBI and is in the process of listing its shares.

BSE and NSE compete with each other in almost all the segments of capital markets, including
equity and equity derivatives and currency derivatives.
Senior officials said that C-DAC is likely to use the same technical assistance as that of GARUDA,
Indias national grid computing initiative, and GIST (Graphics and Intelligence Based Script
Technology).
new cancer cure
The method involves injecting a chemical compound, nitrobenzaldehyde, into the tumour and
allowing it to diffuse into the tissue.

A beam of light is then aimed at the tissue, causing the cells to become very acidic inside and,

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essentially, commit suicide, researchers said.

Within two hours, up to 95 per cent of the targeted cancer cells are dead or are estimated to be
All forms of cancer attempt to make cells acidic on the outside as a way to attract the attention
of a blood vessel, which attempts to get rid of the acid, said Mr. Gdovin.

Instead, the cancer latches onto the blood vessel and uses it to make the tumour larger and
larger, he added.dead, they said
Chemotherapy treatments target all cells in the body, and certain chemotherapeutics try to
keep cancer cells acidic as a way to kill the cancer. This is what causes many cancer patients to
lose their hair and become sickly. Mr. Gdovins method, however, is more precise and can target
just the tumour.
He has also started to develop a nanoparticle that can be injected into the body to target
metastasised cancer cells.

The nanoparticle is activated with a wavelength of light that it can pass harmlessly through skin,
flesh and bone and still activate the cancer-killing nanoparticle, said Mr. Gdovin.
He hopes that his non-invasive method will help cancer patients with tumours in areas that have
proven problematic for surgeons, such as the brain stem, aorta or spine.

It could also help people who have received the maximum amount of radiation treatment and
can no longer cope with the scarring and pain that go along with it, or children who are at risk of
developing mutations from radiation as they grow older, he said.
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR) has signed an annual Rs. 250-crore deal with
several state-run coal and thermal power companies to certify the quality of the coal being
supplied and used in their facilities.

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The certification will help power plants use coal appropriate to the machinery and technology
available in the plant and contribute to efficient use and, in the long run, reduce emissions,
officials said.
Arippa Ammayambalam Pacha reserve forest area bordering Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram
districts last week.

Threatened species

Nilgiri wood pigeon (Columba elphinstonii), an endemic and threatened bird species of the
Western Ghats, was sighted at Arippa after a gap of 27 years, said C. Susanth, ornithologist and
founder member of the forum. The last sighting was in 1989. The Nilgiri wood pigeon is a forest
bird of the higher elevation shola forests of the Western Ghats.
This is the last time the booster will be fired in a test environment before the first test flight of
SLS with NASAs Orion spacecraft, known as Exploration Mission-1 in late 2018,
SLS first flight, referred to as Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), provides the rare opportunity for
these small experiments to reach deep space destinations, as most launch opportunities for
CubeSats are limited to low-Earth orbit
A bid by Iran and Turkey to lay claim to Sufi mystic Rumis works has exasperated Afghanistan,
the country of his birth.

Tehran and Ankara asked to list the work of Jalal ud-Din Muhammad Rumi as their joint heritage
on the U.N.s Memory of the World register in May.

The register, falling under the UNs cultural organisation UNESCO, was formed in 1997 to
protect the worlds documentary heritage archives, correspondence and writing especially
in troubled or conflict-ridden areas.
Dr. Kim appreciated Indias rapid progress in improving the ease of doing business, especially in
the area of logistics: An Index of Logistics released by the World Bank shows that from 2014 to

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2016 Indias rank went up from 54th place to 35th place. Logistics in India is better than in
Portugal, he said.
These respirable particulate matters, a product of vehicle emissions, burning of waste, industrial
plumes, especially PM 2.5 is considered by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the best
indicator of the level of health risks from air pollution

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