1.Miscellaneous
WHO & UNPA release postage stamp on 40th anniversary of smallpox eradication
World Health Organisation and United Nations Postal Administration are commemorating 40 years of smallpox eradication
The stamp serves to honour world leaders, international organizations, rural doctors and community doctors, who worked together to eradicate smallpox.
Quick Fact: Tedros Adhanom is the director-general of WHO.
2.Miscellaneous
Stringency Index created by Oxford University to study lockdown measures
The Stringency Index has found that India had one of the strongest lockdown measures in the world
For developing this, a team of 100 Oxford community members have continuously updated a database of 17 indicators of government response.
The Stringency Index is a number from 0 to 100 that reflects these indicators. A higher index score indicates a higher level of stringency.
Quick Fact: India’s lockdown 1.0 scored 100 in the index.
3.Miscellaneous
United Nations marks 2020 as the Year of Nurse and Midwife
To mark this year, World Health Organization, Nursing Now Campaign and the International Council of Nurses has released the State of World’s Nursing report.
As per the report:
- there are an average of 36.9 nurses per 10,000 people in the world
- the largest shortage of nurses is to occur in the southeast Asian regions
- India has 1.56 million nurses who comprise 47% of medical staff
4.Environment
Ash Barges: Ecological threat for Sundarbans
Fly ash filled barges, carrying fly ash from Indian thermal plants to Bangladesh for cement production, are sinking and capsizing in the Hooghly river.
Their capsizing causes heavy metals to mix with the river water and harm the local fish population and ecosystem
Fly Ash is a by-product of coal combustion and is used to create roads, bricks, cement, etc.
Quick Fact: River Ganga splits into Hooghly and River Padma at Murshidabad.
5.Miscellaneous
Madhya Pradesh becomes the first state to launch innovative Scheme “FIR Aapke Dwar Yojana”
In this scheme, citizens would be able to file FIRs at home through home visits of head constables.
The scheme will also enable on spot FIR registrations.
Alongside, the government has also launched “Dial 112” helpline which will provide instant ambulance, fire fighting and police services.
Quick Fact: Police is a state subject under the Constitution of India.
6.National Affairs
ICMR, NCDC to initiate a population-based Sero-survey in selected districts
A Sero Survey is testing of blood serum of individuals for antibodies against infectious antigens like COVID-19 virus.
The objective of this survey is to monitor the trend in prevalence of COVID-19 infection at district level.
In the beginning, 200 samples per district per week, and 800 samples per district per month shall be taken.
7.Miscellaneous
Startup India – Animal Husbandry Startup Grand Challenge results announced
The awards are an initiative of Ministry for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and StartUp India.
Awards were given to 12 startups for finding innovative solutions to address problems faced by the animal husbandry and dairy sector.
Quick Fact: Giriraj Singh is the Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying
