Addapedia Odisha | Daily Current Affairs | 15 June 2024 | Download PDF

• The Indian Army has recently acquired the Nagastra-1, a groundbreaking addition to its arsenal, marking the introduction of high-precision, man-portable suicide drones. 
• These drones, developed by EEL, boast a range of approximately 30 kilometers and can execute GPS-enabled precise hits with a remarkable accuracy of two meters.

Key points:

• • Nagastra–1, a UAV-based system, operates like an aerial ambush and can abort an attack if necessary, ensuring safe retrieval. 
  • It is named a loitering munition due to its ability to hover above the target. 
  • In “Kamikaze mode,” it can neutralize any hostile threat with GPS-enabled precision strike, achieving an accuracy of 2 meters.
• Nagastra-l is the first indigenized weapon of its class, capable of hovering in the air and striking when the target arrives.

• The 2024 Kavli Prize, distinct from the Kavli Medal, honored eight winners for their contributions to astrophysics, neuroscience, and nanoscience.
• This prestigious award, named after Norwegian-American businessman Fred Kavli, mirrors the Nobel Prize in recognizing groundbreaking scientific achievements.

About:

• The Kavli Prize, first awarded in 2008 and given biennially, includes a $1 million cash prize per field, a scroll, and a 7 cm diameter medal.
• The 2024 winners include David Charbonneau and Sara Seager from Harvard University and MIT, respectively, for their discoveries and characterization of exoplanets and their atmospheres. 
• Robert Langer from MIT was recognized for nano-engineering materials for controlled release of therapeutic bio-molecules.
• Armand Paul Alivisatos from the University of Chicago was awarded for his work on semiconductor crystals (“quantum dots”) used as multi-color fluorescent probes in bio-imaging.
• Chad Mirkin from Northwestern University was honored for introducing spherical nucleic acids (SNAs), with applications in intracellular detection, gene regulation, and immunotherapy.

• The National Institute of Indian Medical Heritage (NIIMH), located in Hyderabad and operating under the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Ministry of Ayush, has been designated as a WHO Collaborating Centre (CC) for “Fundamental and Literary Research in Traditional Medicine” (CC IND-177) by the World Health Organization (WHO). 
• This recognition, valid for four years starting from June 3, 2024, marks NIIMH as the first WHO Collaborating Centre for such research.

Key points:

• NIIMH’s role as a WHO Collaborating Centre includes assisting WHO in standardizing terminologies for Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and Sowa-Rigpa, and updating the Traditional Medicine Module-II for the Eleventh edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11).
• The Centre will also support Member States in developing research methodologies for Traditional Medicine.
• The WHO Collaborating Centre for “Fundamental and Literary Research in Traditional Medicine” will be led by Prof. Vaidya Rabinarayan Acharya, Director General, CCRAS, along with a dedicated team in coordination with the Literary and Fundamental Research team of CCRAS Headquarters.

About:

• Established in 1956, NIIMH is a unique institution dedicated to documenting and showcasing medico-historical research in various healthcare disciplines, including Ayurveda, Yoga Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa, Homoeopathy, Biomedicine, and others in India. 
• NIIMH has been involved in various digital initiatives, such as the AMAR Portal, which catalogs 16,000 Ayush manuscripts, the SAHI Portal showcasing 793 medico-historical artifacts, and the Ayush Research Portal indexing 42,818 published Ayush research articles. 
• The Institute also houses more than 500 physical manuscripts, alongside the Medical Heritage Museum and Library, featuring rare books and manuscripts dating back to the 15th century AD. 
• Additionally, the Journal of Indian Medical Heritage is published by NIIMH.

• World Blood Donor Day, observed annually on 14th June, aims to raise awareness about the critical need for safe blood and blood products to save lives.

Key points:

• This year, the theme is “20 years of celebrating giving: thank you, blood donors!” marking the 20th anniversary of the event.
• Despite the universal need for blood, access to safe blood remains a challenge in many countries, particularly in low- and middle-income nations. This lack of access affects all patients, especially those who require regular transfusions.
• World Blood Donor Day serves as a reminder of the invaluable contribution of blood donors to society and encourages more people to donate blood regularly to save lives.

• With the upcoming presidential election in November, the Federal Reserve, America’s central bank, has made it clear that it is not eager to quickly lower interest rates. 
• Hawkish economic policy, embraced by central banks and economic policymakers, emphasizes the importance of curbing inflation, often at the expense of other economic objectives such as full employment or economic expansion. 

Key points:

• Those who adhere to a hawkish stance tend to advocate for higher interest rates to rein in inflation and maintain price stability. 
• This stands in contrast to dovish economic policy, which prioritizes stimulating economic growth and reducing unemployment, even if it means tolerating higher inflation.

About:

• This involves increasing interest rates to raise the cost of borrowing, which in turn can dampen spending and investment, thereby cooling down an overheated economy.
• Measures are taken to decrease the money supply or slow its growth, aiming to control inflation.
• Low inflation is set as a primary objective, often with explicit inflation targets and corresponding actions to ensure these targets are met.
• Efforts are made to scale back fiscal or monetary stimulus measures that could potentially fuel inflation, such as cutting government spending or winding down quantitative easing programs.

• Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) is enhancing its surveillance efforts by adding 500 additional camera traps in and around the protected area, bringing the total to around 900 cameras.

Key points:

• • The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) mandates annual surveillance to track tiger movements, along with those of co-predators, prey, and other ecological changes.
• According to the All Odisha Tiger Estimation (AOTE) 2023-24 report, Similipal is home to approximately 27 tigers. 

• However, evidence suggests the presence of three adult tigers not yet captured on camera. The new cameras are expected to improve surveillance and aid in monitoring the reserve’s rich biodiversity more effectively.

National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA):

• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change constituted under enabling provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2006, for strengthening tiger conservation, as per powers and functions assigned to it under the said Act.
• The ‘Project Tiger’ is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, providing funding support to tiger range States for in-situ conservation of tigers in designated tiger reserves.

The objectives of NTCA are:

• Providing statutory authority to Project Tiger so that compliance of its directives becomes legal.
• Fostering accountability of Center-State in management of Tiger Reserves, by providing a basis for MoU with States within our federal structure.
• Providing for an oversight by Parliament.
• Addressing livelihood interests of local people in areas surrounding Tiger Reserves.

• The President of India, Droupadi Murmu, celebrated Odisha’s ‘Raja’ festival for the first time at Rashtrapati Bhavan, offering a unique glimpse of Odia culture and lifestyle. 

About the Raja festival:

• Raja or Raja Parba or Mithuna Sankranti is a three-day-long festival of womanhood celebrated in Odisha, India.
• On this occasion, people enjoy cooking traditional delicacies, relishing paan, playing cards and other games with family and friends.
• First day of the festival is called “Pahili Raja” which marks the beginning of the festival in which people do all types of preparations for the festival.
• Second day is called “Raja/Mithuna Sankranti” which signifies the beginning of the solar month of Mithuna(June/July) from which the season of rains starts.
• Third day is called “Bhumi Dahana or Basi Raja” which signifies the middle day of the festival in which people take a break from their routine work to relax and enjoy.
• On the fourth day called “Basumati snana”, people give bath to mother earth with turmeric paste and adore it with flower, sindoor etc.

Other names of Raja festival :

• The Raja Sankranti day is also called the ‘Swing Festival’ because of the many varities of swings that are hung from tree branches. 
• Girls play on these swings while singing folk songs.There are four types of swings named as Ram doli, Charki doli, Pata doli & Dandi Doli.

Similar festival:

• It is similar to Ambubachi Mela of Assam.
• Ambubachi Mela is a four-day festival which marks the annual menstruation of the goddess at Kamakhya temple in Guwahati.
• Ambubachi Mela is one of the biggest congregations of eastern India

• The Odisha government has instructed all urban local bodies (ULBs) to prepare for the Swachh Survekshan 2024 field assessment, which will evaluate their progress in cleanliness and other parameters.

Key points:

• Similar to previous years, assessors will examine various aspects of waste management, with a specific focus on the complete value chain of waste management at ‘bulk waste generators.’ 
• The assessment will encompass validation of waste collection, transportation, processing, and final disposal within the ULB jurisdiction.

• The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has declared an Eco-sensitive Zone (ESZ) around Bhitarkanika National Park, Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary, and Gahirmatha (Marine) Wildlife Sanctuary. 
• This zone spans an area measuring 497.67 sq. km and extends from 0.10 km to 8.7 km around the boundaries of these protected areas. 

Key points:

• • The draft notification for this ESZ was issued on September 6, 2023, and was published on June 9, 2024.
  • The ESZ designation aims to protect critical habitats, migration routes, and nesting sites within the Mangrove Forest (Wildlife) Division, which includes Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary (1975), Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary (1997), and Bhitarkanika National Park (1998). 
  • These areas are home to 88 species of rare mangroves and a renowned crocodile project, boasting the largest population of estuarine crocodiles in India. Bhitarkanika is also known for its reptilian diversity.
  • The region is a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar convention, with Gahirmatha globally celebrated for the mass nesting of Olive Ridley Sea Turtles. 
  • With 61 species of invertebrates, 20 species of fish, five species of amphibians, 42 species of reptiles, more than 280 species of birds, and 28 species of mammals, the biodiversity of the area necessitates its conservation.
  • To manage the ESZ effectively, the state government will prepare a Zonal Master Plan within two years with inputs from local residents and various government departments. 
• A monitoring committee will be set up by the Central government.

Read more about what is Eco Sensitive Zone.

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