Comprehensive Current affairs 12 December 2020

Policy on School Bag 2020.

The new ‘Policy on School Bag 2020’ of the Union ministry of education also recommends that the weight of the bag needs to be monitored on a regular basis in schools.

They should be light-weight with two padded and adjustable straps that can squarely fit on both shoulders and no wheeled carriers should be allowed. The policy even recommends that the weight of each textbook may come printed on them by the publishers.

School bags should not be more than 10% of the body weight of students across classes I to X and there should be no homework till class II.

The recommendations have been arrived based on various surveys and studies conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). The policy stated that data collected from 3,624 students and 2,992 parents from 352 schools, which include Kendriya Vidyalayas and state government schools were analysed.

The ‘Policy on School Bag 2020’ made 11 recommendations on the weight of the bags, including adequate good quality mid-day meal and potable water to all the students so that they need not carry lunch boxes or water bottles.

The policy also recommended that children with special needs be provided a double set of textbooks, through book banks in schools and lockers in classes for storing and retrieving books and other items.

The policy said there should be no bags in pre-primary. For classes I and II the bag weight range should be between 1.6 kg to 2.2 kg. Like-wise it should be 1.7 kg to 2.5 kg, 2 kg to 3 kg, 2.5 to 4 kg, 2.5 kg to 4.5 kg and 3.5 kg to 5 kg for classes III to V, classes VI and VII, class VIII, classes IX and X and classes XI and XII respectively.

Recommending that total study time should be accounted for while planning the syllabus, the policy said while there should be no homework upto class II and a maximum of two hours per week for classes III to V, homework duration for classes VI to VIII should not exceed one hour a day and two hours a day for classes IX and above.

Department of Integrative Medicine.

Ministry of AYUSH and AIIMS have decided to initiate work on setting up a Department of Integrative Medicine at AIIMS.

This was decided in a joint visit and review by Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, AYUSH and Dr.Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS of the Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research (CIMR) at AIIMS, New Delhi.

The CIMR receives notable support through the Centre of Excellence Scheme of the Ministry of AYUSH.

It was decided that the Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research, CIMR, AIIMS may develop an integrated protocol with Ayurveda and Yoga for study on Post COVID treatment.

Mount Everest .

Nepal and China jointly certified the elevation of Mount Everest at 8,848.86 metres above sea level — 86 cmhigher than what was recognised since 1954.

Mount Everest rises from border between Nepal and China. It is believed to be 50-60 million years old.

It isformed out of the collision of Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.

 KLI Project .

The Union Cabinet gave its approval for Provision of Submarine Optical Fibre Cable Connectivity between Mainland (Kochi) and Lakshadweep Islands (KLI Project).

The Project envisages the provision of a direct communication link through a dedicated submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) between Kochi and 11 Islands of Lakshadweep viz. Kavaratti, Kalpeni, Agati, Amini, Androth, Minicoy, Bangaram, Bitra, Chetlat, Kiltan, and Kadmat.

The estimated cost of implementation is about Rs 1,072 crore including operational expenses for 5 years. The Project would be funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund.

As per an official release, the submarine connectivity project will have a vital role in the delivery of e-governance services at the doorstep of citizens, potential development of fisheries, coconut-based industries and high-value tourism, educational development in terms of the education and in health care in terms of telemedicine facilities.

It will help in the establishment of numerous businesses, augment e-commerce activities and provide adequate support to educational institutes for knowledge sharing. The Lakshadweep Islands have the potential to become a hub of logistic services.

The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has been nominated as Project Execution Agency and Telecommunications Consultant India Limited (TCIL) as the Technical Consultant of the Project to assist Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

The project is targeted to be completed by May 2023.

Minimum Support Price .

Recently, the major demands of protesting farmers has been that the government guarantee in writing the Minimum Support Price system, which assures them of a fixed price for their crops, 1.5 times of the cost of production.

About Minimum Support Price:

 • It is a “minimum price” for any crop that the government considers as remunerative for farmers and hence deserving of “support”.

• It is also the price that government agencies pay whenever they procure the particular crop.

• The Union Budget for 2018-19 had announced that MSP would be kept at levels of 1.5 the cost of production.

About Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP)

• It recommends MSPs for 22 mandated crops and fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane.

• It is an attached office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India.

• It came into existence in January 1965. It is an advisory body whose recommendations are not binding on the Government.

• The mandated crops include 14 crops of the kharif season, 6 rabi crops and 2 other commercial crops.

• In addition, the MSPs of toria and de-husked coconut are fixed on the basis of the MSPs of rapeseed/mustard and copra, respectively.

• The list of crops are

✓ Cereals (7): Paddy, wheat, barley, jowar, bajra, maize and ragi,

✓ Pulses (5): Gram, arhar/tur, moong, urad and lentil .

✓ Oilseeds (8): Groundnut, rapeseed/mustard, toria, soyabean, sunflower seed, sesamum, safflower seed and niger seed,

✓ Raw cotton, Raw jute, Copra, De-husked coconut, and Sugarcane (Fair and remunerative price).

• The CACP considered various factors while recommending the MSP for a commodity, including cost of cultivation.

• It also took into account the supply and demand situation for the commodity, market price trends (domestic and global) and parity vis-à-vis other crops, and implications for consumers (inflation), environment (soil and water use) and terms of trade between Agriculture and Non-agriculture sectors.

Surveyor-2 Spacecraft .

NASA has confirmed that the Near-Earth Object called 2020 SO is the rocket booster that helped lift the space agency’s Surveyor spacecraft toward the Moon in 1966.

Surveyor-2:

• The Surveyor-2 spacecraft was supposed to make a soft landing on the Moon’s surface in September 1966, during which time one of the three thrusters failed to ignite.

• As a result of this the spacecraft started spinning and crashed on the surface.

• The aim of the mission was to reconnoiter the lunar surface ahead of the Apollo missions that led to the first lunar landing in 1969.

• While the spacecraft crashed into the Moon’s surface, the rocket booster disappeared into an unknown orbit around the Sun.

How was the Object Determined to be the Rocket Booster?

• Astronomers track Asteroids using telescope to determine if there are potentially hazardous asteroids that pose a threat to the planet.

• Therefore, it is also important for them to be able to distinguish between natural and artificial objects that orbit around the Sun.

• The rocket booster has come “somewhat close” to the Earth in the past few decades.

• One approach to the Earth in late 1966 was so close that the object was thought to have originated from Earth.

• In September, the NASA-funded telescope Detected It.

Arecibo Radio Telescope .

A massive radio telescope at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory — one of the world’s largest — collapsed on after sustaining Severe Damage, following 57 Years of Astronomical Discoveries.

Arecibo Telescope:

• The Arecibo Observatory, also known as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), was an observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico owned by the US National Science Foundation (NSF).

• It was the world’s largest single-aperture telescope for 53 years, surpassed in July 2016 by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China.

• The second-largest single-dish radio telescope in the world, it had withstood many hurricanes and earthquakes since it was First built in 1963.

Its contributions:

• Being the most powerful radar, scientists employed Arecibo to observe planets, asteroids and the Ionosphere.

• It made several discoveries over the decades, including finding prebiotic molecules in distant galaxies, the first exoplanets, and the first millisecond pulsar.

• In 1967, Arecibo was able to discover that the planet Mercury rotates in 59 days and not 88 days as had been originally thought.

• In the following decades, it also served as a hub in the search for extraterrestrial life, and would look for radio signals from alien civilizations.

• In 1993, scientists Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on the observatory in monitoring a binary pulsar.

• It provided a strict test of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity and the first evidence for the existence of Gravitational Waves.

Comprehensive Current affairs 11 December 2020

Smuggling in India Report 2019-20 .

Union Finance Minister releases the Smuggling in India Report 2019-20 which analyses organised smuggling trends on Gold and Foreign Currency, Narcotic Drugs, Security, Environment and Commercial Frauds.

The report has been compiled by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has detected 412 cases of smuggling resulting in the seizure of contraband worth ₹1,949 crore in 2019-20.

It arrested 837 economic offenders and also unearthed 761 complex cases of Customs duty evasion amounting to ₹2,183 crore.

 CO-WIN mobile app .

The Union Government has introduced a new digital platform called 'CO-WIN' for COVID-19 vaccine delivery.

There will be a new mobile app as well with the same name that will allow people to register for the vaccine.

About the platform:

The platform will be used for recording vaccine data and will form a database of healthcare workers too. Presently being all COVID-19 related data necessary for the delivery of the vaccine is uploaded on the CO-WIN platform.

It will have separate modules for administrator, registration, vaccination, beneficiary acknowledgement and reports. Once people start to register for the app, the platform will upload bulk data on co-morbidity provided by local authorities.

The CO-WIN app is not available yet for smartphone users publicly.

The different modules of the platform cater to the entire process of COVID-19 vaccination starting from registration to verification.

India’s Population with Disabilities .

December 3 is Marked by the UN as International Day of Persons with Disabilities in a bid to promote a more Inclusive and Accessible world for the differently-abled and to raise Awareness for their Rights.

Disability in India:

• About 2.2% of India’s population lives with some kind of physical or mental disability, as per the National Statistics Office report on disability released last year.

How are the disabled identified?

• Until the 2011 census, there were questions on seven kinds of disabilities in the questionnaire.

•This list of disabilities was expanded to 21 when the Rights of People with Disabilities was introduced in 2016.

• Accordingly, the 2019 report included questions to identify people with temporary loss of ability as well as Neurological and Blood Disorders in addition.

• The earlier definition included mental retardation and permanent inability to move, speak, hear and see.

• Significantly, the revised definition recognizes deformities and injuries of acid attack victims as disabilities, entitling them to various Relief Measures.

Who are disabled and in what way?

• Rural men had the highest prevalence of disability in India, according to the NSO report.

• A higher proportion of men were disabled in India compared with women, and disability was more prevalent in rural areas than in urban areas.

• Inability to move without assistance was the most common disability. More men experienced locomotor disability than women.

• These numbers were self-reported. In other words, the respondents were asked if they experienced any difficulty in performing tasks like moving, talking, etc.

• Are these measures in line with those from other surveys?

• The 2011 census estimated that the number of people with disabilities in India is close to

2.68 crore (or 2.2% of the population) — that is more than the entire population of Australia.

• This Number was based on the older definition of disability, yet the proportion of disabled people in the population is not different from the 2019 NSO report, which used the expanded definition of disability.

• Other metrics for evaluating disability have provided different estimates.

• A group of doctors from AIIMS found that alternate questionnaires like the Rapid Assessment of Disability have resulted in a prevalence ranging from 1.6%-43.3%.

How can the Range be so Wide?

• The proportion of population facing disability becomes bigger as one move from a narrow definition to a broader one.

• For instance, if one defines disability as the difficulty in accessing public services for all kinds of Reasons, even Social or Economic, then the Proportion goes up.

Why is it Important to Map Disabled People?

• Like other disadvantaged groups, the disabled in India are entitled to some benefits, ranging from reservation in educational institutes to concessions on railway tickets.

• To claim these benefits, they have to furnish certificates as proof of disability.

• At the macro level, data on the prevalence and type of disability is useful while making allocations for welfare schemes.

Lebanon Reform, Recovery and Reconstruction Framework (3RF) .

Lebanon Reform, Recovery and Reconstruction Framework is part of a comprehensive people-centered response to the massive explosion on the Port of Beirut in August 2020.

It has been launched by the European Union, UN and the World Bank for a period of 18-month.

The 3RF aims to help Lebanon achieve three central goals in response to the Beirut port explosion.

A people-centered recovery. Construction of critical assets, services, and infrastructure.

Restore people's trust in governmental institutions by improving governance.

Bangladesh signs first Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) since its independence.

Bangladesh signed its first Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Bhutan allowing duty free access to a range of goods between the two countries.

This is the first PTA Bangladesh has signed with any country in the world.

In 1971, Bhutan was the first country in the world, followed by India as the second, to recognise Bangladesh as an independent country.

The trade volume between the two countries is approximately 50 million dollars with 7.56 million of export and 42.09 million import into Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is expected to sign 11 more PTAs and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with countries like Indonesia and Nepal by June next year.

Light Detection and Ranging Survey technique.

National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited will be adopting LiDAR technique to conduct ground survey for the proposed Delhi-Varanasi High Speed Rail corridor.

Light Detection and Ranging Survey (LiDAR) is a remote sensing technology that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges(distances) to a target.

These light pulses are combined with other data recorded by the airborne system to generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics.

It is similar to radar and sonar (that use radio and sound waves, respectively).

Jehan Daruvala .

Jehan Daruvala became the first Indian to win a Formula 2 race during the Sakhir Grand Prix on Sunday.

A thrilling battle against F2 champion Mick Schumacher and Daniel Ticktum saw the 22-year-old Indian emerge on top in the support race of the season-ending Formula 1 Grand Prix.

FIA Formula 2 Championship:

The FIA Formula 2 Championship is a second-tier single-seater racing championship organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).

The championship was introduced in 2017, following the rebranding of the long-term Formula One feeder series GP2.

It is designed to make racing affordable for the teams and to make it an ideal training ground for life in Formula One.

Malayan Giant Squirrel .

The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has recently projected that numbers of the Malayan Giant

Squirrel could decline by 90% in India by 2050, and it could be extinct by then if urgent steps are not taken.

Highlights:

• Its Scientific Name is Ratufa bicolor.

• It is one of the world’s largest squirrel species that has a dark upper body, pale under parts, and a long, bushy tail.

• Unlike the nocturnal flying squirrels, giant squirrels are diurnal (active during the day), but arboreal (tree-dwelling) and herbivorous like the flying squirrels.

• India is home to three giant squirrel species and the other two are Indian Giant Squirrel and Grizzled Giant Squirrel which are found in peninsular India.

• It is found mostly in evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, from plains to hills at elevations of 50 m to 1,500 m above sea level.

 • Globally it is distributed through Southern China, Thailand, Laos,Vietnam, Burma, the

Malayan Peninsula, Sumatra, and Java.

• In India, is found in the forests of Northeast and is currently found in parts of West

Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Nagaland.

• Of the roughly 1.84 lakh sq km of the squirrel’s range in Asia, about 8.5% is in India.

• It is considered to be a forest health indicator species.

• An indicator species provides information on the overall condition of the ecosystem and of other species in that ecosystem. They reflect the quality and changes in environmental conditions as well as aspects of community composition.

• Its Conservation Status are IUCN Red List: Near Threatened, CITES: Appendix II and Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I.

Comprehensive Current affairs 8 December 2020

 Urban quality of life index.

IIT-Bombay researchers have come up with an urban quality of life index tailored to the reality of life in India.

For the first time, they have factored in gender parity.

Chennai, it turns out, is the most women-friendly and Patna the least.

Overall, Mumbai tops the list of 14, followed closely by Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. But so important is the gender role index that quality of life rankings of six cities would have changed had it not been considered — Delhi, Jaipur and Indore would have been ranked higher, and Mumbai, Bhopal and Lucknow would have ceded their spots.

Only Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai surpass the average score for gender index, while Indore, Jaipur and Patna are way below average.

Key highlights of the study:

The study found that Jaipur has the highest crime rate against women, Chennai has the lowest.

The gap in literacy rate between men and women is the widest in Jaipur (13.2%) and lowest in Kolkata (5.4%).

The unemployment rate for women is the highest in Patna — at 346, it is more than four times the urban average of 73.

Another often overlooked factor are the basics — power, water, education. Only 36% urban households in Patna have access to treated tap water.

Literacy was the highest in Pune (91%) and, surprisingly, the lowest in Hyderabad (83%).

 First transgender children’s home in India.

India’s first homes for transgender children in need of care and protection will soon be established in Bengaluru.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development gave its nod for the project last week.

The minutes of the supplementary Project Approval Board (PAB) under child protection services says that two government-run children’s homes reserved for transgender children will be established in Bengaluru Urban.

Children in need of care and protection include orphans, abandoned children, street children, child labourers and child victims of abuse.

India Inches towards first Marine ‘Designated Area’ off Maharashtra Coast

A proposal has been sent to the Centre to notify Angria Bank as a ‘designated area’ under the Maritime Zones Act, 1976.

• The Maharashtra state government has sent its final proposal to the Centre to notify

2,011.43 sq km Angria Bank as a ‘designated area’ under the Maritime Zones Act, 1976.

• Angria Bank is located 105km off the Konkan coast.

• The Angira bank, named after Maratha Admiral Kanhoji Angre, is located in Malvan town of Sindhudurg district

• It will be the India’s first marine protected zone beyond territorial waters, if approved.

Significance of Angria Bank:

• It is a submerged plateau with coral reef formation (39 species of both hard and soft corals

(protected under Schedule I of the WPA) across 650 sq km.).

• Wildlife Institute of India has identified Angria Bank among 106 important coastal and marine biodiversity areas in India.

• As many as 123 species of fish, 43 species of invertebrates, dolphins and whales among other marine animals protected under India’s wildlife laws were recorded.

• Threats including overfishing, oil, natural gas and mineral exploration, rising ocean temperatures, and rising marine traffic were identified.

Why there was the Need to send a Proposal to Center?

• As Angria Bank lies beyond the Indian territorial waters (12 nautical miles), it is not possible to declare the site as a protected area under the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA),

1972.

• Therefore, being in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the only way to provide legal protection is by notifying it as a ‘designated area’ for marine protection under the

Maritime Zones Act, 1976, (covering territorial waters, continental shelf, exclusive economic zone, and other maritime zones) of the Ministry of External Affairs.

• This proposal is a first under the Maritime Zones Act, 1976.

• With more conservation focus there will be more protective measures, promotion of research, a bit of controlled tourism, and control over suspected threats.

The Proposal was based on which sources?

• The proposal was based on underwater and boat surveys.

• The decision will help India meet international obligations for more protection of our marine biodiversity.

Marine protected Areas:

✓ Marine Protected Areas are created by delineating zones with permitted and non- permitted uses within that zone.

✓ Marine Protected Areas in India are the area defined under IUCN Guidelines. They limit anthropogenic activities and exploitation of resources in these areas.

✓ The term Marine Protected Areas include marine reserves, fully protected marine areas, no-take zones, marine sanctuaries, ocean sanctuaries, marine parks, locally managed marine areas, to name a few.

• Gulf of Kutch Marine National Park is the first National Marine park of India.

• India’s other marine protected areas are:

✓ Gahirmatha Sanctuary

✓ Gulf Kutch Sanctuary

✓ Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park

✓ Gulf of Mannar National Park

• Many of these have quite different levels of protection, and the range of activities allowed or prohibited within their boundaries varies considerably too.

• (As per World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Marine Protected Area are:-

• An area designated and effectively managed to protect marine ecosystems, processes, habitats, and species, which can contribute to the restoration and replenishment of resources for social, economic, and cultural enrichment.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)

Recently, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) portal shows that demand for work has been at all-time high, according to data available up to November.

Highlights:

• It is a demand-based scheme and has emerged as a safety net during the pandemic for Jobless Migrant workers returning to their Villages

• The number of gram panchayats generating nil person days of work during the current financial year are at an eight-year low of only 3.42% of the 2.68 lakh gram panchayats across the country.

• The number of gram panchayats generating nil person days during the entire period was 3.91% of the total 2.64 lakh gram panchayats, in 2019. Over 96% of gram panchayats across the country have registered demand for work under NREGS from April till November-end.

• Over 6.5 crore households, covering 9.42 crore individuals, have availed NREGS till November 2020, which is an all-time high.

• The Highest number of demand for work came from Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

• The wage expenditure has also reached an all-time high of Rs. 53,522 crore during this period.

• Tamil Nadu has reported the highest figure of households that availed the NREGS across the country, since July and has been followed by West Bengal.

• About National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

• The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 was notified by the Government of India on September, 2005 and was made effective in February 2006.

Under it, the NREGS was introduced.

• The Act aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members (at least 18 years of age) volunteer to do unskilled work.

• The central government bears the full cost of unskilled labour, and 75% of the cost of material (the rest is borne by the states).

• It is a demand-driven, social security and labour law that aims to enforce the ‘right to work’.

• Ministry of Rural Development in association with state governments, monitors the implementation of the scheme.

Export Promotion Council.

The Ministry of Textiles has invited proposals for the constitution of a dedicated Export Promotion Council (EPC) for technical textiles.

The decision is significant as there is a lot of untapped potential in the area of technical textiles, as per estimates, and the Indian textiles industry has already demonstrated its abilities by manufacturing large quantities of personal protective equipment kits and N95 masks following the Covid-19 outbreak.

The exporter associations and trade bodies registered under the Companies Act or the Society Registration Act have been asked to submit proposals for constitution of a dedicated EPC for technical textiles by December 15 2020.

The Council shall abide by all directions of the Central government in respect of promotion and development of international trade and would be responsible to promote ITC (HS) lines identified and notified by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) from time to time.

The Cancer Genome Atlas Program.

The Cancer Genome Atlas Program (TCGA)is a cancer genomics program of the US-India which began in 2006 bringing together researchers from diverse disciplines and multiple institutions.

Over the years, TCGA generated over 2.5 petabytes of genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data.

These data led to improvements in the ability to diagnose, treat, and prevent cancer.

On similar lines, the establishment of an ‘Indian Cancer Genomics Atlas (ICGA)’ has been initiated by aconsortium of key stakeholders in India led by CSIR.

Hayabusa2 mission.

 Six years after Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission was launched, it is set to return to Earth on December 6 carrying with it samples from the one-kilometre wide Ryugu asteroid that orbits the Sun.

The mission is similar to NASA’s OSIRIS-REX mission that brought back samples from asteroid Bennu late in October.

According to the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), this is the first time that a probe has visited a celestial body that is under 100 metres in diameter.

What is the Hayabusa2 mission?

The Hayabasu2 mission was launched in December 2014 when the spacecraft was sent on a six-year-long voyage to study the asteroid Ryugu and collect samples that it is now bringing back to the Earth.

The spacecraft arrived at the asteroid in mid-2018 after which it deployed two rovers and a small lander onto the surface. In 2019, the spacecraft fired an impactor into the asteroid’s surface to create an artificial crater with a diametre of a little more than 10 metres, which allowed it to collect the samples.

As per NASA, the asteroid is thought to be made up mostly of nickel and iron. “Asteroids like Ryugu are interesting for several reasons, perhaps foremost because they are near the Earth and might, one day in the far future, pose an impact threat,” NASA has said.

Hayabasu2’s predecessor, the Hayabusa mission brought back samples from the asteroid Itokawa in 2010.

Influenza.

The researches at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute have recently come out with findings on

Super infections and have also highlighted that influenza makes people more susceptible to bacterial infections.

Highlights:

• Super infections are infection occurring after or on top of an earlier infection, especially following treatment with broad- spectrum antibiotics. It is an overgrowth of an opportunistic pathogen from the bacterial or yeast imbalance of systemic antibiotics.

• For example, influenza is caused by a virus, but the most common cause of death in influenza patients is secondary pneumonia, which is caused by bacteria.

• The reason behind influenza infections leading to an increased risk of bacterial pneumonia is not known.

• When an individual is infected by influenza different nutrients and antioxidants, such as vitamin C, leak from the blood.

• The absence of nutrients and antioxidants creates a favourable environment for bacteria in the lungs.

• The bacteria adapt to the inflammatory environment by increasing the production of an enzyme called High temperature requirement A (HtrA).

• The presence of HtrA weakens the immune system and promotes bacterial growth in the influenza -infected airways.

• The ability of pneumococcus to grow seems to depend on the nutrient-rich environment with its higher levels of antioxidants that occurs during a viral infection, as well as on the bacteria’s ability to adapt to the environment and protect itself from being eradicated by the immune system.

Spanish Flu:

• It was an influenza pandemic that swept across the world in the year 1918–1920.

• It disproportionately hit young healthy adults and important reason for this was superinfections caused by bacteria, in Particular Pneumococci.

• Pneumococcal infections are the most common cause of community acquired pneumonia and a leading global cause of death.

• A prior influenza virus infection is often followed by a Pneumococcal Infection.

Significance:

• The results could be used to find new therapies for double infections between the influenza virus and pneumococcal bacteria.

• A possible strategy can therefore be use of protease inhibitors to prevent pneumococcal growth in the lungs.

• The information can contribute to the research on Covid-19.

• However, it is still not known if Covid-19 patients are also sensitive to such secondary bacterial infections.

Influenza:

• It is a viral infection that attacks the respiratory system i.e. nose, throat and lungs and is commonly called the flu.

• Its symptoms are Fever, chills, muscle aches, cough, congestion, runny nose, headaches and fatigue.

• It is primarily treated with rest and fluid intake to allow the body to fight the infection on its own.

• Paracetamol may help cure the symptoms but Non Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs

(NSAIDs) should be avoided. An annual vaccine can help prevent the flu and limit its complications.

• Young children, older adults, pregnant women and people with chronic disease or weak Immune systems are at high risk.

Peacock Soft-shelled Turtle

Peacock soft-shelled turtle has recently been rescued from a fish market in Assam’s Silchar.

• Its scientific Name is Nilssonia hurum.

• They have a large head, downturned snout with low and oval carapace of dark olive green to nearly black, sometimes with a yellow rim.

 • The head and limbs are olive green; the forehead has dark reticulations and large yellow or orange patches or spots, especially behind the eyes and across the snout.

• Males possess relatively longer and thicker tails than females.

Habitat:

• This species is confined to India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

• In India, it is widespread in the northern and central parts of the Indian subcontinent.

• These are found in rivers, streams, lakes and ponds with mud or sand bottoms.

• The species is heavily exploited for its meat and calipee (the outer cartilaginous rim of the shell). Threats in the River Ganga to the species are those generic for all large river turtles, including reduction of fish stock, as a result of overfishing, pollution, increase in river traffic, and sand-mining, among others.

• Its Conservation Status are Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I; IUCN Red List:

Vulnerable; and CITES: Appendix I.