GS-III

The Odisha government on Monday began the process of tranquillising Sundari, the tigress which supposedly killed a man in the Satkosia Tiger Reserve (STR). The death had triggered a massive uproar in forest-side villages, with an irate mob resorting to large-scale violence on Sunday. Of the eight forest staff detained …

The carcasses of three lion cubs were on Monday found on the outskirts of a village in Amreli district near the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, Forest Department officials said. Primary investigation has revealed that the cubs, in the age group of 4 to 5 months, were killed by male lions during …

Three persons were injured when wild elephants attacked them at Neamatighat in upper Assam’s Jorhat district on Sunday. The elephants had entered the area in search of food and attacked three persons and damaged seven huts and five shops, said forest officials on Monday. Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/three-injured-in-attack-by-wild-elephants-in-assam/article25292278.ece

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a PIL petition seeking a judicial order to lower the legal marriageable age of men from 21 to 18 years. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi imposed Rs. 25,000 costs on petitioner-lawyer Asok Pande, and said there was no public …

Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) informed the Madras High Court on Monday that an Experts’ Group has been constituted to formulate a draft policy on reducing the weight of school bags in proportion to the age and average weight of children. Justice N. Kirubakaran was told that the …

While urban Uttar Pradesh has an 80% coverage of toilets, inefficient sanitation systems ensure that almost 87% of the excreta being generated by these toilets is being dumped in waterbodies or agricultural lands, according to a new analysis of 30 cities by the Centre for Science and Environment. “With 2019 …

Officials overseeing a U.N.-backed fund to help poor countries tackle climate change have approved more than $1 billion in new investments after a four-day meeting in Bahrain. The Green Climate Fund said on Sunday that the meeting approved 19 new projects, including a programme to protect freshwater resources in Bahrain. …

The loud crack rang out from the fog above the Baishui No. 1 Glacier as a stone shard careened down the ice, flying past Chen Yanjun as he operated a GPS device. More projectiles were tumbling down the hulk of ice that scientists say is one of the world’s fastest …

Women with an aggressive type of breast cancer lived longer if they received immunotherapy plus chemotherapy, rather than chemo alone, a major study has found. The results are expected to change the standard of care for women like those in the clinical trial, who had advanced cases of “triple-negative” breast …

Giving relief to domestic medical device makers, the Centre has asked the procurement agencies to follow the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for procuring devices and not to mandate the USFDA/CE certifications where the norms laid down by the national standard body exist. This issue of mandatory requirement of USFDA/CE …

Whenever you buy an expensive beauty product from premium brands such as The Body Shop or L’oreal or a chocolate hamper from Ferrero Rocher, you might be unknowingly supporting millions of tribals spread across States like Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. A little-known Indian company from Chhattisgarh – Manorama …

Air purifier makers are again looking at a big spike in their sales like previous years since the air quality in the national capital region and adjoining areas is likely to deteriorate further in the coming weeks. The companies are again expecting Delhi NCR to drive their sales this year, …

In May this year, the government announced a National Policy on Biofuels, which laid out the path towards increasing the country’s ethanol and biodiesel production. One of the stated benefits of biofuels was the impact this would have on the practice of burning crop waste in preparation for the next …

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday attend the fourth edition of the NITI Lecture Series focussed on “leveraging artificial intelligence for inclusive growth”, according to an official statement. The keynote address will be delivered by Jensen Huang, president and co-founder of U.S.-based technology firm NVIDIA Corporation. Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/pm-to-attend-niti-lecture-series-on-ai/article25282186.ece

Pulls and pressuresWorkers pull a line from a cargo ship as it prepares to berth at a port in Qingdao in China’s eastern Shandong province. China’s economy grew at its slowest pace in nine years in the third quarter, as a campaign to tackle mounting debt and trade frictions with …

As we go about our daily routines on Earth, Japanese robots are literally hopping about on the surface of a primitive asteroid called Ryugu, some 280 million km away. The data they are collecting might unlock some of the most fundamental mysteries of our solar system. The asteroid-exploring spacecraft, Hayabusa …

What is it?How did it come about?Why does it matter?What lies ahead? Swinging between ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ air quality for the past two weeks, the National Capital Region seems set for another lung-clogging winter this year. Figures released by the Union Health Ministry early this week showed the total …

Women in Rajasthan villages harness solar power with expert training from Barefoot College in Ajmer Sita Devi, 55, from Barmer is getting ready to go to the residential Barefoot College in the small village of Tilonia in Ajmer district of Rajasthan. She is one of the 17 women from far-flung …

In yet another letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the devastation caused by cyclone Titli, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said that there was heavy damage to public and private properties in over 1,800 villages in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts and that 16 persons died. He pegged the tentative …

Indian researchers have developed a gel which, when applied on the skin, can inhibit some pesticides from getting absorbed into the body, thus averting serious adverse effects and even death. Organophosphate-based pesticides, which are commonly used by farmers in India, are toxic to the nervous system and heart, and can …