UniFocus IAS ( UNIFOCUS UNIVERSAL )

Integrated Public Alert System-सचेत, an early warning platform based on ITU’s Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), has been developed by C-DOT for effective disaster management. The platform has been widely used by National and State Disaster Management authorities for dissemination of alerts, advisories and other useful information to the massses on all available media during emergencies like floods, cyclones and Covid pandemic. It provides a converged platform for dissemination of targeted alerts to people in vernacular languages through SMS. As a one-stop solution and a concrete step towards realizing Hon’ble Prime Minister’s 10 point Agenda for Disaster Risk Reduction, soon messages will be disseminated over all available communication media including, Cell Broadcast, Radio, TV, Siren, Social Media, Web Portal and Mobile Application. The system is already operational in 34 States and UTs. More than 75 Crores SMSes have already been sent by the system during various disasters like Cyclon...

The Convention on Road Traffic, commonly known as the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, is an international treaty designed to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety by establishing standard traffic rules among the contracting parties. The convention was agreed upon at the United Nations Economic and Social Council's Conference on Road Traffic (7 October – 8 November 1968) and concluded in Vienna on 8 November 1968. It came into force on 21 May 1977. This conference also produced the Convention on Road Signs and Signals. The Convention had amendments on 3 September 1993 and 28 March 2006. There is a European Agreement supplementing the Convention on Road Traffic (1968), which was concluded in Geneva on 1 May 1971. The Convention on Road Traffic, commonly known as the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, is an international treaty promoting the development and safety of international road traffic by establishing certain uniform rules among the contracting p...

  Catering to a nation with population exceeding 1.3 billion, the passenger transport of Indian Railways faces very high demand of seats and berths. The demand supply gap has widened over the years despite capacity augmentation by Indian Railways. This demand supply gap has led to mushrooming of many touts who use different means to corner reserved seats and then sell them to the needy on premium. Use of illegal software for cornering confirmed railway reservations online had adversely affected the availability of confirmed tickets to the common man. RPF has been undertaking intensive and sustained action in a mission mode under code name “Operation Uplabdh” against persons involved in touting (unauthorized carrying on of business of procuring & supply of railway tickets). https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1855247

The NCG was created to form a union of cancer centres in the country which could provide uniform and high standards of cancer care, follow uniform evidence based guidelines for management of patients, develop human resource adequately trained to fulfill the cancer healthcare needs of the entire nation and conduct collaborative clinical research of a high standard. The union would to ensure provision of same quality of care to patients from any part of the country, without having to travel long distances and regardless of their ability to pay for treatment achieved by following the same evidence-based management guidelines, which are implementable in all cancer centres. Mission: The National Cancer Grid is a network of major cancer centers, research institutes, patient groups and charitable institutions across India with the mandate of establishing uniform standards of patient care for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer, providing specialized training and educa...

  Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India published the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 on 24 th August, 2022 to ensure environmentally sound management of waste batteries. Notification of these rules is a transformative step towards implementation of the announcement made by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in his address to the Nation on Independence Day on 15 th August, 2021 to promote Circular Economy in full earnest. New rules will replace Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001. The rules cover all types of batteries, viz. Electric Vehicle batteries, portable batteries, automotive batteries and industrial batteries. The rules function based on the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) where the producers (including importers) of batteries are responsible for collection and recycling/refurbishment of waste batteries and use of recovered materials from wastes into new batteries. EPR mandates that all...

  Arnesh Kumar Guidelines   or   Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar (2014)  is a   landmark judgement   of the   Indian Supreme Court ,   stating arrests should be an exception, in cases where the punishment is less than seven years of imprisonment.   The guidelines asked the police to determine whether an arrest was necessary under the provisions of Section 41 of the   Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) . Police officers have a responsibility to guarantee that the principles established by the Supreme Court in its numerous decisions are followed by the investigating officers. Before authorising further detention, the judicial magistrate must read the police officer's report and make sure they are satisfied. The decision was welcomed by men's right activists but was criticised by women rights activists. Legal proceedings can be initiated against the police officials if the procedure for arrest under Section 41A CrPC and Arnesh Kumar Guidelines a...

Under RGM, with an objective to encourage the Milk producing farmer, individuals working in this sector, and Dairy cooperative societies who provide market access to the milk producers, this department has continued to confer National Gopal Ratna Award during 2022 in the following categories: 1. Best Dairy farmer rearing indigenous cattle/buffalo breeds (list of registered breeds annexed)   2. Best Artificial Insemination Technician (AIT)   3. Best Dairy Cooperative Society/ Milk producer Company/ Dairy Farmer Producer Organisation The National Gopal Ratna Award consists of a Certificate of merit, a memento, and amount in each category as under: 1.  Rs. 5,00,000/-(Rupee five lakh only) -1st rank 2.  Rs. 3,00,000/- (Rupee three lakh only) -2nd rank and 3.  Rs. 2,00,000/- (Rupee two lakh only)  -3rd rank  https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1854108

 The International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), 1978, was adopted by the International Conference on Training and Certification of Seafarers on 7 July 1978. The 1995 STCW Conference adopted the Seafarers’ Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) Code. The STCW Code contains, in: 1. part A, mandatory provisions to which specific reference is made in the annex to the STCW Convention and which give, in detail, the minimum standards required to be maintained by Parties in order to give full and complete effect to the provisions of the STCW Convention; and, in 2. part B, recommended guidance to assist Parties to the STCW Convention and those involved in implementing, applying or enforcing its measures to give the STCW Convention full and complete effect in a uniform manner. he 1978 STCW Convention was the first to establish minimum basic requirements on training, certification and watchkeeping for seafarers...

  Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will be signing an Memorandum of Understanding with National Health Authority for providing an Comprehensive Medical Package to Transgender Persons tomorrow at Nalanda Auditorium, Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, Janpath New Delhi. MoU will be signed in the presence of Dr. Virendra Kumar, Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment and Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare. This joint initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Social Welfare and Empowerment is first of its kind in the Country and will not only give a new direction to our society, but will also provide Transgender Persons rightful and respectable place in the society. The beneficiary should be a Transgender person as notified by Government of India holding a Transgender Certificate & amp; Identity Card issued by the National Portal for Transgender Persons. The scheme would cover a...

 In a transcending move towards green energy and commitment towards environmental stewardship, HPCL commenced its Cowdung to Compressed Biogas Project at Sanchore, Rajasthan. This will be HPCL’s first project under Waste to Energy portfolio. The plant is proposed to utilize 100 Tons per day of dung to produce biogas, which can be utilized as automotive fuel. The project is proposed to be commissioned in a year’s time. The project is being developed under GOBAR-Dhan scheme launched by Government of India in Apr’18 as a part of the Biodegradable Waste Management component under Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) to positively impact cleanliness and generate wealth and energy from cattle and organic waste. About GOBAR-Dhan: Gobardhan was launched to ensure cleanliness in villages by converting bio-waste including cattle waste, kitchen leftovers, crop residue and market waste to improve the lives of villagers. This will provide economic and resource benefits to farmers and hou...

  Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Navy successfully flight tested Vertical Launch Short Range Surface-to-Air Missile (VL-SRSAM) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha on August 23, 2022. The flight test was carried out from an Indian Naval Ship against a high-speed unmanned aerial target for demonstration of vertical launch capability. The missiles, equipped with indigenous Radio Frequency (RF) seeker, intercepted the target with high accuracy. The VL-SRSAM system has been indigenously designed and developed by DRDO. During the test launch, flight path and vehicle performance parameters were monitored using flight data, captured by various Range instruments such as Radar, Electro-optical tracking system (EOTS) and Telemetry systems deployed by ITR, Chandipur. The launch was monitored by senior scientists from various DRDO labs involved in the design and development of the system such as Defence Rese...

 Mir ( Russian : Мир , IPA:  [ˈmʲir] ; lit.   'world' or 'peace') is a Russian payment system for electronic fund transfers established by the Central Bank of Russia under a law adopted on 1 May 2017. The system was developed by Belgian digital payments company OpenWay and is operated by the Russian National Card Payment System  [ ru ] , a wholly owned subsidiary of the Central Bank of Russia. Mir does not itself issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers; rather, Mir provides financial institutions with Mir-branded payment products that they then use to offer credit, debit, or other programs to their customers. The development and implementation of Mir was spurred by the imposition of international sanctions against Russia in 2014 to circumnavigate the reliance on the likes of Visa and Mastercard . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_(payment_system) https://www.deccanherald.com/national/russia-india-may-soon-accept-each-others-r...

Surcharges are added fees on loans imposed on countries that are heavily indebted to the IMF.  Recently many countries are approaching IMF for economic rescue package because of increase in food price and inflation around the World. Recently U. S. House passed National Defense Authorization Act which will suspend IMF Surcharges. The Senate is expected to vote on its defense bill in September. USA is a largest shareholder in IMF and a member of executive board. This gives lever to USA to unilaterally push changes to IMF’s policy decisions and can veto any decision of Board.   https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/imf-fees-on-loans-to-war-torn-nations-closer-to-elimination/articleshow/93683874.cms?from=mdr https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2022/aug/21/imf-fees-on-war-torn-countries-closer-to-elimination-2489723.html

 Natural Silk – Queen of Textiles Natural silk, unfolded in its finest sensuous form, is nature's bounty to humankind. The enchanting sheen, amazing drape, enamouring feel, and radiant resplendence are some of its most distinct characteristics. The beauty of natural silk is so alluring that it even drove our ancestors to make it a part of many religious rituals. The effort to artificially manufacture natural silk has led to the invention of a host of fibres like nylon and rayon, but an exact duplication of natural silk has so far proved difficult. Natural silk, thus, still remains the Queen of Textiles in all its glory.   Silk Mark – A Quality Assurance label Research for the invention of a cheap imitation of natural silk may be in progress, but in the marketplace, there are numerous other materials sold under the name of silk, such as art silk and artificial silk. Silk Mark is here to help you to identify pure silk. The sil...

 The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) is a global partnership of governments, businesses, civil society, and indigenous people's organizations focused on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, forest carbon stock conservation, the sustainable management of forests, and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries, activities commonly referred to as REDD+. Launched in 2008, the FCPF now works with 47 developing countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, along with 17 donors that have made contributions and commitments totaling $1.3 billion. The FCPF supports REDD+ efforts through two separate but complementary funds. 1. The FCPF Readiness Fund helps countries set up the building blocks to implement REDD+. This includes designing national REDD+ strategies, developing reference emission levels, designing measurement, reporting, and verification systems and setting up national REDD+ management arrangement...

 The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) is a prior art database of Indian traditional knowledge established in 2001, jointly by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Department of Indian Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy (ISM&H, now Ministry of AYUSH).  The TKDL is a first of its kind globally and has been serving as an exemplary model to other nations.  The TKDL currently contains information from existing literature related to ISM such as Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and Yoga.  The information is documented in a digitized format in five international languages which are English, German, French, Japanese and Spanish.  TKDL provides information in languages and format understandable by patent examiners at Patent Offices worldwide, so as to prevent the erroneous grant of patents.  Until now, access to the complete TKDL database is restricted to 14 Patent Offices worldwide for the purposes of search a...

  Quantum key distribution   ( QKD ) is a   secure communication   method which implements a   cryptographic protocol   involving components of   quantum mechanics . It enables two parties to produce a shared   random   secret   key   known only to them, which can then be used to encrypt and decrypt   messages . It is often incorrectly called   quantum cryptography , as it is the best-known example of a quantum cryptographic task. An important and unique property of quantum key distribution is the ability of the two communicating users to detect the presence of any third party trying to gain  knowledge  of the key. This results from a fundamental aspect of quantum mechanics: the process of measuring a  quantum system  in general disturbs the system. A third party trying to eavesdrop on the key must in some way measure it, thus introducing detectable anomalies. By using  quantum superpositions ...

Vaccines used during the smallpox eradication programme also provided protection against monkeypox. Newer vaccines have been developed of which one has been approved for prevention of monkeypox. Monkeypox is caused by monkeypox virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae. Monkeypox is usually a self-limited disease with the symptoms lasting from 2 to 4 weeks. Severe cases can occur. In recent times, the case fatality ratio has been around 3–6%. Monkeypox is transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal, or with material contaminated with the virus. Monkeypox virus is transmitted from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials such as bedding. Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease that occurs primarily in tropical rainforest areas of central and west Africa and is occasionally exported to other regions. An antiviral agent developed for the treatment of smallpox ...

  Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease that largely affects children under 5 years of age. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g. contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. In 1988, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution for the worldwide eradication of polio, marking the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, spearheaded by national governments, WHO, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), UNICEF, and later joined by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.  Wild poliovirus cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated 350 000 cases in more than 125 endemic countries then to 175reported cases in 2019.  Of the 3 strains of wild poliovirus (type 1, type 2 and type 3), w...

The walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere . The walrus is the only living species in the family Odobenidae and genus Odobenus. This species is subdivided into two subspecies : the Atlantic walrus (O. r. rosmarus), which lives in the Atlantic Ocean , and the Pacific walrus (O. r. divergens), which lives in the Pacific Ocean . Adult walrus are characterised by prominent tusks and whiskers , and their considerable bulk: adult males in the Pacific can weigh more than 2,000 kilograms (4,400 pounds) and, among pinnipeds , are exceeded in size only by the two species of elephant seals . Walruses live mostly in shallow waters above the continental shelves , spending significant amounts of their lives on the sea ice looking for benthic bivalve mollusks to eat. Walruses are relatively long-lived, social animals, and they are considered to...

  India adds 11 more wetlands to the list of Ramsar sites to make total 75 Ramsar sites covering an area of 13,26,677 ha in the country in the 75 th year of Independence.   The 11 new sites include:  Four (4) sites in Tamil Nadu, Three (3) in Odisha, Two (2) in Jammu & Kashmir and One (1) each in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Designation of these sites would help in conservation and management of wetlands and wise use of their resources.   India is one of the Contracting Parties to Ramsar Convention, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971. India signed it on 1 st Feb 1982. During 1982 to 2013, a total of 26 sites were added to the list of Ramsar sites, however, during 2014 to 2022, the country has added 49 new wetlands to the list of Ramsar sites.   During this year itself (2022) a total of 28 sites have been declared as Ramsar sites. Based on the date of designation mentioned on Ramsar Certificate, the number is 19 for this year (2022) and 14...

  Lumpy skin disease ( LSD ) is an infectious disease in cattle caused by a virus of the family Poxviridae , also known as Neethling virus . The disease is characterized by fever, enlarged superficial lymph nodes and multiple nodules (measuring 2–5 centimetres (1–2 in) in diameter) on the skin and mucous membranes (including those of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts). Infected cattle also may develop edematous swelling in their limbs and exhibit lameness. The virus has important economic implications since affected animals tend to have permanent damage to their skin, lowering the commercial value of their hide. Additionally, the disease often results in chronic debility, reduced milk production, poor growth, infertility, abortion, and sometimes death. Onset of fever occurs almost one week after infection by the virus. This initial fever may exceed 41 °C (106 °F) and persist for one week. At this time, all of the superficial lymph nod...

INHUMANE WEAPONS CONVENTION (Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects): It is a Multilateral agreement prohibiting the use of certain conventional weapons, opened for signature on 10 April 1981 and entered into force on 2 December 1983.  The Inhumane Weapons Convention comprises three Protocols.  Protocol I prohibits the use of any weapon designed to injure by fragments which in the human body are undetectable by x-rays.  Protocol II prohibits the indiscriminate use of landmines, booby-traps and other similar devices, as well as their use against civilians or civilian populations. Mines may only be placed in the vicinity of enemy objectives and civilians must be adequately protected from their effects. Booby-traps may not be disguised as harmless objects. States parties are required to record the location of emplaced landmines and booby-traps, to ...