Factly articles for 11th May 2020

Mission Sagar: India’s helping hand across Indian Ocean amid COVID-19 outbreak

News: Government of India has launched Mission Sagar amidst COVID-19 pandemic.

Facts:

• Aim: To provide two medical assistance teams, medicines and essential food items related to Covid-19 to five Island nations in the Indian Ocean namely Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros.
• Indian Naval Ship (INS) Kesari has been deployed under this mission.
• Implementation: It is being implemented in close coordination with the Ministries of Defence and External Affairs and other agencies of the Government of India.
• The mission has been deployed under India’s vision of Security and Growth of All in the Region (SAGAR) in the Indian Ocean.

Additional Facts:

SAGAR:

• The term was coined by the Indian Prime Minister in 2015.
• It is a maritime initiative which gives priority to Indian Ocean region for ensuring peace, stability and prosperity of India in Indian Ocean region.
• The initiative aims at
  • enhancing capacities to safeguard land and maritime territories & interests
  • deepening economic and security cooperation in the littoral and
  • action to deal with natural disasters and maritime threats like piracy, terrorism.

National Institute of Virology develops ELISA test to detect antibodies

News: National Institute of Virology, Pune has developed the first indigenous testing kit named “COVID KAVACH ELISA” for coronavirus in India.

Facts:

• ELISA stands for enzyme-linked immunoassay. It is a commonly used laboratory test to detect antibodies in the blood.
• Significance: The test is cheap and time saving as it has the advantage of testing 90 samples together in a single run of 2.5 hours.

Additional Facts:

• Antibody: It is a protein produced by the body’s immune system when it detects harmful substances called antigens.
  
  

Sal forest tortoise habitat stretches over unprotected areas

News: According to a study by ecologists of Wildlife Institute of India(WII), over 90% of the potential distribution of Sal Forest Tortoise falls outside the current protected area’s network.

Facts:

• Sal Forest Tortoise is also known as the elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongata).
• Habitat: It is found in Southeast Asia and parts of Indian Subcontinent particularly Northeast India.
• IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered.
• CITES: Appendix II
• Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972: Schedule IV
• Threat: Hunted for food, local use such as decorative masks and international wildlife trade.

NDMA issues guidelines for restarting manufacturing units

News: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued guidelines for restarting manufacturing and chemical industries after the lockdown period ends.

Facts:

Key Features of Guidelines:

• Test Run Period: The first week of restarting any machinery or chemical unit should be considered as the trial or test period and the industries should not try to achieve high production targets.
• Safety Audit: Carry out a complete Safety Audit of the entire unit before taking up starting activities such as cleaning of pipelines, equipment and discharge line.
• 24-hour sanitisation: The employers should provide hand sanitizers, masks, face protection shields and ensure 24-hour sanitisation of the factory premises. The staff should also be educated on COVID-19 related measures.
• Physical distancing measures: Create physical barriers to ensure the physical distance within the work floor and dining facilities.
• Working in shifts: Managerial and administrative staff should work one shift at 33% capacity and factories that work 24 hours should consider one hour gap between shifts except factories/plants requiring continuous operations.

Additional Facts:

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA):

• It is the apex statutory body setup under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
• Parent Ministry: Ministry of Home Affairs
• Chairman: Prime minister
• Functions:
  • coordinate response to natural or man-made disasters and for capacity-building in disaster resiliency and crisis response
  • lay down policies, plans and guidelines for Disaster Management to ensure timely and effective response to disasters.
  • Provide support to other countries affected by major disasters as may be determined by the Central Government among others.

Indian and Chinese troops clash in Sikkim, Ladakh

News: Indian and Chinese troops have clashed at two points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) namely at the Naku La Pass and Pangong Tso lake.

Facts:

• Naku La Pass:It is a pass in Sikkim at an altitude of more than 5,000 metres above the mean sea level.
• Pangong Tso Lake:It is a long narrow landlocked lake situated at a height of more than 14,000 ft in the Ladakh Himalayas.One-third of the lake is in Indian control while the rest of the is under Chinese control.The LAC cuts through the lake but India and China do not agree on its exact location.

How different is the PM CARES Fund from the PM’s National Relief Fund?

Facts:

Pranavayu to monitor ILI patients launched

News:Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has launched an initiative called Pranavayu.

Facts:

• Aim: To empower self monitoring of people suffering from Influenza-Like Illness and check their progress to Severe Acute Respiratory illness using Pulse oximeter, a device that monitors the level of oxygen in a patient’s blood
• If the oxygen saturation level drops below 90%, patients will be taken to hospital.
• Significance: This will enable easy and early detection of respiratory diseases and starting of treatment to mitigate it in early stages.