Wildlife Crime Control Bureau
- Wildlife Crime Control Bureau is a statutory body established by the Government of India under the MoEFCC, to combat organized wildlife crime in the country.
- Under Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, it is mandated:
- To collect and collate intelligence related to organized wildlife crime activities.
- To disseminate the same to State and other enforcement agencies for immediate action so as to apprehend the criminals.
- To establish a centralized wildlife crime data bank.
- Co-ordinate actions by various agencies in connection with the enforcement of the provisions of the Act.
- Apart from these functions WCCB also assists and advises the Customs authorities in inspection of the consignments of flora & fauna as per the provisions of Wild Life Protection Act, CITES and EXIM Policy governing such an item.
- Recently WCCB has received United Nation’s Environment award.
Medical Marijuana
- Cannabis-based drugs have the potential to meet the unmet needs of terminally-ill cancer patients and of those suffering from epilepsy and sickle cell anemia (a hereditary disease that afflicts nearly two crore tribal living mainly in central States).
- Indian scientists are researching on the active ingredients present in the cannabis plant in the management of these diseases.
- Two active compounds of cannabis that are being explored for medical use are Tetrahydro Cannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD).
- In India recreational use of cannabis is prohibited under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
- The bar does not apply to an edible preparation called bhang, which is allowed in some States.
Notification on Quadricycles
- Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified the insertion of the item ‘Quadricycle’ as a ‘non transport’ vehicle under the Motor Vehicles Act 1988.
- A Quadricycle is a vehicle of the size of a 3-wheeler but with 4 tires and fully covered like a car.
- It has an engine like that of a 3-wheeler, this makes it a cheap and safe mode of transport for last mile connectivity.
- Earlier quadricycles were only allowed for transport usage under the Act, but now has been made usable for non-transport also.
Guru Nanak Dev
- Guru Nanak is the founder of Sikhism and the first of the Sikh Gurus, he lived during 1469 – 1539.
- He was born Nankana Sahib near Lahore in Modern day Pakistan and gave spiritual teachings based on the universal divinity of creation.
- He was committed towards eradicating injustice and inequality from society and also believed in the power of education.
Guru Tegh Bahadur
- Guru Tegh Bahadur was the ninth of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism, He was a poet, a thinker, and a warrior.
- Guru Tegh Bahadur emphasized the values of freedom of worship, oneness, love and fraternity.
- In 1675, for refusing to convert to Islam Guru Tegh Bahadur was publicly beheaded on the orders of Emperor Aurangzeb.
She box
- The Ministry of Women and Child Development has linked SHe-Box, to all the Central Ministries, Departments and districts across all States/Union Territories.
- SHe-Box is an online complaint management system for registering complaints related to sexual harassment at workplace.
- The complaint management system has been developed to ensure the effective implementation of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act (the SH Act), 2013.
- Once a complaint is submitted to the portal, it will be directly sent to the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the concerned Ministry/Department/PSU/Autonomous Body etc. having jurisdiction to inquire into the complaint.
Source: The Hindu, PIB, Business Line
