Rashtriya Gokul Mission
- It aims to conserve and develop indigenous breeds in a focused and scientific manner.
- RGM is a focussed project under National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development, with an outlay of Rs 500 crore during the 12th Five Year Plan.
- The Mission will be implemented with the objectives to:
- development and conservation of indigenous breeds
- undertake breed improvement programme for indigenous cattle breeds so as to improve the genetic makeup and increase the stock;
- enhance milk production and productivity;
- upgrade nondescript cattle using elite indigenous breeds like Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi, Deoni, Tharparkar, Red Sindhi and
- distribute disease free high genetic merit bulls for natural service.
- Under this component it is proposed to establish Integrated Indigenous Cattle Centres or Gokul Grams in the breeding tracts of indigenous breeds.
- The Gokul Gram will be self sustaining and will generate economic resources from sale of A2 milk, organic manure, vermi-composting, urine distillates, and production of electricity from bio gas for in house consumption and sale of animal products.
- The Gokul Gram will also function as state of the art in situ training centre for Farmers, Breeders and MAITRI’s.
‘See-through’ frog
- A newly identified frog species, with transparent skin through which its beating heart is visible, is under threat of extinction.
- The frog, discovered in the Amazonian lowlands of Ecuador, has unique physical and behavioural traits.
- The dark green spots on its back and its reproductive behaviour mark it out as different from known frogs.
- Glass frogs need pristine streams to breed in. Males guard the eggs, which are attached below a tree’s leaves, until they hatch and fall on the water stream below.
- If the stream dries up, or becomes polluted, the frogs can’t survive.
3 cases of Zika virus in Gujarat
- WHO has reported the first three “laboratory-confirmed cases of Zika virus disease” in India — all from Bapunagar area of Ahmedabad.
- Zika virus is a member of the virus family Flaviviridae. It is spread mostly by the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito (Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus).
- Its name comes from the Zika Forest of Uganda, where the virus was first isolated in 1947.
- It can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus. Infection during pregnancy can cause certain birth defects.
- There is no vaccine or medicine for Zika.
- Zika infection during pregnancy can cause a birth defect of the brain called microcephaly and other severe brain defects. It is also linked to other problems, such as miscarriage, stillbirth, and other birth defects.
- There have also been increased reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome, an uncommon sickness of the nervous system, in areas affected by Zika.
rs145556679* - an unique gene
- Scientists have identified a unique gene variant in people living in isolated Greek villages that protects them from heart diseases.
- The variant, rs145556679*, is associated with lower levels of both ‘bad’ natural fats and ‘bad’ cholesterol, the factors that lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.
- The cardioprotective variant was found in Mylopotamos in northern Crete, where the population is isolated and live a long life despite having a diet rich in animal fat.
