• Pune-based Giant Metre wave Radio Telescope (GMRT) has become the third Indian scientific facility to be awarded the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) milestone for its novel engineering, advanced technology and scientific contributions made in the field of radio astronomy.

Giant Metre wave Radio Telescope (GMRT)

• It is an array of 30 antennas positioned in a ‘Y’ fashion, centred at Khodad village in Junnar taluka of Pune district.
• Operated by the TIFR – National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), the GMRT was the brainchild of late Govind Swarup.
• Extensively used for studying the universe in low frequency since 2000, the telescope has been instrumental in many path-breaking discoveries. Scientists from more than 40 countries are beneficiaries of data obtained from this telescope.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

• The IEEE is the world’s largest technical body publishing research from the fields of engineering and computing, in addition to awarding standards to institutions and organisations involved in these fields.
• J C Bose’s demonstration of generation and reception of radio waves (1895) and the discovery of the Raman Effect by C V Raman (1928) have been the only IEEE milestone winners from India, till date.
• However, their discoveries were recognised as late as 2012.
• IEEE considers an institution for the milestone on the basis of engineering, science, and computational facilities it offers for not less than 25 years.
• It seeks well-documented history and consistent contributions provided by the institute.

• India has ‘strongly’ rejected the criticism of its Kashmir policy by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) recently.
• The statement said “We strongly and categorically reject the factually incorrect, gratuitous and unwarranted references to India in resolutions adopted by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at the 47th CFM Session in Niamey, Republic of Niger, held on 27-28 November 2020.

What is the issue?

• The report of the OIC Secretary General on its activities submitted to the 47th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers referred to the situation in J&K and said, “The decision of the Indian government on 5 August 2019 towards changing the demographic and geographic composition of the territory, and the continuous blockade and restrictions together with human rights abuses, had awakened renewed efforts of the international community towards a resolution of the conflict.”

Sea Sparkle Bloom in Karnataka

• The bloom of Noctiluca Scintillans, known as “sea sparkle” has been witnessed in the Karnataka coast for about a month.
• The bioluminescent green dinoflagellate N. Scintillans also brightened the sea water during night.
• It has displaced microscopic algae called diatoms (basis of the marine food chain), which has deprived food for the planktivorous fish.
• The species was found to accumulate toxic levels of ammonia.
• It is then excreted into the surrounding waters, possibly acting as the killing agent in blooms.
• N. Scintillans acts as both a plant and an animal.
• It grazes on other micro-organisms such as larvae, fish eggs, and diatoms.
• The phytoplankton that live inside it can photosynthesise, turning sunlight into energy.

• The Uttarkhand Forest Department has built a first-of-its-kind ecobridge across a busy highway in Ramnagar forest division of Nainital district so that reptiles trying to cross over are not crushed under traffic.
• The 90-foot long structure of bamboo, jute, and grasses was built across the two-lane kaladhungi-Nainital highway.
• The jungle is home to monitor lizards, snakes including pythons, rodent squirrels, and monkeys, and the crushed remains of reptiles are frequently found on the highway.

Some of the physiochemical and biological parameters that characterise the degradation of water quality are:

1. Low pH
2. Low dissolved oxygen
3. High electrical conductivity
4. High BOD [biochemical oxygen demand]
5. High concentration of ions of sulphate and other toxic metals

GITA

• Global Innovation & Technology Alliance (GITA) is a “not–for–profit” Section-8 Public Private Partnership (PPP) company.
• It is promoted jointly by the Technology Development Board (TDB), Department of Science & Technology (DST) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
• The platform encourages industrial investments in innovative technology solutions.

Mission COVID Suraksha

• It is an Indian COVID-19 Vaccine Development Mission with end-to-end focus from preclinical development through clinical development and manufacturing and regulatory facilitation.
• Under the mission, the grant will be provided to the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) for Research & Development of Indian COVID-19 vaccines.
• It will help accelerate development of approximately 5-6 vaccine candidates and ensure that these are brought closer to licensure and introduction in market for consideration of regulatory authorities.

Dry Swab test

• Recently CSIR-CCMB has got the permission of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to commercially use the dry swab RNA-extraction free testing method for the Covid-19.
• Dry swabs eluted directly into a simple buffered solution can support molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 via endpoint RT-PCR without substantially compromising sensitivity.
• Dry swab technique does not require Viral Transport Medium (VTM) and RNA extraction process, and can be directly used for RT-PCR testing.
• It has the potential of bringing the costs and time of testing by 40-50% and the screening can also be enhanced several-fold with immediate effect while, at the same time, making the whole process safer.
• It is easy to implement with no requirement of new kits and existing manpower can perform this with no additional training.

Hualong One

• ‘Hualong One’ is China’s first domestically made nuclear reactor.
• It can generate 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year and cut carbon emissions by 8.16 million tons.
• It marks China breaking the monopoly of foreign nuclear power technology and officially entering the technology’s first batch of advanced countries.

TX2 Global Commitment

• The TX2 goal is a global commitment to double the world's wild tigers by 2022.
• The goal has been set by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) through the Global Tiger Initiative, Global Tiger Forum and other critical platforms.
• Tiger Conservation awards includes

1. TX2 Award: It goes to one site that has achieved remarkable and measurable increase in its tiger population since 2010.
2. Conservation Excellence Award: This award recognises one site that has achieved excellence in two or more of these five themes in tiger conservation