Indian Tourism

• The Indian tourism sector is projected to grow by a 17.30% Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2020 to 2029.
• Both domestic and foreign tourism is picking up in India.
• Bangladesh leads in foreign tourist arrivals in India, followed by the US, the UK, Canada, Russia, Australia, France, Germany, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka.
• UAE is the top destination for Indian tourists, followed by the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore, Oman, the UK, Thailand, Canada, and Kuwait.
• Tamil Nadu leads in domestic tourist visits, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Punjab.
• Both Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu lead in foreign tourist visits, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Punjab, Kerala, Bihar, and Goa.
• Taj Mahal is the most visited by both domestic and foreign tourists.

People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR)

• The program of the People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) is designed as a tool for the formal maintenance of the local knowledge with proper validation.
• PBR is a record of knowledge, perception, and attitude of people about natural resources, plants, and animals, their utilization, and conservation in a village or a panchayat.
• PBR is also proposed as a mechanism to create awareness among the people about the condition of plants and animals and their conservation and sustainable utilization.
• Kerala is the first state to prepare people’s biodiversity registers (PBRs), a grassroots level record of bio-resources and their traditional knowledge for all its 1,034 local bodies.
• Kolkata became the first major metropolitan city in India to prepare a detailed register of biodiversity.

Hubble reveals a ‘curious couple’ and a river of star formation.

Seyfert Galaxy

• Seyfert galaxies are named for astronomer Carl K Seyfert who published a paper about spiral galaxies with bright emission lines in 1943.
• Today, scientists know that about 10 percent of all galaxies may be such galaxies.
• Seyfert galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centers and therefore accrete metal, releasing large amounts of radiation.
• A Seyfert Galaxy’s brightest radiations typically occur in a light outside the visible spectrum.
• The Milky Way galaxy isn't generally considered a Seyfert galaxy, or a particularly active galaxy at all.
• But the Milky Way is known to have a 4-million-solar-mass black hole at its heart.

Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers

• ASHA workers are volunteers from within the community who are trained to provide information and aid people in accessing the benefits of various healthcare schemes of the government.
• They are instituted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) as a part of India's National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).
• They act as a bridge connecting marginalized communities with facilities such as primary health centers, sub-centers, and district hospitals.
• The role of these community health volunteers under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was first established in 2005.
• ASHAs are primarily married, widowed, or divorced women between the ages of 25 and 45 years from within the community.
• They must have good communication and leadership skills; should be literate with formal education up to Class 8, as per the program guidelines.

Profiting from Pain

• Released by the Oxfam international.

Findings

• COVID-19 pandemic has seen one new billionaire emerging every 30 hours, while nearly one million people could be pushed into extreme poverty every 33 hours this year.
• The cost of essential goods rises faster than it has in decades, and billionaires in the food and energy sectors are increasing their fortunes by $1 billion every two days.
• The total wealth of the world's billionaires is now equivalent to 13.9% of global GDP, marking a three-fold increase from 4.4% in 2000.
• Corporations in the energy, food, and pharmaceutical sectors, where monopolies are especially common, are posting record-high profits, even as wages have barely budged, and workers struggle with decades-high prices amid COVID-19.