• Assam Chief Minister has recently announced that the Poba Reserve Forest in Dhemaji district of Assam would be upgraded to a wildlife sanctuary.
• The Reserved Forest (RF) was created in the year 1924 and covers an area of 10,221 hectares.
• Poba is one of the richest rain forests of North-East India in terms of the flora and fauna found in it and can be very well termed a biodiversity hotspot. 

• Union Minister of State(IC) for Tourism Sh. Prahlad Singh Patel has recently inaugurated the Project “Development of Pilgrimage Amenities at Somnath, Gujarat” recently.
• The project “Development of Pilgrimage Amenities at Somnath, Gujarat” sanctioned under the PRASHAD scheme in March 2017 has been successfully completed with the cost of Rs. 45.36 crores. 
• High quality world class facilities for Parking, Tourism Amenities Centre and Solid Waste Management have been developed under the project. 

PRASHAD Scheme

• The ‘National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive’ (PRASHAD) Scheme was launched by the Ministry of Tourism in the year 2014-15.
• Its main objective is integrated development of identified pilgrimage and heritage destinations.  
• The scheme aimed at infrastructure development such as entry points, last mile connectivity, basic tourism facilities, etc.
• This scheme is proposed to be implemented as a Central Sector Scheme during the 12th Five Year Plan and beyond.

Swadesh Darshan Scheme Objectives

1. To position tourism as a major engine of economic growth and job creation.
2. Develop circuits having tourist potential in a planned and prioritized manner.
3. Promote cultural and heritage value of the country to generate livelihoods in the identified regions.

• Vaccine Discovery Programme, supported by the Department of Biotechnology under the National Biopharma Mission, implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) moves into clinical trials.
• BIRAC has recently announced that ZyCoV-D has initiated Phase I/II clinical trials in healthy subjects, making it the first indigenously developed vaccine for COVID-19 to be administered in humans in India.

ZyCoV-D Vaccine

• It is a plasmid DNA vaccine designed and developed by Zydus and partially funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.
• Zydus Cadila is an innovative, global pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of healthcare therapies, including small molecule drugs, biologic therapeutics, and vaccines.
• The adaptive Phase I/II dose escalation, multi-centric study will assess the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the vaccine.

National BioPharma Mission

• It is an Industry-Academia Collaborative Mission of Department of Biotechnology (DBT) for Accelerating Early Development for Biopharmaceuticals.
• It is being implemented by the Biotechnology Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) – a Public Sector Undertaking of DBT.
• The National Biopharma Mission was approved by the Cabinet for implementation in May 2017 with a total cost US$ 250 million which is co-funded World Bank 50%.
• This program is dedicated to deliver affordable products to the nation with an aim to improve the health standards of India’s population.
• Vaccines, medical devices and diagnostics and biotherapeutics are few of its most important domains, besides, strengthening the clinical trial capacity and building technology transfer capabilities in the country.

Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC)

• BIRAC is a not-for-profit Section 8, Schedule B, Public Sector Enterprise, set up by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India.
• It is an Interface Agency to strengthen and empower the emerging Biotech enterprise to undertake strategic research and innovation, addressing nationally relevant product development needs.

• The actual inflation is 90 bps higher than imputed inflation of NSO, according to the SBI’s Ecowrap.
• NSO under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) released the CPI for June 2020.
• SBI’s Economic Research Department (ERD), in its report titled ‘Ecowrap’, observed that the Covid-19 pandemic has introduced an outlet bias.
• It states that online prices of products should take into account while computing retail inflation as more and more people are relying on online stores, especially after the outbreak of COVID-19.
• As per SBI Computed COVID CPI, the actual headline inflation is much higher than the imputed inflation.

• Recently, the National Housing Bank (NHB) stepped in to bail out cash-starved Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) by disbursing a record Rs 25,000 crore.
•  A Housing Finance Company (HFC) is a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956.
• It primarily transacts or has as one of its principal objects, the transacting of the business of providing finance for housing, whether directly or indirectly.
• HFCs are treated as one of the categories of NBFCs for regulatory purposes and it is under RBIs direct oversight.
• It was announced in Budget 2019-20 that the National Housing Bank (NHB) will not remain as the regulator for the HFCs.
• HFCs cannot accept demand deposit and it is not a part of payment and settlement system.

• The Office of the Registrar General’s Sample Registration System (SRS) released a special bulletin on Maternal Mortality in India 2016-18. 
• The Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in India has declined to 113 in 2016-18 from 122 in 2015-17 and 130 in 2014-2016.
• MMR is defined as the number of maternal deaths per 1,00,000 live births. 
• The target 3.1 of SDG set by UN aims to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 1,00,000 live births.
• As per the WHO, maternal death is the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management.  

• Recently, Western Nations said that Russia is trying to steal Virus Vaccine Data.
• The hackers have been targeting British, Canadian and American organizations racing to create coronavirus vaccines.
• Cozy Bear, classified as advanced persistent threat APT29, is a Russian hacker group.
• It is believed to be the hacking arm of the GRU or Russian military intelligence.
• It is more commonly known as Fancy Bear.

• Ker puja is a century old celebrations begin in Tripura.
• Ker is considered as a Vastu Devata of Tripura’a Royal family.
• According to the royal family, tradition Ker puja includes offerings, sacrifices, and a prescribed boundary which both safeguards people from calamities and saves people from external aggression.  
• The Tripura police offer a gun salute before the puja begins.
• The tribals and people around the Ker Puja areas carry the fire to their homes believing that it would ensure their well-being and thwart the evil spirit.