12th June 2018 The Hindu and PIB News Analysis

12th June 2018 The Hindu and PIB News Analysis

1)Nilssonia nigricans or Black Softshell turtle, declared extinct in the wild by the IUCN Red list.

Scientists have used the technique of extracting environmental DNA (eDNA) to confirm the Presence of these varieties in the North East Temples.

Two more species — Nilssonia gangetica or Indian softshell turtle, classified as Vulnerable, and Chitra indica or South Asian narrowheaded softshell turtle, listed as Endangered by the IUCN.

News was that these Species are being Protected in the Temples of NorthEaast India.

2)India to host first BIMSTEC war games:- India will host the first military exercise of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for MultiSectoral Technical and Economic  Cooperation) group focussing on counterterrorism in September.

3)India is considering bringing together group of 8-10 member countries of World Trade Organisation (WTO) to prepare agenda for creation of conducive atmosphere to ensure smooth functioning of the global trade body.

It would be an informal group within WTO, which may also include nations like Brazil, China, South Africa, China, Indonesia and Columbia. The main idea behind this group is to create proper structured agenda which will be acceptable to all countries to reduce tension.

4)2nd India-US colloquium on Earth Observations & Sciences for Society, Economy inaugurated:-

The Colloquium is being organised by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research)-NIO and US National Oceanic and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Colloquium means an academic conference or seminar.

5)Government launches Rail Madad app to expedite and streamline passenger grievance redressal.

6)Nipah virus Infection:Nipah virus (NiV) infection is zoonotic disease (disease transmitted to humans from animals) that causes severe disease in both animals and humans.

The organism which causes Nipah Virus encephalitis is RNA or Ribonucleic acid virus of family Paramyxoviridae, genus Henipavirus, and is closely related to Hendra virus.

Origin: It was first identified in 1999 during outbreak among pig farmers in Malaysia and Singapore. It gets its name from Sungai Nipah, a Malaysian village where pig farmers became ill with encephalitis.

Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae Family, Pteropus genus are natural host.

The virus cannot be transmitted through air. But it is transmitted through direct contact with infected bats, pigs. Human to Human transmission from other NiV-infected people is also reported.

7)Mauritius to host 11th World Hindi Conference:- Mauritius is going to host 11th World Hindi Conference (विश्व हिंदी सम्मेलन) in its capital city Port Lois from August 18-20, 2018. It will be organised by Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India in association with Government of Mauritius. The theme of the Conference will be “Vaishvik Hindi Aur Bhartiya Sanskriti".