National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 22nd November 2018

Manipur Sangai Festival

Topic: Art and Culture

IN NEWS: The annual Sangai Festival was celebrated in northeastern state of Manipur. It is grandest festival of state named after state animal, Sangai, the critically endangered brow-antlered deer found only in Manipur.

More on the Topic:

• It started in the year 2010 and has grown over the years into a big platform for Manipur to showcase its rich tradition and culture to the world.
• The festival is labelled as the grandest festival of the State today and helps promote Manipur as a world class tourism destination.
• Every edition of the festival showcases the tourism potential of the state in the field of Arts & Culture, Handloom, Handicrafts, Indigenous Sports, Cuisine, Music and Adventure sports of the state etc.
• It also showcases ‘Ras Leela’, state’s classical dance form along with various other folk dance performances like Bamboo dance, Maibi dance, Kabui Nag a dance, Lai Haraoba dance, Khamba Thoibi dance etc.
• Indigenous sports such as martial arts- Thang Ta (a combination Spear and Sword skills), Mukna Kangjei (game that combines hockey and wrestling), Yubi -Lakpi (game played with greased coconut like rugby) and Sagol Kangjei- Modern Polo (believed to have evolved in Manipur) will be also showcased festival.

Sangai Deer

• The sangai is an endemic and endangered subspecies of brow-antlered deer found only in Manipur, India. It is also the state animal of Manipur.
• Its original natural habitat is the floating marshy grasslands of the Keibul Lamjao National Park, located in the southern parts of the Loktak Lake, which is the largest freshwater lake in eastern India.

Source:The Hindu

WCCB gets Asia Environment Enforcement Awards

Topic: Awards and Honours

IN NEWS: The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) has been selected among the winners of the Asia Environment Enforcement Awards for its work in combating trans-boundary environmental crime.

More on the Topic:

• WCCB is a statutory multi-disciplinary body established by the government under the Environment Ministry to combat organized wildlife crime in the country.
• The body is mandated to collect and collate intelligence related to organized wildlife crime activities and to disseminate it to the state and other enforcement agencies for immediate action and establish a centralized wildlife crime data bank among many others.
• Asia Environmental Enforcement Award is an environmental award established by UNEP that recognizes outstanding enforcement officers or organizations as leaders who boldly and fearlessly implement and enforce national environmental laws and multilateral environmental conventions, and fight environmental crime, illicit trade in ODS, chemicals and waste, and other environmental violation.

Source:The Hindu

Polavaram Project

Topic: Infrastructure Development

In news: Odisha Chief Minister has urged Prime Minister to cancel an order given the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for Polavaram project in July this year and stop construction of the project until all the pending issues are resolved.

More on the Topic:

• As there are challenges of the submergence of tribal villages resulting in mass displacement of tribals, the flooding of fertile agricultural lands and submergence of large forest area there is a pending case in the Supreme Court.
• The Chief Minister has suggested that the Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh can be reformulated as per Godavari Water Dispute Tribunal, without causing large-scale submergence in the States of Odisha, Telangana and Chhattisgarh.

Polavaram Project

• Polavaram Project, is an underconstruction multi-purpose irrigation project on the Godavari River in the West Godavari District and East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh. The project has been accorded national project status by the Union Government of India and will be the last to be accorded the status.
• Its reservoir spreads into parts of Chhattisgarh and Odisha States also.
• National River-Linking Project, which works under the aegis of the Indian Ministry of Water Resources, was designed to overcome the deficit in water in the country.
• In this project’s case, the Godavari river basin is considered as a surplus one, while the Krishna River basin is considered to be a deficit
• After completion of the project Surplus water from Godavari will be transferred to Deficit Krishna basin.

Source: The Hindu

Ortolan Bunting

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In news:  The bird Ortolan Bunting was sighted for the first time in India.

More on the Topic

• Ortolan bunting’ breeds from Mongolia to Europe and migrates to Africa via the Middle East.
• While migrating, if an Ortolan bunting loses its way, it may land anywhere. The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list of threatened species has placed Ortolan bunting in the “Least Concern” category.

Source:The Hindu

Sentinelese

Topic: Culture

In news: An American national was killed allegedly by the Sentinelese tribe in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands after he illegally entered the protected zone on November 16.

 More on the Topic

• The Sentinelese are a negrito tribe who live on the North Sentinel Island of the Andamans. The inhabitants are connected to the Jarawa on the basis of physical, as well as linguistic similarities. Their numbers are believed to be less than 150 and as low as 40.
• They are very vulnerable to germs since they have not had contact with the outside world. Even a common flu virus carried by a visitor could wipe out the entire tribe.
• Since the 1960s, there have been a handful of efforts to reach out to the tribe but all have largely failed. They have repeatedly, aggressively made it clear that they want to be isolated.
• The Govt. of India issued the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956 to declare the traditional areas occupied by the tribes as reserves.
• It prohibited entry of all persons except those with authorisation. Photographing or filming the tribe members is also an offence. The rules were amended later to enhance penalties.

Source:The Hindu

ICMR releases guidelines for antibiotics’ judicious use

Topic: Health related issues

In news:To ensure judicious use of antibiotics in healthcare facilities, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has released Antimicrobial Stewardship Guidelines to advise hospitals in setting up Antimicrobial Stewardship Programmes (AMSP) for the purpose.

More on The Topic:

• The guidelines provide guidance for setting up structure and processes of Antimicrobial Stewardship Programmes in healthcare institutions.
• It will help discuss essential elements of antimicrobial stewardship, diagnostic stewardship besides providing information on tools that can be used to measure progress.

Significance Of The Guidelines:

• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major public health challenge, and with very few new antibiotics in the pipeline, it is important to use the existing drugs judiciously.
• Since inappropriate use of antibiotics is rampant in India, there is an urgent need to improve antibiotic use in hospitals, which can be achieved through implementation of good AMS programmes. The National Health Policy, 2017, terms antimicrobial resistance as one of the key healthcare issues and prioritises development of guidelines regarding antibiotic use, limiting over-the-counter use of antibiotics and restricting the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in livestock.

Source: Pib