1) Project Cheetah: Recently, on the direction of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a team of experts visited the Kuno National Park and reviewed the status of Project Cheetah
- It is the world’s first intercontinental large wild carnivore translocation project
- Discussions to bring the Cheetah back to India were initiated in 2009 by the Wildlife Trust of India
- Under the ‘Action Plan for Reintroduction of Cheetah in India’, 50 cheetahs will be brought from African countries to various national parks
- As part of this project, 20 cheetahs (8 from Namibia and 12 from South Africa) were introduced in Kuno National Park (KNP)
-It established a free-ranging population for the first time since their extinction in India 70 years ago
Cheetah: The term ‘Cheetah’ originates from Sanskrit and means ‘the spotted one’
- The cheetah is the fastest land animal in the world
- Its historical range includes the majority of Sub-Saharan Africa and extends eastwards to India
- The last Indian cheetah died in the Koriya district of present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947 and the species was declared extinct in 1952
- Conservation status:
African Cheetah:
- Vulnerable in the (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species
- Appendix 1 of the CITES List
Asiatic Cheetah:
- Critically endangered species in the (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species
- Appendix 1 of the CITES List
- Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
Kuno National Park: It is a national park in Madhya Pradesh established in 1981 as a wildlife sanctuary.
- In 2018, it was given the status of a national park.
- It is a part of the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests.
- Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary is underway to become India’s second home for the Asiatic Lion
2) Foundation Stone of LIGO-India: The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of multiple projects on the occasion of National Technology Day, including the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory – India (LIGO-India), Hingoli
- It will be one of the handful Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatories in the world
- It is an extremely sensitive interferometer of 4 km arm length capable of sensing gravitational waves generated during the merger of massive astrophysical objects such as black holes, and neutron stars
- The LIGO-India will work in synchronization with two observatories operating in the United States; one in Hanford, Washington and the other in Livingston, Louisiana
3) Blood Bags Delivery Trial by Drones: Recently, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) successfully conducted a trial run of delivery of blood bags by drones under its iDrone initiative
- Now, blood delivery through drones can soon be expanded to the whole country
- The initiative was in continuance with the national mission of expanding the drone ecosystem in India
- The inaugural trial flight carried 10 units of whole blood samples in visual line of sight
- In this trial, blood and blood-related products were transported which are supposed to be kept at a low temperature
- After the experiment, it was found that not only temperature was maintained, there was also no damage to the products transported
- It will lead to development of standard operating procedures (SOP) for wider applicability, and the use of drones for the delivery of blood bags and components
- Significantly, iDrone was first used by ICMR during the Covid-19 pandemic for distributing vaccines to hard-to-reach areas
4) Santiniketan Proposed for Inclusion in UNESCO Heritage List: The recommendation was made by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), which is the advisory body to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- The nomination would be formally announced at the World Heritage Committee meeting to be held at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in September 2023
- The UNESCO website describes a tentative list as an inventory of those properties which each State Party intends to consider for nomination
- Santiniketan, popularly known today as a university town, a hundred miles to the north of Kolkata, was originally an ashram built by Debendranath Tagore, where anyone, irrespective of caste and creed, could come and spend time meditating on the one Supreme God
- It later became the Nobel Laureate’s home and base for activity
- Debendranath, who was the father of the Poet Rabindranath, was also known as Maharshi (which means one who is both saint and sage) was a leading figure of the Indian Renaissance
- Santiniketan, if selected, would be the second cultural symbol from West Bengal to make it to the UNESCO list. In 2021, UNESCO had included ‘Durga Puja in Kolkata’ in its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
- ICOMOS, a France-based international culture body, comprises of professionals, experts, representatives from local authorities, companies and heritage organizations. It is dedicated to the conservation and enhancement of global architectural and landscape heritage
5) Launch of Harit Sagar: Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has launched Harit Sagar – the Green Port guidelines
- The objectives of the guidelines is to:
-Minimize waste through reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle to attain zero waste discharge from port operations
-Promote monitoring, based on Environmental Performance Indicators
- It lays emphasis on use of clean energy in port operation, developing port capabilities for storage and handling greener fuels like Green Hydrogen, Green Ammonia, etc
Awards conferred include:
- Best absolute performance for the year 2022-23: Deendayal Port, Kandla
