9 PM Current Affairs Brief – April 25th, 2020

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Ambubachi Mela

News:The Annual Ambubachi Mela in Assam will not be organised this year due to Coronavirus pandemic.

Facts:

• Ambubachi Mela is held at the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati, Assam.
• The festival is celebrated to mark the annual menstruation of the presiding Goddess Kamakhya.
• Significance:The ritualistic fair celebrating the goddess period is one of the reasons why the taboo associated with menstruation is less in Assam compared to other parts of India.
• Further,the attainment of womanhood of girls in Assam is also celebrated with a ritual called Tuloni Biya meaning small wedding.

Additional Facts:

Kamakhya Temple:

• Kamakhya is one of 51 shakti peethas or holy sites for the followers of the Shakti cult each representing a body part of the Sati, Lord Shiva’s companion.
• The temple is situated on the Nilachal Hills whose northern face slopes down to the Brahmaputra river.
• There is no idol in the temple, the goddess is worshipped in the form of a yoni-like stone over which a natural spring flows.

PRACRITI

News: Researchers from IIT Delhi have developed a web-based dashboard named PRACRITI-Prediction and Assessment of Corona Infections and Transmissions in India.

Facts:

• Aim: To predict the COVID-19 cases in India for a three-week period by providing R0 values of each district and state based on the data available from sources such as the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, National Disaster Management Authority(NDMA) and WHO.

Additional Facts:

• R0(R Naught): It is also known as the basic reproduction number.It refers to the number of people who are newly infected from a currently infected person.

Krishi Kalyan Abhiyaan

News:The Krishi Kalyan Abhiyan(KKA) is being implemented in 112 Aspirational districts of the country.

Facts:

• Launched Year: 2018
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• Aim:To aid, assist and advise farmers to improve their farming techniques and increase their incomes.
• Implementation:
  • It will be implemented in 25 Villages with more than 1000 population each in Aspirational Districts identified in consultation with the Ministry of Rural Development as per directions of NITI Aayog.
  • In districts where the number of villages with more than 1000 population is less than 25, all villages will be covered.
• Activities under this programme:
  • Distribution of Soil Health Cards to all farmers
  • 100% coverage of bovine vaccination for Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in each village
  • 100% coverage of Sheep and Goat for eradication of Peste des Petits ruminants (PPR) also known as sheep and goat plague
  • Distribution of Mini Kits of pulses and oilseeds to all
  • Distribution of Horticulture/ Bamboo plant
  • Making 100 NADAP Pits in each village
  • Artificial insemination saturation
  • Demonstration programmes on Micro- irrigation
  • Demonstrations of integrated cropping practice.

Additional Facts:

Aspirational Districts Programme:

• Launched Year: 2018
• It is coordinated by the Niti Aayog with the support from Central Ministries and the State Governments.
• Aim: To transform districts that have shown relatively lesser progress in key social areas and have emerged as pockets of under-development.

Reverse Vaccinology

News:Tamil Nadu Dr.MGR Medical University has developed a vaccine candidate i.e potential vaccine against SARS-CoV-2(Covid-19) through ‘reverse vaccinology’.

Facts:

• Reverse Vaccinology:It is the name given to the examination of the genome of an organism in order to identify novel antigens and epitopes that might constitute vaccine candidates.
• This process is done with the aid of computers and without culturing any microorganism.

Additional Facts:

• Genome: It is the complete set of genetic information in an organism.It provides all of the information the organism requires to function.
• Antigen: It is a toxin or other foreign substance which induces an immune response in the body especially the production of antibodies.
• Epitope:Itis a portion of a foreign protein or antigen that is capable of stimulating an immune response.

Devanahalli pomelo

News:The Bangalore International Airport Limited(BIAL) has decided to plant 500 Devanahalli Pomelo trees as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Facts:

• The Devanahalli pomelo is a variety of the citrus fruit pomelo of the family Rutaceae.It is grown in Devanahalli taluk,Bangalore (Karnataka) and is popularly known as chakota.
• It has a unique sweet taste unlike other local varieties which have a bitter taste.
• In 2009, it was given the Geographical Indication(GI) status.However, the fruit is almost on the brink of extinction due to various reasons.

Explained:What are deep nudes?

News:Cybercrime officials in India have been tracking apps and websites that are using Deep nude technology to blackmail innocent persons.

Facts:

• Deep nudes are computer-generated images and videos.It uses Artificial Intelligence(AI) software to superimpose digital composite (assembling multiple media files to make a final one) onto an existing video, photo or audio.

Khudai Khidmatgar

News:It’s 90 years since Peshawar’s Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre in which several Khudai Khidmatgar movement protestors were killed by the British soldiers.

Facts:

• Khudai Khidmatgar(Red Shirt movement) was a non-violent movement against the British occupation of the Indian subcontinent.
• It was led by Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a Pashtun freedom fighter in the North-West Frontier Province.
• However, the arrest of Abdul Ghaffar Khan in 1929 led to severe protests which was crackdown by the British through the firing on several protesters known as Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre.
• In 1931, the movement aligned with the Indian National Congress and went on to form the government in the North Frontier Province after the provincial elections of 1937.
• They had also opposed Partition, a stance that many interpreted as the movement not being in favour of the creation of the independent nation of Pakistan.

International Delegate’s Day

News:International Delegate’s Day is being observed for the first time on 25th  April,2020 by the United Nations.

Facts:

• Aim: To raise awareness of the role of the representatives and delegates of the Member States to the United Nations.
• The day also marks the anniversary of the San Francisco Conference which is also known as the United Nations Conference on International Organization.

Additional Facts:

San Francisco Conference:

• In 1945, delegates from fifty countries came together in San Francisco to set up an organization that would restore world peace and impose rules on the post-war world order.
• This resulted in the creation of the United Nations Charter which was signed by representatives of the 50 countries that attended the conference.
• Poland, which did not have a government at the time of the conference, signed the charter later, hence bringing up the number of the Founding Member States to 51.