Junior Digest

New Delhi , December 27,2021: Underlining the importance that the Indian government is placing on the need to eradicate drugs from the country with the objective of a “Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan”, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday asked all states to form and notify a dedicated Anti Narcotics Task Force (ANTF).
Shah’s remarks came while presiding over the 3rd Apex Level Narco Coordination Centre (NCORD) meeting organized by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) here in the national capital in hybrid mode. The meeting lasted for over two hours and it was attended by Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Director IB Arvind Kumar, Narcotics Control Bureau Chief SN Pradhan, Director Generals of Border Security Force and Sashastra Seema Bal, Chief Secretaries and DGPs of states and their representatives and administrators in the Union Territories (UTs) along with various concerned departments.
Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana also joined the meeting, organised in a hybrid model.
This high-level committee meeting was also attended by senior officers from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Department of Revenue (Ministry of Finance) and Indian Coast Guard.
The Minister reviewed the prevailing drug trafficking and abuse scenario in the country and expressed his concerns over its emergence as a national threat.
Shah stressed the need for close coordination between the states and central government agencies to tackle this problem that transcends boundaries. He then underscored the importance of organizing NCORD meetings regularly at all the levels with participation of senior officers to tackle this problem.
For strengthening the coordination mechanism, the Home Minister asked: “all states to form and notify a dedicated Anti Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) which can also function as NCORD Secretariat at the state level”.
To strengthen the existing mechanism and to spread more awareness among the people, the Minister directed to take some important measures such as the creation of a national NCORD Portal, the constitution of inter-ministerial standing committees (IMCs) to devise effective policies with regard to dual-use prescription drugs and precursors, raising of a national narco canine pool, and establishment of drug de-addiction centres in all prisons of 272 most affected districts.
The Union Home Minister also stressed upon the capacity building of drug law enforcement agencies and directed NCB to design special training programmes for police, paramilitary forces, public prosecutors and employees of concerned civil departments at the national level on various areas of narcotics control.
Shah expressed his concern over increasing drug trafficking through maritime route which has become an emerging challenge on the coastal front of the country and emphasized on the involvement of all stakeholders in the state NCORD meetings especially of coastal states and suggested extending the mandate of the existing Joint Co-ordination Committee (JCC) also under NCB.
To make the “Nasha-Mukt Bharat Abhiyan” successful, Union Home Minister said that the involvement of people from all spheres of the society is sought for and for this government of India is going to establish 24 x7 toll-free National Narcotics Call Centre to have an interface with the public for sharing of inputs and information on drug matters.
As per the survey reports, the NCB said the number of drug abusers has increased approximately seven folds in the last two decades, which is alarming.
To protect, especially the children and youth, the Home Minister later emphasized that there is a need to create awareness against drugs and its ill effects from a young age by incorporating them in the academic curriculum.
He also appreciated the initiative of MHA and NCB in creating a government e-Portal (Say Yes to Life, No to Drugs) for taking a pledge against drug abuse and thus creating awareness among the people and directing it to be even more widespread.
As a commitment towards a ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat’, the Minister exhorted everyone to be part of this ‘Jan Andolan’ to make our society and country free from drugs and directed all Govt Agencies to work in synergy and coordination to overcome this menace.
Considering the widespread threat of drug abuse and trafficking in the country, the Centre had launched ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan’ under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and constituted a four-tier narcotics coordination mechanism (NCORD), which extends upto district level.
The objective of NCORD is to bring all the central and state agencies involved in drug demand, supply and harm reduction on one platform to contain the drug menace in the country.
The NCORD is a mechanism under Director General NCB. It is constituted in order to have effective coordination among all the drug law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders, and also to provide a common platform for discussions on drug-trafficking related issues.
Revamped by MHA to create a 4-tier structure to improve coordination in Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) matters, similar two NCORD meetings have been arranged in previous years and discussed issues related to NDPS policy and operational matters of the drug law enforcement agencies.

Pretoria [South Africa], December 26,2021: Desmond Mpilo Tutu, South African Anglican archbishop, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, has died at the age of 90.
South African presidency in a statement expressed profound sadness at the passing today, of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu. Archbishop Tutu, the last surviving South African laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize, passed away in Cape Town.
Tutu is widely known for his anti-apartheid campaign, which resulted in him receiving a Nobel Prize in 1984. Aside from his anti-apartheid campaign, he has spoken out on many other causes as well.
The archbishop also served as the chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the abolition of apartheid. He is known for coining the term “Rainbow Nation” to describe post-apartheid South Africa as a country where people of all racial and ethnic groups could live together in peace.
The Archbishop has been a “staunch advocate” for universal human rights, including the right to food, as well as the right to clean water, shelter, hygiene, sanitation and health care.

Alongside anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Tutu was one of the driving forces behind the movement to end the policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by the white minority government against the black majority in South Africa from 1948 until 1991.
He was awarded the Nobel prize in 1984 for his role in the struggle to abolish the apartheid system.
In his 1984 Nobel Lecture, Archbishop Tutu said, “Unless we work assiduously so that all of God’s children, our brothers and sisters, members of our one human family, all will enjoy basic human rights, the right to a fulfilled life, the right of movement, of work, the freedom to be fully human, with a humanity measured by nothing less than the humanity of Jesus Christ Himself, then we are on the road inexorably to self-destruction, we are not far from global suicide; and yet it could be so different.”
After the news of the Archbishop’s demise broke out, Nelson Mandela Foundation issued a statement saying the loss of Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu is immeasurable. He was larger than life, and for so many in South Africa and around the world, his life has been a blessing.
“His contributions to struggles against injustice, locally and globally, are matched only by the depth of his thinking about the making of liberatory futures for human societies. He was an extraordinary human being. A thinker. A leader. A shepherd,” the statement said.
When Nelson Mandela passed away in 2013, Archbishop Emeritus Tutu had said: “This is a man who cared.” As the world mourns today the passing of the beloved Archbishop, the Foundation said “we, in turn, can say precisely the same of him.”

Washington, Dec 23,2021: The TikTok social network has become the world’s most visited website in 2021, beating both Google and Facebook, media reported.

Google comes second, while Facebook third, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing the data provided by the Cloudflare company.

TikTok topped the list of the most visited portals for the first time in February, and significantly grew in popularity in August.

TikTok is an app for creating and watching short videos, developed by the Chinese company of ByteDance.

Islamabad, Dec 21,2021: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said “mistakes” regarding selection of candidates led to the shock defeat of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, with a pro-Taliban party making major gains.

Khan tweeted: “PTI made mistakes in 1st phase (of the local government elections) and paid the price. Wrong candidate selection was a major cause.

“From now on I will personally be overseeing PTI’s election strategy … across Pakistan. PTI will come out stronger.”

The local government elections in Khyber Pakhtun­khwa province, bordering Afghanistan, were held on December 19 across 17 districts after a gap of six years.

The opposition parties, especially the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), have taken the lead leaving PTI behind, Geo TV reported. PTI could win only one out of six tehsils.

The JUI-F took a definitive lead in the election for the post of Mayor of Peshawar. According to ARY News, JUI-F’s Haji Zubair bagged 62,388 votes against 50,659 votes of PTI’s Rizwan Bangash.

Pakistani analysts said the stunning performance of the JUI (Fazl) at the cost of both its allies and rivals is likely to reshape the province’s political landscape.

In the last two general elections, the ruling PTI emerged as the JUI-F nemesis.

According to unofficial results, JUI-F candidates won 10 seats of tehsil Chairman/Mayor out of 24 tehsils. Elections were held on 63 tehsils. On the other hand, a large number of party candidates have stood runners up.

In the provincial capital, the JUI-F made inroads eclipsing traditional political forces like the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP).

Dawn newspaper quoted Aurangzeb Khan, a Peshawar-based analyst, as saying that regional geo-political shifts brought the religion to the fore in the region.

“JUI-F’s victory happens at a time when the larger regional shifts marked by the rise of the (Afghan) Taliban and Islamic State in Afghanistan is impacting Pakistan’s strategic outlook and the space for religious elements in its polity and politics,” he said.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz said PTI was set to face bad times.

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz tweeted: “After being shamed, slandered and receiving the curse of millions and pushing a nation of 220 million into a mire of inflation, lawlessness and incompetence, ‘tabdeeli’ (change) is on its way out.”

PML-N’s Azma Bokhari said more thrashing was in store for PTI in Punjab.

Dec 20,2021:New Zealand health authorities said they believe a man’s death may be linked to the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.

The 26-year-old man died within two weeks of his first dose of Pfizer and preliminary post-mortem information suggests the probable cause was myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle wall that is a rare side effect of some Covid-19 vaccines, New Zealand’s Covid-19 Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring Board said in an emailed statement on Monday.

“With the current available information, the Board has considered that the myocarditis was probably due to vaccination in this individual,” it said. “The Board noted that Covid-19 infection can itself be a cause of myocarditis as well as other serious illnesses and it remains safer to be vaccinated than to be infected with the virus.”

It is New Zealand’s second reported death linked to the vaccine after the board said in late August that a woman’s myocarditis was probably due to vaccination. It said today that another two people had died with a potential myocarditis following vaccination. Further information was needed in the case of a 13-year-old child, while the death of a man in his 60s was unlikely related to the vaccine, it said.

“The Board considers that the circumstances of these cases do not impact or change the known information on myocarditis, and the benefits of vaccination with the Pfizer vaccine for Covid-19 continue to greatly outweigh the risk of such rare side effects,” it said. “The Board has recommended actions to be taken by the Covid-19 Vaccine and Immunisation Programme to continue to highlight myocarditis as a very rare side effect of the Pfizer vaccine.”

Dec 26,2021:NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, built to give the world its first glimpse of the universe as it existed when the earliest galaxies formed, was launched by rocket early Saturday from the northeastern coast of South America, heralding a new era of astronomy.

The revolutionary $9 billion infrared telescope, described by NASA as the “premiere space-science observatory of the next decade”, was carried aloft inside the cargo bay of an Ariane 5 rocket that blasted off at about 7:20 a.m. EST from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) launch base in French Guiana.

The flawless Christmas Day launch, with a countdown conducted in French, was carried live on a joint NASA-ESA webcast. The liftoff capped a project decades in the making, coming to fruition after years of repeated delays and cost overruns.

“From a tropical rain forest to the edge of time itself, James Webb begins a voyage back to the birth of the universe,” a NASA commentator said as the two-stage launch vehicle, fitted with double solid-rocket boosters, roared off its launch pad into cloudy skies.

After a 27-minute, hypersonic ride into space, the 14,000-pound instrument was released from the upper stage of the French-built rocket about 865 miles above the Earth, and should gradually unfurl to nearly the size of a tennis court over the next 13 days as it sails onward on its own.

Live video captured by a camera mounted on the rocket’s upper stage showed the Webb gliding gently away after it was jettisoned, drawing cheers and applause from jubilant flight engineers in the mission control centre.

Flight controllers confirmed moments later, as Webb’s solar-energy array was deployed, that its power supply was working.

Coasting through space for two more weeks, the Webb telescope will reach its destination in solar orbit 1 million miles from Earth – about four times farther away than the moon. And Webb’s special orbital path will keep it in constant alignment with the Earth as the planet and telescope circle the sun in tandem.

By comparison, Webb’s 30-year-old predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, orbits the Earth from 340 miles away, passing in and out of the planet’s shadow every 90 minutes.

Named after the man who oversaw NASA through most of its formative decade of the 1960s, Webb is about 100 times more sensitive than Hubble and is expected to transform scientists’ understanding of the universe and our place in it.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, striking a spiritual tone as he addressed the launch webcast by video link, quoted the Bible and hailed the new telescope as a “time machine” that will “capture the light from the very beginning of the creation.”

Webb mainly will view the cosmos in the infrared spectrum, allowing it to peer through clouds of gas and dust where stars are being born, while Hubble has operated primarily at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths.

The new telescope’s primary mirror – consisting of 18 hexagonal segments of gold-coated beryllium metal – also has a much bigger light-collecting area, enabling it to observe objects at greater distances, thus farther back into time, than Hubble or any other telescope.

That, astronomers say, will bring into view a glimpse of the cosmos never previously seen – dating to just 100 million years after the Big Bang, the theoretical flashpoint that set in motion the expansion of the observable universe an estimated 13.8 billion years ago.

Hubble’s view reached back to roughly 400 million years following the Big Bang, a period just after the very first galaxies – sprawling clusters of stars, gases and other interstellar matter – are believed to have taken shape.

While Hubble caught glimmers of “toddler” galaxies, Webb will reveal those objects in greater detail while also capturing even fainter, earlier “infant” galaxies, astrophysicist Eric Smith, NASA’s Webb program scientist, told Reuters hours before the launch.

Aside from examining the formation of the earliest stars and galaxies, astronomers are eager to study super-massive black holes believed to occupy the centers of distant galaxies.

Webb’s instruments also make it ideal to search for evidence of potentially life-supporting atmospheres around scores of newly documented exoplanets – celestial bodies orbiting distant stars – and to observe worlds much closer to home, such as Mars and Saturn’s icy moon Titan.

The telescope is an international collaboration led by NASA in partnership with the European and Canadian space agencies. Northrop Grumman Corp was the primary contractor. The Arianespace launch vehicle is part of the European contribution.

“The world gave us this telescope, and we handed it back to the world today,” Gregory Robinson, Webb program director for NASA told reporters at a post-launch briefing.

Webb was developed at a cost of $8.8 billion, with operational expenses projected to bring its total price tag to about $9.66 billion, far higher than planned when NASA was previously aiming for a 2011 launch. read more

Astronomical operation of the telescope, to be managed from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, is expected to begin in the summer of 2022, following about six months of alignment and calibration of Webb’s mirrors and instruments.

It is then that NASA expects to release the initial batch of images captured by Webb. Webb is designed to last up to 10 years.

Dec22,2021:Nigeria’s presidency says dozens of people have been killed in violence between farmers and herders in the country’s central Nasarawa state.

In a statement late on Tuesday, the office of President Muhammadu Buhari said at least 45 farmers were killed in the violence that erupted on Friday. Dozens more were wounded, it said.
Buhari “expressed grief over the heart-wrenching” killings and said his government would “leave no stone unturned in fishing out the perpetrators of this senseless and barbaric incident, and bring them to justice”.

Local police said the violence broke out when armed Fulani herders attacked villagers from the Tiv ethnic group over the killing of a kinsman that they blamed on Tiv farmers. The unrest continued until Sunday.

New Delhi, Dec 20,2021: A bill to link voter IDs with Aadhaar was introduced, and passed in Lok Sabha on Monday, amid opposition by several MPs who called it a violation of rights of citizens and attack on democracy.

The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on Monday, and was brought for passage by Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on the same day. Opposition protests against the Bill in the House saw MPs raising slogans against the Minister as he moved the Bill for consideration and passing.

“There is a provision in the Bill for linking Aadhaar card with voter ID card. This is voluntary and not mandatory,” the Minister said, calling it a major electoral reform.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the Bill should be sent to a standing committee. Rijiju however said the 105th report of parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances and Law and Justice stated that the committee is of view that linking Aadhaar with electoral roll will purify electoral roll.

A brief debate on the Bill was held in which BJP MP Nishikant Dubey alleged that the Congress was opposing the Bill because they wanted to give voting rights to “Bangladeshis”. “After this Bill is passed Congress will not be able to make Bangladeshis or Nepalis (voters in India). All these parties are doing vote bank politics. The other point is that polling booths are in Madarssas and Mosques, the Bill will address that. We appeal Bangladeshis and Videshis are not made voters in India”.

Kalyan Banerjee of Trinamool Congress said entire democracy is being taken away by the Bill.

As Banerjee was speaking, a comment was made from the treasury benches calling him a “Bangladeshi supporter”.

Shiv Sena’s Vinayak Raut also opposed the Bill, and questioned why it was being passed in a hurry.

Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress party also asked what is the hurry, and also questioned Nishikant Dubey’s charges, stating, “one of their Ministers is Bangladeshi is the allegation in West Bengal”. She said government should bring a comprehensive Bill on electoral reforms, including reservation for women.

Several other MPs said there should be proper debate on the Bill. Bahujan Samaj Party’s Ritesh Pandey said Bills were being bulldozed in Parliament. Anubhav Mohanty of Biju Janata Dal also said the Bill needs to be properly discussed.

Asaduddin Owaisi said the Bill violates the basic structure of the Constitution.

Rijiju replied to the points raised by the MPs and blamed the Opposition for creating a ruckus in the House, as protests continued demanding suspension of MoS Home Ajay Mishra Teni and other issues.

Amid continuing protests, the Bill was passed through voice vote, and the House was adjourned for the day.

Dec 22,2021:Scientists have announced the discovery of an exquisitely preserved dinosaur embryo from at least 66 million years ago that was preparing to hatch from its egg just like a chicken.

The fossil was discovered in Ganzhou, southern China and belonged to a toothless theropod dinosaur, or oviraptorosaur, which the researchers dubbed “Baby Yingliang.”
“It is one of the best dinosaur embryos ever found in history,” University of Birmingham researcher Fion Waisum Ma, who co-authored a paper in the journal iScience, told the AFP news agency on Tuesday.

Ma and colleagues found Baby Yingliang’s head lay below its body, with the feet on either side and back curled – a posture that was previously unseen in dinosaurs, but similar to modern birds.

In birds, the behaviour is controlled by the central nervous system and called “tucking”. Chicks preparing to hatch tuck their head under their right wing in order to stabilise the head while they crack the shell with their beak.

Embryos that fail to tuck have a higher chance of dying after a hatching that is unsucessful.

“This indicates that such behaviour in modern birds first evolved and originated among their dinosaur ancestors,” said Ma.

An alternative to tucking might have been something closer to what is seen in modern crocodiles, which instead assume a sitting posture with the head bending upon the chest up to hatching.
Oviraptorosaurs were feathered dinosaurs that lived in what is now Asia and North America during the Late Cretaceous period [Handout/University of Birmingham/Lida Xing/AFP] Forgotten in storage

Oviraptorosaurs, which means “egg thief lizards”, were feathered dinosaurs that lived in what is now Asia and North America during the Late Cretaceous period.

They had variable beak shapes and diets and ranged in size from modern turkeys at the lower end to massive Gigantoraptors, that were eight metres (26 feet) long.

Baby Yingliang measures about 27cm (10.6 inches) long from head to tail and lies inside a 17cm- (6.6 inch)-long egg at the Yingliang Stone Nature History Museum.

Researchers believe the creature is between 72 and 66 million years old, and was probably preserved by a sudden mudslide that buried the egg, protecting it from scavengers for aeons.

It would have grown two to three metres (6.5- 9.8 feet) long if it had lived to be an adult, and would have likely fed on plants.

The specimen was one of several egg fossils that were forgotten in storage for decades.

The research team suspected they might contain unborn dinosaurs, and scraped off part of Baby Yingliang’s eggshell to uncover the embryo hidden within.

“This dinosaur embryo inside its egg is one of the most beautiful fossils I have ever seen,” said Professor Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh, part of the research team, in a statement.

“This little prenatal dinosaur looks just like a baby bird curled in its egg, which is yet more evidence that many features characteristic of today’s birds first evolved in their dinosaur ancestors.”

The team hopes to study Baby Yingliang in greater detail using advanced scanning techniques to see a full image of the skeleton, including its skull bones because part of the body is still covered by rock.

Dec 26,2021:India will start administering COVID-19 booster shots as a precautionary measure to healthcare and other front-line workers from January 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, as cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant rise across the country.

In a TV address to the nation on Saturday night, Modi also said those above 60 years of age with comorbidities would be offered booster shots after a recommendation from doctors.

He added that those aged 15-18 would start receiving COVID-19 vaccinations from January 3.

“From the point of view of precaution, the government has decided that healthcare and front-line workers should start getting a precaution dose,” Modi said.
Modi said 1.8 million isolation beds, 500,000 oxygen-supported beds and 400,000 oxygen tanks were available in the country, among other hospital-related resources, as fears of another pandemic wave triggered by the Omicron variant grew.

India has reported a swift rise in Omicron cases, with the number reaching 415 overall across 17 Indian states.

Moscow/New Delhi, Dec 20,2021: Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on phone with Prime Minister Narendra Modi today and both leaders expressed their intent to further develop the special privileged strategic partnership between the two countries, the Kremlin press office said.

Putin “warmly thanked Narendra Modi for his hospitality rendered to the Russian delegation during a visit paid to New Delhi at the highest level on December 6,” the press office said in a statement.

“The sides discussed the practical issues of implementing the agreements reached following the results of the negotiations. They expressed the resolve to further develop the specially privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India comprehensively,” the statement reads, Tass reported.

Both leaders also continued an exchange of opinions on the issues of international stability and security, including the situation in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Russian leader and the Indian Prime Minister congratulated each other on the approaching New Year holidays and agreed to step up bilateral contacts in various areas, the Kremlin press office said.

President Putin had visited India on December 6 for a very brief visit to attend the annual bilateral summit talks with PM Modi. The two sides also held the inaugural 2+2 dialogue between their foreign and defence ministers that day. At least 28 agreements were inked between the two sides.

Dec 23,2021:The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for Pfizer’s Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir tablets and ritonavir tablets, co-packaged for oral use) for the treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in adults and pediatric patients (12 years of age and older weighing at least 40 kilograms or about 88 pounds) with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 testing, and who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death. Paxlovid is available by prescription only and should be initiated as soon as possible after diagnosis of COVID-19 and within five days of symptom onset.

New Delhi, Dec 22,2021: A 950-kilometre-long green corridor was created to transport lungs from an Ahmedabad hospital Gujarat to Max Super Speciality Hospital in Delhi in three hours to save the life of a 54-year-old man suffering from Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), statement from Max healthcare said.
The green corridor was created between the Civil Hospital of Ahmedabad and the city’s airport, and then between the IGI International Airport and Max Saket in Delhi, it added.
“Given the criticality of an early transplant for success, safe passage was facilitated by authorities. Swift action by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), Gujarat Police and Delhi Police ensured that the lungs reached the hospital in a timely manner. This ensured the retrieved lungs to be transplanted within the critical eight-hour chest to chest period,” the hospital said.
According to the hospital, the donated lungs were harvested from a 44-year-old man from Ahmedabad who was declared brain dead after brain haemorrhage.
“The harvested lungs were flown down to Delhi in clockwork precision. The patient has a known case of COPD and he urgently required lung transplant. We welcome this decision by the donor family to have stepped forward and agreed to donate several vital organs which will provide a new lease of life to critically ill patients,” Dr Rahul Chandola, Associate Director, Max Saket, said.
The critical surgery involved a team of 15 doctors and the operation was done for over 9 hours to successfully carry out the bilateral lung (both lungs) transplant, Chandola added.
The senior surgeon also expressed gratitude to the donor family and emphasised the need for more organ donations. “We remain indebted to the family of the donor who decided to serve critical patients even in their time of loss. Organ donation can save so many precious lives and I really hope that everyone embraces this cause,” he added.

New Delhi , December 28,2021: Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday announced the approval of two new indigenously developed vaccines and one anti-viral drug for the treatment of the adult patients of COVID-19 having a “high risk of progression of the disease”.
Taking to Twitter, Mandaviya said in a series of tweets, “Congratulations India Further strengthening the fight against COVID-19, CDSCO, @MoHFW_INDIA has given 3 approvals in a single day for: – CORBEVAX vaccine – COVOVAX vaccine – Anti-viral drug Molnupiravir For restricted use in an emergency situation.”
Further elaborating on CORBEVAX vaccine, the Minister said that it is the first indigenously developed RBD protein sub-unit vaccine against COVID-19.
“CORBEVAX vaccine is India’s 1st indigenously developed RBD protein sub-unit vaccine against #COVID19, Made by Hyderabad-based firm Biological-E. It’s a hat-trick! It’s now 3rd vaccine developed in India!” the Minister tweeted.
“The Nanoparticle Vaccine, COVOVAX, will be manufactured by Pune-based firm Serum Institute of India,” Mandaviya further added in the tweet.
The Minister informed that the antiviral drug, Molnupiravir will be used for emergency situation for the treatment of adult patients with COVID-19 and who have a high risk of progression of the disease.
“Molnupiravir, an antiviral drug, will now be manufactured in the country by 13 companies for restricted use under emergency situation for treatment of adult patients with COVID-19 and who have a high risk of progression of the disease,” he tweeted.
The Minister said that all these approvals will further strengthen the global fight against the pandemic adding that India’s Pharma Industries are asset for the entire world.
“PM @NarendraModi Ji has led the battle against #COVID19 from the front. All these approvals will further strengthen the global fight against the pandemic. Our Pharma Industries are asset for the entire world,” he tweeted.
Earlier, India had developed Covaxin, the first indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine which was developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) National Institute of Virology.

New Delhi, Dec 22,2021: The innovation ecosystem in India is set to get a boost with NITI Aayog launching the country’s first vernacular innovation programme (VIP) which will enable innovators and entrepreneurs in India to have access to the ecosystem in 22 scheduled languages.

The initiative under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), aimed at empowerment of innovators and entrepreneurs, will build the necessary capacity for the VIP for which a vernacular task force (VTF) will be trained in each of the 22 scheduled languages.

Each task force will comprise vernacular language teachers, subject experts, technical writers and the leadership of regional Atal incubation centres (AICs).

This programme may well place India globally as the first nation where an innovation ecosystem catering to 22 languages and English is being developed.

The programme will get rolling with a collaboration involving the design department of IIT Delhi to coach the VTF in design thinking and entrepreneurship and the adaptation of these subjects in the 22 languages and cultures.

Furthermore, industry mentors have joined hands to lend design thinking expertise, and CSR sponsors have agreed to support the programme.

On completing the training of the task force over the period of December 2021 to April 2022, the ecosystem will be opened to vernacular innovators.

The programme is launched at a time when the innovation ecosystem could do with lowering of the language barrier in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship, according to Chintan Vaishnav, the mission director of AIM.

There has been a growing need to address the struggle of not being able to expose one’s idea or innovation to the world, especially in India with its great diversity of languages.

As per the 2011 census, only 10.4 per cent of Indians speak English, most as their second, third or fourth language. Not surprisingly, only 0.02 per cent of Indians spoke English as their first language.

“Ten years later these numbers are not likely to be very different. Why shouldn’t we then create equal opportunity for the vernacular innovators who represent the staggering 90 per cent of our population,” said Vaishnav.

Vice Chairman NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar and CEO Amitabh Kant see the VIP initiative as a stepping stone in the entrepreneurship ecosystem which will cement the cognitive and design thinking attitude in young and aspiring minds and sharpen the design and innovation capabilities in India.

Local entrepreneurs, artisans and innovators will be able to assimilate the knowledge and technical materials that AIM will develop, which will assist in building a strong local network of design experts and innovation practitioners.

Nagpur, Dec 28,2021: Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said use of drones in the farm sector can generate about 50 lakh jobs in rural area, it was reported on Tuesday.

Gadkari was speaking at the concluding ceremony of ‘Agrovision’ exhibition in Nagpur.

He said the use of drone technology in farm sector is the need of the hour and it can generate up to 50 lakh jobs in the rural area in just one year.

Elaborating the idea further, Gadkari said for spraying pesticides and crop nutrients from drones, will require man power for operating them and this will help open up huge job opportunities in the rural area.

The union minister also said that he has discussed with his cabinet colleagues about the need to draft a policy on adopting the drone technology in the farm sector.

Boston,Dec 27,2021: Edward O. Wilson, the pioneering Harvard biologist who argued for a new vision of human nature in “Sociobiology” and warned against the decline of ecosystems, has died. He was 92. Wilson died on Dec. 26 in Burlington, Massachusetts, according to an announcement posted Monday on the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation’s website.
The professor and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author first gained widespread attention for his 1975 book, “Sociobiology: The New Synthesis,” in which he spelled out the evidence suggesting a link between human behavior and genetics. The work created a storm of controversy among activists and fellow academics who equated sociobiology’s groundbreaking theories with sexism, racism, and Nazism.
More recently, Wilson has championed the importance of preserving diverse species and ecosystems. “The diversity of life on Earth is far greater than even most biologists recognize,” he said in 1993. Less than 10% of the Earth’s species have scientific names, he said, making it “a still mostly unexplored planet.”

In 1979, “On Human Nature” — the third volume in a series including “The Insect Societies” and “Sociobiology” — earned Wilson his first Pulitzer Prize. His second Pulitzer came in 1991 with “The Ants,” which Wilson co-wrote with Harvard colleague Bert Holldobler.

Among his other honors was the 1990 Crafoord Prize in biosciences from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the highest scientific award in the field. Time magazine named him one of America’s 25 most influential people in 1996.

Wilson’s sociobiology theories transformed the field of biology and reignited the nature vs. nurture debate among scientists. Based on data about many species, Wilson argued that social behaviors from warfare to altruism had a genetic basis, an idea that contradicted the prevailing view that cultural and environmental factors determined human behavior.

Critics argued that such a theory bolstered social injustice, including discrimination against women, by saying that the inequality is written in human genes. Fifteen Boston-area scholars joined in a letter denouncing it, and in one case protesters dumped a pitcher of ice water on Wilson’s head while he was speaking at a scientific meeting in 1978.

He didn’t think genes determine all human behavior, but “in rough terms … maybe 10 percent” of it. He said later that the intensity of the reaction frightened him and for a time he gave up giving public lectures. “I thought my career was going up in flames,” he said.

His 2006 book, “The Creation,” argued that the fields of science and religion, “the most powerful social forces on Earth,” should work together for the protection of nature. The following year, he joined with more than two dozen other leaders in religion and science in signing a statement calling for urgent changes in values, lifestyles, and public policies to avert disastrous climate change.

The launching point for Wilson’s studies was a creature that had fascinated him since his teens — the ant. Showing an Associated Press reporter a dramatic microscopic view of an ant specimen in 1993, he commented, “I call it looking in the face of creation. You’re looking at something that may be a million years old, and nobody’s seen it before.”
His and Holldobler’s book “The Ants” featured detailed photographs of ants crawling through their daily lives, copulating, regurgitating food, and stinging to death other insects. It meticulously detailed the ants’ every move. He noted that the study of ants offered insights into the state of the environment because the welfare and diversity of ant populations might be useful as an indicator of subtle destructive changes in a seemingly normal area.

Wilson was born in 1929 in Birmingham, Alabama. As an only child whose parents divorced when he was 7, Wilson found comfort in nature, which he called his “companion of choice.” He also had to deal with the loss of sight in one eye in a fishing accident and, in his teens, a partial hearing loss.

The Boy Scouts provided Wilson an opportunity to further his enthusiasm for nature, and by the age of 15, Wilson had risen to the rank of Eagle Scout. He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1949. He received his Ph.D. in biology from Harvard in 1955 and became an assistant professor there in 1956. Wilson’s field research included stops in Australia, New Guinea, and Sri Lanka, in addition to his ongoing work at home.

He sat on the boards of directors of several environmental organizations, including The Nature Conservancy. He was honored for his conservation efforts with the Gold Medal of the Worldwide Fund for Nature in 1990 and the Audubon Medal of the National Audubon Society in 1995. Wilson is survived by his daughter, Catherine. He was predeceased by his wife, Irene.