Facts in News

                             Facts in News

Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR)

• In 1970, the forest area of Nagzira was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary. It was notified as the 46 Tiger Reserve (TR) of India in December 2013.
• Location: Gondia and Bhandara Districts in the North-Eastern Maharashtra.
• Nagzira got its name from the snake or nag temple here and zira, which means a perennial source of water referring to the stream from a hill in Pongezara.
• Connectivity with: Kanha and Pench TR in Madhya Pradesh, Pench and Tadoba-Andhari TR in Maharashtra, Indravati TR in Chhattisgarh and indirectly with the Kawal & Nagarjuna Sagar TR in Telangana & Andhra Pradesh and Achanakmar TR in Chhattisgarh.
• Fauna
  • Home to a large variety of wildlife like Indian wild boar, Mouse deer, Sambar deer, Bengal tiger, leopard, chitkul and much more.
• Flora
  • Trees like Mahua, Bamboo, Jamun, Ain & Bombax & grasslands, weeds, teak forests & around 200 species of plants of medicinal & economic importance.

Pharmacovigilance

• It is the science and activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects or any other medicine/vaccine related problem.
• All medicines and vaccines undergo rigorous testing for safety and efficacy through clinical trials before they are authorized for use.
• The clinical trial process involves studying these products in a relatively small number of selected individuals for a short period of time.
• Certain side effects may only emerge once these products have been used by a heterogeneous population, including people with other concurrent diseases, and over a long period of time.
• Pharmacovigilance is vital as more vaccines become available and new side-effects seen.

                                   (Image Courtesy: NCBI)

Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API)

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines API as “Any substance or combination of substances used in a Finished Pharmaceutical Product (FPP), intended to furnish pharmacological activity or to otherwise have direct effect in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease, or to have direct effect in restoring, correcting or modifying physiological functions in human beings.”
• In simpler terms, API is the part of any drug that produces the intended effects. Some drugs, such as combination therapies, have multiple APIs to treat different symptoms or act in different ways.
• It is one of the two core components of any drug with another one being, the excipient.
  • It is the substances other than the drug that help deliver the medication to the system.
  • Excipients are chemically inactive substances, such as lactose or mineral oil in the pill.

Debt to GDP Ratio

• It is the ratio of a country’s public debt to its gross domestic product (GDP).
• If a country is unable to pay its debt, it defaults, which could cause a financial panic in the domestic and international markets.
• The higher the debt-to-GDP ratio, the less likely the country will pay back its debt and the higher its risk of default.
• It indicates how strong a country’s economy is and how likely it is that it will pay off its debt.
•  Specifically, it’s used to compare debt between countries, and to determine whether the country is headed for economic turmoil.
• It ratio is a useful tool for investors, leaders, and economists.

e-SANTA

• The Union Commerce and Industry Minister inaugurated e-SANTA.
• The term e-SANTA was coined for the web portal, meaning Electronic Solution for Augmenting NaCSA farmers‘ Trade-in Aquaculture.
  • National Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture (NaCSA) is an extension arm of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Govt. of India, Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

• It is an electronic marketplace providing a platform to connect aqua farmers and buyers.
•  It will enable the farmers to get a better price and the exporters to directly purchase quality products from the farmers enhancing traceability.
•  e-SANTA will raise income, lifestyle, self-reliance, quality levels, and provide new options for our aqua farmers.
•  The platform will change the traditional way of carrying out business from a word of mouth basis to become more formalised & legally binding.
•  It will revolutionize traditional aquafarming by providing cashless, contactless and paperless electronic trade platforms between farmers and exporters.
• The Platform is available in many languages, which will help the local population.

Uruka (Rongali Bihu)

• Bihu, also called Rongali Bihu and Bohag Bihu, is Assam’s harvest festival which marks the beginning of the Assamese New Year
• The word Bihu is taken from the Sanskrit word Bishu meaning “to ask blessings and prosperity from the Gods” during harvesting season.
• Bihu, in Assam, is of three types: Rangoli Bihu, Magh Bihu and Maghar Domahi.
• Bihu falls on the first day of the Magh month, according to the Bengali calendar.
• During these days, people celebrate by wearing traditional clothes like a dhoti, gamosa, and sadar mekhela.
• People also sing traditional folk songs dedicated to Bihu.