GOA
Wildlife expert bats for tiger reserve in Goa
Between 2009 and 2020, Goa lost five tigers with four deaths reported in January this year itself. The National Tiger Conservation Authority’s (NTCA) report in February, while asking Goa government to declare the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary a tiger reserve, had found the state’s efforts severely lacking to protect its big cats. This, despite camera traps confirming tiger presence beyond doubt.
The area proposed as tiger reserve in Goa’s Western Ghats comprises semi-evergreen dense forests with steep slopes, and this area is the place of catchment basin for the Mandovi, Zuari, Talpona and Galgibaga rivers, apart from a number of streams.
The four tiger deaths in January took place from poisoning, which is suspected to have been carried out by forest dwellers as revenge killing for the cattle the families lost as prey.
INTERNATIONAL
World Maritime Day 2020: 24 September
World Maritime Day 2020 is observed globally on 24th September.
It is observed to understand the importance of the marine environment, the impact of industries on the oceans and marine life and the well-being of seafarers who spend months away from home.
The theme of World Maritime Day 2020 is “Sustainable shipping for a sustainable planet,”.
The day provides an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to showcase the work that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and its Member States are undertaking to achieve the targets.
UN, Britain to co-host a global climate summit on Dec 12
The United Nations and Britain will co-host a global climate summit on December 12, the fifth anniversary of the landmark Paris Agreement.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will co-host the event to rally much greater climate action and ambition.
National governments will be invited to present more ambitious and high-quality climate plans at the summit, which would involve government leaders, as well as the private sector and civil society.
The summit is intended to increase momentum ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) to be held in Glasgow in November 2021.
Webinar with Israel on Defence Industry Global Outreach for Collaborative Partnership
A webinar between India and Israel was held under the aegis of Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence.
The Theme of webinar was “Indian Defence Industry Global Outreach for Collaborative Partnership: Webinar and Expo”.
This webinar is the first in the series of webinars which will be organized with friendly foreign countries in order to boost defence exports and achieve defence export target of $5 billion in the next five years.
Creation of Sub Working Group (SWG) on Defence Industrial Cooperation between India and Israel was announced in the webinar.
The main objective of the SWG will be Transfer of Technology, Co-development & Co-production, Artificial Intelligence, Innovation and Joint Export to friendly foreign countries.
NATIONAL
Country’s apex regulator of medical education ‘National Medical Commission’ comes into existence
The National Medical Commission (NMC), in place of the Medical Council of India (MCI), as the country’s apex regulator of medical education and profession has come into existence.
With the NMC coming into being, the Board of Governors (BoG) which superseded the MCI on September 26th, 2018, to perform its functions, has been dissolved and the nearly 64-year-old Indian Medical Council Act abolished.
Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma, former head of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences ENT department, Delhi, has been appointed as chairman for a period of three years.
The NMC Act, which seeks to usher in mega reforms in the medical education sector, received the assent of the president on August 8th last year.
The NMC comprises a chairman, 10 ex-officio members and 22 part-time members.
‘Saubhagya’ scheme completes three years since its inception
Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana -“Saubhagya” has completed three years since its inception.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched this scheme on the 25th of September, 2017 to ensure electrification of all willing households in the country in rural as well as urban areas.
The scheme was launched with an aim to achieve universal household electrification by providing last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all households in rural areas and all poor households in urban areas across the country.
The scheme was started with an outlay of 16,320 crore rupees.
As many as over 2 crore 62 lakh households have been provided electricity connection so far under the Saubhagya scheme.
RBI suggests five-pillared approach to deal with cybersecurity issues in UCBs
The Reserve Bank came out with a five-pillared strategic approach ‘GUARD’ to deal with cyber security threats being faced by Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs).
The RBI said in its document ‘Technology Vision for Cyber Security for Urban Cooperative Banks 2020-2023’ that the number, frequency and impact of cyber incidents and attacks have increased manifold in the recent past, more so in the case of the financial sector, including UCBs.
Therefore, it has become essential to enhance the security posture of UCBs to prevent, detect, respond to and recover from cyber-attacks.
The technology vision document, which was formalised after obtaining inputs from various stakeholders, is aimed at enhancing the cybersecurity posture of UCBs against evolving IT and cyber threat environments.