April 12th Current affairs

1.World Homeopathy day.

In News:

A two-day convention on ‘Homoeopathy – Roadmap for Integrative Medicine’ was inaugurated at New Delhi.

Important Information:

About World Homoeopathy Day:

• April 10 is observed as World Homoeopathy Day to honour Dr Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann, whose birth anniversary falls on this day.
• Born in 1755, Hahnemann was a German physician who is regarded as the founder of the alternate medicine field of homoeopathy.
• The main idea behind celebrating the day is to make more people aware of the benefits of homeopathic treatment and medicines.
• The theme for this day in India this year is “Homeopathy – Roadmap for Integrative Medicine”.
• India is one of the largest manufacturers of homeopathic drugs in the world.
• The department of homoeopathy falls under the supervision of the AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) Ministry.
• In homoeopathy a person is usually cured by triggering their body’s own healing mechanisms. This important form of medicine is based on the theory the any type of sickness can be cured by inducing symptoms similar to it by using medicines made out of natural ingredients.

SOURCE:PIB

2. Lilavati Awards 2020

IN NEWS:

Union Minister of Education Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ presented the AICTE Lilavati Awards 2020 on women empowerment to the winners in New Delhi.

KEY POINTS:

• The awards were presented based on the theme “Women Empowerment”.
• The winners were selected by AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) in six sub themes as follows:
• SWEAT (Sona Women Entrepreneurship and Training) from Sona College of Technology, Tamil Nadu won the award under the ‘Women Entrepreneurship’ sub theme.
• Another college from Tamil Nadu, Paritrana from St. Joseph’s College of Engineering won the award for the ‘Self Defense’ sub theme.
• Under the ‘Literacy’ sub theme, Bharatiya Vidyapeeth of Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship Development Pune won the award.
• The Lilavati Award under “Women’s Health” sub theme was won by WIT Women Health Coalition from Walchand Institute of Technology, Maharashtra.
• Radiant Seetha from Thiagarajar Polytechnic College won the contest in the ‘Legal Awareness’ sub theme.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

About Lilavati Awards

• The prize has been named after the twelfth century book called “Lilavati”.
• The book was written by the mathematician Bhaskara II. Lilavati was the daughter of Bhaskara II.
• The award is presented annually as a part of AICTE Innovative education programme to empower women.

SOURCE:PIB

3.UAE names first Female Astronaut

IN NEWS:

Noura al Matroushi has been named as the first Female Astronaut of UAE.

KEY POINTS:

• Noura al-Matroushi was selected as the first female astronaut of UAE from four thousand other applicants.
• She is to be trained with NASA for future space exploration missions.
• Noura is to be accompanied by Mohammed al-Mulla. Both astronauts are to be trained with Johnson Space Centre of NASA located in Houston, Texas.
• UAE does not have any manned mission in near future.
• However, the country has plans to send unmanned space mission to the moon in 2024. Also, UAE has launched “Amal Satellite” to the Mars in 2020.
• In 2019, Hazza al-Mansoori was the first UAE astronaut to enter the space. He spent eight days at the International Space Station.

Important Info :

Another notable Personalities

• Anousheh Raissyan, an Iranian-American telecommunications entrepreneur and millionaire from Dallas, became the first Muslim woman and first Iranian in space when she travelled as a self-funded civilian to the International Space Station in 2006.
• The first Muslim in space was Saudi Prince Sultan bin Salman, who joined the crew of the shuttle Discovery in 1985.
• In 2019, Maj. Hazzaa al-Mansoori became the UAE’s first astronaut in space, spending an eight-day mission aboard the International Space Station.

SOURCE:IE

4.Little Guru

IN NEWS:

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) tied up with the Gamapp Sportswizz Tech Private Limited to launch “LITTLE GURU” application. It is a specialized mobile application for learning Sanskrit.

KEY POINTS:

About “Little Guru”

• Little Guru is a gamified application.
• It teaches Sanskrit in an interactive platform. This makes learning easier.
• The app was launched during the celebrations of the 71st Foundation Day of ICCR.
• It is world’s first Gamified Sanskrit learning application.
• It will help people to learn Sanskrit in an easy manner based on competition, games, peer to peer interactions, etc.

Significance of the Application

• The application is of great help to the Indian Diaspora wishing to stay connected with their roots.
• It will also help number of students and faculties associated with Sanskrit Universities located all over the world.

5.Navegoan-Nagzira Tiger Reserve

In News

Three labourers were killed and two others injured during an operation to douse a forest fire at Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) in Maharashtra.

Key Points

Location:

• It is situated in Gondia and Bhandara districts of Maharashtra.
• Gondia District shares common boundaries with the state of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the north and eastern side respectively.
• Strategically, the Tiger Reserve is located in the heart of central Indian Tiger landscape which contributes almost one sixth of the total tiger population of the country.

Formation:

• It was notified as the 46th Tiger Reserve of India in December 2013.
• NNTR comprised of the notified area of Nawegaon National Park, Nawegaon Wildlife Sanctuary, Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary, New Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary and Koka Wildlife Sanctuary.

Connectivity:

• NNTR has connectivity with the major tiger reserves in Central India like,
• Kanha and Pench tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh,
• Tadoba-Andhari Tiger reserve in Maharashtra,
• Indravati Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh,
• Indirectly with the Kawal and Nagarjuna Sagar in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and, Achanakmar Tiger reserve in Chhattisgarh.
• It is also connected to important tiger bearing areas like Umred-Karhandla sanctuary and Brahampuri Division (Maharashtra).

Flora:

• The major forest type is “Southern Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest”.
• Few thorny plants are also found.
• Bamboo occurs in abundance.

Fauna:

• Large Carnivores such as leopards and smaller carnivores like wild dogs, wolf jackals, jungle cats and also the good population of sloth bears are seen.
• The important herbivore includes Cheetal, Sambar, Nilgai, Chousingha, Barking deer, Wild pig and Indian gaur. Mouse deer has also been recorded from the area.
• More than 300 species of birds have been reported from the area.

Other Protected Areas in Maharashtra:

Sahyadri Tiger Reserve.

Melghat Tiger reserve.

Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary.

Karnala Bird Sanctuary.

Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

Pench National Park.

SOURCE:IE