July 8th Current Affairs

1. Tinospora Cordifolia.

IN NEWS:

Relating Giloy to Liver Damage is completely Misleading, Says Ministry of Ayush.

KEY POINTS:

• The Ministry of Ayush has noticed a media report based on a study published in Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology, a peer reviewed journal of the Indian National Association for the study of the liver.
• This study mentions that use of herb TinosporaCordifolia (TC), commonly known as Giloy or Guduchi, resulted in liver failure in six patients in Mumbai.
• The Ministry feels that the authors of the study failed in placing all needful details of the cases in a systematic format.
• Apart from this, relating Giloy or TC to liver damage would be misleading and disastrous to the Traditional Medicine system of India as herb Guduchi or Giloy has been used in Ayurveda since long.
• The efficacy of TC in managing various disorders is well established.

• After analysing the study, it was also noticed that the authors of the study have not analysed the contents of the herb that was consumed by the patients.
• It becomes the responsibility of the authors to ascertain that the herb consumed by the patients is TC and not any other herb.
• To build upon the soundness, the authors would have taken the opinion of a botanist or would have consulted an Ayurveda expert.

Important Information:

GILOY:

• Giloy, used in many herbal and ayurvedic medicines, is known to treat many health issues.
• It has a high nutritional content and includes steroids, flavonoids, lignans, and carbohydrates.
• Giloy can be helpful in boosting immunity.
• It is packed with antioxidants and can help one fight off free radicals and disease-causing germs.
• It is beneficial in removing toxins from the body, purifies blood, and help combat urinary tract infections and liver disease.
• Giloy also helps in controlling diabetes by improving your body’s blood glucose levels.

SOURCE:IE

2. India – EU Cooperation in Agriculture.

IN NEWS:

A Virtual meeting held between Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Mr. Janusz Wojciechowski, Member of the European Commission, Agriculture.

KEY POINTS:

• Both dignitaries  discussed  EU Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) and the recent India market reforms; EU Farm to Fork Strategy and UN Food System Summit and  bilateral cooperation; G20 Agriculture Minister process and fixation of the Maximum Residue Limit of Tricyclazole in Indian Basmati Rice by the EU.
• They also discussed G20 Agriculture Minister process and fixation of Maximum Residue Limit of Tricyclazole in Indian Basmati Rice by EU.
• EU side also underlined that; EU has set a target of bringing 25 per cent of area in EU under Organic Farming by 2030.
• Indian side explained the scenario of agriculture in India, dominance of small farmers and commitment of Government of India for welfare of farmers in India.
• Recent initiatives taken by Government to increase farmer’s income, launch of Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, agriculture marketing infrastructure for rural areas, scheme of formation of 10000 FPOs were explained to EU.
• India also raised the issue of fixing the Maximum Residual Limit (MRL) of Tricyclazole used in rice crop which has been a concern for India and is affecting India’s Basmati Rice Exports to the EU.
• All the required studies and documents have been submitted to EU in May-2021 and MRL will be fixed by second quarter of 2022 before next season.

SOURCE:PIB

3. Bhalia wheat.

IN NEWS:

In a major boost to wheat exports, the first shipment of Geographical Indication (GI) certified Bhalia variety of wheat was exported  to Kenya and Sri Lanka from Gujarat.

KEY POINTS:

• The GI certified wheat has high protein content and is sweet in taste.
• The crop is grown mostly across Bhal region of Gujarat which includes Ahmadabad, Anand, Kheda, Bhavanagar, Surendranagar, Bharuch districts.
• The unique characteristic of the wheat variety is that grown in the rainfed condition without irrigation and cultivated in around two lakh hectares of agricultural land in Gujarat.
• The Bhalia variety of wheat received GI certification in July, 2011.
• The registered proprietor of GI certification is Anand Agricultural University, Gujarat.
• This initiative is expected to give boost wheat exports from India. In 2020-21, the wheat exports from India witnessed a significant growth of 808 % to Rs 4034 crore from Rs 444 crore reported in the previous fiscal.
• In US dollar terms, the wheat exports rose by 778% to $ 549 million in 2020-21.
• India exported substantial quantity of grain to seven new countries – Yemen, Indonesia, Bhutan, Philippines, Iran, Cambodia and Myanmar during 2020-21.
• In the previous financial years, only small quantities of wheat were exported to these countries. Wheat exports did not take place to these seven countries in 2018-19 and only 4 metric tonne of grain was exported in 2019-20.
• The volume of exports of wheat to these countries rose to 1.48 lakh tone in 2020-21.

SOURCE:PIB

4. New solar thermal components testing facility.

IN NEWS:

New solar thermal components testing facility at  Hyderabad to give further fillip to India’s growing solar sector.

KEY POINTS:

• A new Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) based test rig facility was established at Hyderabad recently.
• It can help test the capability and performance of solar thermal components like solar receiver tubes, heat transfer fluids, and concentrating mirrors.
• The facility is set up by the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST).

About Solar energy

• Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of ever-evolving technologies such as solar heating, photovoltaics, solar thermal energy, solar architecture, molten salt power plants and artificial photosynthesis
• Some of its advantages include: Pollution free, virtually inexhaustible supply and global distribution.
• Due to global warming and climate change, world is now compelled to move from fossil based energy towards clean and green energy.

Technology used to harness solar energy:

• Solar Photovoltaic: Solar photovoltaic (SPV) cells convert solar radiation (sunlight) into electricity. 
• A solar cell is a semi-conducting device made of silicon and/or other materials, which, when exposed to sunlight, generates electricity.
• Solar thermal: Solar Thermal Power systems, also known as Concentrating Solar Power systems, use concentrated solar radiation as a high temperature energy source to produce electricity using thermal route (water converted into steam to turn turbines).

SOURCE:PIB

5. Gravelyia boro.

IN NEWS:

Two species of spiders sharing the same space – the Jharbari range of western Assam’s Chirang Reserve Forest – have spun a web of cheer for fauna in India.

KEY POINTS:

• Gravelyia boro is a newly discovered burrow spider.
• Dexippus kleini is an oriental jumping spider. It has been recorded for the first time after it was originally described 129 years ago by Swedish arachnologist, Tord Tamerlan Teodor Thorell. The spider was discovered by him about 2,600 km away in Sumatra.
• Both the spiders were discovered from Bodoland Territorial Region. They have been described in latest issue of Acta Arachnologica published by Arachnological Society of Japan.

About Spider species

• Gravelyia boro belongs to Nemesiidae family that comprises of 184 species worldwide.
• Dexippus kleini belongs to Salticidae family which is the largest family of all spiders on earth.
• Name of burrow spider has been derived from Bodo community which is one of the largest ethnolinguistic groups in Assam.
• Burrow spider lives underground some 10-15 cm below sandy-loamy surface.
• Burrow with opening up to 1 cm wide were under cover of some herbs and shrubs.
• Jumping spider is a slow mover. But is capable of jumping up to 25 mm in length in search of prey.
• Jharbari Jumper is among few salticids that was recently rediscovered in India after a century.

SOURCE:TH