• Parliament has passed the Weapon of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill 2022 with the Rajya Sabha approving it today amid the din.
• The Bill seeks to amend the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005.
• The 2005 Act prohibits unlawful activities such as manufacturing, transport or transfer related to weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.
• Weapons of mass destruction are biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.
• The Bill bars persons from financing any prohibited activity related to weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems
• The amendment seeks to prevent financing of prohibited activities related to nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
• The Bill also proposes to empower the Central government to freeze, seize or attach funds or financial assets or economic resources for preventing financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) and to prohibit making available funds or resources for such activities.

• A bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha seeking the conversion of the National Rail and Transportation University(NTRI), a deemed-to-be-university, into Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya, an autonomous central university.
• The Central Universities Bill, which was introduced by the Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, also seeks to expand the scope of the university from beyond the railways to cover the entire transport sector to support the ambitious growth and modernisation in the field.
• The new university, once the Bill clears both Houses of Parliament, will be funded and administered by the Ministry of Railways.
• The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2022 seeks to amend the Central Universities Act, 2009, inter alia, to provide for the establishment of Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya as a body corporate under the said Act.
• The establishment of the Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya would address the need for talent in the strategically important and expanding transportation sector and meet the demand for trained talent to fuel the growth and expansion of the sector.

• Barely a week after about 500 pigs were culled in Kerala's Wayanad district to prevent the spread of African swine fever detected there, new cases of the disease have been reported from there and Kannur.

• African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a large, double-stranded DNA virus in the Asfarviridae family.
• It is the causative agent of African swine fever (ASF).
• The virus causes a hemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in domestic pigs; some isolates can cause death of animals as quickly as a week after infection.
• It persistently infects its natural hosts, warthogs, bushpigs, and soft ticks of the genus Ornithodoros, which likely act as a vector, with no disease signs.
• It does not cause disease in humans.
• ASFV is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa and exists in the wild through a cycle of infection between ticks and wild pigs, bushpigs, and warthogs.
• The disease was first described after European settlers brought pigs into areas endemic with ASFV, and as such, is an example of an emerging infectious disease.
• ASFV replicates in the cytoplasm of infected cells.
• It is the only virus with a double-stranded DNA genome known to be transmitted by arthropods.

Acts and Policies
The Indian Antarctic Bill

What's the NEWS

• Parliament passed the Indian Antarctic Bill, 2022, which aims at having India's own national measures for protecting the Antarctic environment as also the dependent and associated ecosystem.

• The bill is in pursuant to India's accession to Antarctic Treaty, the Protocol on Environment Protection (Madrid Protocol) to the Antarctic Treaty and to the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.
• The main aim of the Bill is also to ensure de-militarization of the region along with getting it rid of mining or illegal activities.
• It also aims that there should not be any nuclear test / explosion in the region.
• The bill seeks to protect the environment of the Antarctic along with dependent and associated ecosystems and to give effect to the Antarctic Treaty.
• India has two active research stations in the Antarctic -- Maitri and Bharti.
• The bill proposes to prohibit Indian expedition to Antarctica without a permit or written authorisation of another party to the Antarctic Treaty.
• It also provides for inspection by an officer appointed by the government and for a penalty for contravention of certain provisions of the legislation.

• The Bill also proposed to set-up the Indian Antarctic Authority (IAA) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, which shall be the apex decision making authority and shall facilitate programmes and activities permitted under the Bill.
• It shall provide a stable, transparent and accountable process for the sponsorship and supervision of Antarctic research and expeditions
• Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences will be the Chairperson of the IAA

India in Antarctica

• India today has two operational research stations in Antarctica named Maitri (Commissioned in 1989) and Bharati (Commissioned in 2012).
• India has successfully launched 40 annual scientific expeditions to Antarctica till date.
• With Himadri station in Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, Arctic, India now belongs to the elite group of nations that have multiple research stations within the Polar Regions.

The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources

• It was signed at Canberra on the 20th day of May, 1980, inter alia, for the protection and preservation of the Antarctic environment and, in particular, for the preservation and conservation of marine living resources in Antarctica.
• India ratified the Convention on 17th June, 1985 and is a member of the Commission for Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources under that Convention.
• The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was signed at Madrid on 4th October, 1991, inter alia, to strengthen the Antarctic Treaty system and for the development of a comprehensive regime for the protection of the Antarctic environment and dependent and associated ecosystems.
• India signed the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty on 14th January, 1998.

• A task force on monkeypox has been constituted to closely monitor the emerging situation in the country and decide on response initiatives to tackle the spread of the disease,
• The task force will be headed by Dr V K Paul, NITI Aayog member (health).
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 18,000 cases have been reported from 78 countries.
• Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease caused by the monkeypox virus, which belongs to the same family of viruses that causes smallpox.
• The disease is endemic in regions like West and Central Africa, but lately, cases have been reported from non-endemic countries too, according to WHO.