Daily Current Capsules - 31^st JULY 2019

Focus Article
Environment Conservation
All India Tiger Estimation 2018 released by Prime Minister
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the The report, Status of Tigers Co-predators & Prey in India, 2018 findings) + Mains ( GS III environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• The report, Status of Tigers Co-predators & Prey in India, 2018, released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, shows that the number of tigers in the country have increased to 2,967 (range: 2,603-3,346) in 2018 from 2,226 (range: 1,945-2,491) in 2014.
• As per the latest census the population of the tiger has increased to 2,967. "In five years, the number of protected areas increased from 692 to over 860, community reserves from 43 to over 100
• This is a 33 per cent increase over the 2014 census. With this, India has achieved the target set in 2010 St Petersburg Declaration of doubling tiger population by 2022.

Know! about St. Petersburg declaration

• 29 July is celebrated across the world as Global Tiger Day to create awareness about tiger conservation and protection of natural habitat of tigers.
• This day act as a reminder of agreement signed by countries at Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia in 2010, to raise awareness about decline of global tiger population.
• Signatories declared an agreement that governments of tiger-populated countries would double animal's population by 2022

Know! more about the tiger census and its findings

• The tiger count is prepared after every four years by National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) provides details on the number of tigers in the 18 tiger reign states with 50 tiger reserves.
• Divided into four phases, the survey began last winter and is the fourth version of the quadrennial exercise, whose earlier versions were held in 2006, 2010 and 2014.
• The 2018 census though has been the most technologically intensive wildlife enumeration exercise ever undertaken by the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun - an Environment Ministry-funded body tasked with coordinating the exercise since 2006.
• For the first time the census also included data collected from the rough terrains of north-eastern states which was not possible due to logistic constrains before.
• The entire exercise spanned over four years is considered to be world's largest wildlife survey effort in terms of coverage and intensity of sampling.
• Taking a step further, authorities have attempted to digitize the records by mandating the use of a GIS based app called M-STRiPES (Monitoring System For Tigers-Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) developed by Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India.
• For the 2018 estimation process, an area of 3,81,400 square kilometres (sq km) of forest was surveyed. In 2014, the estimation process involved surveying an area of 3,78,118 sq km of forests.
• The year-long tiger estimation process carried out in 2018-19 and compiled by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) did not register any presence of the striped big cat in Buxa Tiger Reserve (TR) in West Bengal, Palamu TR in Jharkhand and Dampa TR in Mizoram.

Reduction in occupied areas was due to

• not finding evidence of tiger presence in sampled forests (20 per cent actual loss), and
• not sampling forests that had tiger presence in 2014 (eight per cent)
• The decline was spread over three out of India's five tiger landscapes: The Shivalik, Western Ghats and the North East reported a loss of 469 sq km, 527 sq km and 6,589 sq km respectively; Central India and the Sundarbans landscapes registered an increase of 7,532 sq km and 479 sq km respectively.
• In the Status report of 2014, the tiger population of Buxa, Palamu and Dampa stood at 2 (Bauxa TR), 3 (Dampa TR) and 3 (Palamu TR).
• The overall tiger occupancy of 88,985 sq km was almost the same as the 88,558 sq km in 2014.
• Madhya Pradesh saw the highest number of tigers at 526, closely followed by Karnataka at 524 and Uttarakhand at number 3 with 442 tigers.
• While Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of tigers, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu registered the "maximum improvement" since 2014.
• Chhattisgarh and Mizoram saw a decline in their tiger numbers while tiger numbers in Odisha remained constant. All other states witnessed a positive trend.

Know! Project Tiger

• Project Tiger is a tiger conservation programme launched in April 1973 from the Jim Corbett National Park.
• The project is administrated by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
• It aims at ensuring a viable population of Bengal tigers in their natural habitats, protecting them from extinction etc.
• Under this project the govt. has set up a Tiger Protection Force to combat poachers and funded relocation of villagers to minimize human-tiger conflicts.

Know! about International Tiger Day

• International Tiger Day was created at Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit (SPTS) 2010.
• Objective of International Tiger Day is to raise awareness about declining numbers of wild tigers.
• In India many government agencies and wild life protection organizations observe various activities on this day.

General Science
World Hepatitis Day 2019
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about viral hepatitis)
What's the NEWS

• Viral hepatitis causes around 1.4 million deaths every year mainly due to viral hepatitis B and C. After tuberculosis, viral hepatitis is second major killer infectious disease. 9 times more people are infected with hepatitis than with HIV.

World Hepatitis Day 2019: Theme

• The theme of World Hepatitis Day 2019 is "Invest in eliminating Hepatitis".
• The theme focuses on the hepatitis elimination goals by 2030, in the context of the universal health coverage.
• The country that will host World Hepatitis Day 2019 is Pakistan. In Islamabad, Pakistan, the global event will be held on 27-28 July 2019.

Know! more about World Hepatitis Day

• This is the world level awareness campaign which is launched as a global health campaign by the World Health Organisation to make the world hepatitis free.
• Earlier, on 1st October, 2004, it was celebrated as an international Hepatitis C Awareness by the patient groups of European and Middle Eastern regions.
• The World Hepatitis Alliance had declared 19th May as the first World Hepatitis Day in association with the patient groups.
• Further, in May 2010 in the 63rd World Health Assembly, the date was changed to 28 July after adopting the earlier declaration. And the name of the day became World Hepatitis Day to increase awareness about the hepatitis disease at national and international level.

Know! about Hepatitis disease

• Hepatitis is an inflammatory condition of the liver. Commonly, it is caused due to viral infection but some other causes are also there.
• Like autoimmune hepatitis that results due to secondary result of medications, drugs, toxins and alcohol.
• Autoimmune disease occurs when body makes antibodies against your liver tissues or due to some toxic substances like alcohol, certain drugs etc.

Liver is present in the right upper area of the abdomen. It performs several critical functions that affect metabolism throughout the body.
- It produces bile juice which is necessary for digestion.
- It filters toxins from the body.
- It helps in the excretion of bilirubin a product of broken-down red blood cells, cholesterol, hormones and drugs.
- It helps in breaking down of carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
Various Glands and Hormones in Human Body

• There are five main hepatitis viruses namely A, B, C, D and E. Hepatitis B and C lead to chronic disease in hundreds of millions of people and together are the most common cause of liver cirrhosis and cancer.
• Hepatitis A and E are mainly caused due to ingestion of contaminated food or water. Hepatitis B, C and D may also cause due to contact with infected body fluids.
• Modes of transmission of these viruses include receipt of contaminated blood or blood products, invasive medical procedures using contaminated equipment and for hepatitis B transmission from mother to baby at birth, from family member to child and also by sexual contact.
• If there is acute infection that limited or no symptoms occur like jaundice, dark urine, extreme fatigue, vomiting and abdominal pain.
• Hepatitis is a disease that is caused due to infectious virus and affects the liver. It is of five types and may leads to some serious diseases. So, proper treatment, diagnose and precaution should be needed. And to raise awareness among people about the hepatitis disease World Hepatitis Day is celebrated on 28 July every year with a particular theme.

National

Conclave of Himalayan States held at Mussoorie

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the conclave of Himalayan states)
What's the NEWS

• The Conclave of Himalayan States was successfully held at Mussoorie on Sunday to discuss the priorities of Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) in the 15th Finance Commission.

Know! more about the conclave

• Initiated by the Government of Uttarakhand with the Integrated Mountain Initiative (IMI) as its knowledge partner, it brought together a galaxy of leaders from New Delhi and the States of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) to deliberate on the development, challenges and potential of IHR.
• It concluded with the adoption of the ‘Mussoorie Resolution 2019'.
• The conclave saw participation of representatives from 11 hill states namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand.
• Himalayan states play most significant role in prime minister's water conservation initiative as most of country's rivers originate in Himalaya thus need is to work towards water conservation, with focus on conserving glaciers, rivers, lakes and water bodies besides reviving water resources which have dried up over years.
• Various other issues related to development of Himalayan States were also discussed in conclave.
• 11 States belonging to Himalayan Region sought Green Bonus from Centre considering their contributions to environmental conservation and to compensate the Himalayan states for their disadvantages.
• The concerned states also asked Centre to set up a dedicated Ministry for region, to deal with problems endemic to them.
• It is for 1st time that states belonging to Himalayan Region have come on a single platform to take a unanimous stand on issue of green bonus and separate ministry for dealing with problems unique to them.
• Deliberation on development challenges and potential of IHR and concluded with adoption of Mussoorie Resolution 2019

Defence
Amphibious ship LCU L-56 commissioned into Navy

Relevance IN - Prelims (about landing craft utility ship)
What's the NEWS

• Landing Craft Utility (LCU) LCU L56 was commissioned into Indian Navy at Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam.
• Indian Navy Ship LCU L-56, the sixth of the Landing Craft Utility (LCU) MK IV class ships, was commissioned into the Indian Navy
• Commissioning the ship, the Vice-Admiral congratulated the GRSE (Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers) for being the first shipyard in the country to have built the 100th warship.

Know! more about the ship and its role

• The induction of LCU 56 will add to maritime and HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief) capability of ANC (Andaman Nicobar Command), as the ship will be deployed for multi-role activities such as beaching operations, search and rescue missions, disaster relief operations, coastal patrol, and surveillance operations along the Andaman and Nicobar Group of Islands
• LCU 56 is an amphibious ship with its primary role being transportation and deployment of main battle tanks, armoured vehicles, troops and equipment from ship to shore.
• The ship would be administered and based in Port Blair under the NAVCC in ANC.
• With a displacement of 900 tonnes, the ship measures 62 metres in length and is fitted with two MTU diesel engines, which provide a sustainable speed of over 15 knots.
• The ship is equipped with the state-of-art equipment and is armed with two 30 mm CRN-91 guns manufactured by Ordnance Factory, Medak.
• The ship is manned by a team comprising four officers and 56 sailors and is also capable of carrying 150 troops.
  
  

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