• National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi has announced ONLINE NAIMISHA 2020- Summer Art Program from 8th June 2020 to 3rd July 2020.

• The month-long ONLINE summer program by NGMA, New Delhi is an initiative to provide a chance to its participants to create and learn from practicing artists without compromising their health.
• Four inclusive workshops have been planned by NGMA to engage and increase engagement virtually.
• In the online NAIMISH 2020 program, four workshops will be organized entitled Painting workshop, Sculpture workshop, Printmaking and Indrajaal - The Magic of Art (Interdisciplinary creative workshop to understand Freedom
• The title of the program NAIMISHA-represents a sacred place where people offer their shraddha or devotion.
• The exhibition of selected artworks from NAIMISHA 2020 Summer Art Program will be displayed virtually on SO-HAM the Cultural media platform of NGMA

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Nasopharyngeal swab ) + Mains ( GS III awareness in the field of S&T + GS II Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health

What's the NEWS

• CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL), Pune, has developed an indigenous NP swab for collecting samples from the throat cavity of COVID-19 patients.

Know! about Nasopharyngeal swab

• Nasopharyngeal swab is a medical device with stringent specifications of quality, polymer grade, dimensions and sterilization.
• An NP swab consists of a cylindrical plastic stick with a brush-like tip of synthetic bristles/flocks.
• The flocking process helps align the fine bristles in a parallel orientation on the stick head, much like a tooth brush, except that this has round uniform geometry and the NP swab bristles are of micron diameter.

Economy
Payment Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF)

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about PIDF - objective + about Acceptance Development Fund) + Mains ( GS III Economic development)
What's the NEWS

• In an effort to give a push to digital payments across the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is coming up with a Payment Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) of Rs 500 crore.

Know! more about PIDF

• The RBI has made an initial contribution of Rs 250 crore covering half the fund.
• The remaining will come from the card issuing banks and card networks operating in the country.
• This fund has been created to encourage acquirers to deploy point of sale (PoS) infrastructure, both physical and digital, in tier-3 to tier-6 centres and north eastern states.
• This is in line with the measures proposed by the vision document on payment and settlement systems in India 2019-2021.
• The fund will be governed through an advisory council but it will be managed and administered by the RBI.

Acceptance Development Fund

• Last year, the RBI had also proposed to set up an Acceptance Development Fund which will be used to develop card acceptance infrastructure across small towns and cities.

International
Oil spill in Russia's Arctic region

Relevance IN - Prelims ( Ambarnaya river - location )
What's the NEWS

• Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a state of emergency after 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil to spilled into a Ambarnaya river, turning its surface crimson red.

Know! more about it

• Russia declared a state of emergency five days after a power plant fuel leak in its Arctic region caused 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil to escape into a local river, turning its surface crimson red.
• The Ambarnaya river, into which the oil has been discharged, is part of a network that flows into the environmentally sensitive Arctic Ocean.
• The emergency measures were announced within Russia's Krasnoyarsk Region, located in the vast and sparsely populated Siberian peninsula.
• The power plant is located near the Region's Norilsk city, around 3000 km northeast of Moscow.
• Ambarnaya is a river in Siberia which flows in a northerly direction into Lake Pyasino. On leaving Lake Pyasino, the waters emerge as the Pyasina River.

Prelims Factoids
The virtual Global Vaccine Summit 2020

Relevance in - Prelims (about the GAVI Alliance)
What's the NEWS

• India has pledged 15 Million US Dollars to Gavi, the international vaccine alliance.
• Prime Minister of India participated in the virtual Global Vaccine Summit hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in which over 50 countries

Know! about GAVI

• The GAVI Alliance (formerly the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation) is a global health partnership of public and private sector organizations dedicated to "immunisation for all"
• GAVI brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialised and developing countries, research and technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists.
• Gavi was created to bring together the best of what key UN agencies, governments, the vaccine industry, private sector and civil society had to offer in order to improve childhood immunisation coverage in poor countries and to accelerate access to new vaccines.

Environment
Environment ministry issues advisory to import live exotic animals
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about exotic animals + about CITES) + Mains ( GS III Environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) issued an advisory to streamline and formalise the process of importing live exotic animals.

Know! about exotic animals

• The advisory has defined them as those that are mentioned under the Appendices of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), but not under the schedules of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

Know! about the import of exotic species

• Many exotic species of birds, reptiles and amphibians are imported into India for commercial purposes.
• These imports were happening though the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT)
• Earlier the imports were beyond the purview of the forest departments and the chief wildlife wardens and they weren't aware about them. Now, with this advisory, they'll be kept in the loop.
• The advisory has provisions for import and disclosure of exotic animals and their progeny already in India.
• A person trying to import a live exotic animal will have to submit an application for grant of a licence to the DGFT, under the provisions of the advisory.

Know! about CITES

• CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments.
• Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

Know! about the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972

• It is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted for protection of plants and animal species.
• The Act provides for the protection of wild animals, birds and plants; and for matters connected there with or ancillary or incidental thereto.
• It extends to the whole of India. It has six schedules which give varying degrees of protection.
• Schedule I and part II of Schedule II provide absolute protection - offences under these are prescribed the highest penalties.
• Species listed in Schedule III and Schedule IV are also protected, but the penalties are much lower.
• Schedule V includes the animals which may be hunted.
• The specified endemic plants in Schedule VI are prohibited from cultivation and planting.

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