Great White Shark

• A major study decoded Great White Shark entire genome and found that it could hold new clues to the fight against cancer.
• The great white shark is also known as the great white, white shark or white pointer.
• It is one of the most powerful and dangerous predatory sharks in the world.
• They are a large shark and grow up to at least 20 feet long, or 6.1 meters.
• They are frequently centered in highly productive temperate coastal waters.
• It the only known surviving species of its genus Carcharodon.
• According to IUCN, the species is classified as vulnerable.

HOPE Portal

• The revamped certification process is driven through a new portal called HOPE – Healthcare Organizations’ Platform for Entry-Level-Certification.
• It is an online platform for smooth and secure registration which provides a self-explanatory questionnaire to be filled by the HCO/SHCOs.
• It ensures quality at nascent stages by enrolling a wide range of hospitals across the country including Healthcare Organizations (HCOs).
• HOPE also enables them to comply with quality protocols, improve patient safety and the overall healthcare facility of the organization.

National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA)

• National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) is a network project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) launched in, 2011.
• The project aims to enhance resilience of Indian agriculture to climate change and climate vulnerability through strategic research and technology demonstration.
• The research on adaptation and mitigation covers crops, livestock, fisheries and natural resource management.

Graveyard Orbits

• It is a higher orbit where the satellites are transferred to, after they reach the end of their mission.
• It is mostly used for the disposal of geostationary satellites that orbit directly above Earth’s equator at a height of 35,786 kilometers.
• It usually lies 300km above the geostationary orbit.
• This is done to prevent collisions with other operational satellites and also to make space for new satellites in the geostationary orbit.

NABH

• NABH, a constituent body of QCI, has been working to ensure reliability, efficiency and global accreditation in Indian healthcare sector using contemporary methodologies and tools, standards of patient safety and infection control.
• NABH accreditation provides assurance of quality and care in hospitals at par with international benchmarks.
• NABH has designed an exhaustive healthcare standard for hospitals and healthcare providers that have been accredited by ISQUA the apex international accreditation body.

Mycetoma disease

• Recently group of experts from WHO called for a combined action to address Mycetoma disease.
• Mycetoma is a disease characterized by disabling deformities and associated with severe morbidity.
• It is an inflammatory disease of the skin, connective tissue, muscle and bone, results from infection caused by more than 70 bacterial or fungal microorganisms.
• The tropical disease is known to affect rural populations, particularly those who walk barefoot, like agricultural laborers and herdsmen.
• If not detected and managed early, this disease can cause limb deformity and, in advanced cases, lead to amputation and death.

National Commission for DNTs

• The Government in July 2014 had constituted National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNT) for a period of three years to prepare a State-wise list of castes belonging to DNTs.
• The Commission recommended for the setting of up a Permanent Commission for these communities.
• Since most of the DNTs are covered in SC, ST or OBC, constitution of a Permanent Commission will not be very effective in implementing development programmes.
• Rather it will look at grievance redressal and will therefore be in conflict with mandate of existing commissions for SCs, STs and OBCs.

Operation Digital Board (ODB)

• It was launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
• It has been launched on the lines of Operation Blackboard to provide better digital education in schools.
• It aims to set up one digital and interactive board per classroom in government and government-aided schools
• 7 lakh classrooms of 9^th, 10^th and 11^th standards and 2 lakh classrooms of colleges and Universities will be covered in the next 3 years.
• University Grants Commission will be the implementing agency for ODB in Higher Education Institutions.

SWAYATT

• It is an initiative launched by the Ministry of Commerce and Industries.
• It is to promote Start-ups, Women and Youth Advantage Through e-transactions on Government e Marketplace (GeM).
• This will bring together the key stakeholders within the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem to GeM.
• GeM Start-up Runway, an initiative of GeM in association with Start -up India, was also launched.
• It is to facilitate Start-ups registered with Start -up India.
• It will be an aid to access the public procurement market and sell innovative products and services to government buyers.
• Both these initiatives will reach out and empower the diverse groups in our country.

Tele-Law and Nyaya Bandhu

• Tele-Law (mobile application and dashboard) and Nyaya Bandhu (mobile application) were launched recently by Department of Justice (DoJ), Ministry of Law and Justice.
• Tele-Law is about mainstreaming Legal Aid through Common Service Centers while Nyaya Bandhu is about Pro Bono Legal Services (Free Legal Services).

• The tele-law services across the country provide every litigant access to free legal aid services.
• The Nyaya bandhu app service was developed to accelerate and facilitate practicing advocates to register and connect with the registered eligible beneficiaries.
• Both the programs are aimed at fulfilling the State’s constitutional obligation of providing “free legal aid” for all (Article 39A).

Atmospheric Water Generator

• The AWG is being manufactured by BEL in collaboration with CSIR-IICT and MAITHRI, a start-up company based in Hyderabad.
• It employs a novel technology to extract water from the humidity present in the atmosphere and purify it.
• It uses heat exchange for condensing the atmospheric moisture to produce pure, safe and clean potable water.
• It comes with a Mineralization Unit, which is used to add minerals which are required to make the water potable.
• The AWG is configurable in static and mobile (vehicular) versions and is available in 30 litres/day, 100 litres/day, 500 litres/day and 1,000 litres/day capacities.

Women Livelihood Bond

• The bonds, which will have a tenure of five years, will be launched by SIDBI with the support of World Bank and UN Women.
• The proposed bond will enable individual women entrepreneurs in sectors like food processing, agriculture, services and small units to borrow around Rs 50,000 to Rs 3 lakh at an annual interest rate of around 13-14 per cent or less.
• SIDBI will act as the financial intermediary and channel funds raised to women entrepreneurs through participating financial intermediaries like banks, NBFCs or microfinance institutions.