Why in news?

• Canada became the first country in the world that has authorized the use of a plant-based COVID-19 vaccine.
• The two-dose vaccine of Medicago Inc. (a biopharma company owned by Mitsubishi Chemical and Philip Morris), can be given to adults who are aged between 18 to 64, but little data is available on the shots received by people aged 65 and above.
• The decision to authorize the vaccine was based on a study conducted on 24,000 adults that showed the efficacy rate of the vaccine is 71% at preventing COVID-19 – although the tests were conducted before the omicron variant emerged. Covifenz is the name given to this vaccine.
• Canada agreed to buy 20 million doses of this plant-based vaccine, with an option to purchase 56 million additional doses.

Why in news?

• The Zero Discrimination Day is held every year on the 1st of March. The day aims to ensure right to equality, inclusion and protection of all people without any discrimination in their law and policies to live a full life with dignity regardless of any barriers.
• Zero Discrimination Day highlights how people can become informed about and promote inclusion, compassion, peace and, above all, a movement for change. Zero Discrimination Day is helping to create a global movement of solidarity to end all forms of discrimination.
• The theme of Zero Discrimination Day 2022: “Remove laws that harm, create laws that empower”, UNAIDS is highlighting the urgent need to take action against discriminatory laws.
• Zero Discrimination Day was first celebrated on March 1, 2014,and was launched by UNAIDS Executive Director at Beijing after UNAIDS launched its Zero Discrimination Campaign on World AIDS Day in December 2013.

Why in news?

• Tamil Nadu government has begun work to set up the first Dugong Conservation Reserve of India in the Palk Bay region.
• Dugongs are endangered species and are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act’s, 1972 Schedule 1.
• The size of the reserve will be spread over around 500 sq km and will be located in Palk Bay’s northern part from Adiramapattinam to Amapattinam.
• For the first 5 years, Rs 5 crore would be the initial cost for the reserve’s establishment.
• There are plans to build enhanced seagrass beds and an international conservation centre under the Climate Change Mission.

About Dugong

• The dugong is a sirenian species found along the Indian coast.
• Dugongs are related to manatees and have a similar plump appearance to them, but they have a tail that looks like a dolphin’s fluke.
• Unlike manatees, which live in freshwater, dugongs are purely marine mammals. Dugongs are also known as Sea Cows. They graze, on seagrass, in shallow coastal waters of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans.

The population of Dugong in India

• The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) states that only 200-250 dugongs are left, of which 150 are found in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay.
• The dugong is on the verge of becoming extinct. The Dugong population of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is less than 100. In the Gulf of Mannar, there are only a few left.
• There are only a few sporadic records in the Gulf of Kutch. They were once common in Lakshadweep but are now extinct locally.

Why in news?

• The ministry of external affairs set up 24×7 control centres in order to assist the evacuation of Indian nationals from Ukraine.
• India also launched a multi-prong evacuation plan titled ‘Operation Ganga’.
• Indian nationals will be evacuated through border crossing points with Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Slovak Republic. Ministry has activated a dedicated Twitter handle, ‘OpGanga’.
• India started the evacuation of stranded citizens on February 26, under Operation Ganga, as Russia intensified its offensive against Ukraine.
• Evacuation operation started after Ukrainian airspace was shut for civil aircraft operations from February 24. So far, Indian government has managed to fly three special flights of Air India to bring back stranded citizens.
• The India Government is bearing the cost of evacuation, amid prevailing emergency situation. Under Operation Ganga, around 15,000 stranded Indians will be evacuated from Ukraine.

Why in news?

• New Development Bank (NDB) will become the 1^st multilateral agency to open an office in the Gujarat International Finance Tec (Gift) City, Gujarat which will start its operation by the mid of May 2022.
• NDB also expects to partner with the newly launched National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NBFID) to support crucial infrastructure projects in India.

About New Development Bank

• NDB was set up in 2014 by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa)
• It started operations in 2015 at Shanghai, China (headquarters) with the objective of mobilising resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS as well as other emerging markets.

Why in news?

• BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL), a subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure commissioned India’s first ‘Smart Managed EV (Electric Vehicle) Charging Station’ in New Delhi.
• The project is supported by Nordic Innovation, an organization promoted by the governments of Nordic countries, and executed by Fortum Charge & Drive.
• Nordic countries-Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Greenland.
• The management and operation of Smart EV Charging Stations will be under BYPL.
• It has the capacity to charge five EVs simultaneously and the charging station can be integrated with BYPL’s SCADA system. It is located at BYPL’s 11 kV substation building in Mayur Vihar Extension Phase-I in New Delhi.
• It is also Demand Response (DR) compatible, which is an important demand side management (DSM) tool for bearing the high load.

Why in news?

• On 25 February 2022, the Ministry of Education (MoE) launched a campaign named “Bhasha Certificate Se!fie’ to encourage cultural diversity and promote multilingualism and promote the spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.
• This campaign is to promote the Bhasha Sangam mobile app which was developed by MoE and My Gov India.
• It encourages people to upload their selfie with the certificate from their social media accounts using the hashtag #BhashaCertificateSelfie.
• The certificate will be authorized by MoE, which will be provided in Bhasha Sangam mobile app once the user finishes all the levels of the given test.
• The app is available in 22 scheduled Indian languages. It provides the opportunity to learn more than 100 sentences of daily use in these languages.
• The 8^th Schedule to the Constitution consists of the 22 languages.

About Bhasha Sangam Initiative:

• It was launched to commemorate Rashtriya Ekta Diwas which is celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel i.e 31st October.
• It is an initiative of the Ministry of Education (MoE) under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.
• It is developed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
• Objective- to ensure that people acquire basic conversational skills in Indian languages other than their mother tongue.
• Three sub-initiatives under the Bhasha Sangam scheme:
• Bhasha Sangam initiative for Schools
• Bhasha Sangam Mobile App
• Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat (EBSB) Mobile Quiz app

Why in news?

• Odisha’s first tribal chief minister as well as last Congress chief minister of the state, Hemananda Biswal passed away. He was 82.
• Biswal, a Bhuyan tribal from Jharsuguda district, served as the chief minister twice from 1989 to 1990 and 1999 to 2000.
• In December 1999, he was again made chief minister after erstwhile chief minister Giridhari Gamang was replaced over his failure in relief and rehabilitation measures in the aftermath of the 1999 super cyclone that ripped through the Odisha coast.
• Biswal began his political journey as a chairman of Kirimira panchayat Samiti in the Jharsuguda district.
• He was elected to the Odisha assembly for the first time in 1974 from Laikera constituency.
• He was elected to the assembly as MLA six times from the same seat. In 2009 he was elected as an MP from Sundargarh.

Why in news?

• The third edition of the joint military exercise “EX DHARMA GUARDIAN-2022” between India and Japan will be conducted from 27 February to 10 March 2022, at Belagavi (Belgaum), Karnataka.
• The 15th Battalion the Maratha Light Infantry Regiment of the Indian Army and 30th Infantry Regiment of Japanese Ground Self Defence Forces (JGSDF) are participating in this 12 days long joint exercise.

About the exercise:

• The military exercise will focus on operations in Jungle & Semi-Urban/Urban terrains.
• The exercise aims at enhancing the inter-operability and foster mutual understanding between the two Armies.
• Exercise DHARMA GUARDIAN is an annual military training event, being conducted in India since 2018.

Why in news?

• Indian weightlifter and 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver-medallist, Mirabai Chanu has won the gold medal in the 55kg weight category at the Singapore Weightlifting International 2022.
• Chanu lifted 191kg (86kg+105kg) to stand on top of the podium.
• With this win, the 27-year-old Chanu has qualified for the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham in the 55kg weight category.
• She has also qualified for the CWG in the 49kg weight category on the basis of her Commonwealth rankings.