• Scientists have discovered a ninth variety of the endangered mammal, pangolin.
• Previously, the scientific community acknowledged four species each in Asia and Africa.
  • Four species live in Africa: Black-bellied pangolin , White-bellied pangolin, Giant Ground pangolin and Temminck’s Ground pangolin.
  • Four species found in Asia: Indian pangolin, Philippine pangolin, Sunda pangolin, and the Chinese pangolin.
• This new species, tentatively named “Manis mysteria”, is believed to have diverged from its Philippine and Malayan relatives approximately five million years ago.
• The newly identified pangolin species emerged from a detailed study of scales seized in China’s Yunnan province in 2015 and 2019.
• Despite the exciting discovery, the exact habitat of Manis mysteria remains a mystery.

ABOUT PANGOLINS

• Only mammals wholly covered in scales made of keratin.
• They are often referred to as “scaly anteaters” due to their characteristic scales and their diet, which primarily consists of ants and termites.
• When threatened, pangolins can curl into a tight ball, with their scales forming a protective barrier.
• Pangolins have no teeth.
• They are most active at night and are solitary creatures.
• Pangolin species found in India
  • Indian Pangolin-IUCN Red List status – Endangered, WPA 1972-Schedule 1
  • Chinese Pangolin-IUCN Red List status – Critically Endangered, WPA 1972-Schedule 1
• Threats
  • Pangolins have been under threat due to their scales, used in traditional medicine, and their meat, considered a delicacy in some regions.
  • From 2004 to 2014, it is estimated that over a million pangolins were poached, leading to an international trade ban on this species in 2016.
  • They are the most trafficked mammals in the world.
  • All pangolin species are listed in Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix I.

• India has maintained its 40^th rank in the latest Global Innovation Index (GII) 2023, making it a leading position holder among the lower middle-income country group.
• The GII tracks the innovation ecosystem performance of 132 global economies and the most recent global innovation trends.
• The GII is a reliable tool for governments across the world to assess the innovation-led social and economic changes in their respective countries.
• It is co-published annually by Cornell University, INSEAD Business School, and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).
• Top 5 rankers
  • Switzerland (for the 13^th consecutive year)
  • Sweden
  • USA
  • United Kingdom
  • Singapore

Findings about India

• The country ranked first among the 37 lower-middle group income and first among the 10 economies in Central and South America.
• It holds the record for overperforming on innovation for the 13th consecutive year.
  • Along with India, the Republic of Moldova and Vietnam have also been innovation overperformers for 13 years in a row
• India holds top rankings in key indicators, including ICT services exports (at place 5), VC received (6), graduates in science and engineering (11) and global corporate R&D investors (13).
• Other parameters where India performed fairly better include– cultural and creative services exports as percentage of trade (18th rank), intangible asset intensity (8th rank), and overall market sophistication (20th rank).
• The broad areas where a lot of improvement needs to happen are infrastructure (84th rank), business sophistication (57) and institutions (56).
  • This year, the NITI Aayog will virtually be hosting ‘the India Launch of the GII 2023’ in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry and the WIPO.

ABOUT WIPO

• WIPO is one of the specialised agencies of United Nations created in 1967.
• Aim-to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world.
• WIPO currently administers 26 international treaties.
• Members- 195 (including India since1975)
• HQ- Geneva, Switzerland.

• Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan, the father of green revolution in India, passed away recently at the age of 98.
• He had played a crucial role in heralding the Green Revolution that helped India combat food insecurity.

ABOUT M S SWAMINATHAN

• He was born in Kumbakonam, Madras Presidency in 1925.
• He cleared the examination for the civil services but Swaminathan was interested in agriculture foremost and soon ended up pursuing research in the field.
• He served as the Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
• He also became Director General of the International Rice Research Institute in Philippines
• He established M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in 1988.
• He was the Chairman of the National Commission on Farmers in 2004.

CONTRIBUTION TO GREEN REVOLUTION

• He was the architect of India’s Green Revolution.
• Swaminathan worked on enhancing crop varieties, particularly rice and wheat and pioneered the development of semi-dwarf wheat varieties to reduce lodging and boost yields.
• Collaborated with Norman Borlaug to develop high-yielding dwarf wheat varieties suitable for Indian conditions.
• Components of Green Revolution: Use of High-Yeilding Variety (HYV) seeds, Application of fertilizers, Mechanization of farming, Price Incentives.
• He also recognized the challenges of the Green Revolution, including the displacement of local crop varieties, soil fertility conservation issues, and indiscriminate pesticide use.

AWARDS

• Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1971, UNEP Sasakawa Environment Prize in 1994, UNESCO Gandhi Gold Medal in 1999.
• Swaminathan was awarded the first World Food Prize Laureate in 1987 for his contributions to India’s wheat and rice production.
• He received the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan.

• World Heart Day is observed annually on September 29^th around the world.
• In 2023, the theme for World Heart Day is “Use Heart, Know Heart”
• The first World Heart Day was celebrated in 1999.
• The date of September 29th was chosen as it marks the anniversary of the foundation of the World Heart Federation, which was established in 1978.
  • World Heart Federation is a global non-governmental organization dedicated to the prevention and control of cardiovascular disease.

• State-run V O Chidambaranar (VOC) Port, located in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district, has become the first port in India to handle green ammonia with the arrival of three 20-inch tank containers loaded with the fuel from the Port of Damietta in Egypt for Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd.
  • VOC Port is one of the 12 ports owned by the Union government.

About Green Ammonia

• Green Ammonia, referred to as the ‘fuel of the future’, has gained prominence as a cleaner and greener alternative to traditional fossil fuels.
• It is produced through a process that utilizes renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, to generate hydrogen, which is then combined with nitrogen to create ammonia.
• This process significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional ammonia production methods.
• Applications– a clean energy source for ships, power generation and even as a fertiliser.

• An environmental scientist has warned that it could take 20 years to stop outbreaks of toxic blue-green algae in Lough Neagh.
• The lake has been heavily polluted with cyanobacteria, which is poisonous for humans and animals, since May.

ABOUT LOUGH NEAGH

• It is the largest freshwater lake in Ireland or the UK.
• It has an area of about 392 sq. km.
• It supplies water to 40% of Northern Ireland’s people.
• Lough Neagh was the first Ramsar Site declared in Northern Ireland in 1976.

• Recently Jharkhand’s CM penned a letter to PM urging the acknowledgment of the ‘Sarna’ religious practices among tribal communities.
• He highlighted that the tribal population in the state has decreased from 38 percent to 26 percent over the past eight decades.

ABOUT SARNA FAITH

• Followers of Sarna faith regard themselves as belonging to a distinct religious group, and are nature worshippers.
• The holy grail of the Sarna faith is “Jal (water), Jungle (forest), Zameen (land)” and its followers pray to the trees and hills while believing in protecting the forest areas.
• Believers of Sarna faith do not practice idol worship, nor do they adhere to the concept of the Varna system, heaven-hell, etc.
• The followers are largely concentrated in the tribal belt states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam.
• Several surveys and reports have indicated that over 50 lakhs tribal people in the entire country put their religion as ‘Sarna’ in the 2011 census, although it was not a code.

• The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has urged the government to raise the guaranteed pension amount under the Atal Pension Yojana (APY).
• The current sum may not entice potential subscribers to join the scheme.

ABOUT ATAL PENSION YOJANA (APY)

• APY is a contributory scheme aimed at establishing a universal social security system for workers in the unorganised sector.
• APY replaced Swavalamban Scheme.
• Administered by PFRDA under National Pension System.
• Nodal Ministry – Ministry of Finance
• Currently, subscribers between 18 years to 40 years contribute and receive a fixed pension amount ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 after turning 60.
• As of 16 September, APY has 50 million subscribers and Rs 30,694 crore in assets under management (AUM).

• Times Higher Education (THE) has announced results of the 2024 edition of World University Rankings.
• THE has considered 1,904 universities across 108 countries and regions for 2024 rankings.
• In the global list, UK’s University of Oxford is in the top spot, followed by Stanford University and MIT in second and third places.
• This time, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore has featured in the 201-250 bracket.
• Four Indian varsities – Anna University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Mahatma Gandhi University and Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences – are in the 501-600 bracket.
• A record 91 Indian universities have made it to the list this year making a significant improvement in the country’s rank.
  • Only 75 institutes from India were included in the rankings last year.
• India has now become the fourth best represented nation in the 2024 World University Rankings.
  • India was ranked at the sixth position last year.

• Recent scientific research has revealed that traits inherited from Neanderthals and Denisovans, another extinct hominin species, continue to influence our health, biology, and even our response to diseases like Covid-19.
• Recent studies have linked Neanderthal DNA to various human traits and diseases. For instance, researchers have found connections between Neanderthal genes and a serious hand disease, the shape of people’s noses, and even our immune response to pathogens.
• The amount of Neanderthal or Denisovan DNA present in modern humans varies depending on geographical location and ancestral lineage.
  • While some African populations have almost no Neanderthal DNA, those from European or Asian backgrounds carry about 1% to 2%.
  • Denisovan DNA is barely detectable in most parts of the world but makes up 4% to 6% of the DNA of people in Melanesia, extending from New Guinea to the Fiji Islands.
• These genetic remnants can have both beneficial and detrimental effects on our health.
  • For example, Neanderthal DNA has been linked to autoimmune diseases like Graves’ disease and rheumatoid arthritis.
  • On the other hand, interbreeding with Neanderthals and Denisovans likely bolstered our ancestors’ immune systems, providing a quick fix to diseases prevalent in Europe and Asia.

ABOUT NEANDERTHALS (HOMO NEANDERTHALENSIS)

• Neanderthals are our closest extinct human relative.
• They lived throughout Europe and parts of Asia from about 400,000 until about 40,000 years ago.
• Physical features include long, low skull with a characteristic prominent brow ridge above their eyes, relatively short and stocky bodies.
• They co-existed with modern humans for long periods of time before eventually becoming extinct.

ABOUT DENISOVANS

• Denisovans are also an extinct species of hominid and were close relatives of Neanderthals.
• They lived lakhs of years ago, coexisting with Neanderthals in some regions, and interbreeding with early modern humans in some cases.
• The Denisovans are a much more recent addition to the human family tree.
• They were first identified as a separate species in 2010, following the discovery of a fragment of a finger bone and two teeth, dating back to about 40,000 years ago, in the Denisovan Cave in Siberia.
• Denisovan fossils are so rare because their population was smaller than that of Neanderthals.