• Scientists in Chile have discovered a new species of duck-billed dinosaur that lived 72 million years ago in the far south of Chile.
• Gonkoken nanoi is the name of this new dinosaur species from an ancestral lineage of hadrosaurs, which would have migrated to the Southern Hemisphere long before more advanced forms, and it is believed that they may have even reached Antarctica.
• Gonkoken nanoi, the fifth species of dinosaur discovered in Chile, was actually found in 2013, kicking off a decade-long investigation.
• The name Gonkoken comes from the Tehuelche language, the first inhabitants of the region, and means “similar to a wild duck or a swan.”
• It is a species of herbivorous dinosaur previously unknown in the southern hemisphere.
• These were slender-looking dinosaurs, which could easily adopt a bipedal and quadrupedal posture to reach the vegetation at height and ground level.
• This type of duck-billed dinosaur was common in North America, Asia and Europe during the Cretaceous period.

• Six Indian Skimmer eggs laid beside a barrage in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor were washed away recently due to the strong flow of water from the dam, said conservationists.

ABOUT INDIAN SKIMMER

• It is also known as Indian scissors bill.
• They are more widespread in winter; the Indian skimmer is found in the coastal estuaries of western and eastern
  • Chambal River is an important nesting site for Indian Skimmer
• Major Threats include Habitat degradation, excessive and widespread increases in disturbances near the rivers, predation by corvids like house crows etc.
• IUCN Red List Status: Endangered

• Recently, the Union Minister of Heavy Industries unveiled the ground-breaking “Dugdh Sanakalan Sathi Mobile App” at Mussorie, Uttarakhand.

ABOUT DUGDH SANKALAN SATHI APP

• It is designed and developed by Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Limited (REIL).
  • REIL is a “Mini Ratna” Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Heavy Industries.
• It aims to improve the quality of milk, foster transparency among stakeholders, and streamline operations at the grassroots village level, including Milk Cooperative Societies.
• It will inform all services to milk producers in English, Hindi, Punjabi, Telugu and other languages.
• It will help in realizing the commitment of Government to digitize the process and facilitate Direct Benefit transfer to milk producers.
• Real-time milk price will be updated from the cloud server, ensuring transparency and eliminating human errors.
• Direct beneficiary transfers of milk payments and government subsidies to the milk producers’ bank accounts through the app.

• With the increasing incidence of heart diseases, diabetes and other diseases, Jan Aushadhi Kendras have reported a 170 fold higher increase in the sales of medicines over the last nine years.
• According to a report, medicines to treat gastric issues, diabetes, cardiovascular ailments, and pain have seen the highest sales at the Jan Aushadhi Kendras, under the Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP)scheme.

ABOUT PMBJP

• PMBJP was launched by Department of Pharmaceuticals in 2008 with objective of making quality generic medicines available at affordable prices to people.
• Nodal Ministry- Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
• Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI), erstwhile Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI) is implementing agency of PMBJP.

• Medicines available under scheme are priced 50-90% less than branded medicines.
  • Generic drug has exactly same active ingredient as the brand name drug and yields same therapeutic effect.
• They are sold at a cheaper price because the manufacturers do not have to work on R&D or conduct clinical trials.
• National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories perform quality assurance testing on all medications purchased under this programme.

Under Patents Act, 2005- Generic versions of patented drugs will be permitted to be manufactured and exported under a Compulsory License (CL) to meet major health needs of underdeveloped countries.

• FAO released Food outlook that contained forecasts of production, trade, utilisation and stock levels across the world’s major basic foodstuffs.
  • It is a biannual report.
  • It estimates that the global food bill will rise to $1.98 trillion in 2023, up 1.5 percent from 2022. It rose by 11 percent in 2022 and 18 percent in 2021.
  • The import bill for the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) is predicted to decline by 1.5 % this year and that for net food-importing developing countries (NFIDCs) to decline by 4.9%.

ABOUT FAO

• It was founded in 1945, a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.
• Members: 194 countries (including India) and European Union.
• Objectives-
  • Eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition;
  • Elimination of poverty and driving forward of economic and social progress for all; and
  • Sustainable management and utilization of natural resources, including land, water, air, climate and genetic resources.
• Its sister bodies are the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
• Other major reports published by the FAO-
  • The State of the World’s Forests (SOFO),
  • The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA),
  • The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO),
  • The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI)

SOME INITIATIVES OF THE FAO

• The Codex Alimentarius Commission is in charge of overseeing the implementation of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme.
• Monitors the status of Desert Locusts all over the world.
• The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture was adopted by the Thirty-First Session of the Conference of the FAO in 2001.
• Agricultural Heritage Systems of Global Importance (GIAHS).

• The Odisha state unit of the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has proposed to declare the ‘Natural Arch’ in the Kanika range of Sundargarh forest division, a Geo Heritage Site.
  • If it is done, it will be the biggest natural arch of the country to have the Geo Heritage tag.
• The Sundargarh natural arch, present in the ferruginous sandstone of the Upper Kamthi formation, dates back to about 184 to 160 million years in the lower to middle Jurassic age.
• It is an oval-shaped arch and has a length of 30 metres at the base and is 12 metres high.
  • The alcove of the natural arch has a maximum height and width of 7 metres and 15 metres, respectively.
• Formation of the natural arch could be due to fault activities and the nature of lithotype, which have enhanced the process of sub-aerial weathering over a long period.
• Apart from the arch at Sundargarh, India has two others– one at Tirumala hills in Tirupati and another at Andaman and Nicobar.
  • However, both of them are smaller compared to the one in Sundargarh.

ABOUT GEO HERITAGE SITES (GHSS)

• These are sites of rare and unique geological, geo-morphological, mineralogical, petrological, and paleontological significance, including caves and natural rock sculptures of national and international interest.
• GSI declares geo-heritage sites/ national geological monuments for protection and maintenance.

ABOUT GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA

• Founded in 1851, it is one of the oldest of scientific agencies in the world and the second oldest survey in India after Survey of India (founded in 1767).
• GSI, headquartered at Kolkata, has six Regional offices located at Lucknow, Jaipur, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Shillong and Kolkata.
• Presently, Geological Survey of India is an attached office to the Ministry of Mines.

• To counter China’s strengthening of infrastructure along the border in Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti, 75 villages out of total 210 will be developed under the Vibrant Village programme.

ABOUT THE NEWS

• The 75 identified villages fall in Pooh and Kalpa blocks of Kinnaur and Kaza in Lahaul and Spiti district.
• District authorities have been asked to prepare plans to promote economic activities in these villages.
• The focus will be on strengthening road network and ensuring better connectivity under Vibrant Village programme.

ABOUT VIBRANT VILLAGE PROGRAMME

• It is a Centrally sponsored scheme, announced in the Union Budget 2022-23 (to 2025-26) for development of villages on the northern border, thus improving the quality of life of people living in identified border villages.
• It will cover the border areas of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Ladakh.
• It will cover 2,963 villages with 663 of them to be covered in the first phase.

• Every year on June 17th, the World Day to battle Desertification and Drought is marked to raise public awareness of global efforts to battle desertification. The event provides an opportunity to acknowledge that land degradation neutrality is attainable via problem-solving, significant community involvement, and cooperation at all levels.
• The theme of the International Day Against Desertification, and Drought 2023 is “Her land. Her rights”
• The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) first discussed this day in December 1994 in order to tackle desertification and drought. This day was observed in 1995 for the first time.

DESERTIFICATION:

• Desertification is “the degradation of dry, semi-arid and sub-humid lands resulting from various factors, such as climatic variations and human activities”, as defined by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
• In other words, land is desertified when it can no longer support the same plant growth it had in the past, and the change is permanent on a human time scale.

DROUGHT:

• Drought is the deficit of rainfall over a long period, such as a season, a year or several years, related to the statistical average of a region.
• The lack of rainfall produces a water deficit for humans, animals, and plants.

CAUSES OF DESERTIFICATION

• ‘Climatic variations’ and ‘Human activities’ can be regarded as the two main causes of desertification.
• Climatic variations: Climate change, drought, moisture loss on a global level
• Human activities: These include overgrazing, deforestation and removal of the natural vegetation cover, agricultural activities in the vulnerable ecosystems of arid and semi-arid areas, which are thus strained beyond their capacity.

• A documentary titled ‘When Climate Change Turns Violent’ has won a special prize in the ‘Health for All’ category at the 4th Annual Health for All Film Festival held at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva.
• The documentary has been directed by Vandita Saharia of She was the only Indian among the winners.

ABOUT THE NEWS

• This documentary has been directed by Vandita Saharia from Rajasthan. She was the only Indian in the list of winners.
• The 32-minute documentary ‘When Climate Change Turns Violent’ focuses on the relationship between domestic violence, climate change and human trafficking.
• The ceremony announced the winning films for seven different categories, while four films received special mentions by the jury.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)

• Establishment: 7th April, 1948
• Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
• Member: 194 countries
• It is an intergovernmental organization that usually works in collaboration with the ministries of health of its member states.

• The Guwahati Railway Station located in Assam has received the prestigious ‘Eat Right Station’ certification from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

ABOUT THE NEWS

• FSSAI has acknowledged Guwahati Railway Station for its commitment to providing high-quality and nutritious food options to passengers.
• As the first railway station within the North East Frontier Railway to receive this certification, Guwahati Railway Station has successfully met the stringent guidelines laid down by FSSAI.
• The ‘Eat Right Station’ certification is a testament to the station’s compliance with FSSAI’s established standards for food storage and hygiene practices.
• This certification is an acknowledgment of the station’s efforts in maintaining the benchmark in serving safe and wholesome food to the passengers.
• At present, 66 stations across the country have been certified while two stations are in the process of obtaining the certification. Mumbai Central Railway Station became the first Eat Right Station with a rating of four stars.
• The maximum number of railway stations certified under the program are from Madhya Pradesh with 18. MP is followed by Rajasthan and Delhi with 7 Eat Right Stations.

FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS AUTHORITY OF INDIA (FSSAI):

• It is a statutory body.
• It functions under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
• FSSAI was established as per the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
• The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 is a comprehensive law that governs food safety and regulation in India.