WHY IN NEWS?

• The government of India’s SWAMIH (Special Window for Affordable & Mid-Income Housing) Fund has completed its first residential project in Mumbai.

About SWAMIH Fund:

• SWAMIH Fund is a government-backed investment fund set up in the year 2019.
• Purpose: The fund was formed to provide relief to developers that require funding to complete a set of unfinished projects. Consequently, it will also ensure the delivery of homes to the home-buyers.
• Type: The fund has been set up as a Category-II AIF (Alternate Investment Fund) debt fund registered with SEBI.
• Investment manager:The Investment Manager of the Fund is SBICAP Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SBI Capital Markets. This in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the State Bank of India.
• Sponsor: The Sponsor of the Fund is the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India.
• Criteria for Funding of Projects: The funding shall be provided to the projects that meet the following criteria:
• Stalled for lack of adequate funds
• Affordable and Middle-Income Category
• Net worth positive projects (including NPAs and projects undergoing NCLT proceedings)
• RERA registered
• Priority for projects very close to completion.

WHY IN NEWS?

• An Iceberg recently calved off from the continent of Antarctica. This iceberg is now the largest iceberg in the world. It has been named as A-76.

About the Ice Berg

• The Ice Berg is 170 kilometres long and 25 kilometres wide. The ice berg was spotted by a European Space Agency satellite called Copernicus Sentinel. It is a two-satellite constellation that orbits the earth’s poles.
• The Ice Berg is now floating on the Weddell Sea. Weddell Sea is a large bay in the Western Antarctic.

Satellites confirmed the calving of Ice Berg

• The satellites confirmed the observations made by British Antarctic Survey. The British Antarctic Survey was the first to notice the breakaway.

Impact of the ice berg on sea level

• Every time an ice berg calves out from Antarctica, it adds up to the rising sea levels. However, in this case, the ice shelf from which this berg carved out was already floating on water.The Ice Shelf from which A-76 calved out is called Ronne Ice Shelf.

Predecessor of A-76

• Prior to A-76, A-74 ice berg calved out from Antarctica. Both these calving were natural. The ice calving and regrowth occurs naturally in Antarctica at defined intervals. This process helps to maintain the ice levels in the region. However, influxes of warm water in the region are affecting this natural process and increasing the rate at which ice bergs calve out. The time taken by the ice bergs to calve out is now lesser than the time taken for the same amount of ice to regrow.

WHY IN NEWS?

• Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) report on unemployment in India has been released. As per the report Unemployment Rate in India is increasing.

Key Findings of the Report:

• Increase in Unemployment rate: The Unemployment rate in India has increased to 8% in April 2021 from 6.5% in March 2021.
• Unemployment Rate (UER)is the percentage of the labor force who are willing to work and are actively looking for a job but are unemployed.
• The labour participation rate(LPR) was 40% in April 2021. It is the worst since the national lockdown was imposed in May 2020.
• LPRis the ratio of the working age population greater than 15 years of age to labor force either working or looking for work. In other words, it measures the number of persons engaging in the labour force as a percentage of the working-age population.
• Salaried Class: The size of the salaried class has also decreased in India. During 2019-20, there were 85.9 million salaried jobs. As of April 2021, there were just 73.3 million. This may impact the domestic consumption of the country.
• Lack of Demand:Lack of demand is hampering further growth due to the impact on income and consumer sentiment. Income is lower than it was a year earlier. 90% of families have seen income shrinkage.
• Migration of workers: Migration from urban areas to rural areas due to loss of jobs in cities has also increased the burden on the agriculture sector and rural India.

About CMIE:

• CMIE is a privately owned and professionally managed company headquartered in Mumbai. It was established in 1976 primarily as an independent think tank.
• Purpose: It produces economic and business databases and develops specialized analytical tools to deliver these to its customers for decision-making and for research

WHY IN NEWS?

• The World Wildlife Fund recently claimed that more than 70% of snow Leopard habitats are unexplored. The organisation recently released its report “A spatially explicit review of the state of knowledge in the snow leopard range.

Key Findings of the report

• Most of the snow leopard researches have been conducted by Nepal, India and China followed by Mongolia and Pakistan. There could be only four thousand snow leopards left in the world. They are facing continuous threats due to increased habitat loss and degradation, conflict with communities and poaching.

Why only 70%? Why is 100% Exploration not possible?

• As snow leopards live in rugged terrain, it is highly difficult to conduct researches on snow leopard and their habitat. That is why, till date their entire habitat remains unexplored.

First Snow Leopard Survey

• On the International Snow Leopard Day (October 24), India launched the Snow Leopard Population Assessment in 2019. However, the survey is yet to be launched. Several state governments have launched local surveys such as Uttarkhand.

Snow Leopard conservation

• IUCN: Vulnerable
• Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I
• CITES: Appendix I

Conservation of Snow Leopard

GSLEP: GSLEP is Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Programme. It was launched by twelve snow leopard range countries such as India, Nepal, China, Bhutan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Russia.

SECURE Himalaya: It is a Global Environment Facility-United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funded project.

Snow Leopards in India

• In India, snow leopards are found in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir. These regions contribute to 5% of global snow leopard range. Government is running Project Snow Leopard since 2009.

WHY IN NEWS?

• The United Launch Alliance launched the Atlas V Rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The Atlas V rocket carried SBRIS Geo-5 Missile Warning Satellite.

SBRIS Geo-5 Missile Warning Satellite

• The satellite will provide key capabilities in missile warning, battle space, missile defence. It weighs 4,850 kilograms. As of 2018, ten SBRIS satellites were launched.

Atlas V

• Atlas V is a two-stage rocket. It is fuelled with rocket grade kerosene and liquid oxygen in its first stage and hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the second stage. The rocket put SBRIS at a height of 35,753 kilo metres.

SBRIS

• The full form of SBRIS is Space Based Infrared System. It is designed for missile warning, missile battlespace and defence characterization. SBRIS is basically a Space Tracking and Surveillance System. SBRIS was designed to meet the Infrared Space Surveillance of United States Space Force System. In 2020 alone, the SBRIS satellites detected more than thousand missiles.

United States Space Force

• It is a branch of US Armed Forces. It is first independent space force. Also, it is the only space force in the world. It is operated by Department of Air Force which is one of the three civilian led military departments in Department of Defence.

United Launch Alliance

• It is an American Spacecraft company that manufactures and operates number of rocket vehicles. It also provides launch services. The Atlas V rockets are operated by the company. Vulcan Centaur is the successor to Atlas V and is under design.

In future, ULA is to launch Boeing Star liner Crew Capsule to the International Space Station. The mission is called OFT-2, that is, Orbital Flight Test. In 2019, it failed to reach the space station due to software issue.

WHY IN NEWS?

• The US scientists have invented a new COVID-19 Saliva Testing method called SPOT. SPOT is Scalable and Portable Testing.

About:

• SPOT was invented by a research team from the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. The SPOT gives COVID-19 test results in thirty minutes. The cost of the device is 78 USD. Apart from these the reagents and other testing devices are estimated to cost 6 to 7 USD. The device can be operated by anyone with minimal training.
• The test is very much similar to that of the RT-PCR. But it uses Reverse Transcriptase Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification (RT-LAMP). However, it does not need complex machinery or expertise. It can be completed quickly and is more accurate.

RT-Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification

• RT-LAMP is a one-step nucleic acid amplification method. It is used to multiply specific sequences of RNA. This technology is considered as an alternate to RT-PCR as it is much cheaper and easier. RT-LAMP test first makes DNA from the RNA samples. This conversion is made by reverse transcriptase enzyme. This DNA is called cDNA. Now this cDNA will be amplified for virus detection.
• The only difference between RT-PCR and RT-LAMP is that RT-LAMP uses four LAMP Primers. Primers are short fragments of nucleic acids.

Outcome

• The researchers tested 104 clinical samples using SPOT. Of these it accurately identified twenty eight of thirty COVID-19 positive samples and 73 out of 74 COVID-19 negative samples.

About new COVID-19 tests

• Every day ten to fifteen new COVID-19 tests are launched in the market. These tests claim to be quick. However, none of these quick antigen tests are reliable as that of RT-PCR.

WHY IN NEWS?

• Andrea Meza crowned 69^th Miss Universe 2020.

ABOUT:

• Miss Mexico Andrea Meza has been crowned as the 69th Miss Universe 2020. On the other hand, Miss India’s Adline Quadros Castelino made it to the Top 4.
• Brazil’s Julia Gama is the first runner-up; Peru’s Janick Maceta is the second runner-up while India’s Adline Castelino and Dominican Republic’s Kimberly Perez are third runner-up and fourth runner-up, respectively.
• This year, the pageant is being held in Miami, Florida’s Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood. Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa crowns her successor in the event.

WHY IN NEWS?

• The Okeanos Explorer is a ship built by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It departed from the Port Canaveral in Florida on May 14, 2021.

About Okeanos Explorer:

• The Okeanos Explorer is on a two-week expedition of ocean exploration.
• It is to build 3D maps of vast regions of unexplored ocean floors in Hadal Zone.
• It is to conduct a technology demonstration of autonomous under water vehicle called Orpheus.
• The Orpheus robot is a new class of submersible robot that will help in identifying the scientific features on the sea floor

WHY IN NEWS?

• Every year, the World AIDS Vaccine Day is celebrated on May 18. The day is also called the HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) Vaccine Awareness Day. This year, in 2021, the World AIDS Vaccine Day is celebrated under the theme of  Global Solidarity

About World AIDS Vaccine Day

• The day is commemorated to honour thousands of volunteers, health professional, community leaders and scientists who workers together to develop AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) vaccine.

 Why is AIDS Vaccine Day celebrated on May 18?

• The concept of AIDS Vaccine was rooted by the then US President Bill Clinton in his speech at the Morgan State University on May 18, 1997.

WHY IN NEWS?

• SAMVEDNA is Sensitizing Action on Mental Health Vulnerability through Emotional Development and Necessary Acceptance. It a toll-free helpline through which children affected during COVID-19 pandemic are provided counselling.

About:

• The main objective of SAMVEDNA is to provide psychological first aid and emotional support to the COVID-19 affected children.
• The tele-counselling is provided by the National Commission of Child Rights working under Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• Psychologists, counsellors and experts from NIMHANS, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences.
• The Toll-Free Number is 1800-121-2830.
• It is available from Monday to Saturday, from 10 AM to 1 PM and 3 PM to 8 PM.
• The service is only to children.
• The service under this initiative is provided under various regional languages such as Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, etc.