A controversy has erupted over a puja ceremony attended by Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at the premises of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)-protected Martand Sun temple in Anantnag, with the ASI claiming that it was in violation of rules

About Martand Sun Temple:

• The eighth-century Martand Temple is one of the oldest sun temples in India and a symbol of invaluable ancient spiritual heritage.
• Built by Lalitaditya Muktapida in the 8th Century AD, the Martand Sun Temple is said to have been an excellent specimen of Kashmiri architecture and one of the holiest shrines for the Kashmiri Pandits.
• The temple was destroyed by Sikandar Shah Miri in the 14th Century AD and the ruins are now marked as a “site of national importance” by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Recently, Health authorities in the United Kingdom have confirmed a case of monkeypox, a rare viral infection similar to smallpox, in an individual who recently travelled to that country from Nigeria.

Key Points:

About Monkeypox:

• It is a viral zoonotic disease that occurs primarily in tropical rainforest areas of Central and West Africa and is occasionally exported to other regions.
• Monkeypox virus infection has been detected in squirrels, Gambian poached rats, dormice, and some species of monkeys.
• Monkeypox is caused by monkeypox virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae.
• Monkeypox typically presents clinically with fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes.
• Monkeypox virus is mostly transmitted to people from wild animals such as rodents and primates, but human-to-human transmission also occurs.
• The incubation period (time from infection to symptoms) for monkeypox is usually 7-14 days but can range from 5-21 days.
• The clinical presentation of monkeypox resembles that of smallpox, a related orthopoxvirus infection which was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980.
• Vaccinia vaccine used during the smallpox eradication programme was also protective against monkeypox.
• A new third generation vaccinia vaccine has now been approved for prevention of smallpox and

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted the Cyclone Asani to intensify into a ‘severe cyclone’ over Southeast regions of Bay of Bengal.

Key Points:

• The name Cyclone Asani has been given by Sri Lanka. It means ‘wrath’ in Sinhalese.
• Tropical cyclones in the North Indian Ocean region (Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea) develop during the pre-monsoon (April to June) and post-monsoon (October to December) periods.

Tropical Cyclones

• A tropical cyclone is an intense circular storm that originates over warm tropical oceans and is characterized by low atmospheric pressure, high winds, and heavy rain.
• A characteristic feature of tropical cyclones is the eye, a central region of clear skies, warm temperatures, and low atmospheric pressure.
• Storms of this type are called hurricanes in the North Atlantic and eastern Pacific and typhoons in SouthEast Asia and China. They are called tropical cyclones in the southwest Pacific and Indian Ocean region and Willy-willies in north-western Australia.
• Storms rotate counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
• The conditions favourable for the formation and intensification of tropical storms are:
  1. Large sea surface with temperature higher than 27° C.
  2. Presence of the Coriolis force.
  3. Small variations in the vertical wind speed.
  4. A pre-existing weak low- pressure area or low-level-cyclonic circulation.
  5. Upper divergence above the sea level system.

Recently, the Centre through the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) conducted a webinar on “Export Promotion of Tissue Culture Plants’’ such as Foliage, Live Plants, Cut Flowers, and Planting Material” with Department of Biotechnology (DBT) accredited tissue culture laboratories spread across India.

What is Tissue Culture?

• It is the production of new plants from a small piece of plant tissue or cells removed from the growing tips of a plant in a suitable growth medium.
• In this process the growth medium or culture solution is very important as it is used for growing plant tissue because it contains various plant nutrients in the form of ‘jelly’ known as agar and plant hormones which are necessary for the growth of plants.

What are the Applications of Plant Tissue Culture?

• To study the respiration and metabolism of plants.
• For the evaluation of organ functions in plants.
• To study the various plant diseases and work out methods-for their elimination.
• Single cell clones are useful for genetic, morphological and pathological studies.
• Embryonic cell suspensions can be used for large scale clonal propagation.
• Somatic embryos from cell suspensions can be stored for long term in germplasm banks.
• In the production of variant clones with new characteristics, a phenomenon referred to as somaclonal variations.
• Production of haploids (with a single set of chromosomes) for improving crops.
• Mutant cells can be selected from cultures and used for crop improvement.
• Immature embryos can be cultured in vitro to produce hybrids, a process referred to as embryo rescue

• In news: Priyanka Mohite from Maharashtra’s Satara district has become the first Indian woman to climb
• Key Points:
• b five peaks above 8000 metres. Priyanka achieved the milestone after climbing Mount Kanchenjunga. The 30-year-old climbed the third highest peak on Earth on May 5 at around 4:42 pm.
• Priyanka works for a pharmaceutical research company in Bengaluru. In 2020, she also won the prestigious Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award. The 30-year-old climbed Mount Everest in 2013, Mount Lhotse in 2018, Mount Makalu in 2019 and Annapurna 1 in 2021. Notably, she is also the first Indian woman to climb Annapurna 1 and Makalu.

Key Points:

• World Thalassemia Day is celebrated on May 8 every year to commemorate Thalassemia victims and to encourage those who struggle to live with the disease.
• Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder that doesn’t let the body to create enough haemoglobin. The disease weakens and destroys the blood cells.
• There are two types of thalassemia, alpha and beta, along with Thalassemia minor, intermedia and major as its subcategories.
• The theme for this year’s World Thalassemia day is ‘Be Aware.Share.Care: Working with the global community as one to improve thalassemia knowledge.’

Key Points:

• Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh has emerged as champion in the 1st Chessable Sunway Formentera Open 2022 chess tournament in Punta Prima.
• It was a hat-trick of titles for him after he had previously won the La Roda tournament and the Menorca Open in recent weeks.
• The 15-year old Gukesh (Elo 2637) settled for a draw with Armenian GM Haik M Martirosyan in the final round to win the title with eight points.
• He had defeated compatriot and second-seed K Sasikiran in the ninth and penultimate round. He has now moved up to no.64 in the world rankings.

Key Points:

• In Manipur, the Poumai tribe has declared that Poumai inhabited areas will be a Drug-Free Zone supporting the State government’s War on Drug campaign.
• The Chief Minister welcomed the resolution of the Poumai Naga tribe and affirmed that the State government will not tolerate deforestation and poppy plantation in hill districts in Manipur.
• The leaders of the Paumai tribe also conveyed that the community will join the fight against the drug menace in the State.

Why in News –5000-year-old jewellery factory found in Haryana’s Indus Valley site Rakhi Garhi

About Rakhigarhi

• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which has been working in Rakhi Garhi in Haryana for the last 32 years, made one of its biggest discoveries yet with the excavation of a 5000 year old jewellery making factory.
• Rakhi Garhi is a village and one of the oldest archaeological sites belonging to the Indus Valley Civilisation in Hisar district of Haryana.
• The structure of some houses, a kitchen complex and a 5000-year-old jewellery making factory was discovered, which shows that the site must have been a very important trade centre. Copper and gold jewellery were also found which had been hidden for thousands of years.
• Like Sinauli in Uttar Pradesh- which gained attention for its Bronze Age solid-disk wheel carts found in 2018, which were interpreted by some as horse-pulled “chariots”- graveyards have been found in the excavation sites which archaeologists say explain that civilisation believed in life after death.

• The State of World’s Birds report was recently published.
• It is Birdlife International’s flagship science publication, using birds to assess the condition of our ecosystems as a whole.
• BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats.
• Headquarters:  Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Highlights of the 2022 report:

• Around 48% of bird species worldwide are known or suspected to be undergoing population declines.
• In India, nearly 80% species are declining in numbers, and almost 50% plummeting strongly.
• The situation is similar in the European Union, where trends across 378 species indicate an overall decrease in breeding bird abundance of 17-19% between 1980 and 2017.
• The study found that bird species and abundance data from the tropics is scarce but in many countries such as India, citizen science driven data was available.

 Reasons behind this decline:

• The report has attributed the threat to almost half of the 10,994 recognised extant species of birds to the expanding human footprint on the natural world and climate change.
• The degradation and loss of natural habitats as well as direct overexploitation of many species are the key threats to avian biodiversity.