Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL)
- TKDL is an Indian initiative to prevent exploitation and to protect Indian traditional knowledge from wrongful patents, mainly at International Patent Offices.
- TKDL contains Indian traditional medicine knowledge in a digitized format and is available in five international languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese).
- Indian traditional medicine knowledge in TKDL pertains to traditional books related to Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha.
- CSIR is the implementing agency for TKDL and under the scheme funds are provided only to CSIR and no funds have been allocated to any State.
Food Irradiation Centres
- In Irradiation centres, food products are subjected to a low dosage of radiation to treat them for germs and insects, increasing their longevity and shelf life.
- Food can be irradiated only in a food irradiation plant authorised by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and licensed by the competent Government Authority
- The irradiation doses are recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
- Four irradiation projects have been approved in U.P, Haryana, Karnataka and Rajasthan recently.
- It is approved under the integrated cold chain scheme, to tide over shortages, post-harvest losses, price rise and to preserve fruits and vegetables.
- In India, post-harvest losses in food and food grains are around 40-50 per cent, primarily due to insect infestation, microbiological contamination, physiological changes due to sprouting and ripening, and poor shelf life.
- Thus Irradiation centres help to overcome this post harvest losses.
Most Competitive State
- According to recent study conducted by National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), Gujarat has topped in business investment potential and has become the most competitive state.
- The Study ranks their competitiveness on six pillars, namely land, labour, infrastructure, economic climate, political stability and governance, and business perception.
- Gujarat is followed by Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
- West Bengal ranked last on the index, with Uttar Pradesh and Bihar being just above it.
- While corruption continues to be a sore area for businesses, the report finds perceptions of corruption seem to be improving, indicating change.
- The percentage of respondents citing corruption as a constraint for conducting business has fallen from 79% in 2016 to 57% in 2017.
Global Witness
- Global Witness is a London and Washington, D.C. based advocacy group that works on the intersection of natural resource extraction and human rights.
- In its recent “Global Witness Report”, it ascertains that 2016 has highest annual number of environmental activists were killed.
- Brazil is the world’s deadliest country in terms of sheer numbers killed for the protection of Amazon’s natural wealth.
- Honduras remains the most dangerous country per capita over the past decade.
- India saw a threefold increase in killings but Latin America remained the deadliest region with 60% of the world’s deaths of environmental activists.
Haemoglobinopathies
- Hemoglobinopathy is a kind of genetic defect that results in abnormal structure of one of the globin chains of the hemoglobin molecule.
- Common hemoglobinopathies includes sickle-cell disease and Thalassemia and other variant anaemia.
- Thalassemia usually results in underproduction of normal globin proteins, often through mutations in regulatory genes.
- Although Public Health being a State subject, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has recently issued comprehensive guideline for Haemoglobinopathies.
- The guidelines provide for screening of every pregnant woman during ANC, pre-marital counselling at the college level and onetime screening for variant anaemia for all children in class VIII.
Earnings power
- It is defined as the ability of a business to generate earnings from its core operating activities, assuming all current operational conditions remain constant.
- Earnings power is a useful concept for investors trying to value a business.
- To arrive at the earnings power of a business, investors usually take a look at the historical earnings record of the business and then adjusted to get an idea of its probable future earnings.
Source : PIB, The Hindu, Business Standard and Business Line
