Union government has created a new ministry, Jal Shakti to provide safe drinking water to people.
It has been created by reorganizing the earlier Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has also been added to it.
Jal Shakti ministry will ensure clean water and top class irrigation water facilities for the farmers.
UN- Habitat Assembly
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations agency for human settlements and sustainable urban development.
UN-Habitat was established in 1978 and maintains its headquarters at the United Nations Office at Nairobi, Kenya.
It is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.
The first UN-Habitat Assembly was held in Nairobi, Kenya.
India is elected as an executive board member in the assembly.
Microbiome
The human microbiota is the aggregate of microorganisms (community of bacteria, viruses and fungi) that live on the skin or in the gut, nose or reproductive tract.
Microbiomes start forming at birth and are different depending on whether babies were born vaginally or via C-section.
And they change with age and different exposures, such as a course of antibiotics that can wipe out friendly bacteria along with infection-causing ones.
Heat waves
A heat wave is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries.
A heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual weather in the area and relative to normal temperatures for the season.
Intense heat waves are becomingly increasingly frequent due to effects of climate change globally.
The weather forecasters declare a heatwave when maximum temperatures reach the threshold value of 40 degree Celsius in the plains and 30º C in hilly areas.
Indian government is yet to consider heatwaves a natural disaster.
Orangutan
Orangutans are not native to India, recently India’s only orangutan which was brought from Singapore was died in Nanda Kannan Zoo, Odisha.
Orangutans are not migratory animals and stay rooted in their area, they suffer more due to deforestation.
Orangutans, with distinctive red fur, are the largest arboreal mammal, spending most of their time in trees.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), there are three species of orangutans — Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli.
Identified as the third species of orangutan in November 2017 is the Tapanuli orangutan.
All three kinds of orangutans are listed as “Critically Endangered” by the United Nations-affiliated International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
