GS – 2
International
Marijuana Cultivation:
- Lebanon became the first Arab country to legalize marijuana cultivation.
- The cannabis plant has been farmed illegally in Lebanon in the fertile Bekaa Valley.
- Today the country has legalized marijuana cultivation for industrial and medical purposes to cope with the economic crisis that is being faced by the country.
- According to the United Nations, Lebanon is the third largest supplier of cannabis resin in the world after Morocco and Afghanistan.
- Apart from Lebanon here are two other regions in the world, where the cannabis plant is used in opium production. They are Golden Triangle and the Golden Crescent.
- The Golden Crescent includes three countries namely Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Together they form a crescent in the map and hence the name Crescent.
- Afghanistan was the largest opium producer in 1990s and in twenty years still stays as one of the largest producers of Opium
- The Golden Triangle includes Thailand, Myanmar and Laos where the regions meet at the confluence of Ruak and Mekong river and hence forming a golden triangle
National
Permanent bridge on river Ravi:
- Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has constructed a new permanent bridge on the river Ravi connecting Kasowal enclave in Punjab to the rest of the country.
- The 484-meter bridge was built by 141 Drain Maintenance Coy of 49 Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) of Project Chetak.
- The pontoon bridge used to be dismantled every year prior to the Monsoon so that it does not get washed away in the strong currents of the river. Because of this issue, thousands of acres of fertile land across the river could not be tilled by farmers during the Monsoon.
- To avoid this, a Class 70 permanent bridge with all-weather connectivity was planned and built by the BRO.
- The bridge will ensure that the locals will not suffer during the harvest season.
- The bridge has been built in a way that it does get damaged because of the heavy discharge of water and the tendency of the river to change course in the monsoons.
Apthamitra helpline and App:
- The Karnataka State government launched the “Apthamitra”
- It was aimed to empower people in the state’s fight against coronavirus. It was launched by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.
- The system and website are owned by Health and Family Welfare Department and State Disaster Management Authority. The system functions under the aegis of NASSCOM, Bengaluru. Also, the Digital Mobile app was developed by Infosys BPM.
- Apthamitra is provided with an exclusive toll-free number and a mobile app. It was aimed to provide required medical advice and guidance for those in need during the lockdown.
- The ‘Apthamitra’ helpline will function from 8 am to 8 pm. The helpline Centers are located at six locations in Bengaluru (4 centers), Mysore and Mangalore (Bantwal) with a total of 300 seat capacity.
- It is a 2-tier system: Tier I is manned by AYUSH or nursing or pharma final year volunteer students.
- Tier-II is manned by MBBS or Integrated Medicine or AYUSH volunteer doctors.
- It will connect the people from their respective locations for risk assessment, counselling, telemedicine, and referral for testing and treatment.
- The helpline “14410” will cover residents in all parts of the state.
- The initiative will help people to identify the people who have Influenza-Like Illness (ILI), Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SERI), coronavirus like symptoms, or having a high risk of getting infected.
- It will identify people with low risk, but having some symptoms similar to those of coronavirus and provide them telemedicine support with OTC medicines, and counsel them for self-quarantine.
GS – 3
Science
Micro reactor to produce uniform size of nano particles:
- Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) has developed a microreactor that can produce large quantities of uniform size of nanoparticles. Producing a uniform size of nanoparticles has been a problem faced by the biomedical field.
- Microreactor has parameters such as the concentration of reactants, flow rate, agitation, reaction temperature, and time. It can determine the size of nanoparticles and their distribution.
- Using this method gold and silver, cadmium-telluride, chitosan, alginate and hyaluronic acid nanoparticles of any size with the coefficient of variation below 5% can be produced.
- The new approach to resolve the mono dispersity paradox of the nanomaterial can be applied to other chemical reactions where stringent control on the reaction dynamics is vital.
Future Officers 