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- Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over keys to Grameen beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana at Shirdi in Maharashtra on 18 oct.
- He interacted with beneficiaries of the scheme across Maharashtra through video conferencing. Under the scheme, nearly 2.5 lakh houses have been built in the state.
- Prime Minister arrived in Shirdi this morning. He performed a pooja at Saibaba Mandir and released a silver coin to commemorate the Centenary year of Shri Saibaba Samadhi.
- The Prime Minister also unveiled the plaque to mark the laying of foundation stone of various development works of Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust.
- Prime Minister also launched a ten-megawatt solar project, Darshan Queue Complex, Sri Sai Baba Knowledge Campus and Sai Shrishti, where all significant works of Sai would be digitally available for tourists.
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- China is planning to launch its own ‘artificial moon’ by 2020 to replace streetlamps and lower electricity costs in urban areas, state media reported 19 oct.
- Chengdu, a city in southwestern Sichuan province, is developing “illumination satellites” which will shine in tandem with the real moon, but are eight times brighter, according to China Daily
- The first man-made moon will launch from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan, with three more to follow in 2022 if the first test goes well, said Wu Chunfeng, head of Tian Fu New Area Science Society, the organization responsible for the project.
- Though the first launch will be experimental, the 2022 satellites “will be the real deal with great civic and commercial potential,” he said in an interview with China Daily.
- By reflecting light from the sun, the satellites could replace streetlamps in urban areas, saving an estimated 1.2 billion yuan ($170 million) a year in electricity costs for Chengdu, if the man-made moons illuminate an area of 50 square kilometers.
- The extraterrestrial source of light could also help rescue efforts in disaster zones during blackouts, he added.
- AFP was not able to contact Wu nor the Tian Fu New Area Science Society to confirm the reports.
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- An Indian-American woman has been honoured with a Presidential award by US secretary of state Mike Pompeo for her extraordinary contribution towards combatting human trafficking in Houston.
- Minal Patel Davis, special advisor on human trafficking to Houston mayor Sylvester Turner, received the ‘Presidential Medal for Combating Human Trafficking’ in the White House last week at a ceremony also attended by president Donald Trump.
- “It was unbelievable,” said Davis after winning the award, the country’s highest honour in the field.
- Appointed in July 2015, Davis has made a local impact on human trafficking in America’s fourth largest city from a policy-level perspective and by helped in advancing systems change.
- She is currently implementing Mayor Turner’s Anti-Human Trafficking Strategic Plan, which is the first comprehensive municipal response to human trafficking by a US city.
- Davis has spoken at several local, national and international panels and presented Houston city’s approach.
- Davis did her MBA from the University of Connecticut and BA from New York University.
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- Indian researchers have developed a skin gel that inhibits the absorption of the most commonly used pesticides that can cause serious ill effects on health and, in worst cases, result in the death of pesticide handlers such as farmers.
- A 13-member team from the Bengaluru-based Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (inStem), under the Department of Biotechnology, have formulated and patented the poly-Oxime gel made of chemically modified chitosan found in the shells of crustaceans such as lobsters, crabs and shrimps.
- Work on developing the gel started in 2015, and assumes significance given that India is among the major countries that uses organophosphate-based pesticides in agriculture. Last year, 63 farmers died due to pesticide poisoning in Maharashtra alone and more than 1,000 were affected.
- The gel, when applied on animal models, chemically deactivated or neutralised organophosphate-based pesticides on their skin and reduced the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) the most abundant enzyme in the central and peripheral nervous system and critical for controlling nerve signals in the body.
- Organophosphates can result in neurological disorders, neurotoxicity, cognitive dysfunction, reduction in motor coordination, suffocation, paralysis, and in severe cases, death due to cardiovascular collapse and respiratory failure.
- Researchers said suits, gloves, face masks, headgear, and boots, which can offer some protection from the pesticides, are scarcely used by farmers as they are expe-nsive and cause discomfort in tropical weather such as India’s.
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