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Global Tiger Day

Why in NEWS?

• Union Environment Minister to dedicate Guinness World Record to people of India on the eve of Global Tiger Day, recognizing the country’s efforts in monitoring its wild tiger population as the world’s largest camera trap survey of wildlife.

About Global Tiger Day

• It is celebrated on 29th July every year across the world.
• The aim of the day is to create awareness and help promote a worldwide system whereby we are dedicated to conserving & protecting tigers and their natural habitats.
• 29th July acts as a reminder of agreement signed by countries at Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia in 2010 to double tiger’s population by 2022.

Project Tiger

• It is a Centrally Sponsored programme of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change for tiger conservation launched in 1973 in Jim Corbett National Park.
• It aims at ensuring a viable population of Bengal tigers in their natural habitats, protecting them from extinction etc.
• Tiger Protection Force has been setup to combat poachers and funded relocation of villagers to minimize human-tiger conflicts.
• The project is administrated by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)

• It is a statutory body established in 2005 following the recommendations of the Tiger Task Force.
• It was constituted under enabling provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2006, for strengthening tiger conservation, as per powers and functions assigned to it.

Tiger Census

• The census is supervised by National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII)
• It takes place every four years and Census 2018 is the 4th edition of the census.
• The Tiger Estimation exercise is the world’s largest wildlife survey effort in terms of coverage, the intensity of sampling and quantum of camera trapping.
• This 2018 tiger census used more technology including a mobile app named “stripes” for the very first time to store information of the counting.

Mobile App "Mausam” for India Meteorological Department

IN NEWS

• India Meteorological Department, Ministry of Earth Sciences has launched the mobile App "Mausam”.

ABOUT

• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is an agency of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India formed in 1875.
• It is the principal agency responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting and seismology.
• IMD is headquartered in Delhi and operates hundreds of observation stations across India and Antarctica. Regional offices are at Mumbai, Kolkata, Nagpur and Pune.
• IMD is also one of the six Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres of the World Meteorological Organization.
• It has the responsibility for forecasting, naming and distribution of warnings for tropical cyclones in the Northern Indian Ocean region, including the Malacca Straits, the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf.
• Ministry of Earth Sciences launched Mobile App "Mausam” for India Meteorological Department on its Foundation Day Celebration.

PURPOSE

• Mobile App is dedicated to the general public and designed to communicate the weather information and forecasts in a lucid manner without technical jargons.

THE MAUSAM MOBILE APP HAS THE FOLLOWING 5 SERVICES:

• Current Weather -Current temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction for 200 cities updated 8 times a day. Information on Sunrise/ sunset and moonrise/ moonset is also given.
• Nowcast- Three hourly warnings of localized weather phenomena and their intensity issued for about 800 stations, and districts of India by State Meteorological Centres of IMD. In case of severe weather, its impact also is included in the warning.
• City Forecast – Past 24 hours and 7 day forecast of weather conditions around 450 cities in India.
• Warnings- Alerts issued twice a day for all districts for the next five days in colour code (Red, Orange and Yellow) to warn citizens of approaching dangerous weather. The colour code Red is the most severe category urging authorities to take action, Orange code prompts authorities and public to be alert and Yellow code prompts authorities and public to keep them updated.
• Radar products: Latest Station wise radar products updated every 10 minutes

CONCLUSION

• The Mausam mobile app will be an important tool for dissemination of weather information and warnings in an attractive and user friendly manner which will meet the requirements of public.
• The mobile app has been designed and developed jointly by ICRISAT’s Digital Agriculture & Youth (DAY) team, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune and India Meteorological Department.

Russia Suspends Deliveries of S-400 Missiles to China

IN NEWS

• Russia has announced suspension of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to China and said the resumption of further deliveries is yet to be ascertained.

WHY SUSPENSION

• As per Chinese version Russia announced the postponement of the delivery of missiles for the Chinese S-400 system for the sake of China during COVID-19 situation. Getting a gun is not as easy as signing an invoice after receiving a weapon.
• They say that the work on delivering these weapons is quite complicated. While China has to send personnel for training, Russia also needs to send a lot of technical personnel to put the weapons into service.

ABOUT S-400

• The S-400 air defence missile system is considered the most advanced of its kind in Russia, capable of destroying targets at a distance of up to 400 kilometers and a height of up to 30 kilometers.

S-400 TRIUMPH FEATURES

• The S-400 Triumph air defense system integrates multifunction radar, autonomous detection and targeting systems, anti-aircraft missile systems, launchers, and command and control centre. It is capable of firing three types of missiles to create a layered defense.
• The system can engage all types of aerial targets, including aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and ballistic and cruise missiles

INDIA and S-400

• On 15th October 2016, during the BRICS Summit, India and Russia signed an Inter-governmental Agreement (IGA) for the supply of five S-400 regiments.
• The US$5.43 billion deal (40,000 crore) was formally signed on 5 October 2018.The United States threatened India with sanctions over India's decision to buy the S-400 missile defense system from Russia because India chose S-400 over American origin Patriot PAC 3.