Current Affairs (11th April, 2023)

Every year, the World Homeopathy Day is observed on 10 April. The day honours the hard work of homeopathic professionals and helps people to understand the uses of homeopathic medicines.
Homeopathy is derived from the Greek words "homeo" and "pathos," which mean "similar" and "suffering" respectively.
This day marks the birth anniversary of Dr Samuel Hahnemann. He is widely regarded as the father of homoeopathy. It is worth noting that Dr Samuel Hahnemann was born in 1755 and raised in Meissen, Germany. In 1779, he graduated from Erlangen with a medical degree.

Theme 2023

Every year, World Homoeopathy Day is celebrated with a theme, and for 2023 the theme is "One Health, One Family."

The Indian Navy, along with other defence, state, and civilian agencies, conducted a coordinated exercise named as "Prasthan." The exercise was held in the offshore development area off the coast of Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Every six months, the exercise is held to validate measures and procedures for dealing with contingencies that may arise on oil production platforms.
The current exercise was conducted on the Greatdrill Chaaya platform about 30 nm Southwest of Mumbai harbor.

On April 11-12, a mega meet will take place in Tripura, where India, Japan, and Bangladesh will collaborate to establish connectivity projects that aim to capitalize on the commercial opportunities in the region.
The meeting will be graced by the presence of the Deputy Foreign Ministers from India and Bangladesh, in addition to the Chief Minister of Tripura and the Japanese ambassador to India.

During his visit to Karnataka on April 9, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the International Big Cats Alliance (IBCA).
The IBCA will focus on protection and conservation of seven major big cats of the world such as tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, puma, jaguar, and cheetah in collaboration with countries harboring these species.
The Prime Minister visited the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in the morning and interacted with the frontline field staff and self-help groups involved in conservation activities. He also visited the Theppakadu Elephant camp in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and interacted with the mahouts and kavadis of the elephant camp.
He inaugurated the 'Commemoration of 50 years of Project Tiger' and interacted with the field directors of tiger reserves that scored the highest in the recently concluded 5th cycle of management effectiveness evaluation exercise.

Bandipur Tiger Reserve

It was established in 1973 under Project Tiger. In 1985, by including adjacent areas from Venugopala Wildlife Park, it was enlarged and named Bandipur National Park.
t is situated in two contiguous districts (Mysore and Chamarajanagar) of Karnataka and is located at the tri-junction area of the States Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. It forms a part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
The Bandipur along with Nagarahole, Mudumalai, Sathyamangalam & Wayanad constitutes the single largest Wild population of Tigers in the world.

Mudumalai Tiger Reserve

Mudumalai Tiger Reserve is in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu state at the tri-junction of three states, viz, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
It is a part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (1st Biosphere Reserve of India) along with Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (Kerala) in the West, Bandipur National Park (Karnataka) in the North, Mukurthi National Park and Silent Valley in the South.
The name Mudumalai means” the ancient hill range”. Indeed, it is as old as 65 million years when Western Ghats were formed.

At the World Vaccine Congress 2023, Bharat Biotech was honored with the "Best Production/Process Development" award as part of the Vaccine Industry Excellence (ViE) awards. The Congress was held during April 3-6 in Washington, USA.
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech was the only Indian company in the list of VIE awards in various categories.
The World Vaccine Congress is a massive global conference that focuses solely on vaccines, encompassing the entire vaccine value chain from fundamental research to commercial production.

Bharat Biotech

Bharat Biotech is the pioneer in manufacturing an intranasal Covid-19 vaccine, known as iNcovacc, and their intramuscular vaccine, Covaxin, has been incorporated into India's public vaccination program and exported to other countries.

Earlier this week, the 2023 International Prize in Statistics, often described as the "Nobel prize of statistics," was awarded to the renowned Indian American statistician, Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao.
In July, at the biennial International Statistical Institute World Statistics Congress in Canada's Ottawa, Rao will be presented with the prize money of $80,000 along with the award.

Achievements

Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao has held various distinguished positions throughout his career, including Jawaharlal Nehru Professor and National Professor in India, University Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, and Eberly Professor and Chair of Statistics, as well as Director of the Center for Multivariate Analysis, at Pennsylvania State University.
In addition to receiving the Padma Bhushan in 1968 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2001, Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao was honored with the SS Bhatnagar Prize in 1963 and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1967.
He also received the Wilks Medal of the American Statistical Association in 1979, as well as the US National Medal of Science in 2002.

From the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, NASA's high-resolution air pollution monitoring instrument TEMPO was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The TEMPO instrument, designed to monitor major air pollutants across North America, is currently enroute to a geostationary orbit where it will conduct essential scientific observations, particularly regarding ozone, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and formaldehyde levels.
Intelsat 40E is the satellite carrying TEMPO as its payload, and it separated from the rocket roughly 32 minutes after the launch. While the instrument is expected to commence its scientific activities in late May or early June, as per NASA's statement.

On April 8, 2023, at the Tezpur Air Force Station in Assam, Smt. Droupadi Murmu, the President of India and the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces, undertook a historic sortie in a Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter aircraft.
During the approximately 30-minute flight, she flew over the Brahmaputra and Tezpur valley, and had a view of the Himalayas before returning to the Air Force Station.
The aircraft was flown by Group Captain Naveen Kumar, Commanding Officer of the 106 Squadron.
The aircraft flew at a height of about two kilometers above sea level and at a speed of about 800 kilometers per hour.
President Murmu is the third President and second woman President to undertake such a sortie.