2nd Oct Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve

• The Forest Department has identified hundreds of leopards in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve.
• It is a protected area and tiger reserve along the Western Ghats in the state of Tamil Nadu.
• It was first declared as a wildlife scantuary in 2008 and it is the largest wildlife scantuary in Tamil Nadu.
• It later became the fourth tiger reserve as a part of project Tiger.
• It is a significant wildlife corridor in the Nilgiri Biosphere reserve between western ghats and the rest of the eastern ghats.

Green Masala Bonds

• Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) has raised $300 million via "Green Masala Bonds" at the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
• This is the first green masala bond on LSE's new International Securities Market.
• The money raised from the green bond will go towards financing renewable energy project across India.
• The bonds are certified by Climate Bonds Initiative, an international, not-for-profit organisation that helps build robust framework around green bond investment.
• IREDA, a state-owned company established a a non-banking financial institution.
• It extends financial assistance for renewable energy and energy efficiency conservation projects in India.

New drug for Chikungunya

• Researchers from IIT roorkee used an existing  anti-viral drug piperazine for the cure of chikungunya.
• Currently, there is no cure for the disease.
• Piperazine is used  for the treatment of worm infections.
• The anti-viral activity of piperazine molecule inhibits virus replication.
• The drug binds to the target, the protein's interaction with the enveloped protein of virus is inhibited and hence the virus release from infected cell is affected.

Molecular robot

• Scientists have created the world's first 'molecular robot' that can be used to build molecules and may help discover novel durgs.
• The robot is millionth of a millimetre in size and made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen atoms.
• It can be programmed to move and build molecular cargo using a tiny robotic arm.

US-2 Amphibian

• It is Japan's aircraft, designed for air-sea recue work.
• The Indian government ha been keen on acquiring the US-2i as part of their expanding bilateral strategic partnership.
• The aircraft requires only one fourth of the distance that commercial airlines require for takeoff and landing.
• The aircraft has an approximate operational range of 4500 km and a cruise speed of 480 km/hr. It does not require runway construction.

No More reservation Charts

• The Indian Railways has decided to stop pasting reservation charts on train coaches.
• It is implemented as a part of Go Green Policy in five cities - Chennai, New Delhi, Kolkatta, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
• The initiative is a pilot project to keep the coaches neat and clean.

Source : The Hindu, Business Line, Business standard.