CSIR conducts Whole Genome Sequencing of over 1000 Indians for Biomedical Applications:
Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) conducted Whole Genome Sequencing of 1,008 Indians from different populations across the country. The IndiGen Genome project, the Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that the whole genome data would be necessary for building the knowhow, baseline data and indigenous capacity in the emerging area of Precision Medicine. The outcomes of the IndiGen will have applications in several areas, including predictive and preventive medicine, with a faster and efficient diagnosis of rare genetic diseases.
Indigen
The IndiGen initiative was undertaken by CSIR in April 2019, which was implemented by the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi, and CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad. This has enabled benchmarking the scalability of genome sequencing and computational analysis at the population scale in a defined timeline. The ability to decode the genetic blueprint of humans through whole-genome sequencing will be a significant driver for biomedical science. The benefits of this initiative include the epidemiology of genetic diseases to enable cost-effective genetic tests, carrier screening applications for expectant couples, enabling efficient diagnosis of heritable cancers and pharmacogenetic tests to prevent adverse drug reactions.
Indian Railways to convert 200 saloons into 10 tourist trains to be run by IRCTC:
Indian Railways decided to convert 200 saloons into ten luxury tourist trains to be run by the IRCTC in a bid to regulate the use of the colonial era-style carriages and generate additional revenue for the national transporter.
The inspection cars to be exclusively used by railway officials to visit far-flung areas, these saloons comprise two bedrooms, a lounge, a pantry, a toilet, and a kitchen that are built to facilitate the stay for up to five days.The concerns over misuse of these saloons by officials, Railway minister Piyush Goyal given up the use of his ones calling them trappings of a colonial mindset.
The Railway Board prepared a set of instructions for its zones to strictly regulate the number and use of such saloons.The saloons and observation car for zonal general managers, each zone will have two additional carriages for inspection purposes.
Each railway division will have a self-propelled inspection car with windows at both ends.The remaining should be used for premium tourist traffic to earn additional revenue for the railways. Indian Railways has a total of 336 saloon cars across railway zones, among which many have already been condemned. IRCTC ran the first privately-occupied saloon coach, complete with air-conditioned rooms, valet service, and attached bathroom in March last year. The cost of chartering the saloon was around ?2 lakh.Once routes are finalized, the details will be made available on the IRCTC website for bookings of these saloons.
EPFO warns provident fund account holders of fraud:
Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) started crediting interest to its six crore subscribers spread throughout India, provident fund account holders warned against a fraud.
The EPFO officials and seek personal details like Aadhaar card number, PAN card number, or even UAN (Universal Account Number), its password, or an OTP to siphon off money from your EPF account. The EPFO asked subscribers not to share these details with anyone over phone or email, as this could lead to fraud.
The provident fund body also said they never ask EPF account holders to share their details or deposit any amount in the bank. "Don`t disclose your personal information over the phone.Sharing such details can help a hacker log in to your EPF account and compromise its security. Those who have changed jobs but are yet to transfer their old PF account balance to the new one are usually the targets of such hacking attempts. In the past, there have been cases where PF account holders found that somebody had withdrawn money on their behalf several months ago. The EPFO has been taking several steps to strengthen its security system.To prevent leakage of personal data of members and subsequent fraud, the UAN-based inquiry system for checking claim settlement status can now be accessed only through the member passbook application on the EPFO website where you have to log in with the user id and password to get the status of claim settlement. UAN has also been linked to the Aadhaar card.
India to open 100 additional airports in the next five years:
The government of India is planning to open 100 additional airports by 2024. The decision was made at a meeting that was held to review the infrastructure that is needed by 2025. The move is towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s announcement to double the infrastructure projects in a bid to revive growth and achieve a target of making India a $5 trillion economy by 2025.
100 additional airports:
The aim is to revive economic growth in Asia`s third-largest economy. The proposal included starting 1,000 new routes connecting smaller towns and villages. The proposal also includes boosting the number of locally trained pilots to 600 a year and double the domestic aircraft fleet to 1,200 during the period. The government has allocated Rs.1 trillion to build airports in the next 5 years.