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NAVIC
- India’s own GPS is all set to be launched and will place it in the club of select countries which have their own indigenous navigation systems.
- The GPS has been named NavIC—Navigation with Indian Constellation.
- The other countries that have their own indigenous system are:
- Russia: GLONASS—Global Navigation Satellite System
- European Union: Galileo Positioning System
- Japan: Quasi-Zenith Satellite System—QZSS
- China: Beidou Navigation Satellite System—BDS
- The NavIC will be useful in terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation.
- Tracking, managing disaster and gathering geodetic data will be a few of the other uses of the system.
World Elephant Day
- To focus attention of various stakeholders to support various conservation policies to help elephants, including:
- Improving enforcement policies to prevent the illegal poaching and trade of ivory
- Conserving elephant habitats
- Providing better treatment for captive elephants
- Reintroducing some captive elephants into sanctuaries
- Current population estimates for Asian elephants in the country, as per 2017 Census, are about 30,000.
- Asian elephants are confined to South Asia and South East Asia and about 60 per cent of global population of Asian elephants is found in India.
- As an acknowledgement of the important role played by the elephants in the social, religious and cultural life of people in India, elephants were declared as a National Heritage Animal in the year 2010.
Project Elephant
In order to conserve the Asian Elephants the Project Elephant started in 1992.
Objectives:
- Conservation and protection of viable population of wild elephants in their natural habitats in the country
- Restoration of natural habitats and traditional corridors/migratory routes or movement paths used by the elephants, wherever necessary, through eco-restoration, acquisition etc.;
- Ensuring safeguards against poaching and other threats
- Mitigation and control of human elephant conflicts
- Welfare and management of captive elephants
- Creating a viable mechanism to ensure inter-state and regional and national level coordination in protecting and conserving the elephant and its ranges
Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES)
- It is a dedicated facility of CSIR’s Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad that uses modern biotechnologies for conservation of endangered wildlife.
- India’s only lab for conservation of endangered species.
- Developed methods for collection and cryopreservation of semen and oocytes from wildlife and successfully reproducing endangered blackbuck, spotted deer and Nicobar pigeons.
- Through this work, it has established Genetic Resource Bank for Indian wildlife.
- So far, genetic resources from 23 species of Indian wild animals have been collected and preserved.
- This facility would increase the collection of genetic resources from wildlife through collaboration with zoos in India.
- It would also facilitate exchange of genetic material between the Indian zoos for maintaining genetic diversity and conservation management made accessible to scientists and wildlife managers for implementing conservation programs.
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Also See:
| Elephant Reserves in India | NAVIC |
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