RAJASTHAN

• Rajasthan to be part of Centre’s study on dengue

• The state will be one of the centres for the multi-centric cross-sectional study to be conducted in the country to estimate the sero-prevalence of dengue virus infection in India. The study will be conducted by the Centre with the main objective to establish age specific sero-prevalence of dengue virus infection in different geographic regions/states.

• The study will enable the government to take a policy decision on introduction of dengue vaccine into the country.

• The study will be conducted in five different geographical regions (three States will be selected from each region by simple random sampling) of the country in three different age groups: 5-8 years, 9-17 years & 18-45 years.

• In geographic region 1, there is Maharashtra’s National Institute of Virology, Pune, Madhya Pradesh’s National Institute for Research in Tribal Health, Jabalpur and Rajasthan’s Desert Medical Research Centre, Jodhpur.

INTERNATIONAL

·        World Health Organisation Certifies Gabon as Polio Free

• The World Health Organisation declared Gabon a “polio-free country”, given the lack of new reported or suspected cases in the central African country.
• According to a WHO statement obtained, the UN health agency nonetheless recommended taking the necessary steps to continue monitoring for possible signs of the disease.
• The Cases of polio have decreased by 99 per cent since 1988, when polio was endemic in 125 countries and 350,000 cases were recorded worldwide.

Gk bit – Gabon

• Gabon is a sovereign state on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of nearly 270,000 square kilometres (100,000 sq mi) and its population is estimated at 2 million people. Its capital and largest city is Libreville. Since independence from France in 1960, Gabon has had just three presidents. Late President Omar Bongo ruled for more than four decades until his death in 2009.

• Gabon is a major oil producer but a third of its population live in poverty, according to the World Bank.

• Nepal hosts first International Wheelchair Cricket Tournament

• The first ever International Wheelchair Cricket Tournament was organised in Nepal’s Kathmandu.

• The tournament has participation of teams from Nepal, India and Bangladesh which is supported by the Sushil Koirala Memorial Foundation and technical assistance from the Kathmandu Cricket Training Center.

• Indo-Maldives ‘Exercise Ekuverin’ begins in Belagavi

• India and the Maldives have begun Exercise Ekuverin, their eighth annual joint military training event, in Belagavi.
• The exercise will be an opportunity for the two armies to activate the Joint Operations Centre at Belagavi.

• The exercise is aimed at enhancing interoperability between the two armies.

NATIONAL 

·        India reaches 2nd position on horticultural crops, fruits production list leaving others behind

• Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh research and development projects in horticulture crops have yielded encouraging results, as a result, the production of horticulture crops have been more than food grains irrespective of adverse climatic conditions.
• After China, India is the second largest producer of horticultural crops and fruits.
• The Agriculture Minister said more than 9 crore metric ton of fruits on 63 lakhs hectare land were produced during 2015-16. According to an estimate, a production of 30 crore metric ton horticulture crops on 2.5 crore hectare land is expected during 2016-17 in which contribution of fruit is significant. The record achievement includes 42 million ton of fruit production on 65 lakh hectare land. In terms of area in India, the citrus fruits hold second position (10.37 lakh hectare) and third (12 million
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