The Daily Brief – 22nd July 2019

Lucknow will be the host city for the 11^th edition of the DefExpo India – 2020 that is scheduled to be held from 5^th to 8^th February 2020. The biennial expo provides an excellent opportunity to the defence industry in India to promote its export potential and to broadcast its capabilities.

Bhabha Kavach, an indigenously produced lightweight bullet-proof jacket, was launched at the International Police Expo 2019 held at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The Ministry of Home Affairs has approved its use for the Paramilitary Forces and the Indian Armed Forces. The jacket, which was developed by the Ordnance Factory Board and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited, can withstand 7.62mm hard steel core or bullets fired from an AK-47 rifle, 5.56mm INSAS bullet and 7.65mm bullet of SLR. The wearer is offered a 360 degree protection due to the four hard armour plates that are present in it, on all sides.

The manufacture, sale and distribution of Colistin and its formulations has been banned by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The antibiotic was being used for food producing animals, aqua farming and poultry and was also used in animal feed supplements. This step was taken to preserve the drug’s effect in humans, given that Colistin is a last-resort and extremely valuable antibiotic that is crucial to use in critical care units and is considered to be the most effective when used against most Gram-negative bacilli. The other name of the antibiotic is polymxin E. The antibiotic was banned under the provisions of Section 26A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

Next Generation Sequencing (NSG) facility has been inaugurated by Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), a CSIR (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research) lab located in Hyderabad. This facility will have high genome sequencing technology and will also include diagnostic sequencing of clinical samples. In India, this will be the fourth such sequencing facility to be set up.

The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill 2019 which aims to accelerate the process of appointment of Chairperson and members of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) was passed by the Lok Sabha on July 19^th, 2019. The bill amends the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 to include the provision that besides the Chief Justice of India, even a Judge of the Supreme Court can be the chairperson of the NHRC. The bill also proposes reduction of the term of office of Chairpersons and members of NHRC and SHRC from five years to three years.

More than 7,000 animals, plants and fish have been added to the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This list consists of species that are being threatened with extinction. One of the key highlights of this list is that it claims that every fifth species is on the brink of extinction. Species such as Rhino Rays and False Shark Ray are threatened with the possibility of extinction due to overfishing. The IUCN was founded by Julian Huxley in 1948 in France (and is headquartered in Gland, Switzerland) and most of the organization’s work pertains to the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. However, the Red List of the Threatened Species was brought out in 1964 and it is the world’s most comprehensive inventory of global conservation status of biological species.