Bandipur National Park

• Bandipur National Park established in 1974 as a tiger reserve under Project Tiger, is a national park located in the south Indian state of Karnataka, which is the state with the highest tiger population in India.
•  It is one of the premier Tiger Reserves in the country along with the adjoining Nagarhole national park. It was once a private hunting reserve for the Maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore but has now been upgraded to Bandipur Tiger Reserve.
• Bandipur is known for its wildlife and has many types of biomes, but dry deciduous forest is dominant.
• The park is flanked by the Kabini River in the north and the Moyar River in the south.
• The park spans an area of 874 square kilometers (337 sq mi), protecting several species of India's endangered wildlife.

National Tiger Conservation Authority(NTCA)

• The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 was amended to provide for constituting the National Tiger Conservation Authority responsible for implementation of the Project Tiger plan to protect endangered tigers. The National Tiger Conservation Authority is set up under the Chairmanship of the Minister for Environment and Forests.
• The National Tiger Conservation Authority(NTCA) was established in December 2005 following a recommendation of the Tiger Task Force, constituted by the Prime Minister of India for reorganised management of Project Tiger and the many Tiger Reserves in India.

Powers and functions of the National Tiger Conservation Authority as prescribed under section 38O of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2006 are as under:-

•     to approve the tiger conservation plan prepared by the State Government under sub-section (3) of section 38V of this Act;
•     evaluate and assess various aspects of sustainable ecology and disallow any ecologically unsustainable land use such as, mining, industry and other projects within the tiger reserves;
•     lay down normative standards for tourism activities and guidelines for project tiger from time to time for tiger conservation in the buffer and core area of tiger reserves and ensure their due compliance;
•     provide for management focus and measures for addressing conflicts of  men and wild animal and to emphasize on co-existence in forest areas outside the National Parks, sanctuaries or tiger reserve, in the working plan code;
•     provide information on protection measures including future conservation plan, estimation of population of tiger and its natural prey species, status of habitats, disease surveillance, mortality survey, patrolling, reports on untoward happenings and such other management aspects as it may deem fit including future plan conservation;
•     approve, co-ordinate research and monitoring on tiger, co-predators, prey habitat, related ecological and socio-economic parameters and their evaluation;
•     ensure that the tiger reserves and areas linking one protected area or tiger reserve with another protected area or tiger reserve  are not diverted for ecologically unsustainable uses, except in public interest and with the approval of the National Board for Wild Life and on the advice of the Tiger Conservation Authority;
•     facilitate and support the tiger reserve management in the State for biodiversity conservation initiatives through eco-development and people’s participation as per approved management plans and to support similar initiatives in adjoining areas consistent with the Central and State laws;
•     ensure critical support including scientific, information technology and legal support for better implementation of the tiger conservation plan;
•     facilitate ongoing capacity building programme for skill development of officers and staff of tiger reserves, and
•     perform such other functions as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act with regard to conservation of tigers and their habitat.

DRDO tests interceptor missile

The Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully tested an interceptor missile as part of the under development Ballistic Missile Interceptor Advanced Area Defence system, from the Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha.

DRDO

• Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) works under Department of Defence Research and Development of Ministry of Defence.
• DRDO dedicatedly working towards enhancing self-reliance in Defence Systems and undertakes design & development leading to production of world class weapon systems and equipment in accordance with the expressed needs and the qualitative requirements laid down by the three services.
• DRDO is working in various areas of military technology which include aeronautics, armaments, combat vehicles, electronics, instrumentation engineering systems, missiles, materials, naval systems, advanced computing, simulation and life sciences.
• DRDO while striving to meet the Cutting edge weapons technology requirements provides ample spinoff benefits to the society at large thereby contributing to the nation buliding.

Anti-ballistic missile (ABM)

• An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a surface-to-air missile designed to counter ballistic missiles .
• Ballistic missiles are used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological, or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight trajectory.
• The term "anti-ballistic missile" is a generic term conveying a system designed to intercept and destroy any type of ballistic threat, however it is commonly used for systems specifically designed to counter intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

What is Oxytocin?

• Oxytocin is a hormone produced by the hypothalamus and secreted by the pituitary gland.
•  This important hormone plays a crucial role in the childbirth process and also helps with male reproduction. So critical is its role in maternal health that the World Health Organization recommends it as the drug of choice in postpartum haemorrhage.

Functions

• In women, oxytocin is responsible for signaling contractions of the womb during labor. The hormone stimulates the uterine muscles to contract, so labor begins. It also increases the production of prostaglandins, which move labor along and increases the contractions even more.
•  Because of this effect, synthetic oxytocin (pitocin) is sometimes used to induce a woman to start labor if she cannot start naturally, or it can be given to make contractions stronger if a woman's labor is slowing.
• Once the baby is born, oxytocin promotes lactation by moving the milk into the breast. When the baby sucks at the mother's breast, oxytocin secretion causes the milk to release so the baby can feed. At the same time, oxytocin is released into the brain to stimulate further oxytocin production. Once the baby stops feeding, the production of the hormone stops until the next feeding.
• For men, oxytocin function is less important, but it does have a role to play in moving sperm. It also appears to affect the production of testosterone in the testes.