KARGIL VIJAY DIWAS

• On 26^th July 2022, the 23rd anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas is being observed.
• It is to observe India's victory over Pakistan in the Kargil War for ousting Pakistani Forces from their occupied positions on the mountain tops of Northern Kargil District in Ladakh in the year 1999.
• The day is dedicated to the martyred soldiers of the Kargil war.

About Kargil war

• There had been many military conflicts after the Indo-Pak war of 1971.
• The tension has been escalated by the nuclear test conducted in 1998 by both the country and finally lead to the Kargil war in the year 1999.
• Kargil War is also known as the Kargil conflict which was fought between May-July of 1999 in the Kargil (presently a district in the UT of Ladakh) district of Jammu and Kashmir along the Line of Control in which India got victory.

Operation Vijay

• In the year 1999, India and Pakistan signed the Lahore Agreement to mutually resolve the Kashmir issue cooperatively and peacefully.
• However, the Pakistani troops began infiltrating toward the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC) under Operation Badr which also resulted in a conflict from India’s side too.
• In India, the conflict is also referred to as Operation Vijay, which was the name of the Indian military operation to mainly clear out the Kargil sector.
• The Indian Air Force's role in acting jointly with Indian Army ground troops during the war was aimed at flushing out regular and irregular troops of the Pakistan Army from vacated Indian positions along the LoC.
• When the Indian Government got the information about it, ‘Operation Vijay’ was launched by the Indian army to throw back the intruders who had treacherously occupied the Indian Territory.

This particular operation was given the codename Operation Safed Sagar.

About the National War Memorial

• A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or edifice to celebrate a war or victory or to commemorate those who died or were injured in the war.
• The design of the main memorial exemplifies that the supreme sacrifice made by a soldier in the line of duty not only makes him immortal but also depicts that the spirit of a soldier remains eternal.
• It was Inaugurated in 2019 and it is around 400 meters from India Gate.
• The layout of the structure comprises four concentric circles which are named as:
• the "Amar Chakra" or Circle of Immortality.
• the "Veerta Chakra" or Circle of Bravery.
• the "Tyag Chakra" or Circle of Sacrifice.
• the "Rakshak Chakra" or Circle of Protection.

• The proposal for a National War Memorial was first time made in the year1960 The memorial is dedicated to soldiers who laid down their lives in defending the nation during:
• Sino-Indian war in 1962
• Indo-Pak wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971
• Indian Peace Keeping Force Operations in Sri Lanka 1987-90
• Kargil Conflict in 1999.

Significance of the memorial

• It represents the soldiers of the Indian Armed Forces who have made the supreme sacrifice to defend the sovereignty and integrity of the country.
• The National War Memorial thus represents the gratitude of a nation to its Armed Forces
• It also helps to strengthen the sense of belonging, high moral values, sacrifice, and national pride in our citizens.

LUMPY SKIN DISEASE

More than 1,500 animals, mainly cows, and buffaloes have died in Gujarat due to the infectious lumpy skin disease, and it has also been spread to 14 districts of the State.

About lumpy skin disease

• Lumpy skin disease is a viral disease that mainly affects cattle. It is transmitted by blood-feeding insects, such as certain species of flies and mosquitoes, or ticks.
• The virus is one of the three closely related species within the genus capripoxvirus, the other two species are the Sheeppox virus and Goatpox virus
• Due to its infectious nature and its significant implications on the economy, the World Health Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) declares it a “notifiable disease”.
• It was originally found in Africa, it has also spread to countries in the Middle East, Asia, and eastern Europe.

Symptom

• It appears as nodules of two to five-centimeter diameter all over the body, particularly around the head, neck, limbs, udder, and genitals.
• The lumps gradually open up like large and deep wounds.
• The bacterial infection often aggravates the condition
• The Infected cattle develop fever, lacrimation, nasal discharge, and hypersalivation, followed by the characteristic eruptions on the skin and other parts of the body in ~50% of susceptible cattle. The incubation period is about 4–14 days.
• Morbidity is 5%–50%; mortality is usually very low. The greatest loss is due to the reduced milk yield, loss of condition, and rejection or reduced value of the hide.

Transmission

the LSD virus easily spreads by blood-sucking insects like mosquitoes, flies, and ticks and through saliva, contaminated water, and food.

Treatment

• Right now, no treatment is available for this.
• Attenuated virus vaccines may help control spread even though Quarantine restrictions have proved to be of limited use.
• Administration of antibiotics to control the secondary infection and good nursing care are recommended, but a large number of affected animals within a herd may preclude treatment.

SNOW LEOPARD

• A study on snow leopards has thrown up interesting insights into the elusive mountain cat and its prey species by the Zoological Survey of India.
• The studies highlighted the relationship between habitat uses by Snow Leopard, Siberian ibex and blue sheep under the National Mission on Himalayan by Zoological Survey of India.
• It mainly aimed at examining how the predator used habitat in the presence or absence of its prey species and vice-versa.

The key highlight of the study

• It was found that the likelihood of detecting a snow leopard will increase if the place is also a habitat for its prey species like ibex and blue sheep.
• In the case of prey species, the probability of detection was low when the predator (snow leopard) was present and observed.
• Further, both species were less likely to detect together than expected.
• According to the study, habitat variables such as barren area, grassland, aspect, slope, and distance to water were major drivers of habitat use for both the snow leopard and its prey species.
• Predators such as snow leopards regulate the populations of herbivores such as blue sheep and Siberian ibex in the mountains, protecting the health of grasslands.
• A long-term absence of snow leopards could cause trophic cascades as unregulated populations would likely increase, depleting vegetation cover.
• Knowledge of the species' interactions will be beneficial in building better conservation and management plans for the long-term sustainability of the snow leopard and its prey species in the Spiti Valley ecosystem.

About snow leopard

• Scientific Name - Panthera uncia.
• Habitat - Cold High Mountains.
• The elegant and well-camouflaged snow leopard is one of the world’s most elusive cats.
• These are found in 12 countries including China, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Russia & Mongolia.
• China has the world's largest snow leopard population.

Diet

• Snow leopards are top predators in their environment and their prey include blue sheep, Argali wild sheep, ibex, marmots, pikas, hares, etc.
• They are also able to kill prey up to three-time own weight in challenging terrain.

Threats:

• Increased conflict due to expansion of human settlement & livestock grazing and mainly due to habitat loss and fragmentation.
• Poaching for trade in body parts and fur.
• Climate change & shrinkage in habitat.???????

Protection status

• IUCN List of Threatened Species - Vulnerable.
• CITES - Appendix I.
• Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972-Schedule-I.

Indian government initiative to protect the snow leopard

• The Government of India has identified the snow leopard as a flagship species for the high-altitude Himalayas.
• India is also party to the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Programme since 2013.
• HimalSanrakshak - It is a community volunteer programme, to protect the snow leopards, launched in October 2020.
• In 2019, First National Protocol was also launched on Snow Leopard Population Assessment which has been very useful for monitoring the populations.
• SECURE Himalaya: Global Environment Facility (GEF)-United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funded the project on the conservation of high-altitude biodiversity and reducing the dependency of local communities on the natural ecosystem.
• Project Snow Leopard (PSL): It was launched in the year 2009 to promote an inclusive and participatory approach to conserving snow leopards and their habitat.
• Snow Leopard is on the list of 21 critically endangered species for the recovery programme of the Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change.
• Snow Leopard conservation breeding programme is undertaken mainly at the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, Darjeeling, West Bengal

Read also - MONARCH BUTTERFLIES

MONARCH BUTTERFLIES

The migratory monarch butterflies have been declared endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of threatened species.

About monarch butterflies

• It's a sub-species of the Danaus Plexippus butterfly that travels around 4,000 kilometkilometers in America.
• It is the most recognizable butterfly species that are essential pollinators and further provides various ecosystem services such as maintaining the global food web.
• A smaller population of the species is also found in the countries like Australia, Hawaii, and India.
• Adult monarch butterflies possess two pairs of brilliant orange-red wings, featuring black veins and white spots along the edges.
• Males, who possess distinguishing black dots along the veins of their wings, are slightly bigger than females.
• Each adult butterfly lives only about four to five weeks.

Issue:

• Their population in the continent has declined around 23-72% over the last decade.
• The population of the eastern monarchs that migrate from the eastern United States and Canada — the bigger group — also shrunk by 84% from 1996-2014.
• They follow a unique lifestyle as they breed in only one particular plant The Milkweeds, but the removal of this plant by farmers also leads to their decrease in population.
• Further, farmers also widely use a weedicide for the removal of milkweeds.
• Legal and illegal logging and deforestation make space for agriculture and urban development, which causes the habitat destruction of these butterflies.
• Frequent storms and droughts are more intense and disrupt flowering cycles, which led to the killing of millions of butterflies.