Prelims Focus – 13th April 2024

JAVA Tiger 

Recent News:

The finding of a single hair has sparked optimism that the Java tiger, previously thought to be extinct, could potentially still survive.

Details:

• The Java Tiger, scientifically known as Panthera tigris sondaica, is an extinct subspecies of tiger that was endemic to the island of Java in Indonesia. 
• It was declared extinct in the early 1980s, with the last official sighting recorded in 1976. 
• The Java Tiger was larger than the Bali Tiger and roughly the same size as the Sumatran Tiger, with males weighing between 100-140 kg and females weighing between 75-115 kg. 
• The extinction of the Javan Tiger was primarily due to hunting and loss of natural habitat, with massive hunting during the colonial era and the forced cultivation system implemented in that era also contributing to its decline.
• Despite its extinction, there have been occasional anecdotal reports of encounters with the animal in various locations on Java, with a single hair found on a village fence in the west of the island in 2019 being DNA-tested and found to be genetically belonging to the subspecies. 
• This has raised hopes that the Javan Tiger may still be around in the jungles of the island of Java in Indonesia.

Lavender

Recent News:

Bhaderwah, a town in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, has become the top producer of lavender in India.

About the news:

• Officials report that over 700 acres of farmland in the area have been converted to growing lavender since 2017. 
• Farmers in Bhaderwah are transitioning from growing maize to cultivating lavender. 
• The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM), Jammu, introduced the crop to Bhaderwah in 2015.

Details about Lavender:

• Lavender, scientifically known as Lavandula, is a genus of 47 known species of perennial flowering plants in the mints family, Lamiaceae. 
• Native to the Old World, lavender is known for its fragrant and attractive flowers, which come in various colours, including lavender, deep blue-purple, light pink, and white. 
• Lavender is commonly used in culinary applications, particularly in pastas, salads, dressings, and desserts, due to its sweet fragrance with lemon or citrus notes. 
• The buds and greens of lavender are used in teas, and the buds, processed by bees, are the essential ingredient of monofloral honey.

Sulthan Bathery

In News: Recently there was a demand for renaming Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad to Ganapathivattam.

• Sulthan Bathery is a municipal town in Wayanad district of Kerala.
• It was earlier known as Ganapathi Vattam. The name was after a Ganesha temple built at some stage in the Vijayanagar period.
• The temple was built by the Jains who migrated to Wayanad from regions in gift-day Tamil Nadu and Karnataka during the 13th century.
•  History of “Sultan Bathery”
  • The town’s name was changed after Tipu Sultan’s invasion of the Malabar vicinity in 1700. 
  • He used the temple as a store for ammunition and artillery in Ganapathi Vattam. 
  • This caused the British recording Ganapathi Vattam as “Tipu Sultan’s Bathery”, and the name survived as Sulthan Bathery.

Methanol

In News: The United States has recently recalled several lots of hand sanitisers and aloe gel due to toxic methanol content, citing health risks like nausea, coma, and even death. 

• People who can also have contact with such toxic methanol content hand sanitisers are vulnerable to several side effects which include “nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, coma, seizures, everlasting blindness, permanent damage to the central nervous system, or death.
• Methanol is the most effective alcohol (CH3OH) referred to as methyl alcohol.
• It is a chemical constructing block for numerous ordinary merchandise, along with plastics, paints, automobile elements and production materials.
• Methanol is also a clean power useful resource used to fuel cars, vehicles, buses, ships, fuel cells, boilers and prepare dinner stoves.

Adjudicating Authority Under PMLA

In News: The Adjudicating Authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) confirmed the attachment of assets belonging to the Congress party-promoted National Herald newspaper.

• The PMLA forms the core of the legal framework to combat money laundering. PMLA and the Rules notified there under came into force in 2005 . 
• Section five of the PMLA provides for the attachment of any assets that are suspected to have been received with the proceeds of crime in a case of any offence that is listed within the agenda of the regulation. 
• This provisional attachment order is legitimate for a duration of 180 days. 
• It needs to be confirmed inside this time through an Adjudicating Authority appointed by the important government, failing which the assets are automatically released from attachment.
  • Because the first attachment is provisional, the accused can continue to revel in the belongings till the Adjudicating Authority confirms the attachment — and then the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has the power to assert ownership.

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