India Ranked 52nd in Global Innovation Index 2019 Commerce and Industry Minister Releases Global Innovation Index Rankings

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways Shri Piyush Goyal launched the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2019
The event was launched in New Delhi
Aim: To achieve this ranking he urged all stakeholders to work in mission mode.
India jumped five places ahead when compared with last year position from 57th to 52nd in 2019.
India continues its efforts to reach upwards of top 50 ranks in the GII
India will not rest on past laurels until it achieves its target of positioning among the top 25 countries of the Global Innovation Index.
Commerce and Industry Ministry requested the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to factor in India’s rural innovation as part of the innovation index in the future.
The improvement in the rankings should inspire Indians to help marginalized and underprivileged section of society.
India is facing at present like rising pollution levels in cities, water crises faced in different parts of the country.

India - GII
India must be a responsive country and work in mission mode by engaging with academia. The private sector and government agencies to improve the quality of citizens lives even in the remotest parts of the country.
The GII theme is Creating Healthy Lives - The Future of Medical Innovation,
The GII rankings are published every year by Cornell University, INSEAD and the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and GII Knowledge Partners.
This is the 12th edition of the GII rankings of 129 economies
It is based on 80 indicators ranging from intellectual property filing rates to mobile-application creation, education spending, and scientific and technical publications.
Switzerland retains number one is the GII index
The countries followed by Sweden, the United States of America, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Finland, Denmark, Singapore, Germany, and Israel.

How does a lightning strike?

What is lightning, and how does it strike?

It is a very rapid — and massive — discharge of electricity in the atmosphere, some of which is directed towards the Earth’s surface.

These discharges are generated in giant moisture-bearing clouds that are 10-12 km tall.

How does it strike?

The base of these clouds typically lies within 1-2 km of the Earth’s surface, while their top is 12-13 km away. Temperatures towards the top of these clouds are in the range of minus 35 to minus 45 degrees Celsius.
As water vapor moves upward in the cloud, the falling temperature causes it to condense. Heat is generated in the process, which pushes the molecules of water further up.
As they move to temperatures below zero degrees celsius, the water droplets change into small ice crystals. They continue to move up, gathering mass — until they are so heavy that they start to fall to Earth.
This leads to a system in which, simultaneously, smaller ice crystals are moving up and bigger crystals are coming down.
Collisions follow and trigger the release of electrons — a process that is very similar to the generation of sparks of electricity. As the moving free electrons cause more collisions and more electrons, a chain reaction ensues.
This process results in a situation in which the top layer of the cloud gets positively charged, while the middle layer is negatively charged. The electrical potential difference between the two layers is huge — of the order of a billion to 10 billion volts. In very little time, a massive current, of the order of 100,000 to a million amperes, starts to flow between the layers.
An enormous amount of heat is produced, and this leads to the heating of the air column between the two layers of the cloud. This heat gives the air column a reddish appearance during lightning. As the heated air column expands, it produces shock waves that result in thunder.

How does this current reach the Earth from the cloud?

While the Earth is a good conductor of electricity, it is electrically neutral. However, in comparison to the middle layer of the cloud, it becomes positively charged. As a result, about 15%-20% of the current gets directed towards the Earth as well. It is this flow of current that results in damage to life and property on Earth.

There is a greater probability of lightning striking tall objects such as trees, towers or buildings. Once it is about 80-100 m from the surface, lightning tends to change course towards these taller objects. This happens because air is a poor conductor of electricity, and electrons that are traveling through air seek both a better conductor and the shortest route to the relatively positively charged Earth’s surface.

Plastic-like Jute material developed in Bangladesh

Scientists in Bangladesh developed a method to convert Jute fiber into low-cost biodegradable cellulose sheets named Sonali
It is used to wrap material along with a carry bag.
Mubarak Ahmad Khan Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) developed the new 'sonali'
It denotes the physical qualities of the invented jute fiber and plastic are quite similar.
The Eco-friendly jute poly bags made up of Sonali can be used in garments and food packaging work.
The commercial production of these bags is likely to start by the year-end. Government of Bangladesh approved 9 lakh dollars in April to help in large-scale production of these bags.
The main challenge in the large scale adoption of Sonali sheet is the relatively high cost of production which is almost double that of polythene.

American pocket shark, or Mollisquama mississippiensis:

What is it? It is a new species of pocket-sized pocket shark found recently in the Gulf of Mexico.

It is only the third out of more than 500 known shark species that may squirt luminous liquid.

Dracaena cambodiana:

Context: A group of researchers has discovered Dracaena cambodiana, a dragon tree species in the Dongka Sarpo area of West Karbi Anglong, Assam.

This is for the first time that a dragon tree species has been reported from India.

The Dracaena seeds are usually dispersed by birds. But due to the large fruit size, only a few species of birds are able to swallow the fruits, thus limiting the scope of its natural conservation.

Dracaena cambodiana is an important medicinal plant as well as an ornamental tree.

It is a major source of dragon’s blood, a precious traditional medicine in China.