India and Austria to sign migration and mobility agreement, shore up ties

India and Austria to sign migration and mobility agreement, shore up ties

• India will sign a “Comprehensive Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement” (MMPA) with Austria on Monday during External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s visit to Vienna. 
• This is a much-needed agreement, especially in view of the sharp increase in illegal migration Austria was confronted with last year, including over 15,000 illegal migrants from India with practically no chance of asylum.
• The agreement is now a useful tool to combat illegal migration together, as it enables the swift return of illegal migrants.
• In addition, the agreement will regulate multiple entry visas for professionals and student exchange programmes, and will be reviewed regularly by a Joint Working Group.

Cyprus, India inks 3 agreement while S. Jaishankar visits Nicosia

• At a joint news conference held in Nicosia, Cyprus, Foreign Minister of Cyprus Ioannis Kasoulides and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar signed three important agreements. 
• The two ministers had fruitful conversations during Jaishankar’s first official visit to Cyprus about bilateral relations, multilateral cooperation, geopolitical and regional problems, the Indo-Pacific issue, the Middle East, Europe, and India’s relationship with the European Union.
• Cyprus is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea that has been divided into the Republic of Cyprus (ROC), which has a majority of Greeks, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus since the Turkish invasion there in 1974. (TRNC).
• The TRNC is only recognised by Turkey, while the ROC, which claims two-thirds of the island, is recognised globally. Ethnic conflicts between the island’s Greek and Turkish residents have also long plagued it. 
• SwasthGarbh app made by IIT Roorkee, AIIMS Delhi for pregnant women
• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee and the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi worked together to create the SwasthGarbh app.
• Pregnant women can access antenatal care and real-time medical support through the smartphone app. The software may be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store.
• SwasthGarbh app may be a crucial tool for women in rural areas and those who do not have easy access to doctors, according to a statement made by IIT Roorkee.
• The software was created by Sahil Sharma, Professor Deepak Sharma, Professor Vatsla Dadhwal, and Professor Aparna Sharma from the AIIMS in Delhi, all of whom work in the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering at IIT Roorkee.

Tamil Nadu Launched Project Nilgiri Tahr with Rs 25 Crore Budget

• Tamil Nadu Government has announced the ‘Nilgiri Tahr Project’, India’s first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at restoring the state animal’s original habitat and stabilizing its population. The ‘Nilgiri Tahr Project’ is a five-year program with a budget of Rs 25.14 crore.
• It will also have a dedicated team chaired by the project director to deal with species conservation. The team will explore the possibility of undertaking captive breeding of the animals for re-introduction in forest patches where it has become locally extinct.    
• The presence of Nilgiri Tahr has been confirmed in a total of 123 habitat fragments ranging in area from 0.04 sq km to 161.69 sq km.
• The species has become locally extinct in around 14% of its traditional habitat in the past few decades.

India’s second longest cable-stayed eight-lane Zuari Bridge opens in Goa

• Union Minister of Roads Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has inaugurated the country’s second longest cable-stayed eight-lane Zuari Bridge in Goa. 
• Right-hand side (4-lane corridor) across the Zuari River and approaches from Bambolim to Verna were thrown open for vehicular traffic. Gadkari also launched the PWD Goa App for integrated operations management. 
• Through the insurance scheme of the Government of Goa, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has given Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the workers who died during the construction of the bridge.
• Zuari Bridge is a bridge between North Goa and South Goa, India. It carries the NH 66 over the tidal part of the Zuari River, between the villages of Agaçaim and Cortalim. 
• It is a few metres downstream of the Konkan Railway Bridge. The 640-metre-long bridge and the 13.20 km roads on both sides have been built in 3 phases. The Zuari Bridge work began in June 2016.