Rapid Fire Current Affairs | 28 Dec 2022

Peace Pact with Manipur Insurgent Group

Recently, a tripartite agreement was signed by the Centre (Home Ministry), Manipur govt. and the Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF). ZUF is a Naga armed group operating mostly in Manipur and has been demanding a separate State for the Zeliangrong Naga tribe (Mongolian race) for more than a decade. The armed group is the follower of Rani Gaidinliu, freedom fighter from Manipur, who was jailed by the British for 14 years.

The peace pact is significant in fulfilling the PM's vision of ‘Insurgency free and prosperous North East’.

Read More – Insurgency in Manipur

Indian National Congress Foundation Day

On 28^th December 1885, the Indian National Congress (INC) was founded in Bombay, with Allan Octavian (A.O.) Hume as its General Secretary (Lord Dufferin was the erstwhile Viceroy of India). The early leadership of INC included - Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Badruddin Tyabji, W.C. Bonnerji, Surendranath Banerji, Romesh Chandra Dutt and S. Subramania Iyer, among others.

The first Session of INC (Bombay - 1885) was presided by W.C. Bannerjee. First Woman President of INC - Annie Besant (1917 - Calcutta). First Indian Woman President - Sarojini Naidu (1925 - Kanpur).

Read More - Important Sessions of INC

Vaccine for H9N2 Avian Influenza

Indian Council of Agricultural Research - National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (ICAR - NIHSAD) has developed an ‘inactivated low pathogenic avian influenza (H9N2) Vaccine for chickens’. It is the first indigenous vaccine for H9N2 virus.

H9N2 is a subtype of influenza A virus, which causes human influenza as well as bird flu. It was isolated for the first time in Wisconsin, US in 1966 from turkey flocks. H9N2 virus infections in humans are rare or likely under-reported due to mild symptoms.

Read More – Avian Influenza