News in Short

• National Innovation Foundation India (NIF) has brought out an indigenous herbal medication (dewormer) in form of commercial product for livestock owners as an alternate to chemical method of treatment of worm.
• In order to make the indigenous herbal dewormer titled ‘wormivet’ available for livestock owners, NIF worked on a medication in treatment of endoparasite (worm) infestation among livestock sent by Harshadbhai Patel, Gujarat, which was found to be unique.
• Internal parasite is a significant health problem as it causes diarrhoea, loss in body weight, anaemia, reproductive health concern thereby limiting productivity and growth. Inappropriate use of chemical dewormer generates resistance. 

• The Centre’s mobile app, Aarogya Setu, developed for tracking COVID-19 patients, has become the world’s fastest app to reach 50 million downloads in just 13 days.
• The application alerts people if any known or person in their vicinity has tested positive. District administration has been asking all educational institutions, departments etc to encourage downloading of the app.
• The app was developed under a committee set up by the Prime Minister’s Office with active involvement of NITI Aayog and Ministry of Electronics and IT.

• The India women's cricket team has qualified for the Women's Cricket World Cup 2021 to be held in New Zealand, the International Cricket Council has announced.
• India along with hosts New Zealand, Australia, England and South Africa are 5 teams who have sealed a direct berth for the quadrennial 50-over World Cup.
• India, who reached the final in the 2017 Women's World Cup, have won 10 matches and lost 8 out of the 21 they have played in the ongoing cycle of ICC Women's Championship.

• The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has formally informed the eight Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises that the 13th edition of the T20 league has been “indefinitely postponed” due to COVID-19.
• This will be the first time since its inception in 2008 that the T20 extravaganza will not be played during India’s summer. All the 12 editions have been played between March and May. This year’s tournament was originally slated to be held from March 29 to May 24.
• With COVID-19 cases on the rise, the BCCI, on March 13, had suspended the IPL till April 15. Once the India went into lockdown and many other countries shut down their airspace, it was clear that even a truncated IPL in May would not be possible.

• Russia’s State-owned defence exports company Rosoboronexport has committed $2million (?15.3 crore) to the newly set up ‘PM CARES Fund’, diplomatic and government sources confirmed.
• The proposed donation to the fund that has been set up specially to assist the government’s efforts in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, marks a significant shift in India’s policy on accepting contributions from foreign government owned companies.
• The firm is the largest source of India’s arms imports and is set to supply defence equipment including the S-400 air defence systems, stealth frigates and AK-203 assault rifles.