COVID-19 INSURANCE FOR “GREEN SOLDIERS”

• Vaid's ICS, Lucknow
• 30, Mar 2022

Why in news?

Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Arunachal Pradesh has become the first in the eight-State northeast to provide insurance cover against COVID-19 for “green soldiers”.

Details

• 57 frontline staff (referred to as green soldiers) of the Park have been insured for nine months against health issues due to the infection by the Covid-19.
• The forest guards are rightly the green soldiers in the frontline of India’s wildlife, and the onus of wildlife conservation pretty much falls on them.
• The Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), an NGO, paid the insurance amount with support from Foundation Serge.
• The NGO has been supporting India’s frontline forest staff with accident cover for the last 20 years.
• The insurance coverage is of Rs. 1 lakh each but a few who would be retiring soon has been insured for Rs. 50,000.

Pakke Tiger Reserve:

• PTR (declared in 1999-2000) lies in the foothills of the eastern Himalaya in the East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh and is also known as Pakhui Tiger Reserve.
• It falls within the Eastern Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot.
• It is home to over 2000 species of plants, 300 species of birds, 40 species of mammals, etc.
• Many species of the flora and fauna are globally threatened, and PTR is one of the last remaining strongholds left for these species.
• It is known for its amazing sightings of four resident hornbill species.
• The great hornbill is the state bird of Arunachal Pradesh and it is ‘vulnerable’ under the IUCN Red List

Facts for Prelims:

Black Rock Android Malware:

Recently, a security firm has alerted about a new malware called BlackRock which targets social, communication, and dating apps.

Key Points

• BlackRock is abanking Trojan and said to be an enhanced version of existing Xerxes malware which itself is a variant of the Loki Bot Android trojan.
• A trojanis any type of malicious program disguised as a legitimate one. Often, they are designed to steal sensitive information (login credentials, account numbers, financial information, credit card information, and the like) from users.
• Banking trojans are a specific kind of trojan malware. Once installed onto a client machine, banking trojans use a variety of techniques to create botnets, steal credentials, inject malicious code into browsers, or steal money.
• Functioning:It collects user information by abusing the Accessibility Service of Android and overlaying a fake screen on top of a genuine app. It uses Android DPC (Device Policy Controller) to provide access to other permissions.