Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 2nd September 2021

What is in news : Karnataka is the first State in the country to start a door-to-door survey to detect TB among COVID-19-recovered individuals and their household contacts

Why this move : Based, on the results, state government will issue an advisory asking people to mandatorily get screened for TB if they have symptoms

Details :

TB co-infection increases the risk of severe COVID-19 disease, and TB/SARS CoV-2 co-infection is associated with rapid and severe symptom development and disease progression with poor outcomes for both diseases

TUBERCULOSIS

• Caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
• Usually attack the lungs, but they can also damage other parts of the body.
• Spreads through the air when a person with TB of the lungs or throat coughs, sneezes, or talks.
• Easily diagnosable and curable.
• Each day, thousands of people with TB die, often because of inequitable access to quality diagnosis and treatment.
• Infection, Progression, Transmission of TB
  • Infection: Infection occurs when TB bacilli are inhaled. Bacilli may stay in the lungs or travel to other organs. Infection is lifelong, with bacilli lying dormant. This phase is “latent TB”, diagnosed by a tuberculin skin test (TST). The “annual rate of TB infection” (ARTI) is about 1%. Cumulatively, 40% to 70% of us are living with latent TB. From this reservoir pool, a few progress to TB disease, one by one, 5-30 years, average 20 years, later.
  • Progression: Progression occurs when bacilli become active, multiply and cause pathology; now we have “active TB”.
  • Transmission: When active TB affects the lungs, the bacilli find an exit route to the atmosphere, necessary for transmission.
• Symptoms of TB in the lungs may include
  • A bad cough that lasts 3 weeks or longer
  • Weight loss
  • Loss of appetite
  • Coughing up blood or mucus
  • Weakness or fatigue
  • Fever
  • Night sweats
• CURE :
  • Drug treatment
  • For patients with Latent TB infections, - isoniazid
  • Active TB Diseases - Combination of ethambutol, INH, priftin and pyrazinamide for a term of three months followed by a mix of INH and pyrazinamide for 12 months.
• In India:
  • Accounts for a fifth of the world’s TB burden
  • Largest number of people living with multidrug-resistant TB. 

POLITY & GOVERNANCE

What is in news : Ladakh  adopted two endangered species, snow leopard and black-necked crane, as the State animal and the State bird

About Snow leopard

• Range: Mountains of Central Asia.
• Habitat: Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
• IUCN status: ‘endangered’ to ‘vulnerable’.
• Threats
  • Poaching: They have long been killed for their beautiful fur, but their bones and other body parts are also used in Traditional Asian Medicine.
  • Conflict with communities: Herders sometimes kill snow leopards in retaliation for attacking their livestock.
  • The decline in the leopard’s natural prey: Due to hunting, competition from increasing livestock herds, and habitat loss – is forcing them to rely more on livestock for food and increasing the risk of retaliatory killings.
  • Shrinking habitat: They need vast areas to thrive, but expanding human and livestock populations are rapidly encroaching on their habitat. New roads and mines are also fragmenting their remaining range.
  • Changing climate: All these threats will be exacerbated by the impact of climate change on the fragile mountain environment – putting the future of snow leopards at even greater risk.  It will also endanger the livelihoods of local communities and the tens of millions of people living downstream of these major watersheds.

About Black necked crane

• Vulnerable — IUCN Red List
• State bird of Jammu and Kashmir
• It is revered in Buddhist traditions and culturally protected across much of its range
• Range: Tibetan Plateau and remote parts of India and Bhutan
• Habitat: Breeds in alpine bog meadows and riverine marshes, favouring lacustrine marshes from 2,600-4,900 m. It prefers to nest at large water bodies
• Threats
  • damage to the eggs and chicks, caused by feral dogs
  • loss of habitat due to human pressure on the wetlands
  • increased grazing pressure on the limited pastures near the wetlands is leading to the degradation of the wetland habitat.
• Conservation
  • Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972
  • Appendix I of CITES

What : The programme is a unique initiative to strengthen the institutions of governance and planning at the grassroot level.

What is in news : Lok Sabha speaker,  inaugurated a parliamentary outreach programme to empower Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir

Objectives of the Programme

• To create mass awareness or mass participation.
• To create self-confidence and self-respect for the ground level leaders.
• To creation a sense of ownership of the created assets.
• To boost the ambitions for grass root political leaders for democratic values
• To create awareness about several schemes

Editions of the programme

• First Edition: First ever outreach programme was organized at Dehradun, in Uttarakhand on January 8,  2021. It was physically attended by 445 Panchayat representatives while 40,000 Panchayat representatives & officials were connected online via web link.
• Second Edition: It was organized at Shillong in February, 2021 for Meghalaya and other North Eastern States. About 115 members of the local bodies of North Eastern States physically.
• Third Edition: it was organized for the grass root level institutions in the Union Territory of Ladakh on August 27, 2021. Representatives from 195 number of Panchayat attended the programme.
• Fourth Edition: Organized in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir on August 31, 2021 at Srinagar, under the theme of “Parliamentary Outreach Programme for the Empowerment of the Panchayati Raj Institutions”.

SOCIAL ISSUES

What is in news : Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has decided to celebrate the POSHAN MAAH throughout the month September

Details :

• Celebrated as a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
• Focused and assimilated approach in order to improve Holistic Nutrition and ensure speedy and intensive outreach
• Entire month has been subdivided into weekly themes
  • 1st to 7th September is – Plantation Activity as “PoshanVatika”.
  • Second week of September is Yoga and AYUSH for Nutrition
  • Third week is “Distribution of ‘Regional Nutrition Kit’ to Anganwadi beneficiaries in High Burden Districts”.
  • Last week of September has been set as “Identification of severe acute malnourished children and distribution of nutritious food”.

About POSHAN Abhiyaan

• Stands for Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition
• Improve nutritional outcomes for pregnant women, lactating mothers, children and adolescent Girls.

POSHAN 2.0

• Announced POSHAN 2.0 programme in Budget 2021-2022
• With the focus on aims of POSHAN Abhiyaan
• Integrated nutrition support programme that seeks to strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach and outcomes.
• Focuses on developing practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity towards disease and malnutrition.

ENVIRONMENT & GEOGRAPHY

Where : Kela  pass

Connects :  Leh to the Pangong Lake

Height : 18,600 feet

Constructed by : 58 Engineer Regiment of the Indian Army

Significance :

• Strategically important road
• Reduces 41-km travel distance from Leh (Zingral to Tangtse) to reach Pangong Lake
• Aid in boosting the socio-economic status of local residents, especially the people of the Lalok region
• Will facilitate tourism.
• Connects tourists to places with snow sport activities, lakes, nomadic livestock, and rare medicinal plants

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS

Project Himank:

• Project Himank, is a project of the BRO being implemented in the Ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir.
• This project started in 1985.
• Under this project, BRO is responsible for the construction and maintenance of roads and related infrastructure including the world's highest motorable roads.

What is in news : According to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), use of leaded petrol has been eradicated from the globe

Details

• Milestone will prevent more than 1.2 million premature deaths and save over USD 2.4 trillion annually for world economies.
• Achieved century after doctors first issued warnings regarding the toxic effects of leaded petrol, Algeria (last country to use the fuel) exhausted the supplies in July 2021.
• UNEP also warned that, use of fossil fuel must still be drastically reduced, in general, to do away with the frightening effects of climate change.
• During 1970s, almost all the gasoline that used to be sold worldwide contained lead.
• The UNEP launched its campaign called “Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles (PCFV)” for eradication of ‘leaded petrol’ in 2002.
• Major economies including United States, China and India had already stopped using fuel in 2002.

Impact of leaded petrol

• Responsible for about quarter of energy-related global greenhouse gas emissions. It is set to grow to one third by the year 2050.
• Major health problems like heart disease, stroke and cancer.
• Leaded petrol also impacts the development of human brain.

Significance of eradication: Eradication of leaded petrol is expected to support realization of multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) like good health & well-being, clean water, clean energy, sustainable cities, climate action and life on land.

What : World’s first Plant-based smart air-purifiers

By : Scientists of Indian Institutes of Technology, Ropar & Kanpur, and Faculty of Management Studies of Delhi University

Features of Ubreathe Life

• Amplifies the air purification process in indoor spaces like schools, hospitals, offices, and homes.
• Claimed as world’s first, state-of-the-art ‘Smart Bio-Filter’, which can make breathing fresh.
• Incubated at IIT Ropar.
• Works by air-purifying natural leafy plant
• Air of the room interacts with leaves and goes towards soil-root zone where maximum pollutants are purified
• Technology used in this product is called as ‘Urban Munnar Effect’ and patent-pending “Breathing Roots”.
• These technologies amplify the phytoremediation process of the plants.
• Increases the oxygen levels in indoor space with the help of specific plants, UV disinfection and a stack of pre-filter, charcoal filter and HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter.
• Comprises of a centrifugal fan which creates a suction pressure inside the purifier and releases purified air.

What :

• There have been several cases of Covid-19 vaccinated people, even those who have received both doses, testing positive for the virus.
• Such cases are referred to as “breakthrough” infections, indicating that the virus has been able to break through the defences created by the vaccine.
• Such cases have led to some doubts being expressed about the effectiveness of the vaccine, and contributed to the already prevailing vaccine hesitancy. 
• However, vaccines protect not against the infection, but against moderate or severe disease and hospitalisation.
• It typically takes about two weeks for the body to build immunity after being vaccinated.
• So, the chances of a person falling sick during this period are as high — or as low — as the chances for any person who has not been vaccinated.

What is in news : Amidst reports of rising numbers of “breakthrough infections”, India SARS-CoV-2 Genome Consortium (INSACOG) said these numbers are on expected lines but did not officially quantify the extent of such infections.

What :

• Theatre level exercises of Russian armed forces
• Will focus primarily on operations against terrorists
• Will feature an all arms combined task force
• Aims to enhance military and strategic ties amongst the participating nations while they plan and execute this exercise
• 17 countries have been invited by Russia for the exercise. Of these nine are Participating countries which include Mongolia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, Russia, India and Belarus. The other eight countries are Observers which include Pakistan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka

What is in news : NAGA Battalion group contingent of 200 Army personnel will participate in the multinational Exercise ZAPAD 2021 being held at Nizhniy, Russia from September 3 to 16

What is in news : Sri Lankan President has declared an economic emergency to contain soaring inflation after a steep fall in the value of the country’s currency caused a spike in food prices

Details :

• Under the public security ordinance
• Prevent the hoarding of essential items, including rice and sugar
• Appointed a former General as commissioner of essential services
• Will have the power to seize food stocks held by traders and retailers and regulate their prices
• Emergency move followed sharp price rises for sugar, rice, onions and potatoes

• Presidential Colours are Regimental flags that are awarded to a regiment by the president during a ceremony. These are one of the greatest honours bestowed upon an armed force unit in recognition of exceptional service rendered by it to the nation, both during peace and war President Ram Nath Kovind will award the President’s Colour to Indian Naval Aviation at a ceremonial parade to be held at INS Hansa, Goa
• WCD Minister inaugurated NUTRI GARDEN to mark the beginning of Poshan Maah – 2021 today at All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA).
• The United Nations marked the first-ever International Day for People of African Descent on August 31, 2021 to celebrate the enormous contributions of African diaspora in field of human endeavour