Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 30th September 2021

What is in news : Bengaluru’s air pollution, already three times above the WHO guidelines, will double within the next 10 years if the Union government goes ahead with the planned expansion of coal fleet by 28 per cent, a report by C40 Cities has warned.

Details :

• C40, a network of 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities
• India’s plans could “nearly double” the number of annual premature deaths from coal plant pollution in the city.
• The study looked into the gaps in the ambition of different countries in meeting the 1.5 degrees Celsius compliance set by the United Nations panel on climate change.
• A 1.5°C scenario requires that coal capacity in and around C40 cities decrease by 61 per cent between 2020 and 2030. However, current coal plans within 500 km of C40 cities will actually increase coal capacity by 4 per cent between 2020 and 2030
• Other cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi fared worse than Bengaluru due to multiple factors, including the presence of coal-based power plants within a radius of 500 km.
• The study suggested that India could create 1.25 lakh new jobs in the energy sector by giving a push to solar and wind energy.

SOCIAL ISSUES

What is in news : The mid-day meal scheme will now be known as PM POSHAN

What is in the programme :

• 24 lakh students receiving pre-primary education at government and government-aided schools will also be brought under the ambit of the scheme (government had opened pre-schools called Balvatikas attached to angandwadis  in 2020)
• Launched for an initial period of five years (2021-22 to 2025-26)
• The National Education Policy (NEP) has also recommended that pre-school education should be formalised. This is a step towards that. Also, it will help prevent leakages and bring more transparency.
• States are free to hike  the honorarium of cooks and workers
• Primary (1-5) and upper primary (6-8) school children are currently entitled to 100 grams and 150 grams of food grains per working day each, to ensure a minimum of 700 calories. The new scheme has a provision for supplementary nutrition for children in aspirational districts and those with high prevalence of anaemia.
• Revamped scheme essentially does away with the restriction on the part of the Centre to provide funds only for wheat, rice, pulses and vegetables. “Currently, if a state decides to add any component like milk or eggs to the menu, the Centre does not bear the additional cost. Now that restriction has been lifted,”
• Nutri-gardens will be developed in schools to give children “first-hand experience with nature and gardening”. Such gardens have been already developed in three lakh schools.
• A social audit is being made mandatory in all the districts. To promote vocal for local, women self-help groups and farmer producer organisations will be encouraged to provide a fillip to locally grown traditional food items .The scheme also plans “inspection” by students of colleges and universities for ground-level execution.
• Tamil Nadu is considered the pioneer in introducing mid-day meals in government schools.
• While the Centre bears the entire cost of food grains and their transportation, as well as looks after the management, monitoring and evaluation under the scheme, components such as cooking costs, payments to cooks and workers are split in a 60:40 ratio with states.
• Several studies over the years have shown the critical role played by midday meals in increasing enrolment and preventing dropouts.

SCIENCE  & TECHNOLOGY

What : ICT based multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation, involving Centre and State governments.

What is in news : Prime Minister  chaired the 38th PRAGATI meeting

PRAGATI

• PRAGATI - Pro-Active Governance And Timely Implementation
• Unique integrating and interactive platform.
• Aimed at addressing common man’s grievances, and simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important programmes and projects of the Government of India as well as projects flagged by State Governments.
• Unique features:
  • Uniquely bundles three latest technologies: Digital data management, video-conferencing and geo-spatial technology.
  • Offers a unique combination in the direction of cooperative federalism since it brings on one stage the Secretaries of Government of India and the Chief Secretaries of the States.
  • With this, the Prime Minister is able to discuss the issues with the concerned Central and State officials with full information and latest visuals of the ground level situation. Innovative project in e-governance and good governance.
  • Three-tier system (PMO, Union Government Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries of the States).
  • Issues to be flagged before the PM are picked up from the available database regarding Public Grievances, on-going Programmes and pending Projects.
  • It was launched in 2015

ABOUT

• Mosquito-borne infectious disease
• Caused by various species of the parasitic protozoan microorganisms called Plasmodium
• The first evidence of this protozoan came from mosquitoes preserved in amber nearly 30 million years ago.
• It is even thought to have brought the Roman Empire to its knees. Malaria was so prevalent during the Roman times that the disease is also called ‘Roman Fever’
• Today, the credit for actually discovering the parasite is given to Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, a French physician. He even won the Nobel Prize in 1907 for his findings.
• Causes of Malaria
  • Bitten by a malarial vector (Anopheles stephensi)
  • Use of shared and infected syringes.
  • Organ transplantation.
  • Transfusion.
  • From an infected mother to her baby during birth.

What is in news : Instances of drug resistant malaria are increasing in India

DRUG RESISTANCE

• In most malaria-endemic countries including India, Artemisinin-based antimalarial drugs are the first-line choice for malaria treatment especially against Plasmodium falciparum parasite which is responsible for almost all malaria-related deaths in the world. In recent years there is increasing evidence for the failure of artemisinin-based combination therapy for falciparum malaria either alone or with partner drugs.
• A recent study described the presence of two mutations responsible for artemisinin resistance in Northern Uganda. The current report of artemisinin resistance in East Africa is a matter of great concern as this is the only drug that has saved several lives across the globe
• In India, after the failure of chloroquine to treat P. falciparum malaria successfully, artemisinin-based combination therapy was initially introduced in 117 districts that reported more than 90% falciparum burden in 2008.
• In 2010, artesunate plus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (AS+SP) was introduced universally, but in 2013, in view of resistance to the partner drug SP in the seven North Eastern States, the combination partner was replaced by artemether-lumefantrine (AL) for these states.
• In 2019, a report from Eastern India indicated the presence of two mutations in P. falciparum cases treated with artemisinin that linked to its presence of resistance.
• Again in 2021, artemisinin-based combination therapy failure was reported from Central India where the partner drug SP showed triple mutations with artemisinin wild type.
• This means the failure of artemisinin-based combination therapy may not be solely linked to artemisinin. Here it is needed to change the partner drug as has been done in NE states in 2013.
• In the past, chloroquine was very effective for all types of malaria treatment in India. But it is no longer used for the treatment of falciparum malaria.
• Though there have been some reports of chloroquine resistance in P. vivax malaria, this drug is still the effective choice to treat this species.
• Reports of the presence of chloroquine resistance mutations in some vivax-dominated areas are a cause of concern and continued monitoring is needed.

DEFENCE

What is in news : Defence Ministry has issued an order to dissolve the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB)

Details :

• OFB is being restructured with the aim of transforming it into productive and profitable assets, deepening specialization in product range, enhancing competitiveness and improving quality & cost-efficiency.
• As per government’s order, over 70,000 employees of OFB (Group A, B and C) belonging to the production units and identified non-production units will be transferred en masse to new DPSUs on terms of foreign service. They would be transferred without any deputation allowance in the initial phase, for a period of two years.

Ordnance Factory Board (OFB):

• It is an umbrella body for the ordnance factories and related institutions, and is currently a subordinate office of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
• The first Indian ordnance factory was set up in the year 1712 by the Dutch Company as a Gun-Powder Factory, West Bengal.
• OFBs will be responsible for different verticals of the products such as the Ammunition and Explosives group will be engaged in production of ammunition while a Vehicles group will engage in production of defence mobility and combat vehicles.

The State government of Karnataka  announced the Mahatma Gandhi Seva Award for 2020 and 2021 to freedom fighter Meera Bai Koppikar from Mudhol of Bagalkot district, and Sri Siddaganga Institute of Education and Sri Siddaganga Mutt, Tumakuru district, respectively.The award is given to people or institutions in recognition of service to society based on Gandhi’s ideals. The selection committee was headed by retired High Court judge Ashok B. Hinchageri. Ms. Koppikar, a nonagenarian, is currently living in Vatsalya Dhama in Mudhola. The award carrying ₹5 lakh each along with citation will be presented on October 2 at Gandhi Bhavan in Bengaluru.