Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 07th Dec 2021

The State Election Commission (SEC) moved the Karnataka High Court against the state government for passing the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Act, 2021

DETAILS

• SEC questioned legality of enacting a law that has derailed the process already initiated by the SEC to hold elections to zilla pancyayats (ZPs) and taluk panchayats (TPs) across the State.
• Withdrawal of elections cannot be held as per constitutional mandate as the new law has also nullified the exercises of delimitation of seats and fixing of reservation already carried out and completed by SEC.
• The new law
  • Takes away powers earlier conferred on SEC for fixing the number of seats, carrying out the exercise of delimitation, and fixing the reservation of seats for TPs and ZPs
  • Empowers the government to carry out these exercises.

MALNUTRITION

• Term that refers to any deficiency, excess or imbalance in somebody’s intake of energy and/or nutrients
• Either be due to inadequate intake or an excess intake of calories
• Covers two broad groups of conditions are as follows
  • Undernutrition – Includes stunting (low height for age), wasting (low weight for height), underweight (low weight for age) and micronutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies (a lack of important vitamins and minerals)
  • Overnutrition – Includes overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancer, and type-2 diabetes.)

NATIONAL FAMILY HEALTH SURVEY (NFHS)-5

• Tardy progress in reducing undernutrition, wasting and stunting
• 35.5% of under-five children are stunted and 19.3% are wasted
• Childhood anaemia has worsened from NFHS-4
• Anaemia among adolescent girls and women aged 15-49 has also worsened
• Though institutional delivery has gone up, early initiation of breastfeeding is static

CAUSES

• Barriers to health services include
  • High cost of care
  • Inadequate or no insurance coverage
  • Lack of availability of services.
• Poverty is the single most common cause of food insecurity. It hinders the accessibility of adequate food
• Early marriages of girls - teenage pregnancies - low birth weight of the newborns - poor breastfeeding practices - poor complementary feeding practices.
• Lack of availability of safe drinking water hinders proper digestion and assimilation of food and also cause water and food borne diseases.
• Poor sanitation
  • Linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio and exacerbate stunting
  • Reduces human well-being, social and economic development.
  • Lead to spread of many diseases that sap children’s energy and stunts their growth.
• Illiteracy in women and large household size.
• Lack of Awareness about nutritional needs of infants and young children.

EFFECTS

• Increased vulnerability to diseases like diarrhoea, measles, malaria and pneumonia.
• Chronic malnutrition can impair a young child’s physical and mental development.
• Cognitive impairment resulting from malnutrition may result in diminished productivity in academic performance.
• As per estimates of World Bank, childhood stunting may result in a loss of height among adults by 1%, which may further lead to a reduction in individuals economic productivity by 1.4%
• Puts women at a greater risk of pregnancy-related complications and death (obstructed labour and hemorrhage).
• Greatly impedes a country’s socioeconomic development and potential to reduce poverty

WHAT HAS GOVERNMENT DONE

• POSHAN Abhiyaan or National Nutrition Mission: It is Government of India’s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
• Under it the Anemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) Strategy was launched in 2018 with efforts to improve Iron and Folic Acid (IFA) supplementation, behaviour change and anaemia-related care and treatment across six target groups including pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children.
• Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS): It aims to improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group 0-6 years and reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropout.
• Public Distribution System: It provides coverage to upto 75% of rural population and upto 50% of urban population for receiving highly subsidized food grains under Targeted Public Distribution System.
• Midday meal scheme: The scheme provides meals for all school children studying in Classes I-VIII of Government, Government-Aided Schools.

WHAT MORE CAN BE DONE

• Role of Healthcare workers
  • Anganwadi workers, ASHA workers and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives
  • Must continue to monitor exclusive breastfeeding till the infant is six months old
  • Must record the timely initiation of complementary feeding with soft gruel
  • This is the critical period of growth that we cannot afford to compromise on
• Ensure that there is take-home ration for under-three children through the regular supply of supplementary nutrition from the Integrated Child Development Services.
• Anganwadis must be made more efficient mode of inspections
• To check poverty – It is important to monitor the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme workdays as well as the wages earned in areas where droughts frequently recur; where there is mass migration; and where there is prevalence of high malnutrition.
• The National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau must be reopen
• Real-time monitoring of the Public Distribution System (PDS) will go a long way in ensuring food at the family level. The aim of the National Food Security Act of 2013 is to ensure that nobody goes to bed hungry and there is no starvation. The PDS is focused on procuring wheat and rice through the Food Corporation of India to distribute to families. Cereals fill the stomach and hunger is averted, but not malnutrition.
• Both Poshan Abhiyan and the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana need to be monitored with the help of the community to ensure sustainable nutrition security.

Kazhuveli notified as 16th bird sanctuary in Tamil Nadu

DETAILS

• Who declares – Governor on advice of State government
• Who recommends - Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden
• Under Wildlife conservation act 1972
• ABOUT
  • Second largest brackish water lake in South India after Pulicat
  • Notified the Kazhuveli swamp/wetland in Vanur and Marakkanam taluks of Villupuram district
  • Kazhuveli Wetland Birds Sanctuary - 16th bird sanctuary in the State
  • Lake adjacent to the Bay of Bengal along the East Coast Road between Mahabalipuram and Puducherry attracts many long-distance migrant birds from Central Asia and Siberia.

A tiny snail with a golden-yellow shell found in the Edappally canal in Kochi has been flagged as an invasive species

DETAILS

• Spotted by researchers of the Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology, and Biochemistry of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CuUSAT)
• Identified as the acute bladder snail PHYSELLA ACUTA
• Globally branded as highly invasive.
• First time reported in Kerala
• HOW IS IT INVASIVE
  • Plays host to worms that can cause food-borne diseases and skin itches in humans
  • It has rapid growth rate, air-breathing capability
  • Tolerance to pollution makes it a potential competitor to native fauna.​

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS

INVASIVE SPECIES

• Species that is not native to a specific location (an introduced species)
• Has a tendency to spread to a degree believed to cause damage to the environment, human economy or human health.
• Species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there by human activity, either deliberate or accidental.
• Appear to have specific traits or specific combinations of traits that allow them to outcompete native species.
• Common invasive species traits include the following:
  • Fast growth
  • Rapid reproduction
  • High dispersal ability
  • Phenotype plasticity (the ability to alter growth form to suit current conditions)
  • Tolerance of a wide range of environmental conditions (Ecological competence)
  • Ability to live off of a wide range of food types
  • Association with humans
  • Prior successful invasions

Afforestation funds released to States by CAMPA

ABOUT

• Compensatory afforestation  - Every time forest land is diverted for non-forest purposes such as mining or industry, the user agency pays for planting forests over an equal area of non-forest land, or when such land is not available, twice the area of degraded forest land.
• CAF (Compensatory Afforestation) Act
  • Was passed by the centre in 2016 and the related rules were notified in 2018.
  • Was enacted to manage the funds collected for compensatory afforestation which till then was managed by ad hoc Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
• As per the rules, 90% of the CAF money is to be given to the states while 10% is to be retained by the Centre.
• The funds can be used for treatment of catchment areas, assisted natural generation, forest management, wildlife protection and management, relocation of villages from protected areas, managing human-wildlife conflicts, training and awareness generation, supply of wood saving devices and allied activities.

WHAT IS AN ADDITIONAL DOSE OF A COVID-19 VACCINE :

• An additional dose, originally called a third dose
• Given to people with moderately or severely compromised immune systems
• To improve their response to the initial vaccine series
• Was used to refer to additional doses for the two mRNA vaccines, but now the term is “additional dose” because those who received a Johnson & Johnson “one dose” vaccine may also be eligible for a dose based on their immune systems.

WHAT IS A BOOSTER SHOT:

• Means of strengthening one’s immune system against a particular pathogen
• May be exactly the same original vaccine, in which case its goal is to increase the magnitude of protection by producing more antibodies.
• Additional dose after the protection provided by the original shot(s) has started to decrease over time
• One would get a booster after the immunity from the initial dose(s) naturally starts  to wane.
• Designed to help people maintain their level of immunity for longer
• What a booster shot does is that it gives the memory cells the crucial signal to re-engage when the virus attacks.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO:

• A Covid-19 booster is given when a person has completed their vaccine series, and protection against the virus has decreased over time. Depending on the original series you had, some details will vary.
• An additional dose, however, is administered to people with moderately to severely compromised immune systems. This additional dose is intended to improve immunocompromised people’s response to their initial vaccine series

Nagaland CM calls for scrapping of AFSPA

ABOUT AFSPA

Gives armed forces

• Power to maintain public order in “disturbed areas”
• Authority to prohibit a gathering of five or more persons in an area
• Can use force or even open fire after giving due warning if they feel a person is in contravention of the law
• If reasonable suspicion exists
  • can also arrest a person without a warrant
  • enter or search premises without a warrant
  • ban the possession of firearms.

DISTURBED AREA

• One which is declared by notification under Section 3 of the AFSPA
• Area can be disturbed due to differences or disputes between members of different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities.
• The Central Government, or the Governor of the State or administrator of the Union Territory can declare the whole or part of the State or Union Territory as a disturbed area.

President of India visits Raigad fort and paid tributes to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

ABOUT THE FORT

• Situated about 25 km from Mahad in the Raigad district
• Stands 2,851 feet above the sea level
• The British Gazette states the fort was known to early Europeans as the Gibraltar of the East
• Decisive feature is a mile and a half flat top which has adequate room for buildings
• Fort had 300 stone houses and a garrison of 2,000 men
• Earlier called Rairi
• Was the seat of the Maratha clan Shirke in the 12th century
• Changed hands a number of times from the dynasty of Bahaminis to the Nizamshahis and then the Adilshahis.
• In 1656, Chhatrapati Shivaji captured it from the More’s of Javli who were under the suzerainty of the Adilshahi Sultanate

IMPORTANCE TO SHIVAJI

• In 1662, Shivaji formally changed the fort’s name to Raigad
• By 1664, the fort had emerged as the seat of Shivaji’s government
• On June 6, 1674, Shivaji was coronated at Raigad by Gagabhatt where he took on the title of Chhatrapati.
• Shivaji passed away in Raigad in 1680 and was cremated at the fort.

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

India and Russia have signed a number of agreements, contracts and protocols covering small arms and military cooperation

DETAILS

• Signed military-technical cooperation arrangement for 2021-31
• Signed the agreements for the procurement of 6,01,427 assault rifles AK-203 through Indo-Russia Rifles Pvt Ltd(produced in a new factory in Uttar Pradesh)
• Another agreement was signed on Protocol on amending agreement on cooperation in the field of Kalashnikov series small arms manufacturing
• First 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue happen between the Russian and Indian defence ministers

SNIPPETS

• Around 130 contractual employees of the Indian Telephone Industries Limited (ITI) have been agitating against the company after they were terminated from service on Wednesday morning, said union leaders here.The ITI is a public sector undertaking (PSU) company headquartered in Bengaluru under the Department of Telecommunication, Ministry of Communication, Government of India.
• Researchers have developed a chewing gum that they say can potentially reduce transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The chewing gum is laced with a plant-grown protein, which serves as a “trap” for the virus.  The chewing gum targets the virus in the saliva, and does so by trapping it with the ACE2 protein.