Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 13th May 2022

 NEWS : The first recorded natural birth of a vulture chick in Ramadevarabetta Vulture Sanctuary has sparked hopes of a revival in the population of the species that is currently under threat

Ramadevarabetta Vulture Sanctuary

• Officially set up in 2012
• long-billed, Egyptian and white-backed vultures have been roosting in the hills of Ramanagara for several decades
• Alarmed at the drop in the vulture population over the years – an estimated 97% of the long billed and 99% of the Egyptian vultures have disappeared – environmentalists and bird watchers campaigned to have the area declared as a sanctuary
• In 2012, around 346.41 hectares was earmarked as a protected area for the vultures. It is within this patch of the map that the proposed Sholay theme park is located.

Vultures In India

• Sociable creatures and are often seen as a collective unit
• Out of 23 species of vultures in the world, nine are found in India
• Preferred habitats of the Vulture are deserts, savannas and grassland near a water source
• Soar in circles high above the Earth’s surface
• Use the rising air currents to maintain their elevation
• Also inhabits open mountain ranges up to 3,000 metres above sea level
• Absent from Australia and most oceanic islands

Species of Vultures found in India and their Conservation Status

• Indian Vulture (Gyps indicus)- Critically Endangered
• Indian White-rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis)- Critically Endangered
• Red-headed Vulture (Sarcogypscalvus)- Critically Endangered
• Slender-billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris)- Critically Endangered
• Egyptian Vulture (Neophronpercnopterus)- Endangered
• Cincerous Vulture (Aegypiusmonachus)- Near Threatened
• Bearded Vulture (Gypaetusbarbatus)- Least Concern
• Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus)-Least Concern
• Himalayan Vulture (Gyps himalayansis)- Least Concern

Threats to Vulture survival

• Diclofenac: According to Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), veterinary use of diclofenac is the main threat to the Vultures in India. The widespread use of diclofenac as pain reliever in cattle is the cause of Vulture’s mortality in India.
• Habitat destruction Developmental activities like establishment of power projects, irrigation projects, industrial units, construction of highways etc. have ruined the habitats of Vultures resulting into decline in their population.
• Pesticide pollution: The chlorinated hydrocarbon D.D.T (Dichloro Diphenyl Trichloroethane) used as pesticide enters the body of Vultures through food chain where it affects the activity of estrogen hormone, as a result of which the egg shell is weakened consequently the premature hatching of egg takes place causing the death of the embryo.
• Slow breeding rate: Vultures lay a single egg in a breeding season. Hence their slow breeding rate is also a threat to their survival.
• Use of poisoned carcasses: Poison used by human beings to kill cattle-marauding carnivores is also a threat to Vultures in India, as consumption of such poisoned carcasses by Vulture leads to their death.
• Lack of legal protection: Out of nine species of Vultures found in India only one that is the Bearded Vulture (Gypaetusbarbatus) is protected by law and hence lack of legal protection is also a threat to their survival

NEWS : A project called the India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) finds that nearly 23% out of 2.1 million Indians have uncontrolled blood pressure

WHAT IS HYPERTENSION - A condition having systolic blood pressure level greater than or equal to 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure level greater than or equal to 90 mmHg or/and taking anti-hypertensive medication to lower his/her blood pressure.

OTHER DETAILS

• Recognizing that hypertension is a serious, and growing, health issue in India, the Health Ministry, the Indian Council of Medical Research, State Governments, and WHO-India began a five-year initiative to monitor and treat hypertension. Hypertension is defined as having systolic blood pressure level greater than or equal to 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure level greater than or equal to 90 mmHg or/and taking anti-hypertensive medication to lower his/her blood pressure.
• India has committed to a "25 by 25" goal, which aims to reduce premature mortality due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by 25% by 2025. One of the nine voluntary targets includes reducing the prevalence of high blood pressure by 25% by 2025.
• Kerala ranks highest with 32.8% men and 30.9% women being diagnosed with hypertension.
• The programme was launched in November 2017. In the first year, IHCI covered 26 districts across five States — Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra. By December 2020, IHCI was expanded to 52 districts across ten States — Andhra Pradesh (1), Chhattisgarh (2), Karnataka (2), Kerala (4), Madhya Pradesh (6), Maharashtra (13), Punjab (5), Tamil Nadu (1), Telangana (13) and West Bengal (5).

WHAT HAS THE IHCI FOUND SO FAR?

• About one-fourth of women and men aged 40 to 49 years have hypertension. Even at an earlier age, one in eight women and more than one in five men aged 30 to 39 years have hypertension
• The prevalence of hypertension is higher among Sikhs (37% for men and 31% for women), Jains (30% for men and 25% for women), and Christians (29% for men and 26% for women) than the rest.
• Drug availability improved in all phase I States with at least one-month refills for key blood pressure drugs. Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana had stocks for nearly six months for protocol drugs
• Kerala had only one month stock and Maharashtra had two months stock available in May 2021. Availability of drugs was a challenge in most phase II States and procurement process took nearly one year from planning
• There weren’t enough validated high-quality digital blood pressure monitors in several health facilities, which affected accuracy of hypertension diagnosis. In phase I States, dedicated nurses were insufficient except in Telangana and Maharashtra
• In phase II States, most districts did not have dedicated NCD nurses at public health care centres level except Chennai

NEWS : An international team of astronomers unveiled the first image of a supermassive black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy -- a cosmic body known as Sagittarius A*

DETAILS

• The image -- produced by a global team of scientists known as the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration -- is the first, direct visual confirmation of the presence of this invisible object, and comes three years after the very first image of a black hole from a distant galaxy
• The image depicts not the black hole itself, because it is completely dark, but the glowing gas that encircles the phenomenon -- which is four million times more massive than our Sun -- in a bright ring of bending light

SAGITTARIUS A*

• Abbreviated to Sgr A*
• Pronounced “sadge-ay-star”
• Owes its name to its detection in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius
• Existence has been assumed since 1974, with the detection of an unusual radio source at the centre of the galaxy
• In the 1990s, astronomers mapped the orbits of the brightest stars near the centre of the Milky Way, confirming the presence of a supermassive compact object there -- work that led to the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics
• Though the presence of a black hole was thought to be the only plausible explanation, the new image provides the first direct visual proof
• Because it is 27,000 light years from Earth, it appears the same size in the sky as a donut on the Moon

EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPE (EHT)

• Planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration
• Links telescopes around the globe to form an Earth-sized virtual telescope with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution
• Designed to capture images of a black hole
• Offers scientists a new way to study the most extreme objects in the Universe predicted by Einstein’s general relativity during the centennial year of the historic experiment that first confirmed the theory

NEWS : India  successfully test-fired an extended-range version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a Sukhoi fighter jet in the Bay of Bengal, in a boost to the country's strategic strike capability.

DETAILS

• It was the first launch of the extended range version of the BrahMos missile from a Su-30MKI aircraft.

• The range of the advanced version of the missile is learnt to have been extended to around 350 km from the original 290 km.
• The launch from the aircraft was as planned and the missile achieved a direct hit on the designated target in the Bay of Bengal region.
• It said the extended-range capability of the missile coupled with the high performance of the Su-30MKI aircraft gives the Indian Air Force a strategic reach and allows it to dominate future battlefields.
• With this (test-firing), the IAF has achieved the capability to carry out precision strikes from Su-30MKI aircraft against a land/ sea target over very long ranges.
• Besides the IAF, the Navy, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited (BAPL) were involved in the test firing.
• BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd, an India-Russian joint venture, produces supersonic cruise missiles that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or land platforms.
• BrahMos missile flies at a speed of 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound

NEWS : Sweden & Finland all set to join NATO

NATO:

• Intergovernmental military alliance between 27 European countries, 2 North American countries, and 1 Eurasian country
• Implements the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949
• Constitutes a system of collective security, whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party
• Headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium
• Headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.
• India is not member of NATO
• Most recent member state to be added to NATO was North Macedonia on 27 March 2020
• Currently recognizes Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine as aspiring members
• The combined military spending of all NATO members in 2020 constituted over 57% of the global nominal total. Members agreed that their aim is to reach or maintain the target defence spending of at least 2% of their GDP by 2024

What would a membership mean and will it benefit NATO as well?

• Being a member of NATO will give the nations a security guarantee under the alliance’s “Article 5” on collective defence
• Usually, becoming an official NATO member can take up to a year as it requires the approval of all existing member states
• Finland’s geographical location plays in its favour as once it becomes a member, the length of borders Russia shares with NATO would double and it would also strengthen the alliance’s position in the Baltic Sea
• The symbolic consequence of this cannot be ignored as well. More sovereign powers siding with the west and increasing its strength is a direct blow to Russia

NEWS : The International Nurses Day 2022 marks the 202nd anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale

INTERNATIONAL NURSES DAY

• Is a celebration on the 12th of May every year to commemorate the anniversary of Florence Nightingale.
• 2022 Theme: “Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Invest in Nursing and Respect Rights to Secure Global Health,”

Significance of the day

• Nurses account for more than half of all the world’s health workers. It will encourage the entire nurse community and the public to celebrate the day as well as would provide necessary information and resources to raise the profile of the nursing profession.
• The COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of the vital role nurses play. Without nurses and other health workers, it is not possible to win the battle against outbreaks

Florence Nightingale

• British social reformer, statistician, and the founder of modern nursing.
• Famously known as “The Lady with the Lamp” making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.
• Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War.
• Much of her published work was concerned with spreading medical knowledge.

• Bengaluru based transgender activist Akkai Padmashali launched the English version of the book titled ‘A Small Step in a Long Journey’
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has virtually addressed the ‘Utkarsh Samaroh’ event that was held at Bharuch, Gujarat. This programme was organized to celebrate the 100 per cent saturation of four key state government schemes in this district.
• Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs launched the BHARAT TAP initiative at the ‘Plumbex India’ exhibition. This exhibition is aimed for products and services related to the plumbing, water and sanitation industry. 
• Tata Sons has named Campbell Wilson, the head of Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) budget carrier Scoot, as the new chief executive and managing director of Air India.