One million species risk extinction due to humans: draft U.N. report

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

According to the leaked Summary for Policy Makers from a draft of forthcoming UN Report, up to 1 million species are at risk of extinction due to human activity. The report is set to be released on May 6th.
The report is being prepared by United Nations’ Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

Key Highlights

There is accelerating loss of clean air, drinkable water, forests, pollinating insects, protein-rich fish and storm-blocking mangroves all this poses threat and add up to increasing consequences of climate change
Biodiversity loss and global warming are closely linked
- The direct causes of species loss, in order of importance, are shrinking habitat and land-use change, hunting for food or illicit trade in wildlife body parts, climate change and pollution
- Half-a-million to a million species are projected to be threatened with extinction, many within decades
- The report warns of “an imminent rapid acceleration in the global rate of species extinction”.

Recommendations :

Production of food currently is against the order of the nature so we need transformative change in production to stop the damage
According to experts “If we’re going to have a sustainable planet that provides services to communities around the world, we need to change this trajectory in the next ten years, just as we need to do that with climate.”

Source :- The Hindu

World’s 15 hottest cities on Friday were all in India

GS PAPER - 01 GEOGRAPHY - Geographical features and their location- changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

Context :

According to the weather website El Dorado all 15 cities listed as the world's warmest were from Central India and areas in its proximity.

Key Findings :

Nine of the 15 hottest cities were located in Maharashtra, 6 of them in the Vidarbha region. This was followed by three towns in Madhya Pradesh, two from Uttar Pradesh and one from Telangana.
The highest temperature was recorded in Madhya Pradesh Khargone, where the maximum temperature rose to 46.6 degree Celsius.
The second-highest temperature was recorded in Akola, located in Maharashtra’s Vidhabra.

Source :- Times Of India

Worrying rise in number of non-smokers getting lung cancer

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health

Context :

A recent study published in the ‘Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine’ has noted that lung cancers is being increasingly diagnosed in non-smokers.

Key Findings :

According to the study, around 6000 people, who never smoked, died of lung cancer in UK.
This number is greater than the number of deaths due to cervical cancer (900), lymphoma (5200), leukaemia (4500) and ovarian cancer (4200).
Some of the major contributors to lung cancer in non-smokers include secondhand smoke, occupational carcinogen exposure, and outdoor pollution. Indoor cooking is also a key factor contributing to lung cancer.
Smoking and other forms of tobacco abuse has emerged as a serious concern, putting health at risk.
Smoking leads to cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and cancer. It also heightens the risk of getting communicable diseases such as tuberculosis.

Source :- Times Of India

ICMR launches 'MERA India' to eliminate malaria from India by 2030

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health

Context :

The Indian Council of Medical Research has launched the ‘Malaria Elimination Research Alliance (MERA) India’ – a conglomeration of partners working on malaria control – in order to prioritise, plan and scale up research to eliminate the disease from India by 2030.

Malaria Elimination Research Alliance (MERA) India:

The principal activity of the alliance is to prioritise, plan, conduct, scale up and translate relevant research in a coordinated and combinatorial way in order to have a tangible impact on the population who are at risk of malaria
The alliance will facilitate trans-institutional coordination and collaboration around a shared research agenda which responds not only to programmatic challenges and addresses gaps in available tools but also pro actively contributes to targeted research
It aims to harness and reinforce research in coordinated and combinatorial ways in order to achieve tangible impact on malaria elimination
MERA India alliance is very important to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare because of the operational research.

India’s Effort to eliminate Malaria :

Over the past two decades, India has made impressive progress in malaria control.
The malaria burden has declined by over 80 per cent, 2.03 million cases in 2000 to 0.39 million in 2018, and malaria deaths by over 90 per cent, 932 deaths in 2000 to 85 in 2018
The National Vector Borne Diseases Control Program (NVBDCP) of India has developed a comprehensive framework to achieve the overarching vision of "Malaria free India by 2030".
NVBDCP National Strategic Plan clearly recognises the critical role of research to support and guide malaria elimination efforts.

Source :- Business Standard

India ranks 80 in Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2019

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

India has been ranked 80th on Global Talent Competitive Index 2019.

About Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) :

GTCI, launched in 2013, is an annual benchmarking report that measures the ability of countries to compete for talent.
It is released by INSEAD business school in partnership with Tata Communications and Adecco Group.
The survey measures how countries and cities grow,attract and retain talent.It ranks 125 countries and 114 cities across all groups of income and levels of development.

Theme - 2019:

The theme of this year report is ‘Entrepreneurial Talent and Global Competitiveness’.
It attempts to identify the ways in which companies, countries,and cities can foster entrepreneurial talent which makes up a critical component of competitiveness and innovation.

Global Findings:

Switzerland maintains its top position followed by Singapore and the United States.
Yemen has finished at the bottom of this year’s index at 125th, just below Congo (124th) and Burundi (123rd).
Singapore retained its leading position in the Asia-Pacific region for the sixth consecutive year in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2019

India’s Position :

India remains the laggard in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) region and was ranked 80.
It performs better than its lower-income peers when it comes to growing (48th) talent, primarily by virtue of the possibilities for Lifelong Learning (38th) and Access to Growth Opportunities (41st).
An above-average Business and Labour Landscape (38th) and Employability (34th) raise the scores of the pillars related to Enable (70th) and Vocational and Technical Skills (72nd) that are otherwise hampered by the remaining sub-pillars.
Notwithstanding the scope for improvement across the board, India’s biggest challenge is to improve its ability to Attract (95th) and Retain (96th) talent.
Above all, there is a need to address its poor level of Internal Openness (116th)—in particular with respect to weak gender equality and low tolerances towards minorities and immigrants—and its disappointing showing in Lifestyle indicators.

Source :- Livemint

Khelchawa festival

GS PAPER - 01 ART AND CULTURE - Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Context :

Recently,Tiwa tribesmen had taken part in a dance during the Khelchawa festival in Karbi Anglong district of Assam.

Tiwa Tribes:

Tiwa tribesmen are recognized as a Scheduled tribe within the State of Assam.They are also found in the states of Meghalaya,Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
They speak Tibeto Burman language.
Further,they are divided into two sub-groups namely Hill Tiwas and Plain Tiwas.
It is a quinquennial festival i.e. celebrated every five years after harvest season over a period of 4 days
The festival is held at the close of the harvest season in the month of April.After the harvesting season is over Tiwa community celebrates the festival for a good harvest.
The festival also celebrates the efforts of young boys becoming an adult.Pigs are also sacrificed during the festival as a mark of respect for their local deities collectively known as Lampha Raja.

Source :- The Hindu

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

27th APRIL 2019 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

One million species risk extinction due to humans: draft U.N. report

World’s 15 hottest cities on Friday were all in India

Worrying rise in number of non-smokers getting lung cancer

ICMR launches 'MERA India' to eliminate malaria from India by 2030

India ranks 80 in Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2019

Khelchawa festival

One million species risk extinction due to humans: draft U.N. report

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

According to the leaked Summary for Policy Makers from a draft of forthcoming UN Report, up to 1 million species are at risk of extinction due to human activity. The report is set to be released on May 6th.

The report is being prepared by United Nations’ Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

Key Highlights

There is accelerating loss of clean air, drinkable water, forests, pollinating insects, protein-rich fish and storm-blocking mangroves all this poses threat and add up to increasing consequences of climate change

Biodiversity loss and global warming are closely linked

The direct causes of species loss, in order of importance, are shrinking habitat and land-use change, hunting for food or illicit trade in wildlife body parts, climate change and pollution

Half-a-million to a million species are projected to be threatened with extinction, many within decades

The report warns of “an imminent rapid acceleration in the global rate of species extinction”.

Recommendations :

Production of food currently is against the order of the nature so we need transformative change in production to stop the damage

According to experts “If we’re going to have a sustainable planet that provides services to communities around the world, we need to change this trajectory in the next ten years, just as we need to do that with climate.”

Source :- The Hindu

World’s 15 hottest cities on Friday were all in India

GS PAPER - 01 GEOGRAPHY - Geographical features and their location- changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

Context :

According to the weather website El Dorado all 15 cities listed as the world's warmest were from Central India and areas in its proximity.

Key Findings :

Nine of the 15 hottest cities were located in Maharashtra, 6 of them in the Vidarbha region. This was followed by three towns in Madhya Pradesh, two from Uttar Pradesh and one from Telangana.

The highest temperature was recorded in Madhya Pradesh Khargone, where the maximum temperature rose to 46.6 degree Celsius.

The second-highest temperature was recorded in Akola, located in Maharashtra’s Vidhabra.

Source :- Times Of India

Worrying rise in number of non-smokers getting lung cancer

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health

Context :

A recent study published in the ‘Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine’ has noted that lung cancers is being increasingly diagnosed in non-smokers.

Key Findings :

According to the study, around 6000 people, who never smoked, died of lung cancer in UK.

This number is greater than the number of deaths due to cervical cancer (900), lymphoma (5200), leukaemia (4500) and ovarian cancer (4200).

Some of the major contributors to lung cancer in non-smokers include secondhand smoke, occupational carcinogen exposure, and outdoor pollution. Indoor cooking is also a key factor contributing to lung cancer.

Smoking and other forms of tobacco abuse has emerged as a serious concern, putting health at risk.

Smoking leads to cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and cancer. It also heightens the risk of getting communicable diseases such as tuberculosis.

Source :- Times Of India

ICMR launches 'MERA India' to eliminate malaria from India by 2030

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health

Context :

The Indian Council of Medical Research has launched the ‘Malaria Elimination Research Alliance (MERA) India’ – a conglomeration of partners working on malaria control – in order to prioritise, plan and scale up research to eliminate the disease from India by 2030.

Malaria Elimination Research Alliance (MERA) India:

The principal activity of the alliance is to prioritise, plan, conduct, scale up and translate relevant research in a coordinated and combinatorial way in order to have a tangible impact on the population who are at risk of malaria

The alliance will facilitate trans-institutional coordination and collaboration around a shared research agenda which responds not only to programmatic challenges and addresses gaps in available tools but also pro actively contributes to targeted research

It aims to harness and reinforce research in coordinated and combinatorial ways in order to achieve tangible impact on malaria elimination

MERA India alliance is very important to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare because of the operational research.

India’s Effort to eliminate Malaria :

Over the past two decades, India has made impressive progress in malaria control.

The malaria burden has declined by over 80 per cent, 2.03 million cases in 2000 to 0.39 million in 2018, and malaria deaths by over 90 per cent, 932 deaths in 2000 to 85 in 2018

The National Vector Borne Diseases Control Program (NVBDCP) of India has developed a comprehensive framework to achieve the overarching vision of "Malaria free India by 2030".

NVBDCP National Strategic Plan clearly recognises the critical role of research to support and guide malaria elimination efforts.

Source :- Business Standard

India ranks 80 in Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2019

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

India has been ranked 80th on Global Talent Competitive Index 2019.

About Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) :

GTCI, launched in 2013, is an annual benchmarking report that measures the ability of countries to compete for talent.

It is released by INSEAD business school in partnership with Tata Communications and Adecco Group.

The survey measures how countries and cities grow,attract and retain talent.It ranks 125 countries and 114 cities across all groups of income and levels of development.

Theme - 2019:

The theme of this year report is ‘Entrepreneurial Talent and Global Competitiveness’.

It attempts to identify the ways in which companies, countries,and cities can foster entrepreneurial talent which makes up a critical component of competitiveness and innovation.

Global Findings:

Switzerland maintains its top position followed by Singapore and the United States.

Yemen has finished at the bottom of this year’s index at 125th, just below Congo (124th) and Burundi (123rd).

Singapore retained its leading position in the Asia-Pacific region for the sixth consecutive year in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2019

India’s Position :

India remains the laggard in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) region and was ranked 80.

It performs better than its lower-income peers when it comes to growing (48th) talent, primarily by virtue of the possibilities for Lifelong Learning (38th) and Access to Growth Opportunities (41st).

An above-average Business and Labour Landscape (38th) and Employability (34th) raise the scores of the pillars related to Enable (70th) and Vocational and Technical Skills (72nd) that are otherwise hampered by the remaining sub-pillars.

Notwithstanding the scope for improvement across the board, India’s biggest challenge is to improve its ability to Attract (95th) and Retain (96th) talent.

Above all, there is a need to address its poor level of Internal Openness (116th)—in particular with respect to weak gender equality and low tolerances towards minorities and immigrants—and its disappointing showing in Lifestyle indicators.

Source :- Livemint

Khelchawa festival