ART AND CULTURE

Megalithic sword unearthed from rock-cut cave in Kozhikode

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 :

• The State Archaeology Department in Kozhikode has unearthed what it calls a Megalithic era iron sword, a chisel and a few decorated potteries from a rock-cut cave at Pothuvachery in Kannur district of Kerala.

Significance :

• The recovery of the implements revealed the technological advancement of the Megalithic people.

• The very idea of burying the dead along with burial goods indicates strong belief in life after death and possibly rebirth among megalithic people.      

                                                                                                                                    Source :- The Hindu

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

Screening all children for leprosy,TB: India’s disease burden, mission explained

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

Context :

• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched a scheme for universal screening of children below 18 years for leprosy and tuberculosis (TB). It is a part of the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK)

Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) :

• It was launched in 2013 under the National Health Mission. It is implemented by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

• Aim: early identification  and  early  intervention  for  children  from  birth  to  18  years to cover 4 ‘D’s viz. Defects at  birth,  Deficiencies,  Diseases,  Development  delays  including  disability.

• Child Health Screening and Early Intervention Services under RBSK covers 30 selected health conditions for screening, early detection and free management. Tuberculosis and Leprosy were previously not a part of it.

Why is it necessary ?

• Leprosy in India :

  • Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. It usually affects the skin and peripheral nerves, but has a wide range of clinical manifestations.

  • The disease is characterised by a long incubation period that is generally 5-7 years. It is a leading cause of permanent physical disability.

  • Timely diagnosis and treatment of cases, before nerve damage has occurred, is the most effective way of preventing disability due to leprosy.

• Status of leprosy in india :

  • In 2005, India achieved the goal of elimination of leprosy as a public health problem, defined by WHO as less than 1 case per 10,000 population.

  • All states except Chhattisgarh and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli have eliminated leprosy. However, 1.15 lakh to 1.2 lakh new leprosy cases are still detected annually

•  Tuberculosis (TB):

  • Tuberculosis infection, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is one of the most common communicable diseases in India, its transmission fuelled by unhygienic, crowded living conditions.

  • When TB infection becomes resistant to the first line of treatment — isoniazid and rifampicin, it is called Multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB). When the infection becomes resistant even to the second-line treatment it is called Extensively-drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB)

• Status of TB in India :

  • The WHO 2018 Global TB Report says that India has the highest burden of TB and multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB)

  • TB kills an estimated 4, 80,000 Indians every year — an average over 1,300 every day.

                                                                                                                           Source :- Indian Express​

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

India - Russia Joint Statement during the visit of Prime Minister to Vladivostok

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

• Modi is visiting Russia on the invitation of President Putin. The 20th India—Russia Annual Summit was held in Vladivostok.

More in the news:

• The two sides exchanged numerous agreements, including military and technical cooperation, energy and science, LNG Business and LNG supplies, and natural gas, in the presence of the two leaders.

Key Highlights :

• The proposal was also made between India and Russia to have a full-fledged maritime route that serves as a link between Chennai and Vladivostok.

• To bring it to $30 billion by 2025, they agreed to more actively engage the impressive resource and human resources potential of India and Russia, enhance industrial cooperation, create new technological and investment partnership, especially in advanced high-tech areas and find new avenues and forms of cooperation

• Both the sides expressed their interest in expanding the participation of Russian business in ‘Make in India’ programme and that of Indian companies in investment projects in Russia.

• It was also agreed to intensify work for eliminating trade barriers.

  • This would be facilitated, inter alia, by the proposed Trading Agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the Republic of India.

• India looks forward to cooperate with Russia in the Arctic. India has been following the developments in the Arctic region with interest and is also ready to play a significant role in the Arctic Council.

• Further,the two countries highlighted the successful cooperation in the construction of the Rooppur Nuclear power plant(NPP) in Bangladesh and expressed their readiness to expand similar cooperation in third countries.

• The Sides emphasized the importance of joint research in science and technology. They are committed to intensify development of high-tech products in such spheres, as telecommunications, robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnologies, pharmacy and others.

• Promising areas of cooperation include aviation and space. The Sides agreed to explore the prospects of establishing joint ventures in India for the development and production of civil aircraft.

• Both Sides intend to strengthen cooperation within the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUS), including guaranteeing long-term sustainability of outer space activities and developing "Space 2030” Agenda and implementation plan.

  • The Sides acknowledged the opportunities to increase bilateral trade in the sphere of agriculture. They expressed their intent to take specific steps to enhance legal framework in this sector and harmonize phytosanitary standards, develop logistics, find new ways to promote agricultural commodities in our countries’ markets and study the capacities and needs of each other more carefully.

                                                                                                                                                                    Source :- PIB​

ECONOMY

Global Liveability Index

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - growth, development and employment. Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.

Context :

• The Economist Intelligence Unit's Global Liveability Index 2019 released.

External benchmark-based lending must: RBI

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment. Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.

Context :

• In order to improve transmission of interest rates, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on asked banks to link their lending rates on floating rate loans to retail, personal and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) borrowers to an external benchmark from 1 October.

• Banks can choose from one of the four external benchmarks — repo rate, three-month treasury bill yield, six-month treasury bill yield or any other benchmark interest rate published by Financial Benchmarks India Private Ltd.

Present scenario :

• At present, interest rates on loans are linked to a bank’s marginal cost of fund-based interest rate, known as the Marginal Cost of Lending Rate (MCLR).

• Existing loans and credit limits linked to the MCLR, base rate or Benchmark Prime Lending Rate, would continue till repayment or renewal.

Need for new method :

• The transmission of policy rate changes to the lending rate of banks under the current MCLR framework has not been satisfactory.
   

  • RBI in its August Policy, 2019 pointed out that although it had brought down the repo rate by 75 basis points, the weighted average MCLR of banks had come down by only 29 basis points.

Background :

• The external benchmark was first proposed by the former governor Urjit Patel in 2018.

• The norms for external benchmark linking of interest rates was scheduled to be operational from April 1, but owing to protest by the banks, the same was deferred.   

                                                                                                                                                        Source :- The Hindu

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment (AIDA)

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology

Context :

• Asteroid researchers with a view to establishing a planetary defence mechanism against huge asteroid will gather in Italy to discuss the progress of Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment (AIDA).

More in the news:

• Among all the causes that will eventually cause the extinction of life on Earth, an asteroid hit is widely acknowledged as one of the likeliest.

• Over the years, scientists have suggested different ways to ward off such a hit, such as blowing up the asteroid before it reaches Earth, or deflecting it off with a spacecraft.

Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment (AIDA) :

• It is an ambitious double-spacecraft mission to deflect an asteroid in space, to prove the technique as a viable method of planetary defence.

• The mission, which includes NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), is known as the Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment (AIDA).

• The project aims

  • to deflect the orbit of the smaller body through an impact by one spacecraft.

    • NASA is building the Double Asteroid Impact Test (DART) spacecraft for launch in summer 2021.

    • It is planned to collide with the target at 6.6 km/s in September 2022. Flying along with DART will be an Italian-made miniature CubeSat, called LICIACube, to record the moment of impact.

  • Then a second spacecraft will survey the crash site and gather the maximum possible data on the effect of this collision

    • ESA’s contribution is a mission called Hera, which will perform a close-up survey of the post-impact asteroid, acquiring measurements such as the asteroid’s mass and detailed crater shape.

    • Hera will also deploy a pair of CubeSats for close-up asteroid surveys and the very first radar probe of an asteroid.

• Target :  

  • The target is the smaller of two bodies in the “double Didymos asteroids” that are in orbit between Earth and Mars. Didymos is a near-Earth asteroid system.

  • Its main body measures about 780 m across; the smaller body is a “moonlet” about 160 m in diameter.

                                                                                                                           Source :- Indian Express

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

Government to develop a master plan for Tigers at High altitude

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

Context :

• Union Environment Minister has released a study on the Status of Tiger Habitats in high altitude ecosystems. 

More about the study :

• The study was conducted by the Global Tiger Forum(GTF) in partnership with the Governments of Bhutan, India and Nepal and along with the World Wide Fund for Nature(WWF).

• The study has been supported by the Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Program (ITHCP) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and KfW (German Development Bank).

Key Findings of the Study :

• The study has revealed that even ecology at high altitude is compatible for the tiger growth.

• The study has called for developing a master plan for the Tigers at High altitude with gainful portfolio for local communities and ensuring centrality of tiger conservation in development.

• The study has also identified possible viable habitats, corridor linkages, anthropogenic pressures and induced landscape-level changes for evolving an in-situ conservation roadmap.

                                                                                                                                                              Source :- PIB

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