MoC signed between India and Japan
Why in News?
- The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was apprised of the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) signed between Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India and Water and Disaster Management Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan in the field of Water Resources.
Benefits:
- This MoC was signed for development of a long-term cooperation in the field of Water and Delta management, and Water technology in order to increase the exchange of information, knowledge, technology and scientific allied experience, as well as implementation of joint projects between the two countries.
- This MoC will help in achieving water security, improved irrigation facility and sustainability in water resources development.
PIB
National Health Mission (NHM) 2019-20
Why in News?
- The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister was apprised on the progress under National Health Mission (NHM) during FY 2019-20 including accelerated decline in Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Under Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) and Total Fertility Rate (TFR).
The Cabinet noted that NHM has envisaged new Initiatives in 2019-20 as:
- Social Awareness and Actions to Neutralize Pneumonia Successfully (SAANS) initiative was launched to accelerate action to reduce deaths due to childhood pneumonia.
- Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN) initiative was launched to provide assured, dignified, respectful and quality healthcare at no cost and zero tolerance for denial of services and all existing Schemes for maternal and neonatal health have been brought under one umbrella.
- Midwifery Services Initiative aims to create a cadre of Nurse Practitioners in Midwifery who are skilled in accordance to competencies prescribed by the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and are knowledgeable and capable of providing compassionate women-centered, reproductive, maternal and newborn health care services.
- School Health and Wellness Ambassadors Initiative has been launched under the AB-HWCs Programme in partnership with Ministry of Education to promote health and well-being through an active lifestyle amongst school children.
Targets:
- Reduce MMR to 1/1000 live births
- Reduce IMR to 25/1000 live births
- Reduce TFR to 2.1
- Reduce prevalence of Leprosy to < 1 /10000 population and incidence to zero in all districts
- Annual Malaria Incidence to be <I/1000
- Prevent and reduce mortality & morbidity from communicable, non-communicable; injuries and emerging diseases
- Reduce household out-of-pocket expenditure on total health care expenditure
- Ending the TB epidemic by 2025 from the country.
Background:
- The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 12th April 2005, for accessible, affordable and quality health care to the rural population, especially the vulnerable groups.
- The Union Cabinet vide in its meeting held on 1st May 2013, approved the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) as a Sub-mission of an over-arching National Health Mission (NHM), with National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) being the other Sub-mission of National Health Mission.
- Continuation of the National Health Mission-with effect from 1st April 2017 to 31st March 2020 was approved by Cabinet on 21st March 2018.
- The Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure has also accorded interim extension of National Health Mission for a period up to 31st March 2021 or till the date the recommendation of 15th Finance Commissions come into effect, whichever is earlier.
PIB
Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India
- Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI), a sub scheme of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), launched in 2010-11, is being implemented in seven eastern states namely Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
- Under the programme, assistance is being provided to the farmers for organizing cluster demonstrations on rice and wheat, seed production and distribution, nutrient management and soil ameliorants, integrated pest management, cropping system-based training, asset-building such as farm machineries & implements, irrigation devices, site specific activities and post-harvest & marketing support, etc.
- Under the programme, Government of India allocates fund to the State and further allocation to district is made by the respective State Government.
- BGREI programme is intended to address the constraints limiting the productivity of “rice based cropping systems” in eastern India. Under these systems, the other crops like wheat, coarse-cum-nutri cereals, pulses & oilseeds are already covered.
PIB
Commemorative Postage Stamp of Mahatma Gandhi
Why in News?
- Ministry of Communications released a Commemorative Postage Stamp on 100 Years of First Visit of Mahatma Gandhi to Odisha.
- This Commemorative Postage Stamp celebrates an important event of Indian History which is the first visit of Mahatma Gandhi to Odisha on 23rd March, 1921.
- It energized the Non-Cooperation movement and strengthened the cause of freedom struggle.
- During the visit of Mahatma Gandhi, large section of youth participated in the movement and women folk regularly spun Charkha and propagated the use of Khadi. Clothes of foreign origin were abandoned.
PIB
Project Mausam
Why in News?
- ‘Mausam’ is the initiative of Ministry of Culture to be implemented by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as the nodal agency with research support of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and National Museum.
Aim
- This project aims to explore the multi-faceted Indian Ocean ‘world’ – collating archaeological and historical research in order to document the diversity of cultural, commercial and religious interactions in the Indian Ocean.
Objective
- The main objective of the project is to inscribe places and sites identified under Project Mausam as trans-national nomination for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Mausam has now been extended up to 31st March, 2023.
(i)Indian Missions in the 39 countries have approached local authorities and several countries including the following, have nominated their resource persons for the Project Mausam: –
Bangladesh, Cambodia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Indonesia, Oman, Qatar, Singapore, Malaysia, The Islamic republic of Iran, UAE, Myanmar, Philippines and Jordan.
(ii) It is proposed to hold an international conference with these experts on the next steps forward.
(iii) It is proposed to prepare two transnational nominations namely;
(a) Routes followed by the Cholas in the Southeast Asia region and;
(b) Spread of Buddhism through land and sea routes in the South and Southeast Asian region (those countries that are a part of Project Mausam).
PIB
“PRANIT”
Why in News?
- Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID), a central PSU under Ministry of Power has established an e-Tendering Portal-PRANIT which will lead to less paperwork and ease of operation, making the tendering process more transparent.
Tax provisions for EPF contributions
Why in News?
- The Finance Minister introduced 127 amendments to the Finance Bill, 2021, which was passed by the Lok Sabha.
- These included an income tax break for the proposed development finance institution to fund infrastructure and a tweak in the proposed tax provisions for employees’ provident fund (EPF) contributions.
- Decision to impose an Agriculture Infrastructure Development Fund Cess on several items including fuel in the Budget, the proceeds from the collections would be shared with the States as they were the ones in charge of farm infrastructure such as APMCs and marketing yards.
- The cess may not get devolved to States, but eventually it will be used for improving infrastructure in agriculture and the farm yards and the marketing yards, which are with the State governments and so the funds will have to go the States only.
EPF Tax
- The government has also introduced an amendment in the Budget proposal to tax income on employee contributions of more than ₹2.5 lakh a year into Provident Fund accounts.
- There is 1% of people who were going up to ₹5 crore contribution also. The ₹2.5 lakh [cap] covers 92%-93% of people.
- Through an amendment, FM intend to raise this limit to ₹5 lakh in those cases, and only in those cases where there is no contribution by the employer in the EPF account.
THE HINDU
Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket
Why in News?
- Russia put 38 foreign satellites into orbit after a succesful launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
- The Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage and 38 spacecraft from 18 countries, including South Korea, Japan, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Italy and Brazil, took off from the Baikonur cosmodrome.
- Among them was the Challenge-1, the first satellite made completely in Tunisia, which was created by the Telnet telecommunications group.
- In 2018, a Soyuz rocket carrying a Russian cosmonaut and a NASA astronaut failed mid-flight, forcing the crew to carry out an emergency landing.
THE HINDU
New “Regional Security Dialogue Platform”
Why in News?
- China and Russia have proposed setting up a new “regional security dialogue platform” to address security concerns of countries in the region, as their foreign ministers hit out at the United States for “forming small circles to seek bloc confrontation”.
- The proposal came following a meeting between Foreign Minister W of China and his Russian counterpart in the southern Chinese city of Guilin, and days after the March 19 U.S.-China summit in Alaska and the March 12 leaders’ summit of the Quad (India, Australia, Japan and the U.S.), grouping that both Beijing and Moscow have viewed warily.
- The two sides also proposed the establishment of a regional security dialogue platform to converge a new consensus on resolving the security concerns of countries in the region. China and Russia are already part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) security grouping, which includes India.
- The two-day dialogue covered a range of issues including Afghanistan, the Iranian nuclear issue, climate change and “the Asia-Pacific situation”.
THE HINDU
Sanctions on China over Uighurs
Why in News?
- The European Union, the US, Britain, and Canada imposed sanctions on Chinese officials and entities recently, for human rights abuses against Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang province.
The sanctions
Why they matter
- This is the first time the EU has imposed sanctions on China since an arms embargo after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. That embargo is still in place.
- The Western powers moved together, in what is being seen as a result of the US push to deal with China along with its allies.
Why the sanctions
- Xinjiang has a large number of Uighurs, Muslims of Turkic descent. Over the past few decades, more and more Han Chinese have settled in Xinjinag, which saw violent clashes between them and the Uighurs.
- China is now accused of putting over a million people in internment camps to “de-Muslimise” them and make them integrate better in the Communist country.
- Allegations are that these people have been forced to leave behind their occupations, properties and families, to stay at the camps.
IE
Parosmia
Why in News?
- While loss of smell (anosmia) and taste is a well-known symptom of COVID-19, some people may experience parosmia, which is characterised by a change in perception of odours.
- Some other unusual symptoms associated with the disease include COVID-toe and COVID-tongue, which is an inflammatory disorder that usually appears on the top and sides of the tongue.
What is parosmia?
- Parosmia is a medical term used to describe a condition in which affected individuals experience “distortions of the sense of smell”.
- A person with parosmia is able to detect certain odours, but they might experience the smell of certain things as different and often unpleasant.
- For instance, to someone with parosmia, coffee may smell like burnt toast.
- These unpleasant smells are often described by people as being similar to that of chemicals, burning, faeces, rotting flesh and mould.
What causes parosmia?
- This abnormality is typically experienced by those people who are recovering their sense of smell following loss from a virus or an injury.
- Parosmia is a temporary condition and is not harmful in itself.
- Even so, it can continue for several weeks, which means that affected individuals may have to change their eating patterns, diets and avoid foods that trigger the certain odours.
COVID-19 and parosmia
- Parosmia has been associated with a high proportion of patients with post-infectious loss.
- Nearly half of its COVID-19 cohort reported parosmia, which was persistent at least till six months in the majority of the cases.
- The study says that parosmia might be a positive sign and may reflect the recovery of the olfactory sensory neurons.
- While there is no cure or medication for this abnormality, individuals may find some relief with “smell training”.
IE
AT1 Bonds
Why in News?
- Days after the Finance Ministry asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to review restrictions on mutual fund investments in additional tier-1 (AT1) bonds, Sebi has announced some relaxations in valuation norms.
- AT1 bonds will continue to be treated as 100-year bonds and there will be unwinding of positions by mutual funds in a specific timeframe.
What are AT1 bonds?
- These are unsecured bonds which have perpetual tenure — or no maturity date.
- They have a call option, which can be used by the banks to buy these bonds back from investors. AT1 bonds are subordinate to all other debt and only senior to common equity. Mutual funds are among the largest investors in perpetual debt instruments.
What’s the latest Sebi relaxation?
- SEBI said the deemed residual maturity of Basel III AT-1 bonds will be 10 years until March 31, 2022.
- It will be increased to 20 years from April 1, 2022 to September 2022, and 30 years for the subsequent six-month period.
- From April 2023, the residual maturity will become 100 years from the date of issuance of the bond.
IE
Cern experiment hints at new force of nature
- Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva have spotted an unusual signal in their data that may be the first hint of a new kind of physics.
- The LHCb collaboration, analysed 10 years of data on how unstable particles called B mesons, created momentarily in the vast machine, decayed into more familiar matter such as electrons.
- The particles should break down into products that include electrons at exactly the same rate as they do into products that include a heavier cousin of the electron, a particle called a muon.
- The B mesons are not decaying in the way the model says they should: instead of producing electrons and muons at the same rate, nature appears to favour the route that ends with electrons.
- The standard model of particle physics describes the particles and forces that govern the subatomic world. Constructed over the past half century, it defines how elementary particles called quarks build protons and neutrons inside atomic nuclei, and how these, usually combined with electrons, make up all known matter.
- The model also explains three of the four fundamental forces of nature: electromagnetism; the strong force, which holds atomic nuclei together; and the weak force which causes nuclear reactions in the sun.
- But the standard model does not describe everything. It does not explain the fourth force, gravity, and perhaps more strikingly, says nothing about the 95% of the universe that physicists believe is not constructed from normal matter.
- Much of the cosmos, they believe, consists of dark energy, a force that appears to be driving the expansion of the universe, and dark matter, a mysterious substance that seems to hold the cosmic web of matter in place like an invisible skeleton.
- If the result turns out to be true, it could be explained by so-far hypothetical particles called Z primes or leptoquarks that bring new forces to bear on other particles.
- B mesons contain elementary particles called beauty quarks, also know as bottom quarks.
THE GUARDIAN
World Tuberculosis Day
- Each year, March 24 is observed as World Tuberculosis Day. Tuberculosis has been one of the most devastating diseases we had to fight in the 19th and 20th century.
- World Tuberculosis Day 2021 theme is ‘The Clock is Ticking.’
World Tuberculosis Day History
- March 24 holds a lot of significance, as it marks the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch had announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB.
- Not only did his discovery open the way towards diagnosing but also curing this disease that had plagued many for years.
- To this day, TB remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers.
- According to WHO, each day, nearly 4000 lives are lost to TB and close to 28,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease.
- In 2019 alone 10,000,000 people fell ill due to TB, out of which 1, 400,000 lives were lost.