Current Affairs Apr 13 – GES Reporter

MULTINATIONAL MILITARY EXERCISE SHANTIR OGROSENA

Why in News?

Exercise SHANTIR OGROSENA-2021, a 10 day long multinational military exercise, which started on 04 April 2021, culminated on.12 April 2021 at Bangabandhu Senanibas (BBS), Bangladesh.

Participants

Troops from four countries participated in this exercise with observers from USA, UK, Russia, Turkey, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Singapore.

Aim

The aim of the exercise was to strengthen defence ties and enhance interoperability amongst neighbourhood countries to ensure effective peace keeping operations.
The Armies of all participating nations shared their wide experiences and enhanced their situational awareness through robust information exchange platforms.

PIB

Judgments & Orders portal

Why in News?

Dr Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, Judge, Supreme Court of India recently inaugurated a Judgments and Orders Portal for searching past judgments and orders and an e-Filing 3.0 module to allow electronic filing of court documents.
The Judgments and Orders search portal is a repository of judgments pronounced by various High Courts in the country. It provides facility to search judgements and final orders based on multiple search criteria.

The main features of the portal are:

Free text search facilitates user to search judgments based on any keyword or combination of multiple keywords
Users can also search judgments based on various criteria like including bench, case type, case number, year, petitioner/ respondent name, judge name, act, section, disposal nature and decision date. Combination of several search options assist the users to get the desired results.
The embedded filtering feature allows further filters on available results, thus adding value to the search.
The e-filing 3.0 module, introduced by the e-Committee of the Supreme Court, allows electronic filing of court documents.
The filing process can take place even when the court, client and lawyer are at three different locations.

PIB

‘Aahaar Kranti’

Why in News?

Vijnana Bharati (Vibha) and Global Indian Scientists’ and Technocrats’ Forum (GIST) have come together to launch the mission with the motto of उत्तम आहार-उत्तम विचार (Uttam Aahaar Uttam Vichaar) or `Good Diet-Good Cognition’.

Aim

The mission is aimed to spread the message of the need for a nutritionally balanced diet and to understand the importance of accessible to all local fruits and vegetables.
The `Aahaar Kranti’ movement is designed to address the peculiar problem being faced by India and the world called `hunger and diseases in abundance’.
Studies estimate that India produces as much as two times the amount of calories that it consumes. However, many in the country are still malnourished. The root cause of this strange phenomenon is a lack of nutritional awareness in all sections of our society.
The United Nations has also declared 2021 as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables, which vibes very well with Aahaar Kranti. Fruits and vegetables make a large part of a balanced diet.
Further, UN sustainable goal # 3 that emphasizes on human well-being reads, “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”
The programme will focus on training teachers, who, in turn, will pass on the message to the multitudes of students, and through them to their families and finally the society at large. Such a strategy was adopted for the eradication of Polio and it turned out to be a grand success.
In terms of objectives, it will seek to promote better awareness, better nutrition and better agriculture.

PIB

Global Collaboration towards World Class Innovative Solutions

Why in News?

As part of Indo-Danish bilateral Green strategic partnership, India is all set to take a giant leap towards building a world class innovation ecosystem as Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) of India’s premier policy think tank NITI Aayog and Embassy of Denmark to India officially announced their collaboration.
Under this ambitious partnership,Innovation Center Denmark in India will collaborate with AIM to support various current and future initiatives of AIM, NITI Aayog and its beneficiaries in India as well as develop global innovation Green economy partnerships addressing SDG goals.

PIB

India Energy Dashboards

Why in News?

The India Energy Dashboards Version 2.0 was launched.
India Energy Dashboards (IED) is an endeavour to provide single-window access to the energy data for the country. Energy data published/provided by Central Electricity Authority, Coal.
Controller’s Organisation, and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is compiled in the Dashboards. NITI Aayog launched the Version 1.0 in May 2017.

The key features of the enhanced version, India Energy Dashboards Version 2.0, are –

The IED provides time series data from FY 2005-06 until FY 2019-20;
Enhanced data download – It enables easy downloading of data into convenient spreadsheet formats in a cleaner, more intuitive way;
IED provides data at sub-yearly frequencies as well. This includes monthly data and API linked data from some portals maintained by the government agencies. The monthly data is sourced from the monthly reports that are regularly published for the electricity, petroleum and natural gas sectors.
API linked data from Saubhagya, UJALA, PRAAPTI, and Vidyut PRAVAH has been incorporated in the portal;

PIB

La Soufriere volcano

Why in News?

The Caribbean island of Saint Vincent has recently declared a red alert and issued an evacuation order for northern areas after seismologists warned that the La Soufrière volcano shows signs of an imminent eruption.
La Soufriere volcano has fired an enormous amount of ash and hot gas in the biggest explosive eruption yet since volcanic activity began on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent.
“Pyroclastic flows” at La Soufriere could possibly cause destruction and devastation of areas close to the volcano.
Pyroclastic flows “contain a high-density mix of hot lava blocks, pumice, ash and volcanic gas. They move at very high speed down volcanic slopes, typically following valleys”.
This eruption was the first by the La Soufrière volcano since April 1979.
La Soufrière is located on the largest island of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines chain.
The eastern Caribbean has 19 live volcanoes, 17 of those located on 11 islands. The remaining two are located underwater near Grenada, including one called Kick ‘Em Jenny that has been active in recent years.
The most active volcano of all is Soufriere Hills in Montserrat, which has erupted continuously since 1995, destroying the capital of Plymouth and killing at least 19 people in 1997.

CNN

Ultraviolet levels and the risk of death from Covid-19

Why in News?

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh compared all recorded deaths from Covid-19 in the continental US from January to April 2020 with ultraviolet levels for 2,474 US counties for the same time period.

Findings

The study (British Journal of Dermatology) found that people living in areas with the highest level of exposure to UV had a lower risk of dying from Covid-19 compared with those with lower levels.
The analysis was repeated in England and Italy with the same results.
The researchers took into account factors such as age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status.

‘Refugees’ and ‘Illegal Immigrants’

Why in News?

Recently, the Supreme Court appeared to accept the Centre’s contention that the Rohingya people in India are illegal immigrants when it refused to order the release of 300 members of the community, most of whom are in a detention camp in Jammu, and others in Delhi.
It said they should be deported according to procedures under the Foreigners Act, 1946.

Illegal immigrant vs refugee

Under the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees and the subsequent 1967 Protocol, the word refugee pertains to any person who is outside their country of origin and unable or unwilling to return owing to well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
Stateless persons may also be refugees in this sense, where country of origin (citizenship) is understood as ‘country of former habitual residence’.
The UN has said the flight of the Rohingya following the Myanmar military crackdown in Rakhine state in 2017 had created the world’s biggest refugee crisis. Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh is the biggest refugee camp in the world today.
Myanmar maintains that the Rohingya, who are predominantly Muslim, are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

India & UN convention

India has welcomed refugees in the past, and on date, nearly 300,000 people here are categorised as refugees. But India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention or the 1967 Protocol. Nor does India have a refugee policy or a refugee law of its own.
This has allowed India to keep its options open on the question of refugees.
The government can declare any set of refugees as illegal immigrants — as has happened with Rohingya despite the UNHCR verification — and decide to deal with them as trespassers under the Foreigners Act or the Indian Passport Act.
The closest India has come to a refugee policy in recent years is the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, which discriminates between refugees on the basis of religion in offering them Indian citizenship.

Sputnik V

Why in News?

Sputnik V, the vaccine against Covid-19 developed by Russia, has been recommended by an expert panel for emergency use in India.
If accepted, it would be is the third coronavirus vaccine to get emergency use approval, after Covishield (Serum Institute of India) and Covaxin (Bharat Biotech).

The Sputnik V vaccine

The Sputnik V vaccine, developed by Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, uses two different viruses that cause the common cold (adenovirus) in humans.
The adenoviruses are weakened so they cannot replicate in humans and cannot cause disease.
They are also modified so that the vaccine delivers a code for making the coronavirus spike protein.
This aims to ensure that when the real virus tries to infect the body, it can mount an immune response in the form of antibodies.
Sputnik uses a different vector for each of the two shots in a course of vaccination. This provides immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.
The two shots are given 21 days apart.
Sputnik V is to be stored at -18°C in its liquid form. However, in its freeze-dried form, it can be stored at 2-8°C, in a conventional refrigerator without any need to invest in additional cold-chain infrastructure.

Indian partners

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, based in Hyderabad, had sought the government’s approval for the vaccine to be used in India.
Five other Indian companies have partnered with RDIF for Sputnik V. The others are Gland Pharma, Hetero Biopharma, Virchow Biotech, Panacea Biotec and Stelis Biopharma, the biopharamaceutical arm of the Bengaluru-headquartered Strides Pharma Science.

Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

Why in News?

NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter, which was sent to Mars strapped to the Perseverance rover, will take its first experimental flight on the Red Planet on or after April 14, the space agency has announced.
Ingenuity, a 1.8-kilogram rotorcraft, will become the first helicopter to fly on another planet.
The helicopter was carried along with the Perseverance rover last year on July 30 from Cape Canaveral in Florida, and landed at the Jezero Crater on Mars on February 18 this year.

What is the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter?

The helicopter’s mission is experimental in nature and completely independent of the rover’s science mission – which is searching for signs of ancient life and collecting samples of rock and sediment in tubes for potential return to Earth by later missions.
Ingenuity is able to fly using counter-rotating blades that spin at about 2,400 rpm.
It has a wireless communication system, and is equipped with computers, navigation sensors, and two cameras. It is solar-powered, able to charge on its own.
The helicopter project’s chief engineer is J (Bob) Balaram, a graduate of IIT Madras who later went on to work at NASA.

Sturgeon

Why in News?

Illegal sale of sturgeon, one of the most endangered species in the world, is rampant in the lower Danube region, especially in Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine, according to a report released by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Report Says

The fish species are poached for their meat and caviar, which is considered a delicacy.
The report is the first market survey that quantifies the scale of the illegal trade.
Sturgeons have existed since the time of dinosaurs, for about 200 million years.
Some of the species can grow up to eight metre in length and live more than a century. They are called ‘living fossils’ because their appearance has altered very little over the years.
Because the sturgeons live for so many years, mature late and spawn with long intervals, they take long to recover from environmental and human pressures, according to WWF.
This makes them great indicators for the health of the river and other ecological parameters.

The report made the following recommendations:

Enhanced controls of domestic trade;
Control of CITES caviar labelling requirements;
Improved inter-agency cooperation and coordination;
Increased border controls;
Use of State-of-the-art forensic analysis; and
Conducting more and recurrent market surveys.

DTE

Third of Businesses in South Asia Not In Operation Amid Covid-19 Pandemic

A third of the businesses in South Asia were not in operation amid the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, according to a recent World Bank working paper. Business closures, sales decline and financial fragility of firms was disproportionately large in the region, the survey found.
Firms in South Asia witnessed an overall sales decline of 64 per cent.
In Nepal, 46 per cent businesses remained open, followed by 60 per cent in Afghanistan and 72 per cent in Sri Lanka.
The impact was greater on micro and small firms and female-led firms in South Asia.

Financial fragility

Nearly two-thirds of the South Asian firms were likely to fall into arrears, a significantly higher share than other regions.
The average probability of falling into arrears for micro and small firms in South Asia was close to 70 per cent, while for large firms it was 52 per cent.
Manufacturing firms in the region expect 25 per cent decline in sales, as opposed to 16 per cent for those in agriculture and other services and 14 per cent in retail.
There was no significant difference in financial fragility between female- and male-led firms in South Asia.

Adjusting to disruptions

More than half the firms in South Asia region reduced hours, wages, or granted (paid or unpaid) leave to workers to tide over the crisis brought on by the pandemic.
Only a quarter of the firms in the region reported an expansion in the use of digital technologies.

Policy support for recovery

In South Asia, only 11 per cent firms reported to have availed public support programs. The low access was due to information gaps and importance of networks and inter-organisational capital in times of crisis.
The report calls for South Asian governments to promoting linkages between the smaller firms and the more organised larger companies. This will help overcome information gaps and allow for business networks to develop.
Access to credit, payment deferral and tax reduction are the most preferred policy choices by firms in South Asia and these are also the most widely received.

DTE

Rare European vultures being poisoned by livestock drug

Why in News?

A recently approved veterinary drug has been confirmed as the cause of death of a vulture in Spain.
The anti-inflammatory agent diclofenac has already been banned in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh after it was found to kill vultures that ate the carcasses of cattle treated with the drug.
Tens of millions of vultures are believed to have died in this way with some species declining by a staggering 99.9% in parts of south Asia.
Nevertheless diclofenac was approved in Spain and other European nations because farmers, drug companies and regulators argued that cattle carcasses were disposed of differently in Europe than in India.
This meant vultures would not be able to eat meat tainted with diclofenac.
Europe has four species of vulture: bearded, cinereous, Egyptian and griffon vultures. Recent research has also found that diclofenac not only kills vultures but is fatal to eagles of the genus Aquila whose members include the golden eagle and the Spanish imperial eagle.
There are only about 300 pairs of imperial Spanish eagles left.
In south Asia, the species of vulture that were worst-affected by the introduction of diclofenac in the late 20th century included long-billed, slender-billed and oriental white-rumped vultures.
The white-rumped was once thought to be the most abundant large bird of prey in the world with a population of many millions of birds. By 2016, their numbers had dropped to around 10,000.
In India, Nepal and Bangladesh, dead cattle were left to rot without vultures to consume their flesh.
Packs of feral dogs grew to fill the ecological gap and the risk of rabies also rose as a consequence, health experts said. Similarly, populations of crows increased, which raised the risk of infections being passed from them to poultry and humans.
As a result of this avian attrition, the use of diclofenac, as an anti-inflammatory treatment for livestock, was outlawed in India in 2006 (though it is still sold in small doses as an anti-inflammatory agent and painkiller for humans).
Nevertheless, despite its past ecological impacts, it was approved for veterinary use in Spain and Italy several years ago.

THE GUARDIAN

Airborne plastic pollution

Microplastic pollution is now “spiralling around the globe”, according to a study of airborne plastic particles.
The researchers said human pollution has led to a global plastic cycle, akin to natural processes such as the carbon cycle, with plastic moving through the atmosphere, oceans and land. The result is the “plastification” of the planet.
The analysis calls plastic pollution one of the most pressing environmental issues of the 21st century.
It indicates that the billions of tonnes of plastic discarded into the oceans and land and being broken down into tiny pieces are being thrown back into the air by road traffic and winds over seas and farmland.
People are already known to breathe, drink and eat microplastics and the other research suggests levels of pollution will continue to rise rapidly.
The inhalation of particles can be irritating to lung tissue and lead to serious diseases.
Roads were the dominant factor in the western US, linked to about 85% of the microplastics in the air. These are likely to include particles from tyres and brake pads on vehicles, and plastics from litter that had been ground down.
The oceans were estimated to be the source of about 10% of the airborne plastics in western US, and soils 5%.
At a global level this suggested that while roads are also likely to be the dominant driver of airborne plastics in Europe, South America and Australia, plastic particles blown up from fields may be a much bigger factor in Africa and Asia.
The modelling showed that smaller microplastics can remain in the atmosphere for a week, long enough to be blown across continents. It also showed plastic pollution will be falling on Antarctica.

THE GUARDIAN