HEALTH ISSUES

1. CHOLERA DISEASE

TAGS: PRELIMS- GS-II- HEALTH ISSUES

THE CONTEXT: According to the World Health Organization, the African continent is likely to see its worst cholera crisis this decade, driven by extreme weather events and poor water supply and sanitation infrastructure.

THE EXPLANATION:

About Cholera disease:

• It is a life-threatening infectious disease and a public health hazard.
• It is an acute, diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with the bacterium Vibrio cholera.
• Symptoms: Profuse watery diarrhoea, Vomiting,  Leg cramps etc
• It is transmitted to humans through water or food which is contaminated with the cholera bacterium.
• The disease can spread rapidly in areas with inadequate treatment of sewage and drinking water.
• Currently, there are three WHO pre-qualified oral cholera vaccines (OCV), Dukoral, Shanchol, and Euvichol-Plus. All three vaccines require two doses for full protection.

2. WHAT IS THE MARBURG VIRUS DISEASE?

TAGS: PRELIMS- GS-II- HEALTH ISSUES

THE CONTEXT: The World Health Organization recently said that Equatorial Guinea had confirmed its first-ever outbreak of Marburg disease.

THE EXPLANATION:

About Marburg virus disease (MVD):

• MVD, earlier known as Marburg hemorrhagic fever, is a rare but severe hemorrhagic fever that affects both people and non-human primates.
• Causative agent: MVD is caused by the Marburg virus, a genetically unique zoonotic (animal-borne) RNA virus. Marburg and Ebola viruses are both members of the Filoviridae family (filovirus).
• Marburg virus was first recognized in 1967, when outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever occurred simultaneously in laboratories in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany and in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia).
• The reservoir host of the Marburg virus is the African fruit bat, Rousettus aegyptiacus.
• Transmission: The Marburg virus is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through human-to-human transmission.
• Fatality: The average MVD case fatality rate is around 50%.

Treatment:

• There is no specific treatment for Marburg virus disease.
• Supportive therapy, such as intravenous fluids, electrolyte replacement, supplemental oxygen, as well as blood and blood products replacement, improves survival.

What are Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs)?

• VHFs are a group of diseases that are caused by several distinct families of viruses.
• The term “viral hemorrhagic fever” refers to a condition that affects many organ systems of the body, damages the overall cardiovascular system, and reduces the body’s ability to function on its own.
• Some VHFs cause mild illnesses, while others can cause severe, life-threatening diseases.
• Most VHFs have no known cure or vaccine.

 INDIAN AGRICULTURE

3. INFOCROP SIMULATION MODEL

THE CONTEXT: Recently, scientists at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in Delhi conducted a first-of-its-kind experiment to quantify the impact of the hot weather on crop yield in Punjab and Haryana by using InfoCrop version 2.1.

THE EXPLANATION:

About InfoCrop simulation Model:

• In 2004, InfoCrop version 1 was launched by the IARI which is being updated regularly.
• It is a dynamic simulation model for the assessment of crop yields, losses due to pests, and the environmental impact of agroecosystems in tropical environments.
• It has the life cycle data for almost all the local varieties of 11 crops: paddy, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, pigeon pea, chickpea, soybean, groundnut, potato and cotton.
• It provides daily and summary outputs on various growth and yield parameters, nitrogen uptake, greenhouse gas emissions, soil water and nitrogen balance.
• InfoCrop version 2.1, India’s only dynamic crop simulation model developed and released by the IARI in 2015 to study the long-term impact of climate change and crop management practices on yield.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

4. WHAT IS TAPAS UAV?

TAGS: PRELIMS- GS-III-SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: Recently, the Prime Minister of India has shared aerial coverage of Ground and Air displays captured from an indigenously developed Medium Altitude Long Endurance TAPAS UAV during rehearsal from a height of 12000 feet.

THE EXPLANATION:

About TAPAS UAV:

• It is known as Tapas-BH (Tactical Airborne Platform for Aerial Surveillance-Beyond Horizon 201), formerly referred to as Rustom-II.
• The UAV is named after Rustom Damania, a former professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
• It is designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru with production partners being Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Bharat Electronics Limited.
• It is being developed to carry out surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) roles and is capable of carrying different combinations of advanced payloads and capable of auto-landing among others.
• It is being designed to acquire real-time, high-quality pictures and signal intelligence from fields of concern at medium to long ranges.
• Technologically it matches contemporary UAVs available and is also cheaper than the imported ones.

PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

5. ALL INDIA DOMESTIC WORKERS SURVEY

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: The Minister of State for Labour and Employment recently informed Lok Sabha that the Labour Bureau has undertaken an All India Domestic Workers Survey.

THE EXPLANATION:

About All India Domestic Workers Survey:

• This is the first-ever such survey in independent India which was initiated in 2021.
• The survey would cover all States and Union Territories, covering 1.5 lakh households in 742 districts.
• The main objectives of the survey are:
  • Estimate the number/proportion of domestic workers at the National and State level.
  • Household Estimates of Live-in/Live-out DWs.
  • The average number of DWs engaged by different types of households.

VALUE ADDITION:

About Labour bureau:

• Labour Bureau is an attached office under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, which was set up on 1st October 1946.
• It is entrusted with the work of compilation, collection, analysis and dissemination of statistics on different aspects of labour.
• It releases Consumer Price Index Numbers for Industrial Workers, Agricultural/Rural Labourers, Retail Price Index of Selected Essential Commodities in Urban Areas etc.
• Quick Employment Survey and Employment-Unemployment survey are also being conducted by Labour Bureau.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

1. WHAT IS FREE FLOAT IN STOCKS?

TAGS: PRELIMS- GS-III-ECONOMY

THE CONTEXT: Recently, index provider MSCI said it has cut the free-float designations of four securities of India’s Adani group.

THE EXPLANATION:

About Free Float:

• The free float is also known as Public float which refers to the shares of a company that can be publicly traded and are not restricted.
• It generally excludes promoters’ holding, government / strategic holding and other locked-in shares, which will not come to the market for trading in the normal course.
• Free Float=(Outstanding shares-Restricted Shares-Closely held shares)
• Outstanding shares refer to the number of shares held by all of the company’s shareholders
• Restricted shares refer to shares that are not transferable until certain conditions are met. Restricted shares are generally held by corporate management, such as executives and directors.
• Closely-held shares refer to shares that are typically held onto for a very long-term basis. Examples include major long-term shareholders and insiders.
• Free Float Methodology is used to provide a more accurate reflection of market movements and stocks actively available for trading in the market.
• The free-float methodology has been adopted by many of the world’s major indexes.
• MSCI calculates free float-adjusted market capitalization for each security to calculate the weights of the securities in the MSCI indexes.

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

2. CORBETT TIGER RESERVE

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE- GS-III-ENVIRONMENT & ECOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: The Supreme Court recently banned all construction activities in the core areas of tiger reserves national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

THE EXPLANATION:

A Supreme court-appointed panel noticed that illegal constructions for the establishment of a tiger safari were being done within the buffer area of Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand.

About the Corbett Tiger Reserve

• It is located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand. This reserve encompasses the Patli Dun valley.
• The Ramganga, Sonanadi, Palain and Mandal, and Kosi rivers form the prominent hydrological resource for the Corbett.
• The core area of the reserve contains the Corbett National Park and the Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary is part of its buffer area.
• Flora: The trees which contribute to the Flora of Corbett consist of evergreen Sal and its combined trees, the Sheesham, and the Kanju found extensively on the ridges.
• Fauna: Tiger, Leopard, Elephant, Hog deer, spotted deer, Samber etc.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

3. CAR T-CELL THERAPY

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE-GS-III- SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: Recently, the researchers have said that India’s first indigenously developed Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-T Cell T therapy for specific types of cancer.

THE EXPLANATION:

• Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies represent a quantum leap in the sophistication of cancer treatment.
• Unlike chemotherapy or immunotherapy, which require mass-produced injectable or oral medication, CAR T-cell therapies use a patient’s own cells.
• They are modified in the laboratory to activate T-cells, a component of immune cells, to attack tumors.
• These modified cells are then infused back into the patient’s bloodstream after conditioning them to multiply more effectively.

How does the therapy work?

• In CAR T-cell therapy, the patient’s blood is drawn to harvest T-cells which are immune cells that play a major role in destroying tumor cells.
• Researchers modify these cells in the laboratory so that they express specific proteins on their surface, known as chimeric antigen receptors (CAR).
• They have an affinity for proteins on the surface of tumor cells.
• This modification in the cellular structure allows CAR T-cells to effectively bind to the tumor and destroy it.
• The final step in the tumor’s destruction involves its clearance by the patient’s immune system.

4. QUAOAR

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE-GS-III- SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT:Astronomers have recently spotted a ring around a Pluto-sized dwarf planet called Quaoar in the outer reaches of the solar system.

THE EXPLANATION:

About Quaoar:

• Quaoar is a dwarf planet that’s located in the Kuiper Belt at the solar system’s edge.
• It is about 697 miles wide (1,121 kilometers).
• It is roughly one-twelfth the diameter of Earth, one-third the diameter of the Moon, and half the size of Pluto.
• Quaoar is greater in volume than all known asteroids combined.
• Quaoar has its own moon, the 100-mile-wide (160 km) Weywot.
• Its surface is moderately red and composed of low-density ices mixed with rock.
• It takes about 288 years for Quaoar to go once around the sun in a roughly circular orbit.

What is Kuiper Belt?

• Kuiper belt, also called the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, is a flat ring of small icy bodies that revolve around the Sun beyond the orbit of the planet Neptune.
• There are millions of these icy objects, collectively referred to as Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) or trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), in this belt.
• The Kuiper Belt is a region of leftovers from the solar system’s early history.
• It is thought to be the source of most of the observed short-period comets, particularly those that orbit the Sun in less than 20 years.

PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

5. BRU TRIBE

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: Over 14,000 Brus displaced from Mizoram have been registered to vote in Tripura since their rehabilitation process began in April 2021.

THE EXPLANATION:

About Bru Tribe:

• Bru or Reang is a community indigenous to the Northeast, living mostly in Tripura, Mizoram, and Assam.
• In Tripura, they are recognised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group.
• They belong to Indo-Mongoloid racial stock. Their languages have an affinity with Austro-Asiatic groups under the Tibeto-Burman family.
• Ethnically they are divided into 2 major clans namely Meska and Molsoi.
• Their language is known as “Kaubru” which has a tonal effect on the Kuki language though broadly it is the Kok-Borok dialect.
• Occupation: They are still a nomadic tribe and a large number among them maintain their livelihood involving Hilltop Jhum Cultivation and other food gathering activities.
• They believe in spirits and the existence of a soul.
• By religion they are Hindus and most of their deities are akin to gods and goddesses of the Hindu faith. Among Reangs followers of Vaishnavism are found in good numbers.
• This tribal community traditionally are endogamous and does not marry outside their community.
• The village council chief known as “RAI” permits Divorce and Widow marriage.

Connect the dots:

• What is Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG)?