Every Monday, UPSC Current Affairs Pointers in UPSC Essentials aim to go beyond the headlines and provide content relevant to your UPSC Prelims, State PCS, and other competitive examinations.

If you missed the UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | October 21 to October 27, 2024, from the Indian Express, read it here.

— According to the annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin of WMO, annual mean carbon dioxide (CO2) levels rose by 2.3 parts per million (PPM) between 2022 and 2023.

— This was the 12th consecutive year when the annual mean CO2 rose by over 2 PPM.

— The globally averaged surface concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide GHG reached new highs in 2023, with CO2 at 420 ppm.

— According to the WMO, the last time the earth had a similar CO2 concentration was 3-5 million years ago, when temperatures were 2-3°C higher and sea levels were 10-20 metres higher than they are now.

— The reason for the increase is CO2 emissions caused by large vegetation fires and a possible reduction in carbon absorption by forests combined with stubbornly high fossil fuel CO2 emissions from human and industrial activities.

— Methane present in the earth’s atmosphere saw the largest three-year increase between 2020 and 2022.

— The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change was established the same year the Paris Agreement entered into force (2016), to monitor the health impacts and opportunities of the world’s response to this landmark agreement.

— It annually publishes a report to take stock of the evolving links between health and climate change at global, regional, and national levels.

— The Report notes that 10 of the 15 indicators it uses for monitoring climate change-related health hazards globally have reached “concerning new records”.

— The report pointed out that health-threatening temperatures are increasing in India. In 2023, every person in the country was exposed to at least 2,400 hours of heat, equivalent to 100 days, that could have resulted in moderate to serious heat-related diseases.

— According to the latest World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report, India saw a slight decline in the estimated number of tuberculosis cases and deaths in 2023, but it is nowhere near its elimination target.

— India had an estimated 28 lakh TB cases in 2023, accounting for 26% of the global cases. And, there were estimated 3.15 lakh TB-related deaths, accounting for 29% of the deaths globally.

— World Tuberculosis Day is observed on March 24 every year. It aims to increase public awareness about the global epidemic of tuberculosis (TB) and the numerous efforts being taken to eliminate the disease.

— The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease. The theme of this year is ‘Yes! We can end TB!’

 

— The Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying has inaugurated the 21st Livestock Census.

— It is conducted every five years to headcount the number of domesticated animals, poultry, and stray animals in the country. The census takes into account information about the species, breed, age, sex, and ownership status of the animals in question.

— In line with the government’s commitment to ensure the availability of drugs at affordable prices, the NPPA has issued an office memorandum directing the concerned manufacturers to reduce the MRP on three anti-cancer drugs, Trastuzumab, Osimertinib, and Durvalumab.

— NPPA  is an organization of the Government of India which is responsible for regulating market prices of essential medicines.

— Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the Ayushman Vaya Vandana card under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) to provide health coverage to people aged 70 years and above, regardless of their income and economic status.

— It was launched on October 29, which is being observed as the 9th Ayurveda Day.

— Everyone age 70 or more will be entitled to a cover of Rs 5 lakh annually, shared within the family. This means if there are two elderly beneficiaries in the household, the cover will be split among them.

— AB PM-JAY is the world’s largest public health insurance scheme which provides free coverage up to Rs 5 lakh annually to all members of eligible families.

— The PM-JAY scheme was launched on 23rd September 2018 in Ranchi, Jharkhand by the Prime Minister of India.

 

— The National Ayurveda Day is celebrated on Dhanvantri Jayanti, or what is believed to be the birth anniversary of god Dhanvantri which was on October 29 this year.

— The central government started Ayurveda Day celebrations in 2016 to create more awareness about Ayurveda.

— The birth anniversary of Dhanvantri was chosen to mark this day, as Dhanvantri is considered the physician of Gods. He is also considered to be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

— For Ayurveda Day 2024, the theme is ‘Ayurveda Innovation for Global Health’, and the focus is on four areas: women’s health, workplace wellness, school wellness programmes, and food innovation.

— Rashtriya Ekta Diwas (National Unity Day) is celebrated every year on the birth anniversary (31st October) of Sardar Patel.

— The celebration of Ekta Diwas was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.

— Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel, famously known as Sardar Patel was the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India. He played a pivotal role in the unification of India.

— The Sardar Patel statue called the Statue of Unity, the world’s tallest statue, twice the height of the Statue of Liberty in the US, is located in Gujarat’s Narmada.

 

— After a nearly 36-hour journey covering over 1,000 km, a tigress from the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra on Sunday reached its new home – the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) in Odisha.

— The STR, which sprawls over 2,750 square km in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district adjoining Jharkhand and West Bengal, is Asia’s second largest biosphere, and the country’s only wild habitat for melanistic royal Bengal tigers.

— Many royal Bengal tigers of Similipal belong to a unique lineage with higher-than-normal levels of melanin, which gives them black and yellow interspersed stripes on their coats. These tigers are not entirely black, and are therefore more accurately described as being pseudo-melanistic.

— Melanism is a genetic condition in which an increased production of melanin, a substance in the skin that produces hair, eye, and skin pigmentation, results in black (or nearly black) skin, feathers, or hair in an animal.

— The Hasdeo forest in Chhattisgarh saw villagers clash with the police earlier this month, after tree-felling for mining of coal resumed in the green belt.

— The Hasdeo Arand is referred to as the “lungs of Chhattisgarh”, with a wealth of biodiversity. It is the “largest un-fragmented forests in Central India consisting of pristine Sal (Shorea robusta) and teak forests.”

— Three more wild elephants have died in Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) after consuming a toxic substance, taking the toll to ten so far this week.

— Bandhavgarh National Park which came into existence in 1968 was officially entitled as Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve under Project Tiger (1973).

— It is mainly recognised for the presence of majestic Royal Bengal Tiger,which is the National Animal of India.

— The BTR consists of three distinct areas i.e. ‘Bandhavgarh National Park’, ‘Panpatha Wildlife Sanctuary’ which is the “Core Area” and the adjoining notified “Buffer Area” spread across the districts of Umaria, Shahdol and Katni.

— Ten wild elephants from a herd of 13 died over the last three days in Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. According to an official statement, the deaths could have been caused by “mycotoxins associated with kodo millet”.

— Kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum) is also known as Kodra and Varagu in India. The crop is grown in India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and West Africa.

— The tropical and subtropical regions are best suited for Kodo millet cultivation and it is grown on poor soils, and widely distributed in arid and semi-arid regions.

— CPA (Cyclopiazonic acid) is one of the major mycotoxins associated with the kodo millet seeds causing kodo poisoning which was first recognised during the mid-eighties.

— Millets are more prone to fungal infection followed by bacterial and viral; these infections adversely affect the grain and fodder yield. Ergot is a parasitic fungal endophyte that grows in the ear heads of various blades of grass, most frequently on kodo millet.

— Flash floods caused by the immense deluge have led to the death of at least 64 people in the eastern Spanish region of Valencia in the last week of October.

— The primary cause of the intense rain is likely an annual weather phenomenon known as a “gota fría,” or cold drop. It is also sometimes called a “DANA,” the acronym for “depresión aislada en niveles altos,” or isolated depression at high altitudes. 

— DANA or cold drop takes place when cold air descends over the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea. This results in atmospheric instability, causing hotter, moist air on the surface of the sea to rise quickly, leading to the formation of dense, towering cumulonimbus clouds in a matter of hours. These clouds then dump heavy rain in parts of Spain.

— The phenomenon is a common occurrence in Spain and usually coincides with the onset of autumn and spring in the western Mediterranean. It is related to the polar jet stream.

— India has submitted its NBSAP spelling out its 23 national biodiversity targets which was part of the commitment under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) at the recently concluded annual United Nations conference on biodiversity in Cali, Colombia.

— India’s 23 targets are aligned with the three broad themes of the KM-GBF treaty – reducing threats to biodiversity, meeting people’s needs through sustainable use and benefit-sharing, and tools and solutions for implementation and mainstreaming.

— The KM-GBF was adopted in 2022 at the 15th meeting under the Convention on Biological Diversity and 196 countries agreed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 to achieve a nature-positive world.

— On November 3, Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) stood at 364 falling into the “very poor” category again.

— AQI is a number that indicates air quality: the higher the AQI, the worse the air. There are six categories of AQI, namely ‘Good’ (0-50), ‘Satisfactory’ (50-100), ‘Moderately polluted’ (100-200), ‘Poor’ (200-300), ‘Very Poor’ (300-400), and ‘Severe’ (400-500).

— The colour-coded AQI index was launched in India in 2014, as part of the Swachh Bharat campaign, and it helps the public and the government understand the condition of the air and what subsequent measures are to be taken to combat the situation, based on its severity.

 

—  The TATA Advanced System Ltd. (TASL)-Airbus Final Assembly Line (FAL) facility has been inaugurated in Vadodara’s Harni area.

— It is the first private sector final assembly line for military aircraft in India. It will manufacture the C-295 medium-lift tactical transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF).

— The facility was jointly inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez on 28th October.

— The C295MW is a transport aircraft with a 5 to 10-tonne capacity and a maximum speed of 480 kmph. It has a rear ramp door for quick reaction and para-dropping of troops and cargo. Short take-off and landing from semi-prepared surfaces are some other features.

— According to Airbus, the C295 is a versatile tactical transport that can perform a variety of missions, such as carrying troops and cargo, maritime patrol, airborne warning, surveillance and reconnaissance, armed close air support, medical evacuation, VIP transport, and airborne firefighting.

— Israel’s parliament has passed two Bills to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

— The UNRWA was established in 1949 to provide aid to about 700,000 Palestinians who were forced to leave their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

— UNRWA began operations on May 1, 1950. It operates in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan — where Palestinian refugees took shelter after their expulsion

 

— Scientists have detected a lost Mayan city, hidden for centuries by the dense Mexican jungle, using LiDAR.

— LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing technology that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (or variable distances) of a sensor, usually mounted aboard an aircraft, to Earth’s surface.

— LiDAR data can be used to create high-resolution 3-D models of ground elevation with a vertical accuracy of upto 10 cm, according to the US Geological Survey.

— A new study says scientists have discovered a “black hole triple” in space for the first time.

— The system comprises a black hole at its centre, currently in the process of consuming a small star spiralling very close to it. There is also a second star, which appears to be circling the black hole but is actually far away.

— A black hole is a region in space where the pull of gravity is so strong that no matter or light can escape it.

— Astronomers believe most black holes are formed after massive stars explode at the end of their lives — known as a supernova.

 

(Just FYI: Noting historical personalities that are in the news is important for your UPSC prep. UPSC often includes such personalities in questions, so revisiting their lives refreshes your static syllabus.)

— Tamil actor Vijay while delivering a political speech for his new party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (“Tamil Nadu Victory Federation” or TVK) identified Rani Velu Nachiyar and Anjalai Ammal as its ideological mentors.

— Velu Nachiyar is regarded as Tamil Nadu’s ‘Veeramangai’ or brave lady, and among the first Indian queens to fight against British colonial power in India.

— Anjalai Ammal was the first woman to be elected to the Madras legislature, representing the Congress party, and remained politically active until she died in 1961.

— When Ammal was barred by the British government from meeting Mahatma Gandhi on his 1934 visit to Cuddalore. She wore a burqa and travelled in a horse-drawn carriage to meet him. It is believed that Gandhi has called her “South India’s Rani of Jhansi”.

— Justice K S Puttaswamy, former Karnataka High Court judge and the lead petitioner in the seminal ‘right to privacy case’, passed away on 28th October, at the age of 98.

— The court has held that “the right to privacy is protected as intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and as a part of the freedoms guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution”.

— Three elements are considered as the core to the right to privacy: Personal autonomy, the freedom to make choices and the right to determine what happens with information about oneself.

—  Bibek Debroy who was Chairman of PM Modi’s Economic Advisory Council, dies at 69.

— Debroy was appointed Chairman of PM-EAC on September 25, 2017, when he was also a member of the NITI Aayog.

— Debroy was awarded a Padma Shri in 2015 and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the US-India Business Summit in 2016.

— The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) is an independent body constituted to advise on economic and related issues to the Government of India, specifically to the Prime Minister.

 

(Just FYI: The location of the place is important, considering that UPSC has asked several questions about places that were in the news, such as Aleppo and Kirkuk, in the 2018 UPSC Prelims. The best way to remember them is to plot them on a world map.)

— Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 29th October virtually inaugurated the country’s first government helicopter ambulance service at AIIMS Rishikesh.

— A helicopter will be stationed under the service at the AIIMS from where it will be sent anywhere within a radius of 150 km to airlift anyone who has met with an accident to the medical facility.

 

— Digital Arrest:  A “Digital Arrest” scam involves fraudsters impersonating law enforcement via video calls, threatening fake arrests to extort money. In the majority of cases, online frauds and criminals typically call potential victims and tell them that they have sent or are the intended recipients of a parcel containing illegal goods, drugs, fake passports or any other contraband item.

— Salt Typhoon: Salt Typhoon is the name Microsoft cybersecurity experts have given to a Chinese group suspected of using sophisticated techniques to hack into major systems — most recently, US telecommunication companies.

 

(Note: The best way to remember facts for UPSC and other competitive exams is to recall them through MCQs. Try to solve the following questions on your own.)

A. Consider the following:

1. Trastuzumab

2. Osimertinib

3. Durvalumab

Which of the following is the correct option?

(a) Antitubercular medications

(b) Antimicrobial Resistance variant

(c) Newly discovered diseases

(d) Anti-cancer drugs

B. Whose birth anniversary is celebrated as the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas?

(a) Lala Lajpat Rai

() Madan Mohan Malviya

(c) Vallabhbhai Patel

(d)  V. D. Savarkar

C. Who among the following was called South India’s Jhansi Rani by Mahatma Gandhi?

(a) Anjalai Ammal

(b) Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay

(c) Matangini Hazra

(d) Kittur Chennamma

 

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