UPSC Current Affairs Pointers of the past week | October 7 to October 13, 2024Subscriber Only

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 | September 30 to October 6, 2024, from the Indian Express, read it here.

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— Recently, the Delhi High Court has directed the Union Government to establish the National Fund for Rare Diseases (NFRD) and allocate a sum of Rs 974 crore to the NFRD for the financial years 2024-25, and 2025-26.

— The Court also said that the National Rare Diseases Committee should continue for five more years.

— On May 15, 2023, the Delhi High Court constituted a five-member ‘National Rare Diseases Committee’ to efficiently implement the National Rare Disease Policy-2021.

— The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has launched the National Rare Disease Policy-2021 to lower the incidence and prevalence of rare diseases based on an integrated and comprehensive preventive strategy.

— Currently, 63 rare diseases are included under the National Policy for Rare Diseases on recommendation of the Central Technical Committee for Rare Diseases (CTCRD).

— The National Cooperative Consumer’s Federation of India Ltd (NCCF) is a cooperative body under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

— It was established on 16 th October 1965 to function as the apex body of consumer cooperatives in the country.

— It is registered under the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002.

— The headquarters is in Delhi.

(Source: nccf-india.com)

— The Government has approved the continuation of the universal supply of fortified rice under all central schemes from July 2024 up to December 2028.

— The rice fortification initiative was initiated in April 2022 by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to implement it throughout the country in a phased manner by March 2024.

— The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) defines fortification as “deliberately increasing the content of essential micronutrients in a food so as to improve the nutritional quality of food and to provide public health benefits with minimal risk to health”

— Coating, dusting, and extrusion technologies are used to add micronutrients to regular rice. In extrusion, fortified rice kernels (FRK) are produced from a mixture using an ‘extruder’ machine.

— FRK has a shelf life of at least 12 months and they are blended with regular rice to produce fortified rice. Under the ministry guidelines, 10 kg of FRK must be blended with 1 kg of regular rice.

— The 21st ASEAN-India Summit was held in Vientiane, Lao PDR, on 10 October 2024.

— Participating in the summit, PM Modi announced a 10-point plan to strengthen India-ASEAN relations.

— The 10-point included ASEAN-India Cyber Policy Dialogue, 2025 as the ASEAN-India Year of Tourism, doubling the number of scholarships at Nalanda University among others.

— The theme was “Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience”.

— The 10 member states of ASEAN are Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei and Laos.

— Laos is the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) founded in 1967.

— The 19th East Asia Summit (EAS) was attended by Prime Minister Modi on 11th October 2024 in Vientiane, Lao PDR.

— The EAS process was initiated in 2005 with the convening of the 1st East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

— At its inception, it comprised 16 participating countries, namely ASEAN Member States, Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea. The United States and the Russian Federation joined at the 6th East Asia Summit in Bali, Indonesia on 19 November 2011.

— France and India will be setting up an aeronautics cluster as well as developing an Indo-French campus for professional training in aeronautics and space in India.

— The 8th edition of India-Kazakhstan Joint Military Exercise KAZIND-2024 is taking place at Surya Foreign Training Node, Auli, Uttarakhand.

— The Joint Exercise has been held annually since 2016.

— The last edition of the Joint Exercise was held at Otar, Kazakhstan from 30th October to 11th November 2023.

— The Amazon rainforest is reeling from an intense drought. Numerous rivers vital for travel have dried up.

— The Rio Negro the largest left tributary of the Amazon Forest has fallen to a record low level.

— The Amazon Rain Forest is spread across Brazil and Peru, and also parts of Guyana, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Suriname, French Guiana, and Venezuela.

— The Amazon River Basin is the world’s largest drainage system.

— There is rise of 26.14% in the population of wild asses as per the 10th Wild Ass Population Estimation (WAPE) conducted by the Gujarat government.

— Wildlife Protection Act: Schedule I

— IUCN: Endangered

— In India, they are prominent in the Little Rann of Kutch and Great Rann of Kutch.

— Shankar, aged around 27, has been the Delhi Zoo’s sole African elephant since 2001. Now Delhi Zoo has decided to get two female elephants, one each from Botswana and Zimbabwe, as companions for Shankar.

— Shankar, a diplomatic gift from Zimbabwe in 1996 to then Indian president Shankar Dayal Sharma, arrived in Delhi in 1998 with Vimbai, a female African elephant. But Vimbai died in 2001 and a young Shankar was left all alone.

— India has two male African elephants, one is in Delhi and the other is in Mysuru Zoo, named Richie.

— Under the IUCN Red List of threatened species, the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is listed as Critically Endangered, and the African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) as Endangered.

— Asian elephants’ ears are smaller, and only some male Asian elephants have tusks, while African species have large fan-shaped ears. and both male and female African elephants grow tusks.

— Northern lights, or aurora borealis, were observed in parts of the world including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and even Hanle village in Ladakh, India.

— Auroras are essentially natural lights that appear as bright, swirling curtains in the night sky and can be seen in a range of colours, including blue, red, yellow, green, and orange. These lights primarily appear near the poles of both the northern and southern hemispheres all year round but sometimes they expand to lower latitudes.

— When witnessed near the North, these bright and colourful lights are called Aurora Borealis, while those in the South are called Aurora Australis.

— India’s first dark-sky preserve is the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO), a high-altitude astronomy station in Hanle (Ladakh) operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

— Recently, in January 2024, Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Maharashtra was designated as India’s first Dark Sky Park in India.

— Recently, union Commerce Minister, Piyush Goyal has slammed the European Union for “unfair rules” such as Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

— The BASIC group, comprising India, China, Brazil, and South Africa, has opposed the carbon border taxes policy at the COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh.

— The CBAM is a plan from the European Union (EU) to tax carbon-intensive products, such as iron and steel, cement, fertiliser, aluminium, and electricity generation, from 2026.

— Hurricane Milton, which made landfall near the city of Siesta Key in Florida on Wednesday night, triggered intense rainfall, flooding, tornadoes, storm surge, and strong winds in the area.

— Milton exploded from a Category 1 storm (they bring winds of 119 to 153 kmph) to a fierce Category 5 storm (they have winds of 252 kmph or higher) over the course of 12 hours between October 6 and October 7 morning.

— By afternoon, it had sustained winds of a whopping 285 kmph, becoming one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic.

— Indian Air Force Day is celebrated every year on October 8 to recognise the servicemen and pilots who have given their lives for the country and commemorate the establishment of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

— The theme for this year is ‘Bharatiya Vayusena: Saksham, Sashakt aur Aatmnirbhar’ (Potent, Powerful, and Self-Reliant).

— The event was organised at the Air Force Station, Tambaram in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

— The World Mental Health Day is observed every year on October 10.

— It was established on October 10, 1992, by the World Federation for Mental Health.

— The official theme is ‘It is Time to Prioritize Mental Health in the Workplace’.

— In 2019 the government decided to merge the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) and National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) into a single entity called the National Statistical Organisation (NSO).

— It comes under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

— The Statistics Wing – National Statistical Office(NSO)- consists of the Central Statistical Office (CSO), the Computer center, and the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).

– Ongoing surveys of MoSPI

(Source: mospi.gov.in)

— Recently, the World Wildlife Fund released the biennial Living Planet report.

— According to the report, global wildlife populations have declined by 73 per cent in the last 50 years, owing to habitat loss, degradation, impacts of climate change, and invasive species.

— In India, the decline of three vulture species – white-rumped vulture, Indian vulture, and slender-billed vulture, has been alarming.

(Just FYI: UPSC has consistently included questions on health and diseases in its examinations over the years. For instance, in 2014, a question about the Ebola virus appeared in the Prelims, and in 2017, a question about the Zika virus was featured. Therefore, it is crucial to stay updated on diseases that are currently in the news.)

— Marburg virus disease (MVD), earlier known as Marburg hemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal hemorrhagic fever, according to the WHO. It has led to the death of 12 people so far in the East African country of Rwanda.

— Marburg is among the deadliest pathogens known to humans, with Marburg virus disease (MVD) case fatality rates ranging from 24% to 88% in past outbreaks, depending on virus strain and case management.

— Marburg belongs to the filovirus family, like Ebola. Both pathogens are clinically similar, and although rare, can cause outbreaks with high fatality rates.

— Rousettus fruit bats are considered the natural hosts for the Marburg virus. However, African green monkeys imported from Uganda were the source of the first human infection, the WHO points out.

— It was first detected in 1967 after simultaneous outbreaks in Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany; and in Belgrade, Serbia

— The interval between infection and onset of symptoms varies from 2 to 21 days. Initial symptoms, according to the WHO, include high fever, severe headache, muscle ache, severe watery diarrhoea, abdominal pain and cramping, and vomiting.

— Many patients develop haemorrhagic symptoms (bleeding), often in many places including the digestive system, the nose, gums, and vagina. Haemmorage leads to most MVD fatalities, with death in fatal cases occurring 8 to 9 days after the onset of symptoms, usually of severe blood loss and shock.

— Currently, there are no approved vaccines or specific treatments for MVD.

— Tennis player Rafael Nadal announced his retirement from the sport on 10th October.

— He has won 22 Grand Slam singles titles and was dubbed the “King of Clay” for winning a record 14 French Open titles.

— Ratan Naval Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons and beloved philanthropist, passed away at the age of 86 at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai on 9th October 2024.

— He was honoured with the second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2008. In 2000, he was honoured with Padma Bhushan.

— He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire and the Rockefeller Foundation had conferred him with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

— Every year, in October, the Nobel Prize is awarded to different categories Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Economics.

— Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist, engineer, industrialist, and the inventor of dynamite, in his last will in 1895, gave the largest share of his fortune to a series of prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology/Medicine, Literature, and Peace, to be called the “Nobel Prizes”.

— In 1968, the sixth award, the Prize in Economic Sciences was started by Sweden’s central bank, the Sveriges Riksbank.

Winners of this year’s Nobel Prize

— The 70th National Film Awards ceremony was held at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Tuesday. President Droupadi Murmu presented the awards to the winners.

— Blue Line border: The 120-km Blue Line is a UN-recognised demarcation line to indicate that Israel had withdrawn its military from southern Lebanon. It separates Lebanon from Israel and the Golan Heights, but it is not an official international border.

(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. Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) is conducted by

(a) Niti Aayog

(b) National Sample Survey Office

(d) Ministry of Labour and Employment

B. Consider the following statements:

1. The vector of Marburg virus disease (MVD) is Culicoides flies.

2. R21/Matrix-M vaccine is the new vaccine approved by WHO for the treatment of MVD.

Which of the following statements is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

C. Who among the following discovered the microRNA?

(a) John J Hopfield and Geoffrey E Hinton

(b) Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman

(d) Ardem Patapoutian and David Julius

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