Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

Editorials are covered separately. HINDU NOTES are available free date wise| CLICK HERE

Indoor emissions affect air-quality standards

News

• India can achieve its air quality goals if it completely eliminates emissions from household sources. A recent study has pointed out that the use of firewood, kerosene and coal in the households contributed to about 40% of the PM 2.5 pollution in the Gangetic basin districts.
• This number varied across the country but household emissions remained one of the major culprits behind air pollution.

Findings

• The results showed that by eliminating household emissions the average outdoor air pollution levels could be reduced and brought within the national ambient air quality standards.
• The study also notes that “if all households transitioned to clean fuels, about 13% of premature mortality in India could be averted.”
• At the national scale, mitigating household emissions is also expected to bring large health benefits.
• Using satellite data and chemical transport model simulations, the researchers pointed out that complete mitigation would bring down the country’s average annual PM 2.5 air pollution to 38 microgram/cubic metre.
• Surprisingly, this is below India’s national ambient air quality standard of 40 microgram/cubic metre and slightly above the World Health Organization (interim target 1) standards of 35 microgram/cubic metre.
• Study has demonstrated that mitigating at a household level is the easiest and more practical way out for the government to reduce not only the household pollution but also outdoor air pollution at the national scale.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Navy seeks access to French base in Djibouti for refuelling

News

• After operationalising the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) signed with France, the Indian Navy is looking for access to French naval base in Djibouti for refuelling and operational turnaround.

Beyond News

• Next month, Indian Navy Mig-29K fighters and French Navy Rafale-M fighters operating off their aircraft carriers will exercise together off Goa coast in May under the bilateral exercise Varuna.
• Beginning with the first logistics with the U.S in 2016, India has signed several such agreements and discussions are on with at least five more countries. France is the only country whose ships have docked at Karwar and Mumbai under the MLSA.
• In line with the expanding maritime collaborative efforts under the Navy’s foreign cooperation initiative, this year’s Varuna exercise will be the largest so far.
• As part of the expanding maritime collaborative efforts, this year’s Varuna exercise will be the largest bilateral exercise in terms of scope and complexity.
• Both countries operate one aircraft carrier each. France is sending its nuclear-powered carrier Charles De Gaulleand India will be deploying INS Vikramaditya. The last time both sides deployed carriers was in 2015 when INS Viraat took part. The MLSA will also be in force during the bilateral exercise.
• The Initial Planning Conference (IPC) to plan the exercise has been completed and the Final Planning Conference (FPC) is scheduled to be held soon.
• During the exercise, interactions are scheduled between the pilots of Mig-29K and Rafale-M and also of the carrier teams in foreign object damage assessment in engines.
• Other focus areas of the exercise are explosive detection and mine hunting. France has also asked for India’s assistance in training in protection of offshore assets.
• In a first, the head of the French Navy submarine arm, ALFOST, will visit India after the exercise.
• France has joined the Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) inaugurated by the Indian Navy. The two countries are already cooperating in the area of Maritime Domain Awareness through information exchange and have recently taken steps for space-based maritime surveillance.

Cases of measles show alarming rise, warns WHO

News

• The number of cases of measles one of the world’s most contagious diseases is climbing, warned the World Health Organisation (WHO), stating that preliminary global data shows that reported cases rose by 300% in the first three months of 2019, compared to the same period in 2018.

Beyond News

• In 2017, the most recent year for which estimates are available, it caused close to 1,10,000 deaths.
• Worse, in recent months, spikes in case numbers have also occurred in countries with high overall vaccination coverage, including the United States of America as well as Israel, Thailand, and Tunisia, as the disease has spread fast among clusters of unvaccinated people.
• Measles has the potential to be extremely severe. Even in high-income countries, complications result in hospitalisation in up to a quarter of cases, and can lead to lifelong disability, from brain damage and blindness to hearing loss.
• Countries with the most reported cases include Madagascar, Ukraine, India, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Chad, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• In India, measles is still one of the leading causes of death in young children. About 15% of vaccinated children fail to develop immunity from the first dose, meaning that if only 80% are fully immunised, an outbreak is likely.
• WHO’s African region has recorded a 700% increase, the region of the Americas 60%, the European region 300%, the Eastern Mediterranean 100% and 40% increases have been observed in South-east Asia and the Western Pacific.
• Many countries are in the midst of sizeable measles outbreaks, with all regions of the world experiencing sustained rise in cases.
• The disease is almost entirely preventable through two doses of a safe and effective vaccine. For several years, however, global coverage with the first dose of measles vaccine has stalled at 85%. This is still short of the 95% needed to prevent outbreaks, and leaves many people, in many communities, at risk. Second dose coverage, while increasing, stands at 67%.

Navy to take part in fleet review in China

News

• The Indian Navy has sent two ships to take part in the International Fleet Review to be held in Qingdao, China, later this month as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. The ships are stealth destroyer INS Kolkata and fleet tanker INS Shakti.
• Pakistan’s Navy is not taking part in the event.

Beyond News

• The visit of the Navy’s most potent destroyer and versatile fleet support ship showcases India’s prowess, reach and sustainability, besides indigenous ship-building capability.
• As a reciprocal gesture and as part of the efforts to promote military cooperation, China has agreed to send its ships on port calls to India
• During the harbour stay of the ships, there will be interactions between personnel of the participating navies, courtesy calls to various dignitaries of the PLA Navy and government officials, professional exchanges and sporting events. The ships will be opened for visits by People’s Liberation Army Navy personnel and local residents.
• The INS Kolkata is an indigenously built stealth guided missile destroyer. The INS Shakti is one of the largest fleet replenishment tankers, displacing over 27,000 tonnes and capable of carrying 15,000 tonnes of liquid cargo.
• The Indian Navy had last held an International Fleet Review in February 2016, in which 50 navies of different countries took part with nearly 100 warships.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Ganga has higher proportion of antibacterial agents: study

News

• A study commissioned by the Union Water Resources Ministry to probe the “unique properties” of the Ganga found that the river water contains a significantly higher proportion of organisms with antibacterial properties.

Findings

• Other Indian rivers also contain these organisms but the Ganga particularly in its upper Himalayan stretches has more of them, the study suggests.
• The study began in 2016 and was conducted by the Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering and Research Institute (NEERI), a CSIR lab. The NEERI team was tasked with assessing the water quality for “radiological, microbiological and biological” parameters in the Bhagirathi (a feeder river of the Ganga) and the Ganga at 20 sampling stations.
• As part of the assessment, five pathogenic species of bacteria (Escherichia, Enterobacter, Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio) were selected and isolated from the Ganga, Yamuna and the Narmada and their numbers compared with the bacteriophages present in the river water. Because bacteriophages are a kind of virus that kill bacteria, they are frequently found in proximity to each other.
• In the river Ganga, the bacteriophages were detected to be approximately 3 times more in proportion than bacterial isolates.
• Samples drawn from the Ganga contained almost 1,100 kinds of bacteriophage, and proportionally there were less than 200 species detected in the samples obtained from the Yamuna and the Narmada.

Plan soon to monitor vulnerable children

News

• A survey conducted in 2017-18 by anganwadi workers as part of an annual exercise to draw up their beneficiary list revealed that children in 11.72 lakh families in Kerala State were vulnerable.
• However, a follow-up to the survey could not be held the past year.

Beyond News

• The Social Justice Department will now prepare an action plan with the support of various stakeholders to monitor the vulnerable children. A meeting will draw up a strategy for this.
• The vulnerable families in the survey include those with single parent; where there were cases of domestic violence; financially backward families; where parents are alcoholic; families headed by women; and so on.
• Now, the department will embark on a validation of the survey findings. For instance, the survey found 1,088 families where siblings have a criminal record.
• The task ahead would be to identify the problems if any, and the root cause of the problems.
• The next step would be monitoring the children. If the children are school-going, for instance, teachers, school counsellors, and health nurses will be asked to keep an eye out for any change in their behaviour.

CLICK HERE TO SEE DATE WISE CURRENT AFFAIRS