Prelims Objective Practices Question

(I.) Stephan’s Quintet sometimes seen in news is associated with?
(A.) Galaxies
(B.) Higg
(C.) Black Holes
(D.) Gravitational waves

(II.) With reference to James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), consider the following statements;
1. It is a space telescope jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
2. It is currently at a point in space known as the Lagrange point L4.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(A.) 1 only
(B.) 2 only
(C.) Both 1 and 2
(D.) Neither 1 nor 2

(III.) With reference to derecho, consider the following statements;
1. These are thunderstorms that have a higher level of rotation than the Tornados.
2. They mostly occur across central and eastern parts of the United States.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct
(A.) 1 only
(B.) 2 only
(C.) Both 1 and 2
(D.) Neither 1 nor 2

Statement :-
*//. A derecho is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line windstorm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. Straight-line storms are those in which thunderstorm winds have no rotation, unlike a tornado. These storms travel hundreds of miles and cover a vast area.

Question of the Day

Ques.– Comment on the India vietnam relationship. Why do we need this relationship to grow.

Prelims Specific Facts

(1.) What is Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana (AVYAY)?

• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
• Type: Central Sector Scheme
• Aim: To improve the quality of life of the Senior Citizens by providing basic amenities like shelter, food, medical care and entertainment opportunities and by encouraging productive and active ageing through providing support.
• Sub Schemes/Components:–
  • 1) Integrated Programme for Senior Citizens (IPSrC),
  • 2) State Action Plan for Senior Citizens (SAPSrC),
  • 3) Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana(RVY),
  • 4) Senior Able Citizens for Re-employment in Dignity(SACRED),
  • 5) Action Groups Aimed at Social Reconstruction (AGRASR),
  • 6) Senior-care Aging Growth Engine (SAGE)-Silver economy for Senior Citizens,
  • 7) Elderline – National Helpline for Senior Citizen,
  • 8) Channelizing the CSR fund for elderly care and
  • 9) Training and capacity building for senior citizens.

(2.) Tigerss captured in Wayanad

• Important NPs in Kerala :-
  • Eravikulam National Park :-
    • The endangered Nilgiri Tahr or the wild goat is the chief attraction here.
    • It has been listed as “Endangered” by IUCN.
    • It has been listed under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 which provides absolute protection and offences under these are prescribed the highest penalties
    • The Adult males of Nilgiri Tahr species develop a light grey area or “saddle” on their backs and are hence called “Saddlebacks”
    • It is the state animal of Tamil Nadu
  • Silent Valley National Park :-
    • The national park got its unique name from the fact that the area is bereft of the chirping noises of the cricket birds.
  • Anamudi Shola National Park :-
    • The forest is tropical evergreen and has 62 species of trees, 174 species of herbs and 39 species of climbers.
  • Matthiketan Shola National Park
  • Pampadum Shola National Park
  • Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary
  • Parambikulam Tiger Reserve
  • Peppara wildlife sanctuary
  • Neyyar Wildlife sanctuary

(3.) Cheetahs likely to arrive in Kuno before August 15

• The cheetah was declared extinct in the country in 1952, and the agreement, which has been negotiated for some years, will prepare the ground for the relocation of the first batch form southern Africa to the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, with officials trying to complete the transfer before August 15.
• The cheetahs will arrive in India for a one-year trial. The project for the cheetah – the only wild cat to go extinct in Independent India – was put back on track in 2020 when the Supreme court lifted a stay on the original proposal to introduce African Cheetahs from Namibia into the Indian habitat on an experimental basis.

(4.) ‘Don’t apply ESG blindly on developing countries’

• Global investors must not apply standards related to sustainability and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) norms indiscriminately for developing countries, Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran said on Wednesday.
• In the process of ensuring that only genuine green projects are funded, the risk is that we exclude a lot of countries form receiving the kind of investment they need, which will further compound the problem. As of many things in life, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and there is always scope for unintended consequences playing out.

(5.) ‘RBI to initiate CBDC in wholesale, retail sectors,

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the process of implementing the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) .
• The introduction of CBDC was announced in the Union Budget 2022-23, necessary amendments to the relevant section of the RBI Act, 1934.
• CBDC is a digital or virtual currency but it is not comparable with private virtual currencies or crypto currency that have mushroomed over the last decade. Private virtual currencies do not represent any person’s debt or liabilities as there is no issuer.

Editorial of the Day

Revamp India’s school health services

• It is time for concrete policy measures and actions that target schoolchildren. On the education front, while there has been some discourse on ‘learning recovery’, there is an urgent need to factor in the health needs of schoolchildren.
• One of the reasons school health services receive inadequate policy attention is because health-care needs are often equated with medical care needs. Though school age children have a relatively low sick ness rate (and thus limited medical care needs), they do have a wide range and age-specific health needs that are linked to unhealthy dietary habits, irregular sleep, lack of physical activity, mental, dental and eye problems, sexual behavior, and the use of tobacco and other substances, addiction, etc. Then, the health knowledge acquired, and lifestyle adopted in the school-going age are known to stay in adulthood and lay the foundations of healthy behavior for the rest of their life.
• The first documented record of school health services in India goes back to 1909 when the then presidency of Baroda began the medical examination of school children. Later, the Sir Joseph Bhore committee, in its 1946 re port, observed that school health services in India were underdeveloped and practically non-existent. In 1953, the secondary education committee of the Government of India recommended comprehensive policy interventions dealing with school health and school feeding programmes. However, school health has largely remained a token service.
• One of the reasons for wrongly de signed, and often very rudimentary, school health services – not only in India but also in most low and middle-income countries – is, arguably, limited understanding and clarity on what constitutes well-functioning and effective school health services.
• This situation co-exists in spite of much evidence guided by international literature. UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank have published an inter-agency frame work called FRESH – an acronym for Focusing Resources on Effective School Health. The FRESH framework and tools propose four core areas and three supporting strategies. The core areas suggest that school health services need to focus on school health policies, i.e., water, sanitation and the environment; skills-based health education and school-based health and nutrition services. The sup porting strategies include effective partnerships between the education and health sectors, community partnership and student participation.
• Additionally, guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, U.S. advise that school health services should focus on four main areas of acute and emergency care; family engagement; chronic disease management; and care coordination. According to WHO, school health services should be designed based on local need assessment; should have components of health pro motion, health education, screening leading to care and/or referral and support as appropriate. The objective of school health services has to be the promotion of positive health, prevention of disease, early diagnosis, treatment and follow up, raising health consciousness in children and enabling the provision of a environment.
• As schools reopen to full capacity, there is a need and an opportunity for a proactive approach for having expanded and strengthened school health services.
  • First, every Indian State needs to review the status and then draw up a road map to revamp and strengthen school health services,
  • Second, build upon the existing school health infrastructure; the renewed focus has to have comprehensive, preventive, promotive and curative services with a functioning referral linkage. Health talks and lifestyle sessions (by schoolteachers and invited medical and health experts) should be a part of teaching just as physical activity sessions are.
  • Third, school health clinics should be supplemented with on line consultation for physical and mental health needs. This could be an important starting point to destigmatise mental health services.
  • Fourth, the role and the participation of parents, especially through parent-teacher meetings should be increased.
  • Fifth, the Government’s school health services initiatives do not include private schools most of the time. Private schools do have some health services, which are nearly always restricted to curative care and taking care of emergencies. Clearly, school health services should be designed to take care of schoolchildren be they in private or government-run schools.
  • Sixth, under the Ayushman Bharat programme, a school health initiative was launched in early 2020, but its implementation is sub-optimal. There is a need to review this initiative, increase dedicated financial allocation to bring sufficient human resources and monitor performance based on concrete outcome indicators. Otherwise, it will end up being a ‘missed opportunity’.
  • Seventh, children are the future of society, but only if they are healthy and educated.
• A few weeks ago, following a re view of the implementation of the National Education Policy, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is said to have advised regular health check-ups and screening school children.
• Every challenge has a silver lining The onus is on health policy makers and programme managers in every Indian State to do everything in the best interests of children. The Departments of Education and Health in every Indian State must work together to strengthen school health services.

Saving mothers

• Maternal mortality indicates a woman’s ability to access health care, contraceptive devices, nutrition, and, in a sense, is a mark of the efficiency of a health-care system in responding to demands made of it.
• MMR (number of mothers who die from complications in pregnancy for every one lakh live births.) Researchers from the International Institute for Population Sciences triangulated data from routine re cords of maternal deaths under the Health Management Information System, with Census data and the Sample Registration System (SRS) to provide the MMR for all States and districts of India. The analysis suggests that 70% of districts (448 out of 640 districts) in India have reported MMR above 70 deaths – a target under the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Many of the districts in southern India and Maharashtra have an MMR of less than 70, At the same time, the north-eastern and central regions have the least number of districts (12 and six districts, respectively) with an MMR less than 70. Significantly, it also demonstrates the presence of huge within-State inequalities. even among the better performers – Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. Similar heterogeneity was observed in other States as well. Ac cording to the SRS (2016-18), only Assam (215) has an MMR of more than 200, while in this district-level assessment, the indications are that about 130 districts have reported above 200 MMR.
• It is ironic that as the nation plans to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Independence grandly, so many districts still show a very high MMR, clearly indicative of the inadequacy of responsiveness of health systems.
• There is adequate proof that improvements in access to contraceptives, antenatal care, post-delivery health care, body mass index, and the economic status, besides a concerted reduction of higher-order births, births in higher ages, will help reduce MMR. The message during this milestone anniversary year is two pronged: improve overall care for women, and keep real time track of such crucial health data. Immediate action is required to meet the SDG goal regarding MMR.

India-Vietnam ties, from strong to stronger

• India and Vietnam are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations. Bolstering friendship between the two countries is a natural outcome of a growing convergence of their strategic and economic interests, and also their common vision for peace, prosperity and their people.
• India is essentially a maritime nation and the oceans hold the key to India’s future. India’s external trade (over 90% by volume and 70% by value) is by sea.
• India’s relations with Vietnam – some of which is based on a set of historical commonalities pre date any conflict between India and China as well as that between China and Vietnam.
• As India pursues its ‘Act East Policy’, Vietnam has become a valuable partner in India’s political and security engagements in the Indo Pacific region. The two countries are working to address shared strategic concerns (such as energy security and open and secure sea lines of communication), and make policy choices without un due external interference.
• Vietnam is of great strategic importance because its position enables it to control ‘the South China Sea – a true Mediterranean of the Pacific’. The maritime domain, there fore, has become an essential element of India and Vietnam cooperation.
• There are four key motivations be hind India’s growing maritime engagement with Vietnam. First, In dia’s aspiration to counter an assertive China by strengthening Vietnam’s military power. Second, with India’s increasing trade with East and Southeast Asia, India has begun to recognise the importance of its sea lines of communication beyond its geographical proximity; the South China Sea occupies a significant geostrategic and geo-economic position.
• India desires to intensify its presence to track potential developments in the maritime domain that could affect its national interests. And fourth, the Indian Navy underlines the importance of a forward maritime presence and naval partner ship that would be critical to deter potential adversaries. More importantly, India sees an open and stable maritime commons being essential to international trade and prosperity; there fore, it has an interest in protecting the sea lanes.
• Ever since the formal declaration of a strategic partnership in 2007 and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2016, the scope and scale of the India-Vietnam strategic and defence cooperation, particularly in the maritime do main, is deepening with a clear vision, institutional mechanisms and the necessary political sup port from both governments.
• The signing of ‘Joint Vision for Defence Cooperation’ and a memorandum of understanding on mutual logis tics support in June 2022 has further strengthened mutual defence cooperation. A U.S.$100 mil lion Defence Line of Credit has been implemented, India has also announced early finalisation of another U.S.$500 million Defence Line of Credit to enhance Vietnam’s defence capability. New Del hi has also agreed to expand military training and assist the Vietnam Navy’s strike capabilities.
• Both countries are also looking at collaboration around the seven pillars of the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative(IPOI).
  • Maritime Ecology.
  • Maritime Security.
  • Marine Resources.
  • Capacity Building and Resource Sharing.
  • Disaster Risk Reduction and Management.
  • Science, Technology and Academic Cooperation.
  • Trade, Connectivity and Maritime Transport.

Explainer of the Day

The sweltering heat wave across Europe

• The U.K. posted its highest temperature ever recorded – crossing 40°C, resulting in the government issuing its first ever red alert for extreme heat. Dozens of towns and regions across Europe reeled under what has been described as a “heat apocalypse”, which has caused widespread devastation this year.
• Scientists are near-unanimous that the heat waves are a result of climate change caused by human activity.
• Wildfires caused by a combination of extreme heat and dry weather have destroyed 19,000 hectares of forest in southwestern France.
• Portugal reported more than 250 blazes over a period of two days, and 650 deaths due to heat-related illnesses in a span of one week. Neighbouring Spain lost 14,000 hectares of land to fires, with an estimated 360 deaths caused by extreme heat, mostly of elderly people.
• Scientists are near-unanimous that the heat waves are a result of climate change caused by human activity. Global temperatures have already risen by more than 1′ C , and studies in the U.K. had shown that a one degree rise in temperature raises the probability of the country witnessing 40′ C by ten times.
• These changes turned western Europe into what has been described as a “heat dome”.