10 and 11 February 2024 Daily Current Affairs

1. Bharat Ratna for Swaminathan, Rao, Charan Singh

READ MORE ABOUT THEM FROM HERE

2. PREAMBLE and its Amendment

Can Preamble be amended?

Yes, But the basic structure cannot be violated.

Amendment happened in 1976 during the 42nd Amendment when 2 new words i.e Socialist and Secular were added and also the phrase Unity of India was changed to Unity and Integrity of India.

Is Preamble part of Constitution?

Yes, Preamble is a very integral part of Constitution.

Read about the Important Cases related to Preamble

3. Misconceptions related to ORS

In this article the author discusses on why the ORS is not very much prescribed?

Diarrhea remains a leading cause of child mortality globally, with ORS offering a cost-effective solution. Despite its potential, nearly half of diarrheal cases worldwide lack access to ORS, as highlighted by researchers from esteemed institutions in the U.S. and India.

Three primary factors influencing ORS under-prescription: patient preferences for non-ORS treatments, financial incentives favoring alternative medications (Since ORS is cheap therefore Doctors prefer antibiotics to increase the commission), and ORS availability.

Dr Dilip Mahalanabis pioneered the use of ORS in refugee camps — a solution that has saved millions and been called the most important medical advance of the 20th century.

4. RS passes Bills to add Paharis, Valmikis to ST, SC lists in J&K

Amid ongoing protests in Jammu and Kashmir by the Scheduled Tribe Gujjar Bakarwal community, the Rajya Sabha cleared the addition of the Pahari ethnic group to the Union Territory’s ST list.

Along with it, the Upper House passed the Bills that added the Paddari Tribe, Gadda Brahmin, and Koli communities to the ST list and the Valmiki community (including synonyms) to the Scheduled Castes list of Jammu and Kashmir.

Another SC Community was in News: -

With the Supreme Court having reserved its verdict in the matter of sub-classification of SCs and STs, the high-level government panel constituted to examine the issue of SC subcategorization met representatives of the Madiga community from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka to hear their case.

The Madiga community’s argument that they have been crowded out of reservation and other benefits by the dominant Mala community, another SC.

5. India-Saudi Arabia joint military exercise ends

The maiden joint military exercise, Sada Tanseeq, between the Indian Army and the Royal Saudi Land Force concluded at Mahajan Field Firing Ranges in Jaipur.

6. Navy chief inaugurates new defence systems

Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R. Hari Kumar inaugurated a Precision Approach Radar (PAR) at INS Utkrosh in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which will enable “highly accurate horizontal and vertical guidance to land an aircraft safely in low visibility conditions, such as heavy rain and fog”. He also inaugurated the IUHDSS (Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance System) at Naval Jetty, Port Blair. “The IUHDSS is capable of detecting, identifying & tracking surface and under water targets in vicinity of naval jetty thereby enhancing security of Port Blair harbor”.

7. CSIR NAL flies test-drone that can double up as ‘pseudo satellite’

Scientists at the CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) successfully tested an unmanned aerial vehicle, called High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS), at Challakere, Karnataka. HAPs are like drones, except that they are expected to be in the stratosphere — well above where commercial planes fly — and can be powered enough by solar cells and a battery-system to be able to hover for days on end. Applications Variety of applications A fully working HAPS can be used for a variety of applications, from surveillance to beaming 5G waves. They can double up as “towers in the sky” and have more flexibility than satellites, in being able to map a piece of land from above.

8.Transitioning to hyperlocal extreme weather forecasting

So What is this new Hyper local initiative: - A promising step forward was that recently, the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare have initiated the weather information network and data system (WINDS) to generate long-term, hyper-local weather data. The system will also promote the data for wider applications in agriculture and other sectors, it will help in creating a national-level data base, and it will assist in establishing the protocols required to access the country-wide data by the various public and private concerns.

Thanks for Reading 10 and 11 February 2024 Daily Current Affairs.