Only 50% farmers benefited from farm loan waivers, finds study

• As of March 2022, the poorest implementation of farm loan waiver schemes in terms of proportion of eligible farmers who had received the announced benefits was in Telangana (5%), Madhya Pradesh (12%), Jharkhand (13%), Punjab (24%), Karnataka (38%) and Uttar Pradesh (52%).
• By contrast, farm loan waivers implemented by Chhattisgarh in 2018 and Maharashtra in 2020 were received by 100% and 91% of the eligible farmers, respectively.
• A similar waiver announced by Maharashtra in 2017 worth ₹34,000 crore for 67 lakh farmers has been implemented for 68% of beneficiaries, SBI researchers reckoned.
• The SBI study was based on the outcomes of 10 farm loan write-offs worth about ₹2.53 lakh crore announced by nine States, starting with Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in 2014.
• The report identified rejection of farmers’ claims by State governments, limited or low fiscal space to meet promises, and change in governments in subsequent years, as the possible reasons for the low implementation rate of these loan waivers.

Kilo class submarine INS Sindhudhvaj decommissioned

• She had many a firsts to her credit, including operationalisation of the indigenised sonar USHUS, indigenised satellite communication system Rukmani and MSS, inertial navigation system and indigenised torpedo fire control system, the Navy said.
• Commissioned into the Navy in June 1987, Sindhudhvaj, was one of the 10 Kilo class submarines India acquired from Russia between 1986 and 2000. Of these, Sindhurakshak was lost in an accident in Mumbai harbour in August 2013, while Sindhuvir was transferred to Myanmar in 2020, making it the Southeast Asian nation’s first underwater platform.
• The Navy’s sub-surface fleet now includes seven Russian Kilo class submarines, four German HDW submarines, four French Scorpene submarines and the indigenous nuclear ballistic missile submarine Arihant. The last two of the Scorpene class submarines are in various stages of trials and outfitting.

British govt launches "Aviation Passenger Charter"

• Long queues and cancelled flights caused by staff shortages have caused chaos at times, prompting airlines to cut back their schedules as the industry struggles to keep up with a surge in demand after the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The new charter will help passengers know what to do if they are confronted by cancellations, delays or missing baggage.

Wildfires intensifying in Europe

• Wildfires require right climatic conditions, burnable fuel and a spark.
• Rising temperatures suck moisture out of plants, creating an abundance of dry fuel.
• Drought and high heat can kill plants and dry out dead grass, and other material on the forest floor that fuel the fire once it starts sweeping through a patch.
• While dry vegetation is the burnable fuel that serves as kindling for fires, the spark is sometimes caused by lightning, at other times by accident or recklessness of the local population.
• As for Europe, the region has been hit by an early fire season due to an unusually dry, hot spring that left the soil parched. Authorities attribute this to climate change.

Women tend to live longer than men

• Now, research from University of Georgia (UGA) suggests these higher rates of illness can be improved by a better diet — one that is high in pigmented carotenoids such as yams, kale, spinach, watermelon, bell peppers, tomatoes, oranges and carrots.
• These bright-coloured fruits and vegetables are particularly important in preventing visual and cognitive loss.
• Women have, on average, more body fat than men. Body fat serves as a significant sink for many dietary vitamins and minerals, which creates a useful reservoir for women during pregnancy.
• This availability, however, means less is available for the retina and the brain, putting women at more risk for degenerative problems.
• Dietary intake of pigmented carotenoids act as antioxidants. Two specific carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, are found in specific tissues of the eye and brain and have been shown to directly improve central nervous system degeneration.

Cases of ''kala azar'' or black fever reported in Bengal

• Kala-azar or Visceral Leishmaniasis is a protozoan parasitic disease, spread by sandfly bites. Sandflies are brown in colour and have hairs on their bodies.
• The flies are infected with the parasite called ‘leishmania donovani’.
• The vector sandfly is known to live in cracks and crevices of muddy houses, especially in dark and humid corners. According to the WHO, there are 3 main forms of leishmaniases of which kala-azar is the most serious form.
• The disease affects some of the poorest people and is linked to malnutrition, population displacement, poor housing, a weak immune system and a lack of financial resources.
• Leishmaniasis is also linked to environmental changes such as deforestation, and urbanisation, according to WHO.
• In 2020, more than 90 per cent of new cases reported to WHO occurred in 10 countries: Brazil, China, Ethiopia, Eritrea, India, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen.
• In India, the disease is endemic in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Playing wind instruments can spread respiratory particles

• Brass instruments, on average, produced 191 per cent more aerosols than woodwinds, the release said.
• Being male was associated with a 70 per cent increase in emissions from instrument-playing, probably due to lung size and capacity, the researchers think.
• Louder playing of brass instruments was associated with higher particle counts, but louder playing of woodwinds didn’t increase emissions.