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20th May 2021
Black fungus declared an epidemic in Rajasthan
Recently, Mucormycosis (black fungus), which is primarily affecting people recovering from Covid, has been declared an epidemic in Rajasthan.
Escalation of an Epidemic to a Pandemic
- Currently, the state has around 100 black fungus patients and a separate ward has been made at Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital in Jaipur for their treatment.
- Mucormycosis has been notified as an epidemic and a notifiable disease in the state under the Rajasthan Epidemic Act 2020.
- It is derived from Greek ‘epi’ meaning ‘upon or above’ and ‘demos’ meaning ‘people’.
- It is the term used to describe a situation where a disease spreads rapidly to a large number of people in a given population over a short time period.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes an epidemic as anunexpected increase in the number of disease cases in a specific geographical area.
- The term epidemic is not just used with infectious diseases but it is also used with any scenario that leads to a detrimental rise of health risks within a society.
- It can follow predictable patterns and these trends are often used to monitor, predict and control the spread of the infection.
- Yellow fever, smallpox, measles, and polio are prime examples of epidemics.
- It is derived from Greek ‘en’ meaning ‘in’ and ‘demos’ meaning ‘people’.
- It is used to describe a disease that is present at an approximately constant level within a society or country.
- It is derived from Greek ‘pan’ meaning ‘all’ and ‘demos’ meaning ‘people’.
- It is the term used to describe the rapid spread of a transmissible infectious/communicable disease over several continents or worldwide.
- Once an epidemic becomes global and affects a large percent of the population it becomes known as a pandemic.
- The terms pandemic and epidemic are used to describe the rate and distance of the spread of the disease and not the severity of the disease.
- The significant features of a pandemic are listed below:
- Affects a wider geographical area, often global
- Infects a very large number of people
- Often caused by a new virus or a new strain of a virus that has been dormant for many years
- Spreads quickly in humans as there is little to no existing immunity
- Can cause a high number of deaths
- Because of the need to control the spread of the disease, there is often social disruption, unrest and economic loss
Escalation of an Epidemic to a Pandemic
- The World Health Organization (WHO) will declare a Pandemic when a disease has shown exponential growth i.e. dramatically increasing rate of growth, each day showing many more cases than the previous day.
- The WHO defines pandemics, epidemics, and endemics based on a disease's rate of spread.
- The difference between an epidemic and a pandemic isn't in the severity of the disease, but the degree to which it has spread.
- The WHO has identified six phases that it follows before declaring a pandemic:
- Phase 1 - a virus is seen in animals but has not been shown to infections in humans
- Phase 2 - a known animal virus has caused an infection in humans
- Phase 3 - scattered or isolated incidence of cases or small clusters of the disease occurring in humans; possible cases of human-to-human transmission but not at a level to cause community-level outbreaks
- Phase 4 - human to human transmission at a rate that causes an outbreak in communities
- Phase 5 - the spread of the disease between humans is now evident in more than one country
- Phase 6 - community-level outbreaks are in at least one additional country other than that seen in phase 5.
- It is an all-female-led commission report which was published in The Lancet.
- It was presented during a plenary session at the American College of Cardiology’s70th annual scientific session recently.
- The Commission aims to help reduce the global burden of cardiovascular conditionsthat account for 35 per cent of deaths in women worldwide by 2030.
- In 2019, there were approximately 275 million women around the world with CVD, with a global age-standardised prevalence estimated at 6402 cases per 1 lakh.
- The leading cause of death from CVD worldwide in 2019 was ischemic heart disease (47 per cent of CVD deaths), followed by stroke (36 per cent of CVD deaths).
- The report highlighted that globally the prevalence of CVD among women has been declining, with an overall decrease of 4.3 per cent since 1990.
- The world’s most populous nations have seen an increase in CVD, including China (10% increase), Indonesia (7%), and India (3%).
- The lengthening of life expectancy has resulted in a longer period of exposure to risk factors.
- The levels of the risk too rise due to urbanisation, industrialisation and globalisation propelling changes in behaviours.
- The unhealthy diets and reduced physical activity have become common scenarios among the people.
- The health systems are also less efficient in detecting and controlling risk factors like hypertension and diabetes in women.
- The health seeking behaviours of women are impeded by patriarchal family normswhich results in delaying of treatment for cardiovascular risk factors and disease.
- The researchers have called for urgent action to:
- Improve care and prevention;
- Fill knowledge gaps; and
- Increase awareness to tackle worldwide leading causes of death among women.
- The report recommended a need for initiatives to expand prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of CVD in women who live in highly populated and industrialised regions.
- It is necessary to address the determinants of risk through health promotion and disease prevention while increasing the responsiveness and efficiency of health systems to provide timely diagnosis and treatment.
- The (CVDs) are a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels.
- The CVDs include:
- Coronary heart disease: disease of the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle;
- Cerebrovascular disease: disease of the blood vessels supplying the brain;
- Peripheral arterial disease: disease of blood vessels supplying the arms and legs;
- Rheumatic heart disease: damage to the heart muscle and heart valves from rheumatic fever, caused by streptococcal bacteria;
- Congenital heart disease: malformations of heart structure existing at birth;
- Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism: blood clots in the leg veins, which can dislodge and move to the heart and lungs.
- The heart attacks and strokes are usually acute events and are mainly caused by a blockage that prevents blood from flowing to the heart or brain.
- The crashing of cryptocurrency has come in the backdrop of the Chinese regulators announcing a crackdown on cryptocurrencies.
- China has barred financial institutions and payment companies from providing any services related to cryptocurrency transactions.
- It implies that banks and online payments channels must not offer clients any serviceinvolving cryptocurrency, such as registration, trading, clearing and settlement.
- China had issued such a ban in 2017 as well, but compared with the previous ban, the new rules have expanded the scope of prohibited services, and surmise that “virtual currencies are not supported by any real value”.
- A crackdown by one of the world’s biggest economy notwithstanding, those in the ecosystem has termed this decline as a short-term correction.
- A nearly 40% dip in the Bitcoin price from its all-time high looks dramatic but is normal in many volatile markets, including crypto, especially after such a large rally.
- Such corrections are mainly due to short-term traders taking profits and long-term value investors might call these lower prices a buying opportunity.
- The fresh crackdown makes it more difficult for individuals to buy cryptocurrenciesusing various payment channels.
- It could impact miners' business by making it harder for them to exchange cryptocurrencies.
- The banks and payment companies also face challenges of identifying money flows related to cryptocurrencies.
- The legislatures with two Houses (bicameral) have a long history in India.
- The Montagu-Chelmsford reforms led to the formation of the Council of State at the national level in 1919.
- The Government of India Act of 1935 set up bicameral legislatures in Indian provinces and it was under this law that a Legislative Council first started functioning in Bengal in 1937.
- Currently, six states i.e. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka have a Legislative Council.
- The third schedule of the constitution provides salaries and allowances of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council.
- Like the Rajya Sabha, the legislative council is a continuing chamber i.e. it is a permanent body and is not subject to dissolution.
- The Article 168 of the Constitution empowers the Legislative Assembly to create or abolish a Legislative Council by passing a resolution.
- The setting up of a second chamber is not exclusively in the hands of the state government and the central government also has to pilot a Bill in Parliament.
- The resolution has to be passed by two-thirds of the Assembly members and then a Bill to this effect has to be passed by Parliament.
- The Article 169 (1) allows the Parliament may by law provide for the abolition of the Legislative Council of a State or for the creation of such a Council in a State.
- Article 171 deals with nominations of members to state legislative councils and requires state Governor to nominate some names of those who have “special knowledge or practical experience in various matters.
- The total number of members in the Legislative Council of a State having such a Council shall not exceed one third of the total number of members in the Legislative Assembly of that State.
- Article 182 provides Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Council.
- Article 197 provides restriction on powers of Legislative Council as to Bills other than Money Bills:
- If after a Bill has been passed by the Legislative Assembly of a State having a Legislative Council and transmitted to the Legislative Council:
- the Bill is rejected by the Council; or
- more than three months elapse from the date on which the Bill is laid before the Council without the Bill being passed by it; or
- the Bill is passed by the Council with amendments to which the Legislative Assembly does not agree;
- the Legislative Assembly may, subject to the rules regulating its procedure, pass the Bill again in the same or in any subsequent session with or without such amendments, if any, as have been made, suggested or agreed to by the Legislative Council and then transmit the Bill as so passed to the Legislative Council
- If after a Bill has been so passed for the second time by the Legislative Assemblyand transmitted to the Legislative Council
- the Bill is rejected by the Council; or
- more than one month elapses from the date on which the Bill is laid before the Council without the Bill being passed by it; or
- the Bill is passed by the Council with amendments to which the Legislative Assembly does not agree;
- the Bill shall be deemed to have been passed by the Houses of the Legislature of the State in the form in which it was passed by the Legislative Assembly for the second time with such amendments, if any, as have been made or suggested by the Legislative Council and agreed to by the Legislative Assembly
- The provisions of Article 197 shall not apply to Money Bills.
- If after a Bill has been passed by the Legislative Assembly of a State having a Legislative Council and transmitted to the Legislative Council:
- Unlike the members of the legislative assembly, the members of the legislative council are indirectly elected.
- The maximum strength of the council is fixed at one-third of the total strength of the assembly and the minimum strength is fixed at 40.
- The Constitution has fixed the maximum and the minimum limits but the actual strength of a Council is fixed by Parliament.
- The manner of election of the total number of members of a legislative council:
- 1/3 are elected by the members of local bodies in the state like municipalities, district boards, etc.;
- 1/12 are elected by graduates of three years standing and residing within the state;
- 1/12 are elected by teachers of three years standing in the state, not lower in standard than secondary school;
- 1/3 are elected by the members of the legislative assembly of the state from amongst persons who are not members of the assembly; and
- The remainder is nominated by the governor from amongst persons who have a special knowledge or practical experience of literature, science, art, cooperative movement and social service.
- It implies that 5/6 of the total number of members of a legislative council is indirectly elected and 1/6 is nominated by the governor.
- The members are elected in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.
- China has independently developed and launched seven Haiyang satellites.
- It is named after the Chinese word for "ocean" and given the "HY" designation for short.
- The country launched its first ocean monitoring satellite, the HY-1A, on May 15, 2002.
- It was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology, while the carrier rocket was developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology.
- It will form a constellation with the HY-2B and HY-2C satellites to build an all-weather and round-the-clock dynamic ocean environment monitoring system.
- The constellation will support the country's early warning and prediction of marine disasters, its sustainable development and utilization of ocean resources.
- It will help in effective response to global climate change as well as ocean research.
- The onboard equipment enables the new satellite to provide information on the identification of vessels, and to receive, store and transmit buoy measurement datain China's offshore and other marine areas.
- The planned satellite network will be capable of carrying out 80 percent of the world's sea surface wind monitoring within six hours.
- The follow-up network of HY-2 satellites will provide data support for marine disaster relief, meteorology, transportation and scientific applications.
- The Election Commission is a permanent and an independent body established by the Constitution of India directly to ensure free and fair elections in the country.
- Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, direction and control of elections to parliament, state legislatures, the office of president of India and the office of vice-president of India shall be vested in the election commission.
- The Election Commission is an all-India body in the sense that it is common to both the Central government and the state governments.
- The election commission is not concerned with the elections to panchayats and municipalities in the states.
- The Election Commission shall consist of the chief election commissioner and such number of other election commissioners, if any, as the president may from time to time fix.
- The appointment of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners shall be made by the president.
- When any other election commissioner is so appointed, the chief election commissioner shall act as the chairman of the election commission.
- The president may also appoint after consultation with the election commission suchregional commissioners as he may consider necessary to assist the election commission.
- The conditions of service and tenure of office of the election commissioners and the regional commissioners shall be determined by the president.
- The CEC and the two other election commissioners have equal powers and receive equal salary, allowances and other perquisites, which are similar to those of a judge of the Supreme Court.
- They hold office for a term of six years or until they attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
- They can resign at any time or can also be removed before the expiry of their term.
- The practice of the central government appointing the members of the Election Commission violates Articles 14 and 324(2) of the Constitution, the non-government organisation said in its plea.
- Article 14 of the Constitution deals with Right to Equality, whereas Article 324(2) gives the President the power to appoint members of the poll body.
- The appointment of members of the Election Commission is done on the whims and fancies of the executive and violates the very foundation on which it was created.
- The appointments give unfettered discretion to the ruling party to choose someone whose loyalty to it is ensured and thereby renders the selection process vulnerable to manipulation.
- The Commission renders a quasi-judicial function between the various political parties, including the ruling government and other parties.
- The petition cited the 255th Law Commission Report which recommended that the appointment of Election Commission members should be made by the President.
- The president shall consult with a three-member collegium or selection committee, consisting of the prime minister, the leader of Opposition of the Lok Sabha and the chief justice of India.
- Dr. Dinesh Goswami Committee in its Report of May 1990 recommended for the effective consultation with neutral authorities like Chief Justice of India.
- The 4th Report of the Second Administrative Reform Commission also recommended for the constitution of a neutral and independent collegium:
- It should be headed by the Prime Minister with the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Law Minister and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha as is members.
- Justice Tarkunde Committee in its Report of 1975 recommended that the members of Election Commission should be appointed by the President on the advice of a Committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.
- The Telangana government, World Economic Forum and HealthNet Global, had signed a collaboration agreement for the ‘Medicine from the Sky’ project.
- A feasibility study is being planned to study drone-based delivery of blood, vaccines, medical samples and long tail medicine.
- The Central government, in exercise of powers conferred by Rule 70 of the UAS Rules, 2021, has granted conditional exemption to Telangana for the purpose of trying out drones for delivery.
- The consortiums shortlisted by Telangana will be able to start trials on ground to build a safety case for regulators for considering the Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) range.
- The permission has been granted for conducting experimental delivery of Covid-19 vaccines within Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) Range.
- The permission exemption is valid for one year or until further orders, subject to the conditions laid out.
- It is proposed to take up BVLOS flights in Vikarabad district of Telangana with the Area Hospital as the take-off site and various PHCs and sub-centres as the landing sites.
- The programme will be for 24 days, where the eight selected consortia would be divided into four batches of two consortia, and each batch would perform the sorties for 6 days.
- It would yield important information on the reliability of drones and their adoption in medical deliveries.
- The success of this programme has the potential to disrupt the healthcare industryand save many lives during emergencies and in less accessible geographies.
- The project aims to explore the use of drones to increase access to healthcare for communities across the Telangana state.
- The project could become a reference model for other states looking at drone applications around healthcare in India.
- According to a global market intelligence and advisory firm BIS Research, the Indian drone market is expected to be valued at $885.7 Mn by 2021.
- In September 2018, the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) legalised flying commercial drones.
- The Drone Regulations 2.0 in 2019 had proposed regulations for operation of drones in public spaces, particularly the ones implemented at a commercial scale.
- India’s science and technology ministry announced a government project to digitally map the country with a resolution of 10 cm, using drones and technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data.
- India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation has certified two Bengaluru-based drone startups, Skylark Drones and Throttle Aerospace Systems.
- It is a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program.
- It allows speedy clearance for low-risk travellers upon their arrival in US.
- The travellers are pre-approved for the programme after a rigorous background check.
- In-person interviews are also taken to check the ‘low-risk’ status of the applicantsbefore the enrollment.
- India, citizens of Colombia, United Kingdom, Germany, Panama, and Singapore are eligible to become members of this programme.
- South Korea and Mexican nationals are also included under Global Entry Programme.
- Canadian residents can apply for enrollment under this through their membership in NEXUS programme.
- The citizens of all the above-mentioned countries can apply to become members of Global Entry Programme.
- In the case of minors, consent of the parent or a legal guardian is a must to get enrolled.
- The membership is valid for five years.
- The membership can be cancelled or denied in case the US Customs and Border Protection finds any false information in the application.
- It is imperative that the individual has no past criminal records of any kind and also that he/she is not connected with any money laundering case.
- Any person who has violated any customs, immigration or agriculture regulations or laws in any country also stands ineligible.
- A Global Online Enrollment System (GOES) account is mandatory for enrollmentirrespective of the age of the members.
- The account can be made at the US Customs and Border Protection Page.
- The form will be completed after paying a nominal non-refundable application fee.
- In case the form is conditionally approved, a message will be sent on the GOES account after which an interview can be scheduled.
- The biggest advantage of getting enrolled in this programme is that you will no longer have to stand in the long queues for immigration.
- The approved applicants can make their way ahead through automatic kiosks instead of standing in the immigration lines.
- A report by Mongabay states that the deep sea fish hunters were responsible for the appearances of the coelacanth over the decades.
- It is an extremely rare species of fish.
- It is a prehistoric fish species dating back hundreds of millions years ago
- The first living coelacanth was caught in 1938, when a group of fishers set gill-nets off the southwest coast of Madagascar in deeper waters.
- The increasing demand for shark fins and oil have prompted hunters to fish in deeper waters, leading to the discovery of the rare species on the coasts off South Africa, Tanzania, and the Comoros Islands.
- The species lives in undersea canyons at depths between 100 and 500 metres.
- It is scientifically called the Latimeria Chalumnae.
- It is considered to be among the early steps of the fish’s evolution to terrestrial four-legged animals.
- It is origin can be traced back to 420 million years.
- It is now listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
- The advent of deep-set gillnets, or jarifa, for catching sharks, resulted in an explosion of coelacanth captures in Madagascar and other countries in the Western Indian Ocean.
- Coelacanths are elusive, deep-sea creatures, living in depths up to 2,300 feet below the surface.
- The most striking feature of this "living fossil" is its paired lobe fins that extend away from its body like legs and move in an alternating pattern, like a trotting horse.
- Its unique characteristics include a hinged joint in the skull which allows the fish to widen its mouth for large prey.
- Its oil-filled tube, called a notochord, serves as a backbone and thick scales common only to extinct fish.
- It is the second most commonly used fertiliser in India after urea.
- The farmers normally apply this fertiliser just before or at the beginning of sowing, as it is high in phosphorus that stimulates root development.
- It is the preferred source of Phosphorous (P) for farmers which is similar to urea, which is their preferred nitrogenous fertiliser containing 46% N.
- The inputs required to produce one ton of DAP fertilizer are approximately 1.5 to 2 tons of phosphate rock, 0.4 tons of sulfur (S) to dissolve the rock, and 0.2 tons of ammonia.
- DAP also acts as a fire retardant.
- Its relatively high nutrient content and excellent physical properties make it a popular choice in farming and other industries.
- The high nutrient content of DAP helps reduce handling, freight and application costs.
- It is an excellent source of P and nitrogen (N) for plant nutrition.
- The ammonium present in DAP is an excellent N source and will be gradually converted to nitrate by soil bacteria, resulting in a subsequent drop in pH.
POSTED ON 20-05-2021 BY ADMIN
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