UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 20-02-2021
iasparliament
February 20, 2021
Helina and Dhruvastra
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has designed and developed anti-tank guided missiles,
Army version Helina, and
Airforce variant Dhruvastra.
These are third generation, Lock-on-Before-Launch (LOBL) fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missiles that can engage targets both in direct hit mode as well as top attack mode.
The system has all-weather day and night capability.
They can defeat battle tanks with conventional armour as well as with explosive reactive armour.
The missiles could be fired in hover and max forward flight against realistic static and moving targets.
Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs selected 25 cities selected for the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge under the Smart Cities Mission.
These cities would carry out projects for making earlychildhood-friendlyneighbourhoods.
It aims to work with Indian cities and their partners to improve public space, mobility, data management across city agencies, etc.
A child has recently been diagnosed with Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Bihar, the first case for this year.
AES, locally called chamki bukhar (fever causing seizure), usually surfaces during summer in the flood-prone districts of north Bihar.
It is characterized by acute-onset of fever and a change in mental status (mental confusion, disorientation, delirium, or coma) along with new-onset of seizures in a person of any age at any time of the year.
The disease most commonly affects children and young adults and can lead to considerable morbidity and mortality.
Viruses are the main causative agents in AES cases, although other sources such as bacteria have also been reported.
Japanese encephalitis virus is the major cause of AES in India (5%-35%).
Influenza A virus, West Nile virus, Chandipura virus, mumps, measles, dengue, Nipah, Zika are the other causes of AES in India.
Due to the wide range of causal agents and the rapid rate of neurological impairment, clinicians face the challenge of a small window period between diagnosis and treatment.
Widely reported areas - Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, UP.
India Energy Outlook 2021
This report was released by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
It has forecasted that India will overtake the European Union as the world’s third-largest energy consumer by 2030.
[At present, India is the fourth-largest global energy consumer behind China, the United States and the European Union.]
It is based on the forecast that India accounts for the biggest share of energy demand growth over the next two decades.
India’s primary energy consumption would double as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expands to USD 8.6 trillion by 2040.
India accounts for nearly one-quarter of global energy demand growth from 2019-40 — the largest for any country.
Its share in the growth in renewable energy is the second-largest in the world, after China.
CPI-AL and RL
Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Agricultural Labourers (AL) and Rural Labourers (RL) for the month of January 2021 is decreased.
The base year for the CPI-AL and RL calculation is 1986-87.
The major contribution towards the fall in general index of AL and RL came from the fall in prices of pulses, onion, potato, brinjal etc.
The fall/rise in index varied from State to State.
Consumer Price Index
It examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food, and medical care.
It is calculated by taking changes in price over time for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and averaging them.
This is done from the perspective of a retail buyer.
Labour Bureau under the Ministry of Labour and Employment compiles the CPI for Industrial Workers (IW), Agricultural Labourer (AL) and Rural Labourer (RL).
Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation compiles CPI (Rural/ Urban/ Combined).
CPI is adopted as the key measure of retail inflation by the Reserve Bank of India in 2014.
India uses 2012 as the base year for calculating CPI.
Intensified Mission Indradhanush
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare has launched Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0 and the IMI 3.0 portal.
Focus of the IMI 3.0 will be the children and pregnant women who have missed their vaccine doses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beneficiaries from migration areas and hard to reach areas will be targeted.
Mission Indradhanush was launched in 2014 to provide affordable and accessible healthcare to all citizens of the country.
Since its first phase, Mission Indradhanush has covered 690 districts and vaccinated 37.64 million children and 9.46 million pregnant women.
The present 8th campaign will target achieving 90% Full Immunization Coverage (FIC) in all districts of the country.
Every year the Universal Immunization Programme caters to the vaccination needs of 2.65 crore children and 2.9 crore pregnant women against 12 Vaccine Preventable Diseases.
Source: PIB, The Hindu, Business Line, Down To Earth
