Daily Prelims Notes 24 November 2021

November 24, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Daily Prelims Notes

24 November 2021

Table Of Contents

Subject – IR

Context – The European Space Agency (ESA) council on Friday approved a manifesto to accelerate the use of space in Europe “to tackle the urgent and unprecedented societal, economic and security challenges faced by Europe and its citizens.”

Concept –

The European Space Agency (ESA) council approved a manifesto to accelerate the use of space in Europe “to tackle the urgent and unprecedented societal, economic and security challenges faced by Europe and its citizens.”
At the Intermediate Ministerial Meeting that was held in Matosinhos, Portugal, the Council of Ministers unanimously adopted this resolution that lays down a vision for the continent in terms of maintaining and expanding its activities in space.
The ESA is an intergovernmental organisation that was formed in 1975 with the aim of developing Europe’s space capabilities. The organisation has 22 member states.

2. Rani Gaidinliu

Subject – History

Context – Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday virtually laid the foundation stone for the ‘Rani Gaidinliu Tribal Freedom Fighters Museum’ in Manipur’s Tamenglong district.

Concept –

A spiritual and political leader, Rani Gaidinliu, belonged to the Rongmei tribe.
At 13, she became associated with freedom fighter and religious leader, HaipouJadonang, and became his lieutenant in his social, religious and political movement.
- Jadonang, who was also a Rongmei, started the ‘Heraka movement’, based on ancestral Naga religion, and envisioned an independent Naga kingdom (or Naga-Raja).
Rani Gandiliu’s association with Jadonang prepared her to fight the British. After the execution of Jadonang, she took up the leadership of the movement — which slowly turned political from religious.
Rani started a serious revolt against the British and was eventually imprisoned for life. She was released after 14 years, in 1947.
Acknowledging her role in the struggle against the British, Jawaharlal Nehru called her the “Daughter of the Hills” and gave her the title “Rani” or queen.
But before that, she was bestowed a number of honours including the Tamrapatra in 1972, Padma Bhushan in 1982, Vivekananda SewaSumman in 1983, and Stree Shakti Puraskar in 1991.
- She posthumously was awarded the BhagwanBirsa Munda Puraskar in 1996.
- The Government of India also issued a commemorative stamp in her honour in the same year.
- The Indian Coast Guard commissioned a Fast Patrol Vessel “ICGS Rani Gaidinliu” in 2016.
- In 2015, the Centre, on her birth anniversary, issued commemorative coins of Rs 100 and a circulation coin of Rs 5 in her honour.

3. World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)

Subject – Environment

Context – Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021: OIE initiatives for responsible, prudent use of antimicrobials in animals in Asia-Pacific.

Concept –

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) was established in 1924 in response to the need to fight animal diseases at global level.
It is the intergovernmental organisation responsible for improving animal health worldwide and currently has 182 members.
- India is one of the member countries.
The main objective of the OIE is to control epizootic diseases and thus to prevent their spread.
OIE has been addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) for many years.
- In 2016, it launched The OIE Strategy on Antimicrobial Resistance and the Prudent Use of Antimicrobials that has four key objectives of enhancing awareness and understanding, strengthening knowledge through surveillance and research, supporting good governance and capacity building and implementation of international standards.
OIE develops normative documents relating to rules that Member Countries can use to protect themselves from the introduction of diseases and pathogens.
OIE standards are recognised by the World Trade Organization as reference international sanitary rules.
It is headquartered in Paris, France.
The OIE does not depend on the UN system; its autonomy is both institutional and financial and its activities are governed by its own constitutional texts.
The OIE is mandated by the global tripartite to take a lead role in developing and maintaining the global database on AMU in animals (AMU database).
- The Asia-Pacific region is the highest consumer of antimicrobials (by animal biomass) as compared with other regions, according to the Fifth OIE Annual Report on Antimicrobial Agents Intended for Use in Animals.

4. Zoonoses and Antimicrobial Resistance

Subject – Environment

Context – Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021: Zoonoses as a driver for antimicrobial resistance

Concept –

In recent years, the use, abuse and misuse of antimicrobials in both, the human and livestock sector, has resulted in large-scale antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among various pathogens and more so, in bacterial pathogens.
AMR occurs naturally over time, usually through genetic changes which is a part of natural evolution. The resistant organisms are found in people, animals, foods, plants and the environment which can spread between and within the sectors.
AMR, particularly antibacterial resistance (ABR) is frequently reported at the interface of human, animal and environment indicating the role of industry, farming, and veterinary practices in ABR in addition to human health practices.

Zoonosis

A zoonosis is an infectious disease that has jumped from a non-human animal to humans.
Zoonotic pathogens may be bacterial, viral or parasitic, or may involve unconventional agents and can spread to humans through direct contact or through food, water or the environment.
Zoonoses comprise a large percentage of all newly identified infectious diseases as well as many existing ones.
- Researchers estimate 3/4ths of new, emerging diseases are zoonotic, with the vast majority coming from wildlife.
- Some diseases, such as HIV, begin as a zoonosis but later mutate into human-only strains.
- Other zoonoses can cause recurring disease outbreaks, such as Ebola virus disease and salmonellosis. Still others, such as the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, have the potential to cause global pandemics.
Antimicrobial resistance is a complicating factor in the control and prevention of zoonoses. The use of antibiotics in animals raised for food is widespread and increases the potential for drug-resistant strains of zoonotic pathogens capable of spreading quickly in animal and human populations.
World Zoonoses Day is celebrated on July 6th each year and commemorates the work of Louis Pasteur, who developed the first vaccine.
59,000 people die each year from rabies, a leading zoonotic disease.

Classification of Zoonoses

According to the etiological agents

Bacterial zoonoses :- e.g. anthrax, brucellosis, plague, leptospirosis, salmonellosis, lyme disease
Viral zoonoses :- e.g. rabies, arbovirus infections, KFD, yellow fever, influenza, CCHF
Rickettsial zoonoses :- e.g. murine typhus, tick typhus, scrub typhus, Q-fever
Protozoal zoonoses :- e.g. toxoplasmosis, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis
Helminthic zoonoses :- e.g. echinococcosis (hydatid disease), taeniasis, schistosomiasis, dracunculiasis
Fungal zoonoses :- e.g. deep mycosis – histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis, superficial dermatophytes
Ectoparasites :- e.g. scabies, myiasis

According to the mode of transmission

Direct zoonoses – These are transmitted from an infected vertebrate host to a susceptible host (man) by direct contact, by contact with a fomite or by a mechanical vector. The agent itself undergoes little or no propagative or developmental changes during transmission, e.g. rabies, anthrax, brucellosis, leptospirosis, toxoplasmosis.
Cyclo zoonoses – These require more than one vertebrate host species, but no invertebrate host for the completion of the life cycle of the agent, e.g. echinococcosis, taeniasis
Meta zoonoses – These are transmitted biologically by invertebrate vectors, in which the agent multiplies and/or develops and there is always an extrinsic incubation (prepatent) period before transmission to another vertebrate host e.g., plague, arbovirus infections, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis.
Sapro zoonoses – These require a vertebrate host and a non-animal developmental site like soil, plant material, pigeon dropping etc. for the development of the infectious agent e.g. aspergillosis, coccidioidomycosis, cryptococosis, histoplasmosis, zygomycosis.

According to the reservoir host

Anthropo zoonoses – Infections transmitted to man from lower vertebrate animals e.g. rabies, leptospirosis, plague, arboviral infections, brucellosis and Q-fever.
Zooanthroponoses – Infections transmitted from man to lower vertebrate animals e.g. streptococci, staphylococci, diphtheria, enterobacteriaceae, human tuberculosis in cattle and parrots.
Amphixenoses – Infections maintained in both man and lower vertebrate animals and transmitted in either direction e.g. salmonellosis, staphylococcosis.

To know about Antibiotic Resistance, please refer August 2021 DPN.

5. One health and AMR

Subject – Environment

Context – Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021: FAO launches action plan 2021–2025

Concept –

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations launched its Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance(AMR) 2021–2025 on November 19, 2021.
The new plan aims to extend FAO’s capacity development assistance to its members. As resistant microbes cross borders, the report said a global effort is the only way to make sure everyone is protected.
The action plan takes a ‘One Health’ approach and outlines several possible improvements in agricultural practices to better control AMR, from good nutrition for people and animals, vaccination, hygiene, sanitation and genetics, among other areas.
The Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance 2021-2025 builds on the first framework, which spanned from 2016 to 2020. More than 40 low- and middle-income countries have already benefited from FAO’s assistance in developing and implementing AMR National Action Plans.
FAO will also report on AMR in relation to the sustainable development goals, both for the indicators for which FAO is the custodian as well as the other SDGs to which FAO’s AMR programme contributes.

To know about One-Health, please refer October 2021 DPN.

6. Delhi Society for Promotion of Rational Use of Drugs (DSPRUD)

Subject – Environment

Context – Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2021: Recent initiatives of DSPRUD towards AMR containment

Concept –

Delhi Society for Promotion of Rational Use of Drugs(DSPRUD), a non-government organisation since 1996, has been a leading innovator, convener, partner and driver for introducing the concept of essential medicines and rational medicine use, especially antibiotics in India.
The Society is committed to focus and energise the essential medicines concept, rational medicine use and medication safety agenda to strengthen healthcare systems in both, the public and private sector.
DSPRUD played an instrumental role in the development of a multi-sectoral and multi-jurisdictional State Action Plan to Combat AMR in Delhi (SAP-CARD) in January 2020 with contribution from over 120 experts from the human and non-human sectors.
- With this, Delhi became the third state to develop its own state action plan after Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.
Besides, DSPRUD has been representing at the national level in National Working Groups on AMR.

7. India to release 5 mn barrels from crude reserves

Subject – Economy

Context – To ease fuel prices, India to release 5 mn barrels from crude reserves

Concept –

India on Tuesday announced release of 5 million barrels of crude oil from its strategic petroleum reserves.
This means more supply in the market which, in turn, should help cool global crude oil prices.
This release will happen in parallel and in consultation with other major global energy consumers including the US, People’s Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
India is the world’s No 3 oil consumer and importer and has been severely impacted by the relentless rise in international crude prices.

To know about Strategic Oil Reserves, please refer October 2021 DPN.

8. 6G technology

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – 6G technology launch likely by 2023-end or 2024, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

Concept –

6G (sixth-generation wireless) is the successor to 5G cellular technology.
6G networks will be able to use higher frequencies than 5G networks and provide substantially higher capacity and much lower latency.
- One of the goals of 6G internet will be to support one microsecond-latency communication.
- This is 1,000 times faster — or 1/1000th the latency — than one millisecond throughput.
Working in conjunction with artificial intelligence (AI), the computational infrastructure of 6G will autonomously determine the best location for computing to occur; this includes decisions about data storage, processing and sharing.
6G is expected to support data rates of 1 terabyte per second.
t seeks to utilize the terahertz band of frequency which is currently unutilized. Terahertz waves fall between infrared waves and microwaves on the electromagnetic spectrum.

9. Covid Vaccine Trade Tracker

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – WTO, IMF launch Covid vaccine trade tracker

Concept –

To ensure greater transparency on the supply of vaccines across the world, the WTO and the IMF have launched the WTO-IMF Covid Vaccine Trade Tracker that provides data on the cross-border flow of vaccines by product, country and arrangement type.
The portal provides an array of data on total vaccine supply to date, exports by producing economy and by supply arrangement type, imports by income group and by continent, supply by manufacturing economy and vaccine type, supply to continents and vaccination status.
The vaccine tracker draws information from the public domain, the Covax Global Vaccine Market Assessment, the Unicef, Duke Global Health Innovation Center, Airfinity, Our World in Data, the World Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank, and the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team.
Updates will be provided every month to reflect latest developments.

10. SDG Urban Index

Subject – Governance

Context – SDG urban index: Shimla, Coimbatore Chandigarh on top

Concept –

Shimla, Coimbatore, Chandigarh and Thiruvananthapuram are among the top 10 performing urban areas in the NITI Aayog’s first Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Urban India Index, while Dhanbad, Meerut, Faridabad and Patna are among the bottom 10 performers.
Ranking 56 urban areas on 77 SDG indicators across 46 targets, the index is focussed on driving SDG localisation in urban areas.
No poverty, zero hunger, good health, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, good jobs and economic growth are among the goals on which urban areas have been ranked.
NITI Aayog has developed the SDG Urban index and a dashboard 2021-22, in collaboration with GIZ and BMZ under the Indo-German Development Cooperation.
While for some indicators, ‘urban area’ implies urban local bodies, in other cases, it refers to all urban areas within a district collectively. The data on these indicators have been sourced from official data sources of government departments and ministries.
For each SDG, the urban areas are ranked on a scale of 0-100. A score of 100 implies that the urban area has achieved the targets set for 2030; a score of 0 implies that it is the farthest from achieving the targets among the selected urban areas.

11. Certificate of Origin (CO)

Subject – Economy

Context – Centre allows exporters time till January 31 on origin e-certificate

Concept –

A Certificate of Origin (CO) is an important international trade document that certifies that goods in a particular export shipment are wholly obtained, produced, manufactured or processed in a particular country.
They declare the ‘nationality’ of the product and also serve as a declaration by the exporter to satisfy customs or trade requirements.
COs are requested by customs, banks, private stakeholders and importers for several purposes.
Almost every country in the world requires CO for customs clearance procedures: when determining the duty that will be assessed on the goods or, in some cases, whether the goods may be legally imported at all.
There are two types of COs that chambers can issue:
- Non-Preferential COs which certify that the goods are subject to no preferential treatment. These are the main type of COs that chambers can issue and are also known as “Normal COs”.
- Preferential COs, which certify that goods are subject to reduced tariffs or exemptions when they are exported to countries extending these privileges. These COs tend to be closely associated with Regional Trade Agreements.
Ministry of Commerce & Industry launched a common digital platform for the issuance of electronic Certificates of Origin(CoO).
- The platform has been designed and developed by the Director-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and Regional & Multilateral Trade Relations (RMTR) Division, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
- This platform will act as a single access point for all exporters, all Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)/Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs), and all concerned agencies.
- The platform also provides administrative access to the Department of Commerce for reporting and monitoring purposes.

12. ‘Bharat Gaurav’ scheme

Subject – Economy

Context – ‘Bharat Gaurav’ scheme eyes Railway tourism

Concept –

To tap the huge potential of tourism, the Railways announced the ‘Bharat Gaurav’ scheme, under which theme-based tourist circuit trains, on the lines of the Ramayana Express, can be run either by private or State-owned operators.
Till now, the Railways had passenger segments and goods segments. Now, we will have a third segment for tourism — ‘Bharat Gaurav’ train.
The Minister said these will not be regular trains that will run as per a timetable but will be more on the lines of the Ramayana Express being run by the IRCTC.
Service providers, who can be an individual, company, society, trust, joint venture or consortium, will be free to decide themes and circuits such as Guru Kripa trains for covering important places of Sikh culture or the Ramayana Express for places connected with Lord Ram.
They will offer an all-inclusive package to tourists, including rail travel, accommodation, sightseeing, visit to historical and heritage sites and tour guides, and have full flexibility to decide the package cost.