Daily Prelims Notes 6 May 2023

May 6, 2023
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes

6 May 2023

Table Of Contents

1. Fungal flood

Subject: Science and Tech

Section: Health

Context: Increasing disease, aided by climate change, risk to global food security.

More on the News:

A rapid surge in fungal attacks on the world’s most important crops, worsened by climate change, could become a “catastrophe” for the world’s food supply, scientists have warned.
The five most important crops for humanity — rice, wheat, maize, soyabeans and potato — are vulnerable to fungal diseases such as rice blast fungus, wheat stem rust, corn smut, soybean rust and potato late blight, all caused by water mould oomycete.
The Food and Agricultural Organization has identified hundreds of fungal diseases that affect 168 crops crucial to provide nutrition to humans. The devastating impact of fungal diseases will worsen due to climate change, the researchers pointed out.
The rising temperatures are causing fungal infections to move steadily towards the poles, about seven kilometres a year. Citing an example, they said wheat stem rust infections, usually reported in tropical countries, have been found in England and Ireland.
Fungus, which is primarily a pathogen, produce massive amounts of spores which can remain active in the soil for up to 40 years, they added.
Higher temperatures encourage the development of new fungal pathogen variants. Extreme weather conditions such as storms or tornados can spread the spores in wider geographic ranges, they stated. For instance, wheat stem rust produces airborne spores that can travel across continents.
The scientists further claimed that practising monoculture in modern agriculture had become ideal grounds for fungus to feed on entire crops and breed. Such cropping patterns have enabled the fungus to quickly evolve and develop resistance to the fungicides.
The use of antifungals has spiked in agriculture, leading to more fungicide-resistant
The researchers expressed fears that increasing temperatures due to global warming will change the relationship between plants and microbiomes, including the endophytic fungi and organisms that co-exist in a single host plant. However, these can develop into fungi as a response to environmental stresses.
The fungus can threaten food security as the pressure on food systems increases with the growing human population. The global population is estimated to grow to 9.7 billion in the next 30 years.
Despite the threats, the researchers hope to battle the situation by moving away from a single-target site fungicide approach to developing compounds that fight multiple pathogens.

2. Health Day at upcoming UN climate conference

Subject :Environment

Section: Climate change

Context: Health Day at upcoming UN climate conference — a first in COP history

More on the News:

Finally heeding to the many versions of the ‘climate change crisis is a public health crisis’ argument made by domain experts, the upcoming 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will assess health issues in great detail.
This reverses a historical trend of health being absent from COP discussions, despite roughly 189 million people in developing countries being affected by extreme weather events annually since 1991.
COP28 will be the first COP to dedicate a day to health and the first to host a health and climate ministerial. And need to broaden our definition of adaptation to enable global climate resilience, transform food systems and enhance forestry land use and water management.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted fissures in the health systems across the world, which will only widen as the climate change crisis worsens. A warming world will add to the existing high disease burden. This is because increased disasters like heatwaves, floods and droughts will lead to more illnesses while an increase in temperature will allow for vector-borne diseases to survive at higher latitudes and thereby impact a greater population.
Health received some attention at COP27 held in Egypt last year when conference resolutions referred to the need for governments’ climate action to respect, promote, and consider their respective obligations on human rights, including the right to highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
In 2021, the WHO joined hands with the United Kingdom COP26 presidency and established the Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health, which had 60 countries as signatories.

Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health

Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH) works to realize the ambition set at COP26 to build climate resilient and sustainable health systems, using the collective power of WHO Member States (“Member States”) and other stakeholders to drive this agenda forward at pace and scale; and promote the integration of climate change and health nexus into respective national, regional, and global plans.
Four thematic working groups will work to address common issues:
- Financing the Health Commitments on Climate Resilient and Sustainable Low Carbon Health Systems.
- Climate Resilient Health Systems.
- Low Carbon Sustainable Health Systems.
- Supply chains.

Functions of the ATACH

Delivering international shift on priority issues: This function focuses on areas where a global shift can be delivered through the collective power of Member States and other stakeholders, as appropriate. It reflects collective interest of the Alliance as well as context specific themes which may be more applicable to smaller groupings of Member States.
Monitoring: Support WHO, in its efforts to collect data on country level progress against the commitments made.
Quality Assurance: Support WHO in developing quality assurance mechanisms designed to help ensure that assessments, plans, and implementation are of the quality required to deliver on commitments made thereby facilitating a common understanding of such commitments and measures of progress. The core aim is to help identify where support is required and to identify best practice.
Financing: This focuses on identifying financing needs, and support Member State access to finance, including climate finance, in a timely and sustainable way. This information also feeds into the monitoring function, tracking the performance of both domestic as well as donor/ development finance agencies in making funding available to meet Member State commitment needs.
Knowledge sharing and coordinating access to technical assistance: This function provides a forum for Alliance Participants to share expertise, knowledge and experience on the assessment, planning implementation, financing, and monitoring of commitments. This supports exchange among Participants and access to information to support evidence based and cost-effective delivery of commitments.

3. Covid is no longer an emergency

Subject : International Relations

Section: International Organisation

Context: WHO raised its highest level of alert and termed the infection a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, a designation that remained in place for over three years.

More on the News:

World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Covid-19 was no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and that the focus would now be on the long-term management of the infection.
The novel viral infection came to light after China reported a cluster of pneumonia cases with no known cause from Wuhan on December 31, 2019. By the end of January 2020, nearly 10,000 cases had been reported, including more than 100 cases in 19 other countries.
WHO raised its highest level of alert and termed the infection a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, a designation that remained in place for over three years.

Why did the WHO declare Covid-19 a pandemic?

SARS-CoV-2 was a novel virus about which very little was known in the initial days. Later, as many patients reached hospitals with pneumonia and in need of oxygen support, doctors and researchers discovered that the infection put the immune system into overdrive, leading to a cytokine storm when immune cells started attacking the patient’s own organs. This tended to happen more in the elderly, and in those with existing comorbidities like diabetes.
There are three conditions for declaring a disease a public health emergency.
- One, it is spreading across several countries.
- Two, it is leading to serious illness, hospitalisations, and deaths.
- Three, serious stress on health systems because of the disease.
- Covid-19 fulfilled all three conditions in 2020 and 2021

Why has the WHO removed the designation now?

Over the last three years, doctors and researchers have figured out a lot — methods of transmission; who are at highest risk of severe disease and death; better, cheaper, and point-of-care diagnostics; a treatment protocol that works; medicines to prevent viral replication that can help in reducing severity of the disease; and most importantly, vaccines that can prevent severe disease.
Governments have strengthened healthcare systems and rolled out vaccination drives. In India, more than 90% of people above the age of 12 years have received their two primary doses. Since many were infected and vaccinated, the population has developed a ‘hybrid immunity’ that has been shown to offer better protection against future severe disease.
Health systems are no longer stressed. Now 2023 Covid-19 did not satisfy the three conditions for a disease to be a public health emergency.

How will the WHO declaration change disease management?

There are no lockdowns; international travel, restaurants, and cinemas are normal; and containment and control measures haven’t been needed for some time now. So, not much will change on ground with the WHO declaration.

4. Bastille Day Parade

Subject : International Relations

Concept :

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit France on 14th of July to attend this year’s Bastille Day Parade as Guest of Honour in Paris.

France’s Bastille Day parade

July 14 is marked as France’s National Day.
One of the revolutionary days in Paris and now a national holiday, the July 14 (“Bastille Day”) is celebrated with a mixture of solemn military parades and easygoing dancing and fireworks.
The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 has been commemorated in France for more than a century.
Every Bastille Day, Paris’ famous avenue des Champs-Elysées hosts a military parade – similar to India’s Republic Day parade on Kartavya Path.
French heads of state have been the Republic Day guests of honour five times since 1951.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the 2nd Indian PM to be the guest of honour at Bastille Day, after Manmohan Singh in 2009.

About France

It is the largest country in Western Europe.
It spans Western Europe and overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.
France shares borders with Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Andorra, and Spain in Europe, as well as the Netherlands, Suriname, and Brazil in the Americas via its overseas territory in French Guiana.
Its overseas territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean.
Major mountain ranges: Alps, Pyrenees, Massif Central
Major rivers: Seine, Rhine and Rhône

5. National Programme for Prevention and Control Of Non-Communicable Diseases

Subject :Schemes

Concept :

The Union government has decided to expand and rebrand its programme for tackling non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in response to the emergence of many new diseases or disease groups and new health initiatives.
Details
The programme, which was previously known as the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS), now covers 12 NCDs and 10 health initiatives, including mental health, oral health, palliative care, geriatric care, trauma care, and emergency medical services.
The new name of the programme is Comprehensive Primary Health Care through Health and Wellness Centres (CPHC-HWC).

National Programme for Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS)

It is a flagship initiative of the Government of India to address the rising burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the country.
NCDs are estimated to account for around 60% of all deaths in India and cause considerable loss in potentially productive years of life.
It was launched in 2010 to strengthen infrastructure, human resource development, health promotion, early diagnosis, management and referral of common NCDs such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
The programme covers both urban and rural areas and provides free diagnostic facilities and drugs for patients attending the NCD clinics at district and community health centres.

National Programme for Prevention & Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD)

NPCDCS was launched in 2010, and will now be called the National Programme for Prevention & Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD).
The new name reflects the shift in focus from only controlling the four major non-communicable diseases (NCDs) to preventing them as well.
According to the MoHFW, the NP-NCD will aim to reduce the burden of NCDs by promoting healthy lifestyles, early detection and timely treatment.
The programme will also integrate with other health initiatives such as Ayushman Bharat and National Health Mission.
The programme will also strengthen the health system by enhancing human resources, infrastructure, equipment and drugs.
The NP-NCD will also leverage digital technologies such as telemedicine and m-health to improve access and quality of NCD care.

6. King Charles III Coronation

Subject : International Relations

Section: International Events

Concept :

Britain’s King Charles III will join the long list of British queens and kings who have been crowned at the Westminster Abbey church in London, when his coronation will take place.
Since 1066, when the monarch William the Conqueror invaded England with his army and was crowned here, 39 coronation ceremonies and 16 royal weddings have taken place in the cathedral.

History of Westminster Abbey

An abbey refers to a religious building, which can either mean a church or a place where monks or nuns live.
This abbey’s story begins with King Edward, also known as Edward the Confessor, who was born in the 11th century into a royal family but was forced to flee his homeland after Danish attacks in the region.
Abbey was originally founded around the year 960 as a monastery on what was then a marshy delta called Thorney Island, formed where two streams met the river Thames. Today there is no trace of the land being part of an island.
The Abbey was consecrated in 1065, but this church was mostly demolished by Henry III around 200 years later to build the present Gothic structure in honour of Edward.
King Edward was later made a saint in 1161 by the church after his death. “His canonisation was essential in creating the holiness of Westminster Abbey as a house of Kings or Queens.
And starting with Edward, thirty kings and queens have come to be buried here.
Every Westminster Abbey coronation has taken place in the vicinity of his shrine and, therefore, in the saint’s presence, Gross adds.
Successors were placed in St Edward’s Chair, famously known as the Coronation Chair, carrying the Stone of Scone, and monarchs are typically crowned with St Edward’s Crown.

7. Go First planes : how leased aircraft tare repossessed

Subject : International Organization

Section: International Conventions

Concept :

The Go First has moved the National Company Law Tribunal, seeking voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings.
Indian airline Go First’s effort to start insolvency proceedings has become ensnared in a tussle with aircraft lessors after they asked the aviation regulator to deregister some of its planes using their Irrevocable De registration and Export Request Authorisation (IDERA).
It empowers lessors to get their aircraft off the registry of the country where the lessee is based, and repossess and fly the mout, in cases like lease payment defaults.
The cash-strapped airline wants the tribunal to accept its plea and is seeking an interim moratorium to save its assets, a move the lessors oppose.
Unless Go First can get legal relief that overrides international aviation conventions and protocols, in particular IDERA, it could lose more than a third of its aircraft in about a week.

Cape Town Convention

The Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment was concluded in Cape Town on 16th November 2001, as was the Protocol on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment.
The Convention and the Protocol, were adopted under the joint auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT).
ICAO is a United Nations (UN) specialized agency, established in 1944, which laid the foundation for the standards and procedures for peaceful global air navigation. India is a member.
Objective: To resolve the problem of obtaining certain and opposable rights to high-value aviation assets, namely airframes, aircraft engines and helicopters which, by their nature, have no fixed location.
This problem arises primarily from the fact that legal systems have different approaches to lease agreements, which creates uncertainty for lending institutions regarding the efficacy of their rights.
This hampers the provision of financing for such aviation assets and increases the borrowing cost.

UNIDROIT

The International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) is an independent intergovernmental Organisation with its seat in the Villa Aldobrandini in Rome.
Its purpose is to study needs and methods for modernising, harmonising and coordinating private and in particular commercial law as between States and groups of States and to formulate uniform law instruments, principles and rules to achieve those objectives.
It was established in 1926 as part of the League of Nations.
It was reestablished in 1940 following the League’s dissolution through a multilateral agreement, the UNIDROIT Statute.
It has 63 member countries, with India as a partner.

8. Initiatives Taken By Government To Tackle Mental Health Related Issues

Subject : Schemes

Context:

As per the National Mental Health Survey conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore in 12 States of the country, the prevalence of mental disorders including common mental disorders, severe mental disorders, and alcohol and substance use disorders (excluding tobacco use disorder) in adults over the age of 18 years is about 10.6%.

The major findings of the survey are as under:

The prevalence of mental morbidity is high in urban metropolitan areas.
Mental disorders are closely linked to both causation and consequences of several non-communicable disorders (NCD).
Nearly 1 in 40 and 1 in 20 persons suffer from past and current depression, respectively.
Neurosis and stress related disorders affect 3.5% of the population and was reported to be higher among females (nearly twice as much in males).
Data indicate that 0.9 % of the survey population were at high risk of suicide.
Nearly 50% of persons with major depressive disorders reported difficulties in carrying out their daily activities.

Initiative taken to tackle mental health:

National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) in 1982:

NMHP has 3 components:

Treatment of Mentally ill
Rehabilitation
Prevention and promotion of positive mental health.

Aims:

Prevention and treatment of mental and neurological disorders and their associated disabilities.
Use of mental health technology to improve general health services.
Application of mental health principles in total national development to improve quality of life.
To address the burden of mental disorders, the Government of India is supporting implementation of the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) under the National Mental Health Programme in 704 districts of the country for detection, management and treatment of mental disorders/ illness
Under the aegis of the School Health Programme under Ayushman Bharat, NCERT has developed a specific module on “Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health”, which has activities related to the mental health and well-being of students and teachers.
The Ministry of Education has taken up a proactive initiative, named, ‘Manodarpan’, covering a wide range of activities to provide psychosocial support to students, teachers and families for Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing during the COVID outbreak and beyond

The Mental Health Care Act 2017 was passed on 7 April 2017 and came into force from 29 May 2018.

It aims at decriminalizing the Attempt to Commit Suicide by seeking to ensure that the individuals who have attempted suicide are offered opportunities for rehabilitation from the government as opposed to being tried or punished for the attempt.
The Act seeks to fulfill India’s international obligation pursuant to the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol.
The 2017 Act recognizes the agency of people with mental illness, allowing them to make decisions regarding their health, given that they have the appropriate knowledge to do so.
The Act aims to safeguard the rights of the people with mental illness, along with access to healthcare and treatment without discrimination from the government.
Additionally, insurers are now bound to make provisions for medical insurance for the treatment of mental illness on the same basis as is available for the treatment of physical ailments.
The Mental Health Care Act 2017 includes provisions for the registration of mental health related institutions and for the regulation of the sector.
The Government constituted the Central Mental Health Authority under the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 on 04/12/2018
Government of India has launched the National Tele Mental Health Programme (Tele MANAS) on 10th October 2022 to provide access to mental health care services to all through a centralized toll-free helpline
IIT-M launched the ‘Kushal Programme’ which aims to foster closer associations between individual students and faculty members, creating a support network for students who may be struggling academically or emotionally.
The institute has also launched a ‘Be Happy’ website (https://behappy.iitm.ac.in/) to provide resources and guidance to support mental health and overall well-being.

9. Manipur’s Ethnic fault lines

Subject : Geography

Section: Human geography

Context: The unrest and riots broke between tribals and the majority Meitei community, displacing over 9,000 people.

What started the Manipur Violence?

A ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised by the All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM) in the ten hill districts of the state on Wednesday to protest the demand of non-tribal Meiteis, who account for 53 per cent of the state’s population, for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Constitutional Provision:

Article 371C Special provision with respect to the State of Manipur

The President may, by order made with respect to the State of Manipur, provide for the constitution and functions of a committee of the Legislative Assembly of the State consisting of members of that Assembly elected from the Hill Areas of that State

The Governor shall annually, or whenever so required by the President, make a report to the President regarding the administration of the Hill Areas in the State of Manipur and the executive power of the Union shall extend to the giving of directions to the State as to the administration of the said areas

A Glimpse of the Indigenous Tribes of Manipur

There are 33 recognized tribes (in Manipur) which either fall under the Nagas or the Kukis, the two different conglomerates of Manipur tribals.
The two communities are differentiated mainly from their distinctive dialects, costumes, cultures and traditions.
The Nagas have a history of headhunting and a strong warrior tradition whereas the Kukis are a sub-family of the Tibeto-Burman language group which is also related to Mizos of Mizoram and Chins in Myanmar
The recognized tribes who made their home in Manipur are Aimol, Anal, Chiru, Chothe, Gangte, Inpui, Hmar, Kharam, Khoibu, Koirao, Kom, Lamkang, Liangmai, Mao, Maram, Maring, Mate, Monsang, Moyon, Paite, Poumai, Purum, Ralte, Rongmei (Kabui), Simte, Suhte, Tangkhul, Tarao, Thadou, Thangal, Vaiphei, Zeme and Zou
All the tribes generally communicate in their own dialects among the same ethnic groups while communication between different groups is carried out in Meitei or Manipuri language, the official language of Manipur
Despite the socio-political and linguistic differences among them, all the ethnic tribes originate from the same Mongoloid group having similarities in cultural and traditional domains.