Daily Prelims Notes 12 February 2024

Daily Prelims Notes

12 February 2024

Table Of Contents

1. Over 3 lakh ASHAs apply for Centre’s health cover
2. The patterns of global warming are more important than its levels
3. Brumation: winter is coming for reptiles
4. Scientists say tectonic plate tearing apart under Pacific Ocean from Japan to New Zealand
5. Atlantic is headed for a tipping point − once melting glaciers shut down Gulf Stream, we would see extreme climate change within decades, study shows
6. Shri Shantanu Thakur to flag-off the 1st trial cargo vessels from Maia Inland Customs Port on 12th February 2024
7. ‘SWATI’ (Science for Women-A Technology & Innovation) Portal launched in New Delhi to create a single online portal representing Indian Women and Girls in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Medicine)
8. Govt examining FDI flow from China in Paytm Payments Services

1. Over 3 lakh ASHAs apply for Centre’s health cover

Subject: Schemes

Section: Health

Context:

• The Indian government has decided to extend the Ayushman Bharat free public health cover scheme to include Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), as well as Anganwadi workers and helpers.
• The Health Ministry has already collected Aadhaar details for 23 lakh Anganwadi personnel and over three lakh ASHA workers from different states.

Key component:

• The Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) extends health coverage up to ₹5 lakh annually to poor and vulnerable families, recently expanded to include healthcare workers as announced by Finance Minister during the interim Union Budget 2024-25.
• The ASHA program, pivotal in community health, has significantly contributed to healthcare access and played a crucial role during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• As of December 31, 2023, India had over 13 lakh Anganwadi workers, over 10 lakh helpers, and 9.83 lakh ASHAs, making it the largest community volunteer program globally.
• Currently, 55 crore individuals across 12 crore families benefit from AB-PMJAY, with states/UTs expanding this at their expense.
• Up to December 20, 2023, about 28.45 crore Ayushman cards have been issued, leading to 6.11 crore hospital admissions valued at ₹78,188 crore, including 1.7 crore admissions in 2023 worth over ₹25,000 crore.
• The scheme has also achieved gender equity in healthcare access, with women making up about 49% of Ayushman cardholders and 48% of hospital admissions, across 26,901 empanelled hospitals, including 11,813 private ones.

Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA):

• The ASHA program was launched in 2005-06 as part of the National Rural Health Mission, initially in rural areas.
• It was later extended to urban settings with the introduction of the National Urban Health Mission in 2013.
• The ASHA programme was introduced as a key component of the community process intervention and now it has emerged as the largest community health worker programme in the world and is considered a critical contribution to enabling people’s participation in health.
• As of June 2022, there are over 10.52 Lakh ASHAs in all states/UTs (except Goa).
• Role of ASHA:
  • ASHA is a community-level worker whose role is to function as a health care facilitator, and a service provider and to generate awareness on health issues.
  • Besides delivering key services to maternal child health and family planning, they also render important services under the National Disease Control Programme.
  • ASHA workers, all women, serve populations of approximately 1,000 in rural areas and 2,000 in urban settings, with room for local adjustments.
  • Generally, there is “1 ASHA per 1000 population”. However, this norm can be relaxed in tribal, hilly and desert areas to “1 ASHA per habitation” depending upon the workload.
• Selection of ASHA:
  • ASHA must primarily be a woman resident of the village married/ widowed/ divorced, preferably in the age group of 25 to 45 years.
  • She should be a literate woman with due preference in selection to those who are qualified up to 10 standard wherever they are interested and available in good numbers. This may be relaxed only if no suitable person with this qualification is available.
  • ASHA workers are not recognized as the government’s “workers”, but are instead classified as holding an “honorary/volunteer” position.

Source: TH

2. The patterns of global warming are more important than its levels

Subject: Geography

Section: Climatology

Rising global temperature:

• A recent study has reignited debates about whether the Earth’s surface temperature has surpassed the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming threshold above pre-industrial levels.
• This research, conducted by scientists in Australia and the U.S., utilized palaeo-thermometry to estimate past temperatures, suggesting that the average global temperature has indeed exceeded the 1.5 degrees Celsius mark.
• However, the study’s findings are based on data from a single location, which the researchers then extrapolated to reflect global temperature trends, presenting a significant limitation.

What is Palaeo-thermometry?

• Palaeo-thermometry, or ‘palaeo proxies,’ is a method that relies on chemical evidence found in organic materials like corals, stalactites, and stalagmites to estimate past temperatures.
• Although this technique offers valuable insights into historical climate conditions, it provides indirect evidence and does not measure actual temperatures.
• These proxies indicate past temperature deviations rather than direct temperature measurements, utilizing the relationship between specific chemical compounds in biogenic materials and the local temperatures at the time of their formation.
• By analyzing the chemical composition of ancient biogenic materials and the decay rate of certain isotopes, scientists can infer local temperature anomalies from the past.
• However, these findings represent highly localized temperature changes and cannot be used to make precise claims about minor deviations in past global temperatures compared to instrumental records.

No explanations for patterns:

• The discourse surrounding the crossing of the 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming threshold lacks clear explanations for exceptional warming and its connection to specific climatic events or disasters.
• Moreover, there is a significant gap in understanding the warming patterns associated with exceeding this threshold, as well as global warming at any level.
• This knowledge is crucial for effectively managing the disasters linked to global warming.
• Additionally, the dynamics of the 2023 monsoons, including their amount and distribution, remain unexplained, especially regarding the interactions between the El Niño phenomenon, its atypical pattern, and global warming.
• Interestingly, the Indian subcontinent experienced notable cooling in 2023.

El-Nino as a warming paradigm:

• The tropical Pacific Ocean alternates between absorbing heat during normal and La Niña years and releasing it during El Niño years, resulting in temporary global warming effects known as teleconnections.
• These effects demonstrate the importance of warming patterns, as the location of El Niño warming—whether in the eastern Pacific or near the international dateline—significantly influences its impact on the monsoon and other global regions.
• Moreover, the El Niño teleconnections themselves alter the warming pattern, contributing to different climatic outcomes.
  • For example, droughts may influence temperature changes more significantly than floods in some cases.
• The current heavy rainfall and snowfall in California, driven by El Niño, are likely intensified by global warming, with these precipitation levels further affecting local and global temperatures.
• Similarly, the broader pattern of global warming, triggered by human-made greenhouse gases, results in amplified warming in the Arctic and Middle East deserts but reduced warming over the eastern Pacific and northern Atlantic oceans.
• The specific effects of local warmings and coolings, along with their magnitudes, determine the combined impact of natural variability and global warming in any given area.

Source: TH

3. Brumation: winter is coming for reptiles

Subject: Environment

Section: Ecosystem

Context:

• An alligator observed lying still underwater with only its snout visible may not necessarily be dead; it could be undergoing brumation.

What is brumation?

• Brumation is a period of dormancy in reptiles, akin to hibernation in mammals, that occurs during colder months when temperatures fall and food is scarce.
• This state allows reptiles to conserve energy by significantly slowing their metabolism, enabling them to survive without food for extended periods.
• During brumation, reptiles often retreat to places like underground burrows or rock crevices where temperatures are more stable.
• This behaviour has been noted in various reptilian species, including box and painted turtles, snakes, and lizards, which find refuge in environments ranging from mud at the bottom of bodies of water to underground dens or caves.
• Brumation is essential for reptiles to weather cold temperatures and scarce food conditions, allowing them to conserve resources until the return of warmer, more favourable conditions for feeding and reproduction.

Source: TH

4. Scientists say tectonic plate tearing apart under Pacific Ocean from Japan to New Zealand

Subject: Geography

Section: Geomorphology

Context:

• Scientists have discovered that several rigid tectonic plates beneath the Pacific Ocean are undergoing separation.

Details:

• Earth’s outer shell, the lithosphere, is composed of these plates, which float atop the semi-fluid asthenosphere, with their movement being a fundamental aspect of plate tectonics.
• Researchers from the University of Toronto identified extensive undersea faults within these plates, stretching hundreds of kilometres in length and reaching depths of thousands of meters.
• This finding was unexpected, as geological deformation, typically associated with the interiors of continental plates away from plate boundaries, was also observed within the oceanic plates.
• There is a gap in the understanding of ocean plates’ behaviour.
• The Pacific plate, covering the majority of the Pacific Ocean floor, is moving westward, descending into Earth’s mantle through subduction zones that extend from Japan to New Zealand and Australia.

The tectonic plate gets dragged inside Earth’s mantle like tablecloth:

• Scientists have found that as a plate’s western edge is pulled into Earth’s mantle, the rest of the plate follows, akin to a tablecloth being yanked off a table.
• Contrary to previous beliefs that sub-oceanic plateaus, due to their thickness, would be stronger, research including models and seismic data indicated these plateaus are weaker.
• This study focused on four plateaus in the western Pacific Ocean: Ontong Java, Shatsky, Hess, and Manihiki, covering a vast area between New Zealand, Hawaii, Japan, and Australia.
• Utilizing a supercomputer, the scientists developed a model based on existing data, leading to significant insights into tectonic behaviour.
• These findings challenge long-held understandings of Earth’s dynamics, revealing new mysteries about the planet’s evolution.

Source: WionNews

5. Atlantic is headed for a tipping point − once melting glaciers shut down Gulf Stream, we would see extreme climate change within decades, study shows

Subject: Geography

Section: Climatology

Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC):

• The AMOC is essential for distributing heat from the tropics to northern latitudes.
• Observations since 2004 indicate that the AMOC has slowed down to potentially its weakest in nearly a thousand years, with studies warning that it could reach a tipping point leading to irreversible decline due to global warming and melting glaciers and ice sheets.
• Recent research utilizing advanced climate models simulated the impact of freshwater flow on the AMOC until it reached this tipping point.
• The study concluded that the AMOC could completely cease within a century after reaching this critical juncture, leading to a significant drop in average temperatures across North America, Asia, and Europe, alongside severe global consequences.
• Moreover, the study identified a physics-based early warning signal that could alert the world when the AMOC is approaching its tipping point, offering a valuable tool for monitoring and potentially mitigating this grave threat.

The ocean’s conveyor belt:

• Ocean currents are propelled by a combination of wind, tides, and differences in water density.
• In the Atlantic, warm, salty water from the equator moves towards Greenland, passing through the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, then along the US East Coast before crossing the Atlantic.
• This flow, part of the Gulf Stream, is essential for transporting heat to Europe.
• As the water cools on its northward journey, it becomes denser and begins to sink upon reaching Greenland. This sinking motion draws more water from the Atlantic, perpetuating a cycle akin to a conveyor belt.
• However, an influx of fresh water from melting glaciers and the Greenland ice sheet can disrupt this process by diluting the ocean’s salinity.
• Reduced salinity prevents the water from sinking, which in turn weakens the oceanic conveyor belt.
• This diminished conveyor belt then transports less heat northward and allows less dense water to reach Greenland, further weakening the system. If the conveyor belt reaches a critical tipping point, it can shut down rapidly, disrupting this vital oceanic circulation.

What happens to the climate at the tipping point?

• The findings of the research revealed that upon reaching the tipping point, the conveyor belt could halt within a century, significantly reducing heat transport to the north and prompting sudden climate changes.

The result: Dangerous cold in the North

• When the Gulf Stream’s circulation halts, regions dependent on it for warmth, particularly North America and Europe, experience significant cooling by a few degrees.
• The experiment revealed that Europe, heavily influenced by the Gulf Stream, could see temperature drops more than 5 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) per decade, much faster than the current global warming rate of about 0.36 F (0.2 C) per decade.
• Specifically, parts of Norway could see temperature decreases exceeding 36 F (20 C), whereas some Southern Hemisphere areas might warm by a few degrees.
• The cessation of the conveyor belt would also disrupt sea levels and precipitation patterns, potentially pushing ecosystems like the Amazon rainforest, which is sensitive to reduced rainfall, toward their tipping points.
• Such transitions could transform forests into grassland, releasing carbon into the atmosphere and eliminating a crucial carbon sink, thereby exacerbating climate change.
• Historically, the Atlantic circulation has significantly slowed during glacial periods as melting ice sheets introduced fresh water into the ocean, leading to major climate oscillations.

Consequences:

• The potential abrupt halt of the Atlantic conveyor belt would have dire consequences, including significant changes in temperature, sea levels, and precipitation patterns, which would profoundly impact human society.
• These climate shifts would be irreversible on human timescales.

Source: DTE

6. Shri Shantanu Thakur to flag-off the 1st trial cargo vessels from Maia Inland Customs Port on 12th February 2024

Subject: Geography

Section: Mapping

Context:

• The first trial movement of vessels between Maia Port in India and Sultanganj Port in Bangladesh on Indo Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) Route no. 5 & 6 is set to take place on February 12, 2024.

More on news:

• The vessels will be flagged off by the Minister of State for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, Shri Shantanu Thakur, from Maia Inland Customs Port in West Bengal at 10:30 AM. 
• This development is in line with the Act East Policy of the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s government.

Importance of the port:

• The waterway route from Maia (IBP route) to Dhubri (NW-2) via Aricha will reduce the distance by around 930 kilometers compared to the existing waterway route from Dhulian-Maia-Kolkata-IBP-Dhubri.
• The riverine distance between Port of Call Maia in India and Port of Call Sultanganj in Bangladesh is 16 kilometers, out of which 4.5 kilometers of waterways are in India and the rest 11.5 kilometers are in Bangladesh.

Other projects:

• Agreement has been made to implement the decision to start riverine services under the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (PIWTT) routes 5 & 6 (Dhulian to Rajshahi extension to Aricha) and 9 & 10 (Daudkandi to Sonamura).

About Port of Call:

• It is an intermediate port where ships anchor for refueling, watering, taking food, repairs, or transhipment of cargo.

Important Places:

• Maia port, Dhulian port : West Bengal
• Dhubri port: Assam
• Sonamura port: Tripura
• Aricha port, Rajshahi port, Daukandi port and Sultanganj port: Bangladesh

7. ‘SWATI’ (Science for Women-A Technology & Innovation) Portal launched in New Delhi to create a single online portal representing Indian Women and Girls in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Medicine)

Subject: Schemes

Section: Science

Context: 

• Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India Prof Ajay Kumar Sood today launched “Science for Women-A Technology & Innovation (SWATI)” Portal.

More on news:

• The Portal is launched on the occasion of International Day of Women and Girls in Science at Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi.
• The database of SWATI Portal will serve in policy making to address the challenges of Gender-gap.
• The Portal is a complete interactive database and the first-of-its-kind in India which is developed, hosted and maintained by the National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi.
• The portal is  aimed at creating a single online portal representing Indian Women and Girls in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Medicine).
• This was highlighted that  this is probably the world’s first Interactive Portal of its kind.
• The event was organized with a view to focusing on the importance of “Science for Women & Women in Science” as well as emerging opportunities and inclusiveness of women in S&T endeavors.

Objectives of Swati portal:

• The portal is beneficial towards dissemination of knowledge, new advances in fundamental science and role/importance of innovation and entrepreneurship development in strengthening the backbone of Atmanirbhar Bharat. 
• This would also provide an opportunity to discuss and evolve a roadmap for ‘Women in Science’ & ‘Science for Women’.
• The other objectives of the SWATI Portal include 
  • To scale up the effort exponentially to include each and every Indian woman in science, across all career stages and subjects, spanning both Academia and the Industry enabling reliable and statistically significant long term research on the issues of equality, diversity and inclusivity in India;
  • Inclusion of each and every Indian WiS, career stages, subjects, spanning both Academia and the Industry;
  • Enabling reliable and statistically significant long term research on the issues of equality, diversity and inclusivity in India,
  • developing an active search engine and searchable database.

Various sections under the portal:

The various Sections in the portal include Icons –

• Awardees (Padma / Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar / Stree Shakti Science Samman) & Directors, Secretaries Academy Presidents;
• Faculty- Indian Universities, Autonomous organizations including S&T Ministry/ CSIR/ DBT/ DST/ CSIR/ MHRD/ UGC/ GATI/ KIRAN;
• Research fellows- Postdocs, JRFs, SRFs, technical Staff; Students-PhD Scholars, Research Interns, Graduates, Post graduates, Undergraduates;
• WiS Entrepreneurs, Startups, Business & Science Administrators;
• STEMM background professionals in alternate careers(e.g. Science, Journalism etc).

About STEMM:

• Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
• STEMM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medicine.
• STEMM is important because technology is expanding into every area of our lives.
• VAIBHAV Fellowship Programme announced to connect Indian STEMM diaspora with Indian Higher Educational Institutions
• The Government has launched a new fellowship programme to connect the Indian STEMM diaspora with Indian academic and R&D institutions for collaborative research work leading to sharing of knowledge, wisdom, and best practices in the frontier areas of science & technology.

8. Govt examining FDI flow from China in Paytm Payments Services

Subject: Economy

Section: External Sector

Context: The government is examining foreign direct investment from China in Paytm Payments Services Ltd (PPSL), the payment aggregator, subsidiary of One97 Communications Ltd. (OCL).

As, OCL has investment from Chinese firm Ant Group Co.

Details:

What is Paytm?

• Paytm is an Indian multinational financial technology company.
• Specializes in digital payments and financial services, based in Noida, India.
• Paytm was founded in 2010 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma under One97 Communications.

What is Paytm Payments Bank?

• Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL) is an Indian payments bank, founded in 2017 and headquartered in Noida.
• In 2017, it received the license to run a payments bank from the Reserve Bank of India and was launched in November 2017.
• In 2021, it received a scheduled bank status from the RBI.

What is a Payments Bank?

• Payments banks are a new model of banks, conceptualised by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under Section 22 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and one of recommendation of Nachiket Mor committee.
• These cannot issue credit, loans and credit cards.
• These banks can accept a restricted deposit, which is currently limited to ₹200,000 per customer and may be increased further.
• Both current account and savings accounts can be operated by such banks.
• Payments banks can issue ATM cards or debit cards and provide online or mobile banking.
• Bharti Airtel set up India’s first payments bank, Airtel Payments Bank.

Series of Events:

• In November 2020, PPSL had applied for licence with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as Payment aggregator under the guidelines on Regulation of Payment Aggregators and Payment Gateways.

Payment Gateways

• A payment gateway is a payment processing software.
• Technology providers that offer support for and integrate routing and processing of electronic payments, for instance by disseminating transaction data.
• Payment gateways only deal with online transactions and are equipped with restricted payment options.
• Have no connection to the funds.
• Examples-Axis bank, HDFC, Union Bank of India, etc, as in India, most banks act as payment gateways.

Payment Aggregators

• The Payment aggregators are intermediaries that help-
• Merchants make available payment methods (for electronic payments) to customers
• Collect payments from customers
• Pool funds received from customers towards the amounts due to merchants
• Transfer fund to merchants to settle customers’ payment obligations.
• Examples: PayPal, Stripe, Square, and Amazon Pay.

However, in November 2022, RBI rejected PPSL’s application and asked the company to resubmit it, so as to comply with Press Note 3 under FDI rules.

• Press Note 3 of FDI:
• The government had made its prior approval mandatory for foreign investments in any sector from countries that share land border with India (China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar and Afghanistan) to curb opportunistic takeovers of domestic firms following the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Subsequently, the company filed the required application on December 14, 2022 with Government of India for past downward investment from OCL into the company in order to comply with Press Note 3 prescribed under FDI guidelines.
• PPSL followed the relevant guidelines and submitted all relevant documents to the regulator within the stipulated time.
• During the pending process, PPSL was allowed to continue with its online payment aggregation business for existing partners without onboarding any new merchants.
• New ownership structure:
• The Paytm founder remains the largest stakeholder in the company.
• Ant Financial reduced its stake in OCL to less than 10 per cent in July 2023. Subsequently, it does not qualify for beneficial company ownership.
• To constitute FDI — ten per cent or more of the post issue paid-up equity capital , hence out of FDI approval process .
• OCL, founding promoter now holds a 24.3 per cent stake.
• An Inter-ministerial committee is examining investments from China in PPSL and decision would be taken on the FDI issue after due consideration and comprehensive examination.
• RBI had said that these reports revealed persistent non-compliances and continued material supervisory concerns in PPBL, warranting further supervisory action.
• On March 11, 2022, RBI had barred PPBL from onboarding new customers with immediate effect.
• The Reserve Bank last month barred Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL), an associate company of OCL, from accepting deposits or top-ups in any customer account, prepaid instruments, wallets, and FASTags, among others after February 29, 2024.