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GS Paper: GS3-17.Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nano-technology, Bio-technology and issues relating to Intellectual Property Rights.

  • What is a Tundra Satellite?

    Russia has successfully placed into orbit a military satellite believed to be part of the Kremlin’s early warning anti-missile system. This launch could be delivering a Tundra satellite.

    Tundra Satellite

    • The Tundra or EKS (Edinaya Kosmicheskaya Sistema) series of satellites is the next generation of Russian early-warning satellites.
    • The development of the EKS started in 2000.
    • These satellites carry a secure emergency communications payload to be used in case of a nuclear war.
    • They are launched on Soyuz-2-1b Fregat boosters into Molniya-orbits, inclined highly elliptical 12 h orbits.

    What are Tundra Orbits?

    • A Tundra orbit is a highly elliptical geosynchronous orbit with a high inclination (approximately 63.4°), an orbital period of one sidereal day.
    • A satellite placed in this orbit spends most of its time over a chosen area of the Earth, a phenomenon known as apogee dwell.
    • It makes satellites particularly well suited for communications satellites serving high latitude regions.
    • The ground track of a satellite in a Tundra orbit is a closed figure 8 with a smaller loop over either the northern or southern hemisphere.
    • This differentiates them from Molniya orbits designed to service high-latitude regions, which have the same inclination but half the period and do not hover over a single region.

    Back2Basics: Types of Orbits

    [1] Geostationary orbit (GEO)

    • Satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO) circle Earth above the equator from west to east following Earth’s rotation – taking 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds – by travelling at exactly the same rate as Earth.
    • This makes satellites in GEO appear to be ‘stationary’ over a fixed position.
    • In order to perfectly match Earth’s rotation, the speed of GEO satellites should be about 3 km per second at an altitude of 35 786 km.
    • This is much farther from Earth’s surface compared to many satellites.
    • GEO is used by satellites that need to stay constantly above one particular place over Earth, such as telecommunication satellites.
    • Satellites in GEO cover a large range of Earth so as few as three equally-spaced satellites can provide near-global coverage.

    [2] Low Earth orbit (LEO)

    • A low Earth orbit (LEO) is, as the name suggests, an orbit that is relatively close to Earth’s surface.
    • It is normally at an altitude of less than 1000 km but could be as low as 160 km above Earth – which is low compared to other orbits, but still very far above Earth’s surface.
    • Unlike satellites in GEO that must always orbit along Earth’s equator, LEO satellites do not always have to follow a particular path around Earth in the same way – their plane can be tilted.
    • This means there are more available routes for satellites in LEO, which is one of the reasons why LEO is a very commonly used orbit.
    • It is most commonly used for satellite imaging, as being near the surface allows it to take images of higher resolution.
    • Satellites in this orbit travel at a speed of around 7.8 km per second; at this speed, a satellite takes approximately 90 minutes to circle Earth.

    [3] Medium Earth orbit (MEO)

    • Medium Earth orbit comprises a wide range of orbits anywhere between LEO and GEO.
    • It is similar to LEO in that it also does not need to take specific paths around Earth, and it is used by a variety of satellites with many different applications.
    • It is very commonly used by navigation satellites, like the European Galileo system of Europe.
    • It uses a constellation of multiple satellites to provide coverage across large parts of the world all at once.

    [4] Polar Orbit

    • Satellites in polar orbits usually travel past Earth from north to south rather than from west to east, passing roughly over Earth’s poles.
    • Satellites in a polar orbit do not have to pass the North and South Pole precisely; even a deviation within 20 to 30 degrees is still classed as a polar orbit.
    • Polar orbits are a type of low Earth orbit, as they are at low altitudes between 200 to 1000 km.

    [5] Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO)

    • SSO is a particular kind of polar orbit. Satellites in SSO, travelling over the polar regions, are synchronous with the Sun.
    • This means they are synchronised to always be in the same ‘fixed’ position relative to the Sun.
    • This means that the satellite always visits the same spot at the same local time.
    • Often, satellites in SSO are synchronised so that they are in constant dawn or dusk – this is because by constantly riding a sunset or sunrise, they will never have the Sun at an angle where the Earth shadows them.
    • A satellite in a Sun-synchronous orbit would usually be at an altitude of between 600 to 800 km. At 800 km, it will be travelling at a speed of approximately 7.5 km per second.

    [6] Transfer orbits and geostationary transfer orbit (GTO)

    • Transfer orbits are a special kind of orbit used to get from one orbit to another.
    • Often, the satellites are instead placed on a transfer orbit: an orbit where, by using relatively little energy from built-in motors, the satellite or spacecraft can move from one orbit to another.
    • This allows a satellite to reach, for example, a high-altitude orbit like GEO without actually needing the launch vehicle.
    • Reaching GEO in this way is an example of one of the most common transfer orbits, called the geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).

     

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  • What is Omicron Variant?

    A new lineage of SARS-CoV-2 has been designated as a Variant of Concern (VoC) by the World Health Organization (WHO) and has been named Omicron.

    Behind the name: Omicron

    • The WHO has been using Greek letters to refer to the most widely prevalent coronavirus variants, which otherwise carry long scientific names.
    • It had already used 12 letters of the Greek alphabet before the newest variant emerged in South Africa this week.
    • After Mu, the 12th named after a Greek letter, WHO selected the name Omicron, instead of Nu or Xi, the two letters between Mu and Omicron.
    • The WHO said Nu could have been confused with the word ‘new’ while Xi was not picked up following a convention.

    Why is the Omicron variant interesting?

    • The Omicron variant is interesting due to the fact that it has a large number of mutations compared to other prevalent variants circulating across the world.
    • This includes 32 mutations in the spike protein.
    • Many of these mutations lie in the receptor-binding domain of the spike protein, a key part of the protein required for binding to the human receptor proteins for entry into the cell.
    • It can thus play an important role in recognition by antibodies generated due to a previous infection or by vaccines.

    What do spike mutations do?

    • Many of the mutations in the spike protein have been previously suggested to cause resistance to antibodies as well as increased transmission.
    • Thus, there is a possibility that this variant could be more likely to re-infect people who have developed immunity against previous variants of the virus.
    • The behavior of the virus is not yet accurately predictable based on the evidence on individual mutations.

    Does the variant result in vaccine breakthrough infections?

    • Some of the initial individuals identified to be infected with the variant have been vaccinated for COVID-19 and therefore the variant can indeed cause vaccine breakthrough infections.
    • This should not be of concern, since the prevalent variants of concern including Delta have been shown to cause breakthrough infections.
    • Whether the variant causes more breakthrough infections than Delta is not currently known.

    How can we be prepared for the variant?

    • Enhanced surveillance and genome sequencing efforts are essential to detect and track the prevalence of the Omicron variant.
    • Rapid sharing of genome sequences of the virus and the epidemiological data linked with it to publicly available databases will help in developing a better understanding of the variant.
    • Existing public health and social measures need to be strengthened to control and prevent transmission.
    • Enhancing vaccination coverage across different regions along with access to testing, therapeutics and support will be essential for combating the new variant.
    • Equitable access to vaccines would be key to controlling the Omicron variant, and slowing down the emergence of any future variants.

     

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  • Cryptocurrencies regulation across the World

    The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 was listed for introduction in Parliament’s Winter Session.

    About the Bill

    • The bill aims to create a facilitative framework for the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India”.
    • It seeks to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses.

    How are cryptocurrencies regulated in countries around the world?

    The stance of countries and regulators has ranged from:

    1. A total ban on these financial assets Ex. China
    2. Allowing them to operate with some regulations
    3. Allowing virtual currency trading in the absence of any guidelines Ex. El Salvador
    • Governments and regulators remain divided on how to categorize it as a currency or asset — and how to control it from an operational point of view.
    • The evolution of the policy and regulatory response has been uncharacteristically discordant, with no apparent coordination in the responses of countries.

    Among the countries that haven’t issued detailed regulations, there are those that have recognized and defined these currencies.

    [A] CANADA

    • It defines virtual currency  under its Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Regulations, as:

    (a) a digital representation of value that can be used for payment or investment purposes that is not a fiat currency and that can be readily exchanged for funds or for another virtual currency that can be readily exchanged for funds; or

    (b) a private key of a cryptographic system that enables a person or entity to have access to a digital representation of value referred to in paragraph (a).

    • The Canada Revenue Authority (CRA) generally treats cryptocurrency as a commodity for purposes of the country’s Income Tax Act.

    [B] ISRAEL

    • Israel in its Supervision of Financial Services Law includes virtual currencies in the definition of financial assets.
    • The Israeli securities regulator has ruled that cryptocurrency is a security subject, while the Israel Tax Authority defines cryptocurrency as an asset and demands 25% on capital gains.

    [C] GERMANY

    • In Germany, the Financial Supervisory Authority qualifies virtual currencies as “units of account” and therefore, “financial instruments”.
    • It considers Bitcoin to be a crypto token given that it does not fulfill typical functions of a currency.
    • However, citizens and legal entities can buy or trade crypto assets as long as they do it through exchanges and custodians licensed with the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority.

    [D] UNITED KINGDOM

    • In the UK, Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, do not consider crypto assets to be currency or money.
    • It further notes that cryptocurrencies have a unique identity and cannot, therefore, be directly compared to any other form of investment activity or payment mechanism.

    [E] UNITED STATES

    • In US different states have different definitions and regulations for cryptocurrencies.
    • While the federal government does not recognize cryptocurrencies as legal tender, definitions issued by the states recognize the decentralized nature of virtual currencies.

    [F] THAILAND

    • In Thailand, digital asset businesses are required to apply for a license, monitor for unfair trading practices, and are considered “financial institutions” for anti-money laundering purposes.

    Conclusion

    • While most of these countries do not recognize cryptocurrencies as legal tender, they do recognize the value these digital units represent.
    • Almost all countries consider their functions as either a medium of exchange, unit of account, or a store of value (any asset that would normally retain purchasing power into the future).
    • Like India, several other countries have moved to launch a digital currency backed by their central bank.

     

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  • The growth and inclusion potential of India’s telecom sector

    Context

    Shortly after the Cabinet announced nine structural and procedural reforms in September to address the deep financial woes of telcos, Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel hiked their tariff.

    About the package for telecom sector

    • The telecom relief package announced by the government in September supports proposals that have been repeatedly presented to the government by the regulator, industry associations and think tanks.
    • Risk of duopoly: With the risk of a duopoly looming large, the government was pushed to take up these long-pending decisions that included nine key changes.
    • Provisions in the package: Besides providing immediate relief on payment of licence fee and penalties due to the government, the package increased FDI limits, extended licence tenure to 30 years from 20, removed charges on spectrum-sharing and proposed timelines for spectrum auctions.
    • The package will undoubtedly have a positive short-term impact and perhaps safeguard competition in the future.

    Reforms and  challenge of addressing the inequality

    • From socialist to market-oriented economy: In July this year, we celebrated three decades of India’s 1991 reforms, one that catapulted India from being a socialist economy with a heart but no trickle-down, to a market-oriented economy with a mind but also very little trickle-down.
    • Inequality has been a feature of both models.
    • The 2018 Oxfam report showed that 10 per cent of the richest Indians took home 77.4 per cent of wealth (compared to 73 per cent the year before).
    • Moreover, 58 per cent of India’s wealth was in the hands of 1 per cent of the country’s population.
    • Changes in the modes of distribution: In the pre-1991 period, the principal modes of redistribution were taxation and public sector operations.
    • In the post-1991 period, it has been a combination of taxation, technology, smartphones and the associated direct benefit transfers.

    Role of telecom sector in addressing the challenge of achieving growth and inclusion

    • High growth dividend of telecom sector: Every 10 per cent increase in investment in telecom, for example, leads to a 3.2 per cent increase in GDP growth for India.
    • Not only is the growth dividend positive, it is large.
    • Mobile as a mean of financial integration: At the same time, the mobile phone has become a means for sophisticated financial integration, as shown by the expanding usage of pre-paid payment instruments and mobile banking.
    • The Jan-Dhan Yojana (JDY) attempts to include the marginalised and unbanked through technology.
    • As of October 2021, a total of 440 million bank accounts have been opened and more than 310 million RuPay cards have been issued under the latter, indicating the large unmet demand for banking services.
    • Making transfers predictable and targeted: The Jan-Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity ties the Aadhaar number to an active bank account, making income transfers predictable and targeted.
    • There is already evidence that payments through Aadhaar-linked bank accounts have increased efficiency and reduced leakages.

    Way forward

    • Predictable and less erratic telecom policy: The benefits of digitalisation could have been much larger and more widespread had telecom policy been more predictable and less erratic.
    • That Indian reforms more often than not happen on the back of a crisis is true for the telecom sector.
    • The principal motive of the New Telecom Policy of 1999 was to rescue the deeply indebted sector of its own reckless bidding by replacing the fixed licence fee system with a revenue-sharing regime.
    • In hindsight, it was the right thing to do since it threatened business continuity.
    • The move to auction spectrum “for all times to come” in 2008 was necessitated by the administrative bungling in spectrum assignment.
    • Quick adaptation: A question we pose is why did it take a crisis — a grave one at that — to push the needle on policy change?
    • It is a a reasonable expectation of policy to adapt quickly and not wait for a crisis to emerge.

    Consider the question “Telecom sector could play an important role in achieving the growth with inclusion. In context of this, examine the challenges facing the sector and suggest the measures to deal with these challenges.”

    Conclusion

    The seemingly naïve question about the adaptation in policies may not be as credulous for the intensely dynamic digital markets. For there is no point shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

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  • Matosinhos Manifesto for accelerated use of space in Europe

    The European Space Agency (ESA) has approved a Matosinhos Manifesto to accelerate the use of space in Europe.

    Matosinhos Manifesto

    • 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 large-scale nature and fast pace of the climate crisis and other challenges means that no European nation will be able to effectively address them alone.

    The manifesto defines three “accelerators” to further advance Europe’s space ambitions:

    1. The first of these accelerators is for the ESA to start working towards the “Space for a Green Future”
    2. The second accelerator is called “Rapid and Resilient Crisis Response” to support governments to act decisively on crises facing Europe, from flooding and storms to wildfires
    3. The third accelerator mentioned in the resolution is “Protection of Space Assets”, whose objective is to safeguard ESA astronauts and assets from interference by space debris and space weather

    A brief history of the ESA

    • The ESA is an intergovernmental organization that was formed in 1975 with the aim of developing Europe’s space capabilities.
    • The organization has 22 member states — Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
    • Slovenia, Latvia and Lithuania are Associate Members.

     

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  • Was it really a black hole that the EHT imaged in 2019?

    A new research says that M87* which was imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is not necessarily a black hole but could even be a naked singularity with a gravitomagnetic monopole.

    About M-87*

    • In 2019, astronomers of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) captured the first ever image of a supermassive black hole (M87*) which was located at the centre of a galaxy Messier 87.
    • This black hole was calculated to be 6.5 billion times the Sun’s mass and is 55 million light years away from the Earth.
    • The discovery set the world of astronomy on fire and also found a mention in the “popular information” section of the announcement of the Nobel Prize in physics for 2020.
    • Andrea Ghez and Rheinhard Genzel were awarded half the share of the prize for their study of the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, Sagittarius A*.

    A black hole has two parts:

    1. Singularity at its core– a point that is infinitely dense, as all the remnant mass of the star is compressed into this point.
    2. Event horizon – an imaginary surface surrounding the singularity, and the gravity of the object is such that once anything enters this surface, it is trapped forever.
    • Not even light can escape the pull of the singularity once it crosses the event horizon.
    • That is why, we cannot see the singularity at the heart of a black hole but only see points outside the event horizon.
    • Hence, all the physics happening within the black hole’s event horizon is indeed blocked from the view of the observer.

    What is the recent explanation of M87*?

    Ans. Naked Singularity

    • When stars much more massive than the Sun reach the end of their lives, they collapse under their own gravity, and the product of this collapse is a black hole.
    • In many scenarios of stellar collapse, the event horizon does not form, and the singularity is exposed to the outside, without any event horizon shielding it.
    • This is called naked singularity.

    Monopoles and gravity

    • In the nineteenth century, James Clerk Maxwell unified electricity and magnetism as one combined phenomenon, showing that light is an electromagnetic wave.
    • But there is an asymmetry between electricity and magnetism.
    • While positive and negative electric charges can be found to exist independently, the poles of a magnet are always found in pairs, north and south bound together.
    • There is an analogy between gravitational force and electromagnetism to say that mass is like electric charge and can exist independently, thus it can be called a “gravito-electric charge”.

    But then, what is the gravito-magnetic charge?

    • In 1963, Newman, Tamburino and Unti (NUT) proposed a theoretical concept called a “gravito-magnetic charge” also called a gravitomagnetic monopole.
    • The new research has shown that M87* could be a black hole (with or without gravitomagnetic monopole) or a naked singularity (with or without gravitomagnetic monopole).

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. “Event Horizon” is related to:

    (a) Telescope

    (b) Black hole

    (c) Solar glares

    (d) None of the above

     

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    Back2Basics: Event Horizon Telescope (EHT)

    • The EHT project is an international partnership formed in 2012.
    • It is a network of 10 radio telescopes on four continents that collectively operate like a single instrument nearly the size of the Earth.
    • Its main objective is to directly observe the immediate environment of a black hole.

     

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  • NASA’s DART mission to hit and deflect an Asteroid

    NASA will launch the agency’s first planetary defense test mission named the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART).

    What is DART Mission?

    • The main aim of the mission is to test the newly developed technology that would allow a spacecraft to crash into an asteroid and change its course.
    • It is a suicide mission and the spacecraft will be completely destroyed.
    • The target of the spacecraft is a small moonlet called Dimorphos (Greek for “two forms”).
    • It is about 160-metre in diameter and the spacecraft is expected to collide when it is 11 million kilometres away from Earth.
    • Dimorphos orbits a larger asteroid named Didymos (Greek for “twin”) which has a diameter of 780 metres.

    Is there any threat from this asteroid?

    • The asteroid and the moonlet do not pose any threat to Earth and the mission is to test the new technology to be prepared in case an asteroid head towards Earth in the future.
    • The spacecraft will navigate to the moonlet and intentionally collide with it at a speed of about 6.6 kilometres per second or 24,000 kilometres per hour.

    Why Dimorphos?

    • Didymos is a perfect system for the test mission because it is an eclipsing binary which means it has a moonlet that regularly orbits the asteroid.
    • It is observable when it passes in front of the main asteroid.
    • Earth-based telescopes can study this variation in brightness to understand how long it takes Dimorphos to orbit Didymos.

    How big is the spacecraft?

    • NASA states that DART is a low-cost spacecraft, weighing around 610 kg at launch and 550 kg during impact.
    • The main structure is a box (1.2 × 1.3 × 1.3 metres). It has two solar arrays and uses hydrazine propellant for manoeuvring the spacecraft.

     

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  • What is Leonid’s Meteor Shower?

    The annual Leonid’s Meteor Shower has begun.

    Try this question from CSP 2014:

    Q.What is a coma, in the content of astronomy?

    (a) Bright half of material on the comet

    (b) Long tail of dust

    (c) Two asteroids orbiting each other

    (d) Two planets orbiting each other

     

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    What is Leonid Meteor Shower?

    • Meteor showers are named after the constellation they appear to be coming from.
    • The Leonids originate from the constellation Leo the Lion– the groups of stars that form a lion’s mane.
    • They emerge from the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which requires 33 years to revolve once around the Sun.
    • These meteors are bright and among the fastest moving– travelling at speeds of 71 km per second.
    • During this year’s showers, peaks of around 10 to 15 meteors are expected to be seen every hour.
    • The Leonid showers include fireballs– bright and large meteors than can last longer than average meteors, and “earthgazers”– meteors which appear close to the horizon with colourful and long tails.

    What is a meteor shower?

    • On its journey around the Sun, the Earth passes through large swathes of cosmic debris.
    • The debris is essentially the remnants of comets — great frigid chunks of matter that leave behind dirty trails of rocks and ice that linger long after the comets themselves have passed.
    • As the Earth wades through this cloud of comet waste, the bits of debris create what appears from the ground to be a fireworks display in the sky — known as a meteor shower.
    • Several meteor showers can be seen around the year. According to NASA, over 30 meteor showers occur annually and are observable from the Earth.

    Back2Basics:

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  • Iran has enriched over 210 kg of Uranium to 20%

    Iran’s atomic agency has said that its stockpile of 20% enriched uranium has reached over 210 kilograms, the latest defiant move ahead of upcoming nuclear talks with the West.

    What is Uranium Enrichment?

    • It is a process that is necessary to create an effective nuclear fuel out of mined uranium.
    • It involves increasing the percentage of uranium-235 which undergoes fission with thermal neutrons.
    • Nuclear fuel is mined from naturally occurring uranium ore deposits and then isolated through chemical reactions and separation processes.
    • These chemical processes used to separate the uranium from the ore are not to be confused with the physical and chemical processes used to enrich the uranium.

    Why is enrichment carried out?

    • Uranium found in nature consists largely of two isotopes, U-235 and U-238.
    • Natural uranium contains 0.7% of the U-235 isotope.
    • The remaining 99.3% is mostly the U-238 isotope which does not contribute directly to the fission process (though it does so indirectly by the formation of fissile isotopes of plutonium).
    • The production of energy in nuclear reactors is from the ‘fission’ or splitting of the U-235 atoms since it is the main fissile isotope of uranium.
    • Naturally occurring uranium does not have a high enough concentration of Uranium-235 at only about 0.72% with the remainder being Uranium-238.

     

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  • Nationwide Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) drive launched

    Union Health Minister has launched a nationwide expansion of Pneumococcal 13-valent Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) under the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).

    Why such drive?

    • Pneumonia was a leading cause of death among children under five, globally and in India.
    • Pneumonia caused by pneumococcus is the most common cause of severe pneumonia in children.
    • Around 16% of deaths in children occur due to pneumonia in India.
    • The nationwide roll-out of PCV will reduce child mortality by around 60%.

    Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV)

    • The PCV is a mix of several bacteria of the pneumococci family, which are known to cause pneumonia—hence ‘conjugate’ is included in the name of the vaccine.
    • PCV prevents pneumococcal disease. It can protect both children and adults from pneumococcal disease.
    • Such conjugate vaccines are made using a combination of two different components.

    Pneumonia vs Pneumococcal pneumonia

    • Pneumonia is a lung disease.
    • Pneumococcal pneumonia, a kind of pneumonia, can infect the upper respiratory tract and can spread to the blood, lungs, middle ear, or nervous system.
    • Pneumococcal disease is a name for any infection caused by bacteria called Streptococcus pneumonia or pneumococcus.
    • Most people carry pneumococcus in their nose and throat, where the bacteria do not cause any symptoms.

    Take this yorker from CSP 2020:

    Q.What is the importance of using Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines in India?

    1. These vaccines are effective against pneumonia as well as meningitis and sepsis.
    2. Dependence on antibiotics that are not effective against drug-resistant bacteria can be reduced.
    3. These vaccines have no side effects and cause no allergic reactions.

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 1 and 2 only

    (c) 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

     

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