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Type: Prelims Only

  • Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

    Naegleria fowleri: The Brain-eating Amoeba

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Naegleria fowleri

    Mains level: Not Much

    naegleria

    South Korea reported its first case of infection from Naegleria fowleri or “brain-eating amoeba”.

    What is Naegleria fowleri (Amoeba)?

    • Amoeba is a type of cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and retracting pseudopods.
    • Naegleria is an amoeba, a single-celled organism, and only one of its species, called Naegleria fowleri, can infect humans.
    • It was first discovered in Australia in 1965 and is commonly found in warm freshwater bodies, such as hot springs, rivers and lakes.
    • So far, Naegleria fowleri has been found in all continents and declared as the cause of PAM in over 16 countries, including India.

    How does it infect humans?

    • The amoeba enters the human body through the nose and then travels up to the brain.
    • This can usually happen when someone goes for a swim, or dive or even when they dip their head in a freshwater body.
    • In some cases, it was found that people got infected when they cleaned their nostrils with contaminated water/ vapour/ or aerosol droplets.
    • Once Naegleria fowleri goes to the brain, it destroys brain tissues and causes a dangerous infection known as primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).

    What are the symptoms of PAM?

    • The CDC says the first signs of PAM start showing within one to 12 days after the infection.
    • In the initial stages, they might be similar to symptoms of meningitis, which are headache, nausea and fever.
    • In the later stages, one can suffer from a stiff neck, seizures, hallucinations, and even coma.
    • The infection spreads rapidly and on average causes death within about five days.

    How its spread is linked to climate change?

    • With the rising global temperatures, the chances of getting Naegleria fowleri infection will go up as the amoeba mainly thrives in warm freshwater bodies.
    • The organism best grows in high temperatures up to 46°C and sometimes can survive at even higher temperatures.
    • Various recent studies have found that excess atmospheric carbon dioxide has led to an increase in the temperature of lakes and rivers.
    • These conditions provide a more favourable environment for the amoeba to grow.

     

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  • Indian Missile Program Updates

    Pralay: India’s first tactical quasi-ballistic missile

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Various Security Forces, Agencies & Their Mandates

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Pralay Missile

    Mains level: Tactical weapons and their battle significance

    pralay

    The Defence Ministry has decided to deploy indigenously developed surface-to-surface ‘Pralay’ ballistic missiles near India’s borders with China and Pakistan.

    What are Tactical Missiles?

    • Generally, short-range missiles are termed tactical while long-range missiles are termed strategic.
    • A missile which is used to destroy tactical targets of enemy like bunkers, mortar position, artillery position etc. is tactical missile.
    • Battlefield missiles are tactical while long-range missiles targeting bigger targets like cities are termed strategic.
    • Features of these missiles include-
    1. Versatile range: Tactical missiles fills the gap between long range rockets and short range ballistic missiles , and have range mainly about 100 to 200 kms .
    2. Very high precision and accuracy: These missiles are highly accurate, and can destroy small steady and moving targets with high accuracy.

    About ‘Pralay’ Missile

    • Pralay is a Hindi word which means “apocalypse” or “to cause great destruction” or “damage”.
    • The Pralay missile project was sanctioned in 2015 and is a derivative of the Prahaar missile programme, which was first tested in 2011.
    • Developed by the DRDO, the ‘Pralay’ ballistic missile is a canisterised tactical, surface-to-surface, and short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) for battlefield use.
    • It can hit targets from a distance of 150 to 500 km and is extremely difficult to intercept by enemy interceptor missiles.
    • Pralay is powered by a solid fuel rocket motor and is a high explosive preformed fragmentation warhead that weighs somewhere between 350 kg to 700 kg.
    • It also accounts for its Penetration-Cum-Blast (PCB) and Runaway Denial Penetration Submunitions (RDPS).

    Unique features of Pralay

    • Precise targeting: The missile is designed to destroy enemy radar, communication installations, command centres and airfields.
    • Quasi Ballistic Trajectory: It means the object takes a low curved path after being shot.
    • Stealth features: Pralay has the ability to evade any anti-ballistic missile (ABM) interceptors by performing mid-air manoeuvres by using a manoeuvrable re-entry vehicle.
    • Destruction capability: When a high-explosive warhead, like the one Pralay missile is equipped with, explodes, its pieces are thrown at a high speed which can inflict heavy damage.

    What makes Pralay lethal?

    • The Indian missile can be compared to China’s Dong Feng 12 and the Russian Iskander missile that has been used in the ongoing war with Ukraine.
    • The US Army is in the process of increasing the range of a similar short-range ballistic missile called the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM).
    • What makes Pralay deadly is that it is a quasi-ballistic weapon, which means that while it has a low trajectory and is largely ballistic, it can manoeuvre in flight.
    • Unlike intercontinental ballistic missiles that exit the Earth’s atmosphere, short-range ballistic missiles stay within it.

    What lies ahead?

    • Pralay, along with the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, will form the crux of India’s planned Rocket Force — a concept that was envisaged by former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the late General Bipin Rawat.
    • Only conventional missiles would come under the planned Rocket Force as and when it’s ready, while nuclear weapons would continue to be under the ambit of the Strategic Forces Command.

     

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  • Historical and Archaeological Findings in News

    In news: Ratnagiri Prehistoric Geoglyphs

    Prelims Only | | Mains Paper 1: Arts & Culture

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Geoglyphs

    Mains level: Prehistoric Rock Art

    geoglyph

    Experts and conservationists have raised concerns over the proposed location for a mega oil refinery in Barsu village of Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district.

    What are geoglyphs?

    • Geoglyphs are a form of prehistoric rock art, created on the surface of laterite plateaus.
    • They are made by removing a part of the rock surface through an incision, picking, carving or abrading.
    • They can be in the form of rock paintings, etchings, cup marks and ring marks.

    Ratnagiri’s geoglyphs

    • Clusters of geoglyphs are spread across the Konkan coastline in Maharashtra and Goa, spanning around 900 km.
    • Porous laterite rock, which lends itself to such carving, is found on a large scale across the entire region.
    • Ratnagiri district has more than 1,500 pieces of such art, also called “Katal shilpa,” spread across 70 sites.
    • The figures depicted in the geoglyphs include humans and animals such as deer, elephant, tiger, monkey, wild boar, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, cattle, pig, rabbit, and monkey.
    • Moreover, they also include a high number of reptilian and amphibian creatures such as tortoises and alligators, aquatic animals such as sharks and sting rays, and birds like peacocks.

    Why are they significant?

    • Tourism potential: Ratnagiri’s prehistoric sites are among three Indian attractions that may soon become World Heritage Sites. The other two include Jingkieng Jri, the living root bridge in Meghalaya, and Sri Veerabhadra Temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Lepakshi.
    • Evolution of art: The geoglyph clusters also are examples of advanced artistic skills, showing the evolution of techniques of etching and scooping in rock art.

     

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  • Tourism Sector

     ‘PRASAD’ Scheme to create a slew of facilities at Srisailam

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: PRASAD Scheme

    Mains level: Religious tourism development

    President of India inaugurated ‘PRASAD’ project at the tourism facilitation centre in the pilgrim town of Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh.

    About Srisailam

    • The temple at Srisailam is the ancient and sacred place of South India.
    • The presiding deity of the place is Brahmaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy in natural stone formations in the shape of Lingam.
    • It is listed as one of the twelve Jyotirlingams existing in the country.

    Development with PRASAD scheme

    • The pilgrim town will get a pilgrim complex, amenities centres, an amphitheatre, sound and light show, digital intervention, parking areas among others.
    • There is total outlay of ₹48.03 crore under the PRASAD project.

    Back2Basics: PRASAD Scheme

    • PRASAD stands for Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spirituality Augmentation Drive (PRASAD).
    • It is 100% Centrally Sponsored Scheme under Tourism Ministry.
    • Provisions under the scheme include-
    1. Tourism Promotion and Tourist Ecosystem
    2. Vocational Training for Tourists and Hospitality Business
    3. Hunar se Rozgar tak (HSRT) and earn while you learn programs
    4. Improving Tourist Infrastructure

     

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  • Climate Change Impact on India and World – International Reports, Key Observations, etc.

    What is a ‘Bomb Cyclone’?

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Important Geophysical Phenomena

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Bomb Cyclone

    Mains level: Not Much

    bomb

    Bomb cyclone continued to unleash havoc as the death toll due to weather-related incidents in the United States mounted to 34 and has left millions without power.

    What is Bomb Cyclone?

    • A bomb cyclone is a large, intense mid-latitude storm that has low pressure at its center, weather fronts and an array of associated weather, from blizzards to severe thunderstorms to heavy precipitation.
    • It becomes a bomb when its central pressure decreases very quickly—by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours.
    • When a cyclone “bombs,” or undergoes bombogenesis, this tells us that it has access to the optimal ingredients for strengthening, such as high amounts of heat, moisture and rising air.

    Why is it called a bomb?

    • Most cyclones don’t intensify rapidly in this way.
    • Bomb cyclones put forecasters on high alert, because they can produce significant harmful impacts.

    Its etymology

    • The word “bombogenesis” is a combination of cyclogenesis, which describes the formation of a cyclone or storm, and bomb, which is, well, pretty self-explanatory.
    • This can happen when a cold air mass collides with a warm air mass, such as air over warm ocean waters.
    • The formation of this rapidly strengthening weather system is a process called bombogenesis, which creates what is known as a bomb cyclone.

    How does it occur?

    • Over the warmer ocean, heat and moisture are abundant.
    • But as cool continental air moves overhead and creates a large difference in temperature, the lower atmosphere becomes unstable and buoyant.
    • Air rises, cools and condenses, forming clouds and precipitation.

    Where does it occur the most?

    • The US coast is one of the regions where bombogenesis is most common.
    • That’s because storms in the mid-latitudes – a temperate zone north of the tropics that includes the entire continental US – draw their energy from large temperature contrasts.
    • Along the US East Coast during winter, there’s a naturally potent thermal contrast between the cool land and the warm Gulf Stream current.

     

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  • Wildlife Conservation Efforts

    What are Orans?

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Orans, Sacred grooves

    Mains level: Not Much

    Oran Bachao Yatras are taking place in Rajasthan for the protection of orans or sacred groves facing the threat of destruction due to the land being allotted for renewable energy infrastructure and high-tension power lines.

    What are Orans?

    • Orans are Community Conserved Areas protected for their sacred values.
    • They include woodlots, pastures, orchards, sacred groves, and habitats usually centered around sources of water such as natural springs, rivulets, or artificially constructed ponds.
    • Additionally, there is usually a shrine dedicated to a local deity at the heart of an Oran.
    • Their traditional boundaries are based on landmarks or geographical milestones established by indigenous and agro-pastoral communities associated with them.
    • Orans are usually defined by a strong community-territory relationship and a well-functioning governance system.

    Reasons for the Yatra

    • Named after local deities and medieval warriors, orans hold religious and social significance as small forest patches in the middle of the mighty Thar desert.
    • Orans also form the natural habitat for India’s most critically endangered bird, the Great Indian Bustard (GIB), a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act, which is also the State bird of Rajasthan.
    • GIBs have died during the last few years because of collision with power lines, making this the most significant threat to the majestic birds.

    Back2Basics: Sacred Grooves

    • Sacred groves of India are forest fragments of varying sizes, which are communally protected, and which usually have a significant religious connotation for the protecting community.
    • It usually consists of a dense cover of vegetation including climbers, herbs, shrubs and trees, with the presence of a village deity and is mostly situated near a perennial water source.
    • Sacred groves are considered to be symbols of the primitive practice of nature worship and support nature conservation to a great extent.
    • The introduction of the protected area category community reserves under the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2002 has introduced legislation for providing government protection to community-held lands, which could include sacred groves.

    Historical references

    • Indian sacred groves are often associated with temples, monasteries, shrines, pilgrimage sites, or with burial grounds.
    • Historically, sacred groves find their mentions in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts, from sacred tree groves in Hinduism to sacred deer parks in Buddhism for example.
    • Sacred groves may be loosely used to refer to natural habitat protected on religious grounds.
    • Other historical references to sacred groves can be obtained in Vrukshayurveda an ancient treatise, ancient classics such as Kalidasa’s Vikramuurvashiiya.
    • There has been a growing interest in creating green patches such as Nakshatravana

    Regulation of activities in Sacred Grooves

    • Hunting and logging are usually strictly prohibited within these patches.
    • Other forms of forest usage like honey collection and deadwood collection are sometimes allowed on a sustainable basis.
    • NGOs work with local villagers to protect such groves.
    • Traditionally, and in some cases even today, members of the community take turns to protect the grove.

    Threats to such grooves

    • Threats to the groves include urbanization, and over-exploitation of resources.
    • While many of the groves are looked upon as abode of Hindu deities, in the recent past a number of them have been partially cleared for construction of shrines and temples.

    Total grooves in India

    • Around 14,000 sacred groves have been reported from all over India, which act as reservoirs of rare fauna, and more often rare flora, amid rural and even urban settings.
    • Experts believe that the total number of sacred groves could be as high as 100,000.
    • They are called by different names in different states:
    1. Sarna in Bihar
    2. Dev Van in Himachal Pradesh
    3. Devarakadu in Karnataka
    4. Kavu in Kerala
    5. Dev in Madhya Pradesh
    6. Devarahati or Devarai in Maharashtra
    7. Lai Umang in Maharashtra
    8. Law Kyntang or Asong Khosi in Meghalaya
    9. Kovil Kadu or Sarpa Kavu in Tamil Nadu

     

     

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  • Animal Husbandry, Dairy & Fisheries Sector – Pashudhan Sanjivani, E- Pashudhan Haat, etc

    What is Purse Seine Fishing?

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level:  Purse seine fishing

    Mains level: Not Much

    seine

    The Centre has told the Supreme Court that a ban imposed by certain coastal States on purse seine fishing, which is known to disadvantage endangered species, is not justified.

     Purse seine fishing

    • It uses a large vertical net to surround dense shoals of pelagic or midwater fish in the open ocean, and then draws in the edges like tightening the cords of a drawstring purse.
    • A vertical net ‘curtain’ is used to surround the school of fish, the bottom of which is then drawn together to enclose the fish, rather like tightening the cords of a drawstring purse.
    • It is deployed widely on India’s western coasts,

    What is the issue?

    • This mode of fishing is prohibited by Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Odisha, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Andaman and Nicobar Islands in their respective territorial waters of up to 12 nautical miles.
    • However, states like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, and West Bengal have not imposed any such ban on purse seine fishing.

    Why states are divided over this?

    • In some States, it is linked to concerns about the decreasing stock of small, pelagic shoaling fish such as sardines, mackerel, anchovies and trevally on the western coasts.
    • The scientific community argues that climatic conditions, including the El Nino phenomenon, are responsible for the declining catch of such fish in the last ten years.
    • Fishermen using traditional methods have placed the blame squarely on the rise of purse seine fishing.
    • They fear a further fall in the availability of these small fish if the ban is lifted.

    How does the Centre see this plan?

    • The Fisheries Department of the Union government has recommended the lifting of the ban on purse seine fishing.
    • The expert panel has said that this mode of fishing has “per se has not resulted in any serious resource depletion so far, given the available evidence”.
    • It recommended purse seiners to fish in territorial waters and the Indian Exclusive Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) subject to certain conditions.

    Way ahead

    • There should be a national management plan on purse seine fisheries.
    • Partial ban in some states may put fishermen at disadvantage in other states.

     

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  • Higher Education – RUSA, NIRF, HEFA, etc.

    [pib] The Urban Learning Internship Programme (TULIP)

    Prelims Only | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: TULIP Program

    Mains level: Not Much

    tulip

    More than 25,000 internship opportunities have been advertised under the TULIP programme so far.

    TULIP Program

    • TULIP is a portal jointly developed by the Ministry of HRD, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
    • It helps reap the benefits of India’s demographic dividend as it is poised to have the largest working-age population in the world in the coming years.
    • It helps enhance the value-to-market of India’s graduates and help create a potential talent pool in diverse fields like urban planning, transport engineering, environment, municipal finance etc.
    • It furthers the Government’s endeavors to boost community partnership and government-academia-industry-civil society linkages.

    Why need such a program?

    • India has a substantial pool of technical graduates for whom exposure to real-world project implementation and planning is essential for professional development.
    • General education may not reflect the depth of productive knowledge present in society.
    • Instead of approaching education as ‘doing by learning,’ our societies need to reimagine education as ‘learning by doing.’

     

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  • GI(Geographical Indicator) Tags

    GI in news: Joynagar Moa

    Prelims Only | Trivia | Mains Paper 1: Arts & Culture

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Joynagar Moa

    Mains level: NA

    moa

    The Joynagar Moa, the popular Bengal sweet got 10 year extension for its Geographical Indication (GI) tag.

    Joynagar Moa

    • The moa is a popped-rice ball held together with fresh date-palm jaggery, extracted from the beginning of December till the end of February.
    • Its manufacture is so synonymous with Joynagar, a settlement on the outskirts of Kolkata, that it earned the Geographical Indication tag of Joynagar Moa in 2015.

    How is it made?

    • A moa is made with khoi (puffed rice). The best ones are made with khoi from a rice variety known as kanakchur.
    • It uses cardamom and Bengal’s legendary nolen gur (a liquid jaggery made from date palms and found only in winter).

    Back2Basics: Geographical Indication (GI)

    • A GI is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
    • Nodal Agency: Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry
    • India, as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), enacted the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 w.e.f. September 2003.
    • GIs have been defined under Article 22 (1) of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.
    • The tag stands valid for 10 years.

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  • Coastal Zones Management and Regulations

    Kerala government publishes map for people to seek exemption from ESZ

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Eco-sensitive buffer Zones (ESZs)

    Mains level: Read the attached story

    The Kerala government has published a forest department map that better reflects the block and plot-wise details of localities that could potentially fall under the Supreme Court-suggested one-km ecologically sensitive buffer zone (ESZ) around forests if imposed.

    What are the Eco-sensitive Zones (ESZs)?

    • Eco-Sensitive Zones (ESZs) or Ecologically Fragile Areas (EFAs) are areas notified by the MoEFCC around Protected Areas, National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries.
    • The purpose of declaring ESZs is to create some kind of “shock absorbers” to the protected areas by regulating and managing the activities around such areas.
    • They also act as a transition zone from areas of high protection to areas involving lesser protection.

    How are they demarcated?

    • The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 does NOT mention the word “Eco-Sensitive Zones”.
    • However, Section 3(2)(v) of the Act, says that Central Government can restrict areas in which any industries, operations or processes or class of industries, operations or processes shall be carried out or shall not, subject to certain safeguards.
    • Besides Rule 5(1) of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 states that central government can prohibit or restrict the location of industries and carrying on certain operations or processes on the basis of certain considerations.
    • The same criteria have been used by the government to declare No Development Zones (NDZs).

    Defining its boundaries

    • An ESZ could go up to 10 kilometres around a protected area as provided in the Wildlife Conservation Strategy, 2002.
    • Moreover, in the case where sensitive corridors, connectivity and ecologically important patches, crucial for landscape linkage, are beyond 10 km width, these should be included in the ESZs.
    • Further, even in the context of a particular Protected Area, the distribution of an area of ESZ and the extent of regulation may not be uniform all around and it could be of variable width and extent.

    Activities Permitted and Prohibited

    • Permitted: Ongoing agricultural or horticultural practices, rainwater harvesting, organic farming, use of renewable energy sources, and adoption of green technology for all activities.
    • Prohibited: Commercial mining, saw mills, industries causing pollution (air, water, soil, noise etc), the establishment of major hydroelectric projects (HEP), commercial use of wood, Tourism activities like hot-air balloons over the National Park, discharge of effluents or any solid waste or production of hazardous substances.
    • Under regulation: Felling of trees, the establishment of hotels and resorts, commercial use of natural water, erection of electrical cables, drastic change of agriculture system, e.g. adoption of heavy technology, pesticides etc, widening of roads.

    What is the recent SC judgment that has caused an uproar in Kerala?

    • On June 3, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court heard a PIL that sought to protect forest lands in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, but was later expanded to cover the entire country.
    • In its judgment, the court while referring to the 2011 guidelines as “reasonable”, directed all states to have a mandatory 1-km ESZ from the demarcated boundaries of every protected area.
    • It also stated that no new permanent structure or mining will be permitted within the ESZ.
    • If the existing ESZ goes beyond 1-km buffer zone or if any statutory instrument prescribes a higher limit, then such extended boundary shall prevail, the court, as per the Live Law report.

    Why are people protesting against it?

    • There is a high density of human population near the notified protected areas.
    • Farmer’s groups and political parties have been demanding that all human settlements be exempt from the ESZ ruling.
    • The total extent of the wildlife sanctuaries in Kerala is eight lakh acres.
    • If one-km of ESZ is demarcated from their boundaries, around 4 lakh acres of human settlements, including farmlands, would come within that purview.

     

    Try this PYQ

    With reference to ‘Eco-Sensitive Zones’, which of the following statements is/are correct?

    1. Eco-Sensitive Zones are the areas that are declared under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
    2. The purpose of the declaration of Eco-Sensitive Zones is to prohibit all kinds of human activities, in those zones except agriculture.

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

     

    Post your answers here.

     

     

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