Articles Covered:

• World Wetlands Day 2024
• World Leprosy Day 2024
• MQ-9B SKY GUARDIAN
• Indian Grey wolf
• ROOFTOP SOLAR SCHEME
• National Investigation Agency (NIA)
• National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS)
• SEED scheme
• NAMASTE Scheme
• Pradhan Mantri Adi Adarsh Gram Yojana:
• United Nations’ Refugee Agency for Palestinians (UNRWA)

World Wetlands Day 2024:

World Wetlands Day 2024 focuses on the theme ‘Wetlands and Human Wellbeing,’ highlighting the critical role wetlands play in enhancing our lives by providing flood protection, clean water, biodiversity, and recreational opportunities essential for human health and prosperity.

• This year, the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India, in collaboration with the Government of Madhya Pradesh, is organizing the national World Wetlands Day event at Sirpur Lake, Indore, a Ramsar site designated in 2022.
• Musonda Mumba, Secretary-General of the Ramsar Convention, is visiting India to participate in the WWD 2024 event at Sirpur Ramsar site in Indore on February 2nd, 2024.

“Wetlands are very important for the existence of our earth, because many birds and animals depend on them. Along with enriching Biodiversity, they also ensure flood control and groundwater recharge.”

World Leprosy Day 2024:

World Leprosy Day 2024 Observed every year on the last Sunday of January. In India, it is observed on 30^th January every year, coinciding with the death anniversary of MAHATMA GANDHI.

Purpose of World Leprosy Day Observation:

1. The theme for World Leprosy Day 2024 is “Beat Leprosy”. This theme encapsulates the dual objectives of the day: to eradicate the stigma associated with and to promote the dignity of people affected by the disease.
2. The primary objective of the day is to raise awareness among the general public about the stigma associated with leprosy.
3. Educating people that leprosy is caused by a specific bacterium and is easily treatable forms a crucial part of the awareness campaign.

Leprosy:

1. Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease,is a chronic infectious disease caused by a type of bacteria called “Mycobacterium leprae”.
2. The disease affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosal surfacesof the upper respiratory tract and the eyes.
3. Leprosy is known to occur atall ages ranging from early childhood to old age.
4. Leprosy is not inherited, but it istransmitted via droplets, from the nose and mouth, during close and frequent contact with untreated cases.

Classification:

1. Paucibacillary (PB) and multibacillary (MB) are classifications of leprosy.
2. PB leprosy includes all smear-negative cases (smaller bacterial load), while MB leprosy includes all smear-positive (more infectious compared to smear-negative PTB) cases.

Treatment:

1. Leprosy iscurable and treatment during early stages can prevent disability.
2. The currently recommended treatment regimen consists of three drugs: dapsone, rifampicin and clofazimine. The combination is referred to as multi-drug therapy (MDT).
3. MDT has been made available through the WHO free of cost to all patients worldwide since 1995.

Global Burden of Leprosy:

1. Leprosy is a NTD that still occurs in more than 120 countries, with more than 200,000 new cases reported every year.
2. In 2022, 182 countries reported over 1.65 lakh cases of leprosy, including 174,087 new cases.
3. According to the WHO, most countries with high rates of new leprosy cases are in the WHO African and South-East Asia Regions.

India and Leprosy:

2005. India has achieved the elimination of leprosy as a public health problem as per WHO criteria of less than 1 case per 10,000 population at the National level in 2005.
2006. Leprosy is endemic in several states and union territories of India.
2007. The prevalence rate of leprosy is 0.4 per 10,000 population in the country.

Initiatives Taken:

Global:

The Global Leprosy Strategy:

• In 2016 WHO launched the Global Leprosy Strategy 2016–2020, which aims to reinvigorate efforts to control leprosy and avert disabilities, especially among children still affected by the disease in endemic countries.

Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy (GPZL):

• The Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy is a coalition of individuals and organizationscommitted to ending leprosy.

World Leprosy Day.

India:

National Strategic Plan (NSP) & Roadmap for Leprosy (2023-27):

3. It is launched to achieve zero transmission of leprosy by 2027e. three years before the SDG 3.3.
4. SDG 3.3 is by 2030, to end the epidemics of AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS, MALARIAand neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases.

National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP):

• The NLEP is a Centrally Sponsored Health Scheme introduced in 1983and it has been implemented with the major objective of reducing the disease burden, prevention of disability and improving awareness among the masses about Leprosy and its curability.

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs):

1. NTDs are a diverse group of conditions caused by avariety of pathogens (including VIRUSES, BACTERIA, PARASITES, FUNGI and toxins) and associated with devastating health, social and economic consequences.
2. NTDs are most common among marginalized communities in the developing regions of Africa, Asia and the Americas.
3. It is estimated thatNTDs affect more than 1 billion people, while the number of people requiring NTD interventions (both preventive and curative) is 1.6 billion.
4. Few examples of NTDs include BURULI ULCER, CHAGAS DISEASE, DENGUE, CHIKUNGUNGUNYA & LYMPHATIC FILARIASIS

MQ-9B SKY GUARDIAN:

Recently, the US State Department has approved a possible foreign military sale of 31 MQ -9B SKY GUARDIAN to INDIA.

• The MQ-9B Predator drone is anunmanned aerial vehicle.MQ-9B SeaGuardian is a maritime-focused version of the SkyGuardian remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS).
• The MQ-9B drones are also known as “Predators”.They are High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) drones that can fly forover 40 hours using a satellite.

 

Out of the 31 MQ-9B Predator drones, of which the NAVY WILL get 15 SeaGuardian drones, while the ARMY and THE INDIAN AIR FORCE will get eight each of the land version – SkyGuardian.

They can be used for offensive missions, reconnaissance, surveillance, and intelligence operations.

Indian Grey wolf:

Scientific Name: Canis lupus pallipes;

• It is a subspecies of grey wolfthat ranges from Southwest Asia to the Indian Subcontinent.
• They live in warmer conditions.
• It is intermediate in size between the Tibetan and Arabian wolf and lacks the former’s luxuriant winter coat due to it living in warmer conditions.
• It travels in smaller packs and is less vocal than other variants. They are nocturnal and hunt from dusk to dawn
• Description:It is intermediate in size lies between the Tibetan and Arabian wolf, and lacks the former’s luxuriant winter coat due to its living in warmer conditions.
• Habitat:The Indian wolf inhabits areas dominated by scrub, grasslands and semi-arid pastoral agro-ecosystems.
• Distribution:It has a wide distribution range that extends from the Indian subcontinent to Israel. There are about 3,000 animals in India, some in captivity.

Conservation Status:

1. IUCN: Least concern
2. Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972: Schedule I
3. CITES: Appendix 1

Threat: Habitat loss and depletion of prey species etc.

ROOFTOP SOLAR SCHEME:

Recently, the finance minister in her Budget speech announced that the people availing the government’s newly-announced rooftop solar scheme will be entitled to 300 units of free electricity every month and help them save up to Rs 18,000 annually.

1. As per the experts, the rooftop solarisation of one crore households could result in the installation of about 20-25 GW of new capacity.
2. A recent report from Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) showed that the nearly 25 crore households across the country had the potential to deploy 637 GW of solar energy on rooftops, though it would be unrealistic to tap it entirely.

• It said about one fifth of this potential, about 118 GW of capacity, was certainly doable.
• Households have so far accounted for a small proportion, about 20 per cent, of India’s installed rooftop solar capacity, with the bulk of it in the commercial and industrial sectors.        

India’s current solar capacity:

• Solar power has a major share in the country’s current renewable energy capacity, which stands at around 180 GW.
• According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s website, solar power installed capacity in India has reached around 73.31 GW as of December 2023.
• The rooftop solar installed capacity is around 11.08 GW as of December 2023.
• In terms of total solar capacity, Rajasthan is at the top with 18.7 GW. Gujarat is at the second position with 10.5 GW.
• When it comes to rooftop solar capacity, Gujarat tops the list with 2.8 GW, followed by Maharashtra by 1.7 GW.

National Investigation Agency (NIA):

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) recently launched simultaneous searches at the premises of several Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) functionaries for their alleged links with foreign-based cadres and sympathisers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a proscribed organisation.

NIA:

• It is a central agency mandated to investig2ate all the offences affecting the sovereignty, security and integrity of India, friendly relations with foreign states, and the offences under the statutory laws enacted to implement international treaties, agreements, conventions and resolutions of the United Nations, its agencies and other international organisations.
• These include terror acts and their possible links with crimes like smuggling of arms, drugs and fake Indian currency and infiltration from across the borders.
• The agency has the power to search, seize, arrest and prosecute those involved in such offences.
• Headquartered in Delhi, the NIA has its branches in Hyderabad, Guwahati, Kochi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Kolkata, Raipur, Jammu, Chandigarh, Ranchi, Chennai, Imphal, Bengaluru and Patna.

NIA come into being:

• In the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in November 2008, which shocked the entire world, the then United Progressive Alliance government decided to establish the NIA.
• In December 2008, former Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram introduced the National Investigation Agency Bill.
• The Home Minister had then said the agency would deal with only eight laws mentioned in the schedule and that a balance had been struck between the right of the State and duties of the Central government to investigate the more important cases.
• The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
• The agency came into existence on December 31, 2008, and started its functioning in 2009.
• Till date, the NIA has registered 447 cases.

National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS):

A team of neuroscientists from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) has developed Indian Brain Templates (IBT) and a brain atlas.

• NIMHANS is a medical institution located in Bangalore, It is the apex centrefor mental health and neuroscience education in the country and operates autonomously.

Brain Template: It is a gross representation from various brain images to understand brain functionality in diseased conditions.

• The Montreal Neurological Index (MNI) template that India currently uses is based on Caucasian brains, which are different from Asian brains.
• The MNI template was made by averaging 152 healthy brain scansfrom just a small slice of the city’s population in North America.
• Some countries have their own scale to measure the brain,whereas India is still dependent on the Caucasian brain template.

NIMHANS Indian Brain Templates and Brain Atlas:

• Neuroscientists studied over 500 brain scans of Indian patientsto develop five sets of Indian Brain Templates (IBT) and a brain atlas.
• IBTprovides a scale that will measure an Indian brain. When most brain scans are taken, they need to be compared to a standard brain template — a model or standard for making comparisons from a group of individual brain scans.
• Validation experiments and comparisons with existing international templates found that using the NIMHANS IBTs for Indian brains significantly improved the accuracy of alignmentand thereby noticeably reducing distortions, errors or biases in final reports of brain structure and function.
• Brain Atlashas been developed for five age groups covering late childhood to late adulthood (six to 60 years).

Expected Benefits from IBT and Brain Atlas:

These new population and age-specific Indian brain templates will allow more reliable tracking of brain development and ageing.

• The templates and atlas will providemore precise reference maps for areas of interest in individual patients with neurological disorders like strokes, brain tumours, and dementia.
• These will also help pool information more usefully in group studies of the human brain and psychological functions,aiding in understanding of psychiatric illnesses like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, substance dependence, schizophrenia, and mood disorders.

SEED scheme:

It was launched by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.

• The term ‘De-notified Tribes’stands for all those communities which were once notified under the Criminal Tribes Acts, enforced by the British Raj between l87l and I947.
• These Acts were repealed after Independence in 1952, and these communities were “De-Notified”.
• The DNTs are the most neglected, marginalized, and economically and socially deprived communities.

Components of the scheme:

• Free Coaching:The objective of this component is to enable them to appear in competitive examinations/ admission to professional courses like medicine, engineering, MBA, etc. for obtaining an appropriate job in the Public/Private Sector.
• Health Insurance:The primary objective of the scheme is to provide financial assistance to National Health Authority (NHA) in association with State Health Agencies (SHAs). These agencies will provide a health insurance cover of Rs.5 lakhs per family per year for families as per norms of “Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
• Livelihood Initiatives: The primary objective of the scheme is to provide financial assistance to National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). It would enhance productivity growth in key livelihood sectors for employment generation through investments in institutional support, and technical assistance.
• Financial supportfor Housing: It is for those who have not taken benefit of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana as SC, ST, OBC and are living below the poverty line. The admissible support is Rs 1.20 lakhs in plains and 1.30 lakhs in hilly areas (per unit assistance).

NAMASTE Scheme:

• It was launched in 2022 as a css
• The scheme is being undertakenjointly by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (MoSJE)and aims to eradicate unsafe sewer and septic tank cleaning practices.

Objectives:

• Zero fatalities in sanitation work in India.
• All sanitation work is performed by skilled workers.
• No sanitation workers come in direct contact with human faecal matter.
• Sanitation workers are collectivised into SHGs and are empowered to run sanitation enterprises.
• Strengthened supervisory and monitoring systems at National, State and Urban Local Body (ULB) levels to ensure enforcement and monitoring of safe sanitation work.
• Increased awareness among sanitation services seekers (individuals and institutions) to seek services from registered and skilled sanitation workers.

Key Features of the Scheme to be Implemented in all ULBs:

• Identification:NAMASTE envisages identifying the Sewer/Septic Tank Workers (SSWs).
• Occupational Training and distribution of PPE Kits to SSWs.
• Assistance for Safety Devices to Sanitation Response Units (SRUs).
• Extending Health Insurance Scheme Benefitsto identified SSWs and their families under the Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).
• Livelihood Assistance: The Action Plan will promote mechanization and enterprise development by providing funding support and subsidy (capital +interest) to the sanitation workers, to procure sanitation related equipments.
• IEC (Information Education and Communication) Campaign:Massive campaigns would be undertaken jointly by the ULBs & NSKFDC (National Safai Karamcharis Finance & Development Corporation) to spread awareness about the interventions of NAMASTE.

Pradhan Mantri Adi Adarsh Gram Yojana:

Aim: Transforming villages with significant tribal population into model village (Adarsh Gram) covering about population of 4.22 crore (About 40% of the total Tribal Population)

Objective:

• To achieve integrated socio-economic development of selected villages through convergence approach.
• Improving the infrastructure in vital sectors like health, education, connectivity and livelihood.
• It includes maximizing the coverage of individual / family benefitschemes of the Central / State Governments.
• The scheme envisions to mitigate gaps prominently in 8 sectors of development viz. Road connectivity , Telecom connectivity , School, Anganwadi Centres, Health Sub-Centre, Drinking water facility.
• Revised Guidelines of the scheme
• The Scheme was revised to capture the Gaps in critical socio-economic ‘Monitorable Indicators’ as part of various sectors/domains namely;water and sanitation, education, health and nutrition, agricultural best practices etc

New Approach for implementation:

• The identification of needs or Gaps with regard to the ‘Monitorable Indicators’ are based on a Need Assessment exercise. 
• The ‘Village Development Plan’ (VDP) is based on the data collected as part of the Need Assessment exercise.
• PMAGY provids the platform for convergent implementation of other Schemes with the aim to achieve saturation in the various domains.

United Nations’ Refugee Agency for Palestinians (UNRWA):

1. UNRWA stands for UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East.
2. It was founded in 1949 to provide aid to about 700,000 Palestinians who were forced to leave their homes in what is now Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
3. The UN agency operates in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan — countries where the refugees took shelter after their expulsion.
4. The agency runs education, health, relief and social services, microfinance and emergency assistance programmes inside and outside refugee camps based in the aforementioned areas.

Funding:

• UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions by donor states like the US.
• It also gets a limited subsidy from the UN, which is used only for administrative costs.

Performance:

5. Currently, around 5.9 million Palestine refugees — most of them are descendants of original refugees — access the agency’s services.
6. In Gaza, over 1 million are sheltering in UNRWA schools and other facilities.

• Recently, United Nations (UN) officials urged countries to reconsider their decision to pause funding for the UN agency for Palestinians.
• It also said that any staff found involved in Hamas’ attack on Israel would be punished and warned that aid for some two million people in Gaza was at stake.