14 September 2022

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – Marsburg Virus Disease: GS II Topic Health related issues

 About:

• Haemorrhagic fever is caused by the very virulent Marburg virus illness, which is carried by bats and has an 88 percent death rate.
• It belongs to the same family as the Ebola virus family of pathogens.
• The disease was first identified in 1967 as a result of two significant epidemics that happened concurrently in Marburg, Frankfurt, and Belgrade, Serbia, as well as in Germany and Germany.
• The outbreak was linked to laboratory experiments with imported from Uganda African green monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops).
• The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda have all reported outbreaks and isolated cases since then.
• Since 1967, there have been 12 significant Marburg outbreaks, with the majority occurring in southern and eastern Africa.

Infection in humans:

• Long-term contact with mines or caverns where Rousettus bat colonies are present causes human infection with the Marburg virus disease.
• Megabats from the Old World belonging to the genus Rousettus. They are also known as flying foxes and dog-faced fruit bats.

Transmission:

• After becoming infected, a person can contract the Marburg virus from another person by coming into direct contact (through cuts in the skin or ruptured mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids of an infected person, as well as by coming into contact with contaminated surfaces and materials (like bedding and clothing).

Symptoms:

•  Muscle aches, bloody vomiting, headaches, and bleeding through multiple orifices.
• Jaundice, pancreatic inflammation, extreme weight loss, liver failure, major bleeding, and multiple organ malfunction are among the symptoms that worsen over time.

Diagnosis:

• Making a diagnosis is challenging because the disease’s symptoms resemble many of those of typhoid fever and malaria.
• Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing, however, can be utilised to confirm a case.

Treatment:

• Marburg hemorrhagic fever has no known cure or authorised vaccination. The use of supportive hospital therapy is advised.
• Supportive hospital therapy involves maintaining the patient’s blood pressure, oxygen levels, and electrolyte balance as well as treating any aggravating infections and restoring lost blood and clotting components.

Source The Indian Express

 2 – Wind Energy in India:GS III Topic Renewable Energy Sector

 What is Wind Energy:

• Wind power or wind energy is the term for the process of using wind turbines to produce electricity. A well-liked, clean, renewable energy source with a significantly smaller carbon footprint is wind energy. The capacity of India to produce wind energy has significantly increased in recent years. As of 30 November 2021, the total installed wind power capacity was 40 GW, ranking as the fourth-highest installed wind power capacity in the world. The most wind power potential is found in the Southern, Western, and Northern regions. You will learn about Wind Energy in India from this article, which will help you with your UPSC Civil Service exam geography preparation.

How Does Wind Energy Produce Power?

• The wind rotates a turbine’s blades, which resemble propellers, around a rotor, which spins a generator, which produces power.
• Wind power or wind energy is the term for the process of using wind turbines to produce electricity.
• In the past, wind power has been harnessed using sails, windmills, and windpumps.
• Wind turbines transform the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical energy.
• The lift that the wind gives the blades causes them to revolve (similar to the effect on aeroplane wings).
• The driving shaft that turns an electric generator, which produces electricity, is connected to the blades.

Wind park or farm:

• A group of wind turbines used to produce electricity in one location is referred to as a wind farm, wind park, wind power station, or wind power plant.
• The size of wind farms can range from a few dozen to several hundred turbines dispersed over a broad region.

Types:

Onshore:

• Wind turbines use the energy of moving air to produce electricity.
• On land, there are wind turbines known as onshore.

Offshore:

• Offshore wind farms are situated in freshwater or far from land.
• While a floating wind turbine is built in deeper waters with its base anchored to the seabed, a fixed-foundation wind turbine is built in shallow water.
• The construction of floating wind farms is still in its early phases.
• A minimum of 200 nautical miles must separate offshore wind farms from the shoreline, and they must be 50 feet underwater.
• Cables buried in the seabed transport electricity produced by offshore wind turbines back to land.

Indian Wind Energy Situation:

• India’s ability to generate wind energy has considerably expanded in recent years.
• As of 30 November 2021, the total installed wind power capacity was 40 GW, ranking as the fourth biggest installed wind power capacity in the world.
• The most wind power potential is found in the Southern, Western, and Northern regions.
• Wind generation saw a compound annual growth rate between 2010 and 2020 of 11.39 percent, while installed capacity saw a CAGR of 8.78 percent.
• According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), India’s 7,600 km of coastline has the potential to produce 127 GW of offshore wind energy.
• The National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) estimates that there is a total wind energy potential of 302 GW at a hub height of 100 metres.
• More than 95% of the resources that can be used for commerce are found in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu.
• By 2022 and 2030, respectively, the Union’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) wants to install 5 GW and 30 GW of offshore wind, respectively.

Governmental Programs:

National Policy for Wind-Solar Hybrids:

The major objective is to establish a framework for the promotion of sizable grid-connected wind-solar PV hybrid systems to make the best and most economical use of available wind and solar resources, as well as of the land and related transmission facilities.

A national policy for offshore wind energy:

• In October 2015, the National Offshore Wind Energy Policy was announced.
• The Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which runs for 7600 kilometres along the Indian coastline, is where offshore wind energy development will take place.

Source The Hindu

 3 – Snow Leopard: GS III Topic Environment Conservation related issues

 About Snow Leopard:

• Panthera uncia is its scientific name.
• Snow leopards reside in the Central Asian mountains.
• Only 3,920 to 6,390 snow leopards are thought to remain in the wild.
• Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are among the twelve nations that make up the range.

Status of Conservation:

• Prior to 2017, snow leopards were listed as an endangered species, however later that year their status was changed to vulnerable.

National conservation initiatives:

• According to sources, India is home to 450–500 snow leopards, which can be seen in the country’s upper Himalayan regions.
• Through the Project Snow Leopard, India has been protecting snow leopards and their habitats (PSL).
• Since 2013, India has further participated in the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection (GSLEP) Program.
• India has designated three expansive landscapes for conservation: Hemis-Spiti, which spans Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh; Nanda Devi-Gangotri; and Khangchendzonga-Tawang, which spans Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
• The Ministry of Environment, Forestry & Climate Change has listed 22 critically endangered species for its recovery programme, including the snow leopard.
• SECURE Himalaya: The project on preserving high-altitude biodiversity and lowering local communities’ reliance on the natural ecosystem was supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The four states that make up the snow leopard’s range—Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Sikkim—are now home to this initiative.
• “HimalSanrakshak” is a community volunteer effort to protect snow leopards.

International conservation initiatives:

• The Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program was created in response to the Bishkek Declaration, which established a target in 2013 to safeguard at least 20 snow leopard habitats with healthy populations by 2020. (GSLEP). Since then, every year on October 23 is designated as International Snow Leopard Day.
• On the same day, the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Programme (GSLEP) was also introduced. Its goal is to address high-mountain development challenges using snow leopard conservation as a centrepiece.

Issues with conservation:

• Increased poaching, habitat degradation, and hostility toward communities

Source The Down To Earth

4 – Asiatic Lions: Prelims Specific Topic

 About:

• The Panthera Leo subspecies, which is unique to India, includes the Asiatic Lion, commonly referred to as the Indian Lion.
• Prior to its extinction in these areas, its former habitats were West Asia and the Middle East.
• African lions are slightly larger than their Asian counterparts.
• The most notable morphological feature is a longitudinal fold of skin running over its belly, which is always present in Asiatic lions and infrequently in African lions.

Distribution:

• In the past, Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, in central India, and West Bengal, in the east, received Asiatic lions.
• The only home of the Asiatic lion at the moment is Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary.
• The Gir forest region now has more Asiatic lions than it had in 2020, according to the Gujarat Forest Department.

Threats:

• Its susceptibility to unforeseen occurrences like a plague or a natural disaster, poaching, and the shooting of lions by people near the Gir National Park in retribution for attacks on livestock.

Protection Status:

• IUCN Red List: Appendix I, Endangered
• Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972

Conservation initiatives:

• The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has established the “Asiatic Lion Conservation Project” (MoEFCC).
• It is authorised for three fiscal years, starting in 2018 and ending in 2021.
• In order to ensure the total conservation of Asiatic lions, it envisions scientific management including local people in conjunction with multi-sectoral organisations for disease control and veterinary care.

Source The Down To Earth