DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS
1 – Deaths due to lightening: GS I – Geography-related issues
Context:
- The Union government opposes including lightning in the list of natural disasters since spreading awareness of safety practises can help prevent deaths caused by lightning.
Lightning incidents in India:
- Only five countries in the world have a lightning early warning system, including India.
- The forecast is presented for a period of five days to three hours.
- However, as lightning strikes are not currently covered by the State Disaster Response Fund, governments are forced to respond to lightning-related disasters using their own resources.
Calls for treating it as a natural disaster:
- It has been pushed by states like West Bengal and Bihar for lightning fatalities to be considered a natural disaster.
Significance:
- Once this has been disclosed, the victims will be qualified for compensation from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
- The Centre contributes 75% of the total amount to the SDRF.
Data on lightning-related fatalities:
- The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports that 2,880 people died in lightning strikes in 2021.
- 40% of all unintended deaths caused by natural catastrophes were caused by the fatalities.
- The Northeastern States had the highest lightning frequency, followed by West Bengal, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Bihar.
- The death toll is highest in the central Indian States of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha.
What does lightning do and how does it come into being?
- Lightning is an electrical discharge that occurs inside clouds or between clouds and the earth that has a high voltage and short duration.
- Thunderstorms, a loud roar, and a blinding flash occasionally accompany it.
- Cloud-to-ground lightning is dangerous because it can electrocute people due to its high electric voltage and current, but inter- or intra-cloud lightning is visible and safe.
The method of lighting:
- Lightning is caused by a strong electric current that is produced by the electrical charge differential between a cloud’s top and bottom.
- The water molecules are forced upward until they crystallise into ice when the cloud’s water vapour condenses and rises, creating heat in the process.
- Due to collisions between the ice crystals that release electrons, the cloud has a positively charged top layer and a negatively charged middle layer.
- When the charge difference between the layers is great enough, a powerful electric current flows between them, producing heat that causes the air column to expand and shock waves that result in thunder.
Source The Hindu
2 – Ex Nomadic Elephant-23: GS II – International Relations
Context:
- India and Mongolian forces will participate in Exercise Nomadic Elephant.
Important details:
- Its sixteenth iteration will be held during this specific bilateral military exercise.
- It will happen in Ulaanbaatar.
- India and Mongolia rotate hosting the “Nomadic Elephant” training exercise each year.
Aim:
- exchange of best practises and increased interoperability.
- to promote cordial, helpful, and encouraging military ties between the two Armies.
Theme:
- The primary focus of the drill will be on hilly terrain counterterrorism operations under UN mandate.
Source The Hindu
3 – Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever: GS II – Health-related issues
Context:
- As Europe battles a heatwave and wildfires, rising temperatures have raised worries about the spread of viruses frequently not seen in cooler climates, such as the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF).
About CCHF:
- The CCHF has an impact on parts of Asia, the Middle East, the Balkan states, Africa, and the Balkans.
- According to the WHO, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a viral hemorrhagic fever that is primarily spread by ticks.
- Contact with viraemic animal tissues (animal tissue where the virus has entered the bloodstream) during and immediately after the slaughter of animals can also cause an infection.
CCHF epidemics pose a concern to public health services since the virus can be:
- Possible causes of epidemics in healthcare institutions and hospitals, and
- Is difficult to prevent and treat.
- Humans who come into contact with infected blood or bodily fluids can develop CCHF.
- Ticks may also be carried by migratory birds, enabling the virus to travel long distances on the ticks.
Symptoms:
- Fever, headache, uncomfortable eyes, pain in the neck or back, confusion, and sensitivity to light.
- Treatment and prevention
- There is no vaccine for the virus, which affects both humans and animals.
- The majority of treatment consists on symptom management.
- According to the WHO, CCHF infection has apparently been treated successfully with the antiviral drug ribavirin.
Source The Hindu
4 – Bhoomi Samman: GS II – Social issues
Context:
- The Indian President will award the “Bhoomi Samman” in 2023.
Important details:
- The “Bhoomi Samman” 2023 will be awarded to 9 State Secretaries and 68 District Collectors.
- A remarkable example of Center-State cooperative federalism based on trust and cooperation is the “Bhoomi Samman” Scheme.
- The system for determining grades is based in significant part on the reports and contributions provided by the States and UTs regarding the crucial elements of computerising and digitising land records.
- The “Bhoomi Samman” Scheme’s main objective is to identify and honour exemplary performance during the implementation of the Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme.
- This plan makes it feasible to modernise property records and registration procedures while also streamlining administrative procedures and encouraging transparency and efficiency in governance.
- Districts are given the prestigious Platinum Grading when they successfully complete 100% of the goals in the crucial DILRMP components.
- This recognition is an indication of their outstanding work and commitment to embracing modernization and digital change in the world of land records.
Source The Hindu
5 – Cheetah in India: GS III – Environmental Conservation
Context:
- In view of the rising number of cheetah deaths that have been reported from the Kuno National Park (KNP), Madhya Pradesh, an expert panel in charge of managing the Project Cheetah programme has recommended that all animals undergo a thorough medical examination.
In relation to Project Cheetah:
- Project Cheetah is the name of the cheetah relocation programme in India.
- To reach a population of 35 cheetahs that can be regarded as self-sustaining, attempts will be made to import 5–10 cats yearly throughout the course of the following ten years.
- India wants to free cheetahs from the cages where they currently live in South Africa and Namibia and allow them to thrive in their natural, untamed habitats.
- 4 of the 11 translocated cheetahs are housed in ‘bomas,’ specially built enclosures that are one square kilometre in size and are designed to help the animals acclimatise to Indian conditions. Currently, 11 of the translocated cheetahs are living in the wild.
A medical examination is necessary:
- The chafing from the collar may have caused the cheetah to become unwell.
- Cheetahs are outfitted with plastic collars that feature radio-frequency monitoring chips to let researchers keep an eye on the animals.
- The monsoon season may have prevented the cat from being able to lick itself clean, allowing parasites to fatally lodge inside the wound.
- Another explanation proposes that the wound, to which Indian huge cats are frequently immune, may have exposed the African animal to parasites.
Concerns about Project Cheetah:
Keeping the cheetahs in one place:
- The 20 cheetahs shouldn’t have been kept together because there isn’t enough space or prey for them in KNP and they need to roam long distances.
Longer quarantine intervals:
- The cheetahs’ ability to adapt has been hindered, and their susceptibility has increased as a result of psychological adjustment problems brought on by extended isolation.
They vary greatly from one another:
- Because of their relative fragility compared to tigers and leopards, cheetahs are more vulnerable to fatal wounds in the wild.
Conclusion:
- Indian cheetahs are now not in danger from lions or leopards or other similar predators.
- Therefore, it will take some time to ascertain whether the animals can successfully colonise India.
- There are plans to establish a second reserve and a centre for cheetah rehabilitation in Gandhisagar, Madhya Pradesh.
Source The Hindu
