DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS
1 – About Operation Ajay: GS III – Internal Security
Important information:
- This will be the second evacuation of this year, following the return of several thousand Indian citizens from the war-torn Sudan via Operation Kaveri.
- Operation Ajay is being launched by the government to help nationals who want to return from Israel.
- Days after Air India halted operations on the Delhi-Tel Aviv route in response to a devastating attack on Israel by Hamas, the statement was made.
- Demand will determine Operation Ajay’s scope, and the government will increase capacity in response to further needs.
Source: The Hindu
2 – About Infections at the surgery site: GS II – Health-related issues
What is an infection at the surgery site?
- Surgical site infections are a prevalent global surgical complication.
- It is an infection that develops at the body’s surgical site.
- It could be a superficial skin infection or a more serious tissue-related infection.
- An estimated 11% of surgical patients get these infections, per a 2018 WHO report.
Main conclusions of the recent study:
- The resource costs for patients who had abdominal surgery across 13 hospitals in four countries were examined in the recent study by the researchers:
- Russia
- Spain
- Nigeria
Two categories were established for the procedures:
Clean surgeries:
- whereby surgeons perform controlled, sterile incisions into the urinary tract, intestines, or respiratory system.
Unclean and contaminated surgeries:
- which covers unintentional cuts, gastrointestinal leaks, or a break in the sterile environment.
- The study was a component of the broader FALCON randomised controlled trial (RCT), which examined the impact of interventions on surgical site infections across seven countries and 57 institutions.
- This is the first surgical cost study of its sort to look at surgical site infections across multiple continents, and it shows that these infections significantly increase postoperative expenses in a variety of contexts.
Indian context:
- At ₹ 46,000, India had the largest rise in healthcare expenses related to surgical site infections after clean-contaminated procedures.
- At ₹ 20,000, it also had the least increase in healthcare expenses due to surgical site infections following contaminated, unclean procedures.
- Semi-urgent and emergency procedures account for a large percentage of surgical site infections, and the financial burden of these infections is severe for patients in India, where insurance coverage is limited and out-of-pocket costs are high.
- Additionally, India has continuously had a higher rate of surgical site infections than the global norm.
- This is due to a number of factors, including a rise in emergency surgery, shoddy hospital procedures, and the widespread use of antibiotics.
- Errors and morbidity can be decreased even with a basic checklist of steps including skin washing and proper site labelling prior to surgery.
Source: The Hindu
3 – Antarctica’s large ozone hole found: GS I – Geography related issues
Important information:
- The hole was almost three times the size of Brazil, measuring 26 million square kilometres (10 million square miles), or what scientists refer to as an ozone-depleted area.
- In order to track the ozone layer and climate, the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite detected trace chemicals in the atmosphere.
- It demonstrated that the ozone hole this year had a significant expansion and had begun earlier than usual.
- According to experts, there is little chance that the ozone hole will cause more warming on Antarctica’s surface.
Is there cause for concern?
- One of the four layers of the Earth’s atmosphere is the stratosphere, where the ozone layer is a trace gas.
- It serves as a barrier gas shield that absorbs UV rays, shielding ecosystems and people from harmful UV exposure.
- Since exposure to high UV radiation levels is the primary cause of most skin cancers, anything that protects us from UV rays lowers the incidence of cancer.
- The Antarctic ozone hole’s magnitude varies annually; it opens in August and closes again in November or December.
- Because of the Earth’s rotation, which creates unique winds over Antarctica’s enclosed continent, the ozone hole opens up.
- Antarctica is shielded from the outside air by the winds, which produce a miniature climate.
- The hole closes when the winds stop.
Why did this year’s massive ozone hole occur?
- The massive ozone hole of this year may have resulted from the volcanic eruptions that occurred at Hunga Tongain Tonga in December 2022 and January 2023.
- Normally, gas emitted during a volcanic eruption stays below the stratosphere, however a significant amount of water vapour was released during this eruption and entered the stratosphere.
- Through chemical interactions, the water altered the rate of heating of the ozone layer.
- In addition to these ozone-depleting substances, the water vapour also contained iodine and bromine.
Ozone holes caused by humans:
- Although a volcanic explosion is most likely to blame for this year’s Antarctic ozone hole, scientists first noticed that human activity was causing massive ozone holes in the 1970s.
- The purpose of the 1987 Montreal Protocol was to phase out the production of dangerous compounds in order to preserve the ozone layer.
- Ozone holes shrank in the decades following the limitation of ozone-depleting petrol emissions, demonstrating the effectiveness of the protocol.
Source: The Hindu
4 – New Plan by Odisha Government for Rural Development: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions
Important information:
- Each panchayat in the state will receive Rs 50 lakh in funding under this to pursue initiatives for:
- safeguarding houses of worship,
- renovating historically significant locations, and
- enhancing internet access and infrastructure in rural areas.
- As part of the new plan, the government has given money for a number of initiatives based on recommendations from the state’s 80% rural population.
These initiatives consist of:
- enhancing connectivity to the internet.
- creating science parks and playgrounds.
- facilities for training.
- centres of expertise and employment for rural business owners.
- initiatives to overcome the infrastructure gap in education.
- offering banking services, and
- technological framework at the community level.
Source: The Hindu
5 – India’s first wetland city to be developed in Udaipur: GS III – Environmental Conservation related issues
Important information:
- The city has been selected by the Department of Environment and Forests in accordance with the Ramsar Convention of International Importance.
- Udaipur is already a part of the central government’s National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) rehabilitation effort.
- Five large lakes encircle it: Doodh Talai, Fateh Sagar, Rang Sagar, Swaroop Sagar, and Pichola.
- The city’s lakes and marshes are mostly overseen by the departments of tourism and local self-government.
- To designate it of international standard, the state’s Department of Environment and Forests is sending the nomination to the Ramsar Convention.
How a location for Ramsar is chosen:
- A wetland must be deemed internationally significant under the Ramsar Convention if it possesses any of the following characteristics:
- an uncommon, emblematic, or singular instance of a natural or semi-natural wetland form situated in the suitable biogeographic area and
- supports imperilled ecological communities or species that are at risk of extinction.
- State officials claim that Udaipur, at 37 square kilometres, satisfies all the criteria needed to be called a wetland city.
- Only a few cities worldwide have been granted this honour; it is a unique distinction.
- Bhopal is competing with Udaipur for this esteemed position.
About the Convention on the Ramsar
- The official name of the Ramsar Convention is the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, Particularly as Habitat for Waterfowl.
- It is an international agreement meant to protect and maintain Ramsar-designated sites.
- The convention, which was signed in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971, is commonly known as the Convention on Wetlands.
- There are currently 42 wetland cities spread across 17 different countries in the world, with China having the most with 13.
India’s Wetlands:
- With rivers included and paddy field areas excluded, the projected total wetland area is 15.98 million hectares (mha), or roughly 4.86% of the country’s total land area.
Rules for the Conservation and Management of Wetlands, 2017:
- Under the terms of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, MoEF&CC has published the Wetlands (protection and Management) Rules, 2017 as a regulatory framework for the protection and management of wetlands throughout the nation without limiting their smart use.
- The State Governments and UT Administrations have been given the authority to identify and notify wetlands, and the State/UT Wetland Authorities have been established.
Source: The Hindu
