IAS UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 11th January 2020

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(PRELIMS + MAINS FOCUS)

Nepal’s Language Seke Near Extinct

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-I- Society 

In News

• The New York Times recently reported that the “near-extinct” Nepalese language Seke has just 700 speakers around the world.
• Possible reason: Nepali which is Nepal’s official language is considered to be crucial for getting educational and employment opportunities outside villages.Thus,the younger generation does not find much use in learning the language, giving preference to Nepali and English.
• The vulnerability of the language is also linked to the migration of people to places where Seke is not spoken, which has reduced the intergenerational transmission of the language

Do You know?

• The year 2019, was the International Year of Indigenous Languages, mandated by the United Nations
• As per UNESCO, roughly 57 per cent of the world’s estimated 6,000 languages are safe, about 10 per cent are vulnerable, 10.7 per cent are definitely endangered
• There are roughly 201 endangered languages in India and about 70 in Nepal.

Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius): Gone Extinct

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III- Environment Conservation 

In News

• It is a freshwater fish, dating back from 200 million years ago whose ancestral home was the Yangtze River.
• It is also known as Chinese swordfish with a snot like structure packed with cells to detect electrical activity in prey animals such as crustaceans

• It is declared extinct by Chinese researchers based on the Red List criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

• Overfishing and habitat fragmentation — including dam building — caused its population to dwindle from the 1970s onward

Coronavirus: New virus identified by Chinese researchers

Part of: GS Prelims and GS Mains II- Health

In News

• Coronaviruses are a specific family of viruses, with some of them causing less-severe damage, such as the common cold, and others causing respiratory and intestinal diseases
• A coronavirus has many “regularly arranged” protrusions on its surface, because of which the entire virus particle looks like an emperor’s crown, hence the name “coronavirus”
• So far, there are four known disease-causing coronaviruses, among which the best known are the SARS corona virus and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, both of which can cause severe respiratory diseases.

Does it impact only humans?

• Apart from human beings, coronaviruses can affect mammals including pigs, cattle, cats, dogs, martens, camels, hedgehogs and some birds.

Integrated Steel Hub

Part of: GS Prelims and GS Mains –II- Indian Polity- Cooperative Federalism; GS-III- Economy

In News

• Integrated Steel Hub will encompass Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Northern Andhra Pradesh 
• It aims to attract investment of nearly $70 billion in the steel sector and spur economic growth across eastern India
• It is a ‘Purvodaya’ initiative for focused development of eastern states.
• The eastern states collectively hold nearly 80% of the country’s iron ore, most of domestic coking coal reserves and significant portion of chromite, bauxite and dolomite reserves.
• Out of the 300 mt steel capacity by 2030-31, the region alone is capable of contributing over 200 mt.

STATE ENERGY EFFICIENCY INDEX 2019 released

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III- Economy

In News

• The index tracks the progress of Energy Efficiency initiatives in 36 States and Union Territories based on 97 significant indicators.

• The index is developed by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in association with Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE).
• The first such Index was launched on August, 2018.
• The index this year incorporates qualitative, quantitative and outcome-based indicators to assess energy efficiency initiatives, programs and outcomes in five distinct sectors – buildings, industry, municipalities, transport, agriculture, and DISCOMs.
• For rational comparison, States/UTs are categorised as ‘Front Runner’, ‘Achiever’, ‘Contender’ and ‘Aspirant’ based on aggregated Total Primary Energy Supply (TPES) required to meet the state’s actual energy demand (electricity, coal, oil, gas, etc.) across sectors.

• The top performing states in the State EE Index 2019 – Haryana, Kerala and Karnataka – are in the ‘Achiever’ category.

Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) Inaugurated 

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III- Cyber Security

In News

• The I4C is a seven-pronged system, which includes a cybercrime reporting portal, analysis of threats, capacity building, research and innovation, creating an ecosystem for cybercrime management and a joint cybercrime investigation platform for law enforcement agencies.
• I4C is located in New Delhi

Do You know?

• In Aug 2019, the MHA had unveiled its National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal through which citizens can report any kind of cybercrime irrespective of the place where it has occurred
• So far, more than 700 police districts and more than 3,900 police stations have been connected with this portal

(MAINS FOCUS)

Health

TOPIC:General Studies 2:

• Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, 


Polio Disease

Context:

The World Health Organization announced that polio will continue to remain a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) for three months.

What is Polio?

• Polio, short for poliomyelitis, or infantile paralysis, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. The virus destroys nerve cells in the spinal cord causing muscle wasting and paralysis.
• There are three wild types of poliovirus (WPV) – type 1, type 2, and type 3. People need to be protected against all three types of the virus in order to prevent polio disease
• Symptoms: Many people who are infected with the poliovirus don’t become sick and have no symptoms. However, those who do become ill develop paralysis, which can sometimes be fatal

Is it Curable?

• There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life.
• Vaccine contains weakened-virus activating an immune response in the body, building up antibodies against virus.

What is Vaccine derived Polio Virus?

• These are rare strains of poliovirus that have genetically mutated from the virus strain contained in the oral polio vaccine(OPV) administered to children. 90% of VDPV cases were due to the type 2 component in OPV

Does Polio still exist?

• Polio does still exist, although polio cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated more than 350 000 cases to 22 reported cases in 2017. 

• Today, only 3 countries in the world have never stopped transmission of wild polio virus (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria).

Why has WHO raised the alarm now? 

• Due to the rising risk of international spread of wild poliovirus type-1. There were 156 cases of wild polio type-1 cases in 2019 compared with 28 in 2018. 
• An equally disturbing development is on the outbreak of vaccine-derived poliovirus cases in 16 countries; in all, there were 249 vaccine-derived poliovirus cases in 2019.
• Despite the progress achieved since 1988, as long as a single child remains infected with poliovirus, children in all countries are at risk of contracting the disease. 
• The poliovirus can easily be imported into a polio-free country and can spread rapidly amongst unimmunized populations. 
• Failure to eradicate polio could result in as many as 200 000 new cases every year, within 10 years, all over the world.

Concern for India

• On 27 March 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared India a polio free country, since no cases of wild polio been reported in for five years. 
• With rising case in the neighbouring country, where Pakistan (128 of 156) accounted for the most number of cases in 2019, there are dangers of virus getting exported from Pakistan to Iran and Afghanistan which is already facing humanitarian crisis due to wars.

Way forward

• Vaccine-derived polioviruses must be managed in the same way as wild poliovirus outbreaks. The solution is the same for all polio outbreaks: vaccinate every child several times with oral polio vaccine to stop polio transmission, regardless of whether the virus is wild or vaccine-derived.
• International community must come together to vaccinate children in Afghanistan (total of 8,60,000 children in Afghanistan did not receive polio vaccine due to security threats) and Pakistan. 

Do You know?

• Nigeria is all set to be declared as having eradicated polio this year, and in turn, the entire African region will become free of wild poliovirus

Connecting the dots

• Mission Indradhanush of the government of India
• India is one of the largest producers and exporters of vaccines yet has one of the highest preventable childhood mortality rates of any country in the world. Why?

(TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE)

Model questions: (You can now post your answers in comment section)

Note: 

• Correct answers of today’s questions will be provided in next day’s DNA section. Kindly refer to it and update your answers. 

• Comments Up-voted by IASbaba are also the “correct answers”.

Q.1) Seke language often seen in news is predominantly associated with which region/country?

1. North-East region of India
2. Bhutan
3. Nepal 
4. SriLanka

Q.2) Indian Cyber Crime Coordination (I4C) is located in which City of India?

1. Bengaluru
2. Chennai
3. Hyderabad
4. None of the above

Q.3) Consider the following statements about Chinese paddlefish

1. It is a freshwater fish having an ancestral home in Yangtze river and Yellow river basin in China
2. It is in Critically endangered list of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Which of the statement(s) given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Q.4) Consider the following statements about Integrated Steel Hub that is being planned in Eastern part of India

1. It aims to attract investment of nearly $70 billion in the steel sector and spur economic growth across eastern India
2. It is part of ‘Purvodaya’ initiative for focused development of eastern states.

Which of the statement(s) given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Q.5) Consider the following statements about CoronaVirus

1. These are newly discovered species of virus which can cause severe respiratory and intestinal diseases
2. They are known to infect only humans

Which of the statement(s) given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Q.6) Consider the following statements about State Energy Efficiency Index 

1. It is released by NITI Aayog
2. It helps states contribute towards national goals on energy security and climate action by helping drive Energy Efficiency policies and programs

Which of the statement(s) given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

ANSWERS FOR 10 JAN 2020 TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE (TYK)

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