Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• EQUINOO is an oscillation between enhanced cloud formation and rainfall over the Western Equatorial Indian Ocean (WEIO) and suppressed clouding over the Eastern Equatorial Indian Ocean (EEIO), west of Sumatra.
• When the surface sea temperature in WEIO is above 27.5 degree Celsius, it is called as a positive EQUINOO phase. This leads to enhanced clouding, which is then suppressed in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean.
• This increased cloud formation throughout this monsoon season is the main reason for the above-average rainfall in India.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• In one of the major efforts towards doubling the Farmers Income, Prime Minister launched theNational Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP) for eradicating the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis in the livestock, on 11^thSeptember, 2019 in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.
• The NADCP aims to eradicate Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis in the livestock and to vaccinate over 500 million livestock including cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats and pigs against foot and mouth disease.
• The programme aims at vaccinating 36 million female bovine calves annually in its fight against Brucellosis disease. The programme has two components - control diseases by 2025 and eradication by 2030.

Foot and Mouth Disease(FMD)

• It is a highly communicable disease affecting cloven-footed animals caused by a virus of7 different types.
• It is characterized by fever, formation of vesicles and blisters in the mouth, udder, teats and on the skin between the toes and above the hoofs.

Brucellosis

• It is an infectious disease that occurs from contact with animals carrying Brucella bacteria. It can infect cattle, goats, camels, dogs, and pigs.
• The bacteria can spread to humans if you come in contact with infected meat or the placenta of infected animals or on consumption ofunpasteurized milk.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT) is a tribunal set up by the Central Government in 1969 under the Interstate River Water Disputes Act, 1956 to resolve the disputes between the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra and then undivided Andhra Pradesh over sharing of Krishna river water.
• The first report (1976) divided the 2060 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of Krishna water at 75 per cent dependability into three parts: 560 TMC for Maharashtra, 700 TMC for Karnataka and 800 TMC for Andhra.
• The second KWDT was instituted in 2004 and delivered its report in 2010, which made allocations of the Krishna water at 65 per cent dependability and for surplus flows as follows: 81 TMC for Maharashtra, 177 TMC for Karnataka, and 190 TMC for Andhra Pradesh.
• After the creation of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh in 2014, Andhra Pradesh insisted that the allocation of Krishna waters be reworked among four states, instead of three.

Krishna River

• It is an east-flowing river that originates at Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra and merges with the Bay of Bengal,.
• It flows through Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Together with its tributaries, it forms a vast basin that covers 33% of the total area of the four states.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• With effect from 3rd September 2019, India has been declared free from Avian Influenza (H5N1), which has also been notified to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
• India was last declared free of the disease in 2017.
• Humans can be infected with avian, swine and other zoonotic influenza viruses, such as avian influenza virus subtypes A(H5N1), A(H7N9), and A(H9N2) and swine influenza virus subtypes A(H1N1), A(H1N2) and A(H3N2).

Avian Influenza

• It refers to the disease caused by infection with avian (bird) influenza (flu) Type A viruses.
• It was first reported from Hong Kong in 1997. Since then, there have been many outbreaks across the world. India too has had multiple outbreaks since 2005.
• Human infections are primarily acquired through direct contact with infected animals or contaminated environments, these viruses have not acquired the ability of sustained transmission among humans.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• The government’s plan of establishing National Genomic Grid for India-specific cancer research, the grid to be formed will be in line with the National Cancer Tissue Biobank.
• It will collect samples from cancer patients to study genomic factors influencing cancer and identifying the right treatment modalities for the Indian population.
• It will have four parts, with the country divided into east, west, north and south.

National Cancer Tissue Biobank (NCTB)

• It is a state-of-the-art non-profit community-based tissue bank, is a joint initiative of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM).
• It is the first of its kind facility in India, aimed at providing researchers with high quality of cancer tissues and the patient data in order to facilitate cancer research that will lead to improvements in cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• The Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment (AIDA) project seeks to explore the defence mechanism through deflection. It is an ambitious double-spacecraft mission to deflect an asteroid in space.
• AIDA is a joint collaboration between European Space Agency (ESA), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Observatoire de la Côte d´Azur (OCA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA), and the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
• The purpose of this two-spacecraft system is to deflect the orbit of one of the bodies that make up the binary asteroid Didymos, which orbits between Earth and Mars. While one spacecraft will collide with a binary Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA), the other will observe the impact and survey the crash site in order to gather as much data as possible about this method of asteroid defense.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• Launched in July, 2019, the ‘one nation, one ration card’ is an inter-state ration card portability scheme that allows migrants to get their quota of ration from any public distribution system (PDS) across the country. The Centre plans to extend this scheme to all states by 2020.
• At present, the scheme is operational between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, as well as of that Maharashtra and Gujarat.
• With effect from 1st October 2019, two new clusters, Kerala and Karnataka and Rajasthan and Haryana, will join the initiative of inter-state portability of ration cards.

Significance:

• This initiative shall be helpful for the large migratory population of the country, who migrate from one part of the country to another in search of job or employment, marriage, or any other reason, and find difficulty in accessing subsidi sed food grains in the present system.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• In Postal Ballot Voting, ballot papers are distributed electronically to electors and are returned to the election officers via post.
• Currently, the following voters group is allowed to cast their votes through postal ballot:
• Service voters (armed forces, the armed police force of a state and government servants posted abroad),
• Voters on election duty
• Voters under preventive detention
• Keen on expanding the ambit of postal ballots, the Election Commission (EC) has proposed to allow voters on duty in the aviation sector, shipping sector, trains, fire services, medical services, traffic, long-distance road transport corporation buses, the aged, the physically challenged, and journalists covering elections to vote by post in the upcoming assembly elections.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• The member countries of the World Health Organisation (WHO) from the South-East AsianRegion have resolved to eliminate two diseases-Measles and Rubella by 2023.
• The target to eliminate both the diseases will leverage the existing momentum and a strong political commitment, which is being demonstrated through unprecedented efforts, progress and successes in recent years.
• Five countries in the South-East Asia region - Bhutan, DPR Korea, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste have eliminated measles, but India continues to grapple with 39,299 cases, ranking fourth among 194 countries in the number of measles cases registered between July 2018 and June 2019.
• Currently, six countries have controlled rubella - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste.

Rubella

• Also known as German measles.
• It is a contagious disease that occurs most often in children and young adults.
• In pregnant women it causes congenital defects known as Congenital Rubella Syndromewhich in causes irreversible birth defect.

Measles

• It is a highly contagious viral disease particularly dangerous for poor children as it attacks and reduced immunity.
• It can cause serious complications, including blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhoea, ear infection and

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online

Explanation :

• On 8^th September, 2019, the Central Government constituted a task force to draw up a National Infrastructure Pipeline for each of the financial years from 2019-20 to 2024-25.

About NIP

• The National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) will be guided by the task force consisting of six members and led by the Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs. NITI Aayog CEO or a nominee by him/her will also be part of the task force.
• The NIP would include greenfield and brownfield projects costing above Rs. 100 crore each.
• The terms of reference of the task force for FY20 have also been notified and it will submit its first report on the NIP by 31 October, 2019. Another report on the indicative pipelines for financia l years 21-25 w ill also be submitted by the committee by 31 December 2019.

Term of Reference

• It includes identifying technically feasible, financially and economically viable infrastructure projects that can be started in 2019-20.
• It will also enable robust marketing of the pipeline of projects requiring private investment through the India Investment Grid (IIG), National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and other such entities.
• It will suggest measures to monitor the projects so that cost and time overruns are minimized.

Source: Civil Services Chronicle Online